Ch7 ) Tree Climbing and Getting Stronger

Tazuna's house (Third person's P.O.V.)

After Naruto and Sasuke get back to Tazuna's place, they head up to Kakashi's room, and see that he's awake. The Sensei looked as if he was waiting for them. Their suspicion was proved correct, when they noticed Sakura kneeling beside Kakashi's cot staring at them expectantly.

"Naruto," the Sensei began. "Sasuke, come over here. There's something I need to tell all 3 of you." It was time to start taking this mission seriously.

They both walked over, and sat next to Sakura, waiting for Kakashi to continue.

"What is it Sensei?" The Sensei's tone made Sakura worried.

"I have reason to believe that Zabuza is still alive." He looked to see his students' reaction, and was not surprised to see that only Sakura and Sasuke were shocked. If Naruto really was as smart as he seems, he probably came up with the same conclusion himself.

"That's what I thought," the blond confirmed.

"What are you guys talking about? We saw that Hunter-Nin kill Zabuza. You yourself said that his heart stopped." The pinkette did not want to even think of the possibility that this terrifying enemy was still alive.

"That's because it did stop."

"Huh? Then how can he still be alive?" She didn't understand at all.

"I'm pretty sure the Hunter-Nin put him in a near death like state. Making us think he was dead. Think about it. How did the Hunter-Nin dispose of the body?" Naruto hopes she catches onto this quickly. She's supposed to be the smartest in their year after all.

"I don't know. He took the body away from us. Remember, idiot?"

"Exactly my point. A real Hunter-Nin disposes of the body on the spot. But instead of doing that, he took the body away."

"Yeah, so we don't learn any of the secrets or Jutsu, duh! Seriously, I thought you were actually smart, Naruto, but that is the dumbest thing you've ever said." She was right the hole time. He was just trying to fool her. Her thoughts were cut short however, as Naruto began to speak up again.

"Aren't you supposed to be the smartest in our year? There's no need to take the body away from us. Hunter Ninja are trained to perform their jobs discreetly, preventing the secrets from getting out. Don't you remember any of this from the academy, Sakura?"

Oh yeah, he's right. "Well whatever! You're still just an idiot, Naruto!"

"Think whatever you want to Sakura. Anyway back to what I was saying. Another thing that points to Zabuza still being alive, is the weapon the Hunter Nin used to 'kill him.'"

"What about them?" What is he on about now? Sakura was beginning to be annoyed.

Naruto explains, telling them how "Senbon rarely is used to kill. Usually they're only used by medic Nin, for acupuncture treatments. They would have to strike a vital organ. None of which are in the neck. Hunter Ninja know the anatomy of the human body inside and out. So putting the body in a near death state, would be easy for them."

"Expertly said Naruto. With all this information, we can conclude that the Hunter Ninja's objective was not to kill Zabuza, but to save him." Kakashi shoulders rolled back in exhaustion. He was already getting tired of this mission.

Sasuke started shaking with a determined look in his eye.

He's actually happy Zabuza's alive, Kakashi noticed. Now he can have another shot at him.

Having heard the entire conversation, Tazuna decided to speak up. "Now wait just a second, aren't you reading too much into this! The kid totally destroyed that guy."

"Even if we're wrong, we need to prepare for the possibility that he is alive."

"How are we going to do that? you can barely move Sensei." She really didn't want it to be true. Zabuza had terrified her.

"I may barely be able to move, Sakura, but... I can still train you." He says with his signature closed eye smile.

"What's a little training going to do? You're a Jonin, and even you had a hard time fighting him." Is he trying to get them killed?

"Sakura! When I was trapped in his water prison, who was the one who got me free?"

"Sasuke!" She totally forgot! Sasuke took the guy out without breaking a sweat.

What about Naruto/me? Was the thought on all their minds.

"What about Naruto?" Is she seriously such a fan girl that she forgot about her other teammates' rather large contribution to the outcome of the fight.

"Well I guess he helped... a little."

