"Talking"
"SHOUTING/SCREAMING/YELLING"
'Thoughts'
"Jutsu"
"Tailed Beast Talking"
'Tailed Beast Thinking'
Sound Effects
Date & Time
|Location|
[Flashback]
[+]
Chapter 5: Preparations
[+]
Next Morning
May 12
|Wave|
After an early breakfast, Team 7 assembled outside of Tazuna's home for their training. Kakashi wasn't feeling all that great but he had to prepare his team for their next encounter against Zabuza and the fake hunter-nin.
"Listen up guys, we only have a week before Zabuza is back to full strength, so we will be spending the entire week working on some chakra control exe-"
He stopped as he noticed that someone was sprinting towards their direction, the individual was still far away that he couldn't make out who the person what.
"Be on guard everyone." Kakashi instructed his Genin just in case it was another missing-nin after Tazuna. The figure soon came within viewing and the Cyclops immediately recognized who he was.
"Areku?"
"In the flesh." The Kishida Jonin replied flashing a small grin at the Jonin.
"But why are you here? You're a liaison between Arashi and Konoha."
"Liaisons can also go on missions for their allies in case you didn't know." The Jonin Kishida explained with a shrug.
"Okay but are you alone?"
"Yeah, the other Jonins are away and I was the only one available." Areku said before taking a look at the Genin, "Judging by the lack of injuries I say they performed well on their first counter with B-rank nuke-nins." Areku said referring to the Demon Brothers.
"It's been upped to an A-rank." Kakashi said confusing the green-haired Jonin, "We encountered Zabuza." He further explained.
"Of the Seven Swordsmen?" Kakashi nodded, "I see, how about I take over the Genins' training for some days." Kakashi promptly agreed, retreating back into the house for some rest. Areku turned to the remaining members of Team 7. "I'm impressed you guys fought against both Zabuza of the Mist and the Demon Brothers and still came out in one piece, this shows that you guys have potential and I'm not saying this because Ari-kun happens to be on your team."
"Ari-kun?" Naruto chuckled at the pet name.
"Don't even think about it." His green-haired friend replied, coating his hands with lightning as a sign of what will befall him.
"Are you Atsushi's uncle?" Hinata asked politely, gaining the elder's attention. If she didn't know better she would have thought that the man in front of her was Atsushi's dad.
"Yes I am and who are you my dear?" The senior Kishida asked with a smile.
"Hinata Hyuga." She replied.
"Well then you must be the prettiest Hyuga I have ever seen." the green-haired Jonin complimented and earned a blush from the girl.
Meanwhile Sasuke was busy analyzing the Kishida Jonin in front of him. 'Judging by his appearance he's either an ex-ANBU agent or a high ranking shinobi, so Naruto has been taking lessons from him for the past eight weeks... No wonder the dobe improved so much.' He thought.
The Uchiha was snapped out of his thoughts by the question directed to him.
"You're Sasuke right?" Areku asked and waited for the raven-haired's reply.
"Yes." the Uchiha scoffed finding the question ridiculous. Areku rolled his eyes then turned to the others.
"Today you guys will be learning the Water Walking exercise." Areku informed and lead them to the edge of a nearby lake where he will begin their training.
"Now then, Water Walking is the same as Tree Walking, but instead of just letting out a set amount of chakra, you have to constantly change it because of the moving water," Areku explained as he focused chakra into his feet and walked onto the lake, like how Kakashi and Zabuza did when they fought.
"Hinata, I want you to use your Byakugan and tell me what you see," Areku said as he faced the Genin. Hinata nodded and activated her Byakugan before taking a close examination at Areku's feet as they expelled chakra.
"You're sending out chakra a-at stronger points when the w-water shifts in o-order to keep y-your balance," Hinata said with some stutters in between.
Areku nodded and said, "Very good, now I want you guys to give this a try."
The four Genin nodded then started to practice. Naruto went first but used too much chakra and was launched into the air, landing in a tree. Sasuke used too little and sunk into the water, only to come back up shivering as the water was cold. Atsushi succeeded in taking 5 steps before sinking to his waist level, the Kishida teen shivered a bit then swam back to shore to try again. Hinata took a step on the lake and tested her technique, once she was satisfied, she took several more steps. Eventually she was 10 feet away from the shore and sunk only to her ankles.
