Chapter 7

It was a two day excursion moving at the fastest speed that Team 10 could collectively muster to get them from the side of the country they were on all the way to the other side where they were meant to head over to. A message from Konoha to Asuma and his team informed them that they were needed to head to Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves) to provide assistance to another squad of genin along with their jounin sensei that were in over their heads.

Despite cutting a very good pace to make it to the coast that was where they ran into a problem as getting from the mainland to the island nation would prove to be rather bothersome in itself as seemingly no ships were making their way to or from the country.

Ino had a hand on her hip as the three genin of the squad took a rest in a port town at the border of Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire). She looked out at the ocean where she could barely see the outlying island at the outer limits of the horizon, "How did anyone else get there in the first place? What are we supposed to do if we can't even reach the place we're supposed to go? Are we just going to fail our mission off of a technicality or something?"

Naruto was sitting on the edge of a nearby wharf, kicking his legs over the edge and looking at the ocean, he had never seen it up close before, it was great, "Asuma-sensei is handling it Ino. All we can do right now is just wait for him."

"Yeah Ino…" Shikamaru said, laying down in a pile of thick rope as makeshift bedding, "Asuma's a jounin, they're supposed to be experts at every aspect of shinobi life. I'm sure he can find a way to get us to Nami no Kuni sooner rather than later. Until then just chill out and rest up… No doubt whatever we end up doing once we get there is going to be troublesome."

Ino rolled her eyes and walked over to the pineapple hair-styled genin, poking at him with her toe, "Shikamaru rolling out of bed this morning and putting on shoes was troublesome to you."

Shikamaru closed his eyes and let out a yawn, "That doesn't mean I'm wrong about this though, does it?"

Ino looked at him with a twitching eye before giving up on him and turning back to Naruto who was for some reason doing pushups, "Naruto what in the world are you doing?" She asked him.

Naruto didn't stop and continued, "I'm bored to death here Ino."

"You should be resting. We ran all the way here." She said, trying to convince him to stop for the moment to save some energy, "What's going to happen if we run into trouble-?"

"-When we run into trouble." Shikamaru cut in blithely.

"Right." Ino said, acknowledging the fact that he was more than likely right about that, "What's going to happen when we run into trouble and we have to fight? You'll be all tired."

"Nope." Naruto said brightly, "I'm A-ok. And pushups never made me tired, I might as well do something while we wait. *laughs* At least I'll be all warmed up when it's time to actually fight right?" Ino shook her head at his answer and plopped down at the edge of the wharf much like Naruto had done beforehand with a sigh, "What's the matter Ino?" Naruto asked, slightly concerned, "You look upset."

Ino panned her eyes over to him, noting that he had stopped with his random exercise so that he could listen to her, "Well, why is it us that had to go? There had to be a squad with more experience that could have been sent."

Naruto stood back up and dusted himself off, "Come on Ino, you were one of the best in our class, are you saying you can't handle it? And Shikamaru is smart, really smart. Like, he's scary smart. Besides, we've got Asuma-sensei with us and a whole 'nother team. We should be fine."

Ino smiled at his attempt to make her feel better about the situation, "And what about you Naruto? You talked about us but you didn't say anything about yourself. What do you bring to the team?"

Naruto stared at her for a moment before rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "Uh, one man radar and human meat-shield?"

Ino gave him a deadpan look in response, "That's really not funny Naruto. That better not be how you really see yourself. You're the only one out of us that is good at actually attacking. With your Kage Bunshin and that taijutsu of yours I think you're the strongest genin on the team."

Shikamaru spoke from over where he was laying down, "Ino's right Naruto. In an active battle you're the only one of us that can guaranteed beat their opponent single-handedly. Ino's jutsu puts her at a disadvantage in case she misses, my jutsu is good for trapping and I have to find other ways to beat people. Without you on this team we'd be sitting ducks. You or your clones can watch Ino's body when she uses her jutsu and you can finish off the people that I get with my jutsu."

Ino lightly slapped the side of his leg and grinned at him, "You're our teammate Naruto, so stop it with the fluctuating self-esteem. Sometimes you think you're the baddest genin in the land, other times you think you shouldn't have even graduated. Do you need me to go into your head and get you all sorted out?" She said jokingly.

Naruto rolled his eyes but returned her smile, "Hey you don't want to do that. Iruka-sensei said that my mind is a scary place."

"That's because he saw your grades in school." She quipped right back at him, jokingly raising her hands in the seal needed to fire her Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Jutsu), "Get ready to black out for a few minutes Naruto. I'll kick you awake when I'm done with your body."

Naruto started bouncing on his toes, "You have to hit me with it first." He gloated in a challenging manner.

Ino winked at him, "From this range I barely have to aim. Shikamaru, watch my body would you?"

"Alright that's enough of that." Asuma said sternly as he made his way back over to the group, "Stop playing with your jutsu. Those are meant for serious work." There was no humor or anything in his voice.

Naruto looked at Asuma strangely, "Asuma-sensei yesterday Shikamaru took control of me with his shadow and made me slap myself. You laughed so hard you swallowed your cigarette. What's changed between now and yesterday?"

How could he put this that wouldn't tip them off to something being wrong in Naruto's psyche? Asuma quickly rattled off an answer, "We can't get to Nami no Kuni by normal means when over a year ago there was never any problem doing so. That has to mean that things are rather suspicious either here or there and I would rather the enemy that may or may not be watching know what you can do because you decided to play with your jutsu while you were bored."

