Chapter 6:

Let's All Go Climb a Tree!

"Poor Kakashi-sensi..." I thought out loud. We were all sitting around in the room Kakashi was asleep in. By we I mean, Naruto, Sasuke, Tazuna, his daughter, and myself. We had made it to Tazuna's house and Kakashi was given a spare room to rest in. He's been asleep for awhile now...

Inner Sayuki: We should poke him!!

I should poke him! I thought agreeing with my inner self.

I got up from the spot I had been sitting on the floor. I walked over to Kakashi's bedside and squatted down so I was closer to him.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke said in that oh-so-superior-to-everyone-else-voice.

"I'm gonna poke sensi," I replied smirking. I inched my pointer finger closer and closer to Kakashi's head. I heard Naruto cackling behind me, he obviously found me trying to poke Kakashi funny. My smirk grew bigger. My finger wasn't even a centimeter away from Kakashi's forehead when his eyes fluttered open. I was too focused on my finger and his forehead to even notice.

"Kakashi-sensi's awake!" Naruto yelled.

As soon as I heard Naruto say that I looked to see Kakashi was awake, and he was eyeing me with confusion.

"Eek!" I squeaked. I withdrew my finger and scrambled back as fast as I could.

Naruto burst out laughing. He was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes and was holding his sides from the pain of laughing.

"Y-you... should see... Your face!" He said to me between fits of laughter.

"It's not funny!" I said defensively. Istuck my tongue out at him childishly.

"Is too!" He argued.

"Is not!" I crossed my arms in a pout. Then I caught a glimpse of Sasuke. He was smirking.

"Did the famous Sasuke Uchiha find that funny?" I asked. His smirk disappeared in a second.

"No," He stated rather blunt.

"Yup! And that's why you were smirking!" I teased.

"Hn." Was his reply. Typical Sasuke.

"I'm...sorry..." Kakashi said, his voice quiet and strained.

"But you defeated such a strong ninja," Tazuna stated.

If only they knew that that freaky Zabuza is still alive. Oh wait! They should know in a few moments! Agh! Pay attention to what's being said! STOP SPACING OUT!! I shook my head to try and get myself to pay attention.

"Kakashi-sensei, about that boy...The one with the mask..." Kakashi nodded as if he knew what I was about to say.

"He had the mask of a pursuing ninja. from a special squad from the Hidden Village of Mist's ANBU..." Kakashi started but trailed off. He seemed to be thinking something over in his mind.

"A special squad?" Naruto asked.

"They are also known as the fire extinguishing unit, and their job is to erase any evidence that a ninja was alive," Kakashi said, "A ninja's body will give away the secrets of ninja techniques and chakra of the village it was in; any specific medicine that was used on a body, along with various other things. For example, if I die, the secret of the Sharingan will be examined. And in the worst case scenario, there's a possibility that my techniques, including Sharingan, will be stolen. In other words, pursuing ninja will kill exiled ninja who have abandoned the village, dispose of the ninja's body, and stop any secrets of the village from being revealed. They are specialists in the field."

"Thanks for the pointless explanation," I mumbled under my breath. I know they have to do this stuff in the manga and anime for the sake of us fans, but I mean come on now? This is for real so what the heck is the point of explaining stuff that should already be known? Unless... This is still the series and now I'm part of the show! DUDE! Does that mean that like Sayuki is a character now? That would be so cool! I mean I doubt it but that's a awesome thought! Yet so strange... What if I'm being watched on tv at this very moment, I mean, Sayuki!? No me! I am Sayuki! Or what if Sayuki's being read about in the manga!?

"This mean's I'm famous!" I yelled finishing my thoughts out loud.

"What are you talking about?" Tazuna asked. Everyone had a eyebrow arched at me.

"Um... N-never mind... heh heh heh Ignore me I have issues," I said laughing nervously.

"So we've noticed," Sasuke said monotonously.

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that," I said. Anyway, If I were famous,

Inner Sayuki: Which your not

Don't rub it in! Like I was thinking, If I were famous, I'd so have a pack of crazed fanboys that would even out number that dumb Uchiha's fangirls! I smirked to myself.

"What's wrong Sensi?" I heard Naruto ask. I looked at Kakashi and noticed he was now sitting up, and holding his head.

"Oh, about what I was talking about before... Pursuing ninja are suppose to eliminate the corpse on the spot," Kakashi continued.

