Hey guys, would have had this out earlier but had to have someone read it to give me some feedback first. :) Anyway next chapter will be up almost straight after this as I've already written it. Enjoy. Oh and just to clarify, some of you might be thinking that Naruto is a god with what he can do now. Where he's at at the moment he couldn't fight a jounin seriously and expect to win. Anyway I'll try and let the chapter explain where he's at with all that. Enjoy :) Also please review, it means alot to hear what people think, even if there is something you don't like, it's nice to get some feedback. Sorry for the rant :P

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

The Champion of Clan Namikaze

Chapter 4: Sasuke's Insecurities

As they walked down the road leading away from the village Kakashi could only marvel at the way his team had changed. Sakura was much less enamored with Sasuke, which he took for a good thing; he couldn't have her getting distracted part way through a mission. What Kakashi didn't know was that it was because of Naruto.

xXx Flashback – A week after their first mission xXx

"Sakura, you have to stop chasing Sasuke," She had just turned up to training with Naruto late, once again because of a hunt for Sasuke, who had unsurprisingly eluded her; she had no idea where he kept going.

"Why? You want me to date you do you? Sorry well it's not going to happen," She said spitefully, thinking of Sasuke, then realizing that it sounded a bit harsh and she blushed, feeling rather bad.

She was surprised when Naruto just laughed, "Hahaha, actually no, I want you to stop going after Sasuke for yourself. You do realize it is hindering your ability to become the shinobi that you have the potential to be. This infatuation with Sasuke, going out of your way to do what you think will make him happy. It is putting you at a disadvantage to every other shinobi who is focused on being a shinobi and staying alive. Start eating properly, start training properly, and start being a shinobi Sakura-chan. I don't want you to date me if you really don't like me. I'm past that, I decided to put aside my feelings for you and get stronger for the sake of myself and everyone around me. If I was always so focused on you I wouldn't be able to focus on progressing myself," At this she was shocked.

Had Naruto really done that? It would explain why she hadn't had any unwanted advances from him, probably why she felt a lot more comfortable around him, but that might have just been the whole teaching thing.

"Easy for you to say, I love Sasuke, and I need to make him happy."

"Sakura, right now there is only one thing that would make Sasuke happy, and there is no way that you can give it to him. He will just keep taking everything you give him and more; your time, your affection, your progress, and he won't give anything in return. For once, put your own wellbeing ahead of his, look out for yourself for a change."

That couldn't be true, not her Sasuke. The more she thought about it though, the more she realized it was true. And she hated that Naruto had pointed it out. For now she'd focus on herself. But I won't forget you Sasuke she promised.

Naruto was glad to see that since then Sakura had stopped hunting after Sasuke and focused much harder on progressing herself. She was still crazy about him at team trainings, but her improvement was indicative of her choice.

xXx End Flashback xXx

Not only that but Sakura also seemed to be getting much stronger and it was probably thanks to Naruto.

The academy teachers really didn't give that kid enough credit; when he was driven to do something, whether it was to improve himself or his teammates he'd stop at nothing.

Kakashi still couldn't get a read on what was bothering Sasuke, maybe it was something someone had said to him. He'd have to ask Naruto some time. He couldn't have Sasuke at nothing but one hundred percent, even if this was a C rank mission.

Naruto's progress was crazy, the kid looked as if he was at the peak of physical condition for his age, and it was probably because he had been driving himself into the ground whenever he had the chance to train.

No one knew it but the reason Naruto could increase his physical condition so quickly was because of the Kyuubi's chakra and the rate at which it healed his body. Naruto's muscles and tendons would be healed and regrown almost straight after he'd sent them through hell.

Kakashi noted that he'd probably be able to give Lee a good run for his money in his condition at the moment. The thing that would throw it in Naruto's favour would be his ability to use Ninjutsu.

"What are those things on your arms?" Sasuke asked as the continued down the road; it was the first time he'd seen them. Naruto however had already explained them to Kakashi and their sensei was impressed at his genin's forethought; not that he wasn't impressed with a lot that Naruto Namikaze did.

"They are more or less a distress beacon, if Sakura gets in trouble she can contact me with a burst of chakra through the first seal, and I'll use the second seal to come to her rescue," Naruto smiled as he rubbed the back of his head, "Cool huh? Do you want one?"

"Tch, why would I ever want your help dobe, you'd just get in my way."

