Chapter 37 plans and preparation

The next morning found the ninja teams rested and nearly ready for action. Although Hinata felt better her body was still stiff and even Sasuke was feeling it but didn't want to let it show. Kakashi was said he wanted to sleep in a bit more to recover from using his sharingan although Kurenai wasn't sure it was because he just wanted to be lazy. She was still having a hard time trying to see through the man when he was putting on an act or if he was serious of not. So eventually they made their way down to the kitchen, it was a tight fit but they all managed somehow to find a place at the table.

Tsunami had done the best she could for all of them, but with the village in such a poor state finding enough decent food was hard. A lot of the food that you could buy there was little of it, over priced and not in the best condition either. But she never let it show after all she had to keep up hope even in the most hopeless of times. That was why her father was building the bridge, to change things for the better. She looked to see the young children were doing their best to eat and not say anything about the food.

Although she did wonder how the short one in the mask seemed to be eating with his mask on, the others around him kept looking as well but you never saw him take off the mask. Then he noticed her little boy, Inari. He was looking down not looking at the guests it broke her heart to see her precious little boy like that. Although she was hurting as well, after his biological father had died it was hard to go on. But then Kaiza came into her life and she learned to love again, he had been such a great man and a greater father to Inari. Then she lost yet another husband to that man Gato, he took one of the best things out of their life and made her child watch as well as the village as he tortured and murdered him.

She still cried herself to sleep at night when no one was looking it just hurt so much not to have him around. Sometimes it was easier to ignore the past and the pain with it but she had loved him so much it was too much to just forget he ever lived. She went back to putting away the dishes so no one would see the tear falling from her face.

"I'm telling you guys we're going to make sure that bridge gets built!" Naruto proclaimed, after seeing the entire town the genins were motivated to help this place out. This was the kind of thing that Naruto had hoped he would do, saving people and protecting the innocent. He knew that not all ninja jobs were like that but that was why he liked this so much.

Akamaru barked out something.

"Yeah I agree boy," Kiba grinned. "This place could use the help."

Shino nodded too, "Even though out mission is to protect our client, the end result of his work is a good bonus that comes with our work. I must admit that seeing the condition in this village I can say that letting such a force to run rampant would only spread, eventually if he's not stopped he could bring his practices into the Fire Country and many others."

"So you want to stop him too huh?" Kiba smirked. Normally Shino was very logical and put his emotions aside but he guessed that even all of the suffering of this village had to get through to his teammate.

Shino gave him a pointed look, "When dealing with a cancer you should cut it out before it spreads and from what I can see this Gato person is the definition of a cancer."

Kiba gave him a weirded out look, "Man...that was pretty cold."

"We'll he's got the right idea," Naruto smiled, "We protect the old man and if that Gato jerk shows up we just kick his ass!"

"Yeah and I'm sure the village will be better off," Sakura said.

'Hell yeah! We'll kick his ass and any of his followers and any other ninja he has, shannaro!' Inner Sakura shouted out fisting her hand into the air in Sakura's mind.

"Why do you even bother," Inari said quietly looking at the table.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, he had forgotten that the kid was even there. He had been so quiet when they first had met.

"You'll all just die anyway!" Inari shouted out at them. "No one can beat him and you'll all just die too, you should just leave!"

"What the hell do you mean by that!" Kiba shouted at the kid.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted back at the boy.

"I said you'll all just die! What's not to get?" Inari said.

"Like hell!" Naruto stood up slamming his hands onto the table.

"What makes you so special?" Inari said locking his eyes onto Naruto's.

"I'm Naruto Hatake!" Naruto said proudly. "I'm the son of Kakashi Hatake the Copy Ninja of Konoha, grandson of the famous White Fang, Sakumo Hatake. I'm going to be the future Hokage of the village and make my family proud of who I am, I never give up, I never go back on my word either. That's who I am!"

"So what?" Inari said back. "Gato will kill you all and even your dad!"

