Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.

AN: So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.

Kakashi watched his team's interactions from his perch in the tree. His presence was so muted that only Anbu level ninja and above could have possibly detected him. Still knowing that, he found himself unsurprised when Naruto flicked a brief an almost unnoticeable glance in his direction. Noticing that he had a few minutes before he had to make his entrance, he allowed himself to muse on the two months that had passed since the formation of Team 7. He was simultaneously both amazed and stumped by the dynamic which existed between his three students. He was amazed because he had never seen, never even heard, of such an efficient team; their missions rating, so far, averaged a staggering 98%. What stumped him however, was that regardless of how successful their mission history, there was nothing even remotely resembling teamwork between them. Kakashi knew that Sasuke felt threatened by Naruto's heretofore unseen proficiency. It took one sparring session and two minutes for Kakashi to accept what the Bell Test had hinted at – Naruto was heads and shoulders above his peers. Hell, the kid was heads above some Chunin in the village. Sasuke repeatedly got frustrated any time he had a spar with Naruto. No matter what moves he pulled out, whatever clever tricks he thought he had up his sleeve, Naruto remained unruffled and undefeated. Compounding the issue was the fact that Naruto clearly had no interest in becoming Sasuke's rival. The only time that he ever agreed to spar with him was during team spars, when Kakashi would ask him to. The sheer disinterest set Sasuke's teeth on edge, forcing him to give his all in every encounter they had, all for naught.

Kakashi remembered, a few weeks after passing his team, when he asked Naruto who had taught him taijutsu. You see, he asked because the boy's taijutsu style was almost like nothing he had ever seen; being friends with a taijutsu expert like Maito Gai ensured that Kakashi was well educated on a variety of Taijutsu styles. Every time he sparred with his student, he noticed that his moves were like variations of standard Taijutsu katas. It was almost like listening to a different dialect of a language he knew well. When he asked Naruto for the identity of his taijutsu teacher, the answer he received perplexed him. Naruto had replied,

"I learnt from…life, I guess; from the striking snake and the stalking tiger, from the leaping monkey and the hunting wolf, from the flowing river and the turbulent wind, from everything around me…from life."

Kakashi had wondered at what his student meant. He could never have known that Naruto was actually telling him the truth. Centuries into his eternal existence, after he had learnt and mastered all the taijutsu styles that existed in whatever reality he found himself in, Naruto sought to go deeper. He visited mountain monasteries, looking for the ancient monks who had discovered the art of taijutsu. From them he learned the history of Taijutsu and its origins. He learned how the first of them had observed the way the animals and environment around them had behaved. He learned to watch how the relentless yet fluid motion of a river wore away the immoveable rock in its path. He learned to observe as the wind went from peaceful and calm to ferocious and cutting in an instant. He went back to the source and learnt it all. The result was a taijutsu style that comprised of the strengths of each style, all refined to their purest forms. Much like with Chinese whispers, the passing down of taijutsu styles from generation to generation introduced additions that resulted in the final form being changed from its original ancestor. Hence the reason why Naruto's moves seemed similar to some of the styles Kakashi was familiar with – he was seeing the taijutsu styles in their pure and unchanged form.

Nonetheless, the fact remained that Naruto was at a level that put him permanently out of reach of his teammates, though Sasuke refused to believe that Naruto would always be the better Shinobi. In his spars with his blond student, Kakashi always won of course, but doing so always required more effort on his part. However, after a handful of spars, he had realized that even though Naruto always lost against him, he almost never took a hit. At first he had wondered if his memory was just faulty, but after the next three spars, he realized that he was right the first time. Concerned that he was being too easy on his student, he started to kick their spars into high gear – at about mid Chunin level – and noticed that Naruto began to sustain a few more injuries. So, every time he sparred with Naruto, he fought him at a level noticeably higher than he did with Sasuke – which Sasuke noticed of course. Still, even fighting him at a more demanding pace, Kakashi still suspected that Naruto wasn't giving it his all but he had no proof of it and so dismissed his suspicions.