"Very good Hinata, looks like the Hyuga's are good with their chakra control lessons," Areku said impressed. Naruto on his second try sunk up to his chest and gave Hinata a grin that made her lose her focus, sending her into the lake with a shriek. She came back up with a gasp and practically flashed to the shore where she began to shiver, but what she didn't know was that Naruto was staring at her with a large blush since her wet jacket hugged her body more showing some of those concealed feminine features, this resulted in Naruto submerging himself into the water to get rid of the blush before anyone noticed especially Atsushi.
Areku instructed the three boys to work on the exercise, before noon Atsushi finally managed to break through after thirteen attempts and joined Hinata who was refining the technique by doing various physical exercises such as running, jumping and skating on the surface of the water. Sasuke and Naruto were still struggling to get the water walking exercise resorted to taking off all but their shorts so that their clothes wouldn't become any more soaked than they already were. Hinata promptly fainted at the sight of a shirtless Naruto who had gained a bit of muscle thanks to the chakra weights he had on.
At the end of the day, Naruto and Sasuke were getting close. They were each able to hold the chakra flow for a few seconds before falling through. Like the tree climbing exercise, they had inadvertently turned this into some sort of competition, not wanting the other one to best them. Late at night, Sasuke managed to get the exercise down first but Naruto was only an attempt or two behind, showing Sasuke that the 'dobe' really wasn't that far behind after him all.
Back at Tazuna's house Naruto and Sasuke showed up, finally. Areku was glad that the two had finally gotten the basics down. He gave the two boys one more day to refine their technique while he, Hinata and Atsushi would join Tazuna on the bridge for guard duty.
The following day, Naruto and Sasuke were back at the lake, working on the same thing that Hinata and Atsushi was doing the other day. Both boys were getting impatient by this as there was really no way for them to compete against one another. And then Sasuke made a suggestion.
"Naruto, fight me" he said. It was true, he wanted to fight Naruto. Even though he always wiped the floor with Naruto back in the academy, he had taken notice of the blonde's rapid progress under the Kishida Jonin. Now he wanted to fight the blonde.
"What?" Naruto asked slightly surprised.
"You heard me, Dobe. Fight me, right here. The first one to either give up or fall through the surface loses. Or are you afraid of losing?" Sasuke taunted.
That last phrase did it as Naruto accepted the challenge. "That's it, I'm finally going to kick your ass and show to you what a good ninja I actually am!"
Naruto ran at Sasuke, only to receive a foot in the gut, sending him sliding back across the water and through the surface.
Round 1 went to Sasuke.
"Come on, is that all you've got?" The Uchiha asked with a cocky smirk.
Naruto picked himself out of the water and berated himself for forgetting one of Areku's teaching; never rush into a battle without a plan and backup plan.
"Heh, I was just warming up." Naruto shot back, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He said as 6 clones puffed into existence and together with the original charged Sasuke who soon found himself unable to fend off seven attackers at once and was shortly submerged underwater.
'Perhaps there is something more to the Dobe after all.' Sasuke thought as he swam back to shore before engaging the Uzumaki once more.
The two sparred for hours and eventually settled for a draw.
"Hn, perhaps you're not so much of a Dobe after all. Let's go back." Sasuke said. That had been just what he wanted, some actual training that made him stronger, not just some meaningless running and jumping around on the surface of the water.
Naruto stared at the Uchiha wide eyed, 'Did he just compliment me?' He thought before suddenly grinning at the Uchiha, "What's the matter giving up already?" he huffed.
"Idiot you can barely keep yourself afloat. The last thing I need is to drag your unconscious and drowned body back to Areku." Sasuke said, panting as hard as Naruto.
Both boys had to admit it. That last match was good enough to bring them to this point. To emphasize on that fact, they had to rely on each other to drag the other home.
[+]
May 14
After two entire days of rest Kakashi took over his team's training not before thanking Areku for teaching his Genin the water walking technique, the Kishida pleased with the sign of gratitude offered to help guard Tazuna at the bridge which both parties accepted. After the two had left the Cyclops realize that he was running out of what to teach his students since they have already learnt the basics required for one to be an all rounded shinobi.
'I guess there isn't anything else so elemental jutsu it is.' The silver-haired Jonin sighed and pulled out a paper from his pocket then infused it with his chakra, making the paper to wrinkle. "You all know what this is?" he asked and received a nod from each Genin. "And you all know your respective affinities?"
