Ch.6 Land of Waves Part 2
Kakashi groaned and opened his eyes and winced at the bright room that looked like it was spinning. 'I think I over did it...'He thought.
"Waking up are we? How are you feeling?" A woman with black/blue hair stood there with her hands on her hips.
"I've been better." he said sitting up with a groan. "It'll be about week before I can move normally again." he said.
"Uh huh, that's exactly why you shouldn't move." she said, he sighed and nodded.
"Yeah." he said and went to lay back down but the door opened and Sakura came in.
"Sensei's up." she said, everyone came in and sat down next to him, he sighed. "Listen sensei. Your sharingan is amazing and all, but if it weakens you this much, then maybe you shouldn't use It." she said.
"Sorry." he said.
"Well, you did take down one of the most powerful ninja assassins, so we'll be safe for a while at least." Tazuna said.
"What about that boy though? Who was he?" Sakura asked.
"He's a hunter-nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Hunter-nin specialize in tracking down rogue shinobi, those who make it into these ranks the elite ninja." Kakashi said.
"What does he do?" She inquired.
"The Anbu black ops are also known as the Inferno Squad. They destroy all traces of a rogue ninja's corpse. The Shinobi's body contains many secrets such as ninjutsu, chakra, medicines used on his body. These are the secrets of his village, if his enemies find them, his village will be in grave danger. For example if I were to die at my enemies hands, they would try to analyze my sharingan, in the worst case, my entire technique could be stolen and used against our village. It is the sacred duty of the Hunter-nins to prevent this, keeping the village secrets safe. If a ninja betrays his village, the hunter ninja hunt them down and eliminate him and obliterate his very existence, that's there specialty." he said and frowned a little. 'But why do I have this feeling?' He thought and held his head.
"Sensei?" Sakura asked, he shook his head and blinked a few times. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not so sure we're out of the woods yet." he said.
"What do you mean?" Naru asked.
"This, Zabuza is still alive." Kakashi said flatly.
"WHAT?!" Tazuna and Sakura screeched, Naru sat in shock, Sasuke frowned.
"How do you know?" Naru asked.
"You checked his pulse!" Sakura said.
"Think back to what that hunter ninja did with Zabuza's body?"
"I don't know..." Sakura said.
"He picked it up, even though Zabuza was so much bigger than the boy, he made sure to take his body with him. And what did he use to take him down?" Kakashi asked.
"Senbon..." Sasuke said and sighed.
"Senbon is used in medical jutsu's, and if taught right, it can be used to paralyze, that also mean it can paralyze the heart making it look like he was in a death like state, when he actually wasn't." Kakashi said, Mamoru snorted.
"So... what do we do now?" Naru asked.
"We train." Kakashi told them.
"How?! You can barely move!" Sakura protested.
"I can still train you." Kakashi said.
"A little last minute training won't make us strong enough to battle Zabuza!" she snarled.
"But it will help improve you." he said. "Your teamwork has improved, Naru and Sasuke, that was amazing teamwork." he said, Sasuke smirked and Naru gave a small smile looking down slightly. "The more you train, the better it will be." he said, they nodded.
"No it won't!" a small voice said, they turned and looked at a small boy standing there. He wore a pale shirt with green overalls and he had big white hat with blue stripes on his messy black hair.
"Inari! Where have you been?" Tazuna said. Naru stared in the direction of the voices and then slowly looked down.
"Grandpa!" he yelled and hugged Tazuna tight.
"Inari that was very rude! These ninja brought your grandfather home safely." Tsunami snapped at him putting her hands on her hip and gave her 'mom' stare.
"It's okay! It's okay! I'm rude to them too!" Tazuna said, they frowned.
"Well it's true mom! These ninja are just going to die!" he said.
"We're stronger then you know kid." Naru said breaking the shinobi's silence.
"Yeah right! You'll be killed instantly!" he said. "You're all fools!" he said, Sasuke scowled at him. "If you want to live then you need to just leave now!" he said.
"You're the fool." Naru said.
"You couldn't do anything! Gato will destroy everything!" he said. "It's pointless, you're ignorant!" Inari shouted.
"You don't know what I can or can't do." She said and stood up, Mamoru got up. "The only ignorant one here is you." she said and walked out with Mamoru. Kakashi frowned as he watched her walk out holding Mamoru's collar, Inari glared at her as she left, he huffed and stomped out ignoring his mother's call of his name.