Sasuke had spent the past few minutes staring at his other male teammate standing at the railing on the bridge, staring at the water passing by underneath. It had been two months and still he was no closer to surpassing Naruto. It irked him something fierce that a no-name like Naruto was so far above him in terms of skill that he couldn't even touch him in their spars. What was even worse was that Naruto always looked unruffled, no matter what Sasuke threw his way. Sasuke had taken to perusing the hidden jutsu library located in the Uchiha Clan Compound. He practiced some of the D-ranked and C-ranked fire jutsu, hoping to find something he could use against his teammate – nothing ever worked. He would launch a fire ball at Naruto, only to be forced to dodge his own fireball combined with a wind bullet. Somehow, Naruto was always a step ahead of him and it annoyed him greatly. He kept trying to unlock his Sharingan, fully confident that Naruto would be no match for him then, but was having no luck there. Putting aside his thoughts on the matter, Sasuke turned his gaze away from Naruto and stared into space.

It had been a long two months for Sakura, and things did not seem to be looking up. After Kakashi had passed them as a team, she felt as though her dream had finally come true. She was on a team with her Sasuke-kun and nothing was ever going to come between them again. Her dreams were ruthlessly shattered during the first spar she had with Sasuke. She had managed to convince herself that he wouldn't actually fight her. Her delusions had lasted up until a spinning kick from him had slammed into her face, knocking her out. She woke up to find herself sitting by the side of the training ground and no Sasuke worrying over her – no, he was instead involved in a spar with Naruto, which he was losing. Still, she managed to repress that incident somehow and went back to being a fan girl, albeit a slightly more subdued one. As more and more rejections from Sasuke piled up with no buffering declarations from Naruto, she found herself less and less able to summon up the same feelings of adoration she once held for Sasuke. Over time, she slowly became less enamored with him and began to think for herself. She also began to pay more attention to the lessons Kakashi attempted to teach them. She had improved somewhat, and now, she was at the level of a proper academy graduate and not just a civilian. Regardless of her change in attitude, she still had moments where she would forget herself and revert to her former behavior. If she were honest with herself, she would realize that her change to a slightly more serious kunoichi was still related to her desire for Sasuke. Having spent so long with him, she had come to understand that there was almost nothing Sasuke hated more than weakness. Therefore, her taking her Kunoichi skills more seriously was rooted in a desire to finally have Sasuke acknowledge her – yet her efforts were for naught. At first she was confused, until she noticed that every time they had a team meeting, Sasuke would always stare at Naruto…Naruto! She could tell that it was Naruto's apparent skill which surprised and annoyed Sasuke. Still, she couldn't see passed her jealousy and slowly, bitterness began to fester in her heart. She threw a slightly malicious look at Naruto, who was still staring at the river which flowed underneath the bridge.

Kakashi shook himself out of his thoughts and noting the time, prepared to make his entrance. He saw that Naruto was having one of his rare moments of introspection and as such had his guard down somewhat. Kakashi timed his attack perfectly; without any warning signs whatsoever, he was suddenly standing beside Naruto, his leg already in a smooth sweeping motion and his hand jabbing forward. Naruto had been completely aware of Kakashi's presence and thus he could have avoided what happened next if he wanted to. However, in keeping with Kakashi's intended result, Naruto was flipped over the railing he was leaning against, and splashed into the river below. Sasuke and Sakura both felt petty vindication at how wet Naruto was when he finally emerged from the water. With an eye-smile, Kakashi stated,

"That's a good look on you Naruto."

Naruto froze for a moment, and then he slowly turned towards Kakashi and smiled at him. With the feeling of lead in his stomach, Kakashi remembered who it was he had just pranked – Konoha's number one prankster. Kakashi shook off his dawning feeling of terror and turned to head towards the mission office to obtain a mission for his team. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Naruto make a hand seal and channel chakra heated air along his body to dry himself off. Shaking his head at his ever surprising student, he returned to his thoughts. He had finally decided to take his team on their first C-rank mission. He was fully aware that the only reason he felt comfortable doing so was because of the amount of faith he had in Naruto's skill. He was confident that if anything came up, Naruto would be able to get his team out of it, and if he couldn't, well, he was not called Sharingan no Kakashi for nothing. With that final thought, he returned to his ever present Icha Icha novel and continued to walk towards his destination.

