Naruto, the 4th member of Team 7

Tree climbing exercise

"Hmm, you're right." I untied the the cloth of my kimono cardigan and removed it folding it neatly and setting it on the drawer next to my forehead protector after removing it. "What are you going to do then?" I turned to ask Sakura.

"I'll help Tsunami-san with lunch. It's the least I could do and I didn't use much of my energy just now anyways. I'll wake you up when lunch is ready." 

"Sounds good then." I didn't say anything else and collapsed onto the futon, closing my eyes and drifted off into dreamland almost immediately.

~~~~~~

I could feel someone shaking my shoulder.

Nngh, who was it?

I opened my eyes and saw that familiar black bangs and knew immediately who it was.

Sasuke.

"Okite." (Wake up) Sasuke told me softly once he realized I had woken up.

"What time is it? Is it lunch already?" I asked him groggily as I sat up, trying to rub away the sleepiness from my eyes while I was at it. 

"Yeah, but also Kakashi sensei just woke up."

"Eh? Really?" Sasuke nodded and stood up, waiting for me.

As I stood up and followed him out of the room I could hear Tazuna-san's voice coming out from the boy's room.

"But you know.... he did take down a powerful ninja like that! We probably won't need to worry for a while."

I entered the room to see Kakashi sensei indeed awake, even though he was still lying down. Sakura was kneeling next to him while Tsunami was standing on his other side. Naruto and Tazuna san was standing near the doorway.

"Yo Akiko-chan, had a good rest?" Naruto asked me once he saw me.

"A very good rest. What did I miss?"

Naruto shrugged "Just Sakura telling Kakashi sensei not to use his Sharingan too much if it does that to his body."

"Anyway, that kid with the mask... What was he?" Sakura asked aloud. "He was an ANBU black ops from the Kirigakure village." We all turned to Kakashi sensei, waiting for him to continue his explanation.

"It's a mask that the elite Hunter-Nin Unit wears. They're commonly known as the body erasers, and their duty is to erase all traces that a ninja ever lived. You see, a ninja's body reveals a variety of things. Ninjutsu secrets, herbs and chakra characteristics which reveals things about their village."

By then, Naruto, Sasuke, Tazuna san and I had sat on the floor listening to Kakashi sensei explain about the hunter-nin.

"For instance, if I were to die, every secret about my Sharingan would be investigated thoroughly, and in the worst case, there's a danger that my entire jutsu could be stolen."

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists after hearing that. Those ninjas would definitely have found out about every single secret regarding my doujutsu. Heck, they may even know more than I do! Sandaime told me that he would do his best to track them down, but are they that hard to find? Why is it taking so long? What if my clan's doujutsu secrets have already been exposed to the other villages?

"In other words, hunter-nin are specialists that prevents their village's secrets from leaking out by killing Rogue ninja who've run away from their village, and completely eliminating their bodies. No sound, no smell.... that is a ninja's end."

"Ugh.. so that Zabuza guy has been chopped up and disposed off? Scary!!" Sakura shuddered at the thought of it.

Hm, if I were to put aside the thought about those ninjas. A hunter-nin huh, they're part of the ANBU. Since I was looked after by the ANBU for so many years, you can't blame me for having an interest in being one of the ANBU. Maybe I could consider joining it, after I deal with those ninjas of course.