That kid's pride is going to get him killed, hell it might even get his teammates hurt, something needs to be done about it Kakashi thought as he shook his head

None of them were impressed with Sasuke's comment, Naruto was still annoyed that Sasuke was still turning down any help he offered, and Sakura was once again forced to doubt Sasuke, only to shrug it off on the fact that Sasuke had had to deal with so much in his life. Then why isn't Naruto like Sasuke, he's had it even worse a voice said in the back of her head in contradiction.

"What's with the superiority complex Sasuke? I mean I know all Uchiha's have a stick up their ass, but am I going to have to break you, or will you still not accept my help even when it's blatantly clear that I'm a better shinobi?" Naruto's reply was a bit much but Sasuke's attitude was constantly wearing down his patience.

Sasuke's merely gave him the Patented Uchiha Glare #21.

YOU TELL HIM NARUTO! Sakura's inner personality screamed. Sakura was at odds with herself aren't we supposed to defend Sasuke, what are you doing? Come on, I know we love the guy, but that was a dick move!

"Guys, enough, this is no way to act in front of a client or on a mission, focus," they all turned to look back towards Kakashi at this before moving on.

They continued in silence until they passed a small puddle on the side of the road. Kakashi was glad to see Sakura slowly move her hand to the chakra pulse seal and notify Naruto that something was off. He gave a nod that he had noticed the subtle genjutsu as well. Kakashi watched as they slowly shifted into better stances in case they came under attack. He noted that the Uchiha "Genius" was the only one to not question why there was a sizeable puddle to the side of the road when it hadn't been raining at all that day.

Kakashi sighed well at least two of them were paying attention, Sasuke must be too busy brooding, we are going to need to have a long sit down.

Sasuke turned when he heard the clash of kunai. Sakura and Naruto were both engaged with a ninja. Naruto had his tanto out while Sakura had a regular kunai; the enemies were wearing a metal gauntlet that had a chain running between the two. It looked like it could be used for deadly coordination attacks as the chain had razor sharp edges. Kakashi was nowhere to be seen and Sasuke was shocked that their sensei could abandon them.

That chain could cause us some issues Naruto thought, coming to the conclusion that Kakashi would have seen the genjutsu and decided to test them.

Quickly pushing off his attacker with surprising strength he spun to the side, channeling wind chakra through his blade and cut straight through one of the links in the chain, rendering it useless. The other ninja saw what happened and released it so it wouldn't get in his way.

Naruto followed up with a series of swift sword strikes that had the ninja retreating, blocking each of the strikes desperately, caught off guard by the small kid's speed. He finished with an overhead strike, forcing the ninja to move to block with the side of his gauntlet. As the blade connected, Naruto channeled a large amount of wind chakra into the blade, honing it to an edge as best he could. The metal of the gauntlet parted like butter before the reinforced attack, severing the ninja's hand at the wrist.

"Gozu!" The other ninja yelled, distracted by his partner's screams. Sakura quickly stepped inside his guard and landed a fight finishing punch on the shinobi's chest. They all heard ribs breaking as he flew off the end of her fist.

Naruto dropped into a low sweep, knocking Gozu's legs out from beneath him while he simultaneously created a clone that appeared above him, knee driving the missing-nin into the ground as he fell.

Needless to say, after the short encounter, neither of the shinobi were able to move.

"Well done you two, that was very impressive. Naruto how long have you been able to manipulate wind chakra like that?" Kakashi appeared in a shun shin behind Sakura and Naruto.

"I've been training it for a while, ever since I found out from ero-sennin that I was a wind type. Hadn't tried it out on anything steel before though, pretty cool huh?"

You just keep getting more and more surprising Naruto, and Sakura too; she didn't even flinch when they appeared out of the water.

Sasuke quickly hid his shock at the scene and turned, continuing down the road as if nothing happened and stood against a tree while Naruto created two shadow clones and stripped the two men of anything useful. When they were done they picked up the two men and dematerialized.

"Took them back to village; saves someone coming and picking them up," Naruto informed the jounin that had raised his eye at Naruto's clones disappearing.

"Now," Kakashi turned on Tazuna, "would you care to explain why we were just attacked by two missing-nin, the demon brothers to be more precise? What haven't you told us?"

"Yeah old man, having two missing-nin attack us isn't the norm of a C-rank. If we weren't on the ball we might have almost gotten killed! We could have frozen up like Sasuke-teme over there," Within seconds Sakura's Sasuke defenses kicked in and he had a fist slammed into the top of his head.

