Disclaimer: I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto. Nor do I own Kouji or Kouichi, who belong to Digimon, which I do not own either.

A/N: Hey, I know I said I'd be faster with this chapter and I know I kinda wasn't. Sorry about that. The next one shouldn't take as long to post, and this time I really mean it.

Also I feel that (due to the rather extensive period of time since my last update) I should mention that I have divided the three teams into separate chapters, so that's why only a few characters are in this one. Um, anyway, enough talking, and on with the story! (Team Five is getting bored with waiting and you do NOT want to know what happens when certain members of this team get bored. Really. You don't. Trust me. What's that? Shut up and get on with it already? …Okay…)

Team Five, Training Session 1

Kaia skipped along behind her new sensei, exuberant as always at the prospect of something new. At the moment, though, she was waiting for Yuki to realize who she was. The jounin had been her brother's friend for a long time, and it would certainly be interesting to see how long it took her to remember that Kaia was his baby sister. What would be even more interesting might be her reaction when she found out. But, there was no point in spoiling the surprise.

Kaia giggled quietly to herself, earning an annoyed glare from Kuromei. She grinned at him and, with a snort of irritation, he turned his back on her again. He sure acted indifferent, but she knew better. His weak point was weaponry, and it seemed that, in that area at least, he was just as curious as she was. Moya on the other hand…

Kaia watched his back as he walked. He was following closely behind their sensei, putting his feet almost exactly where she put hers. Was that how he did it? How he walked without stumbling or faltering, how he made it seem that he could see after all? Her eyes gleamed green, she would figure him out yet! Then she would know about everyone on her team. But…

Kaia looked down at her bare feet. But wouldn't it be better to just know them? It would be nice to have real friends. Just like it would be nice to have a real family. Not that there was anything wrong with her brother, except that he was…

"Here we are." Yuki's announcement brought her from her thoughts.

Looking up, Kaia suppressed a groan. 'Here' was a river. They were training with water? Kuromei looked indifferently around the small body of water. Moya frowned slightly, his head turning slowly as though he was scanning the clearing, which he was, just not with his eyes.

"So." Yuki clapped her hands together as she faced the group. "You're probably all wondering why we're here."

Just as with Malao the day before, her comment was greeted with silence. Kuromei wasn't really paying attention to her, and Moya was simply waiting for her to finish what she was saying. Kaia was watching the sluggish river apprehensively; they weren't going to go swimming, were they?

'And Malao says I'm off in the morning,' Yuki thought resignedly. She cleared her throat.

"Well, we're going to be learning to focus chakra. Does anyone know what that is?"

Kuromei glared at her incredulously. How old did she think they were?

"The chakras are the energies that flow throughout the body. With the correct instruction, they can be utilized in a variety of ways, the foremost being the performance of the numerous jutsus used by ninja," Moya answered, sounding very much as though he had eaten a textbook for breakfast, or at least a thesaurus.

"Ah, very good," Yuki seemed mildly surprised by his response. "So, since everyone knows what the chakras are, we can move on." Yuki strode to the water's edge before turning back to the group. "Now, what I want you to do is focus chakra to your feet. It's like performing a jutsu, as…erm…"

"Moya," the boy told her when she fumbled for his name.

"Right, as Moya so efficiently described it. Now, once you feel you have focused enough energy to the soles of your feet, you can test your proficiency by doing this." The jounin turned and stepped out onto the sluggish current. She walked out on top of the water towards the center of the river and turned back to them.

"There are two ways to do this incorrectly. One way is to focus too little chakra, in which case you'll sink. The other is focusing too much, which causes tension on the surface and can either make it too slippery to stand or create waves in the water. Both of these results make it difficult to stay on the surface of the water and you will eventually fall in," she walked back to shore. "Any questions?"

"How do you know if you're doing it right?" Kaia asked, still looking at the river as if it might suddenly attack her.

"I've been told it feels different for each person. You'll know you've got it when you can stay dry."

Kaia sighed; it wasn't a particularly helpful explanation. Yuki looked at her thoughtfully, her brow furrowed. Then, with a slight smile, the jounin shifted her gaze to the rest of the small group.

"So, who wants to go first?"

Moya's sightless eyes flicked in the direction of their sensei's voice. Without hesitating, the boy walked down the shore and stepped onto the river. Here he paused, one foot precariously on the surface of the sluggish water. Then, determinately, he lifted the other foot, placing it just beyond the first. Small ripples curled around his toes, he could hear the slight change in the water's current. Feeling much more confident, he took three more steps and…sank.

When he felt the water reach his ankles, the youth sprang backwards, landing easily on the shore. He looked thoughtful, contemplating his newfound knowledge as he prepared to try again.

"Alright, that was pretty good, for a first attempt," Yuki told the genin. "How about you next, miss kitty," the jounin said teasingly. The girl grinned, Yuki had caught on much sooner than Malao-sensei had. It was probably because the jounin had occasionally stopped by, the first year after her brother left, just to check on her. But, she stopped coming after a while. Of course, the fault was mainly Kaia's, she hadn't wanted to interact anybody for the longest time after Kagemaru left.

Kaia stared down at her feet, trying to figure out how to know whether she was doing it properly or not.

