Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either.

A/N: Sorry about the late update! Lots of tests during this past week of school. Anyways, thank you so much for all support you give. Here is a new chapter. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it.

Let me know what you think!

~Roxy

A hollow hum echoed across the flat metallic expanse. Rivulets of blood pattered out onto the floor into a spiral design. The seal spun. A hand collided with glass on the inside of the glossy metal tank. Fingers splayed wide.

-0-

Grimy red flags covered in black lettering flapped slowly in the humid heat seeping forth from the masses of bodies that pushed their ways through the crowded street. Loud voices haggling for the prices of bruised fruit, glass jars of rainwater, and pots of steaming oddly scented soups overpowered the sounds of the flags' dismal fluttering. The faded strips of cloth clung to a rotted wooden bar that offered coverage and advertisement for Ichiraku Ramen. Beyond the strips of red cloth, a pleasant, spicy aroma overwhelmed the spoiled scents of the marketplace food.

Naruto sat on a worn wooden stool in front of the cooking counter. Four empty bowls of ramen were stacked on the thin counter in front of him. He sighed happily. He was seated between Sasuke and Sakura. The former was picking at the remnants of a single bowl of ramen in front of him. The latter had finished her bowl and reached into her pants pocket to extract the money necessary to pay. "Thanks for getting lunch with me guys! I think we're gonna be a badass team!" Naruto bellowed.

"Yeah, definitely, Naruto." Sakura smiled. She had purposefully seated herself on the far side of Naruto and away from Sasuke. To her left, one stool down, sat a crumpled old woman dressed in a ripped red kimono. The sleeves of the kimono fell off of the woman's shoulders and exposed more flesh than the garment would have traditionally intended. The elderly woman rocked a baby against her bare, wrinkled breasts. Sakura tried not to glance at the woman or at her smattering of thick, raised scars across her shoulders and breasts: whip marks, Sakura's weapons instructor had taught her. Not looking was something her mother had taught her: "don't acknowledge them. You can't help them. It's too sad." Mebuki's sayings circled through Sakura's head. She had never been to this part of town before. She could hear the old woman humming something to the baby in a deep, guttural voice.

Naruto grinned back at Sakura. "You're so nice, Sakura-chan! Unlike teme who acts like something's been stuck up his ass this whole time."

Black eyes darted swiftly to Naruto and glared. "Dobe." His eyes landed briefly on Sakura's eyes, but she quickly glanced away. He frowned. He had noticed how she had walked around both him and Naruto in order to sit on Naruto's other side and away from him. Stupid girl. She was still mad about him carrying out a plan that she had created? Girls were weird.

Naruto laughed. "Hey, it's not my fault, teme. I didn't put the stick up there!"

Sakura let out an uneasy chuckle.

Sasuke's eyes whipped back to Naruto. They were dark, narrow, and furious.

Naruto continued laughing. Part of him realized that it might be cruel. Still, Sasuke's acting with Sakura had left a foul taste in his mouth. And Naruto, despite trying to be kind to everyone around him, was no saint. He could vividly remember Sasuke telling him that he had no hope to ever be a shinobi just within the past week. He remembered Sasuke's cocky smirk whenever Naruto would fail a new jutsu. The taunts had circulated through his mind, and part of him relished in taunting Sasuke back. Endless kindness surely was not helping the guy anyways. Naruto could easily see Sasuke's disdain for his fangirls. "Seriously though! Who rammed something that far up your asshole that you're always such a brooding teme!?"

Itachi, Sasuke thought, before he could even stop himself. Sasuke felt every muscle in his body spasm at once. After a single twitch, his body was still again. Who could he have been if Itachi never…snapped? Was snapped the right word for it, or was his brother always fucked up? Would Sasuke himself always be fucked up? His glare harshened as he turned to glare down at the counter in front of him. Strands of long midnight hair obscured his face. He would kill Itachi. He would return balance to his life.

"Naruto!" Sakura lightly hit Naruto on the back of the head. "That wasn't nice." She leaned in and whispered a quick "he's sensitive, okay? Like Kakashi said, we have to be careful." She had noticed the twitch and felt her own heart jump in her chest. Why? She had no idea. She thought of how he had ripped her pants down her legs and felt afraid again, but she also blushed.

She had meant to be quiet. Really, she did. Unfortunately, Sasuke heard every word. His stomach churned. Suddenly, he wanted to vomit. She thought he was weak. She could barely fight and yet had deemed him "sensitive." His glare shot up to her. He met her eyes, and black burned into startled green.