Naruto calmly walked behind Kakashi and in between his other two teammates. Since the making of Team 7 two months prior, he had been aware of the feelings of his teammates towards his person. Not being a vindictive person by nature, he never went out of his way to exacerbate the situation, but he wasn't one to roll over for anyone either. He found that after living for so long as he had, it was practically impossible to care about the bruised and battered egos of little children or the petty jealousy inspired from puppy crushes. One ray of sunshine though, was his relationship with his sensei. It felt kind of nice to have an older brother figure in him, one who he could horse around with from time to time. He realized that the incident from two years ago must have played a part in scaring Kakashi out of his indifference. Regardless, he quite enjoyed the interactions he shared with Kakashi. His fondness for Kakashi notwithstanding, he was going to get him back for his actions that morning. So, as they approached the door to the mission office, Naruto cast his senses out to confirm that Iruka and the Sandaime were present, along with quite a number of other Shinobi…Showtime.

As Team 7 approached the door, Naruto shifted his gait to make it seem as though he were attempting, and failing, to conceal a limp. Before Kakashi or any of his other teammates could wonder at that, they entered the mission office and immediately drew the gaze of the Sandaime. Sarutobi's sharp eyes had easily picked up the inconsistency in Naruto's stride and taking into consideration the boy's phenomenal healing factor, he knew that for Naruto to still be limping now, he must have sustained a grave injury indeed. With barely detectable concern, he asked

"Naruto, are you alright?"

Naruto glanced up with wide blue eyes, looking like a deer caught in headlights. He then promptly blushed to the roots of his hair and began to fidget…fidget…in place. With rising concern on the Sandaime's part and slowing dawning horror on Kakashi's, Sarutobi leaned forward with furrowed brows. By this point, Iruka had also noticed that something was wrong and he too focused on Naruto. Naruto opened his mouth, and in a coy and shy tone, he said,

"Umm…it's just that…umm…it's just that it was my first time doing that with a man of his caliber."

Pin…drop…silence.

Sarutobi's face looked to be carved out of granite, and Iruka's eyes had the dawning light of intended murder in them. The rest of the Shinobi present had paused what they were doing and focused on what was happening. Noticing that he now had the full attention of the entire room, Naruto had to fight to maintain his innocent façade as he wove his magic,

"Umm…late yesterday, when we were doing it…Kaka-sensei and I…it was slightly painful since it was my first time doing that."

At this point, Kakashi was staring dumbly at his blond haired student, his book hanging limply from his fingers. Peripherally he was aware of the rising killing intent emanating from the Sandaime and Iruka, as well as the increasing amounts of suspicion and contempt in the gazes of his fellow Shinobi. For all that, he could do nothing but stutter out,

"What…you…Naruto…what are you talking about?"

Naruto looked down and twisted his fingers in his shirt – blatantly ripping off the moves of a certain shy Hyuuga princess. He glanced at Kakashi from the corner of his eye and his face flushed further. He then looked up and gained a dreamy look in his blue eyes which combined with his flushed cheeks presented such an entrancing image that people watching could see how Kakashi might have done…that…to him. Never one to stop while he was ahead, Naruto twisted the knife further; with a dreamy tone to go with the look in his eyes, he continued,

"Yesterday…the movement of our bodies…the repeated thud of flesh hitting flesh…the grunts and pants of exertion…the sweat and smell from such physical activity…feeling him all over me…telling me how good I looked wet…and the pleasant ache that told me I was going to be deliciously sore the next day…Kaka-sensei was a little rough…but…but I liked it…it let me feel it properly."