He almost cringed at his response. That excuse was flimsy at best and he knew it. Hopefully they wouldn't call him on it if he had a serious enough look on his face… and they didn't, "Sorry Asuma-sensei…" Naruto and Ino said in unison. Still, in his head he needed to come up with something better. That excuse would only work for the duration of this mission. He might not come up with another one if they decided to mess around like that again, and the last place he wanted Ino to be was crawling around in Naruto's head, lest she come across a dark little secret… one that could potentially tear her mind asunder.

Shikamaru gave Asuma a long hard look for being so strange about Ino using her jutsu. He placed it in the back of his mind for later and spoke up, "So do you have a way for us to get over there or are we landlocked and have to go home? Because I'm completely cool with going home."

Asuma sighed at Shikamaru's expected attitude, "Remember Shikamaru, there is always a way to get anywhere no matter what… and it's called money. We're going to pay someone with a boat to take us across, but we're going to need to get some money fast. They want way more than I have on me to make the trip."

"How much?" Naruto asked.

Asuma scratched his nose, "Um, 300,000 ryo."

Naruto and Ino stared at Asuma blankly after hearing the amount of money they needed to gain passage to Nami no Kuni. "What!" Both of them exclaimed simultaneously, getting Asuma to clean out his ears after hearing both loud blondes shout at him.

"Yeah…" Asuma said when the ringing in his ears stopped, "Apparently there's a sort of blockade around Nami no Kuni. Ships trying to get onto the island have to pay a steep tax to get in. Apparently it's orchestrated by the powerful shipping magnate Gato. He's got control of Nami no Kuni's trade routes, so unless we can actually pay for passage aboard a ship and the extra that's needed to actually get there, not to mention the amount that they need to pay to actually be allowed to leave."

"How in the hell are we going to get 300,000 ryo?" Ino asked angrily, "We're kids! A month's worth of D-ranked missions doesn't top out at 300,000 for all four of us combined! It barely tops out at over 100,000!"

Shikamaru sat up from where he had been laying down and began thinking while Ino fumed over the situation and Naruto stared at his frog wallet sadly. "Hey." Shikamaru said, getting everyone's attention, "I think I have an idea." Everyone moved over towards him, "Naruto how long do you think your Kage Bunshin can hold a Henge?"

XxX

(Twelve Hours Later – Nami no Kuni)

As night had fallen, from a distance at the outskirts of a port town in Nami no Kuni, Team 10 watched the ship they had taken to the island nation disembark back to the mainland hastily. They had slipped off of the ship unseen while Gato's 'harbor patrol' had gone on the ship and collected the money from the captain. Instead of a patrol, they looked more like a bunch of thugs, "Damn good plan Shikamaru. And good work Naruto." Asuma said to the lazy genin and the orange-aficionado as he patted the nearby Naruto's spiky blonde head for a job well done, "So when do you think those Kage Bunshin of yours will dispel?"

Naruto started counting on his fingers, "I don't know, I can hold a Henge for like a week straight if no one makes me break it and I have to split my chakra evenly to make one Kage Bunshin. The longest I've ever had one out was four days straight and I just had it doing odd jobs; cleaning my house, studying some notes, just useless stuff that didn't take chakra and I just let it be. I blacked out when I dispelled it though."

Ino snapped her fingers and pointed at him, "Oh yeah! That was the day you didn't show up to the training field a week ago wasn't it?"

Naruto nodded, "But these ones are holding the Henge so I don't know." He let out a sigh, "I made… a bunch. And they're still holding out so we don't get busted. I'm going to black out again when they go though, I know it, so can we get to where we need to go fast before I do?"

"How many did you make?" Ino asked.

Again, Naruto counted out on his fingers, "I made enough to put in that sack in increments of 5,000 ryo, so I made 20."

Shikamaru shut his eyes to think, "One clone can last four days doing nothing, Naruto himself can hold a Henge for a week himself, and he made twenty clones, all Henged. The clones can last almost a day and a half as they are before they dispel if nothing happens, and we were on that boat for twelve hours, so I would say that they have at least another twenty four hours before they fade."

"And by then everything should be good. The boat should be back in Hi no Kuni, and the Henged clones should be placed with other forms of money so that they can disappear. With any luck it will be assumed that someone in the organization took the money." Asuma said, wrapping it all up, "Alright then. That's plenty of time for us to find the team we're meant to assist so we can get the full breadth of the situation."

Shikamaru took it upon himself to ask the question everyone else had neglected to ask thus far, "So who are we here to help? And what are we even doing in this country in the first place to help them out?"

"All valid questions..." Asuma said as he led his team along away from the village. He sparked a cigarette as Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru looked at him expectantly, "…That I will answer once we get to where the team is shacked up at."

"We hate you Asuma/Asuma-sensei." All three of the younger ninja said in unison as they followed behind with dry looks on their faces.

Asuma exhaled a plume of smoke and walked along with a smile on his face, "Ahh, the sounds of teamwork, such a beautiful thing." He said before breaking out in a run, prompting his team to follow behind swiftly.