Naruto turned towards Sasuke and watched the other boy through wide, blue eyes. He leaned his elbows against the counter and moved his head forward and onto his hands. He had successfully blocked Sakura from Sasuke's sight. "But whatever you've got stuck up there, that's okay with me because you're on my team, and we're going to raise hell together like we did today against Kakashi-sensei! Team Seven, get ready to dominate!" He fist pumped the air. He hoped his optimism helped diffuse the situation to some extent. Sasuke was lonely, like himself. Naruto frowned. Bastard as Sasuke may be, Naruto knew that he needed social support. So far, he had not let anyone in. Naruto would not push himself in. He would not cater to Sasuke's every whim and blindly praise him like a fangirl. But he was there. If Sasuke ever reached out. He remembered walking past the pier out by the river. He used to see a younger Sasuke sitting out alone on the bridge at sunset. As a kid, Naruto would silently watch Sasuke's back and hope that the other boy would turn and see him. Just looking back at him, any spark of acknowledgment no matter how brief, could have made Naruto feel like he mattered. Sasuke was broken. Even an eight-year old Naruto knew that. Broken, alone, and afraid. Maybe they could be broken, alone, and afraid together? Age had crushed that dream when Sasuke had excelled exponentially faster than the rest of the academy students and joined the ranks of peers who deemed Naruto stupid, talentless, and worthless. "Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke! The trio of death! Believe it! We're gonna be legends!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "The trio of death? That's so…lame sounding."

Naruto frowned.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "We need a better team name. Right, Sasuke-kun?" She leaned her elbows against the counter and peered around Naruto over towards her other teammate.

Sasuke glanced over at her. "Hn." He watched her. So she avoided him, and now she was bringing him into her conversation? Stupid.

"So…" she smirked at him. "Your turn to come up with a name, Uchiha." She stuck her tongue out at him as well. Maybe if she treated him like she treated Naruto things could be normal? Maybe they could interact and avoid awkwardness while making it clear that she refused to be a fangirl anymore? She still doubted he would ever respect her. He didn't seem to respect any of his peers.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"Just agree with me and say the trio of death!" Naruto made an energetic fist.

"No. That is a lame name, dobe."

"Aww no fair! You guys are so mean and lame!" He pouted.

The old woman's gaze narrowed on the loud blonde haired boy. A look of disgust crossed her face as her eyes squinted on the figure. She scrunched the kimono back up over her shoulders. She deposited an amount of money onto the counter. With the baby still in her arms, she muttered a quick "I refuse to eat alongside vermin" and roughly shouldered Naruto as she exited Ichiraku's.

Naruto's eyes darkened. He bit his tongue and stared after the old woman. He bent his head down and loose strands of hair scattered into his face.

"Naruto…what was that about?" Sakura placed a tentative hand on her teammate's shoulder before retracting it. They were not close enough for physical comfort.

Shrugging, Naruto stood from his stool. "I don't know. Maybe I played a prank on her or something." He dug into his pocket only to find lint. His frown deepened. He glanced back at Sasuke and Sakura. Neither had stood yet. If he ran, they would have to pick up the tab. But…they were supposed to be his teammates. His friends? Maybe one day? Would they pay for him if he asked them to? Would they ask why he couldn't pay? Would they ask why he was poor? Why he couldn't find a job? Why he had left the orphanage? Naruto smiled playfully—fake, his mind said—and turned to glance back at his teammates. His eyes widened. "Holy shit! I forgot to turn the stove off in my home! My apartment is going to burn down! Nyan could be in there!" He spun on his heels and sprinted off, away from Ichiraku's.

Sakura stared after Naruto's orange-clad back. How could anyone be that forgetful and still pass their academy exams? Also, Naruto had a cat? She heard Sasuke grunt from somewhere behind her. She whipped around to face her remaining teammate who was staring at her expectantly. "What?" Why did he grunt at her and expect her to understand what he was saying?

He motioned towards the empty bowls. "Are you paying?"

A gust of humid air slapped the dirty red flag into Sakura's face. The flag tangled against her sweaty ponytail before falling back into its place in front of the ramen stand. She scowled at him. "Are you fucking serious?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

She huffed in a breath and wiped sweaty strands of pink hair from her forehead. She turned to face him and crossed her arms over her chest. Mocking his posture, she stared back at him.