They felt warm, was that right? Or…maybe it was just the sun on the sand. She frowned, how about now? They itched…kinda. Or, it could be the sand again. Yuki was right, there was only one way to know for sure. The girl looked resolutely up at the water, then, gritting her teeth started for the river.

Feeling herself wavering, the girl decided it would be best to try it at a run, so she wouldn't have as much time to think about it. She ran down the riverbank, and onto the water. Her momentum carried her almost to where Yuki had stopped before the water exploded under her feet. With a sharp squeal of surprise and dismay, the girl tumbled into the water. Sputtering, she surfaced and swam rapidly towards the bank, where she stood, very sodden and notably sulky.
"Good attempt, but maybe less would be better in your case," Yuki said, managing not to laugh at the girl's wet-cat antics.

Kaia scowled and shook herself, spraying water in all directions. Then, with her hair and clothing still plastered to her body, she stalked past the group to sit on the sun-warmed grass. Once comfortably seated, she proceeded to experiment with the flow of chakra through her feet, testing the stickiness with blades of grass and pebbles close at hand.

Finally allowing herself a light chuckle of amusement, the jounin turned to the last student.

"Alright, Kuromei?" she asked. When he conceded to nod, she continued, "It's your turn, let's see what you can do."

The boy scowled slightly, but walked down to the sluggish water, compliant for the moment. He stooped for a moment, running his fingertips lightly over his feet. The power tingled as he transferred it to his feet. Straightening up, the boy strode out onto the river. He walked to the middle then turned and started back to the group, a cocky smirk just curving his mouth until his foot dipped below the surface. His expression changed rapidly to one of surprise and almost immediately the surface of the water near his feet flashed an extremely dark reddish-brown, then turned as smooth as glass as he jerked his foot forward, out of the water, and onto, what he clearly thought was, a more stable area. His foot flew out from under him, and with a resounding smack, he fell flat on his back in the water. He floated there for a moment, the wind knocked out of him. Then, rolling over, he swam back to the shore.

"Alright, not bad. You overcorrected yourself. Moya, you should try again now, and Kaia you're after him," Yuki instructed, glancing back at the sodden girl. Kaia scowled, but nodded obediently. Kuromei snorted, squeezing the water out of his shirt, his scarred back bright red where he had hit the surface. The liquid streamed down his arms, drops spattering the sand as he shook the shirt out before putting the still-damp garment back on.

Moya had walked back down to the riverside when Yuki told him to go again. Judging from the results of over-doing the amount of chakra as opposed to his own experience with too little, the boy decided to add only a small amount to the quantity he had used on his previous attempt.

Sinking a little bit is far better than falling in.

The power swirled to the soles of his feet as he stepped out onto the water, just as cautiously as he had the first time.

He took three steps...

After a brief pause, he took three more.

He stood there for a moment, three more steps and he might not be able to get back to shore in one jump.

But, still…

The blind youth walked further out onto the river, not hesitating again until he felt the sand of the other bank beneath his sandals. It looked like it didn't matter if he could jump back to shore. Feeling pleased with himself, he turned and walked easily back across the water to where his team was watching him.

"Excellent," Yuki told him. "You can keep practicing if you wish, but I think you've got it."

Moya nodded, proceeding to walk further upstream, where the attempts of his teammates wouldn't interfere with his practice.

"Kaia, you're up again."

The girl sighed, but, as her brother had instructed her, she obeyed her sensei, walking, albeit reluctantly, to the water's edge. She stood there, watching the water with the same apprehension she had the last time as she tried to focus. When her feet felt hot, she stepped out, testing her weight cautiously...

Like Kuromei's had moments before, her foot shot out from under her, landing her flat on her back, though this time she managed to fall mostly on the shore. Climbing to her feet, the girl discovered that, even though she hadn't gotten much wetter, she was now coated with sand.

Scowling, she attempted to brush the grit off herself as Kuromei held his hands against his feet in preparation for his next try. Slowly, the youth walked out over the water. Halfway across the river, he slipped and, once again, overdid his attempts to recover. Thoroughly soaked and frustrated, he swam back to shore again as an extremely adverse Kaia started out once more.

…

"Alright you two, I think that's enough for one day," Yuki announced, glancing at sun's position.

"I thought it was enough two hours ago…" Kiaia muttered, squeezing water out of her hair from her umpteenth fall. Kuromei snorted, his feet squelching as he made his way sullenly up the bank. Moya stepped lightly off the water, the only one, aside from Yuki, who wasn't soaked, or even particularly damp.

"Oh stop whining, it wasn't so bad. You'll get better," Yuki told them.

"Could I actually get worse?" Kaia muttered to herself, her usual cheerful disposition thoroughly dampened to a soggy bad mood.

Hearing his teammate's derogatory comment, Moya snorted quietly, but refrained from saying anything. Honestly, it wasn't as difficult as the two of them made it out to be…

"I'll see you three here again tomorrow morning," the jounin called after her team as she flickered expertly out of sight.

Hearing this, Kaia groaned, then sneezed abruptly, beginning to shiver in the cool evening air.

Great…

A/N: The black lines you see, if they aren't just figments of my rapidly-going mind, serve no purpose whatsoever, beyond depriving me of what sanity I still possess as I attempt (repeatedly!) to get rid of them.

So, um, anyway… The next chapter features Team Four and their mission and will be updated soon