That was going too far for Naruto, he could take things said about him he had been doing that all his life. But when people said things about his friends or his family that was going too far, he reached over and grabbed the boy by his collar and he could see the sudden shock and fear in the boy's eyes.

"Don't you ever say anything like that to me again!" He growled out. "My dad is one of the best ninja in the world and there is no way some weak punk like Gato can hurt him, he had to go an hire an A Class missing nin to do his dirty work and we sent him running!"

Although Naruto knew that it hadn't been that easy and both Kurenai and Kakashi had to go all out just to stay alive against him but that wasn't the point. When push came to shove they beat him, that Haku boy, and those two brothers earlier on their way here. No matter what this guy threw at them they were not backing down from this mission.

"Naruto," came the cold command of Kurenai. He looked over at the jonin as she was giving him a look that told him to put an end to this. Naruto sighed and released the boy and sat down glaring at the table a shadow covering his eyes. Inari ran off somewhere else as Hinata looked at her best friend worried, she had only rarely seen Naruto act like that and only when it was in the defence of those close to him.

"Man what's with the kid?" Kiba muttered looking in the direction that Inari ran off to.

"Don't let my grandson get to you, it's just hard with what happened," Tazuna sighed taking a drink.

"Why what happened?" Sakura asked him but the old man didn't answer.

"If this is important should you tell but if it's not then you don't have to," Kurenai told the old man. She could tell from how tense the daughter was and the look on the old man's face that this was a hard subject.

Tazuna thought about it and sighed, "It's not a pretty story but it's how the village lost its hope to Gato."

He told them how things had used to be, he spoke of the old days with a light in his eyes. He told of how his daughter had met a good fisherman, he was like life itself and to Inari he was a hero to the boy. Then the man Gato came and slowly started to put a strangle hold onto the village, the only one that would stand up to him was Kaiza. But Gato's men were too many and they beaten him and had dragged him to be executed in front of the whole village. Inari had watched his father, his hero being brutalized and then killed in front of him. After that day all hope in the village died. Gato had taken the best of them and it had crushed their spirits.

Hearing the story they could only sympathize with them even more. Sakura and Hinata were near tears at the thought of something like this happening Kiba had his fists clenched tightly into balls as Akamaru let out a small growl at the emotions running in the room. Shino didn't look like he was reacting but Kiba had known him long enough to pick up on the subtle way he was sitting that he could see that Shino didn't like the sounds of what happened either.

Sasuke looked away although there was a small part that kept thinking back to his clan the night his search brother killed them all, he had seen that happen as well although the boy having only one parent die was nothing in comparison, Sasuke still knew a bit of what the boy was going through. He had seen the anger and pain in there the only thing that Inari didn't have was that hatred that Sasuke had in him. The boy's pain had crippled him while Sasuke knew that his own hatred kept him going.

"Well then maybe we should use this moment to help motivate your training then."

Everyone looked to see Kakashi resting up against the doorway to the kitchen. He had heard the story himself and with this he could use it to motivate them a bit more. He just wished that they could do more training then what he had in store for them but time wasn't on their side.

-Later-

After some asking, Kakashi was able to find the perfect place for their next step of the training. It was good that both students had learned how to walk on trees but now they needed to take that to the next step. They would have to learn how to fight on water if it was needed given that they could easily be attacked near it, also it would help them to conserve the chakra they use and increase their capacity for it. Maybe even sharpen their fighting skills a bit but fight now it was one thing at a time.

They came to a large river it was thankfully a gentle one which was good as trying this on a ragging river wouldn't be the smartest thing.

"Alright then since you all know tree walking we'll be doing the more advanced version of that today," Kakashi said in a happy tone. "With this it will improve chakra search control as well as increase it as well. Plus you'll be able to fight on more surfaces."

"You mean like how you and Kurenai-sensei were when fighting earlier on that lake?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi nodded, "just like that, only this is much more difficult to do. All of you will have to spread out your chakra but unlike on a tree you can't keep it steady. For a surface like what, where the surface is in constant change you have to constantly adapt."