"Fire." Sasuke answered.
"Wind." Naruto.
"Lightning." Atsushi stated his main affinity.
"Water." Hinata.
"Hmm… no earth but that's a start. Now I will be teaching each of you an elemental jutsu, once you are done mastering one you may come to me for another. Agreed?"
"Hn."
"Sounds good."
"Yea."
"Ok."
Kakashi nodded before listing out their assigned jutsus. "Now Sasuke your great fireball Jutsu although powerful is a slow technique which can be dodged but this-" He weaved a couple of hand seals before-
"Fire Style: Flamethrower Jutsu!" A stream of red hot fire shot out of his mouth with impressive speed towards a tree incinerating it. Sasuke's jaw dropped a little bit at the demonstration, 'Such power! Such speed! Must have it'
"This technique is more concentrated than your Fireball Jutsu and its burning power is twice as powerful so be careful at what you aim it at." Kakashi explained before turning to his blonde student.
"Now Naruto, most wind techniques requires a medium to be effective and this." He pulled out a kunai from his pouch, "Is just what you need."
Naruto looked at the blade with disappointment, "It's just a plain kunai."
"Ah but look closely." The Uzumaki looked closely and noticed a faint blue glow around the entire length of the kunai, "This is the Wind Blade Technique, it's achieved by channeling wind chakra into a medium like a blade, fan or in this case a kunai."
"Cool so what does it do?" The Blonde asked, the rest were as interested in what it could do.
"It increases it's cutting or piercing power like this." The Jonin tossed the kunai at a tree, the entire blade impaling right into the tree bark with the exception of the hilt, "But that's not all it can do." He added grabbing another kunai.
"Wind Style: Wind Slash!" Kakashi swung the kunai releasing a hemispherical slash which slashed the tree in two cleanly with its top half falling to the ground with a loud crash. Naruto stood star-eyed at the display.
"Atsushi, most of your techniques are medium to long range so you will be learning this." Kakashi weaved another set of hand signs.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Lance!" His right hand sparked with electricity before forming a large electric spearhead. "In case your opponent gets too close for comfort use this on them, not only those it pierces but also electrocutes your opponent." Receiving a nod from the Kishida, he turns to Hinata.
"Now Hinata your clan doesn't make use of elemental jutsu so you are struck with practicing your clan techniques for now."
The Hyuga nodded sadly, she did want to learn some elemental jutsu but the elders frown upon the use of such jutsu stating that it was inferior to their Jyuken techniques.
Kakashi started off teaching Sasuke the Flamethrower, while sending Hinata and Atsushi to accompany Tsunami through town as she went to pick up groceries and Naruto went with Areku to help guard the bridge.
[+]
|Bridge|
Naruto was sitting on a beam while keeping an eye on Tazuna and his workers, not that there were a lot of them anyway. He glanced to his left and spotted Areku who was surveying the area for any sign of trouble, he watched the Kishida Jonin for a few second before returning his gaze back to the workers.
Tazuna was welding some metal together when one of the workers came up to him. "Yes Gichi? What is it?"
"I'm sorry Tazuna, but I can't keep doing this," Gichi began, "Gato is going to make everything worse if we keep doing this."
"Gichi! You can't do this! If you leave, then it'll take longer to finish the bridge! Do you want this country to remain poor and dying?" Tazuna asked.
Gichi shook his head and said, "I just can't keep risking my family's lives like this."
Tazuna shook his head and continued to work. "Then go, I have no need for cowards on this construction crew." Gichi sighed and walked off the bridge. Tazuna also sighed then turned to Naruto and said, "It's been like this for a while, people are starting to get scared of Gato and are leaving to try and stay out of this."
"So you need workers?" Naruto asked as he hopped off the beam and stood before the elderly man, "Then I've got you covered, Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The sight of a hundred copies of Naruto appearing out of thin air rendered the bridge builder speechless for some seconds.
"Alright guys grab some hammers, shovels, cement, logs of wood and help out in any way you can." Naruto ordered and with the cries of 'Yes Boss', the clones immediately set out to work
Tazuna stared at the large group in disbelief before he shook his head and said, "You're just the kind of person I need. Let's get to work."
Areku just smiled at the blond teenager, 'I will have to show him another use of his shadow clones once they got back to Konoha.' He mentally noted before resuming his survey.
