Naruto: A Second Chance
A/N: Sorry this took so long I got grounded and I can finally use my computer I promise this chapter will be awesome I hope you all had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year, so R&R please.
Chapter Eight: Training and the battle on the bridge begins.
"Uhh….." Kakashi moaned, he was very sore and aching after his battle with Zabuza.
"You shouldn't have pushed yourself so hard!" Tsunami scolded.
"Yeah I know." Kakashi replied, "Hey where's my team?"
"Sasuke and Sakura are downstairs eating lunch and that other boy left the house soon after he brought you in." Tsunami said.
"Brought me in?" Kakashi inquired.
"Yeah he went ahead of the group and brought you here, he's a nice boy." Tsunami explained.
"I see." Kakashi said.
Downstairs Sakura and Sasuke were sitting at the large table.
Sakura sat in her chair with her arms crossed and her foot tapping the floor impatiently, "Grr, where the hell is Naruto?!" Sakura shouted.
"Hmm." Sasuke replied as he was eating his rice and fish. "Where is that idiot?" he thought to himself.
"Hey what are you thinking about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
"Nothing." He replied.
"Oh okay…" Sakura said sadly, "GRR, WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE SO DISTANT!!" Inner Sakura yelled.
"Kids." Tazuna said in his mind.
Down by the river Naruto was high in a large tree taking a well deserved nap. There was the almost inaudible sound of a twig breaking. There was a sudden glare imbedding into a tree just above a squirrels head.
Naruto leapt from the branch and landed on the ground, "Hehe, sorry about that little guy, but you shouldn't have snuck up on me like that." Naruto said as he pulled the kunai he threw out of the tree.
"I guess I should head back now." He said and started to walk back to Tazuna's house.
"Hey everyone I'm back…" Naruto stated to say as he walked through the door when suddenly he was struck extremely hard in the head.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!" Sakura yelled.
"I was out taking a nap in a tree where it was quiet, damn you hit really hard you know that?" Naruto said.
"Hmp, stupid dobe." Sasuke said quietly.
"What you say!" Naruto demanded he was now face to face with Sasuke.
"I said stupid dobe!" Sasuke said back loudly.
"You want to take this outside?" Naruto asked.
"You aren't worth my time." Sasuke said.
"Ha, you're just scared of me because of what happened six years ago." Naruto retorted
This made something in Sasuke snap, "Fine let's take this outside!" Sasuke agreed.
"Naruto, Sasuke!" Shouted a voice.
They looked over and saw Kakashi standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Kakashi-san, you should be resting." Said Tsunami.
"Its alright, I'm fine, so you guys want to fight eh, well get ready you're going to have a sparing match in five minuets."
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other with angry faces then looked away quickly "Hmp!" they both said.
Five minuets later Naruto and Sasuke stood in a large circle made by Kakashi, "Alright, the rules are simple hand to hand and no use of deadly techniques, alright?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah." Naruto and Sasuke said at the same time.
"Ok then….begin!" Kakashi shouted.
Sasuke leapt into the air and attempted to kick Naruto in the head, but Naruto caught his leg, recovered quickly and placed both hands on the ground and tried to fling Naruto into the air with his captured leg.
Naruto saw this course of action and decided to go with it, Naruto's feet left the ground and Sasuke kicked Naruto in the stomach.
Sasuke smirked, but then Naruto burst into smoke, "Damn!" Sasuke shouted in his mind, he tried to jump but something caught his leg and he was buried shoulder deep into the ground.
"Well, I guess this means I win?" Naruto asked Sasuke in a mocking way.
"Damn, how do I keep losing to this guy, I know I'm better than this, better than him!" Sasuke turned his head away from Naruto and his hair casted a shadow over his eyes.
"Well since we got that out of the way we can begin your training, meet me in the forest in half an hour." Kakashi said and he disappeared.
Naruto grabbed Sasuke by his collar and pulled him out of the ground, "Good match." Naruto said and held out his hand to Sasuke, Sasuke was staring at the ground and suddenly slapped Naruto's hand away and walked off.
"S-Sasuke-kun…" Sakura said in a scared and surprised voice and went off after him.
