Training: Final Part

"What're ya gonna do now?" Naruto asked.

"I'm going to rest a bit and get my mind all sorted out," Azula replied as she stood up. She needed to calm down after what had transpired earlier. It was just too much for her to shrug it off like it was nothing.

Naruto could tell that Azula was still shaken up quite a bit. He didn't know what she had experienced while she was unconscious, but it must have been horrible for her to be feeling like she was now. Naruto didn't ask Azula what had happened; as much as he wanted to, Azula might have preferred to keep it to herself until she's ready. If Azula wanted to talk about it, then he would be all ears.

Furthermore, Naruto had other plans in mind. His top priority now was to master his rasengan before anything else. Its destructive power was nothing to scoff at and could help him get out of some bad situations. His martial arts needed some work as well. After getting his ass handed to him by Zabuza in close combat, Naruto needed to fix the flaws in his technique. Naruto did learn some martial arts from Jiraiya, however, it wasn't his main focus at the time.

"While you do that, I'm off to do some bit of training."

"To master that swirly ball of yours?" She asked. Azula vividly remembered that strange vortex in his hand that day. How he was able to defeat Zabuza by using that strange ability of his. It was powerful and destructive, a testament to Naruto's strength as a bender and fighter.

However, she had also seen the devastating toll the rasengan had on Naruto, specifically to his arm. All of its skin was stripped away like peeled apples and covered in blood. They had to take him to a village doctor where Tazuna resided to treat his arm.

It was a miracle that his arm was still functioning, even more so that it was healing at an incredible rate. That doesn't mean Azula would stop him from mastering it; after all, she understood the mindset to desire more strength to overcome challenges.

"It's called the rasengan, but yeah, I just need to find a way to fully master it."

"You are just full of surprises, you know that Foxy?"

Azula wondered what else Naruto was hiding from her. She knew that Naruto wasn't normal at all. She understood that ever since Naruto faced off against her father. She pictured that demonic chi, his feral nature and red, animalistic eyes, resembling that of a demon fox.

Now that she mentioned it, Azula didn't know a whole lot about Naruto as much as she liked to admit. Sure, Azula knew where he grew up, and his infinite love of ramen and the color orange.

Bless his heart, but the orange-colored clothes he'd usually wear was an absolute eyesore. She wished he would wear something else for a change, but Naruto was stubborn not to. All-in-all, Azula didn't know anything about Naruto's life before she met him. Perhaps someday she would learn everything about him when the time was right.

Naruto flashed a smile at her, "If I wasn't, then I wouldn't be Naruto Uzumaki."

"No, I guess you wouldn't," Azula smiled back, it was just like him. "Just promise me that you won't hurt yourself, alright?"

"No problemo!" Naruto gave her a thumbs up.

The two of them had gone their separate ways; Azula headed back to Tazuna's house while Naruto looked around to find a secluded area to train in. Naruto entered the neck of the woods, looking around for a suitable spot. He stumbled upon a patch of open grass surrounded by oaks and conifers.

"This is perfect," Naruto said to himself. The surrounding trees would be perfect targets to practice his rasengan. Well, if he could actually get it to form again.

Now, how the heck can he replicate the rasengan that he used against Zabuza? To be honest, that was his actual first successful attempt to conjure the damn thing. From what Naruto knew from Jiraiya-sensei's teachings, he needed three things to make it work: rotation, power and compression.

He had gotten two of them down, but compressing his chi into a stable ball was the hardest part. With such dense chi, and his massive chi reserves, it was near impossible to compress it into a small sphere. It was the reason why Naruto couldn't master it for so long.

Not to mention, being able to channel pure chi from his 'sea of chi', located in his stomach, externally into his hand was difficult as well. It was a daunting task when he first started out due to the fact that channeling his chi outwards was literally firebending.

Naruto basically had to learn to how to 'bend' without actually bending in a sense. He was amazed how Jiraiya-sensei actually figured all of this complicated crap out.

"Damn it," Naruto rubbed his head in frustration. "If I had a way to clone myself, that would make things so much easier."

Whatever, he'll just need to practice until he gets it. After all, practice makes perfect. Moreover, Naruto won't allow a measly setback get in the way of becoming the strongest.