XxX

(Two Hours Later)

KNOCK KNOCK

"Coming!" A knock at the door garnered the attention of a beautiful dark-haired woman that made to open the door before being stopped by Sasuke, who pulled a kunai and went to answer it in her stead. Opening the door, keeping his weapon hidden from view, Sasuke saw three of the students from his class that graduated along with a larger bearded man with a cigarette in his mouth and a vest much like his sensei's.

"You must be Kakashi's student, Uchiha Sasuke right?" Asuma asked blowing smoke at Sasuke as he did. Intentionally or not, he couldn't tell.

Sasuke held back a cough and waved the smoke out of his face, "Yeah, and I guess you guys are the team Kakashi sent for to help us, right?"

Asuma nodded, "Correct kid. Team 10 at your service."

Sasuke looked back at the woman inside of the house and gestured to her to let her know everything was okay. At that point she came to the door and greeted the new arrivals with a warm smile, "Hello, my name is Tsunami. You all must be the group of ninjas sent to help the others protect my father." She bowed to them.

Asuma smiled at the woman, "Well I am Sarutobi Asuma." He pointed behind him at the kids, "The lazy looking boy is Nara Shikamaru, the blonde girl is Yamanaka Ino, and the blonde boy in orange is Uzumaki Naruto." Shikamaru waved half-heartedly, Ino smiled brightly at her, and Naruto gave her a grin, although the thing about him that got her attention was the thing she saw him holding in his mouth and trying to light at the same time.

"Well it's nice to meet you all." She said before pointing at Naruto and Asuma, "But I don't allow smoking in my house, I'm sorry."

Naruto blinked before looking at her with puppy-dog eyes. He hadn't had one in days and he hadn't even taken a puff yet. He thought he deserved one after single-handedly paying their ferry with his chakra. Couldn't he at least imbibe a bit before he blacked out with a monster headache in a few hours? Tsunami refused to budge on the matter due to the unchanging expression on her face and Naruto dropped the cigarette with a sigh before putting it out under his foot. Asuma did the same only with more hesitation, but upon doing so they were invited inside.

Sasuke stood off to the side as they all came in and Tsunami closed the door behind them. He looked at everyone pass him uninterestedly until Ino walked past him, "Hello Sasuke-kun, I missed you all of this time." She said, getting a roll of the eyes out of the stoic genin.

Apparently Naruto wasn't the only one who had sensor capabilities because when Ino said that, Naruto could have sworn that Sakura did too when she yelled down the stairs before she was even see, "Leave Sasuke-kun alone Ino-pig! He was doing just fine before you shoved your snout into the house!"

"How could I shove my snout into anything with your massive forehead already filling the place up?" Ino yelled back, "I know Sasuke-kun is sick of your company after two months. Now he can spend time with a real kunoichi."

Naruto looked at Tsunami as the two young female ninja began squabbling over Sasuke who looked like he would rather be anywhere but there, "Do you have anything blunt to hit one of them with?" He asked dryly, "Because if not we're going to be here all night."

Ino turned to Naruto, ignoring Sakura for the moment, "Naruto you really wouldn't hit me would you?"

Naruto shrugged vapidly, "I've already done it before."

"Those were spars." Ino sent back at him. Seeing him turn away, mumbling 'So?' made Ino smirk in victory, "Now where were we Forehead?" She asked, about to start up a whole new series of insults between herself and Sakura.

"Alright enough." Asuma cut in, getting sighs of relief from Naruto, Shikamaru, and even Sasuke, "Where's Kakashi? We still need to understand the severity of the situation and I kind of want to hear it from him."

Sakura looked at the jounin she had failed to notice during her spat with Ino and got herself together, "Kakashi-sensei is upstairs with Chouji. He has chakra exhaustion from the battle."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke, "You guys fought? Who did you fight?"

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and walked upstairs as it was clear that was where the group was soon heading, "A jounin."

XxX

(30 Minutes Later)

Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru stared blankly at Team 7 with their jaws quite slacked at what they had just heard. Everything was clear and simple when they were told of the mission to protect Tazuna the bridge-builder. They were still along for the ride when they were told about being attacked by the two chunin Demon Brothers, they were somewhat lost when they were told that a Momochi Zabuza, high-class jounin missing-ninja, was next to attack them, but hearing how the battle played out somewhat assuaged how they were feeling. But the combination of everything heard beforehand along with the amassed knowledge they continued to be given as well as the full scope of the situation hit them rather abruptly.

A long silence was broken when Shikamaru spoke, "So you're telling me that we just ran all the way across an entire country, scammed our way onto a ship to get here, and we can't even leave now until this bridge is built because the blockade of the trade routes are locked down tight?"

A nod from Chouji and Sakura was the response. Ino spoke next, "And you just got through fighting two chunin and one jounin that you thought you killed, but he got away because someone that was able to pose as a hunter-ninja and actually fool your jounin sensei into thinking the jounin was dead got away with him to let him rest up for the next go around?"

Naruto finished up for them once Ino's question got a response with another set of nods, "And in addition to that, the one orchestrating all of this is one of the richest men in the entire world and he actually has Nami no Kuni under his heel and has full control of the country? Not only that, but he kills anyone opposing him and that includes the guy you're here to protect because the bridge would ruin his hold on the nation?"

Again, a nod from Sakura and Chouji. "I see…" Ino said before turning to Asuma with anime tears running down her face, "Asuma-sensei can we go home?" She asked, getting a face-fault out of Naruto who sprung to his feet swiftly after.