Naru sat on the pier with her head down and her eyes closed. Mamoru looked at the water and licked his lips as he stared at the fish swimming. "Go ahead." She said. He looked over at her with a yearning look in his eyes. "I know you want to get some fish." she said smiling. He snorted and jumped down on the water using chakra and walked along chasing some fish. Naru chuckled and sat there, she sighed and paused as she heard some sniffling. She got up slowly and felt along the wall following the noise, she paused as she felt a window where it was coming from.
"Daddy… no… please, don't go daddy. Why?" she heard Inari's voice, she looked down and backed up slowly and headed back to where she had been.
-*o*-
Flashback
9 year old Naru looked up and whimpered quietly as she looked around the dark room she was in. She sat up slowly and looked up at the group of people that had just grabbed the girl on her way back home from having her Ichiraku's supper.
"What... what do you want?" she said crying.
"Demon!" One spat, she looked down and started to get up, she cried out as a foot connected with her stomach, she rolled on the ground and held her stomach shaking.
"P...please stop! You're hurting me!" she cried out.
They surrounded the child and began to kick and tear at the girl as she cried out in fear and pain, calling for help even though it was pretty much pointless.
They pulled back finally and laughed as the girl struggled a little, her body screaming in pain from her broken bones.
She got up slowly and panted, blood running from her lip and nose. She heard them start moving away from her, causing her to look up in hope that they were done abusing her. When she finally looked up she realized that it wasn't over yet. The tallest and most built figure was standing over her. She whimpered in fear, he brought his hand up, it glowed with chakra and swiped his hand at her face and she screamed out.
End Flashback
Naru sat up with a gasp and let out shaky breaths as tears were streaming down her face. Mamoru sat up and nuzzled her gently. "Naru?" he whispered.
It was in the middle of the night. Naru was in her sleeping bag lying by the wall with Mamoru and Kakashi was on her left side with Sasuke and Sakura on the other side of him.
"Naru?" Mamoru whispered again. She shook and gripped her eyes and cried quietly. Mamoru's ears lowered, he purred and nuzzled her more. She wrapped her arm around him and hugged him and he comforted her.
Kakashi's eyes opened and he glanced over at Naru and watched Naru cry quietly into Mamoru's fur, Kakashi frowned a little. 'What is going on?' He thought.
-*o*-
The next morning the team woke up and went downstairs to eat breakfast, but Naru didn't join them. She sat in the room still, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them with her face was buried in them, with Mamoru right beside her.
"Naru?" Mamoru asked. She turned her head towards his voice. He saw the dark bags under her eyes showing she didn't sleep much after she had her nightmare. "What happened?" he asked.
"I had a…a dream about… that night…" she mumbled and shook her head. She got up and fixed her clothes and hair, brushing it slowly once it was up the way she liked it.
The door opened and Kakashi came in, he watched her continue to brush her hair, while Mamoru sat there watching her.
"Naru?" He asked. She blinked a few times but never looked at him.
"Yes?" She replied.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Fine." she said.
"Are you sure? You must have had a pretty bad nightmare last night." He said causing her to visibly stiffen and gulp. "What was it about?"
"Nothing." she mumbled and Mamoru took her brush and put it with her things. He walked back over and Naru climbed on his back. Kakashi grabbed her arm before she walked out, she jolted a little and Mamoru growled at him causing him to let her go.
"Naru, what's going on? You're hiding something." he said.
"No I'm not." she said with a shrug and they walked out. He frowned as she walked out.
'Something is definitely going on. If she won't tell me I can't do anything until it becomes an issue that affects the team. Maybe Sandiame-sama can clear things up when we get back.' He thought before sighing and leaving the room.
-*o*-
The team was gathered in in the woods outside the house a little ways, Kakashi had a crutch under his arm so he could be standing without collapsing.
"Alright, training begins now." Kakashi said. "Let's review chakra first." he said. "Understanding chakra is very important." he said.
"We know that." Sasuke said. "Why does it matter?"
"Sakura..." Kakashi said waving his hand to her.
