Chapter 11 – Solving the Problem (With Ink and Paper)
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me
Previously on Secret Keeper: Receiving an Urgent Summons, Kakashi and Team 7 headed north to Mura Kazan. While travelling, the genin of Team 7 became disappointed in the work ethic of their fellow Konoha nins...
The next morning, Team 7 were shown round the area. If their guide found all the questions, and Sakura's notes, strange, he didn't say. (Before they'd left the village, Naruto had provided several sets of pens, pencils, scrolls, and a small black notebook. Where he'd got them, no one knows...) Their questions varied, from how often the villagers came, to the local wildlife and weather conditions.
Eventually, they returned to the village, where, to Kakashi's endless amusement, the genin shut themselves in a room to compare notes.
"Right, I'm calling this Planning Meeting to order." Sakura declared, sitting cross-legged on the floor surrounded by scrolls and notebooks.
Nodding in agreement, the boys quickly joined her on the floor.
"Right, so we now have a map of the area. I've marked on all the possible locations for the basin, and the flood routes." Sasuke revealed the scroll he'd been working on.
"Great work, Sasuke-kun! Naruto?" Sakura asked, leaning over Sasuke's shoulder to view the roughly-sketched map.
Naruto hummed, glancing up briefly from his notebook he'd been toying with since arriving at the village.
"Anything to report?" Sakura prompted eagerly.
Naruto blinked, before tearing his attention away from the notebook.
"Oh! Yes, I've almost got the first draft of the seals sorted, should be ready to test soon. Um, I'll er, need a bowl and a jug of water, or maybe several?"
Sakura grinned.
"Ok, I'll go get some!"
As she rushed off, Naruto started pulling a stack of sealing tags from his pocket...
The rest of Team 7 crowded round a small, clay bowl, resting innocently on a table, while a...somewhat burnt? Naruto stood on the other side of the room, holding a jug of water above a seal tag.
"Ready?" the blond asked. Receiving nods of confirmation, he slowly started pouring the water onto the tag.
Holding their breath, his teammates stared at the bowl.
"It's working!" Sakura breathed in excitement, as water started appearing in the bowl.
"Great! Now, we just need to build the giant basin, and carve the seals. Sasuke?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke rifled through a small pile of scrolls next to him.
"According to the villager's information, along with ground and weather conditions, I've calculated the required size, and how long it should take, assuming it's just the three of us building it – Naruto, I'm assuming your going to be busy with the seals?"
Naruto nodded happily.
"Yeah, I'm gonna be carving them fairly deeply into the rock, so was thinking of getting started after lunch."
"Right, then, Team." Kakashi clapped his hands together with an eye-smile. "Let's get to work! The flood should be here in roughly three days. If we need more time, there are a couple of methods we could possibly use to slow it down, but, I'd prefer not to use them."
Nodding, the genin quickly gathered their equipment and headed off, Naruto to the main flow area on Mount Yogan, the rest of Team 7 went north.
By the time they regrouped that evening, considerable progress had been made. Naruto, with the help of his clones, had cleared the initial area, and placed markers for the first set of seals. Meanwhile, the rest of Team 7 had made use of Kakashi's head-hunter technique, and had almost finished hollowing out their 'bowl'.
After a brief discussion, plans for the next day were made. Naruto and his clones were ready to begin the carving – hoping to finish tomorrow evening, before moving to the seals for the 'bowl'. All the 'bowl' needed was the remaining loose dirt removed, and the sides hardened so the seals would hold, Sasuke's Gōkakyū jutsu should definitely do the trick.
Once the meeting was finished, Kakashi sent his genin to bed, before heading off to talk with the village chief.
The next couple of days continued along in a similar manner, with Kakashi carefully monitoring his genin, especially Naruto – ensuring they didn't over-expend their chakra, and regularly stopped to rest and/or eat. As it was, Naruto barely managed to finish in time, working through the second night with some of his clones holding torches. Towards the end, Sakura (much to Kakashi's surprise, he thought she hated the blond) started taking up food and enforcing short breaks.
When the flood-water finally came rushing down the mountains, the villagers gathered excitedly by the 'bowl', cheering when the water was transferred.
"Thank you for solving our annual problem!" the chieftain exclaimed, tears of joy running down his face. "From this day forth, this will be called Bowl Lake," he declared, causing Team 7 to sweat-drop.
"It was no problem?" Kakashi ventured hesitantly.
Only for the chieftain to ignore him and continue on.
"Obviously, it goes without saying, I will be sending a commendation for your team to the Hokage."
"That's very generous of you, Leader-san." Kakashi eye-smiled, before darting forwards to catch an exhausted, blond, twelve-year-old. "If you will excuse us, I think it's time for my genin to sleep."
"Oh! Yes, please, don't let me keep you!" the chieftain nodded, gesturing back towards the village.
Thanking him, Team 7 took their leave, and headed off to bed.
Sakura woke up, bright and early the next morning. She couldn't sleep, her brain far too excited as the events of the last few days finally caught up to her. They'd actually done it! Their first 'Out of Village' mission, while a success, it had revealed a lot of issues and gaps in their knowledge. Sakura made herself a mental note to hit the Village Library as soon as possible. Although, she didn't actually know what she needed – maybe once she could actually see the books and scrolls, she'd have a better idea? It certainly wouldn't hurt to have a better idea of what was edible round the Village...so maybe start there? And, then there was their current mission – which, admittedly, had mostly been Sensei's jutsu and Naruto's seals – but they had managed a solution, where chunin had failed! Oh, she was so excited, just wait til Ino found out!
Unable to simply sit still, Sakura began packing for their return trip to Konoha. Halfway through, she was joined by Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei, who pulled Naruto onto his back once they'd finished. Said blond didn't even stir. And so, after saying goodbye to the villagers, Team 7 set off, once again headed for Home.
They mostly ran quietly, wanting to get home as soon as possible, each for different, or perhaps similar, reasons. Kakashi couldn't wait to have...words...with the Academy staff, and get his cute little genin training. Sakura was still planning her hit on the Library, making mental notes of things she needed to find, and in what order. Sasuke was also thinking of training, working out how to increase his chakra levels. While he was thinking about it, maybe weights would be a good idea too? Naruto was sleeping, exhausted from creating the seals.
Finally, Kakashi decided to stop for lunch, sending Sasuke to catch them some rabbits while he prepared a fire, not really wanting his charges using much chakra just yet. Once the meat was on sticks, roasting over the fire, he turned his attention to waking the blond.
"Afternoon, Naru-chan! You're just in time for lunch!" Kakashi eye-smiled happily.
"Oh – afternoon, Sensei," Naruto yawned. "Where are we?"
"Maa, maa, don't worry about it, Naru-chan! Have some food!" Kakashi waved a stick with pieces of rabbit at him.
Naruto looked bemused as he accepted.
"Wha'd I miss?"
"Not much, just the end of the celebrations, and travelling," Sakura shrugged. "We're making good time, too, should be back at the Village day after tomorrow."
Naruto hummed, his eyes losing focus for a moment.
"That's good. It's going to be raining soon, so probably want to get going." he shrugged.
"How did...you know what? Never mind." Sakura decided, before packing up quickly, not really wanting to be walking in the rain more than necessary.
Naruto grinned sunnily.
"So, what's the game-plan when we get back?"
Sasuke smirked.
"Well..."
Two days later, Team 7 returned to Konoha. After signing in at the gate, they made their way across to the Hokage Tower.