'I think I overdid it with my sharingan.' Kakashi thought.
"Waking up, huh? Are you alright?" Tsunami, Tazuna daughter asked Kakashi.
"I've been better. It'll be a week before I can move normally." He said trying to get out of bed.
"See, it's better if you don't move, so just lie down."
"Right."
"Look, sensei's coming around." Naruto said as we all walked into the room.
"Listen, Sensei, your sharingan is amazing and everything, but if it puts that much strain on you, maybe it's not worth it." Sakura said.
"Sorry."
"You better be, you gave us quite a scare you know." Aki said.
"Huh. Well, you did take down one of the most powerful ninja assassins, so we'll be safe for a while." Tazuna said.
"Right, but you know that boy with the mask, what about him?" Sakura asked.
"He's from the elite tracking unit of the Villagw Hidden in the Mist. Those masks are only worn by the most elite shinobi."
"What exactly do they do?"
"The Anbu Black Ops, also known as the Inferno Squad, destroy all traces of a rogue ninja's corpse. This Shinobi's body contains many secrets — Ninjutsu, chakra, special medicines used on his body. These are the secrets of his village." Kakashi explained. "If his enemies find them, his people will be in grave danger.
"For instance, if I were to die at the hands of an enemy, he would try to analyze my sharingan. In the worst case, my entire jutsu could be stolen and used against our home village. It is the scared duty of the shinobi trackers to prevent this, to keep the village secrets safe. If a ninja betrays his village, the trackers hunt him down, eliminate him, and obliterate every trace of his existence. That's their specialty."
'Wow, that's kind of harsh.'
~~~
"Kakashi-sensei? Are you alright?" Aki asked, although she felt like she was missing something important.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. To finish what I was saying...tracker Ninja deal with the body immediately, on the spot, so there's no room for error."
"Is that really important?"
"Think about it. So you remember what that tracker did with Zabuza's body?"
"We don't know what he did. I mean, I guess he took it away somewhere."
"Exactly, but why? He should have worked on Zabuza right there, as quickly as possible. Think of the weapons he used for the takedown. Do your remember what they were?"
"Throwing needles." Sasuke answered. "No way."
"Exactly. None of it adds up."
"What are you all yammering about?" You demolished that assassin." Tazuna said.
"Not quite." Aki said, how could she forget something so important. "Zabuza still alive isn't he, sensei?"
"Yeah, he is."
"But we saw his body! Believe it!"
"Kakashi sensei, you checked him yourself." Sakura said. "You said that his heart stopped."
"His heart did stop....But that was just a temporary state to simulate death. The weapons that tracker used are called senbon. They can pierce deeply, but rarely kill unless they hit a vital organ, not in the neck." Kakashi explained. "They're modified from needles used for medical treatments, like acupuncture. Trackers are trained to know every detail of the human body. Causing the heart to stop temporarily while keeping the body alive is an easy matter for them."
"Fist, he carried Zabuza's body away, even though it's much heavier than he is. Second, he used senbon which have a precise effect, but are rarely fatal."
"So to sum it up, the tracker is working for Zabuza and he fooled us into letting him save Zabuza." Aki said.
"Come on, you're overthinking this, aren't you?" Tazuna said.
"Encountering suspicion, the ninja prepares quickly. Hesitation leads to disaster. Every shinobi knows this saying"
Aki could only sigh when she saw the grin on Naruto face at the mere fact that Zabuza was still alive.
"Sensei, you said prepare quickly, but how can we do that when you can barely move?" Sakura asked causing Kakashi to laugh.
"I can still train you."
"Hold on. A little last-minute training won't make us strong enough to fight Zabuza. You could barely defeat him, even with your sharingan. We have to be reasonable about this." Sakura said. 'What, are you trying to get us killed? Jah!'
"Sakura, why was I able to stop Zabuza?" Kakashi asked. "Because you all helped me. You've grown."
'The faith.'
"Naruto."
"Huh?"
"You've grown the most."
'Lucky...'
'He does seem stronger and more confident, but—'
"So you noticed, Kakashi-sensei. Now things are gonna get better. Believe it."
"I don't believe it! And nothing's gonna be good!" Inari, Tazuna grandson yelled.
"Huh?"
'I forgot about him.' Aki thought. 'What a scrawny little kid.'
"Who are you?" Naruto asked.
"Inari, where have you been?"
"Welcome back, Grandpa." Inari said running towards Tazuna.
"Inari, that was very rude. These ninja helped your grandpa and brought him here safely." Tsunami scolded him.
"It's okay. It's okay. I'm rude to them too." Tazuna laughed.
"Mom, don't you see, these people are gonna die." Inari said. "Gato and his men will come back and find them and wipe them out.
'Wow, the lack of faith is strong.'
"What did you say, brat?" Naruto said. "Listen up. You know what a super ninja is? Well that's me, only a lot better. I'm gonna he Hokage. This Gato or Blato or whatever he's called is no match for a real hero like me."
"Ha. There's no such thing as a hero. You're just full of stupid ideas."
"What'd you say?" Naruto said but was quickly pulled back by Aki grabbing his ear, even if the kid was annoying she definitely understood were he was coming from, even if she didn't have a bad and shitty childhood like some of these characters.
