I do not own Naruto.

Half an Hour later…

Naruto and Shino carried the exhausted Asuma on their shoulders, grunting every few minutes under Asuma's weight. Tazuna, who only had the biggest scare of his life, was supporting Shikamaru's uninjured arm. At least he was still alive and breathing.

Team 8 and Tazuna had seen what Naruto had done to the water, but…no one knew what to say. Naruto glared at his sensei as he remembered how the man had fallen on him after the fight. Naruto himself was exhausted, but at least he was still able to walk.

According to Tazuna, his home was not too far from wherever they were, so the boys just ignored their grumbling stomachs and aching bodies and followed the man. When Tazuna started picking up the pace, they assumed they were close. Naruto signed as Asuma seemed to grow even heavier. Or was he just that tired? Tazuna stopped within two steps of one of the biggest houses he had ever seen.

A woman around 5'2 with long ebony hair ran out of the house, passed by Tazuna without a single glance, and immediately inspected Asuma.

"He'll be alright. He's just exhausted from our previous fight." The women nodded and surprisingly helped carried Asuma into the house with Shino. Shikamaru and Naruto were busy supporting each other as Tazuna showed them to their rooms.

Naruto crashed onto the nearest bed in the room, snoring lightly. The others sweat dropped, but took a much-welcomed rest themselves.

Later that day…

By the time Naruto had woken up again it was dark outside. The room was empty, but there were lights on downstairs. His limbs were sore and were screaming at him to lay down as he trudged down the stairs.

The woman from earlier guided him to the table, where Shikamaru and the others were already stuffing their mouths with food. Naruto sat between her and Shikamaru. She placed a miso ramen in front of a drooling Naruto. Naruto gulped his ramen down his throat and helped himself to the rest of the pot. Shikamaru and Shino knew better than to mess with Naruto when he was hungry.

"This food is delicious ma'am." Naruto nodded vigorously still slurping the ramen.

"Please call me Tsunami. I'm must thank you for protecting my father. He can be a real hand full sometimes." Shino waved her off.

"As boys of our word, we refused to abandon him. We were just doing our duty, Tsunami-san."

Tired and full, Naruto laid his head on the cool table. Asuma was still in bed recovering. Tsunami had already fed Asuma while Naruto was sleeping. Tsunami had informed Naruto that Asuma's room was the second one on the right.

As Naruto trudged up the stairs, he thought about what had transpired earlier. He hadn't meant to do whatever he done. Those crystals had appeared on their own, but at the same time-they had felt like they were apart of him. As if they were a mere extension of his arms or his body in general.

Still, he couldn't feel anything now. When the crystal wall had appeared in front of him, he felt cold. Not freezing cold, but just colder than normal. Asuma didn't seem to notice this when he grabbed Naruto, but they were in the middle of a fight. When Naruto popped his head into the room, he saw his sensei laying on the bed wearing bandages all over his body. At least the man was still alive.

That thought reminded Naruto of Zabuza. He was probably the strongest opponent that Naruto had ever faced in a real fight to the death. The man enjoyed seeing Naruto and the others shake and squirm with fear. Naruto clenched his fist.

Their lives were a game to him!

He didn't really care about slaughtering them, he just liked seeing them scared and wetting their pants. Naruto had felt the man holding back as they crossed blades. Naruto felt his body getting colder as he leaned against Asuma's now closed door. Naruto found his way to his own room, his head now swarming with pain.

'I must be really tired.' He thought as he laid his head on his pillow. As Naruto felt his anger for Zabuza go away, his body began to heat up again.

Downstairs with Shino and Shikamaru…

"It looks like I win." Shikamaru stared at the board and then at Shino. In a tired huff Shikamaru messed up the board pieces and threw the board across the room.

Someone was a sore loser.

"I'm going to bed." Shino nodded as he hid a smile behind his cloak.

The next day…

Team 8 was lounging around helping Tsunami with household chores as Asuma recovered. On occasion, Tazuna would tell the team stories about Wave's history. Naruto was still sore and tired, but his ears perked up when one particular story caught his attention.

"Did I tell you guys about the story of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?"

But seriously, Tazuna had called it Tales of a man's best friend. One of the stories was about a dog named Hachiko. Hachiko had waited at the front of the house every day at exactly 6:00 P.M. waiting for his master to come home. When the master had died in a fishing accident, the dog continued to wait on the porch for nine years until he died of old age.