Naruto started walking into the forest, "Sasuke…I hope for your sake you won't go along with Orochimaru this time, because I won't go easy on you." He said to himself quietly.
Nearby, hiding amongst the trees Kakashi couldn't help but to hear what Naruto said, "Sasuke? Orochimaru? What the hell is he talking about?" He said to himself.
Two hours later team 7 was gathered in a small clearing, "Where the hell is Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled.
"Could you keep it down, I kind of enjoy the rest time we get from his constant lateness." Naruto said as he lounged against a tree.
Sasuke sat against a tree saying nothing at all still looking angry.
Suddenly three kunai imbedded the ground in front of the three Genin.
"Yo!" Kakashi greeted friendly.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled.
"Yeah, well you see I lost my favorite book and it took me a while to find it." Kakashi explained.
"Liar!" Sakura said angrily.
"Any the training I'm going to give you is…tree climbing." Kakashi said.
Sakura and Sasuke were dumb-struck and Naruto couldn't looked like he couldn't care less.
"Tree climbing, you're going to make us climb trees?!" Sasuke said angrily
"Precisely, mastering this skill will help you defeat Zabuza." Kakashi explained.
"How is that?" Sakura asked.
"Well this training exercise will help you learn chakra control, which in turn will help you perform jutsu without exhausting yourselves too soon into a fight, so all you have to do is…" He stood on his branch and put his fingers in the ram sigh, "gather the chakra to the souls of your feet and try walking on the trunk of the tree." Kakashi explained as he walked down the tree.
"This will be easy." Sasuke said.
The three Genin placed their fingers in the ram sign and gathered chakra at the bottoms of their feet and ran towards the tree.
Sasuke got about five steps on the tree before he was pushed off of the tree, "Damn I used too much chakra that time!" He cursed himself.
Sakura did quite well she made it to a branch about fifteen feet off the ground.
And Naruto…well Naruto was quietly napping on a high branch near the top of the tree.
"Well that was good Sakura, Sasuke you need to limit the amount of chakra you use, and Naruto well great job." Kakashi said
"Thanks Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said lazily as he relaxed against a tree.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with training and improvement.
"Well we should end our training for today." Kakashi said.
The four went back to Tazuna's house for dinner.
As they all sat at the table they had a nice meal consisting of some fish, beef and rice.
After dinner they all sat around the table doing miscellaneous activities, Sasuke was brooding, Naruto and Kakashi were playing Go, Tazuna was drinking sake, Tsunami was washing the dishes, Inari was just sitting there, and Sakura was looking at a picture on the wall.
"This picture looks ripped, Inari you were staring at it all through dinner, who was ripped from it?" Sakura asked.
"It's my husband." Tsunami said.
"He was known as a hero in these parts." Tazuna said.
When this was said Inari got up and left the room.
"Dad, what have I told you about saying that!" Tsunami said angrily and chased after Tsunami.
"So tell us about him" Kakashi said.
Tazuna went on and explained how Inari met him and how he had saved the village.
They all went to bed and awoke the next morning for more training, Naruto disappeared for hours while the others climbed trees.
When done near sunset they traveled back to Tazuna's house, about an hour after they arrived Naruto came in looking like a complete mess.
He sat down at the table and everyone stared at him, "What?!" He said.
"What have you been doing Naruto?!" Sakura demanded.
"Training, duh." He said.
"You're a complete mess, what kind of training have you been doing?" Sakura asked.
"Well not to be rude, but it's not really any of your business, but lets just say I've been training hard." He replied.
"What's the point of training?" Inari said, "You're all just going to die by Gatoh's hand anyway!"
"Inari that was uncalled for, apologize!" Tsunami scolded.
"Why, I'm just giving them advice to save their lives," He said, "and you, you train more than the rest and for what you're no stronger than the rest, I bet you'll even get killed first because of your cocky attitude, what will your family and friends think then, huh!?" Inari yelled at Naruto.
Naruto's hair casted a shadow over his eyes, then he turned to Inari with a look of anger in his eyes and his hand clenching his glass, "You think that just because your father died you can feel sorry for yourself, I've seen you all you do is cry in your room when your alone, your weak and a big baby!" He said angrily and he got up and left the house.