"Chakra is the main source of a ninja's power. The energy has two forms, physical energy which is everywhere in the body, in each cell that works together." Sakura said. "And spiritual energy which is strengthened with training and experience. Both of these chakra must be drawn out at the same time and used together in order to perform jutsu. When both of these are used at the same time, along with hand signs, can focus and unleash the chakra." she said.
"Right on all points. Iruka-sensei taught you well." he said.
"Can we get on with training now?" Naru asked impatiently.
"Naru's right, who cares, we're already using and mastered chakra-" Sasuke started to say.
"No! You have not mastered it. Maybe you can use it, but you have not mastered it. You must know how to draw out only the certain amount needed for Jutsu's... How you use it now, you are just wasting your chakra away. This means that you will run out of Chakra sooner." Kakashi said. "So, you must know how to balance the amounts of chakra, if you don't know that then its worthless and you'll end up dead." he said, Sasuke looked down a faint blush on his cheeks for being scolded.
"Okay, so how do we do this?" Sasuke asked.
"Climb a tree." Kakashi said.
"Climb a tree?!" they said, he chuckled.
"That's right, but there's just one rule." he said, they waited. "No hands."
"Huh?" Sakura asked tilting her head.
"You must be joking." Sasuke said.
"Am I? Let's see." He said, Naru slunk a little, they watched him walk to a tree and step up and walked along the tree by his feet.
"He's climbing straight up! Without his hands!" Sakura said, Naru blinked.
"Collect chakra in the bottom of your feet and use it to stick to the tree." he said as he stood on a branch upside down. "This is one way to apply the power of chakra." he said.
"Wait a minute! This is all really cute and all, but how is it going to help us fight against Zabuza?" Sakura asked.
"It's the only way to fight him Sakura. That's the entire goal of this training. You'll first learn to draw a certain amount of chakra into a certain point in your body. This can be difficult sometimes, even for advanced ninja. This training requires a subtle mix of physical and spiritual energy. The bottom of the feet are the most difficult place to do such a thing." he said. "Are you getting it now? If you can master this, you will be able to master almost any technique! - well almost any kind." he said. "This will also teach you to maintain a certain amount of chakra."
"So, exactly how do we do this?" Sasuke asked, Kakashi pulled three kunai out and threw them to the ground.
"Using those kunai, mark the area that you make it up to, and keep going higher and higher each time." he said. "At first you'll need to run at the tree until you get used to It." He said as he came down.
Sasuke and Sakura grabbed their kunai. Mamoru moved towards the kunai stopping right next to it as Naru grabbed the kunai and she slid off of him as they got to the tree, Naru put her hand on the felt the tree and let out a breath of air, Mamoru laid down out of the way to keep his eye on her, Kakashi sat next to a tree behind his three students to watch how they would do.
Sasuke ran up the tree and cursed as it cracked under his foot, he sliced the tree and flipped back and landed on the ground.
"This is fun!" Sakura said. They looked at her and saw her halfway up the tree sitting on the branch, her tongue sticking out with a smile.
"Well, someone gets this..." Kakashi said with a smile. Sasuke looked down ticked off that he was being upstaged, he looked towards Naru but she hadn't started yet.
Dobe probably can't even- huh!?
His inner rant was stopped when Naru put her foot on the tree and began to slowly walk up the tree, she got almost to the middle before she slipped and dropped down. Sasuke almost snarled in anger at seeing that.
'This is just like my training for seeing...'Naru thought. She closed her eyes and focused on her chakra, she felt it swirl around inside of her body. She pictured her feet and sent her chakra to them. Focus on the amount, not too much and not too little, just a good size layer. She thought and touched the tree to make sure she was on point, she began to walk up the tree slowly.
Kakashi watched Naru walk up the tree easily. 'Has she had this training before? Her chakra control is excellent … even better then Sakura and Sasuke's...'he thought wishing he could open his sharingan to take a good look at her chakra network but he was much too weak.
The team continued to practice through the whole day until Kakashi called for them to come back and eat supper and rest. As they headed back, Naru was silent, thinking about her training. 'I wonder...'she thought.
They came in and Tsunami was already finishing up on cooking supper. Naru and Mamoru sat at the end as Tsunami passed out the plates and food together.
Naru ate slowly slightly feeling the food discreetly trying to figure out where and what the food was.