He raised an eyebrow.

She exhaled angrily. "Aren't you rich or something?"

"Hn."

Somehow, the humidity had not caused his hair to stick to his forehead and cheeks as it had caused her hair to. This annoyed Sakura. "Oh fine, oh perfect Uchiha master, I, your humble servant will pay for you." She grit her teeth.

Sasuke stood from his stool. He walked over to Sakura. He slightly towered over her by a few inches even as she sat in her elevated stool. "I was going to pay for myself. I was asking if you planned on paying for the dobe."

Sakura stood from her stool as well and glanced up at Sasuke. Their interactions confused her. She had no idea what amount of push and pull she could accomplish with Sasuke without invoking his hatred, seeming like a fangirl, or damaging the already shattered psyche he was rumored to have. When should she be aggressive? When should she be submissive to his moods? It yet again dawned on her that the boy she had fawned over, the boy that she had stolen the reality from and plastered her own ideals onto the physical existence of, remained a stranger. An unpredictable, possibly volatile, possibly broken stranger. She had seen his nearly translucent skin, lush black hair, and dark abysmal eyes and obsessed over manipulating the image of Sasuke into her ideal. Yet, who was Uchiha Sasuke? Sakura no longer knew herself, never knew Sasuke, and recognized that she probably did not know Naruto either. Did she even know Ino? Her own parents? What did it matter? Sakura could never seem to create a strong enough bond with anyone. All of her bonds seemed artificial. Up until yesterday, she was content with being a fangirl. She had even abandoned Ino to pursue Sasuke. Sakura could picture the tears in Ino's icy eyes when Sakura had claimed that they could no longer be friends. Ino…who had made Sakura feel like she could belong. Abandoned for a stranger. Some friend she was, Sakura mused about herself.

Sasuke heaved in an agitated breath and moved some hair from in front of his face. "Well?"

"Fine. I'll pay for him. I have enough money" she spoke softly. She fished through her pants pocket and extracted a pink, cat-shaped wallet. She opened the wallet, retrieved the necessary money, and handed the money to the man behind the counter. Teuchi or something? "For me and for my friend Naruto, the blonde boy in the orange." She slid her wallet back into her pants.

The man behind the bar nodded sympathetically. "Yes, of course. It is so nice of you to pay for him. So few people give him a chance to be the great kid I know he can be. He can't pay you back now, but he's a good kid. Don't believe what they tell you around here about him."

Sakura bit her lip. "Like what the old lady called him? What do people around here say about him?"

The man behind the bar wringed together two tan hands in between stacking the empty bowls of ramen left from the three genin and the older woman. "It's not a story for you, little lady. Maybe one day your parents will tell you about Uzumaki Naruto." He sighed and gazed off at a half empty bottle of sake placed at the end of the counter.

"Oh. Well thank you. I'll ask then." She turned and brushed lightly past Sasuke. "See you tomorrow, Sasuke-kun." She still added the suffix. Habits, she supposed. Would Naruto really have played pranks on the impoverished people of this section of Konohagakure? Is that why he was hated? She shook her head. An image entered her mind from when she was five years old. She and Ino were chasing each other through overgrown grass. "Almost got you!" Ino giggled as her fingers grazed Sakura's long red ribbon.

"Nuh uh!" Sakura giggled in response. The pink haired girl wriggled between two moving swings and ran towards the river. She paused as she noticed a lone little blonde boy sitting in the grass on the hill overlooking the river. She had often seen him alone before. Nobody ever seemed to talk to him. Tiny Sakura wondered why. Did they make fun of him too? He had weird whisker-like scars on his face. That had to earn him similar taunting to her forehead.

"Got ya!" Ino pounced onto Sakura causing both girls to tumble down to the ground. "Why did you stop running?" Ino panted as she rolled off of Sakura.

Sakura rolled onto her stomach and extended a short finger towards the blonde boy. "Who's that boy, Ino-chan?"

"I don't know. Naru something? My otou-san says he's a big meanie and I shouldn't talk to him."

Sakura watched the boy turn over his shoulder to glance at them. He had heard them. Sakura blushed. His big, blue eyes locked with hers. She could see tears streaming down his face. It made her want to cry. "I don't think he's a meanie, Ino-chan. He looks sad. I don't want him to be sad." She watched as the blonde boy's eyes widened and he cast a small, shaky smile at her.

Ino glared at the boy. "My daddy's always right. He says that boy is a monster!"

