5 ch 4

Chapter 4: One Week

Kakashi had brought his team out to the edge of a lake. Kakashi knew it was true…Zabuza was alive, and he would most likely be back. With the false death that the 'hunter nin' had put Zabuza in, Kakashi figured he had about a week to get his team ready for the inevitable rematch with Zabuza and whatever else he brought with him.

"Kakashi-sensei, so what are we doing?" asked Sakura.

"Easy, we are making you stronger" replied Kakashi. "I have the next chakra control exercise for the three of you, water walking."

"What? Water walking?" asked Sakura and Naruto in unison. Was that even possible? Apparently it was.

Kakashi demonstrated by gathering chakra in his feet and hobbling with his crutches out onto the water, remaining afloat on top of the surface, Naruto and Sakura looked on in amazement with Sasuke looking on with an indifferent expression.

"You are to expel chakra from the base of your feet at a constant rate, keeping you afloat on the surface" explained Kakashi. "You saw how I did it, now I want the three of you to try" he instructed.

Naruto was the first to try, gathering chakra into his feet and taking a step out onto the water, only to fall straight in, soaking himself. Sakura was next. Much to Kakashi's surprise, she had managed to stay afloat, even though she was bobbing like crazy, trying to get herself to stabilize. After a few minutes, she finally had the flow of chakra down and was standing on the surface just like Kakashi was.

"Wow Sakura, it's great that you can already do that!" shouted Naruto. Sakura turned around, giving a slight smile while scratching the side of her face. She had hoped to get a positive response from Sasuke, not Naruto.

Sasuke was last, confident that he would get it; he took a step onto the water. Like Naruto, he fell through the surface. Kakashi instructed the three of them to work on the exercise. Since Naruto and Sasuke hadn't gotten it done yet, they had to get the technique down first. Sakura on the other hand, had already managed to stand on the water after the first attempt. Kakashi attributed her success to her superior chakra control over the two boys.

For the next two days, Kakashi had all three of them working on the exercise. He had Sakura refining the technique by doing various physical exercises such as running, jumping, and skating on the surface of the water. Sasuke and Naruto were still struggling to get the water walking exercise, and much to Sakura's delight, had resorted to taking off all but their shorts so their clothes wouldn't become any more soaked than they already were. It wasn't so much Naruto she cared for, but a shirtless Sasuke was too much to pass up. This was the one time in the exercise where she completely lost her focus and ended up falling through the surface into the water.

At the end of the second day, Naruto and Sasuke were getting close. They were each able to hold the chakra flow for a few seconds before falling through. Like the tree climbing exercise, they had inadvertently turned this into some sort of competition, not wanting the other one to best them. Late at night, Sasuke managed to get the exercise down first but Naruto was only an attempt or two behind, showing Sasuke that the 'dobe' really wasn't that far behind after all.

Back at Tazuna's house Naruto and Sasuke showed up, finally. Kakashi was glad that the two had finally got the basics down. He gave the two boys one more day to refine their technique while he and Sakura would join Tazuna on the bridge for guard duty.

The following day, Naruto and Sasuke were back at the lake, working on the same thing that Sakura was doing the other day. Both boys were getting impatient by this as there was really no way for them to cmpete against one another. And then Sasuke made a suggestion.

"Naruto, fight me" he said. It was true, he wanted to fight Naruto. Even though he always wiped the floor with Naruto back in the academy, he had taken notice of the blonde's rapid progress. Now he wanted to fight the blonde.

"What?" asked a slightly surprised Naruto.

"You heard me, Dobe. Fight me, right here. The first one to either give up or fall through the surface loses. Or are you afraid scaredy cat?" taunted Sasuke.

That last phrase did it as Naruto accepted the challenge. "That's it, I'm finally going to kick your ass and show to you what a good ninja I actually am!"

Naruto ran at Sasuke, only to receive a foot in the gut, sending him sliding back across the water and through the surface. Round 1 went to Sasuke.

"Come on, is that all you've got?" said Sasuke. Naruto picked himself out of the water and caught his breath.

"Heh, you wish" said Naruto. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he said as 6 clones poofed into existence and attacked Sasuke. All six clones and the real Naruto charged Sasuke and he found himself actually finding a certain difficulty fending off six attackers at once. Perhaps there was something more to the Dobe after all.

