Previously:

"I'm going to prove that in this world… Heroes do exist!" Naruto declared, gritting his teeth with determination as he staggered forward, heading for the door. April smiled.

'Yeah, it's gotta be like that…' She thought, using the table for support as she made herself stand up. "Wait up, Naruto… I think I feel a second wind coming on."

"Hey…" Kakashi said as they both tried to leave while supporting each other. He was glad they were so enthusiastic about getting stronger, but how did they expect to train when they could barely make it to the door on their own? April was shaking even worse than Naruto.

"Don't worry, Sensei..." April said as they opened the door. She hadn't forgotten his warning earlier, but like he said, she still needed to train three times as hard as the others if she wanted to improve. "I'm sure we'll pass out from exhaustion long before we actually die."

"…" Kakashi and the others stared after them as the door shut behind them.

'That settles it… They're both idiots.' Sasuke decided.

Chapter 20: Encounter in the Forest

The sixth morning of training…

As the sun rose, the birds began to sing. Some sparrows twittered and hopped about. One of them perched itself on top of snoring Naruto's chest, and another hopped up to sit on April's forehead protector. Once again, they had both collapsed and fallen asleep outside after training. It was very peaceful out there in the forest, but they weren't alone…

–∞–

Sakura let out a huge yawn as she stretched on her way to the kitchen.

"Ah…" She said, stopping short when she realized she had already reached the room. She wiped the sleep from her eyes, hoping Sasuke hadn't seen. He was too occupied with eating breakfast to care.

"Naruto and April didn't come back again last night?" Tazuna asked.

"They've been climbing trees all on their own since they heard your story. Naruto's very simple…" Sakura said. She would have expected something this him, but she had thought April was a little smarter than that… Guess not. "They may have used too much chakra and died by now…"

"I hope they're all right." Tsunami said, concerned. "Two children all alone at night in the woods…"

"Don't worry, they may not look it, but both of them are true ninja." Kakashi said confidently. Even if they didn't come back to the house, he knew April would at least stop Naruto and make him take a short rest before it got too dangerous. Although she was eager not to fall behind the others, she at least understood how important it was to rest while doing such vigorous training.

"I don't know…" Sasuke said dubiously. "April might be fine, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was dead, that moron…"

"…" Inari stared down at the table in front of him.

–∞–

A shadow loomed over April and Naruto as two strong but delicate hands slowly reached for them, hovering over their necks for a second before settling on their shoulders.

"You'll catch a cold out here." They heard a voice say kindly as they felt someone give them a shake to wake them up.

"Hn?" Naruto and April both groaned at having their deep and much needed sleep disturbed.

"Five more minutes…" April mumbled almost incomprehensibly, wondering why her body felt so sore as she rolled over. She was still in zombie mode—sort of awake, but not enough to be completely aware of what was really going on around her. Her recovery rate wasn't as fast as Naruto's, who was already opening his eyes.

"Huh?" He said, surprised to see a beautiful girl with long, dark hair looming over him. "Who are you?" He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he sat up. The girl just smiled. Naruto blushed a little. "Did you wake me up?" He asked a bit shyly. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Picking herbs." The pretty stranger replied.

"Herbs?"

"Yes, that's right." She answered with a smile. "It's to cure injuries and illness."

"Are you sure it's all right not to wake your friend up?" She asked while Naruto helped her pick some herbs after she showed him what it looked like.

"Yeah, it's much safer to just let her sleep…" He replied, sweat-dropping, as he remembered the last time he tried to force her awake before she was ready. Her reflexes were scary…

"Safer?" The pretty girl asked curiously.

"Ah, but you sure are working early, sis." Naruto remarked, changing the subject.

"You too. What are you doing out here so early in the morning?"

"Training!" Naruto answered proudly.

"!" She said, looking slightly surprised. "You… that forehead protector… Could you be a ninja?"

"You noticed!?" He asked excitedly. "Yeah, I'm a ninja!!"

"Wow, you're incredible."

"Hehehe." Naruto laughed, happy to receive such praise.

"Why are you training?"

"Because I want to become stronger!!"