"No way Ino!" Naruto said, "If Chouji, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke-teme didn't cut out and leave after they knew what they were into we can't just leave. We pulled one over on that Gato guy and his thugs when we first got here before we even knew what was going on, we can do this!"

"It's a jounin Naruto, a jounin and a hunter-nin." Ino said, not really feeling too good about this whole thing.

Naruto pointed over at Asuma and the downed Kakashi, "We have two jounin and the rest of us."

Ino found herself somewhat on the losing end of the reasoning, but did not let the matter die, "If this Gato guy has enough clout to control the country he has to have a lot of people working for him to enforce his rule. That's an army Naruto."

Shikamaru scoffed and pointed at Naruto who grinned and waved to her, "He's an army Ino." He said, getting some confused looks from Team 7, "And he's right. We can do this. We just need to know what they know so we can be ready for the next time around."

"Well yes." Kakashi said, still looking rather haggard from his battle with, "Exactly. There isn't much we can do with us knowing nothing of where Zabuza is or where Gato is if we want to get drastic. However there is one thing that we can do that will help us."

The genin all looked at Kakashi expectantly getting Asuma to chuckle, "Kakashi's right, though it's one of one of my student's least favorite words. We're going to train you kids up for the next time."

XxX

(Gato's Headquarters)

A man walked into Gato's office with a serious look on his face. The small businessman in a suit and diminutive sunglasses sat at his desk flanked on both sides by two bodyguards. One, a young man with white hair, marks under his eyes, a dark purple hat on his head, and a blue hooded jacket. The other was a shirtless man with brown hair, an eyepatch, tattoos on his body, and a few scars to go with them. Both of them were in possession of a katana to go with their bodyguard status.

The man stopped in front of the desk and started speaking, "Boss our boys got some information from the ship that stopped here earlier today and left right after. Two of them disembarked and ended up telling us that a team of ninjas got off of their ship. We never saw 'em, but they are ninja, so I figured it was worth telling you."

Gato let out a growl, "What, are they coming out of the woodwork now?" He said in a seething voice, "That whelp Zabuza better get it together and get his ass in gear. Grr, I'm not paying him anyway, but he doesn't know that and I expect him to get the job done!"

The man spoke to Gato again, "Apparently three of them were just kids."

Gato lifted his right arm to reveal a cast on it, "Zabuza had a kid with him too, and the little bitch did this! But you might have a point. A few kids can't take on an entire contingent of my soldiers." The greedy little man smirked and laughed to himself, "Something to think on I guess…"

XxX

(The Next Day – Forest Surrounding Tazuna's House)

"Alright kids!" Kakashi said brightly from his place standing on crutches next to Asuma, "Today we'll be teaching you all a very important skill that every shinobi learns over the course of their career, early on like the rest of you are now."

Asuma had a grin on his face, "I was looking forward to teaching this…" He then gave a light glare to Naruto, "One of you tried taking my fun away by already learning this…" He then grinned again, "But Kakashi is somehow making up for it by replacing him with three of his own genin for my demented amusement."

Kakashi gave Asuma an eye-smile, "I'm so glad I could make your day Asuma." He turned his attention back to the genin, "But you will all be learning how to climb trees."

Naruto raised his hand, "Yo Kakashi-sensei, Asuma-sensei, I can already do this."

Sakura nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we all already know how to climb trees. How is this training Kakashi-sensei?" She asked curiously.

Shaking his head at the pink-haired girl, Naruto spoke again, "No, you guys can't. I can though." He said, getting a tick mark to form on Sakura's head due to how he made the rest of them sound.

"We can all climb trees Naruto-baka!" Sakura said fuming at him. "What do you think you're trying to say you idiot?" Sakura's inner personality roared inside of her psyche.

"You might get the concept Naruto-." Asuma interjected, trying to save his genin from a furious fisticuff, courtesy of Sakura, "-But the way this exercise is done is to accentuate the most difficult way you can possibly generate chakra through your body. You might have worked it out for your hands, but elsewhere would be a different story."

Naruto looked between Asuma and Kakashi repeatedly before sighing and moving between them, pushing them aside to walk towards a tree. That was where all of the normal stuff ended, because Naruto started walking straight up a tree with a dull expression on his face. He then walked down and got back into the line-up with the others who were looking at him oddly. He ignored them for the moment and looked at Asuma, "I learned how to do that from my taijutsu scroll because I needed it to make my taijutsu style more effective when I grab somebody like I told you. Well I had to learn how to do it with every part of my body because I have some moves that need me to keep a hold with other parts of my body to make me harder to shake off."

"So you can do this?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto shrugged, "In my sleep." He then took note of the stares he was getting from the others, "What?"

"Since when could you do that?" Chouji asked, remembering Naruto having trouble with… well, everything in the Academy. He and Shikamaru had never really talked about training when they hung out. He found it too troublesome.

"Three weeks. Heh, at first I thought it was something cool that only I could do since I'm learning the style, but I found out it wasn't from Asuma-sensei during the last mission." Naruto responded with a grin.

Ino asked a question next, "You never did that when we were training Naruto. Not even during spars, you didn't stick to anything."