At this point, some people were discretely wiping off bloodied noses. Sakura had turned bright red in the middle of Naruto's recounting and Sasuke had a blush suffusing his face. Almost simultaneously, the two glanced at Kakashi and shifted away from him as though he were about to pounce and do that to them as well. The sound of a pipe being broken by a too strong grip cut through the silence in the room. Slowly and carefully, Kakashi turned to look at the Sandaime and instead found the Kami no Shinobi staring back at him. Before the Hokage could leave his desk and extract Kakashi's entrails via his nose, Iruka was on his feet, glaring murder at Kakashi and spat out,

"Naruto, are you telling me that…that this…person…touched you yesterday?"

Like a switch being thrown, Naruto was suddenly back to his usual clam and aloof self. Before the room could fully adjust to such an abrupt change in demeanor, Naruto smoothly replied,

"Of course he did Iruka-sensei. It's kind of hard to avoid physical contact during an all-out spar" then with an amused twinkle in his eye, he continued, "Why? What did you think I was talking about?"

The entire room practically face faulted. They all looked up at the sound of a shutter clicking to find Naruto gleefully taking numerous pictures of Kakashi's pale, gaping, and stunned visage. The silence that had descended was suddenly broken by muffled snickers from the eternal chunin pair – Kotetsu and Izumo. Like a dam giving way, the entire room erupted into laughter at Kakashi's expense, with even the Hokage chuckling to himself…and to think that I thought that Naruto had given up his mischievous ways. After the room had quieted down some, with a few snickers let loose every now and then, Kakashi collected himself and trying to act like nothing happened, stepped forward to request a C-rank mission for his team. However, he internally vowed to get his blue eyed student back for this.

The four members of Team 7 walked alongside the caravan at various points – Kakashi in the far back, Sakura and Sasuke along the middle, and Naruto in front. They were currently on their third C-rank mission to safely escort one of Konoha's more successful merchants to the Land of Fire's capital city. Their client, Hayatou Ichirou, had received some threatening letters from an anonymous source. As such, the Hokage had offered the service of one of his best Genin teams – Team 7 – led by legendary ninja, Sharingan no Kakashi. Kakashi had informed his students that unlike their first two C-rank missions – simple deliveries that went smoothly, this mission they were on had a high possibility of bandit action. He was not worried though, not from misplaced arrogance, but from complete confidence he had in the skills of the members of his team. The past three months since his team was formed has seen significant improvements in two of his students. He had refined Sasuke's taijutsu and added a few fire jutsu to his arsenal. For Sakura he had procured a few medical jutsu scrolls and some genjutsu scrolls as well, while working on improving her abysmal physical attributes like strength and stamina. As for his last student, well, he provided something of a sparring partner to help keep Naruto in tip top shape. He had long since come to accept that his third student was significantly more skilled that any other in his generation, and that he would never know just how powerful. He had also taught his students the tree walking exercise, although he got the distinct impression that Naruto was just humouring him. He had also made an effort to discover his student's chakra affinities and found that Sasuke had a major affinity for fire, and a minor one for lightning. Sakura had a single affinity for earth based jutsu. And Naruto, surprisingly, had a major affinity for lightning, though he had demonstrated the ability to use any of the other four chakra types.

A few decades after Naruto had begun jumping realities, he had realized that he needed to do something to keep his life from being dull and monotonous. So, he came up with a system where during a new life, he would stick to one branch of the ninja arts. Sometimes he would mainly focus on Taijutsu, and maybe even only on one style. Other times, he became for kenjutsu what Maito Gai was for taijutsu. And yet other times he only utilised combination affinities like Hyoton (Ice release), Mokuton (Wood release), and so on. He still remembered a particular timeline in which Gaara was too far gone to save; he had gone full Bijuu in the stadium during the Chunin Selection Exams. Before chaos had fully descended, Naruto had calmly clapped his hands and in a voice that cut through the rising panic, he intoned,

Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kotan (Wood Release Secret Technique: Birth of the Dense Woodland)

Jaws had dropped in stunned shock as numerous trees promptly erupted from the ground, bound, and then subdued Ichibi no Shukaku. Ah, good times. Regardless, this time around he had chosen to present Lightning as his main chakra affinity.