"What'd you do that for!? YOUR HITS ACTUALLY HURT!"

Yeah what'd you do that for! He was RIGHT!

GAHHH I don't even know anymore Sakura thought as she walked up to a tree and in her bout of inner turmoil head butted it so hard that it left a sizeable impression.

"Hmph, maybe that big forehead is good for something, tch not like you're good for anything else." Sasuke was at the point of taking low blows in trying to get his confidence up after seeing Sakura and Naruto floor those two ninja.

Kakashi was reminded of someone eerily familiar as she stormed over to Sasuke in her blind anger and hit him square in the jaw, sending him flying further down the road. Almost as soon as she did this she screamed after him, checking to see if he was okay and professing her love for him.

"Women huh?" The remaining spectators chorused.

"I HEARD THAT! I'M COMING FOR YOU THREE NEXT!"

Naruto balked and disappeared in a shunshin. Kakashi looked a little wary but was still laughing at the way Naruto disappeared.

"Way to act manly Naruto, hahaha running from a girl."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, I TAUGHT HER HOW TO HIT LIKE TSUNADE!" a voice could be heard echoing through the forest. Naruto knew who Tsunade was after going through his library and talking to Jiraiya about the Sannin. She was the inspiration for using his chakra to greatly improve the impact behind his hits.

This time it was Kakashi's turn to balk as he disappeared, "Sorry Tazuna, but you know you shouldn't make derogatory comments about women, IT WAS HIM SAKURA, IT WAS ALL HIM!" another voice echoed from Kakashi's hiding place in the forest.

"Oh shut up you cowards, don't we have a mission to get back to?" Sakura seemed to have calmed down a little after hitting Sasuke in her rage, and they all decided to gather around Tazuna.

"Well, "The old man quickly began, horrified after the strange scene that had played out, and afraid of what would happen if he didn't tell them what they wanted to know. He continued to spill the beans on everything that had happened to the Land of Waves since Gato started taking over.

"Gato's likely hired more ninja, are you sure you want to continue team? We could send for reinforcements?"

"We haven't been training for nothing Kakashi-sensei. I don't want to waste man-power for something that could be handled by ourselves, it wouldn't give our team a very good reputation, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah Naruto-kun is right we should keep going."

"What the dobe said."

"I guess it's settled then, let's go, we need to make up some time."

xXx

It wasn't long until they noticed a mist creeping in around their feet. Before long it was so thick that it was hard to even see.

"Okay, this is ridiculous," Naruto performed a series of hand seals before "Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthough)."

A huge gust of air burst forth from his hand and cleared the fog in front of them, revealing the cause to be a man with a massive cleaver like blade casually strolling toward them; it wasn't long before the mist began to settle back into its previous position, shrouding their vision.

"Well that didn't do mu-"

"Everyone protect Tazuna, and it didn't do much because that's – DUCK!"

Everyone hit the floor just quickly enough to avoid being scalped by the huge iron blade that swung over their heads. There hadn't even been a warning as to its approach.

"Our opponent is The Demon of the Hidden Mist Zabuza Momochi, stay alert," and with that he disappeared in a blur.

And that's why Kakashi is our sensei; that would have cut me in half! Naruto thought, actually worried about the outcome of this fight. This guy was obviously not a pushover, and the killing intent washing them over wasn't doing him any favors.

No, he couldn't let it overcome him and his teammates. Fear would get him killed. He resolved himself to never back down. He would complete the mission and protect his teammates.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke, frozen as he stood next to Tazuna; Sakura wasn't doing much better, her confidence slipping. He could see the fear in their eyes as they looked around. He needed to calm them down before Zabuza took another swing at the three of them.

They wouldn't survive another attack in the state they were in.

"Guys, snap out of it. We can take this guy, we've got Kakashi-sensei to look after us. Keep focused on the mission," he barely kept his voice from shaking as he quietly tried to get them to focus.

They could hear clashes coming from all sides, no doubt Kakashi trying to keep Zabuza at bay.

"Let's get out of here, we need to keep Tazuna safe," Naruto needed to get out of this mist. Sure he could escape danger if he knew it was coming. But with this mist in the air he had no way of knowing where the next strike was coming from.