"Naruto, clam down."
"If you want to stay alive, you should go back where you came from."
'Now hold the fu—'
"Inari, wait. Where are you going?"
"To look out at the ocean. I wanna be alone." He said closing the door behind him.
~~~
"All right. Training starts now."
"Right."
"First, we will begin with review of chakra, the ninja's basic source of power. Understanding chakra is essential."
"We know that."
"He's right. A long time ago, we learned about—Uh, cattra."
"You mean chakra?"
"Go head, Sakura."
"All right, Naruto. I'll explain it simply so you can understand it."
Sakura went on to explain how chakra is the elemental life of a ninja's energy that they use to perform jutsu's. It has two from physical which exists in all the cells in the body and spiritual energy the primal source of power, which is intensified through training and experience and must be brought out together to preform jutsu.
Kakashi compliments Sakura for her prefect explaining and how Iruka sensei had an excellent students.
But it seems like Naruto didn't really understand the complicated explanation and the whole point was just learning the jutsu to which Sasuke agreed.
"We're already using chakra energy in our jutsu."
Kakashi quickly disagrees tell us that we have not mastered this power and that we've barely scratched the surface of it.
He isn't wrong in that fact.
"Calm down and listen. It's just like Sakura said. You have to draw on physical and spiritual energies and then combine them within yourself." Kakashi explained. "But...how do you do that?"
"For every Justu you do, it requires a different type chakra in different proportions. You select and combine them exactly the right way." Aki answered. "So far we've only been guessing the proportions that we need. So unless we can balance and control it, it'll be useless and in doing so we're wasting a lot on energy which leaves us without chakra and unable to fight."
"Nicely said, Aki."
'My studying paid off, I got praised by the Kakashi-sensei!' Aki fangirled.
"So how'd we do that?"
"You have to train so hard the controlling your chakra becomes second nature. To achieve this goal, you must be ready to put your life on the line." Kakashi said.
"What do we have to do?" Sakura asked.
"Heh-heh-heh. Climb a tree."
"Climb a tree?" They all asked (beside Aki)
"That's right. But...there's just one rule. No hands."
"What? You're kidding." Sakura said unable to take it seriously just like the other two boys so Kakashi decides to demonstrate it for us shocking them as he only used his feet to climb all the way up.
"Well, you get the idea. Focus the chakra towards the soles of your feet and used it to connect to the tree. This is one way to apply the power of chakra." Kakashi said.
Still unsure of this Sakura questions how learning this will help them fight Zabuza to which Kakashi replies saying that this was the only way to win and that was the entire point of this training before throwing and Kunai at each of our feet.
"Use the Kunai knife to mark the tree at the highest point you can climb without using your hands. Then, try to get past that mark the next time and the next. At first you'll need to run at the trees to see your momentum can take you as high as possible until you get use to it."
"Ready?"
"I'm more than ready. This is gonna be no sweat all the way. Believe it!" Naruto said. "Remember what you did, sensei, I'm the one who's grown the most."
"You're definitely the one who talks the most." Kakashi muttered under his breath. "Now get focused and do it."
Every closed there eyes as they concentrated building chakra as the bottom of their feet.
"I got it" Naruto said. "Charge!"
Everyone ran towards the tree and started climbing it. Naruto fall almost instantly and Sasuke was able to reach close to half before losing his step.
Aki and Sakura on the other hand were able to climb up on the first try.
"Hey! This is fun." Sakura smiled.
"Huh?"
"Sakura and Aki."
Both Sakura and Aki laughed as they sat close together on the tree branch.
"Well, looks like the female member's of the squad has the most advanced charka control." Kakashi praised. "Well don't, Sakura and Aki."
Aki held out a peace sign, while Sakura held out her tongue.
"Yeah, way to go, Sakura and Aki. I always knew you guys were awesome. Believe it." Naruto smiled. 'It does sort of tick me off, though.'
"Whatever." Sasuke said complete crushing Sakura as she thought he'd be impressed with her but instead seemed mad about it.
"Well, not only do they understand Chakra, they can control and maintain it as well. We spoke about someone becoming Hokage one day, didn't we? Seems either Sakura or Aki got the best chance of that, wouldn't you say?" Kakashi said.
'OMG PRAISE ME MORE!' Aki cheered. Fangirl or not, Aki was always weak when it came to anyone praising her even for the smallest things.
"And as did the great Uchiha clan, maybe they're not so great after all."
"Shut up, Sensei. You talk to much" Sakura said. 'Now, Sasuke's gonna hate me.'
'No I wanted to be praised more.' Aki whined.
"All right. First, I'll match Sasuke. Then I'm going all the way to the top. Believe it!"
~~~
After what felt like 2 hours of doing the same thing over and over again, Aki took a sit by a near by tree as she watched Naruto and Sasuke attempt to climb the tree again.
All of us were pretty much spent, but those two kept getting back up again and again, for that they got Aki respect.
Aki's attention went to Naruto as he walked up to Sakura looking for advice. Aki looked at Sasuke, I mean she could at the very least try.
"Hey, Sasuke do you—"
"No."
Rejected before she even had a chance.