Chapter 5: Day 2 of Preparation
Naruto yawned while stretching his arms and sitting up in bed.
He looked around cautiously. Good. No sign of anyone else in the room. He had done this every morning since Gai's "visit". It kinda scarred him for life.
He jumped out of bed and stretched his legs, then looked outside.
The sun was already pretty high in the sky. He guessed it was about 10:30. Oh well! It wasn't like Kakashi-Sensei was gonna be there on time anyway.
Since he was up late, he decided to start the morning slower than usual. He had enjoyed waking up early and didn't want to ruin his good mood by rushing.
By the time he had finished eating his breakfast, brushing his teeth, getting dressed, and had an apple (he was just having the best morning he'd ever had and couldn't help enjoying it), it was noon.
Time to go.
He opened the door - and screamed in surprise to see Kakashi-Sensei standing in the doorway.
"You're late," he said sternly.
"Ka-Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto stuttered, still shocked, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see if you were coming to training today. I had trouble sleeping so I came early to the training grounds. Sakura and Sasuke were on time, they said you normally were as well, so I assumed something must have been wrong. It seems that you were fine."
"Um...Well I...I kinda...slept in," Naruto said embarrassed. Why did today have to be the one day when Kakashi-Sensei came early!
Kakashi sighed. "Come on, Naruto. Let's just go to training."
"WHAT!" Sakura exclaimed. Kakashi had just explained what they were supposed to do for today's training.
"You can't be serious," Sasuke even sounded confused.
"HA! This will be easy! Believe it!" Naruto sounded as confident as ever.
"You heard me," Kakashi replied, "You're going to climb trees. Only, you can't use your chakara. The only way is by hand. If you do it before sunset, then you will have it easier tomorrow."
"But you said it was going to be harder today!" Did Sakura have to be so loud?
"It will be harder. You'll see."
Sakura sighed. It was useless arguing.
"Okay...GO!" Kakashi shouted.
Naruto was first to get his feet moving. He ran towards the tree and threw all his weight at it. He crashed into the tree and slid down, dazed.
Sasuke was next. He walked up to the tree and grabbed the nearest branch. He slowly started to climb until the next branch was too hard to reach. He looked on both sides of him to see if there was another way. There wasn't. He looked below him. Nope. Nothing there either. He climbed back down, looking for a way as he went. He found one and started again. The same thing happened. He kept trying and getting nowhere.
Sakura sat down and studied her tree. It was a while before she found a possible way. Of course, it ended in a dead end. She decided to look for another way.
Sasuke and Sakura looked for a way, and didn't realize that Naruto was already halfway up the tree.
An hour later, Sakura was now on the tree and one-fourth of the way up. From the ground, she had drawn a mental route that she would take up the tree.
Sasuke had finally found a way on his tree also. The Uchiha was moving with incredible speed. He would be the first one. He would-
"HA! I told you I could do it! Believe it!" Naruto sat on a branch at the top of the tree, covered in scratches and bruises.
Darn him! Sasuke thought angrily.
2 hours later, Sakura made it to the top. Sasuke was sulking in his tree, angrily glaring at Naurto from time - to - time. Naruto was asleep. He had gotten bored shortly after Sasuke had reached the top of his tree and he just dozed off.
"Well done team! It's almost sunset now, but you made it up there anyway," Kakashi complimented his students.
"Can I go home now," Naruto yawned. He had just woken up.
"Of course! But we'll be back here tomorrow again," He directed his next words to Naruto, "On time."
Naruto nodded and jumped off the branch. Then, he realized waht he had just done. He waved his arms around frantically, for some reason believing he could fly, and yelling unintelligent words.
Kakashi, who had been expecting just this, performed a few hand signs (like bird, horse, and tiger) and placed his hands on the ground. A tree branch grew a few inches farther, just enough to snag Naruto's clothes. Then, he walked up the side of the tree, grabbed Naruto, and walked back down.
Sasuke and Sakura did the sensible thing and climbed down.
Then, they walked down the path toward their homes. Kakashi carried Naruto the whole way, despite his muttering unintelligently.
Jin: Heh. It kinda figures that Naruto would be first. He's determined and stuff.
Chi: I've got cookies!
Frailor: What kind?
Chi: I don't know. Lee was selling them.
-Jin and Frailor stare at Chi as if she's mad-
Thanks for reading it! Please review!