Sakura looked at Inari who was sitting the silently and looking at a picture on the wall all through supper.
"Excuse me?" Sakura asked. "Why is that picture torn? I saw Inari staring at it during supper." Sakura asked causing the boy stiffen and look away from it. "It looks like there had been someone there..." She started to say. Tsunami gave a small smile, but Inari was glaring at her. She blinked as he stood up abruptly and stormed out.
"Inari!" Tsunami called and ran out after him.
"Did I say something wrong?" she asked.
Tsunami sighed.
"The one missing from the photo his name is Kaiza, he was like a father to Inari." Tsunami told everyone.
"What happened?" Sakura asked pushing the subject.
"When Gato came to the island, Kaiza tried to stand up to him. He tried to stop him from taking over the island. Well Gato didn't like that and had his men abduct him. They beat him and hung him in village. As a final message to Wave his arms were cut off -" Tazuna said.
"Why?" Naru asked.
"Because he would always say that 'If you love something, protect it with both of your arms'. Gato hung him in the village and called everyone there. He killed him right in front of us, and with that, he killed the hope of this land." He said, they gasped quietly. "Inari was traumatized by it, and after that, my little grandson was never the same, that's why I am building this bridge, I won't let Gato have his way." he said, they went quiet. "Inari doesn't believe in heroes or that people can do things that don't fit them..." he said, Naru stood up, they looked at her.
"Naru?" Sakura said.
"I'll prove it to him... that people can do anything." she said. "There are hero's in this world." She said, Mamoru got up and walked out with her, Kakashi watched and smirked a little.
~o0o~
Naru laid on the ground in a field sound asleep with the sun rising slowly in the sky. A person came up wearing a pink kimono and had long black hair hanging down. He blinked as he searched for herbs around and saw Naru laying there, he walked up and looked at the hatai-ate on her head and flashed back to a few days ago when he met the girl at the end of their battle with Zabuza.
He reached out and shook her gently, she snorted and blinked. "What are you doing way out here?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm training..." she said and sat up.
"Really? Is it for something dangerous?" The stranger in the Kimono asked.
"I'm just developing my skills as a ninja." she said and smiled. "What are you doing out here?" she asked.
"Collecting some herbs, actually all around here, my friend is really sick." he said. "Want to help?" he asked and began to pick, Naru slunk a little and felt along the ground and picked one.
"This?" She asked hopefully.
"No, these." he said, Naru looked down and gulped. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"I... I... uh..." she stopped.
"Can you see?" he asked, she stiffened and looked away. "You're blind?" he asked, she nodded a little. "How?"
"I... Heh- I'm disliked in my village and those people attacked me." she shrugged.
"Wow, and you're still a ninja?" The stranger asked surprised.
"I'm not going to let some little handicap stop me from helping people, I have something to prove to people."
"What's that?" he asked and sat down.
"That even if something like being blind or not being the smartest or fastest, shouldn't stop you from doing what you want." she said.
"I see, and what is your goal in life? Why do you keep going?" he asked.
"Well, I dunno, I never really thought about it." she said with a frown. "Are you a ninja?"
"Sorta." he said and chuckled.
"Why do you?" she asked.
"I fight to protect someone precious to me, so that I can help them achieve their dreams." he said. "I would do anything to help them. When someone has someone precious they protect, that's when they become truly strong." he said.
"Wow..." She said. "That's really cool." she said, he chuckled.
"Thanks." he said and smiled. "I must be going." he said, Naru sighed quietly then nodded. "Don't you worry Naru." he said, she blinked in shock.
"How did you-"
"You'll become strong, really strong, I believe that." he said and walked away, Naru looked with a frown, wondering just how that boy knew her name.
She heard steps in the grass, she perked up. "It's me Naru." Mamoru said.
"Where have you been?" she asked.
"Getting breakfast." he said, she chuckled and nodded, he sniffed and looked around. "Who-"
"I don't know, it was some boy..." she said, he sighed and looked around carefully. "I had an idea..." she said.
"Hmm?"
"I was thinking about this exercise, what if I can use it to help me see..." she said.
"How so?"
"Maybe sending chakra out in waves so I can feel things around Me." she said.
"It's worth a shot, it will be difficult to master though." he said.
"One way to find out." she said and got up. "Let's give this a try before the others come." she said.