This girl is ridiculous. Sasuke would never admit it, but without Naruto. They would probably be dead right now. The truth of this pissed him off! He needed to get stronger!

"What's the point? They'll never be able to stand up to Gato."

"Inari! Where have you been? Come here." Tazuna holds out his arms for a hug.

The young boy ran into the older man's arms. "Welcome back Grandpa!

"Inari! that was very rude," the boy's mother scolded. "These nice Ninja protected your grandpa, while they traveled here"

"But they're just gonna die, mother!" He replies. "Gato is too strong."

Naruto wasn't worried one bit. "Don't worry kid. Gato won't be of any danger to us. He's just a coward who uses other people to do what he can't. Someone like that is too pathetic, and doesn't deserve what he has been blessed with in his life."

"What do you know anyway? Are you some kind of hero or something?!"

"I never said that, but we could all become heroes for the people of Wave. If we put an end to Gatos's rein."

Inari Persisted. "No you can't! Heroes don't exist!" They just don't understand. He began to walk away.

"Inari, Where are you going?"

The child turned back to his mother. "I'm going to my room to look at the ocean. I want to be alone."

"I apologize for that."

"What happened to that kid?" The blond was confused. Did he say or do something wrong.

Tazuna let out a sigh of grief. "Before I tell you that, I need to tell you of the man this country named a hero. His name was Kaiza. Three years ago a fisherman came to the Land of Waves pursuing his dreams. Inari was being bullied by a couple kids. They took his dog and threw it into the water. Inari was too scared to do anything, and then they pushed him in as well. Inari couldn't swim at the time, so he began to drown. At that moment, the dog realized he could doggy paddle to shore. Inari was left to drown. The fisherman saved him. From then on they became like father and son. They did everything together. One day, our Dam began to overflow, which would eventually flood the country. Kaiza swam across and closed the gate. From that accomplishment, he was known as the hero of Wave. Then everything went to crap. Gato showed up and took control of the country. Kaiza stood up to him, and was executed in front of everybody. That includes Inari."

Sakura's eyes were tearing up. "That's so sad!"

"Ever since that day, Inari hasn't smiled once."

Forest (Third person's P.O.V.)

"So what training are we going to do, Sensei?"

"First things first. We need a review on Chakra. What it is, and how to use it."

A huge smile appeared on the girls face. Perfect, she has a chance to impress Sasuke with her knowledge. Kakashi is probably going to ask her to explain it for Naruto's sake. He was absent at the academy that day.

As if he read her thoughts, the teacher turned to the blond. "Naruto, Please explain."

"Sure thing Sensei."

Sakura frowned. Like he knows anything. He's just gonna guess or something.

"Chakra is created when the 2 energies in our body, 1, being the physical energy from our body's billions of cells, and the other one being the spiritual energy from our training and experiences combine. Then we need to use a complex order of hand signs to guide our chakra into performing the many Jutsu a Shinobi can perform."

Sasuke knew Naruto isn't actually stupid, but how does he know any of this. There has to be somebody else teaching him. How else would he be this strong and knowledgeable. Considering how often he was gone from the academy, that is the only explanation.

Kakashi grinned below his mask. Just what he thought, he has had another teacher at some point in his life.

"How did you know any of that? You were gone that day." Sasuke wanted to know if his suspicions were correct.

"Yeah! Sasuke's right, Naruto. How do you know?"

"Someone explained it to me when I first started training 6 years ago."

Kakashi's one visible eye opened wide. "You've been training since you were 6 years old Naruto?" No wonder he's already so strong.

"Yeah, Why?" He doesn't get what the big deal is. "You were a Chunin by age 6, weren't you Kakashi?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Well. Yeah, but I'm still surprised you started so young. people usually don't start training until their time in the academy at least."

"That's true. There are rare cases. How else did you think I was this strong?" The blond gave them all a small grin.

So that explains it. Still, how does what he was doing earlier count as any form of effective training? Plus we started the Academy at 7. This gave him a year to train before then. So why did he pretend to be weak and stupid? The raven-haired Uchiha didn't understand him at all.