Naruto stared at his palms as he pictured a dog with wolf like ears, a board body with a black and white coat. Blinking he noticed a small statue of a dog forming in front of him! Like yesterday, his body felt colder, but not in a painful or freezing kind of way. The others had stared at Naruto in shock as the crystal dog stared back at them. The dog was sitting on his hind legs rising a paw as if to say "hello."

In his sputter, Naruto dropped the dog on the floor, but the crystal didn't shatter as expected. Instead, it made a clanking noise. Tsunami ran in the living room and noticed everyone's surprised expressions.

Picking up the dog, she smiled as she petted it. "It's so cute. Who made it?" Everyone pointed to Naruto, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Tsunami handed the dog to Naruto who accepted it hesitantly.

"How did you do that?"

"I have no idea."

Later that night…

After Naruto's crystal dog accident was over, the day had pretty went as normal as a day with Team 8 could be. For the rest of the afternoon Naruto tried to create another animal, but nothing happened. By the time dinner rolled around, Naruto was found laying on the floor panting and hungry. Most of dinner was quiet since everyone had food in their mouths.

Naruto laid the crystal dog next to Asuma as he watched his sensei rest. Asuma had woken up briefly but that was it. The man was still injured but he was improving steadily. Naruto thought back to what Asuma had said about them having a talk later.

If Naruto was honest with himself, he was worried, but his body shook with anticipation at the same time. Naruto signed as the dog glittered in the moon light. Naruto needed to take a walk.

That night…

Naruto pulled his orange jacket on with his shoes as he opened his window, trying not to disturb a sleeping Shino. The air was cold and brisk, but it didn't deter Naruto from jumping off the window sill.

He probably should have asked for a map or something because he had no idea where he was walking. He found himself by the dock two hours later as the moon glared down at him. He continued along the docks before he stopped at a nearby beach. He stared at his reflection, and sat there thinking about the past few days before he found himself asleep on his makeshift sandy bed.

Next Day- Morning…

Naruto woke up with a start as water came crashing down on him. At first he was mad and thought that someone had threw a bucket of water over him, when he realized that it was only rain. He stared at the now soggy sand for a while, before pulling himself up. He noted that there were no fishermen out today-probably due to the weather. His clothes were drenched and heavy, but he felt 'lighter' than before. Shrugging his shoulders, he sprinted to Tazuna's house as thunder began rumbling through the pouring skies.

Tsunami had yelled and fretted over Naruto and his wet clothes as he knocked on the door. Tsunami had went even as far as to slap the back of his head when Naruto claimed she was "worrying for nothing".

"Nothing? You could have died out there!" Naruto frowned.

"Lightning strike. Ingestion of too much water. The Flu. Everything!" Naruto nodded as Tsunami gave him a list long as her arm. Naruto began to doze off as Tsunami kept droning on about the dangers of the rain.

Tazuna decided to save the poor boy when Tsunami started shoving vegetables down Naruto's throat. They weren't even seasoned!

"Naruto promises to never go out again without telling you again right Naruto?" Naruto shook his head.

"I'm a grown man!" Naruto shouted.

"You're only thirteen."

"Quiet Shikamaru!"

Afternoon…

"Look at who's finally up and alive."

Team 8 looked up from their card game as Asuma limped into the room. Asuma gave out a shout of pain and groaned as his team tackled him to the ground.

"Asuma-sensei!"

"Let me up already." Team 8 backed away as Tazuna helped Asuma off the ground.

"As you all know, I've been out for the past few days, but now that I'm back…I'm going to train you all like hell."

Everyone was silent as they absorbed Asuma's words. Shino was impassive, Naruto was all pumped up, and Shikamaru was well…gone.

"In the morning we'll begin training. So eat dinner and get a good night's rest because tomorrow is going to be hell."

"Dang." Asuma slapped the back of Shikamaru's head.

"Show some respect lazy pineapple."

The Next Day…

Naruto and the rest of Team 8 had been startled awake by Tazuna and Asuma the next morning as cold buckets of water woke them up. They had walked out to the forest as Tazuna had walked to the bridge, and met with the other workers. Shikamaru had tried to convince Asuma that Tazuna would need protecting, but Asuma wouldn't hear any of it. The team was silent as they watched Tazuna walk to the bridge.

Asuma signed as he took a deep breath. "Everybody listen up. I have reason to believe that Zabuza is still alive."

Chaos erupted among the three boys, as they thought about the possibility of Zabuza still being alive.

"That boy claimed he was from Kiri. Hunter nins from Kiri always dispose of the body of traitors on sight. So why would he take the body away?"

"Unless he wasn't a hunter nin-" Naruto started.

