After Sakura mastered the water-walking technique as well, she and Rezaa spent their time on the bridge with the other workers.
The others, meanwhile, continued their training.
"Why is Sakura-chan so good at his when we've been doing it longer?" Naruto frowned as he and Shao kept training their water walking.
"She's from a civilian clan, her chakra reserves are a lot lower than ours are. Less chakra makes it easier to control."
"She's also just naturally talented when it comes to control," Benetto told them, arriving at the river with Sasuke in tow.
"Hn," was the Uchiha's only comment.
The two members of Team Four carefully made their way onto the water, their stance still wobbly.
"How come your teammate is so good at it?" Benetto asked.
Naruto shrugged, "Maybe he's just naturally good at it."
Shao frowned, "Have any of you seen him around in the Academy before?"
He received a series of headshakes as an answer.
"I think he might have been in an apprenticeship instead. Before the Leaf Village was founded, clan members would take on young shinobi as their apprentices since there was no academy back then. It's not a common practice anymore–usually, if an apprenticeship takes place the apprentice is already a genin–but there are technically no rules against it.
"He's had a headstart then," Sasuke huffed, "that's the only reason he's good at it."
"Ne, Shao, do you think Kaka-sensei taught him?" Naruto asked, poking at his teammate.
Shao glared as he partially sank into the river. "It's possible," he replied as he got his chakra back under control.
Suddenly a wave caught them by surprise, causing all four of them to fall into the river fully.
"Less gossiping, more training!" Kakashi announced cheerfully at the glaring genin.
Gaia snorted from next to him, "Sasuke-kun, Benetto-kun, I didn't know you were such slackers."
"We're not!" Benetto swore as he got his bearing on top of the water's surface again.
The blue-haired jonin made an amused sound when Sasuke just gave him a disapproving glare and got back to his training.
"You know, I love being a jonin sensei," Gaia told his colleague.
Kakashi raised a brow, "You actually signed up for this?"
"Of course I did! Didn't you?"
Kakashi sent a half-hearted glare into the distance, which was answer enough for Gaia.
Far away in konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly sneezed.
—
Later that day, Benetto was sprawled out next to the river, exhausted. The rest of the genin had made their way back to the house to get some food.
He hadn't been hungry so he remained where he was, leaning back onto his arms with his legs in the river.
When he heard footsteps behind him, he expected it to be one of his teammates or Naruto. To his surprise, it was a pink-haired girl a few years older than him.
Her eyes were a curious mix of both pink and blue and as she spoke, he voice was high and clear.
"I heard most genin learn water-walking within their villages, you know."
Benetto chuckled, "Yeah, they used to teach it in the academy back when my sensei was a student but he didn't realize it wasn't on the curriculum anymore until shortly before our mission- Hey, who are you actually?"
The girl laughed, "I'm Kokomi," she introduced herself.
"Cool! I'm Benetto. What are you doing out here?" He hadn't seen a hitaiate on her, "There have been sightings of missing-nin nearby, I don't think it's safe to be alone."
"Mm, but aren't you alone as well?"
"Well, my friends are taking a break right now…"
"I guess I could wait with you then until they come back since you don't think it's safe for you to be on your own."
Well, he supposed that worked too.
"Sure, Kokomi-san," he grinned. "So what brings you out here?"
"I'm just getting some fresh air. My teacher is sick right now and he always gets cranky when he's sick," her eyes sparkled with amusement.
"I also have a friend gathering some herbs in the forest over on the other side of the river," she shrugged, "So I guess we're both waiting for our friends."
The two of them spent some time chatting about trivial things–Benetto found out his new friend was an avid reader. Eventually, Kokomi's friend came and found her.
"I've got everything we need," they said, holding up a basket.
"Great. Let's go," she turned back to Benetto one last time, "Goodbye, Benetto-kun, it was nice meeting you," she gave a little bow–Benetto hastened to copy it–and left with a wave while he said his own goodbyes.
Dinner that evening was spent with Naruto telling them all about how he met the prettiest person ever in the forest that day.
"And then they said that you become truly strong if you have someone to protect, so I decided I'm gonna protect my teammates because then I'll be so strong that I'll become Hokage!"
Shao huffed, "What if we don't need your protection? You were the dead-last in our class rankings and Rezaa made genin a year before us."
"Well yeah, that's why it will make me stronger to protect you guys," Naruto said as if it was obvious, "Since you're so strong, it will make me even stronger to protect you! It's like math!"
"Right," Shao did not seem convinced by this.
They spent the rest of the week training. When the week was over, Kakashi and Gaia prepared for battle.
"Benetto-kun and Sakura-chan, you two will be guarding this house. It is likely that Gato will also sen people after Tazuna's family," Gaia told his students.
"Yes, sensei," they chorused together.
"The rest of you will come with us," Kakashi told them. "We'll accompany Tazuna to his bridge ad oversee the rest of its construction. This could take multiple days so be prepared to sleep in shifts."
After he got an agreeing nod from all the genin, Kakashi turned to the bridge builder, "Let's go then."