"And the masked boy took Zabuza's body away!" I said.

"Yes, correct. All he needed to do was bring back the head as proof," Kakashi said, "Also, the weapon that the boy used to kill Zabuza is questionable."

"How so?" I asked.

"It was just a long needle. Could it be that...?" Sasuke trailed off not finished his thought.

"Yes, it's just what your thinking," Kakashi answered.

"The rest of us don't exactly read minds here!" I informed them. "Mind cluing us in?"

"What are you talking about?" Tazuna asked.

Kakashi sighed. "Zabuza is alive." And he dropped the bomb... The reaction?

"WHAT!?" Naruto and Tazuna both yelled in disbelief.

"Eh?" Tazuna's daughter said. I had forgotten she was even there.

"What does that mean? You confirmed that he died yourself!" Naruto asked accusingly.

"I did confirm it. But he was most likely merely in a near-death state," Kakashi explained, "The weapon that the pursuing ninja used has a low fatality rate unless it hits a critical spot. It's mostly used in acupuncture healings and such. Pursuing ninja know the structure of a human body very well. It should be easy for them to put a person into a near-death state. First he took home the corpse of Zabuza even when it's obvious that the body was heavier than him. Second, he used a weapon that has a low fatality rate. From these two points the goal of that boy was not to kill Zabuza, but to help him."

"Maybe you're just thinking too much," Tazuna said.

"You wish," I said rudely.

"No, once a ninja feels that's there's something wrong, he must prepare for it before it's too late. It's one of the ninja's iron rules," Kakashi said.

"So what are we gonna do?" I asked.

"I'm going to make you all go through some training," Kakashi said grinning. There's going to be pain involved isn't there?

"Do you really think a little training now is going to help us if we have to go up against Zabuza again? Especially considering he's most likely going to have more tricks up his sleeves and possibly even bring some... assistance," I asked. Oh yes assistance, Go Haku!

"Sayuki, who saved me when I had a difficult time?" Kakashi asked.

I shrugged, "Naruto and Sasuke..."

"It was you as well. You three are growing at a rapid rate," Kakashi said.

"I didn't do squat," I mumbled. Noone seemed to have heard.

"Especially you, Naruto." Kakashi turned to Naruto.

"Believe it!" Naruto said laughing with a proud smile on his face.

It's a good thing Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensi are so strong. When it comes to fighting... I suck.

Inner Sayuki: Believe in yourself! We can do it!

I wish I could believe in myself... But I've always felt so helpless... In my world and in this one. I don't want to be another Sakura... I sighed. Discouraging thoughts wouldn't help me any, now would they? Might as well be happy. As Naruto would say, Believe it!

"Okay, what do you say we begin?" Kakashi asked.

"Okie pokie!" I replied.

"But before that, let me once again talk about Chakra, the base for the ability as a ninja," Kakashi announced. He leaned against his crutches for support.

I already know all this boring stuff! Time for me to space out now! So... what shall my oh so creative mind day dream about this time? Pie? Eh, sure why not. Well pie... Not exactly the best food... Cookies are way better, especially chocolate chip! Mmmm Chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven! Warm and gooey... My mouth began to water. Now I really want a cookie...

"Sayuki?"

"Eh?" I looked up at my team mates, being once again awaken from my daydreams.

"Kakashi asked you to explain chakra...3 times," Naruto informed me.

"Oh... erm... right." Time to see how well I was really paying attention during the series.

"Chakra is energy that a ninja needs to use in order to do a technique," I started. "That energy comes from the body energy that is collected from every cell in the body... and from the spirit energy that comes from training, experience, and hard work. Um... in other words, techniques come from these two energies that are molded together and squeezed out of the body at certain points. For example... hands or feet. This process is known as molding the chakra. And with this chakra... A ninja is able to perform a technique by forming a hand sign for example, the tiger hand seal. Kakashi-sensei used this hand sign during our pass or fail test," I finished. I looked over at Kakashi with a look that said, "Did I say that right?" He nodded at me in approval.

"What's with that? You can just learn that with your body even if you don't understand the hard stuff," Naruto said.

"Exactly what Naruto said. We're able to use techniques anyway," Sasuke said agreeing with Naruto.

I coughed out the word, "Morons." Naruto and Sasuke shot me dirty looks.

"Sorry," I apologized, "That was rude. I mean Sasuke is the only true moron here, aren't ya Sasuke?" I grinned. In my mind that ego maniac would always be a moron.

