The new team seven

Team 7 met up early the next morning at training ground 7. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and their new teammate, Haku, arrived at the normal 9:00 am time. Like always, Kakashi was a few hours late, showing up around 11:00am.

"You're Late!" the older members of team 7 shouted in unison.

"Sorry, but you see a black cat crossed my path and I felt that I should take the long way to avoid any…unfortunate happenings" Kakashi said. No one believed him. "Anyways, the main thing I want to do is get the four of you used to working together. Also, I want to see what Haku is capable of."

Haku agreed to show the team some of his techniques. They already knew about his Hyoton: Demonic Ice Mirrors, so he decided to move onto his other main ice technique, Hyoton: Ice Dome. That jutsu turned out to be a defensive jutsu that created a dome around Haku. Kakashi decided to test out the ice dome's strength. Much to his surprise it withstood a good beating, requiring some of Kakashi's more powerful techniques to break the defense. Even though the team already knew about Haku's accuracy, they were still impressed at just how accurate he was using senbon. Although Kakashi tried to convince him to use a more powerful weapon, Haku stuck by using the senbon as he had the skill required to effectively use them. The only other techniques that Haku was able to use were the Suiton: Sharp Water Needles and another low level water type technique. Still, Kakashi was impressed that someone so young could already make use of two elements. At the same time, this worried him because he could see Naruto and Sasuke becoming more and more jealous of Haku's abilities. The two of them finally cracked.

"Kakashi-sensei! Teach us a cool jutsu or something!" Naurto said. "We've already passed the water walking exercise and now it's time you teach us something useful." For once, both Sasuke and Sakura actually agreed with him.

Kakashi closed his eyes and began thinking for a moment. "Alright. I suppose the three of you have shown me that you are ready to begin some ninjutsu training. Let's call it an early day. I'll go to the jutsu library and pick out a jutsu for each of you that I feel best suits you. Now here's the deal, I'll give you the entire morning to work on them, but you will be doing whatever missions we get in the afternoon without complaining. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes!" Naruto shouted out. Sasuke and Sakura quickly responded as well. "Oh man! This is great! Finally, a new jutsu!"

Later that evening, the team met up for dinner as was suggested by Kakashi. "So Haku, tell us a little about yourself" Sakura asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" the new member said.

"Well, you didn't live in Konoha and it sounds like you were traveling a lot. I'm sure you must have some interesting stories" the pink-haired kunoichi explained.

"Well, I guess I could tell you about me" Haku said as the rest of the team listened in. Haku began to tell his story.

"I was born in a small village in the northern part of the Land of Water. It got cold enough there that it would snow a lot, which I guess could be why I can use ice style. It was a peaceful village despite the fact that our nation was at war. My father was a normal man, no shinobi training. He preferred to live a simple life as a farmer. One day, he met my mother and they fell in love. My mother seemed like a normal woman, although she used to be a shinobi. She was able to keep her abilities hidden due to the fact that the people of my village hated ninja. They saw them as responsible for the recent civil war and wanted nothing to do with them. To be with my father, my mother gave up her life as a ninja and settled down. Shortly after, I was born. At first, my father wasn't sure if I was a boy or girl because of my appearance, but my mother quickly explained that it was a common trait amongst her family that even the males had a feminine look to them. Everything was fine until I was five. One day, I showed my mother something that I thought was cool and amazing. It was my Hyton abilities. I thought I saw a little bit of happiness in her eyes, but I was scolded for doing so. I guess she didn't want me using it fearing that it would cause problems within our family…"

Haku trailed off into silence. Sakura could tell something was wrong and told Haku that he didn't have to say anything else. However, Haku shortly resumed the story, saying that it would be best for the team if they knew everything about his past.

"Despite her efforts to conceal my newfound abilities, my father had already witnessed what had happened. I don't know what drove him to so what he did next, but I think it was because he was afraid I would become a ninja or that the villagers were afraid of the powers I possessed."