Inari was in tears and rushed out of the house as well, Inari sat at the boardwalk his face wet from tears. Kakashi sat next to him, "Inari, your grandfather told us the story about your father, but what you said to Naruto was indeed uncalled for." Kakashi said sympathetically, "You see, Naruto has had a hard life, he hasn't known the love of a family, or the joy of having friends, he is deeply detested in our village by most of the people and he didn't even know why for the longest time, but he's lived through it all and I've never seen him cry. Well think on that, I'm going inside." And with that Kakashi left.
The next day at breakfast they were all eating quietly, "Where's Naruto?" Sakura asked. Everyone looked around, "I'm not sure," Tsunami said, "I don't think he came back last night."
Sasuke got up from the table and headed toward the door, "Where are you going Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
"Out." He replied.
Out deep in the forest a figure was wandering around with a basket around their arm, the figure bent down to gather some medicinal plants when a bird landed on their shoulder, "Hello." The figure said in a quiet voice. The figure stood and looked over and saw a young boy lying on the ground, he was filthy and he seemed to be asleep.
The figure walked toward the boy, suddenly the figure remembered the boy, he was the boy who held his own against Zabuza. The figure bent down, their hand reaching slowly for the boy's throat, his hand lowered and shook him awake instead.
Naruto jerked awake, "Uhh.." he moaned as he sat up, he looked at the figure standing in front of him, "Haku?" He thought.
"You shouldn't sleep out here, you'll catch a cold." Haku said, "What are you doing out here anyway?" He asked.
"I'm training." Naruto replied, "I need to get stronger, I have many precious people to protect."
"Oh, so you have precious people, training to protect them is a good way to get strong." Haku said.
"Yeah I know, but lets stop with the formalities." Naruto said.
"Excuse me?" Haku said innocently.
"You know what I'm talking about, hunter-nin." Naruto said.
Haku's eyes widened a little, "So you know who I am, do you plan on killing me here?" He asked.
"No, I don't plan on killing you, how about you and Zabuza forget all of this you're doing and come to Konoha with me and my team?" Naruto asked.
"That is a tempting offer, but ill have to refuse." Haku said as he got up, "Goodbye…"
"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied.
"Ok, Naruto." Haku said as he walked away.
"Just think about what I said." Naruto said. Haku heard him but said nothing.
Sasuke was walking in the forest when he passed by a person he didn't know, he paid no mind to Haku because he spotted Naruto, "You were gone all night, everyone is worried." Sasuke said though it sounded like it hurt as he said it.
"Yeah, but what do you want." Naruto asked.
"I just came to find you so everyone would shut up and stop worrying about you." Sasuke said starting to get angry.
"Yeah, but what is it that you want to ask me." Naruto asked menacingly.
Sasuke growled, "I…I was wondering if you could help me with my training." He said, which caused him severe pain in his pride.
A wide grin appeared over Naruto's face, "Well sure I could help, but the way you acted towards me the other day wasn't very nice." Naruto said.
"Well about that…" Sasuke began, "Damn, I'm really going to hate myself for saying this." He told himself, "I'm sorry for the way I acted, I was just angry." He finished, his pride felt as if it was impaled by a kunai with an explosion note attached to it.
"Alright since you apologized, lets go somewhere else to continue your training." Naruto said as he got up and started walking off.
Kakashi was well hidden in a nearby tree, "What in the world could he have possibly been doing to push him that hard?" He asked himself, he leapt from his tree to the spot Naruto had been lying in, "There doesn't seem to be any indication he was training over here…" He looked down and saw a chunk of a tree, he took a few steps away from where Naruto was found, the sight pushed him to the brink of insanity, "What in the hell did he do!" he exclaimed.
Sasuke was panting hard, "I-I made it to the top." He said.
"Yep, lets head back." Naruto said.
When the door opened everyone saw the sight of Sasuke being supported by Naruto, "He made it to the top." Naruto said.
"Great job Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Good work." Kakashi congratulated.
They all sat down to eat dinner, Naruto laid his left hand on the table and ate with his right.
