Chapter 070

Naruto nodded, "Yeah I could imagine that slime who already works for someone as slimy as Gato would do…things like that." He tilted his head for a second before smiling and thumping his chest, "I know! Why don't I escort you home? That way if any of Gato's goons even try to touch, I'll beat the shit out of them."

Haku giggled but grew worried as she tried to find a way out of this situation, "That's ok, I don't want to interrupt your training. I have already taken too much of your time."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest but Haku cut him off, "Please do not concern yourself with me, I have been evading Gato's men in the morning ever since he came here."

"…Oh, well ok," Naruto said in a somewhat dejected voice. He perked up again after a few seconds. Looking up he saw Haku walking away again. "Wait!" He called out as he ran to catch up with her.

"Yes?" Haku asked as she turned around, wondering what the blond would want this time.

"Um…well I was just…" Naruto blushed and squirmed a bit before pressing on. "I was just wondering if…if I could see you again…like tomorrow maybe?"

Haku bit her lip as she was presented with this new dilemma. On the one hand this would be a good opportunity to learn more about Zabuza's enemy. On the other hand, she would be playing with a young boy's heart, someone who for some odd reason reminded her of herself. However, her desire to help Zabuza overrode her desire to keep the young blond from being heartbroken.

"I can do that," She said with a smile, even as her stomach churned a bit. "What time would you like me to meet you?"

"How about 7:00 tomorrow morning?" Naruto suggested with a smile, relieved that she had not turned him down. Though he had hung out with Tenten a lot, and gone out to get dango with Anko, he had never actually considered those to be 'dates'.

Though I'm not sure if this would be considered a date, He thought to himself before shaking his head and dispelling the thought. It really didn't matter if it was or wasn't.

"Ok," Haku said, "I'll meet you here tomorrow at 7:00 am tomorrow. Until then," She gave him a small bow of her head before leaving Naruto alone.

Sighing Naruto scratched his head, "So what should I do now…?"

He could start training again. He had not been able to train his body yesterday because he had been protecting Tazuna, and he did not actually count his enraged clone slaughter last night as training.

"Yeah! That's exactly what I'll do! Time for some training!" he shouted as he pumped his fist in the air.

Then his stomach growled.

"Hmm…perhaps I should train after I eat something…"

In another clearing Naruto watched Sasuke run up the tree with a frown. The raven-haired Genin had made some decent progress, going twenty more steps up the tree. But it still was not anywhere near the top.

Sasuke grunted as his foot was blasted off the trunk from using too much chakra. He scratched the spot with his kunai before rebounding against several trees before landing on the ground. Looking up he scowled.

I only made it four more steps! How can I gain the strength needed to kill Itachi when I can't even do this!

"Looks like you're using too much chakra still…" Naruto commented.

Sasuke glared at Naruto, "Shut it dobe!"

"Don't yell at me!" Naruto glared at his raven-haired teammate, "I'm here to help you!"

Sasuke scoffed, "Some help you are. All you do is tell me I'm 'using too much chakra'," He said in seeming imitation of Naruto.

"I see," Naruto paused for a moment. "Fine then, I guess you'll do better off without my help," Turning around Naruto began to leave.

"Wait!"

The blond stopped and looked back at Sasuke who looked like he was swallowing something vile.

"I…I'm…I'm sorry," He mumbled out at last, "Please help me."

It sounded like he was choking on the words, Naruto thought with a mental chuckle. "Weeelll, I suppose I could."

Walking back into the clearing Naruto stopped in front of Sasuke. Taking a deep breath he began to speak, "Your first problem is you're using too much chakra." Sasuke scowled but did not say anything. "I think the reason is you're not thinking with a clear head. Whenever I did this exercise, if I thought about anything other than climbing the tree, I lost my control and would fall off the tree."

He paused to see if Sasuke understood his words, receiving a nod he continued. "So what you need to do is clear your mind. Don't think of how you can't do this, or how superior you are to everyone else, or even of how you want to kill your brother for what he did to your clan."

"How do you know about that?" Sasuke asked with a glare.

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