Naruto quickly refocused on the present as his acute sense picked up the presence of a huge number of civilians somewhere down the path. Utilizing the pre-agreed signal, he subtly notified Sasuke and Sakura of an impending ambush; he was confident that Kakashi was already aware of the hidden bandits. With practiced movements, the civilians in the merchant train moved closer to the carriages as Sasuke and Sakura spread out in preparation. Sakura fought to keep her hands from shaking as she realized that she would soon have to put into practice all that Kakashi had taught her these past three months. Sasuke clenched and unclenched his fists – the only sign of his nerves, before he silently berated himself for such weakness. He reminded himself that he was at a level where common bandits were merely nuisances. Furthermore, and here he threw a glance at his ever unruffled teammate, this was a chance to show Naruto that he was more than his equal. He took a deep breath and released it just as the first of the bandits sprung out of hiding.

Sasuke's arms were already in motion, blurring as he released shuriken after shuriken towards the group approaching from the left of the caravan. Sakura hesitated only a moment before she too joined Sasuke in taking out as many of the bandits as she could before they entered close range. By the time the attacking bandits had gotten close enough to engage in close combat, half of them had fallen to the deadly cloud of projectiles hurled at them. Sakura was not even aware that tears were flowing from her eyes as her relatively weak taijutsu was more than enough to take down bandit after bandit. Sasuke's eyes were grim and focused as he cut through the group of bandits around him. He didn't even flinch as his kunai penetrated through the skull of an attacking bandit; the night of his family's massacre had long since desensitized him to such bloodshed. Naruto and Kakashi had ignored the approaching bandits, continuing to read their respective books. The bandits, seeing their disinterest, became incensed and surged on more vigorously. The moment they entered into close range with Kakashi, it was all over. Kakashi's figure flickered in place, and one by one, like puppets with their strings cut, the attacking bandits began to fall with their throats slit.

Naruto, on the other hand, did not react until the bandit in front of the charging horde was practically breathing on him. The lead bandit screamed out, "Die!" and brought his raised sword down on Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura whirled around at the sound of the maddened shout in time to witness the descending blade bite into Naruto's shoulder, stopping at his chest. Before a ferocious grin could form on the bandit's face, Naruto's calm voice carried on the wind, originating from the top of the leading carriage, "Kai". The Naruto who had just gotten cut exploded with a crackling surge of supercharged lightning. The bandit in contact with him was flash fried to ash instantly, while powerful bolts of lightning leapt from surrounding bandit to surrounding bandit – short-circuiting their brains and stopping their hearts. After a several seconds long lightshow, all was finally still. The disturbed dust cleared to reveal the charred and smoking corpses of about ten bandits. The civilians, Sasuke and Sakura all stared at the scene of destruction, until they were distracted by the sound of a page being turned. They all looked to the top of the first carriage to find Naruto still reading his damnable book, as though he had not just wiped out a group of bandits in one move.

A few minutes after the ambush – after Sakura had finished throwing up, though her shakes still persisted – the caravan resumed its journey, with the ninjas in their original positions. Kakashi had interrogated one of the surviving bandits to find out if there were any more attackers lying in wait. He learned that one of Hayatou's rivals had contracted an infamous bandit group to rob and kill him. The first ambush had been carried out by a third of the bandit army, the rest laid in wait further down. They even had one or two genin dropouts among them. Kakashi had deemed his team sufficient enough to proceed. Nearly an hour later, Naruto and Kakashi picked up on the presence of the remaining bandits. Noticing that the main force was concentrated in one place further down the road, Kakashi decided that they would take the fight to them. Signaling his students to gather around, Kakashi laid out a plan of attack – Sakura would provide long range support using kunai and shuriken, while Naruto and Sasuke would engage the bandits in close combat. Kakashi had chosen to observe his students, and would only step in if needed. Getting a nod from his students, he motioned for them to move out.