"Sakura."

The girl halted. The memories faded from her mind. She turned to see Sasuke standing next to her with his hands shoved into his pockets. She frowned. "Yes?"

He tilted his head to the side. She had paid and then she had left, suddenly. She had not waited to hear his goodbye nor did she seem to hear it when he supplied it. "What did the ramen shop owner and the old hag mean…about Naruto?" Maybe her family had told her. Maybe her mother had picked her up in strong loving arms and divulged the secrets of the strange whisker-marked boy. Maybe her mother had smelled like shiso and had long, flowing raven hair and little dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. He felt a dull pang in his chest but pushed it back deep into his mind.

"I…have no clue. Naruto is a baka…but, I don't think he would pull pranks on an old woman. Or honestly anyone from that part of town. Naruto…he's too, well he seems too kind for that. But what do I know?"

Sasuke grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. "What do you know?" He kept his hand on her shoulder.

She instinctively flinched at the contact. Both of them noticed. Sasuke retracted his hand.

"I…well, a long time ago…Ino said that her father told her Naruto was a monster. But we were five. I don't see how that is possible" Sakura responded whilst glancing away from Sasuke's face.

"It's not. Did your own parents say anything about it?"

"No. Not really. When I asked my dad about it, he told me that I should be nice to Naruto." She felt her stomach coil as she realized that she had been anything but nice to the boy throughout the years. "Yours?" The question came out before she could stop it. She almost clapped her hand to her lips in some futile attempt to force the word back in.

He pictured his mother He could almost feel her hand running through his hair as she sang. "Okaa-san told me to be nice to Naruto too" he whispered.

"And neither of us have been, have we?" Sakura glanced up at Sasuke.

"Hn." He had not cast cruel jeers at Naruto like the other boys had. He never screamed "demon" in Naruto's face. He had not joined the others in beating Naruto up after class once every Friday. He was not one who had pantsed Naruto in front of the entire class on his birthday. Sasuke had been as nice as he could be. No, he had not talked to Naruto. But what could he say? Comforting words lied. It would not be okay. It never would be okay. Both of them had to deal with their lots in life.

Sakura watched Sasuke as they walked together in silence. A few days ago she would have been squealing at this opportunity. Now? She had no idea what to think about him. His face seemed impassive. Empty, almost. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Sasuke."

"Hn?" He half turned to face her. His brows furrowed.

"About…well you know what Kakashi-sensei said. Using common knowledge about you to—"

"Common knowledge" he practically growled. He gripped her shoulder roughly and turned her to face him. His grip on her shoulder was crushing. She flinched again and he removed his hand as if he had touched lava. He clenched his fists.

She ran a shaky hand through her ponytail. "I-I mean…rumors about your, you know—" Her eyes flickered around his face, looking at his nose, his lips, chin, eyebrows, anywhere but his eyes.

Rage and shame bubbled inside of Sasuke. How dare she come out and say it. Say that she and everyone else thought he was fucking crazy. "Shut up."

Sakura could feel his hot breath on her face. She glanced at their feet. They stood about six inches apart. When had they gotten so close? "I…I'm sorry, Sasuke."

"Just shut up. You're annoying." Stop fucking saying you're sorry. When has sorry ever fixed anything!?

She took a step back from him. Then, another. She hurriedly created distance. Again, she had tried to be nice and he had demeaned her. "Well hopefully while we work together as a team, you'll be able to see me as something more than annoying. For what it's worth, I think you're more than the rumors say." And she did. Or she used to. She spun on her heel and scurried towards her home.

Sasuke stood and stared at her retreating figure. He felt the rage within him subside. Somehow, she had not acted like a fangirl all day until moments ago. Even then, her statement was not flirty, and she had left him. She was confusing. Annoying. And, she was afraid of him. Despite her optimistic words, every time he touched her, she jumped. He slowly began his trek back to the Uchiha Compound.

Cracked whitewashed pillars burdened with moss and intertwining green vines stood solitary and militant in front of the Compound. He bypassed the pillars and the overgrown gardens and stepped into the main building. In the day, he could feel no presences and hear no voices. Small animals had built homes within his home. Sasuke allowed them to. Long, heavy streaks of sunlight lit the dusty floorboards from in between missing sections of the roof. The day felt lonelier than the night. Sasuke retreated to the Uchiha training grounds. Like his room, this section of the Compound seemed livable, pristine even. He grunted as he sent a forceful punch to a training dummy.