"Thanks, Sayuki!" Naruto laughed.

"Ehem!" Kakashi coughed getting our attention. "Like I was saying, you guys aren't able to use your chakra completely."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Listen up. Like Sayuki said, molding the chakra means to... extract energies from both the body and the spirit, then mixing them up in your body," Kakashi explained. "And the amount of each energy will differ from the type of technique you wish to execute. In other words, the mixing will be different. You are not able to use your chakra effectively. Even if you are able to mold a large amount of chakra... If you cannot control the balance, your technique will only be half as effective or not executed at all. Wasting energy will create a weakness of not being able to fight for a long time."

"So what should I do?" Naruto asked, still confused.

"You're going to learn how to control it with your body," Kakashi said, "You must go through rigorous training where you put your life on the line."

"What are you going to do? Kill us with training?" I asked.

I could see amusement in Kakashi-sensi's eyes. But he didn't answer my question.

"What are we going to be doing?" Sasuke asked.

"Climb a tree."

"Climb a tree?" Naruto and Sasuke asked in unison.

"That's right. But it's not ordinary tree climbing," Kakashi said, "You're going to climb without using your hands."

"And how do you expect us to do that?" I asked knowing the answer.

"Just watch," He ordered. He then formed a hand sign and then began walking up one of the tree's with only his feet!

"Dude!" I exclaimed, "That is too cool!"

"This is how." Kakashi was standing upside down on one of the higher branches. "Gather your chakra at the bottom of your feet and make it attach to the tree trunk. Something like this is possible if you use just the right amount of chakra."

"This is gonna be so fun!" I said, pumping a fist in the air for effect.

"The main purpose of this training is to accumulate the right amount of molded Chakra in the right location," Kakashi said. "This is difficult even for a well-trained ninja. The amount of Chakra used for this tree climbing exercise is quite subtle. And the most difficult place to concentrate Chakra is said to be behind the feet. In other words, if you master this, you can learn any kind of technique. In theory, that is. The second purpose is to maintain that molded Chakra. Most of the time, ninja mold their Chakra during battle. In that situation, it is even more difficult to maintain that Chakra. Well, it's not like anything is going to happen even if I give this lecture. I need all of you to learn it with your bodies." Kakashi threw three kunai at us. One knife landed in front of each of us. "Use that knife to mark where you are able to climb up to with your current ability. Then try to make a new mark above that mark. You guys aren't good enough to climb by walking, so run to give yourself a boost, and get used to it. Got it?"

"Yeah yeah yeah, Enough with the boring speeches!" I said. We each pulled a kunai that Kakashi had thrown at us out of the ground.

I glanced over at Naruto and Sasuke and tried my best to mimic the hand signs they were making. I think I got it! I got a running head start and ran for the tree; Naruto and Sasuke doing the same, only with different tree's. Here goes nothing!

I got no more than five inches up the tree when I fell back down and landed on my butt.

"Owww..." I moaned, "This isn't as easy as it looks."

"I never said it would be easy, " Kakashi said, "In fact I do believe I said it was difficult during my, 'boring speech."

"Right..." I got up and went a few feet away. I got a running head start and repeated the same as before, only to once again land flat on my butt. I tried this several times making only a few inches of progress. I tried again. I made it about 6 feet up the tree before I fell back down again. I looked up at the two marks I had made with my kunai. Then I turned and looked at the marks on the tree's Naruto and Sasuke were using. Naruto was about the same as me, but Sasuke had made it up a lot farther than me!

I stood up with a new determination. There was no way I'd loose to some prissy Uchiha! No way in heck!

I got my head start, ran, put foot on the tree, and ran up it.

Inner Sayuki: YOU CAN DO THIS!

"I can do this!" I yelled out loud not caring who heard. Before I knew it I had made it to one of the highest branches of the tree! I sat on the branch smiling proudly to myself.

"I did it!" I shouted. I looked down and gulped. I was high up. Really high up. Did I mention I have a phobia of heights? I'm absolutely terrified of them.

"It would appear the female of the team has more chakra control than you two," Kakashi said, "And maybe Sayuki, and not someone else, is the closet one to becoming a Hokage right now. The Uchiha clan isn't as great as I thought, either." He was trying to motivate Sasuke and Naruto.

"Excuse me Kakashi-sensi but I take that as a insult!" I said, insulted. And not about the comments directed to Sasuke and Naruto!