"What's wrong with your hand, Naruto?" Tsunami asked
Naruto quickly took his hand off the table, "Oh its nothing, really don't worry." He assured her.
"Are you sure, it was twitching and trembling?" She asked thoughtfully.
"Please, don't worry about me." Naruto told her.
After dinner, everyone sat around and conversed, "Naruto." Kakashi said, "I need to speak with you." He sounded serious.
Naruto followed Kakashi out of the house and a little ways into the forest, "Alright I'm going to cut to the chase, what kind of training were you doing last night?!" Kakashi demanded.
"Nothing too special, just some tree climbing and kage-bunshin training." Naruto said innocently.
"Don't lie to me, I saw your training area, it was completely desecrated, what the hell were you doing?!" Kakashi demanded again.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said calmly.
"Naruto, I'm just concerned about your safety." Kakashi said caringly, "We should at least speak to Sandaime-sama about it."
"Well actually, Sandaime-sama pretty much knows everything." Naruto admitted.
"Well in that case, I'll just speak with him when we return home." Kakashi said.
"Alright." Naruto agreed.
"Lets head back, we are all going to oversee the completion of the bridge tomorrow." Kakashi informed.
That next morning, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura were all ready to go.
"What about Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"He's exhausted, let him sleep he'll catch up." Kakashi said.
Along with Tazuna the three arrived to the bridge to find all of the workers on the ground, "Wha-what happened!?" Tazuna exclaimed and ran over to the nearest body, "What happened!?"
"T-Tazuna, run, Gatos men are here, two of them, very powerful…" The man faded into unconsciousness.
Suddenly a thick mist shrouded the bridge.
"Long time no see Kakashi." A voice said from somewhere in the mist.
"Zabuza." Kakashi said with disgust, "I knew I would see you again soon."
Zabuza appeared as if out of nowhere along side him was Haku wearing his hunter-nin mask.
"And I was right about that boy beside you, he with you." Kakashi said.
"Very perceptive, Kakashi." Zabuza replied, "I see you still have those brats with you, and look at that one, he's still shaking."
Sasuke was indeed shacking but then he smirked, which surprised Zabuza, "I'm shacking from…anticipation!" He said fiercely.
"Well Haku, it seems you may have some competition." Zabuza told the young boy.
"Indeed, Zabuza-san." Haku replied, and he took a few steps toward team seven.
"Go for it Sasuke!" Kakashi encouraged.
"Right!" Sasuke yelled back and he charged forward at Haku with a kunai in hand, Haku threw senbon at Sasuke who easily knocked them away.
Sasuke slashed at Haku and Haku grabbed Sasuke's hand.
"Heh, I've got you, you only have one free arm, so you cant perform any jutsu, but I've got you just where I want you!" Sasuke shouted, he pulled out another kunai in his free hand.
"That's where you're wrong, I have two advantages, there is water all over the battle field and I have occupied one of your hands." Haku said calmly, and he started making hand seals.
"He can make seals with one hand, incredible!" Kakashi shouted surprised.
"Suiton: Flying Water Needles!" Haku shouted and using his superior speed he jumped away quickly.
Hundreds of needles made of water rose above Sasuke, "Not good, focus, remember your training." He told himself, he focused a lot of chakra to the bottoms of his feet.
There was a small explosion and Sasuke was in the air untouched, "That was a close one." He said to himself.
"You're pretty good, I'll give you that, but you have no idea who you're dealing with." Sasuke said, he got into an unfamiliar fighting stance to everyone except Kakashi.
"Sasuke, how do you know that fighting style?" Kakashi asked seriously.
"You didn't think all I did was climb trees with Naruto, he knew this was coming and he taught me a few things." Sasuke explained.
"What kind of fighting style it that Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.
"It's…the killer tiger style, it is an advanced killing style, it is extremely hard to master, I'm guessing that he is only into the first steps of it?" Kakashi told Sakura. "Naruto, just what the hell do you know?" Kakashi was very curious about his idiotic student.
"Now, lets begin this!" Sasuke yelled and rushed forward ready to strike down his foe.
A/N: Yes cliffhanger a readers worst nightmare, hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll get the next one up as soon as I can. R&R please.