Naruto sat alone in his one room apartment. Peeling yellow plaster clung to dingy water damaged walls. A neighbor's laundry line obscured any view he could have from the single window in his apartment. The blonde smiled to himself and kicked the stack of papers from his table. After his first mission, he could finally pay his bills.

Sakura returned to her home and buried herself in another textbook. She thumbed through explanations of more complicated taijutsu techniques.

-0-

At seven AM, three fresh genin waited atop the bridge. The blonde boy sat on the ground and dug into a semi-filthy looking take-out container. Sakura bent over the boy and raised an eyebrow. "How old is that curry? It smells awful." She retracted her face and took a couple steps back from Naruto.

The Uzumaki blushed. "Um. Dunno. I..uh..found it." He glanced to her and noticed that she had foregone the red dress again and wore black shorts, boots, and a red shirt.

"Found it? Like outside somewhere? Isn't that dangerous?" She placed her hands on her hips. A messy pink ponytail swung with the slight movement.

He laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Uh…maybe. Oh hey, you seem to care a lot, Sakura-chan. Wanna go on a date with me?" He grinned, happy to have redirected the conversation.

"What? No, baka. It's not like that. I just don't want you getting sick."

"Aww. You liiike me" he teased.

"I do not! Well, not like that."

"You care about me! You don't want me to get sick. You like me!" He grinned.

"Not like that! Ugh. Just shut up, Naruto." Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and turned away.

Naruto giggled and shoved more curry into his mouth. He debated his chances with Sakura. She did not seem too pleased with Sasuke yesterday and she had not fawned over him yet today. Meanwhile, she had been a bit nicer to Naruto on both occasions. Things might be looking up for him in the romance department. Despite being mean and obsessive over Sasuke, Sakura was really pretty and Naruto remembered her from their childhood. The little girl that always got picked on and said that she thought he was nice. If Ino had not stepped in, maybe he could have. Maybe they could have been friends. Maybe with Sasuke too. They could have been outcasts together, braving the world with only each other to depend on. Well, they were comrades in arms now. They had to brave the world together now. Naruto suppressed another giddy laugh as he ate more of the curry his neighbor had discarded in the trash the previous night. The idea of making friends made him feel as squealy as Sakura acted during her fangirl phase.

Sasuke leaned against the bridge and stared up into the sky with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his white shorts. His teammates' easy conversation made him feel…awkward? They seemed to already be forming some sort of camaraderie with each other. He was grateful to have some breathing room from Sakura's obsessions, however. Her full-undivided attention was something he thought he would never miss. He nearly cringed as he remembered all of the times she had clung to his arm, tried to nuzzle him, or attack hug him from behind. And they thought he was crazy. She was almost a sexual predator. He nearly smirked at the thought. Though, he did want to prove that he was more than the rumors said. Uchiha Sasuke was not insane. Not yet. He felt the usual wave of anger pulse through his veins.

Thirty minutes later, Kakashi casually approached the bridge with his little orange book in his left hand. He cast a bored gaze up at his students. Behind him, a woman with cropped black hair, dark brown eyes, and clad in black nin pants, white bandages wrapped heavily around her entire torso, and a long black coat walked. Kakashi halted on the bridge and faced his students. "Welcome to your first day of training Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. This" he gestured behind him before continuing "is Michi. She is a chakra reader. A passive kekkei genkai ability. She will be briefly joining us today to tell us about your elemental affinities and which techniques your chakra will be naturally more inclined to."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What's an elemental affinity?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Did you ever pay attention in class?"

His expressionless look answered her question.

She sighed. "Elemental jutsus, like Sasuke's Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu are pretty powerful jutsus. Each one of us has a natural affinity towards one, and sometimes more elements over the others. Our elemental affinity tells us which elemental jutsus we are naturally better at performing."

"Oh."

"And that is where I come in." Michi stepped forward and bowed slightly. "Which one first?"

Kakashi pointed to Naruto.

The boy blushed as the woman, with an upper half only concealed by bandages, appeared in front of him and loomed over him.

He hastily rose to his feet. "Me? Heh. My chakra's going to be awesome, believe it!" He watched Michi. She stood about a foot taller than him.

Michi glanced at the whisker marks on the boy's face. She swiftly turned over her shoulder and sent a quick glare at Kakashi. "Not this one. You know that I—"

Kakashi held up a hand to silence her. "Just the affinity, Michi."