Sakura on the other hand couldn't believe it. There's no way he started training that early. He would have been too young and weak to do anything effective.

"If you had a year to train before the academy. Then why would you pretend to be weak and idiotic?"

"Oh that. Well first it was just for fun. Then I realized the beneficial training and experience it gave me."

"What beneficial training?"

"Think about it. If I was able to fool my entire home village into thinking I was someone that I'm not. It would just be that much easier to fool an enemy, someone who has absolutely no knowledge of me whatsoever."

Kakashi couldn't be more proud. "That's genius! Wow, you really are something Naruto. Anyway, back to why we're here."

"Why do we need to review chakra? We're already using it to perform Jutsu. So what's the big deal?"

"Yeah!"

"You may be using it, but you're not using it effectively."

The Uchiha turned to the blond. "How do you mean, Naruto?"

"What he means is you're both wasting it. Unless you learn to figure out the proper amounts of chakra to use for a Jutsu. you'll just run out of energy, and be nothing but a target for enemy Ninja. You need to practice your chakra control."

"Doesn't Naruto need to practice his control as well?"

"Naruto already has great chakra control. Remember when he walked on the water rather than come into the boat. That's a Chunin level chakra control exercise. Naruto can already stand on water for a few hours. So to answer your question. No, he does not need to practice.

"So what do we need to do?" Sasuke asked, determined to become stronger than Naruto as fast as possible.

"Tree climbing," Kakashi explained.

"Tree climbing!?" Both Sasuke and Sakura questioned.

"How is that gonna help our chakra control!?"

"This is not any basic tree climbing."

"Why is that?"

"Because," Kakashi grinned. "You can't use your hands."

"What!?" Sakura says, aghast. "How are we supposed to do that?"

"Simple, you use your chakra to stick to the bark .All you need to do is focus your chakra into your feet, Which is one of the hardest places in the body to do so. Then you walk up the tree. If you can perfect this exercise, you can master any Jutsu. Theoretically of course. Naruto!?"

Naruto looked up "Yes?"

"Care to demonstrate to your teammates what I'm talking about?"

"Okay." He put his hands in a seal, and began to focus chakra to the bottoms of his feet. Then to his teammates' amazement, he walked up the face of the tree and hung upside down on the first branch, that was at least 20 feet in the air. "See, that's all there is to it. A piece of advice though. Too much chakra, and the bark will break. Too little chakra, and you'll slip. I suggest running up the tree to start with."

"Here, use these Kunai to mark your progress on the tree." Kakashi pulls out 2 of the knives and tosses them to Sakura and Sasuke.

Sasuke was determined. He can do this. He's an Uchiha. This should be a piece of cake. The boy ran at the tree and began to progress up the side. Once he was 10 feet off the ground, the bark exploded. He marked his progress and jumped off the tree, landing back on the ground. This is harder than he thought. Like Naruto said, he put too much chakra into his foot, and the bark broke.

"Hey this is pretty fun!" Sakura was already on first branch of her tree, easily 25 feet off the ground.

"Well I guess the Uchiha clan isn't that great after all. Sakura shows the most skill out of the 2 of you." Kakashi was trying to make Sasuke more determined to perfect the exercise. He knew full well the reason for Sakura's great chakra control was because of her lack of chakra compared to Sasuke's.

"Good job Sakura! But don't get cocky," Naruto says, remembering Kurama's words during his weapons training two years ago. He also knew the reason for her chakra control being so good. But if he told them why, Kakashi's plan to get Sasuke more focused would probably fail. He will tell her individually. That way they can work on growing her chakra reserves.

Sakura wanted Sasuke to be impressed with her. Why did Sensei have to say that? Now Sasuke will hate her.

Sasuke was gonna perfect this. As of now, he was nowhere close to even beating Itachi. He had to focus! The Uchiha started running up the tree once more, and this time he got 20 feet before he marked the tree and jumped back down.