Haku took a short pause before continuing on.

"He gathered a mob of villagers and…killed my mother. He then turned to me. I could see sadness in his eyes, but at the same time I could see fear. I could feel that he didn't want to do what he was doing, but the fear drove him. Looking over at my mother, lying dead next to me, I lost control of my power and encased the entire mob in ice, effectively killing them."

Naruto stared wide eyed at Haku. To his surprise, what Haku had experienced was similar to his childhood. He was certain that the villagers did not hate him, but they feared what was sealed inside him, the Kyuubi. "Haku, I'm sorry that happened to you. Believe me, I know how you feel" the blonde haired ninja said. "I cannot explain why, but for some reason the villagers wanted nothing to do with me. Even now, they harass me." The rest of Team 7 had no idea what Naruto's childhood was truly like. I suppose the only one who could relate the best with Naruto was Sasuke, but even then it wasn't quite the same. Naruto told a few things about his own childhood, how the village hated him, how a mob was formed on his birthday each year, and how most of the village wished he was either gone or dead. He didn't reveal the reason for it, but he knew why they hated him. He had first realized the night when Mizuki had him steal the Forbidden Scroll. After that, the Sandaime had told Naruto a few more details on the secret that Mizuki had spilled.

"I'm sorry you had it like that. What are you going to do? " Haku asked.

"I'm going to show them the real me. Even though they treat me like shit sometimes, I know that they are good people and I just need to show them that I will protect them" Naruto said. Haku was inspired by the boy's resolve. "It's my dream. I will become Hokage and with that, the entire village will recognize me."

"I see. It seems like me, you have found some precious people that have already saved you from the hell that is loneliness" said Haku.

Yeah, I found a few people willing to recognize my, like the old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, and even the Teme over there. He doesn't admit it, but I see the way he looks at me when we train together. He acknowledges that I am there and we use each other to push ourselves further" Naruto explained. Kakashi and Sakura thought what he was saying was sweet. Sasuke just shrugged it off, but the idiot was right.

"I am glad, because I also found someone who saw me as something more" Haku said.

"Zabuza?" Sakura responded.

"Yes" and with that, Haku resumed his story.

"I was orphaned for about a few months. Even though it was cold outside due to the snow, my blood line protected me. Then one day, I met Zabuza. At first, he just looked at me with pity, but then I saw in his eyes, that he felt the same loneliness that I did. After that meeting, I joined him in his quest. After some time, he asked me to become his 'weapon', to serve as a shinobi with him. Before I met him, I lost my purpose in life. However, when he asked me to become a shinobi, it's as if he gave me a new purpose to live. I gladly accepted. Over the next couple of years, he trained me in the way of the shinobi and I eventually became his weapon. However, I will admit that I never liked the killing that came with it."

"That explains why you didn't kill Naruto and Sasuke back in the Land of Waves" Kakashi realized. He had a few other questions regarding that battle, but decided to hold them off for a better day. Sasuke wasn't happy by the fact that Haku had been holding back against them. He made a promise to himself to defeat Haku in their next rematch. Haku had a little more of his story to tell.

"We traveled together, picking up jobs like the one we had in the Land of Waves. During our journey, I remember meeting a man by the name Kimimaro. I remember him because I felt the same loneliness and sadness inside him that I once felt. I even offered for him to come along with us, but he refused claiming he had to find his own way. I haven't seen him since, but I would sure like to know how he's been. Shortly after, we were given a job by Gato and that leaves us where we currently are, in Konoha becoming a team."

"Wow. It seems like you've lived a rough and confusing life" Sakura said.

"Yes, I guess you could say so, but everything is now. Before these past few days, I even felt that Zabuza was looking for a purpose in life; however your village appears to have given him another chance to start over. He will never admit it, but I think he is truly grateful. Although he is already mad that there are ANBU following him everywhere" Kakashi just smiled at Haku's last comment.

