AN: New chapter.

"So…you've been punching trees and they've been growing? Some of the time." After all the…excitement of the last week or so, Naruto's problem was almost a breath of fresh air. It was strange but it also didn't involve fighting a group of crazy Shinobi trying to resurrect a dead man. Sasuke poked at one of the trees in question even now, was expecting it to…do something.

It didn't.

It was just a tree.

A tree that was slightly bigger than it had been this morning. Courtesy of Naruto punching it.

"Yeah. That's about it." Naruto had his hands behind his head, couldn't help but laugh a little. "When you say it like that, it sounds crazy but it really does happen." Naruto had just demonstrated such a weird trait a moment ago, the very same tree Sasuke was currently poking.

"I don't think it sounds crazy!" Sakura had elected to climb the tree, dropped a handful of picked leaves down to the forest floor. "Do you think you have a Kekkei Genkai too?"

"No way." Naruto immediately shook his head. That's why he had brought his two teammates in after all. "Guy-sensei helped me out with that a while ago. I've got a Wind Chakra Nature." He looked up to the few clouds in the sky, blew out his latest breath though his mouth. "That's why this doesn't make sense to me. It started happening right after we got back from Kannabi Bridge. I was practicing by myself since Guy-sensei's off on that mission and, next thing I know, this tree was bigger than it should be. I've been coming back every day and practicing on new ones just to make sure it's not a one off and all of them keep growing. I just can't get them to do it all the time."

Case in point, it had taken nearly an hour of Naruto's punching to get the tree in front of them to grow.

Sakura had started climbing the tree around the half hour mark.

"And what do you think you're doing to make them grow?" Sasuke spared a glance up at the three when Sakura laughed as she began swinging from branch to branch. Checkers was at least nearby, would catch her if she tumbled out of the tree for any reason.

"I've been practicing my Wind Fist!" Naruto was eager to share his burgeoning technique with his teammate, stepped into the familiar opening Strong First stance with one arm behind his back and the other in front of him. He focused on one of the trees ahead of him.

Sasuke moved to watch what exactly Naruto did.

A moment later and a visible wave of Chakra the size of Naruto's fist slammed into the tree along with the beginnings of a gale, left it shaking in place.

Although it didn't grow.

"See!" Naruto turned to the Uchiha (?). "That's what usually happens! I'm trying to mix my Wind Chakra with some stuff Hinata's been telling me about the Gentle Fist and sometimes they start growing! I know I'm throwing out a lot of Chakra but it doesn't happen all the time! I thought it was maybe because of my Wind Chakra so I tried not adding it either. Same results. Sometimes they grow, sometimes they don't." To demonstrate, Naruto turned and took aim at another tree. In moments, an aura of pure Chakra consumed his hand. Another powerful wave of Chakra ripped forward.

Just like the other, it didn't grow.

If Sasuke hadn't seen it earlier, he would've called Naruto a liar.

With what he had seen, this was all a mystery to solve.

"This is…weird." Sasuke looked to Naruto and could only shrug. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm at just as much of a lost as you. Maybe I can ask Itachi to help us figure this out when he gets back from his mission?"

"I can keep trying to figure it out on my own in the meantime…" Naruto, in the end, nodded. "That should work! Your brother's a genius, right? He can probably figure this all out!"

"Yeah." Sasuke couldn't help but smile when thinking about Itachi, at how much his brother was willing to help him, how he still helped him no matter the time or place. "He's incredible. He helped me figure out my Kekkei Genkai so he can definitely help you figure out what's going on here."

"Awesome!" Naruto pumped a fist in the air. "Just you wait world: Naruto Uzumaki is going to figure this out one way or another!" He was excited at the challenge ahead. "If I can pull this off on command, I'll be one step closer to being the next Hokage!"

Sakura applauded his announcement from where she sat on one of the tree's branches.

"Go Naruto!" She dropped off a moment later with a smile. "So, are we done here?" She was all but hopping in place. "I want to go take my son someplace fun before the day's over! You can come too Naruto! We can even invite Sai-sensei and make it a Team Sai party!"

"I think Sai-sensei's a bit too busy to join us right now." Naruto didn't want to say it but Sai was currently off spending his winnings from his bet. He was out with all of his kids. He had really made a killing.

Naruto had come away with his own fair share of Ryo himself but he had decided to save it for later. Once Guy-sensei and Lee were back, they could properly celebrate the Strong Fist way!

"He is, isn't he…" Sakura frowned for only a second, her smile quickly coming back. "We could always just have a sleepover at my place! Those are always fun!" She turned to Sasuke, sudden realization on her face. "That reminds me: Do you need me to go with you when you grab your stuff from your ex-parents?"

"I-I don't think I need to do that." Sasuke wasn't great at changing the subject when it came to…either of those two. Even Naruto noticed how his mood shifted, was worried for his teammate and what he was going through. "I can ask Itachi to grab my stuff once he's back."

"Hmmm." Sakura didn't say anything, green eyes simply taking him in. In the end, she nodded. "If you're fine with it…"

"I…" Sasuke didn't finish.

He seemed to honestly not know what to say.

"It's alright." Sakura's smile wasn't as wide or energetic as before, was something honestly closer to motherly. She gently wrapped her arms around him in another hug. "Take your time. You can take as long as you need to, ok?"

Despite being shorter than him, she was holding him up in more than one way. He was still hesitant with returning hugs.

The moment would've been touching if not for the single shuriken thrown at the two of them.

Naruto was in front of them immediately, snatched the shuriken out of the air with a glare on his face.

In a moment, all of his normal exuberance and excitement was gone. There was a hardness to his face and his eyes as he took in the group coming towards the three members of Team Sai.

"I knew we'd find the Crybaby here." Sakura's eyes narrowed when she recognized the one who must've thrown the shuriken. Naruto tossed the weapon aside with a scowl. He didn't know who any of the group were but he could put the pieces together well enough.

One: They were all Uchiha. Minus Sasuke, they all dressed the same.

Two: At least a few of them had to be the same Uchiha that Sakura had told him about, that must've made Sasuke's life miserable.

And three: They were here to cause trouble.

"This is a private training ground." Naruto didn't move from in front of his two teammates. "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't throw you out."

"Easy there brat." One of the Uchiha, a girl, stepped forward. She held a hand out to stop the one who had thrown the shuriken from stepping up to Naruto's obvious challenge. "We're not here to fight you." In a single blink, the red and black of the Sharingan had taken hold and she turned her gaze towards Sasuke. "We're here to deal with that loser."

"Don't you dare call him that." Sakura snapped at the girl she recognized from the desk that day. "If anyone here's a loser, it's you and your little groupies." A savage smile crossed her face when she spotted the girl she had dealt with in the interrogation room. She flinched when green eyes met her dark ones. "After all, I took down Keiko-chan over there like it was nothing."

"You got lucky back then." The Uchiha was obviously not willing to back down. "You won't get lucky with me you little b-"

She couldn't help but cry out when something flew past her face, left an ice cold trail on her cheek.

The ice senbon hit a tree behind her.

"D-Don't talk to my team like that Nana."

AN: Story will probably shift to a weekly or twice a month update.

Review/PM if you want.

Peace.