He heard a whistling as he turned and saw a blade arcing through the air once again. There was no time for a response, it was heading straight at him with vicious speed, and he couldn't flash away because the only nearby seal was Sakura. Jumping to her would result in the same outcome being that they were standing almost back-to-back and he couldn't run from the fight all together; he had to protect Tazuna.

He tried to bring a kunai up in time to meet the blade, hoping that it would stop it's advance somewhat but was saved from the assault when Kakashi blurred in front of him at the last second, blocking the blade and forcing Zabuza away from them.

It wasn't before long though that the mist started to clear, "RUN!" Kakashi was yelling at his team, having been trapped within a water prison.

Zabuza obviously didn't consider the genin enough of a challenge to warrant the continued use of Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hiding in the mist technique).

"Tazuna won't survive this Kakashi," Zabuza glared at the three genin as a water clone emerged from the water. What can three genin do against one of my clones, run along and leave that old man to me and I might be inclined to spare you." Tazuna is as good as dead Zabuza was elated that it'd been so easy to capture Kakashi and complete his mission.

"If you think it'll be so easy to get past us, think again!" Naruto was trying to get everyone's confidence up. If he wasn't using that mist technique he was sure he could at least put up enough of a fight for the others to get Kakashi out.

Sakura was emboldened by this, "Yeah just because we are small doesn't mean your clone can defeat us!" and with that they spread out a little between Tazuna and the water clone.

"The Uchiha over there doesn't seem so confident."

The clone rushed Sasuke, intent on rending him in two. Naruto had deactivated his weight seals the moment the trouble had started, but even he was surprised at the speed the clone moved now that he could see.

He looked over at Sasuke and saw him lock up, looking death in the eyes.

Naruto put everything he had in just making it there in time. Surging chakra through his legs just to close the distance, he brought his tanto around to stop the massive cleaver like blade that was coming down from above.

There was no way he could stop that strike that dead on; deflecting the blade he took his attention away from the situation for a moment "Get it together Sasuke, we need you to foc-."

While he was trying to get Sasuke to snap out of it the clone had taken the opening to punch him in the gut with his free hand with such force that it put Naruto on his knees blinking tears out of his eyes.

He could only watch as the blade came down again, only this time for him. Sasuke was still coming out of his stupor and if he flashed away it wouldn't stop the blade from coming down on his teammate. He tried to bring his blade around once again but was too slow.

There was a loud clang as Sakura's hand bounced off the sword, sending it flying out of the clone's hand and sticking into a tree. Naruto saw his chance when the clone lashed out at the female genin, pushing her away and making his way for the sword. Naruto flung his hand out, burying a Hiraishin kunai slightly higher in the tree; while doing so he took a few steps forward from his crouching position as he stood up and gained momentum.

The clone never saw it coming. He grabbed the hilt of the sword, turned back to the look at the three genin and smirked. Unfortunately for the copy, the smirk didn't survive Naruto planting his knee squarely into the side of his head as he reappeared, flying through the air above the sword.

The clone dissolved into water along with the sword, and with that Naruto turned his attention to the real Zabuza, who was still currently shocked at what he'd just seen.

Quickly pulling his kunai from the tree and walking over to the others, he made sure to see if Sakura was okay. Luckily Sasuke had just snapped out of it.

"Okay guys, I think I can get this guy away from Kakashi, make sure you stay alert, it's up to you to protect Tazuna."

"So it looks like at least one of your runts has some talent Kakashi,"

"You wouldn't believe it even if I told you,"

Naruto rushed Zabuza, he knew that to keep the water prison up he needed to stay in contact with the orb, otherwise why hadn't he moved yet?

Sending a Hiraishin Kunai directly at Zabuza's head, the large ninja was forced to dodge. This gave Naruto the chance he needed to get behind his deadly opponent. Flashing to the Hiraishin as soon as it had passed forced Zabuza to turn to deal with the immediate threat.

There was no way he could deal with the genin without releasing the water prison. He dove away from the prison to avoid a point blank tanto strike. As soon as he was on his feet though he was going through hand seals. Naruto made to cut him off, "Naruto, stop, let me handle this, get back and protect Tazuna" He turned to Kakashi to see that his sensei was copying every single seal that Zabuza was making even as he was making them.

The power of the sharingan really is incredible Naruto thought as he flashed back over to Sakura so that he wouldn't get in the way of the fight between two shinobi that still clearly outclassed him.