"Hmm… but you already look plenty strong."

"No, No!!! I want to become even stronger!!"

"… Why… is that?"

"So I can become the best ninja in my village!! I'm going to make everyone acknowledge my strength!! And right now, I also need to prove something to someone."

"Is that for someone else? Or for yourself?"

"… Ha?" Naruto said, furrowing his brow slightly in confusion. The pretty girl let out a small laugh. "What's so funny!?"

"Do you… have someone who is important to you?" She asked.

'Huh? What's she trying to say?' Naruto wondered, still not quite getting it.

"…" She looked down, deep in thought. She was quiet for a few minutes, but then she raised her head and looked him directly in the eye.

"?" Naruto said, a little taken aback. Why did she look so serious all of a sudden?

"When a person has something to protect… that's when they can become truly strong." She said solemnly.

"…" Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he stared at her, remembering the story about Inari's dad… Kakashi-sensei protecting him and the others… April jumping in to save him from those enemy chūnin without hesitation even though it was her first battle… And how he had stood up to Mizuki to protect her and Iruka-sensei after they protected him. "Yeah!!" Naruto said with a smile. "I understand that very well." The girl smiled back at him and stood up, taking her basket of herbs with her.

"You will become strong." She said as she turned to leave. "Let's meet again somewhere."

"Sure!!" Naruto agreed readily.

"Oh…" She paused for a moment. "And… I'm a boy." 'She' stated bluntly before continuing on her way, causing Naruto to flinch in shock.

'N-No way!!! But he's even cuter than Sakura-chan!!' He yelled internally, holding his head. If he was a boy, then why was his kimono pink!? 'This is a weird world…' He thought as Sasuke came into view, walking past the pretty boy his way over to Naruto. Sasuke stopped and glanced back over his shoulder.

"…" He furrowed his brow as he watched the boy in the pink kimono continue to walk away. There was something familiar about that kid…

—∞—

The next day,
the seventh day of training…

"Naruto! April!" Sakura called out as she and Kakashi, who had graduated to only having to use one crutch, stood in front of the trees they should have been climbing. The trees showed definitive proof that they had been training hard, but her teammates were nowhere to be seen. "Where are they?" She asked, glancing around. "They left by themselves last night, and now they're missing breakfast. Plus Sasuke goes off on a walk and doesn't come back…"

SHHMP.

"!" They said when a kunai was thrown into the ground in front of them. Kakashi and Sakura looked up and saw that Naruto was laying on a branch that was about five sixths of the way up his tree.

"Hehehe." Naruto laughed, grinning despite how exhausted he was.

"No way… He can already climb that high?" Sakura said, surprised. He was almost at the top, now!

'Heh…' Kakashi thought. Not bad.

"What do you think!!? Look how high I can climb now!!!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

"Where's April?" Sakura asked.

"Hm? She's over there!" He answered, pointing up and over.

"!!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise as she and Kakashi followed his finger with their eyes and saw that April was also up in her tree, about six sevenths of the way up. She was sitting on a thick branch and hugging the trunk of her tree, fast asleep.

'It's a koala…' Kakashi thought wryly. She looked kind of cute like that… He was impressed she managed to pass Naruto up. With how much effort that must have taken, it was no wonder she was so exhausted.

"Whoa!" Naruto said when he tried to stand up on his branch, slipping. "Ah!"

"AHH!! Idiot!!" Sakura cried, startled.

"Oh no!! If you fall from that height…!!" Kakashi said worriedly.

"AWW!!!" Naruto cried as he fell backwards.

'Damn!!' Kakashi thought anxiously. 'My body is still…'

SWISH.

"Just kidding!!" Naruto said with a mischievous grin as he hung upside down with his feet planted firmly on the branch. "HAHA!! You fell for it!!!"

"…" Kakashi and Sakura stared up at him. This kid was bad for the heart.

"Y-You scared me, idiot!!" Sakura yelled up at him. 'Cha!! I'm gonna kill you later!!' Inner Sakura roared furiously.

"Ah!" Naruto said as his chakra suddenly failed, and he started to fall for real this time.