"That sounds kind of hard," Kiba muttered as he remembered how hard the tree walking was.

"It is a first," Kurenai told them, "But with practice you'll eventually get to the point where you'll be able to do it without even thinking."

"Alright then let's get this started," Naruto smirked as he started to run for the water.

Kakashi sighed, "Naruto, just remember to stay in the shallow end at first until you get the hang of it. In fact that goes for the rest of you."

The genin and one ninja dog went to the water to start on their training as Kakashi and Kurenai watched.

"I wish we had more time," she told the other jonin.

Kakashi nodded to Kurenai's point but it was the best they could do at the moment. "I'm more worried about the next battle. If Haku lives he'll be very injured and we don't know how many more ninja that Gato has hired. Although I don't think there could be more, as someone like Zabuza doesn't come cheap. But we should be prepared in any case."

They continued to watch as they gave out certain advice to their students on how to get a better handle on things. Shino and Sasuke were doing fairly well, although Kiba and Naruto were having the most trouble. It was Hinata and Sakura that were doing the best so far but given they had the best search control out of them all they weren't all that surprised. Both jonin continued on with the training for the entire day until it was getting late and by sunset called it a day.

-Later that Night-

Hinata had left everyone behind as she made her way to the river that she had seen earlier in the day. She needed to train more even though Kurenai and Kakashi had said she was improving she felt it wasn't enough. She needed to be stronger and it was time to try and continue on with the training that she had been doing in secret for awhile now. Ever since that day she copied down those water jutsu moves from that scroll she had helped Naruto to steal, she had been sneaking in elemental training. She had kept trying to mold water when she could. Sometimes it was after missions and training she would do this.

It was very tiring at times, since she had training with her team, D Class missions and then training with her family in her fighting style. After those times she was so tired but still she tried to push herself. She even had to sneak in a few soldier pills at times to get through the day, although he was careful not to overdue it. If people found out how hard she was pushing herself then they might get worried but some days she did take it easy.

But that battle on the bridge she hadn't done much, and she had worried Naruto a lot as well. She had been a bit thankful that they had been so busy that they hadn't had a chance to talk, she was worried about what to say to him. She was so embarrassed about what she had nearly said to him when she had thought that she was dying. But now she wasn't sure if she could admit it a second time, all the old fears and doubts came back to plague her.

She pushed those aside, she had to continue her training now and not focus on her feelings for Naruto. She needed to be stronger this time around and it was time to learn how. She placed a hand in the water and could feel how cold it was. She quickly scanned the area with her eyes and so far there was no one near her which was good, the last thing she wanted was someone to catch what she was going to do.

She was going to have to train in water and given the cold she would get sick easily. So she sighed and started to take off her clothing and placing them neatly on a nearby rock.

Hinata wasn't the only one that wanted some extra training that night either.

Just out of range of her eyes, Naruto had the same idea as her. To too felt like he should have been stronger on that fight he couldn't even had done any of his wind jutsus in that battle, if he had used the wind armor then the senbons would have gone off him and hit Sasuke or Hinata. Plus it was still not perfected as well, he could get it around his hand and arms really good but when it came to a full body protection it was unstable. Then there was the wind slash, but that too wasn't strong enough. He could hit a person and cut them but that move was supposed to cut through solid rock, even metal at times.

So after dinner he had ran out to the woods again only this time for some elemental training. He started off with making shadow clones to help him in this. He told five to start with chakra search control exercises with running up and down the trees, as ten were to try using that method he got showed by Asuma once on how to cut a leaf with that kind of chakra. Five were to keep using wind armor until they were so exhausted that they dispelled from lack of chakra. Another five were doing the same with the wind blade too.