"Kakashi Sensei. I can watch over their training. You still need to rest." Naruto didn't give Kakashi any chance to argue as he created a clone to escort him back to Tazuna's house. After Kakashi left, the Uzumaki dropped from his branch into a flip landing on the ground crouched down with his fist hitting the ground. Then he walked to where Sakura was. Now he could help her get stronger. "Hey Sakura?" he accidentally startles her out of her thoughts.

Sakura jumped. "Don't scare me like that Naruto!"

"Sorry, but I want to tell you something."

"What?"

"The reason your chakra control is so good is because you have smaller reserves than Sasuke making it easier to control. Do you get it?"

"Yeah, but if that's true. Why did he say I have the most skill? Now Sasuke will be angry at me?"

"I think he was trying to make Sasuke more focused and determined to perfect the exercise."

"Oh, that makes sense." She smiled at the thought of Sasuke becoming stronger. "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"No, I wanted to know if you wanted me to help you get stronger by strengthening your chakra reserves?"

"Why would I want that?"

"Didn't you hear me? I said it will make you stronger." It doesn't look like that convinced her. Guess he didn't have a choice. "It'll make Sasuke like you more." Now she's convinced. Man he sure hopes she gets over her crush soon, or she'll never become as strong as she could be.

"So how do we make my chakra reserves bigger?"

"Easy, you just have to exhaust your chakra. After that they'll grow a little each time you do."

"Wouldn't that kill me?" What's he planning?

"No, it won't kill you." Jeez why would she think he wants her dead.

"So how do I exhaust my chakra?"

"I want you to run up and down the tree until you're too tired to do so. Then once you have your energy back, do it again. Repeat this process until you're called back to the house for dinner."

"Are you crazy!"

"You want Sasuke to like you right?"

"Yeah bu-"

"Well this is the way to do that. So get to it!" He left no room for discussion.

Reluctantly, Sakura began running up and down the face of the tree. With that out of his way, Naruto made his way over to help Sasuke. During the conversation with Sakura, the blond noticed that Sasuke progressed another 10 feet up the tree.

"Hey Sasuke?"

"what!?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted some help."

"Why would you want to help me? You hate me."

"I don't hate you Sasuke. I may not like your attitude, but that doesn't mean I hate you. Plus what kind of teammate would I be if I didn't help you when I knew I could?"

"Alright, how would you help me?"

"When you focus your Chakra. Don't continue to add some, preserve the chakra already in the bottoms of your feet to continue to stick to the tree. When you realize some of it is gone, then you can add some more, but not too much. Or you'll just get blasted off again."

"Is that all?"

"Not exactly." The Uchiha still seems unfocused. It probably has something to do with his brother.

"Then what?!" Sasuke was getting a little impatient.

"When we introduced ourselves as a team, you said you want to destroy a certain someone."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"That someone is your brother isn't it?" He asked, shocking Sasuke out of his impatience.

"How did you know that?" No one their age or younger knows that Itachi is the one responsible for the Uchiha massacre. He glared at Naruto threateningly until the shock at what Naruto said next settled in.

"Same reason I know so much about the Sharingan. I knew Itachi."

He knew Itachi?! "How do you know him?"

"He was one of my trainers before the massacre. He is the one who helped me advance my hand seal speed. So that the Sharingan couldn't detect them. I mean the Mangekyo Sharingan still can. But I'm working on that."

Why would Itachi teach Naruto how to nullify the use of the Sharingan? That doesn't make sense. "Why did he train you?"

"He saw how I was treated by the villagers, and wanted me to be able to protect myself." Even though I already could, thanks to Kurama. Itachi didn't know about the fox training the blond.

"What did you mean how the villagers treated you?" What did they do to him?

"I'll tell you some other time. No offence, but we don't really know each other that well. "Naruto paused for a moment. "Let's just say not everyone was loved and adored by them."

"So anyway, about my brother?"

"Yeah, I want to know. Did he tell you anything after the massacre?"