Sakura received a scroll from Naruto and, realizing that it was a storage scroll, opened it to find a ready supply of kunai. She blinked in surprise at the gesture and only then realized that she had used up her supply of projectiles in the previous…She quickly cut that thought off before she could be sick again. She took a deep breath and got into position up in a tree that afforded her full view of the gathered bandits. Sasuke circled around to approach the gathered bandits from the other side, while Naruto went straight ahead – a classic pincer manoeuver.

The seventy bandits had no idea of the events that were about to befall them. The first indication that something was wrong was when the bandit closest to Sakura's position slumped over with a kunai sticking out of his forehead. A fireball launched from Sasuke's position took out three bandits standing close to each other, further worsening the chaos that had descended on the gathered attackers. Into this chaos, Naruto appeared – fluid and silent like the wind, he moved through the group of gathered bandits, his ninjato flashing like quicksilver, ending lives with every sweeping movement. Even Sasuke had been momentarily stunned at the grace with which Naruto used his blade. Shaking himself out of it, he drew dual kunais and charged into the fray. He killed bandits left and right using the Uchiha Interceptor Style, as well as interspacing his taijutsu assaults with the Grand Fireball Jutsu. Sakura rained kunai down on the bandits from above, taking care not to hit any of her teammates. A few minutes after they began, all the bandits lay dead at their feet. Sasuke was panting and covered in blood. He cast a gaze at Naruto to find him unwinded and untouched by any of the blood he had spilt. In that moment, looking at Naruto calmly surveying the massacre he had just wrought, Sasuke realized just what his teammate was capable of. He allowed himself to acknowledge that sometimes, Naruto simply scared him. Sakura was sitting slumped on the branch she had been standing on. Thankfully, this time she wasn't throwing up; she was merely shaking. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Naruto turn to face her, his eyes narrowed. Before she could wonder at his actions, he disappeared from her vision, only to appear next to her with his sword blocking the katana that had been aimed at her neck. She barely had time to flinch in shock before Naruto kicked her attacker away, and vanished to take care of him.

Sasuke had seen Naruto appear next to Sakura in time to save her life. Since he was alert, he was able to sense the ninja approaching from behind. He smoothly pivoted, deflected the strike aimed at his torso and responded with a punishing blow that connected with his opponent's head. The blow forced some distance between the two combatants and Sasuke took a moment to assess his attacker. The other ninja was obviously at most a genin and Sasuke was confident that he could take him. He surged forward and engaged his opponent in a taijutsu battle which he ruthlessly dominated. Finally, after a few minutes, Sasuke created an opening into which he buried a kunai and watched dispassionately as his assailant bled out. He turned around only to receive a boot to the face that launched him into a tree. With his head ringing and his lungs struggling to breathe, he forced his eyes open to meet the malicious gaze of another ninja – this one obviously above genin level. He forced himself to his feet, preparing to engage this new enemy, knowing that he was quite possibly too drained to emerge victorious. The attacking ninja wove hand seals and allowed a bloodthirsty grin to appear on his face as he pronounced, Doton: Doryuudan (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet). Sasuke watched grimly as a dragon head made of earth emerged from the ground and aimed at him. His muscles coiled, preparing to launch him to the side, when both combatants were interrupted by another voice intoning, Raiton: Raikyu (Lightening Release: Lightning Ball). A bright blue ball of tightly leashed lightning ploughed through the head of the rising earth dragon and continued on to the enemy ninja, who only just jumped out of the way.

Naruto landed in front of Sasuke, facing their mutual enemy. Sasuke, who was too tired to put up a fuss about being rescued, allowed his body to slide down the tree he was leaning against. A clone seemed to step out of Naruto's back, and it moved forward to tend to his wounds using a first aid kit Naruto handed it. Without taking his eyes off his opponent, Naruto spoke with his ever calm tone,

"You are the last enemy left alive. Surrender and I will spare you."