It wasn't before long that Zabuza and Kakashi summoned massive water constructs in the shape of dragons that charged at each other. Both were pretty badly injured in the bout but Zabuza was easily the worse off out of the two. Before Kakashi could finish him off however a mysterious shinobi appeared in a porcelain mask, claiming that they were a hunter nin from Kirigakure and would be taking the corpse back to the village.

As they all gathered themselves around Tazuna, with Naruto picking up Kakashi he turned to Sasuke.

"Sooo, Sasuke, are you actually going to do anything on this mission, or did you just come along to watch? I mean I don't mind doing your job for you," Naruto said light heartedly, a huge grin on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. And with that they continued on to Tazuna's house.

Naruto could almost feel the stare boring into the back of his head as he carried the exhausted and injured Kakashi to their destination.

They arrived at Tazuna's house late in the afternoon and were greeted by a very attractive woman, and a small sullen child. The two were Tsunami, and Inari, Tazuna's daughter and grandson.

After they settled in and greeted the two Kakashi informed the team that he didn't think that Zabuza was dead. He told them he would try and prepare them over the next few days as best he could for if Zabuza tried to take Tazuna's life again.

xXx

The next day Kakashi took them into the forest before Tazuna left to work on the bridge.

"Okay team, I think today we'll start working on some chakra control exercises, how does wall walking sound?" Kakashi enquired to the group, ready to teach them something he thought would amaze them, not having seen Sakura or Naruto have to use it during team trainings. He'd figured that Naruto could do it, but he thought at least that Sakura might not know how. Guess he was just surprising Sasuke then.

"Ummmm, Sakura and I can already do that Kakashi-sensei, we've been sparring on water lately to practice chakra control, we've been working on it for a while." Sakura just nodded in agreement as Naruto deflated their teacher.

"Well, that's a bummer," his whole training plan was shot; guess he'd need to think of something else to teach them.

"Yeah right dobe, as if. How could you do something like that without Kakashi-sensei teaching you?" Sasuke still didn't believe that Naruto could do the things he claimed, even after everything he'd seen.

In response Naruto just looked at him blankly as he proceeded to jump towards a tree and stick to the side of it.

"It's called reading a book Sasuke, and teaching yourself," Sakura tried to explain to the moody teen.

"You really didn't think I'd be able to Hiraishin without the rudimentary chakra control it takes to walk up a tree did you?"

"Well it can't be that hard if you can do it," Sasuke proceeded to sprint at the tree in his confidence. He made it a few steps due to his momentum before he fell harshly back onto the ground.

"It's not that simple Sasuke, try channeling your chakra to your feet for starte–"

"Shut up Sakura, I don't need any help from a pathetic fangirl, and the dead last of the academy," Sasuke spat, furious that he was still playing catch up with Naruto and Sakura, how had they improved so much?

Sakura was hurt. She began to tear up as Naruto walked down the tree and took her to the side. Sasuke was being even nastier than usual, what'd she do wrong?

"Let's go train somewhere else Sakura, we wouldn't want to get in the big-shot's way," Naruto said as he put an arm around her shoulder and began walking with her further into the forest.

"I don't have anything specific to train you guys, so you just do what you normally would. You Sasuke, you can practice wall walking, and you'd be wise to listen to Naruto and Sakura once in a while, they know what they are doing."

"I won't! If I accept their help then how will I ever be strong enough to take revenge by myself?"

"Well what they said was true Sasuke, channel chakra to the soles of your feet to stick to a surface. I'll leave a clone to watch you guys, I have to go protect Tazuna now." Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Over with Naruto Sakura was crying.

"What'd I do Naruto-kun?" Sasuke had been even coarser with her and the others since the encounter with the demon brothers.

"You didn't do anything Sakura-chan. He's jealous of what we can do, and he thinks that he can be just as strong without anyone's help. It has something to do with his quest for revenge. There is nothing we can do about it now but get stronger."

"B-b-but if I get stronger then he'll hate me even more!" Sakura was appalled that all her hard work over the past two months had been good for only getting Sasuke to hate her.

"Sakura-chan, look at me," Naruto placed his hand under her chin, turning her head towards him, "Don't let Sasuke put you off becoming a great shinobi. Remember what I told you. We will make him realize that to be the greatest we can be means we sometimes have to get help from others, now let's start our training for the day okay?"