"Uh… AH!!" Kakashi gasped as and he and Sakura flinched in alarm.

"Aww!! Stupid Naruto!!" Sakura yelled. "Stop showing off!!"

"GYAAAH!!!" Naruto screamed.

THNK. SHHH. THNK.

"Ah?" Naruto said, blinking, when he realized he had stopped falling because someone had grabbed him by the ankle.

"You moron…" Sasuke said, chagrined, as he held onto him while standing on the underside of the tree branch. He had managed to run and jumped over to Naruto's tree just in time to save his sorry butt.

"Sasuke!!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise. He had thought it would be April… He glanced over to see what she was up to. "…" He said, unimpressed, when he realized she was still fast asleep, dead to the world. How could she sleep through all that!? Just how much sleep did one girl need? She was usually such a light sleeper that Naruto half suspected her body had gone into some sort of hibernation mode to recover…

"Yay!! Sasuke!! You're the best!!" Sakura cheered.

'These guys are growing well…' Kakashi thought with a smile. He ended up with some really great students.

–∞–

"… 196… 197… 198…" Kakashi counted while he did pushups using only one finger with Tazuna and Sakura sitting on his back and legs to add a little weight.

"I wanted to ask you earlier, but… why are you still here when I lied to you about this mission?" Tazuna asked curiously.

"Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive." Kakashi replied calmly. "Those are the previous Hokage's words. That is the way of the shinobi. Shinobis don't move because of money alone." It was an important lesson he wanted to pass on to his own students through example, just as his teacher had done for him before. Kakashi flexed his hand. 'My body is about back to normal…' He thought. It wouldn't be long now…

–∞–

Naruto and April were panting heavily as they and Sasuke clung to the very tippy-tops of their trees under the light of the crescent moon. The cool night air felt good. All three of them were drenched in sweat and dead tired, but it had been worth it. They were damn proud of themselves, and rightly so, because they had finally made it all the way… in fact, they had managed to get even higher than Sakura, since their trees were actually taller than hers!

"Time to go back?" Sasuke said with the hint of a smirk.

"Yeah!" Naruto answered with a grin while April smiled.

"Now we just have to get back down…" She said.

"…" The guys said as they all stopped for a moment and realized that might be easier said than done because they were all running on fumes…

–∞–

"They're late." Sakura said as she and the others sat down to eat dinner back at the house. "I understand why Naruto and April are late, but Sasuke-kun?"

KA-CHAK.

"Oh, you guys are finally back." Tazuna remarked when the door opened, and the very three they had just been talking about trudged in to join them, leaning heavily on each other for support. "What's this? You guys look super dirty and worn out." Yet despite being so beat up, they were all exuding a strong sense of accomplishment. April smiled.

"Heheh… All three of us… made it to the top!" Naruto announced proudly.

"Okay." Kakashi said, pleased with their results. They were just in time, too. "April, Naruto, Sasuke… starting tomorrow, you three will also help protect Tazuna-san." Sasuke tried to play it cool, but April and Naruto's faces lit up with open delight upon receiving their teacher's seal of approval.

"All right!!" Naruto cheered excitedly as he pumped one of his fists in the air, knocking everyone off balance just enough to send all three of them crashing to the floor like dominos.

"Ugh…!" Sasuke groaned annoyance, as everyone let out a laugh of amusement.

"Ow." April said flatly, chagrined. Like she wasn't sore enough already. "I don't think I can get up again…" She said as the boys started picking themselves up, staying sprawled out on the floor just the way she fell, too tired to move. "Maybe I'll just live here…"

"What are you going to do? Eat on the floor like a dog?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow.

"… I'm considering it." April answered with a deadpan expression. Kakashi smiled wryly as he stood up, deciding to give her a hand. He didn't think the boys were steady enough to help her back up since they could barely get themselves to the table.

"Come on, April… Up we go." He told her, lifting her up and setting her down on her feet as easily as if she were a rag doll. "At least eat something and take a bath before you pass out."

"… Fine…" She agreed grudgingly, even though all she wanted to do now that she had finally accomplished her goal was slip into a short coma.