"…And instead worked with Zabuza. Then this would make perfect sense." Shino concluded. Asuma nodded.

"Exactly. But he was hurt pretty badly, so he'll be out for about a week as well. By then you guys will be somewhat ready." Naruto pumped his fist in the air and looked at Asuma with a determined gleam in his eyes.

"Then's let's get started!"

Two hours and a half later…

Naruto moved against his bodies will as Asuma launched kunai after kunai at him. Thanks to years of pranks, Naruto had been nicked only a few times in the arms. What made it harder was that he was doing it while balancing himself on a tree.

Before the team had left Konoha, Asuma had taught the group the tree climbing exercise. During that week, they practiced non stop on just sticking to the tree without either slipping off or making it explode. Shikamaru and Shino watched as Naruto grew tired with a sigh. Naruto fell off the tree with a thud as he got nicked in the arm. Each boy had to do this twice, and this was (thankfully) Naruto's second time doing it. Taking a well-deserved rest, Naruto plopped next to Shino as Shikamaru walked towards Asuma with a grim look on his face as Asuma recovered the kunai.

Thirty minutes Later…

"Shino. Shikamaru. Continue walking up and down the trees until you can stick to the trees perfectly for ten minutes straight. Naruto, a minute please."

Naruto and Asuma had walked deeper into the forest, ignoring the curious looks from the others. Asuma was silent as the blond boy stood beside him. Asuma paused at a water clearing.

This is it. Naruto thought.

"How are you feeling Naruto?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"I could use a bowl of miso ramen, but other than that I'm okay." Asuma chuckled at the response.

"Naruto, I'm not sure what you did back at the battle with Zabuza exactly. Do you have any idea what it is?" Naruto shook his head.

"Well, we can't do anything about it till we get back home, so until then let's figure out what we do know."

"Whenever I use it, I internally feel colder. While you were out, I was able to create that crystal dog by your bedside, but I couldn't do it again." Asuma rubbed his chin.

"So all we know is that your abilities are probably connected to your emotions, you can crystallize water, and create cute crystal dogs. That's not a lot of information Naruto. That only leaves one option."

Naruto was about to question this, when Asuma started charging at him head on.

Naruto quickly slipped into panic mode as Asuma struck a kick to Naruto. Throwing his hands between his face and stomach, a crystallized wall appeared in front of Naruto, throwing Asuma off guard.

" So the theory about it being connected to your emotions is correct. Naruto try to control your fear this time. Try to call on the power while relaxing your body and mind." Naruto nodded as Asuma threw a charka enhanced kunai at Naruto.

Holding his ground, Naruto squinted his eyes as the blade inched closer to him. Suddenly the blade bounced off the new crystal construction. Instead of a crystal wall the crystal was a jagged 'S'. It was not as wide as the wall, but it was definitely taller. Naruto panted slightly, as Asuma continued throwing kunai, and then started switching it up with kunai and shuriken or different sizes of the weapons.

As the sun reached its midpoint, Naruto was beginning to be able to defend himself with ease, while controlling the length and width of the crystal, but…

"Naruto!"

Asuma had launched two kunai with a shuriken at Naruto as he prepared to defend himself before Naruto saw a fourth shuriken and didn't block it in time. The shuriken had embedded itself in his right shoulder as Naruto fell to the ground panting and clutching his shoulder.

Asuma had immediately apologized but Naruto had waved it off. "It's not like you meant to hit me." Asuma held Naruto down as he pulled the shuriken out. Naruto grounded his teeth, as the bloodied shuriken came out. Naruto watched with mild fascination as the wound slowly began healing on its own.

"That's enough training for today. We'll pick it up tomorrow." Naruto nodded exhausted.

As the two of them walked back to the others, Shino immediately inspected Naruto's injury. "It's not too deep, but let's gets back to the house just to be sure."

Tsunami gave Shino the gauze as Naruto pulled his bloodied shirt off. Naruto applied pressure to the wound, watching it heal slowly as Shino continued to wipe the blood away and wrapped the gauze around Naruto's shoulder.

"Who knew we had a medic in the house? Thanks Shino!"

"Our team's survival chances increase if a medic is around. Besides, you and Shikamaru get injured all the time, so someone has to be the medic. " Everyone laughed.

"Alright team, get some dinner and some rest. Tomorrow we're going to be doing a group exercise, so be prepared to get dirty and for anything."

"Yes sir!"

End Chapter. Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts. Ja ne! Review if you have the time.

Updated: 6-10-13

EDIT:6/8/2015