Naruto held out his hand in front of him and focused on channeling his chi, directing it from his sea of chi and towards his palm. First, rotation. A rapid swirl of blue energy began to rotate in his palm in one direction, then two, then in multiple. Next came power. The rasengan in hand slowly got bigger as he added more volume and density into it.

"Come on, Naruto," He pumped himself up. "You got this!"

Finally, compression. Naruto squeezed the spinning vortex smaller with every ounce of strength that he had. It was like he was squeezing onto a walnut but a hundred times harder. The rasengan slowly shrunk in size much to his shock and joy. However, as it continued to shrink, the rasengan suddenly began to fluctuate, threatening to collapse onto itself.

"Agh!" Naruto released the rasengan, vanishing it into nothingness. "I almost had it!" Naruto wiped the sweat from his forehead and tried again, "I just need a little bit more, that's all!"

Naruto tried conjuring the rasengan once again. However, just like the first time, he had failed. But this time, Naruto was able to stabilize it just a bit longer than before. He was getting excited about the prospect of mastering this technique, practically jumping for joy.

"Again!"

*****

Azula decided to use this time to bathe in the river. It would help cool her down and ease her mind up a bit. She gathered some extra clothes from Tazuna's hut and walked towards a more secluded part of the river, away from any prying eyes, lest they would suffer her wrath. However, if it was Naruto, she wouldn't mind one bit.

Feeling that she was a safe distance away from everyone else, Azula undressed herself, leaving only her undergarments on, and set them aside. She then noticed another pair of clothes not far from her and recognized it immediately: it was Suki's.

"Hey, Azula!" Suki suddenly popped her head up from the water and waved at her. "Over here!"

"Oh, I didn't think you would be here as well," Azula said.

Suki swam towards Azula before resting herself by the grassy riverbank, her feet paddled against the gentle waves, "Coming in here for a bath, too?"

"Well I was, but it seems that I may have intruded upon your alone time," Azula picked up her clothes again. She was about to leave until Suki stopped her.

"Why don't you come in with me?" Suki asked. "The river's big enough for both of us."

"It would seem so," Azula hesitantly said. "But, I believe I have bothered you long enough. Now, if I may-" Azula was suddenly pulled into the river by Suki.

Azula hastily swam up to the surface and spat out a mouth full of water. She angrily brushed her bangs away from her eyes and glared at Suki, "You wretched girl! What the hell was that for!"

Suki couldn't stop laughing at Azula's expense. She hadn't seen the princess so worked up in a while. Suki wiped the joyful tear away from her eye and answered, "Come on, Azula. It looked like you needed to cool off your flame, so I gave you a little push. Get it? It was a firebender joke."

"Oh, haha, very funny," Azula rolled her eyes at her lame joke. "I'm sure you'll do such a fantastic job at stand-up comedy if the crowd was full of deaf people."

"Ouch, that one kinda hurts," Suki sulked into the water. Her downcast eyes suddenly brightened as she looked back up at Azula, "You know, we never had any girl talk before, Azula. This is a golden opportunity now that we're alone."

"Why would I want to partake in nonsense like that?"

"What? You never heard girl-bonding before?" Suki raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have any friends before, you know, became a fugitive?"

"I-I do, I'm not exactly a loner, you know?" Azula crossed her arms. Mai and Ty Lee counted as friends, even if she may have been a little mean to them, but they were her friends, nonetheless.

"Okay, okay, so you're not a loner, then," Suki combed through her hair with her fingers. "Then, how about this: what was Naruto like when you first met him?"

Azula looked at her for a moment, before surrendering herself to Suki, "Fine, I'll just humor you for a bit."

Time passed as Azula and Suki talked, seemingly relaxed and enjoying one's company. Most topics they usually discussed were either about their appearances or Naruto. It was the usual "girl talk" that most guys would dread hearing.

Azula surprisingly enjoyed her time with Suki as much as she would like to admit. Who knew just talking about random things would make her feel at ease. It certainly helped her forget about the nightmare from earlier.

"Did you ever touch Naruto's abs before?" Suki's eyes gleamed.

"I mean, sometimes by accident when we're training."