Should Sasuke tell him? He didn't really have a reason not to. "He told me to let my hatred of him grow. So I can become stronger. That only once I obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan, will I be able to kill him, and avenge the clan." That's the first time he told anyone about that. Sasuke had to wonder why he told Naruto of all people. Maybe it's due to the fact that the blond can understand his pain. After all he doesn't have a family either.

That doesn't make any sense. if he wanted Sasuke to become angry and full of hatred. Why would he ask Naruto to look after him and protect him. He knew Itachi didn't want to kill everybody and was just acting under the elders and the Hokage. Maybe he thinks that if Sasuke, a fellow Uchiha kills him, it'll ease him of the pain it caused him.

Flashback ( 5 years ago)

Naruto had just finished a long day of training with Kurama when he felt a chakra signature come into his room through the window. He looked up and saw Itachi standing in front of his bed, with tear stained eyes and a grief stricken look on his face.

"What's wrong Itachi-Sensei?" Naruto climbed out of his bed, and walked toward the distressed looking teen.

"I need to leave the village."

"Why? What happened?"

"It doesn't matter. I have a request."

"What is it?" What could he possibly want from him.

"I need you to look after my younger brother, Sasuke."

"Okay, but where are you going?"

"I can't tell you."

With that said, Itachi jumped back out the window leaving a very confused Naruto in his wake.

Naruto had to get to the bottom of this. He'll ask the old man tomorrow. He went back to his bed to get some sleep until the morning.

The next morning (Third Person's P.O.V.)

Naruto forgot all about his manners for the moment and busted into the Hokage's office. "Old man! Why did Itachi have to leave?"

"Naruto, I should have known you'd stop by."

"Tell me why he left!"

He left because he murdered his entire clan." There's no use in hiding it from him. He'd just find out eventually.

"But why did he do that?!"

"The Uchiha clan was planning to overthrow the village and take control."

"Why?!"

"They were tired of the way they were treated by the village. Itachi offered to deal with the threat, but he couldn't kill his younger brother, Sasuke."

"That explains why he asked me to look after him."

"What?"

"He came to my apartment last night, and asked me to look after Sasuke."

"I see."

"If he eliminated the clan on your orders. Why is he a rogue ninja?" This does not make any sense.

"He has a mission. One of which I can't divulge the information to you. This mission will keep him out of the village for the rest of his life. So people have to think he's a missing Nin to avoid suspicion."

"That's messed up."

"I agree, but it's beyond my power to change."

"So should I tell Sasuke?"

"I'm afraid you can't tell him. This is an S Rank secret."

"Okay, but I still don't like it."

Flashback end

"Another thing he taught me is my elemental training. Because of his Sharingan it didn't matter what element I got. In the end it was wind." There's also fire and lightning. But Sasuke did not need to know about that. Especially since the blond hasn't learned any Jutsu for those elements yet. "So he taught me a couple of the wind Jutsu that he knew."

Well that explains why he knows how to use wind type jutsu. "Did he teach you anything else?"

"Yeah, he also taught me weapon throwing, and chakra sensing, as well as chakra concealment."

"Can you show me?" Now that he knew more of why Naruto was so strong, it's not as aggravating. But Sasuke is still an Uchiha, so he should be the strongest. HE WILL be the strongest.

"Sure, later. Maybe after you perfect water walking. Now about the whole let your hatred make you stronger. That's not very good advice."

"What do you mean?"

"If you let your hatred drive you. You'll be blinded by anger and lose focus in your training."

He makes a good point. "I'll think about that. Can I get back to the tree climbing now?"

"Yeah."

Sasuke once again runs up the tree, taking into account what Naruto told him, he made it 60 feet up the tree before being blasted away.

"Continue that progress and you'll be perfecting this exercise in no time." Naruto created 2 clones to watch over them while he went to do his own training a little ways away.

Behind a tree, a figure was watching them before it turned and walked away. "What are they doing? It's pointless, they'll never beat Gato."

That's the end of this chapter. I made Haku a girl because I can't stand the fact that he is actually a boy. Especially when he gets reanimated, he looks even more like a girl.