Both Sasuke and the ninja were taken aback at the finality in Naruto's statement. Shaking off any hesitation the chunin level ninja might have felt, he prepared to engage this obvious genin. Up in the branches, hidden from all but Naruto's senses, Kakashi watched as his blond haired student defended his teammate. He decided to take this opportunity to see if he could finally gauge his enigmatic student's level. The enemy chunin rapidly covered the distance between Naruto and himself and launched a spinning kick at his head. Naruto's right arm came up and blocked the opening attack. Not giving his assailant any chance to recover, Naruto's left hand came up with his ninjato aimed to pierce the ninja's chest, only to go through a log as his opponent replaced himself. Naruto ducked as a katana cut through the place his neck had been moments before. He spun around and deflected a thrust aimed at his chest, and continued to parry all attacks coming his way with casual ease. He noticed that the more he toyed around with his opponent, the angrier and sloppier his motions became. Deciding that he needed one more push, he turned his body away from his enemy, and while his right hand kept on parrying all attacks aimed at him, his left hand reached into his pouch, pulled out his ever faithful book, and he began to read. All the people present in the clearing gaped at him, the attacking ninja included. With a vein throbbing in his head, he stomped his foot and screamed out, Doton: Doryuusou (Earth Release: Rising Stone Spears). The ground around Naruto surged upwards in the form of hardened spikes of stone. Before any of the rising spears could harm him, Naruto stretched his sword out and spun his body in a circle while saying, Raiton: Kangekiha (Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration). Lightning surged down his blade and erupted in a straight line from the tip, resulting in a ten foot long blade of condensed lightning chakra with which he described a circle, ten feet in radius. The lightning cut through the spikes as though they were not even there. When he came out of his spin, he was facing the ninja and before the ninja could launch another attack, Naruto indicated that he should look at his feet. Almost against his will, his gaze dropped down to find a kunai planted in front of him. Bewildered, he looked left and right to find kunai there as well, almost as though he were standing in a triangle. With a dawning sense of dread he looked up in time to hear Naruto speak, Raiton: Kaminari Shibari (Lightning Release: Thunder Binding). Lightning burst forth from each of the three kunai to form a pyramid of crackling energy. The ninja struck one of the walls of the barrier with his sword, only to drop it as a current was grounded via his body, resulting in a painful shock.

Seeing that the enemy was safely contained, Naruto turned a bland look up at Kakashi's hiding place causing his sensei's eyes to widen in shock. Brushing off his surprise, he shunshined to his student's position and patted him on his head with an eye smile. Sakura had gotten out of her tree already and was finishing the job Naruto's clone had started in bandaging up Sasuke's wound. Both she and Sasuke had been stunned to see the way their teammate handled the enemy ninja, both fully aware that neither of them could have faced an opponent of that caliber. Kakashi turned his attention to the chunin, who paled when he recognized the legendary ninja that was eyeing him like one of his ninken would eye a steak. Motioning for Naruto to release the lightning prison, he blurred forward and took hold of the chunin, then vanished to question him. The screams of pain and terror, which originated from the direction Kakashi took the enemy ninja, served to remind his three students that for all his laziness and goofing off, their sensei was still the legendary Shinobi, Copy Ninja Kakashi.

Kakashi finished interrogating his prisoner and determined that there would be no more ambushes along the way. He returned to his students and instructed them on how to clean up after such battles – even showing them how to scavenge any useful items. After the three students of Team 7 had cleared up the dead bodies, with Sasuke getting to use his fire jutsu on the bodies, Kakashi led them back to the caravan. He was pleasantly surprised to note that Naruto had left a few clones to make sure that the caravan remained unharmed while they were taking care of the last of the bandits. In short order the merchant train resumed its journey and with no further complications, finally arrived at their destination. Kakashi got the mission scroll signed and turned to lead his team back to Konoha. The cry of a messenger falcon drew his attention and noticing the Konoha symbol on its band, he raised a hand for it to land on. He retrieved the message and read it quickly. When he realized that he did not need to respond, he allowed the falcon to leave and turned to face his team. His voice was grim as he spoke,

"Team 10 has requested immediate backup. Their jounin-sensei is injured and we are the closest team to them."

Sakura perked up at the opportunity to meet Ino again and asked him where they were going. The answer came to Naruto before Kakashi spoke it,

"The Land of Waves"

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