"Hm? How so?" Kakashi asked.

"Well just because I'm a female, you'd expect me to not be as good as the guys? Is that it?"

"Sayuki, I didn't say that."

"No, but you sure did apply it!"

"I don't believe I did," Kakashi stated as if there was just no way he was wrong.

"Then why did you call me a 'female"? Hm!? Why didn't you just simply use my name? "The female of the team has more chakra control." Kakashi-sensi you sexist!" I huffed, " I demand an apology!" By this point Naruto was laughing his head off. Oh how I love my ability to make one laugh!

"Well, Sayuki, I am sorry I offended you," Kakashi said, annoyance clear in his voice. If anything I should be the one annoyed!

"You should be!" I crossed my arms and just happened to looked back down.

"K-Kakashi-sensi?"I asked, my voice quiet.

"Yes, Sayuki?"

"H-how do I get back down?"

"The same way you got up; with chakra," He said.

"I-I don't think I can do that sensi..."

"And why not?"

"Because I'm afraid of heights! Now someone get me down now!" I demanded.

This was definitely one of those anime sweat drop moments!

"Hey, old man!" I said walking in back of Tazuna. "Where are we going?" I had to protect the Bridge Builder for the day since Naruto and Sasuke were still training; the hadn't mastered the chakra control just yet. I hadn't exactly perfected it either, I had simply refused to even attempt to walk down the tree. There was just no way I'd risk falling! Kakashi-sensi even had to help me down from the tree.

But I was given the boring job of watching after the Bridge Builder. It wasn't like he was some two year old! I didn't need to babysit him!

Anyway, we had been on the bridge and then we weren't; I was following Tazuna but I didn't know where we were going.

"I'm going to bring home dinner," Tazuna said answering my question. As we walked through the village I looked around. The village was in some major poverty. I saw two small children huddled against a building. They're heads were down and they wore tattered clothing. I felt a pang of pity and anger. Pity for the children, and anger because they were just that, children, they shouldn't be on the streets!

"Here we are," Tazuna said, stopping outside a shop. We walked into the store. I followed Tazuna closely as he did the shopping. Suddenly I felt someone grab my butt! I reacted without thinking, but I sure didn't regret my reaction! I swivelled around and slammed a fist into the man's face.

"Pervert!" I yelled, this time slapping him. This was supposed to happen to Sakura not me!

"You surprised me earlier," Tazuna said as we were walking back.

"Hm? How so?" I asked.

"Woman around here don't usually stick up for themselves. It was a nice change to see that you did," He replied.

"I just gave that perv what was coming to him!" I then felt my clothes being yanked. This time I knew it wasn't a pervert like that other man. I turned around to see a young child. She looked like the children I saw earlier. Ripped up clothes, dirty, small and thin from malnutrition. I felt like I could cry.

"Please," The little girl asked, arms outstretched, palms open and raised.

I swung my backpack off and unzippered it. I dug my hand inside and pulled it back out with a rice ball, and handful of candy.

"Here you go sweetie," I said handing the food to her.

"Thank you!" She said with a glowing smile. She turned and was about to run off when I put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Wait a minute," I said. She turned around and looked up at me. I unzippered one of the smaller pockets on my bag and took out some money. I handed it to the child. "Get yourself a yummy dinner," I said winking.

"Thanks a bunch!" She said before running off.

"That was very generous of you," Tazuna said.

"I only wish I could do more," I sighed.

"It's been like this since Gatoh came," Tazuna said sadly, "All the adults have lost hope here. That's why... we need that bridge now! A symbol of courage. We need the people to lose their fear and regain the desire to stand up for themselves. If that bridge... can just be completed! The city would return to that time. The people would return to how they used to be..."

"Gatoh needs to be stopped. And that bridge needs to be completed," I said agreeing, "Let's get back. Everyone's probably wondering where we are."

Author's Note: Expect an update within this very week perhaps! I was going to go on, and make this chapter twice as long. But then I decided you guys might not want to read a loooong chapter so I'm splitting this in two. I have a big scene coming up in the next chapter. Well, it's not really a big or important scene, it's just a part I've been looking forward to writing.

I've been busy with Nano (which I just quit) so that's why this wasn't up sooner. I sat down yesterday and thought, "My fans must hate me!" So I wrote this chapter. I hope it's not too crummy. I tried to make it funny! That should count for something!!

Well please review if you care about my self esteem!