[+]
Later That Night
|Tazuna's House|
Team 7, Areku and Tazuna's family were at the dinner table having dinner which Tsunami had cooked with Hinata's help. Naruto and Sasuke were chewing down almost at the speed of light, Atsushi and Areku ate at normal speed while Kakashi and Tazuna ate slowly, the latter having a bottle of sake at his side.
Tsunami was busy cleaning the dishes but would occasionally cast a glance at Kakashi when he wasn't looking.
Inari and Hinata, barely touched their food.
Hinata currently had a lot on her mind. Kakashi had sent her and Atsushi off to guard Tsunami while she went grocery shopping, and as they were going through town to get ingredients, the Hyuga was horrified to see the condition of Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves) and its people.
Kids were practically begging people for food, or munching down little pieces of bread, Men holding up written signs saying 'I will do any job' while other people wore ragged clothes, and they looked like they had seen better days.
Even the shop they went to for ingredients had barely any food in it.
It was then that Tsunami told both Genins the importance of the bridge. Once it was completed, the poverty of the place could halt, and they wouldn't have to be in the depression they were currently in anymore.
Hinata had remembered a little girl tugging at her side, begging for food. She had given her the food, but felt bad for everyone she saw. After she had given the girl food, other kids looked at her with hopeful eyes, but she couldn't spare a lot, especially since Tsunami was handling the food. Atsushi also helped but could only afford for four kids.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Naruto and Sasuke barfing their recently swallowed food since they had practically shoved it down their throats eager to get back to mastering their new jutsus.
"N-Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san… you guys shouldn't f-force the food down your mouth…" Hinata mumbled to her teammates.
Sasuke looked at her as if she had two heads, "No, must get stronger!"
Naruto nodded his head out of agreement. "Yeah! If I want to get stronger, then I have to eat as much as I can! Besides, this stuff is really good!"
"If that's so, then you might want to stop forcing the food down your mouth cause you both are puking it all over the place." Kakashi scolded.
"It's a waste of perfectly good food." Areku joined in.
"Which the villagers don't have." Atsushi added before he resumed eating. Both boys after hearing that felt bad and reduced their eating pace.
"Hinata, thanks for helping me cook all of this." Tsunami said out loud,
"N-No problem." The Hyuga heiress replied.
"Wow, Hinata! You made some of this stuff?! You must be one damn of a good cook!" Naruto exclaimed, causing the girl to blush heavily as she put her hands on her face.
"I just helped Tsunami-san, that's all." Hinata quickly said, not wanting all the praise for herself.
"Don't be so modest Hinata-chan you're pretty good for girl your age," Hinata blushed from all the praise and look away, her gaze soon settling on a picture frame up the wall.
It looked like any other ordinary family picture. There was Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari, who was actually smiling joyfully, a complete contrast to his current demeanor. And then… a tear in the picture.
From the looks of it, there seemed to be a fourth picture with them. Inari's father? Or maybe a sibling?
"U-Umm... if you don't mind m-me asking, why is that picture ripped?"
Tazuna, Inari, and Tsunami all tensed at the mention of the picture. But the stiffest one of them all was Inari.
"It's my husband." Tsunami answered in a raspy voice, with a hint of sadness.
"He was the man known as the hero of this town." Tazuna started to speak, only to freeze when Inari rose up from his chair, running to the door with his hat covering his eyes.
"Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami called after her son, who opened the door and shut it hard behind him, leaving Team 7 staring at where the boy once was in awe.
Tsunami soon followed and opened the door slightly, before turning to Tazuna with an angry look on her face. "Father, I told you not to talk about him in front of Inari!" And with that, Tsunami let and shut the door behind her.
With the shut of that door came a wave of guilt which dumped down on Hinata.
What she had just mentioned seemed to be a sensitive topic for the family of three.
"I-I'm... sorry…" Hinata apologized as she took a deep bow toward Tazuna, "I didn't know it was so sensitive."
"It's alright. Well, since you know about Inari's father, I guess I should tell you about him. The man in the picture is Inari's father yes, but not biologically. Inari and he were so close, like a real father and son. Inari used to laugh so much back then, But…"
The builder's hands tightened into fists, the nails digging deep into his skin as small tears dropped down his face.
"Ever since that day after the incident with Inari's father the boy has changed... and not for the better."