He got a nod from the distraught genin and they both fell into sparring, but her spirit just wasn't in it so he called it a day on that idea. Instead they both sat, trying to get a number of leaves to stick to different parts of their body. Naruto had created a large number of clones to go and practice trying to cut into trees with wind chakra.

As much as he had improved since the academy, Naruto still had a lot of work to do with his chakra manipulation. He had improved, that was evident, and the result of that was his ability to perform jutsu like the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) and the Rasengan (Spiraling orb). But his chakra control wasn't perfect so he was using way too much chakra than he should, hence why he was sitting with Sakura as they practiced that particular facet of their chakra control.

They trained the rest of the day, and went inside to have dinner. As they were sitting at the table, Inari glaring at the four shinobi, Kakashi turned to his students, "So Sasuke, you should keep up with that training tomorrow, maybe Sakura or Naruto might give you a few pointers."

"Tch, whatever," Naruto could feel the patented Uchiha glare #24 boring into the top of his head as he looked at his dinner.

"And, Sakura, Naruto, what did you end up training today?"

"Nothing much sensei, we just worked on getting better chakra control; we'll probably start working on techniques tomorrow," Naruto had to finish a mouthful of food before responding with a smile.

"Okay, that's it. Dobe, outside right now." Sasuke stood up from his position at the table and walked toward the door.

"What do you want Sasuke?"

"I want to fight you," he said coolly before crossing the threshold.

As Naruto got up to follow him, Kakashi grabbed his arm, "Are you sure this is a good idea."

"I need to teach him a lesson sensei, he won't learn it any other way. Don't worry though, I won't beat him up too bad," as he got to the door he turned back, "Actually, I have an even better idea, Sakura-chan come with me please."

Knowing to trust in Naruto by now she got up and walked with him outside, leaving Kakashi to follow, lest he let one of his students get injured while he wasn't keeping an eye on them.

Sasuke was standing outside in a fighting stance ready to face off with Naruto. He was sorely disappointed when Naruto pushed Sakura forward instead.

"What's the meaning of this dobe?"

"Yeah what are you trying to do" Sakura said turning back to her friend and sensei.

"Apparently Sasuke is having difficulty grasping that sometimes you need the help of the people that care about you in order to improve. So I thought I'd prove it to him by having him face off with someone he could have sleepwalked through two months ago, but who is now a bonafide Uchiha ass kicking machine. Namely you," He grinned, and pointed at Sakura as she stood there white in the face.

"B-b-but I can't hur-"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto beckoned her close and lowered his voice, "you have to do this for Sasuke, don't hold back, even though you feel the way you do. Beat him, and show him what accepting someone's help can do for you. It's the only way he'll listen to reason. Do it to help him. And don't hold back, I know he won't."

Sakura turned back to her crush. She knew what she had to do. She had to help Sasuke.

"You can't be serious dobe."

"Don't underestimate her Sasuke-teme, now you wanted to fight, well fight."

Sakura was the first to make a move, rushing to within striking range with a much-improved speed over the old academy Sakura. As they engaged in a small taijutsu exchange Kakashi leaned over to Naruto.

"You really think she can take Sasuke?"

"She may not look it but she's improved a lot. Sure her taijutsu may not be up to scratch against Sasuke, but she has great chakra control. I asked Jiraiya if he might teach her some rudimentary earth style techniques, as earth is the element she has an affinity with. He could only show her the basics, but we've been working on them since. This will be close I think. Sasuke has too much confidence in himself, that or denial but either way it'll work to Sakura's advantage," Naruto responded in a low voice.

The two fighting genin broke apart for a second before Sakura sought cover in the tree line that ran almost up to the back of the house. Sasuke went to follow but was soon forced to stop as five Sakura's appeared from behind the nearest tree all brandishing kunai ready to throw. He quickly went to strike each of them, only to have them fade away as he got close.

So where's the real one? Looking around all Sasuke could see was trees.

The next thing he knew he was face first on the ground. The real Sakura had dropped onto him from above, after having created the clones and run straight up the other side of the tree.

Sasuke was angry that a pathetic whiny girl had jumped him. Spinning up from the ground he knocked her off him and she rolled away. As he stood up, Kakashi's eyes widened as he went through a series of handseals. They went even wider when Naruto put is hand across to stop him from doing anything.

Sasuke finished his seals and inhaled deeply "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)".

Sakura's was shocked at the technique Sasuke would use against her but responded accordingly; she went through a quick series of hand seals "Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall).