In response he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Well I could get a good enough grip on my own during spars. Using chakra to stick would have been overkill. And using it with my feet for the moves I'm talking about… well those moves aren't as nice as the things you normally see me do. They aren't sparring moves. Besides, when did I ever need to walk up a tree for anything?" Just for kicks he walked over to the same tree and started walking in circles, "Yep, this sure came up again and again while we were doing that babysitting mission." He said sarcastically.

"Right." Kakashi chimed in, "Well you just saw Naruto do it. You need to channel chakra to your feet and make your way up the tree. You might want a running start when you do it though, so the momentum will help you when you start off." The two jounin threw out five kunai at their students' feet, "Use those to mark your place and try to beat it each time."

All of the genin, sans Naruto, picked up their respective weapons and took off at the tree. Sasuke made it to his first and took a few steps up the tree before the bark exploded under his feet, forcing him to backflip off and land on his feet before he fell. Chouji's attempt was seven steps up the tree before tumbling down and rolling back, ending with him sitting and looking up at the tree. Ino was feeling good about herself as she continued putting one foot in front of the other as she climbed the tree. The first branch was well in her sight and she reached out for it, but lost her concentration and wound up falling back to the ground, upset enough to kick the tree… which ended with her hurting herself and hopping on one foot cursing at the tree.

"Hey, this is easy!" Sakura said as she sat up on a high branch overlooking the others.

Naruto looked up at her and whistled, "Wow Sakura-chan? First try? It took me a few days to actually get it." 'With clones.' He added to himself mentally, actually really impressed with her, after speaking aloud, "Good job!"

Sakura held up a 'v' sign and stuck her tongue out before turning to Sasuke, "How was that Sasuke-kun?"

"Well it looks like my team's own kunoichi is the first one to get this exercise." Kakashi said with amusement, "Maybe someone isn't working hard enough for me to warrant going back to the house to pick up lunch for them?" Chouji let out a horrified gasp and jumped to his feet to keep working, "And maybe the Uchiha Clan isn't all it's cracked up to be." Sasuke glared up at where Sakura was before going back to start trying again.

Sakura looked at Kakashi incredulously, 'What? Now he's going to hate me.' "You talk too much Kakashi-sensei!"

Shikamaru didn't immediately take off like the others did. Instead he sat and watched the others take a few tries. Ino took two more tries before getting it along with Sakura who took another trip up. The two girls glared and started jawing with one another once again. Chouji kept up at his work with a determined effort to show Kakashi he was trying hard enough to get lunch later, but he kept smashing the tree before getting very far. He then looked at Sasuke who seemed to have the same idea as he analyzed what was going on, 'So if I use too much chakra I'll end up being pushed off of the tree like Chouji and Sasuke, is there a certain amount I need to generate? Do I need to generate a consistent amount and keep it? Troublesome, I need to figure this out and tell Chouji.'

Naruto let out a yawn as he stood watching everyone else. He thought of joining in, but him running up and down the trees repeatedly would have just wound up pissing everyone else off, and there wasn't anything he could really get out of it anyway. He placed his hands behind his head and began pacing about in a bored manner, getting Asuma's attention, "Naruto, do you have anything you're working on that you could be doing right now?"

He looked at Asuma and blinked, surprised at being called out, before shaking his head. Asuma made a thoughtful noise, "And you say you've got this exercise down pat?" Naruto nodded with a grin and jumped at a tree before sticking to it back-first. After a few seconds he dropped onto his feet and rubbed the back of his head, seeing as how he had smashed it into the trunk when he was trying to be facetious, "Okay smartass, I get it." He said with a chuckle. He turned to Kakashi, "I'm going to take Naruto off somewhere to work on something so he doesn't waste any time here."

"Alright Asuma." Kakashi said, pulling out his orange Icha-Icha book, "I've got things here in the meantime."

The others watched Naruto walk away with Naruto in tow for a moment before getting back to work. Sasuke's eyes lingered on him the longest before turning back to his tree and continuing to train, gritting his teeth determinedly, 'I am not going to fail and be left behind!' He said to himself in an effort to get himself to step it up.

XxX

Asuma led Naruto to the dock out front of Tazuna's house and stopped at the edge of the water. Naruto simply stared at the water and then at Asuma, waiting for the man to do something, or explain something to him. Eventually Asuma dramatically placed one foot out, getting Naruto's full attention, not that the boy was saying anything, but his eyes were clearly interested in either seeing something awesome or something hilarious.

The jounin stepped off of the dock, but instead of a loud splash followed by Naruto rolling on the dock laughing as hard as he could, Asuma was standing on top of the surface of the water as if he were still on land. He took a few steps out before turning back to Naruto and making a grand gesture, "Well?"

"How?" Naruto asked squeakily.

Asuma quickly explained, "Channel the chakra to your feet as if you were walking up a tree and go for it. But the amount you have to use to stay up will change consistently, making it harder than tree-climbing. Get to it."

Naruto nodded excitedly and did as instructed before falling into the water. Asuma broke up in laughter, "Oh Kami… it would have been funnier if I had them all do it at the same time, but ah… This is why jounin choose to become sensei… the precious moments like this."

Naruto surfaced and pulled himself back onto the deck, sitting on the edge and staring at Asuma while still dripping wet, clothes drenched. Naruto opened and closed his mouth multiple times trying to think of something to say before giving up, "Well son of a bitch…" His eyes widened and he patted around in his pockets before pulling out a drenched pack of his cigarettes, "Son of a bitch!" He looked up at Asuma, "Asuma-sensei?"