~o0o~
Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke walked out into the woods looking for their remaining teammate and so they could start training again.
"Naru! Where are you?" Sakura yelled, Kakashi spotted Mamoru sitting at the tree.
"Where is Naru?" he asked, Mamoru tipped his head up, they looked up and at the top was Naru sitting on a branch. "Congratulations Naru." he called, she shook her head and look in their direction and nodded.
Sasuke began to climb his tree again along with Sakura, Naru spent more of the time in the tree, she finally climbed back down slowly and set to focusing her chakra, Kakashi walked up to her.
"Naru?" he asked, she cocked her head. "What are you doing?"
"Focusing." she said.
"Naru is something wrong?" he asked.
"How so?" she asked keeping her eyes shut still.
"Do you have a... I mean, is there something wrong that you can't move normally?" he asked.
"I can move normally." she said. "So I don't know what you are talking about." she said. "Mamoru." she said, he came up and she got on his back.
"Naru!" Kakashi barked, she flinched. "I don't like being treated like a fool... I know something is up." he said, Sasuke and Sakura watched, Naru sighed.
"Well, that's not my problem." she said. "Let's go." she said, Mamoru sighed and walked away, Kakashi gritted his teeth as he watched Naru leave.
Mamoru paused as they got to the water. "Naru..."
"I know." she said and got off of him, she pulled her shoes off and walked to the water and sighed as cool water on her feet, she sat down leaving her feet in the water, she sighed as her hair blew gently, Mamoru sat there watching her. 'Oh Naru...' he thought.
That night everyone came in finally and ate their supper. Inari glared at Naru as she laughed a little, he took in her bruises and shook. They noticed him shaking.
"Why?" he whispered, they all looked at the boy. "Why do you do it?" He asked. Naru blinked a few times. "You're being idiots!" he yelled. "You're fighting a fight you'll never win!" He said picturing Kaiza that day.
"You're the idiot..." she said.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" he snarled. "You've never been through something so horrible and have no one by your side through it!" he snarled, Naru looked down and shook in anger, Mamoru gulped a little.
"You know what kid, you don't know anything about me, so don't act like you do! So what that happened to you?" she said, he frowned and continued to cry. "You're just a big baby!" she snarled and got up and slowly walked out.
"Naru!" Sakura snarled in anger, Inari cried and wiped the snot from his nose, Mamoru followed her quickly.
Kakashi sighed quietly as he looked at the hall where Naru left to, he looked back to Inari who was crying still, he stormed out and slammed the door shut, they sighed, Kakashi got up and walked out after him, he found Inari sitting on the dock staring out.
"Can I join ya?" he asked, Inari shrugged, Kakashi smiled and sat next to him. "Listen Inari, Naru didn't mean to hurt your feelings like that." he said, Inari sniffled. "You see, Naru, she'll know better than any of us." he said, Inari looked at him confused. "Naru's an orphan, she's been on her own her whole life and has gone through more than you know, more than any of us know... but in the time that I've been around her, I've never seen her really cry over it." he said, Inari looked at him and sniffled. "My guess is, she just got tired of It." he said and smiled at him, Inari looked down. "So, don't hold it against her." he said and got up and walked back inside leaving the boy out there to think over his words.
The next morning Kakashi check on Naru who was dead asleep and had very little chakra, he sighed and walked out informing Tsunami that he wants to let Naru stay there while he, Sasuke and Sakura head with Tazuna to the bridge.
They set out together, Inari looked at the door where Naru was and sighed quietly, he shook his head and began to help his mom clean up a little.
Naru woke up almost an hour later, Mamoru told her what Kakashi had said, she scrambled and got ready and both walked out, Tsunami gave her an apple and both headed out, Naru walked along side Mamoru, her hand on his back but was sending chakra out in waves.
"How is it going?" he asked.
"Good..." She said. "I can tell where you are and trees and things are, but its kinda fuzzy." She said and tripped on a rock.
They continued on and entered the woods, Naru paused, and Mamoru looked at her. "Naru?"
"Something... something just doesn't feel right." she said, he blinked. "I mean, I just- I dunno, I feel like we need to go back." she said, Mamoru looked around and glared at the cuts on the trees.
"Get on." he said, she nodded and jumped on his back and he took off running back to the house.