Before the oversized fireball could do her any harm, a solid wall of earth projected up out of the ground, protecting her from the blast.

What Sasuke didn't see from his side of the blast, through the smoke and rubble was Sakura perform another jutsu. When the area cleared she was completely gone. He saw the wall come up so he knew she hadn't been killed, or burnt to ashes, he knew his fireball technique wasn't that strong yet anyway. So where was she. Where did she go?

Before long his question was answered as he stood warily waiting for her to show her face. He never expected for her hands to shoot out of the ground and latch around his ankles.

What was even more surprising was when the earth beneath his feet softened and he was pulled into the ground up to his shoulders. With just his arms, head and a fraction of his torso above the ground he couldn't attack her when she resurfaced next to Naruto and Kakashi looking a little exhausted.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Sasuke was again enraged that he'd been outdone by Sakura.

"That was the Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Hiding Like a Mole Technique), pretty cool huh?" She was happy that she'd been able to defeat Sasuke, it meant that she really was improving a great deal as a shinobi, she turned to Naruto, "Wow that really took it out of me, guess I still need to keep up training my chakra reserves."

"You bet Sakura. Now," he said as he walked over to Sasuke who was still trying to pull himself out of the now rock solid ground and pointed to Sakura, "that, is what happens when you let people who care about you help you Sasuke. You improve. You have to be able to accept help from those closest to you if you want to be the best that you can be. Would you even care if any of us were to die on this mission right now Sasuke, because we all would. Apart from letting people who care about us help us, we care about them too. We draw our strength from wanting to protect them. And none of us would let anything happen to each other if we were alive to do something about it. Sakura was able to do what she just did because of her drive to try and help you Sasuke, to protect you from yourself, from your pride. To show you that you sometimes need to let others help you. Maybe one day you'll realize that true strength doesn't come from hatred and a mission of revenge, but the drive to protect those that are precious to you."

"HE TOOK EVERYONE THAT WAS PRECIOUS TO ME!" Sasuke screamed from his position in the ground.

"I lost everyone that would have been precious to me Sasuke, yet I've found precious people in my life, my team, my friends, my village even. They are all things that I draw strength from in my mission to be the best that I can be. We are all waiting for you to see that Sasuke."

"Sasuke," Kakashi was concerned for his student, "This revenge you seek won't make you happy. Be better than the man that killed your family. Make your own life for yourself, set yourself down a different path. Because the path you are on is the one that he wants you on. Don't give your brother that satisfaction Sasuke."

"Sasuke-kun, we all care for you. Even Naruto, otherwise he would never have offered to help you and wouldn't be trying to help you now. Can't you realize that you are precious to us?"

"I want to become a shinobi that would make my parents proud, don't you want to as well?" Naruto looked down at the struggling genin who had tears in his eyes and walked away into the forest to lie down. He didn't feel like going back inside, after what had just transpired he needed to relax.

Sakura pulled Sasuke out of the ground and after getting a glare that told her he wanted to be alone left after Naruto.

Sasuke walked over to a tree sitting down beneath it with his head in his hands, trying to blink away the tears that were just now starting to pour down his face. Could it be true? Everything they said seemed to make sense, and it was this fact that had Sasuke in tears of both sorrow and anger. What would happen if he decided to accept their help? What would happen if he continued in his quest for revenge? Sasuke sat, inner turmoil on display for Kakashi as he wept.

His sensei just took a seat against a nearby tree and waited with his eyes closed as his student tried to work everything out. I really hope you can see the truth of our words Sasuke, I really do

The next time Sasuke looked up tears were pouring from a pair of blood red eyes.

xXx

"Did we really do the right thing Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked as the walked through the woods.

"We did the only thing we could Sakura-chan, and we have to keep trying until he realizes what is wrong," putting an arm the distraught girl and giving her a one armed hug he continued, "You fought great out there tonight by the way. It was great to see how much you've improved."

"Thanks Naruto-kun," she hugged him back before they settled down in a small clearing and lay down, looking up at the stars.

"I really hope that we get through to him Naruto-kun."

"So do I Sakura-chan."

They lay watching the stars for a while before Sakura got back up to head to the house and a comfortable bed.

"Goodnight Sakura-chan," Naruto said from his position on the the gound, "I think I'm going to lay here for a bit longer."

"Goodnight Naruto-kun, thank you for everything."