"No smoking while you're training Naruto." He said walking back towards the shore. Once he reached the dock he ruffled Naruto's soaked hair, "Well, get to it. Oh, and can you send some clones to check on Ino and Shikamaru while I go with Tazuna today? I don't really want Kakashi's lazy streak to keep them from getting the finer points of their training down. Actually one clone should be good."

Naruto nodded and stood up before forming the seal for Kage Bunshin, making one appear in a puff of smoke. Naruto stood still after making the clone before it dispelled and he fell backwards, almost into the water. Asuma moved swiftly and caught him before he could fall in the water and potentially drown, "What happe-?" He asked before stopping himself as he remembered yesterday, "Wow. Those clones sure lasted a long time." He picked Naruto up and took him inside the house.

The entire scene was witnessed from a window in the house overlooking the ocean by a small boy in green overalls and a white, blue-striped bucket hat.

XxX

(Hours Later)

"Ow…" Naruto whined, sitting up on a couch in the living room, "Why does the backlash suck so much?" He asked himself only to notice a small boy standing in front of him, looking at him rather angrily, "Hello?"

"You're going to die here you know?" He said matter-of-factly.

Naruto just stared at the kid in shock before speaking, "Um I don't think so. I just got hit with too much information at once and it kind of scrambled my brains for a bit. If I can get an aspirin I should be fine. It's no big deal."

The boy's glare on the young shinobi grew more intense, "No you idiot, Gato. Gato's going to kill you guys. You and all of those other people that came here." He said as if it were a fact, as if it had already happened.

Naruto just looked at the kid with a twitching eye before noticing himself covered in a blanket in his boxers, 'Damn, not cool.' He stood up, keeping himself covered, "Um, okay whatever. I'm going to go ask your mom if she has anything for my head so I can train." He walked into the kitchen, seeing Tsunami sitting at the table just looking out the window, "Um excuse me ma'am, do you have any aspirin? And could you tell me where my clothes are?"

She looked at Naruto and smiled warmly, "Of course dear, and I'm sorry about Inari. He was like that to the others too. I just don't know what to do." She said, quickly moving to a cabinet and retrieving two pills that she handed to Naruto, "Here you go. Your clothes are outside drying. They should be done by now, let me get you a glass of water."

Naruto accepted the pills with a grateful smile of his own. Man, no adult was ever this cool to him in Konoha, "That's okay, I don't need the water." He said before quickly downing the pills and heading outside where he saw his stuff hanging up, his sandals on the ground underneath them. He reached for his clothes before looking back at the ocean, "Meh, I might as well stay like this… I'll just end up messing my clothes up again." He immediately hopped over to the wharf and attempted the same process as the first time before dropping into the water again.

Tsunami heard the splash and came outside to see Naruto pulling himself out of the ocean, "Are you okay?" She asked.

Naruto spat out a mouthful of seawater and gave her a thumbs up, "Yep. I'm good. Just training to walk on water." He said to her before making another attempt, actually staying up for quite a while this time before-, "Gah!" He shouted before going under once more, this time getting out with a growl.

"Are you sure this is possible?" Tsunami asked, not knowing much about what is was that ninja did regularly and how they went about doing them.

Naruto nodded, "Oh yeah, don't worry. I'll definitely get it soon. I've got to get stronger to make sure your father's safe after all don't I?" He gave her a wide grin that she couldn't help but return. Naruto would up steadying himself and taking step after step out onto the water. He finally turned around and found that he had made it well over fifty feet from the dock, "You see! I told you I could do it!" He shouted back to her now that his head was no longer ringing from his dispelled clones.

Tsunami looked at him in amusement and clapped for his achievement, "Good job Naruto-kun!" She said before noticing some strange black mark on his torso, "Naruto-kun, what's that mark on your stomach?" She asked.

Naruto blinked in confusion and looked down at his stomach, but he wasn't experienced with his water-walking yet and fell in the water. He swam back to shore and sprawled out on the deck before looking at Tsunami, panting somewhat, "What was that you were saying?" He asked.

Tsunami was about to repeat what she asked when she looked at Naruto's belly and saw nothing there any longer, "Oh nevermind. I'm sorry about that." She said apologetically. She messed up his training for something she didn't even see.

"Oh it's alright." Naruto said, sitting back up and pushing the water out of his ear, "I've got it and that's all that matters. All I have to do now is get used to fighting on the water like I can on walls, and there's only one way to do that right now." He stood up and made forty Kage Bunshin before they all went out onto the water, ignoring how shocked Tsunami was at seeing all of those blondes appear out of thin air.

Naruto was still shaky, but he was out there, and there was only one way to solve that problem about his steadiness on the water. Naruto stared at his grinning clones who were all stretching and trying to punk him with their confident faces, "So come on all of you, let's do this!" That shout was the last precursor before Naruto and his clones commenced brawling atop the seawater.

Tsunami watched as Naruto set himself in his low Nebaiken stance while three clones came at him. The first of the three quickly grabbed onto Naruto, using their superior numbers to disorient him for the time being. It grabbed Naruto's right arm and worked it behind his back, trying to garner a joint-lock and quickly disable him somehow. Naruto switched his dominant leg and spun around, freeing his arm and delivering a back elbow strike to his clone's face, dispelling it in a puff of smoke.