The next morning, the new Team 7 awaited Kakashi at the training ground. He had promised them cool new jutsu and they were going to get it. The only question now was how late would Kakashi be?

Surprisingly, he was only about 45 minutes late this morning, a new record for him.

"Alright, as promised I went to the library this morning while you were doing your mission and I picked out some jutsu that I think you all should find useful" Kakashi said. He then handed a scroll to Naruto. "Seeing as you can already use the Shadow Clone Jutsu, I thought this would be perfect for you."

Naruto opened the scroll and saw a jutsu. He read: 'Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu', A-rank. He was ecstatic at the jutsu Kakashi picked out, seeing that it was an A-rank technique. But he was a little curious as to what it did. "Kakashi-sensei, what does this jutsu do and why is it considered an A-rank?" Naruto asked.

"Good of you to ask Naruto. The reason it's A-rank is because of the requirement of knowing the Shadow Clone Jutsu, a B-rank technique typically taught to jonin ninja. What it does, is it makes shadow clones of your shuriken" Kakashi explained. Naruto was a little deflated upon hearing this.

"That's it?!" he shouted. "I thought you were going to give me something useful. If I wanted shadow clones of my shuriken, I would just make shadow clones and have them throw their shuriken!"

Kakashi sighed. "It's not like that. Imagine the difference between one shuriken coming at you and dozens, even hundreds of shuriken coming at you." Naruto thought about what Kakashi said.

"Well, one shuriken isn't much and it can be easily blocked, but a lot of shuiriken, well…" Naruto said.

"With a lot of shuriken, your first thought is to get out of the way as the more there are, the more difficult it is to block them. Now imagine if you could throw one shuriken at your enemy, but hit them with over 30" with that, Kakashi pulled out a few shuriken and threw it a training post. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted. Just before the shuriken hit the post, they copied itself into about 100 shuriken. Now the post was filled with metal shuriken impaled in it. Naruto's jaw dropped and Kakashi just smiled. "If timed correctly, it is a very useful and deadly move."

Kakashi then handed a scroll to Sasuke. "Hmm, Katon: Dragon Fire Breath." Sasuke said, reading the description. "B-rank."

"Unlike your great fireball jutsu, this attack utilizes a constant stream of flames. Also, the range is greater, about double of your jutsu and the flame is hotter" Kakashi said. "Haku, if you could make a mirror." With that, Haku made an ice mirror. Kakashi used the great fireball jutsu on it. The fireball made contact and burst into flames. Afterwards, the mirror was still intact and only a few drops of water rolled down. "The problem with your jutsu is that it's not powerful enough and it isn't sustained."

"Alright, so this jutsu is more powerful?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. It's at least 3-4x more powerful of a fire than your Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu, now watch" Kakashi said, forming the hand seals for the Katon: Dragon Fire Breath. He sent a stream of flames towards the mirror. Unlike the fireball, this attack was sustained for many seconds and when Kakashi was finished, most of the mirror had melted. Sasuke just stared at the mirror and smiled. Now this is what he was had wanted.

Kakashi handed a scroll to Haku. "Now this technique is a water style jutsu, but I'm sure you can find some way to make an ice style jutsu from it."

Haku read the scroll 'Suiton: Water-whip, C-rank' it read. Kakashi thought on the jutsu and performed it after a few minutes. A whip of water extended towards the training post, wrapping it up.

"It's not that powerful of a jutsu, but even I can see some potential for it to be greatly improved if you can incorporate your ice style into it. Haku gratefully accepted the task. Kakashi turned to Sakura.

"You were a little more difficult, but after analyzing your strengths, I think you would be better off learning a type of genjutsu" Kakashi said handing her a scroll. "And this technique reminded me a lot about you."

Sakura opened the scroll and read 'Cherry Blossom Blizzard'. She now knew what Kakashi was talking about.