"And what happened with Inari during the incident?" Kakashi asked the old man, who looked up to face Team 7, a grave look appeared on the man's face as he adjusted his glasses.
"To explain the incident, I will need to talk about the man who was known as a hero on this island." Tazuna took off his glasses as he wiped off the single tear that trailed down his face.
"A hero?" Naruto repeated.
"It was about three or so years ago. That's when Inari met the man. One day, Inari was ambushed by three people, two of them restrained him while the other one forced him to watch his dog, Pochi, drown in the water." Tazuna began the story, immediately getting a gasp of horror from Hinata.
'They made him watch his dog drown?! How cruel…' She thought.
"Inari wanted to save his dog, but he hesitated when the three let him go. He was scared, due to the fact that he couldn't swim. However one of the men pushed Inari into the water urging the boy to save his dog. Then, Pochi actually learned how to dog paddle, and he left Inari to drown, abandoning him." Tazuna continued, remembering how horrified he was when he learned that his grandson had almost died, "Thankfully, Inari was pulled out of the water before drowning."
"And the one who saved him…" Kakashi trailed off to let Tazuna finish.
"Yes, it was that man. A great, strong man named Kaiza. He was a fisherman who had become hero to fulfill his dream. Ever since that day, Inari adored him, mostly because he never got to know his own father. It wasn't long before Kaiza also walked his way into my daughter's heart and became part of our family."
Naruto closed his eyes and smiled as he continued to listen, hoping to become a hero like that, one who the people would look up to for help... where they would acknowledge him as a great man.
"Kaiza was also the man that our village needed. After Kaiza prevented a sector of the village from being flooded, the people began to call him a hero, and he became a father Inari could be proud of." Tazuna smiled at the memory, before curving his lips into a deep frown. "But... around that time, Gato has turned his eye on this town. And one night…"
Tazuna grimaced as he remembered the day the hero died.
"After Kaiza spoke up against Gato's actions he was captured by Gato's men then beaten up to near death. Gato even went as far as ordering that both of his arms be cut off."
Tears began to sprout in Hinata's eyes as she knew what was going to happen next.
"The next day, Gato had Kaiza publicly executed as a way to discourage the people from ever standing up against him. He also threatened that if anyone were to stand up like Kaiza did, they and their family members would receive the same treatment that Kaiza received. So ever since Kaiza's death Inari, Tsunami, and all the other people of the village changed."
After that last statement, came silence.
Utter silence.
Naruto clenched his fist then jumped out of his seat heading towards the door, but due to fatigue he merely made half way before collapsing.
"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata spoke the name of her crush out of surprise.
"If you're trying to go out and train, don't even try. You used way too much Chakra. If you try to train anymore, you'll die." Kakashi warned Naruto.
"Kakashi-sensei is right, you can continue tomorrow." Atsushi said helping Naruto to stand on his feet.
From the amount of time spent training, even someone with Naruto's Chakra capacity could barely move afterwards so training wasn't a good idea right now.
"I'll show him," Naruto said as rose to his feet with his teammate's aid, "That there are heroes in this world…"
"I'll prove it to him!"
[+]
Morning
May 16
"Good morning…" Hinata greeted the occupants of the room with a small yawn. Immediately after entering the room, she noticed that Naruto was the only one who wasn't there.
The Uzumaki had obviously sneaked out during the night.
'Is he still out training?' Hinata wondered as she took a seat at the table. Tsunami walked over to her with a plate of streamed rice with fish sauce and placed it in front of her.
"Thank you very much." Hinata gave Tsunami a small bow with her head.
"Naruto is still training his ass off like a madman, huh?" Tazuna spoke as he took a bite into his food.
"I-I'm starting to get worried about it. I-If he pushes himself too hard, he could die by using too much Chakra." Hinata said glumly as she looked down at the food, the sudden prospect of Naruto dying completely devouring her appetite.
"There shouldn't be anything to worry about. Even if he doesn't look like one, Naruto is a decent ninja." Kakashi assured Hinata to ease her worries.
"I don't know about that. That dobe might actually be dead."
"WHAT?"
"Sasuke stop messing with her." Atsushi said glaring at the raven haired. Sasuke glared back but was ignored as the green haired focused on Hinata, "I'm sure that Naruto isn't going to die from chakra exhaustion, he has an enormous amount of chakra remember?"
"Yes, I guess you're right." Hinata muttered.