Another clone came through the smoke screen caused by his defeated brother and leapt at Naruto, attempting to wrap him up and leave him a sitting duck for the other clones to come in and pummel him. Naruto moved to the side and let his clone miss, instead having it jump through the surface of the water. the impact disrupted his footing and he dropped an ankle into the water, leaving him wide open for one of his other clones to land a hard punch to his face.

Naruto grit his teeth at taking the punch cleanly and shot a headbutt to the body of the offending clone, not hard enough to dispel it, but hard enough to disrupt its strategy, giving him time to regain his footing and hit a cross-arm chop to his clone's throat, dispelling it. He didn't see the other clone that he had forced under the water, but he did see the others he made, standing off to the side, none of them moving in to replace the ones he had beaten.

Naruto released a pulse of his sonar jutsu, sensing something close below him and jumped just high enough to avoid a pair of hands reaching up to grab him from below. Naruto stomped hard on the water, driving his feet through the surface and delivering a harsh stomp to the face of his sneaky clone, finishing him off. He sighed to himself before he looked up and saw five clones of the mass he made walking out to fight him this time.

XxX

(Hours Later)

The exhausted members of Team 7 and remnants of Team 10 came out of the forest on their way back to the house along with Kakashi only to see an, at the time for them, surreal sight. Naruto in a fight… with himself. With five of himself. Now that didn't surprise Team 10 at all, they knew he could do that. Team 7 on the other hand had no clue.

"Why is Naruto doing that with the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Jutsu)?" Sakura asked rhetorically, not really expecting a legitimate answer.

"Those aren't regular Bunshin." Kakashi said, "They're Kage Bunshin. Clones like the ones that Zabuza used, only they're full-on copies of the original that can use jutsu, bleed, and all kinds of other things. He's sparring with them."

"Nevermind that! He does that all the time!" Ino said, fully used to Naruto's signature jutsu by now, "Look at where he's doing it! He can stand on the surface of the water?"

"Huh." Kakashi said, sounding mildly disinterested, "Asuma must have shown him this exercise after they left. He picked it up very quickly I have to say; to be able to engage in a battle on the water after just a few hours. Well, that's still beyond most of you at the moment. Tree-walking comes first and then you can possibly think about trying this exercise." He finished as he made his way back towards the house.

The others watched as Naruto finished off the last of his clones. Naruto had the clone facedown in the water, pulling its arms back and holding its head down with his heel on its head while it struggled against him. The original grit his teeth and did not let up despite his clone thrashing to free itself. Finally the clone popped and Naruto slumped weakly on the water, panting heavily and rubbing his throat, "Okay… I'm never doing that to any of my clones ever again. Drowning isn't cool at all." He slowly walked his way back to shore and fell out face first on the dock as the others walked up to him from the edge of the forest, "Hey guys."

Ino kneeled down by him, "Are you alright? You sound half-dead."

Naruto let out a weak unintelligible groan before speaking, "My clones we used to get here popped… I blacked out. Then I came out here and did this for the rest of the day again, and again, and again. *laughs* I wonder what I'm going to do tomorrow? So how did all of you guys do?"

Sakura smirked, "Ino-pig and I have it down perfectly, after she saw me get it first of course." Ino growled at Sakura, who continued, "Sasuke-kun and Chouji are getting it, but Shikamaru. I don't know if he has it or not. He only did it a few times and then went to sit down."

Naruto moved his head to look at Shikamaru who stared right back with that bored look in his face, "Of course he did. Can someone help me stand up?"

Ino and Chouji both slung one of his arms over their shoulders and picked him up per his request. Ino grunted as she picked Naruto up, "Why are you just in your boxers?" She asked, somewhat dismayed at having to touch him like that.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Because I had to fall into the water like one hundred times today and my clothes would have wound up soaked Ino. But when you learn it you can wear all the clothes you want to. Tell me how that works out." He said jokingly, getting Ino to dig a sharp knuckle into his ribs.

"Smartass." She said before changing her tone, "Hey, could you teach me how to do that tomorrow?"

Naruto answered with one question of his own, "Can you stand on a wall or a tree while barely even thinking about it?" She didn't really know how to answer so he did for her, "I'll ask Asuma-sensei tomorrow. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing tomorrow anyway."

Chouji spoke up, "So where do you want us to put you Naruto?" He asked.

Naruto grinned at the large boy, "Oh just put me over by the clothesline. I need to get dressed anyway. Thanks."

They placed Naruto by his clothes and went inside the house while he put his stuff back on. After a moment, Naruto noticed Sasuke standing nearby looking at him intently, "What's wrong Sasuke-teme?" He asked. He hadn't even said more than a few sentences to the guy since he and his team had arrived.

Sasuke's coal black eyes seemed to bore into Naruto. It was really starting to mess with him. The guy never even paid him half a mind before in the Academy, just like most everyone else, "I want to spar with you." He said, "When I finish the tree-climbing exercise."

Naruto blinked once before answering, "Sure I guess. But why would you want to spar with me?" It wasn't that he didn't want to, because he did. He wanted to fight Sasuke since his time in the Academy, but when Sasuke started beating him again and again in spars and he showed less and less interest in fighting Naruto he thought Sasuke didn't exactly return that sentiment. So why would he want to fig-?