Sasuke won the second match as well, followed by the third and fourth (In Naruto's defense, he lost control of his chakra for a moment on the fourth try, falling through the water not because of Sasuke, but because of his own chakra control). But each time, the victory came with an increased challenge. Finally, it was getting late at night and the two boys had been going at each other for some time now. Both of them were getting tired and they could feel it. The both barely had enough energy to keep themselves afloat.

"Hn, perhaps you're not so much of a Dobe after all. Let's go back" said Sasuke. That had been just what he wanted, some actual training that made him stronger, not just some meaningless running and jumping around on the surface of the water.

Naruto stared at the Uchiha wide eyed. Did Sasuke actually compliment him for once? Naruto grinned at the Uchiha. "What's…the matter…giving up already?" he huffed.

"Dobe…you can barely keep yourself…afloat. The last thing I need…is to drag your unconscious and drowned body back to…Kakashi" said Sasuke, panting as hard as Naruto.

Both boys had to admit it. That last match was good enough to bring them to this point. To emphasize on that fact, they had to rely on each other to drag the other home. They finally made it home, only to collapse through the door.

"Sasuke!" shouted Sakura, rushing to Sasuke's side. "What happened? You guys are all dirty and bruised?"

"Heh, both of us…training" said Naruto.

Kakashi smiled. "Looks like the two of you have been sparring" he said.

Sasuke grinned, kind of, and nodded.

"Good. That helps you train not only chakra control effectively, but also taijutsu. Starting tomorrow, you'll be joining us on the bridge" said Kakashi as the two dragged themselves over to the table and began eating just about anything in sight.

Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke were at the bridge the next day. Naruto had managed to sleep in. I reality, they most likely forgot about him. At the bridge, there was a problem with the workers leaving their jobs. Apparently the thought of Gato was enough to scare off most of the workers. Having ninja around really didn't help. At noon, Tazuna decided to end work for the day.

The four of them went into town, only to see the depressing state that Gato was driving the country into. There was little food in the store and most of the population had resorted to thievery. Suddenly, Sakura felt something tough her on the behind. "PERVERT!" She screamed, knocking a man hard in the face who was trying to pickpocket her. Shortly after, she felt someone tug on her again. Ready to punch another thief, she soon realized that it was just a child begging for food. As a result, she gave in a gave the kid a handful of candy.

"This is why we need the bridge, a symbol of courage. We need these people to let their fears go and once again stand up for themselves. If that bridge can be completed, the city will return to the old times when it was prosperous and happy" Tazuna explained.

The four of them left early for construction on the bridge. Once again, no one woke Naruto. As Naruto got up and realized that he was late, he headed off into the forest to use as a shortcut to get to the bridge. There, he encountered a beautiful young lady. "Who are you?" Naruto asked, trying to figure out what the lady wanted. "Oh, is this the plant you are looking for?"

"Yes, thank you" the woman said. "Oh, that forehead protector. Does that mean you are a ninja?"

"Yeah, you notice? I'm a ninja" Naruto said. "And one day, I'm going to become Hokage, the strongest ninja in my village."

The girl laughed. "Do you have someone important to you?" she asked. "When a person has someone precious to them, they will truly become strong."

"Yeah, I understand that" Naruto said. "I'm going to become strong so that I can protect my friends!"

The lady go up. "You'll become strong, I know it. I hope we'll meet again sometime. I want to see how strong you've become" she said as she walked away. "Oh, and by the way, I'm a boy." Naruto's world was shattered. That boy was almost prettier than Sakura he thought.

Arriving at the bridge, Naruto realized that more workers had left, afraid that Gato would kill them if they continued. However, with Naruto there, Tazuna got an idea.

"Hey kid, those clones of yours" he asked as Naruto looked at him curiously. "Can they do anything else besides get hit with a sword?" Naruto was now getting a little mad, but Kakashi picked up on Tazuna's thoughts.

"What he really means Naruto, is make a bunch of your shadow clones and help with construction on the bridge. That way, this bridge will get completed sooner, and you will really be helping the village here" Kakashi said. Naruto actually agreed. To everyone's amazement, the work on the bridge had shown a lot of progress after that day. The bridge was now only a few days from completion.