"If you like you can go check up on him?" Atsushi offered.
The Hyuga immediately stood up from her chair, "Of course, thanks Atsushi-san." She said as she began to walk towards the entrance of the house.
Once she was gone Tazuna chuckled slightly, "Judging by how eager she is, I will say that she has something for the boy."
"Well she doesn't seem to be hiding it." Kakashi replied with a hidden grin.
[+]
|Wave Forest|
Once Hinata had gotten into the section of the forest where Naruto should be training, she saw a young lady, wearing a pink sleeveless kimono, having a conversation with said boy, she quickly hid behind a tree and watched.
As she watched Hinata couldn't help feeling sad and a little bit jealous at the look Naruto was giving the girl. That was the look on every boy's face whenever they found a girl attractive and Hinata wanted Naruto to give her that kind of look.
Soon the girl left and Hinata stepped out of her hiding spot.
"This world is full of many surprises…" Hinata could Naruto mutter; he had his eyes closed, so he didn't tell that she was present with him.
'Ok, Hinata, you can do this, just say one word, that's all!' Hinata inwardly slapped herself twice to make sure she was ready.
"Naruto-kun." She whispered.
Naruto's ears picked up the whisper Hinata made as he opened his eyes to see her playing with her fingers, glancing away from him.
"Hinata? What are you doing here?" He asked.
"N-N-Naruto-kun I-I justwantedtoletyouknowthatbreakfastisready!" She stammered out the words at the speed of light. Man was she nervous.
Naruto blinked at what Hinata said, "You wanted to let me know that breakfast is ready?"
"Yes and... You shouldn't push yourself so hard…" Hinata warned her friend in a barely audible whisper, fortunately for her, Naruto picked up her words.
"You shouldn't worry about me like that and besides, how is yours faring?"
"…Well good." Hinata replied, she had finally mastered the Vacuum palm but still had problems with the Rotation and 64 palms. Naruto detected a hint of sadness in her reply.
"It's ok if you counter some bumps along the way, what matters is that you kept on moving forward until you have reached your destination." Hinata smiled at his words, Naruto always had a way of making anyone feel good about themselves and that's one of the qualities she liked… no loved about him.
"Thank you Naruto-kun."
"No problem, how about we spar before heading back?" He suggested, "I haven't sparred against a Hyuga before so I wonder how I measure up."
After receiving a nod from the now speechless Hyuga, Naruto stepped off his left foot and leaped backwards, forming a hand sign he called,"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and three shadow clones puffed into existence and together with the original they all charged towards the Heiress, who could only gulped before entering her Gentle Fist stance.
[+]
An hour later
Clap! Clap!
Smack! Smack!
Atsushi followed the sounds deep into the woods and soon located both Naruto and Hinata. Although both were a bit worn out they seemed quite happy sparing against each other. Hinata wasn't trying to shut down Naruto's chakra points unless the spar will be short-lived. Naruto won't form more than three clones to prevent Hinata from being overwhelmed. Actually it seemed like the two were sparing and dancing at the same time, unable bring himself to stop the rhythmic display Atsushi sat down and watched.
Hinata's movements seemed to be getting just a little bit better along with her reaction times.
Naruto's taijutsu seems to have improved as well, along with his Shadow Clones.
Originally before attending Kishidan boot camp, Naruto would practically charge the enemy head on without a care in the world. And his clones, much worse. His clones had acted like they didn't have a brain and just ran around the battlefield swinging at the opponent randomly.
But now, they had moments of coordination. Although not as much as the original, the clones did manage to score a couple of hits on Hinata.
Naruto soon went out of rhythm aiming a punch at Hinata's face, but it was slow and the Hyuga easily sidestepped it and struck her teammate with a palm to the chest adding a little Chakra into her strike which blew the Uzumaki backwards.
"OW!" Naruto yelped as his body hit the floor, unable to get up again as he looked up at the sky panting and wheezing. Maybe training vigorously overnight was not such a good idea.
"Well well, what do we have here? Two Genin hard at work," The calm and lazy voice of Kakashi Hatake droned as Hinata turned to see him and Sasuke walking towards them. "Hinata, you never ate breakfast, you should head back and you too Naruto but where is Atsushi?"
"Right here sensei." Atsushi said under a tree, "Sorry I got distracted watching them spar."
"Well at least everyone is safe." Kakashi sighed before facing Hinata, "So are you hungry?"