Naruto smirked to himself as he realized why. Sasuke thought Naruto was as strong as he was, or at least stronger than anyone else on either of the teams there. Now he had a chance to actually prove it to others and himself. Sasuke was widely perceived as the very best genin of this year coming out of the Academy. If Naruto could beat him it would be the best possible litmus test for him as far as how he was developing as a shinobi.

"Finish the tree-climbing training. And then we'll talk about it." Naruto said to Sasuke, looking forward to actually going head-to-head with the boy that was on the exact opposite end of the spectrum in the Academy that he was.

Sasuke returned Naruto's smirk with one of his own, "Whatever you say dobe." He said confidently.

Naruto shook his head and stood up, picking up his sandals instead of putting them on as he would have to take them right back off once he got inside anyway, "You won't be able to call me that after I actually beat you teme. I'll show you who the real rookie of the year is."

The two gave each other challenging looks until Sakura's voice called out to them, "Sasuke-kun! Tsunami-san says that food is ready! Get Naruto and come inside!"

Naruto gestured towards the door, getting an amused scoff out of Sasuke who walked back towards the house.

XxX

Dinner was largely uneventful. Asuma sat away from the table and Kakashi took his food on the couch while the genin and the family of Tazuna took all of the seats at the table. Everyone only got one good helping though, because Chouji was seemingly famished from his training today, and took it upon himself to hoard seconds, thirds, fourths, and etc.

Naruto finished his food and gave thanks to Tsunami before turning to Asuma, "So sensei. I can walk on water now. I can even fight on water now too, so what do I do tomorrow?"

Asuma looked over at Naruto and smiled at him, "Those Kage Bunshin of yours are ridiculous, you know that?" He said under his breath, but Naruto caught it as he nodded keenly in agreement, "Alright… you only have one jutsu fit for battle and you're our team's muscle so to speak, so I guess I'll show you a little something tomorrow before I go with Tazuna to work on." Naruto had a look of excitement on his face.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, "What about me Kakashi-sensei? Or Ino-pig? We finished tree-climbing."

Asuma rubbed his beard and looked at Kakashi, "Naruto can give them the water-walking exercise and they can work on that. They should get that just as quickly as they got tree-climbing." Kakashi nodded in agreement, getting smiles out of both girls, "I'd better get the lion's share of the pay when we get back Kakashi, I'm doing your work for you."

Kakashi shrugged, "If I felt that I would be of any use if Zabuza or anyone else showed up again I would go with you Asuma. Thanks though. Don't worry, I've been keeping a good eye on your students for you." He said in his characteristically dull , yet chipper voice.

"You didn't watch me all day Kakashi-sensei." Naruto slipped in, poking a hole in the man's statement.

"Actually Naruto-." Kakashi interjected, giving what everyone swore was a smile had that mask not been covering his face to the boy, "I got back before Asuma did, and I saw you training at the end so I technically did watch you while Asuma was gone."

Naruto gave him a dry look, ignoring the snickers from everyone around him, "I don't think I like you too much right now Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi's smile never dropped, "Oh don't say that. I'll grow on you soon, trust me."

By now everyone had finished and the girls were helping Tsunami with the dishes when Sakura took notice of a picture with a missing section, "Hey Tsunami-san, what happened to this picture? It looks like a corner is missing like it was ripped out."

The civilian family all bristled at the seemingly innocent question from the pink-haired female genin before Tazuna finally spoke, "That part of the picture used to contain the image of a man this country called a hero."

At hearing that, Inari stood abruptly and ran out of the kitchen and upstairs, "Inari!" Tsunami called after him before turning to Tazuna, "Father you know you can't talk about him around Inari!" She then followed after Inari upstairs.

Kakashi looked over at Tazuna, who had his head down, "So I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there's a story there." Tazuna nodded, "Well would you mind letting us in on it?"

Tazuna took off his glasses and wiped any smudges he might have on them off, "Seeing as how part of it has to do with the entire reason you're all here I don't see why not." He took a deep breath before continuing, "This is the story of a man that inspired our entire nation. A true hero of Nami no Kuni." Everyone else in the room sat in rapt attention as the old bridge builder began his story.

How To Train Your Genin: Tip 4

Do not be afraid to challenge your genin

The life of a ninja is hard and oftentimes extremely short. It is a good thing to want to keep your students safe and have them succeed at things that they feel comfortable with, but how will that prepare them for true emergencies? For when they are actually needed in something important? The answer is, that they won't be.

You will never know how they will respond under pressure until they actually are pressured. The best way to get them ready for stressful situations and danger is to put them in stressful and dangerous situations. This can be easily accomplished. C-rank missions are a good way to get them accustomed to actual ninja work, but after a while, if you think they've reached a plateau of sorts, do not be afraid to ask for a B-ranked mission. Is it dangerous? More than likely, yes it will be. But eventually they will be forced to fight for their lives, to brave great dangers for their comrades and village. If done in a semi-controlled way to get them ready you can mentor them through it, as is your job as their jounin sensei anyway.

Remember, protecting your students is okay, but there is such a thing as too much of it, and trying to keep them from getting killed ironically may be the thing that actually winds up getting them killed. Trust in your team to succeed and break their own limits in doing so. If they've been prepared appropriately they will make you proud.