For him, he was going to try and get his grandfather's sword to start working. Like he had told his dad, when he used the demon's power he saw the blade turn red but he wanted to do it on his own. The Fox's chakra was hard for him to search control not only the power itself but he knew that he was a bit out of search control too. He looked at the family sword in the moonlight as his clones were training, this sword belonged to a great ninja that even though he knew the full story, he was still proud of the elder Hatake. He couldn't look down on anyone that didn't abandon their friends.

'I promise you grandpa, I'll use your blade to make you proud,' Naruto thought as he started with a few warm ups with the blade.

After an hour Naruto was out of clones as they had all tired themselves out of existence. Thankfully they didn't all dispel at the same time, but now he was feeling one of the after effects of it. He decided that he needed a drink but when he went to get one from a canteen he had he found it dry.

"Damn it...must of used the last of it up," He muttered to himself. It was a long walk back to the house and he didn't like going back thirsty. Then he remembered the river they trained on, it looked clean enough so he figured he might as well get a drink from there. He eventually found it, although he had gotten turned around a few times, he never was good with directions in the day and at night it was even worse as it was harder to spot landmarks.

But when he heard the sounds of a river he just followed that. When he got to it the moon was covered by a cloud so he eased his way not wanting to fall in and get wet. He found a few large rocks and the sound was very close so he got on one of them and reached down over the other side and felt the cold water there. He grinned as he put his canteen down to get it filled when he noticed another sound there on the river.

He tensed wondering if it was those ninja again or Gato and his people. He stayed still not even moving to give away his location waiting for the moon to get back out again. The clouds slowly moved away from the moon and in its light he paused. His eyes widened at the sight he was looking at, there on the river itself there seemed to be someone who looked like they were dancing. The movements were so fluid and graceful, and from the figure it was definitely a girl, a very well developed one with a great figure too.

He gulped as his mouth was dry for another reason it was like a vision before him. She was so amazing, it was also then that he noticed that the girl had no clothing on! He felt a nose bleed starting up but he couldn't look away. The moonlight showed off parts of her skin and he could tell that she didn't have anything on, he hadn't seen any of the really 'naughty' parts but he had seen enough.

'I...I shouldn't be staring should I?' He thought to himself feeling his heart hammering in his chest. 'I mean, yeah I looked at my dad's books from time to time, and yeah I got that Sexy Jutsu and know all that stuff but...something seems like I should watch this...oh god, she's just so hot though.'

He tried not to groan at that thought he wanted to see her face to see if she was just as pretty as the rest of her. He wanted to know who this water nymph was. After he gave up on Sakura he realized that he didn't have his sights set on anyone else but this girl was just amazing. He never looked at Sakura the same way he was looking at her, was this girl someone from the village? But then how was she on the water like that? Was she a spirit or maybe some traveling nin from another village?

He had to know and he got up to talk to her, it was a calculated risk given her lack of clothing but he really needed to know who she was. He just about opened his mouth when he slipped on some moss that had been on the stone. He yelled out as he crashed fact first into the water, after some thrashing about he got to his knees and coughed a few times.

"Sorry about that, I just wanted to know who you...were?" Naruto blinked a few times looking up to see no one there. "What the!?"

He got up and looked around but couldn't see anyone. It had to have been real right? He hadn't hallucinated or anything had he? He looked around for a bit but found no sign of the mystery girl. He was also feeling very cold now as the water was soaking him. With a sigh and a heavy heart he made his way back to the house. All the way there he couldn't get that girl out of his mind, he wanted to know so bad. He quickly took a change of clothing and put his wet ones out on a clothes line to dry off and went to sleep. He was so tired that he fell asleep almost instantly, but his dreams were haunted by that beautiful dancer on the waters.

Not long after he had fell asleep, Hinata had made her way back to the home as she nervously dried off a bit and went to sleep as well hoping that whoever had seen her on that river hadn't gotten a look at her face. She was so embarrassed that someone had caught her, she had quickly hid as soon as she heard the splash and had waited for that person to leave. She groaned hoping that no one would know of her little embarrassment in the morning.

Next up chapter 38: Calm before the Storm