The blue haired shook her head, "I'm not hungry right now, so I will be fine."
Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, who was lying down on the forest floor, "Hn, dumbass."
Naruto's ears picked up the insult as a tick mark formed on his head. With new found energy due to Sasuke merely insulting him, Naruto sat up straight and glared at the Uchiha.
"You've got something to say, teme?!"
"Hard of hearing dobe?"
"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!" Naruto jumped up fully, getting close to Sasuke's face, "ME! YOU!" He pointed to the two trees behind him, "THOSE TWO TREES, RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!"
"You're on." Sasuke agreed weaving hand seals. "Fire Style: Flamethrower Jutsu!" A stream of red hot fire identical to Kakashi's shot out of Sasuke's and incinerated the tree reducing it to ash.
"Hmm…" Naruto hummed as he stared at the burnt tree, "Now my turn." The blonde grabbed a kunai from his pouch and began channeling Wind Chakra into it until a faint blue glow surrounded it.
"Wind Style: Wind Slash!" He swung the kunai unleashing a hemispherical slash towards his own tree slashing it in half.
Kakashi's jaw dropped, his students had mastered a C-rank jutsu in two days. Soon they will be coming for more Justus and that meant more teaching. He had to distract them for the mean time.
"Ok, since you guys are down with your various jutsu, head on to the bridge, I am sure Areku and Tazuna are waiting for you." Sasuke and Naruto nodded then sprinted off making Kakashi to sigh out in relief, 'Disaster averted.'
"Oh Kakashi-sensei."
Said Sensei immediately paled at the tone, "Yes Atsushi." He answered nervously.
"I require a few more demonstrations." The Kishida smiled a sinister smile which sent shivers went down the Jonin's spine.
[+]
Omake
2 month ago
March 15
|Training Grounds 7|
The members of Team 7 were already at their training grounds patiently waiting for their sensei. After an hour Kakashi was still nowhere around the training ground. The team was bored and Naruto restless, so Atsushi decided to help them improve their chakra control by showing them the tree climbing exercise. Naruto went first, Hinata followed almost immediately interested in what her crush was learning and Sasuke, well he got intrigued once the Kishida explained that the exercise will make the learning of more powerful and complex jutsu a lot easier.
"Ok guys the exercise is very easy to understand, you gather chakra in the soles of your feet and use it to climb the tree. But be careful because if you use too much you'll go flying off and if too little you won't stick your feet to the tree," Atsushi explained. "Use your kunai to mark your progress." Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata chose their respective trees, after gathering some chakra in their soles and began to climb the trees.
Naruto and Sasuke fell before they could reach the half way mark while Hinata crossed it before she lost concentration and also fell.
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Some tries and minutes later
"And Hinata is the winner!" Atsushi announced as he spotted Hinata sitting on top of her tree.
'Seems like the Hyuga clan has pretty good chakra control, she got it down under 10 minutes while it took me 2 hours… Must be because of their Gentle fist' Atsushi wondered before smiling at the shocked expressions on the other boys' faces.
"H-Hinata?!" Naruto cried out of shock as he looked up at her with awe, "That was totally awesome." The blonde cheered causing the girl to blush.
"T-Thank you Naruto-kun."
Atsushi then had an idea on how to speed up the exercise, "Good control and stamina, Hinata. Maybe you and not a certain blonde Uzumaki is the closest to becoming Hokage," Said Uzumaki instantly adopted a horrified look, "And maybe the Uchiha clan isn't as superior as I thought." Said Uchiha's face twisted into a scowl.
Hinata looked down at Naruto and Sasuke to see their reactions; the two boys were giving each other competitive looks. Even Atsushi could see the fire in their eyes and decided to get them a little push.
"You guys have an hour before Kakashi-sensei arrives so make the best of it."
"Ready teme?" Naruto asked, a fox like grin on his face.
"I was born ready dope, don't forget that!" Sasuke replied with a smirk.
The boys charged towards their respective trees with blazing speeds, surpassing their pervious marks before falling back to earth but that didn't stop them as they immediately recovered and charged once more.
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A/N: Well hope you enjoyed this. Expect some amazing Eight Trigrams moves from Hinata after the wave arc.
Next chapter: Team Seven vs. The Ice Demons pt 1.
24/12/20: Minor changes.
Total number of words: 6045 words.
Jamesco1292002