"Kakashi-sensei, what exactly is the point of genjutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Well, if an opponent uses a genjutsu on you, he/she basically takes control of your chakra, disrupting their senses, unlike ninjutsu and taijutsu which focuses on dealing physical harm to your opponent. Now genjutsu can either be illusionary or offensive. This one happens to be illusionary, but an offensive genjutsu has the potential to do some major mental damage" Kakashi said. "Don't panic. I am now going to use this genjutsu on you."

Kakashi activated the genjutsu and suddenly the four genin were enveloped in a blizzard of cherry blossoms. Soon, they all began to feel something tapping them on their back, but when they turned, there was nothing there but more cherry blossoms. Kakashi then came up behind Sakura and put a blunt knife to her neck and canceled the genjutsu. "Don't worry Sakura, the knife wasn't sharp" Kakashi said as Sakura was rubbing her neck where the knife was. "If you noticed, I tapped you all multiple times but when you looked, you saw nothing, correct?" The four genin nodded. "Now imagine if every time I tapped you, I was actually stabbing you with a knife." They soon got what Kakashi was talking about. "The strength of a genjutsu depends on two things: the actual strength of the technique and the ability of the caster. A genjutsu master can make the weakest genjutsu stronger than the most powerful genjutsu if it were used by a novice. While I am proficient in genjutsu, if you need some expert advice, Sakura, I suggest you ask Kurenai Yuhi, sensei of Team 8."

The four of them nodded at their sensei for the techniques that he gave them. "Kakashi-sensei, speaking of genjutsu, there is a way to counter genjutsu. Are you going to show us how?" Sasuke asked.

"I will, but why don't you work on these jutsu and I'll teach you how to counter genjutsu next week" Kakashi said. Inside his head, he was laughing at his brilliance. "This should keep Naruto and Sasuke quiet for a few weeks." Yes, he had purposefully given Naruto and Sasuke a high level jutsu so that they would stop pestering him, and this way, so long as they played along like good little genin, everything would run smoothly for a few weeks at least.

With Naruto, he heard a voice begin to speak inside his head.

"Naruto" Kurama said to him. "Since we are on the topic of genjutsu, there is something I must tell you regarding the subject. I was able to be controlled by genjutsu, but now that you and I are working together, it should have little to no effect on us."

"Why is that?" Naruto asked the demon in his head.

"Basically, to disrupt a genjutsu, it requires a disruption in your chakra flow. If you are in a genjutsu, I can provide a small burst of chakra, which should dispel it. It's one of the few things I can help you out with, given the current condition of this seal."

"Alright, that sounds good" Naruto responded. With that, Naruto returned to reality. The rest of the afternoon was spent practising their jutsu. As expected, this jutsu quickly turned into a rivalry match between Naruto and Sasuke and the two began diving head first into their new jutsu. The agreed conditions were that Naruto would have to produce a dozen shuriken from one shuriken, the equivalent of what Kakashi had done in the demonstration (and that wasn't the best Kakashi could do), and Sasuke had to be able to melt one of Haku's ice mirrors.

"Are you all in position?" called a voice over the wireless headset.

"I'm in position" called a feminine voice.

"I'm ready" called a slightly bored voice.

"I'm ready" called a new and kind of excited voice.

"Why the hell are we doing THIS mission again sensei!" shouted a very loud voice.

"Because, Naruto, these D-ranks build teamwork and we need to incorporate Haku into this team. Besides, don't you remember the deal we made?" reminded Kakashi.

"Fine. Let's just get this over with" said the now defeated Naruto.

"Alright, on three. 1…2…3…go" with that, the four genin of Team 7 dove onto their target, a certain cat wearing a red ribbon. Yes, unfortunately for every genin of the village, the Fire Damyio's Wife was in town. "Do you have the target?"

"OWOWOWOWOW!" screamed Naruto as the cat viciously clawed at his face. Sakura peeled the cat off and began stroking in the cat's sweet spot behind the ears that she had discovered the first time they had this mission, which instantly calmed the cat down. At the same time, Inner Sakura was contemplating how much this secret of calming Tora down could be sold for.