"Don't lie to me, princess," Suki looked at her with a smirk.

"Okay, maybe it was a bit intentional, I swear," Azula gave in. She was just curious at that time and couldn't help herself to it.

"Lucky..."

"Well, this was fun while it lasted, but I think we should get out; my skin is becoming all wrinkly," Azula said, swimming back to the riverbank.

"I guess you're right. We should check up to see how Naruto's doing," Suki followed after her.

"You know that he's awake, right?"

"Wha... then what are we waiting for!"

*****

Naruto laid on the ground with heavy breaths; he didn't know how many times he was going at it, he had lost count a while ago. Unfortunately, Naruto had failed to conjure a single rasengan. It had taken a toll on his arm and chi reserves.

His arm was in pain, but it wasn't all red and bloodied like it had been before. However, it was a sign that Naruto was greatly improving through leaps and bounds. He felt like he could master it soon - all he needed to improve on was to simultaneously rotate and compress his rasengan.

"Whew, I'm beat," Naruto said through haggard breaths. "I guess I should stop training for today."

Naruto was suddenly alerted by a rustling bush nearby and quickly sat up. Haku came out from the bush with a basket in hand and dressed in a pink robe, humming himself a small tune.

"Oh, I didn't know someone was already here," Haku said as he spotted Naruto.

Naruto lowered his guard, it was only a woman. She must have been from the village. Judging by the basket, she was either collecting herbs or edible plants. However, he couldn't take his eyes off of the woman. He'd admit that she was really beautiful.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I was just about to leave anyways, miss," Naruto answered.

Haku took a closer look at the blonde boy and his eyes widened. It was him who had defeated Zabuza days ago, the same boy who had nearly killed him. Haku needed to kill him now. Haku slowly reached for the kunai that was hidden behind his back. He could end Naruto's life right now, just here without anyone noticing a thing. However, Haku suddenly stopped midway. He decided against it for now.

"What's a boy like you doing out in these woods?" Haku asked as he approached Naruto, his voice soft and feminine.

"I'm training myself to be the strongest," Naruto blushed faintly as Haku approached. "What about you? What are you doing out here in the woods and all that?"

"I'm gathering herbs," Haku replied.

"Herbs?"

"That's right, for treating illnesses and healing wounds," Haku snapped an herb from its roots and dropped it into the basket.

He then knelt down beside Naruto, flashing a fake smile at him. He set aside the basket beside him and focused on the boy, "However, that's a pretty ambitious goal you have in mind. Many say that everyone has a purpose in life, do you believe that?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," Naruto hesitantly said. He wasn't particularly sound on the subject of philosophy, only choosing to believe his own gut. "I mean, if ya got no purpose in life, then what's the point in living, ya know?"

"That may be the case," Haku chuckled a bit. Naruto seemed like a boy with a simple outlook on life. "Then let me ask you, what is your purpose of getting stronger? Is it for someone you like or just for yourself?"

"I mean I have people I absolutely care about, but I also want to be the strongest to fulfill my promise to my sensei," He answered honestly. Of course he liked Azula, but he wouldn't want to tell that to a complete stranger.

Haku pondered his answer for a moment, it was different, yet the same as his in some regard. Serving Zabuza was his sole purpose, and his reason to become stronger.

He held onto this opinion ever since he was picked up by Zabuza and trained to become his weapon, "I believe we all become stronger because we have those we care about. Perhaps one day you might become the strongest."

"Thanks, that's pretty nice hearing that from a beautiful girl," Naruto scratched his head. He felt pretty shy to have someone like her to encourage him.

Haku glanced up at the evening sky and stood back up again. It was time to head back to treat Zabuza's wounds again. "I think it's best I should be going; I held you up for far too long."

"Wait," Naruto said. "I'm Naruto. What's your name, miss?"

Haku stared at the blonde boy for a moment before finally answering, "Haku."

"Then, I hope we'll meet again soon, Haku."

"I'm sure fate will tie us together soon, Naruto. And by the way, I'm not a girl." Then, he took his leave, slowly disappearing into the woods, leaving Naruto slack-jawed with shock.

"She was a guy?!" Naruto shouted with embarrassment.