"Right." She quickly took the boy's hand between her own and squeezed.

Naruto could feel strange, foreign chakra prodding through his veins, sometimes painfully, sometimes almost ticklish.

"Wind." She grunted and released his hand as if it had burned through her flesh. She glanced back to Kakashi. "Huge-scale ninjutsu is a natural inclination for this one. But you already knew that."

"Huge-scale ninjutsu! Fuck yeah! I'm so gonna be Hokage!" Naruto's grin spread as wide as it could.

Ignoring Naruto's antics, Sasuke turned to Sakura. His stare was stern. Black eyes bored into her, communicating that something about Naruto demanded their investigation.

The statement about Naruto's chakra puzzled Sakura, but the boy did seem to have an extremely large chakra reserve. His production of thirty shadow clones the previous day had alerted her to this feature of her new teammate. Sakura turned to see Sasuke's intense stare upon her. What was he trying to tell her? She felt herself shiver. His stare seemed so…empty. His eyes were voids. Empty, inescapable, but compelling, almost as if gravity seized her chakra and was slowly drawing her into him. Sakura resisted the urge to blush under his gaze. Somehow, his gaze seemed titillating. Not that it mattered any longer. He was forever out of her reach, and not what she had wanted anyways. Sakura bit her lip and nodded at him. She hoped the gesture would appease him. It seemed to work because he turned away from her. What the hell did he want?

Sasuke turned to face Michi approaching him. He held his hand out to her. She gripped his hand between hers roughly.

"Lightning." She paused. "As an Uchiha, he has natural abilities for ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu that exceed most non-clan born. This particular Uchiha, however, shows a slight inclination towards taijutsu."

Sasuke smirked, pleased with his results.

Michi approached Sakura finally. The pink haired girl held out her hand for the woman to take. What if she was deemed powerless? Would Kakashi expel her from the team once again? Put her through another difficult task? So far, she only had her mind. Her jutsu arsenal and skills were barren.

"Earth" Michi stated calmly. Her chakra swirled through the girl's veins. This chakra was far less tumultuous than the last two she had read. "Not much chakra to this one. But, it seems well controlled. Genjutsu inclined."

Sakura heaved in a breath she had not known she was holding. Not only did she at least have affinities, her affinities were different from her teammates', which meant that she could add balance to the team. Useful. Good. Locking eyes with Kakashi, she clenched her jaw tight and the right corner of her lips twitched upwards. He nodded at her in response.

Michi dropped her hand and stepped away from the girl. She reached into a pocket on the inside of her coat and deposited three sets of two scrolls each onto the ground. "This should help you on your new mission." She smirked. "Good luck, Hatake planned something really fun for you." She shunshinned away.

Kakashi glanced towards the village. The townsfolk were beginning to emerge from their homes and set up shops, travel to jobs, and peruse the streets. "Naruto, you get the scrolls on the left, Sasuke the middle scrolls, Sakura the right. Don't open them now. Today, we will travel to your first training location."

The genin hurried to collect their scrolls.

"Location!? Where are we going, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto inquired. Five townsfolk turned to observe the brightly colored ninja on the bridge.

The grey haired man pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fuhai Village. One of the villages surrounding the capital of Fire Country. Now let's head off."

"But we don't have any supplies, Kakashi-sensei" Sakura said.

"Irrelevant. You won't need any supplies for this training session." He turned and started to run off in the direction of the forest. It was a slow, not chakra enhanced jog. It had to be slow enough for the students to keep up. As he predicted, the three soon followed after him.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are we gonna learn?" Naruto asked eagerly. He was already excited to get started on the two scrolls Michi had given him.

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. "Oh, very much, Naruto. Very, very much." As he ran, his hands spiraled through a series of hand seals. No reason why he shouldn't build up the speed and reaction rates of his cute little students while they approached their first training location.

Three small bolts of lightning sparked to life and chased after each of the genin.

Sakura resisted the urge to scream as she scrambled blindly between trees to avoid being captured by the spark. It almost got to her and she performed a substitution jutsu. The lightning crashed into the substitution and dissipated.

Sasuke grunted and rolled beneath the spark, causing it to crash into a tree ahead of him. He smirked.

The end of Naruto's jacket lit afire as the blonde ran just a tad too slowly to evade the spark. His eyes widened and he ran abruptly forward, still trying to outrun the thing.

Kakashi laughed and repeated the hand seals.

Fuhai= rot, decay, depravity.