It was now one week since team 7's encounter with Zabuza. For Kakashi, this meant that they would be seeing Zabuza or another opponent here shortly. As such, Team 7 was on high alert, except for a particular blonde ninja. Yes, Naruto had managed to sleep in once again. However, it was a good thing that he did. Suddenly, a knock came on the door, followed by a crash.

"Are you Tazuna's daughter?" one of the men standing at the hole of a door said. He had long grey hair with a black cap. At his side was a rather large katana. "Sorry, but I'm afraid you're coming with us."

Tsunami knew she was in trouble. Out of reaction, she grabbed Inari, who was right next to her and began to run. Before they knew it, the two thugs had her cornered. As for Inari, they only needed one hostage and one of the thugs was dying to cut something up. "Should I kill him?" the other thug said. This one was larger and more muscular than the first thug. He had a patch over one of this eyes and was also carrying a katana like his partner. Out of desperation, Tsunami did the best she could.

"You want a hostage, right?" She said. "If you even touch him, I will kill myself." The bandits were depressed by this. They had really been hoping to kill someone, but they needed a hostage and two dead bodies would do them no good. Inari had managed to escape, but the two thugs had taken his mother. Sitting in a corner, Inari began to cry and think on what Kakashi had said to him the other day, regarding Naruto.

*Flashback*

"You little sissy!" Naruto said to him. At that moment, he got up and left the house. Kakashi followed him, hoping to calm the crying boy down.

"Inari, about Naruto. He didn't mean what he said, but you have to understand that, like you, he didn't grow up with his father around either. In fact, Naruto has never known either of his parents" Kakashi said, trying to calm the crying boy down. "He has had a rougher childhood than you can imagine, but he always manages to see the best out of life. Perhaps, he's just tired of crying. He knows what it means to truly be strong, just like your dad."

*End Flashback*

After a few moments of reflection, Inari realized that he had to let the cry-baby in him go and grow up. He mustered his courage and pursued the bandits. 'Will I also become strong like Dad?' he thought to himself. Upon reaching the bandits, he shouted out getting their attention. The bandits turned around to face him and his mother called out for him to run. "Get away from my Mom!" he screamed as he charged the bandits.

The bandits drew their swords and proceeded to slash at the boy. Their attacks hit, cutting him to pieces, much to the horror of his mother. "Inari!" She screamed out.

But, before she could say anymore, Inari disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving cut pieces of wood. "Sorry for being late. I've been doing that a lot this past week" Naruto said, holding Inari who was unscathed. "But a hero usually shows up at the last seconds anyways. Great job Inari. Now let me take it from here."

The bandits charged at Naruto who was all alone, or was he. Suddenly, two figures appeared from behind and gave the thugs a good kick to the head. Before they became unconscious, the bandits turned to see two more Narutos coming at them with their feet only inches from their heads. Naruto then turned to Inari. "Sorry for calling you a sissy yesterday. You're actually pretty strong." Inari began to tear up.

"Damn it. I promised myself I wasn't going to cry anymore. Now you're going to make fun of me." Inari said.

"Inari, it's alright to cry when you're happy" Naruto explained. With that, he headed off towards the bridge, knowing that something was wrong.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna arrived at the bridge to find most of the workers either injured or dead. Before they could realize what was going on, the mist began to thicken as Kakashi realized that Zabuza had returned. "Hehe, I see your brats are still shaking" Zabuza called out through the mist. Suddenly, they were surrounded by about a half dozen Zabuzas.

"Hmph, I'm shaking from excitement" Sasuke responded as Kakashi signaled for him to go. With that, Sasuke defeated the clones with only a few movements of his knives, much to Sakura and Tazuna's surprise. The group looked up to see two ninja standing before them, Zabuza and that hunter ninja from the other day.

"The brat has grown. Perhaps I have found myself a rival, eh Haku?" the Demon of the Mist asked. Haku nodded and Kakashi knew that his hunch had been correct.

"That masked man, he's obviously a comrade of Zabuza…" Kakashi said, but was interrupted.

"I'll fight him" Sasuke said. "Tricking us with that stupid act, I hate bastards like that."

"Sasuke, you're so cool" Sakura shrieked out as Kakashi's sweat dropped.

Sasuke engaged the masked figure, who brought some water around him to defend himself from Sasuke's attacks with.

"Sakura, guard Tazuna and stay by my side. We'll leave the masked ninja to Sasuke" Kakashi ordered as Sakura complied.