Keeping Watch

In the next morning, everyone woke up and was now eating the breakfast that Tsunami had prepared for them. Naruto was the first one to finish as he chomped on everything very quickly. He was fidgeting on his chair. Hiroki saw this and chuckled.

"You can always ask for more, Naruto. Whenever you want something, just say it. It's easier to say it upfront than keep it to yourself. No need to be embarrassed." Hiroki said.

"Can I have some more, ma'am?" Naruto asked loudly. He was a little embarrassed, but was able to ask.

"Sure. Huhu. You boys are growing up so you need to eat a lot of healthy and delicious food." Tsunami said as she gave Naruto another full plate.

"Thank you very much!" Naruto yelled as he began eating the food.

Sasuke, Sakura, Hiroki and Kakashi had finished eating while Naruto was already on his fourth plate.

Sakura looked at Hiroki and asked: "Why did you have to tell him to ask for more food? He's already on his fourth plate and from how it looks, he'll have another one."

"If he's hungry then he should eat. Don't you eat when you're hungry? Naruto has many times your appetite so it's normal." Hiroki said, cutting Sakura off for her complaining. The pink haired girl just grumbled to herself while crossing her arms.

"I'm finished. Thanks for the food, Tsunami-san." Naruto said as he put down his chopsticks.

"Alright then. Since everyone has finished eating their breakfast, we'll be leaving to do some training. Let's go to the forest that is nearby." Kakashi said as he got up. His genin then followed behind.

After getting to the forest, Kakashi had a serious look on his face.

"Zabuza wasn't killed by that hunter shinobi. In truth, the hunter shinobi was actually a comrade of his. It'll probably take him more than a week to recover so we should prepare. Today I'm going to teach you guys how to climb on trees."

"Sensei, we all know how to climb trees. We had exercises in the academy where we had to climb trees and hide." Sakura said as she raised her hand.

*Sigh*

"Does anyone of you know what I'm talking about?" Kakashi first sighed and then asked as he looked at his genin.

"I know. I know." Naruto said as he had a grin on his face.

"Care to explain it to everyone then?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto put his right hand in front of his face as he struck a thinking pose for half a minute and gave up.

"I can't explain it. It's easier if I show it." He said as he started running towards a large and thick tree. Sasuke and Sakura saw that Naruto was really fast and if he continued running, he would hit the tree face first. But what surprised them was that Naruto didn't hit the tree and was running vertically on it instead. Naruto reached the top of the tree as he waved at everyone while a grin was plastered on his face. He then started running back down.

Kakashi was surprised, but didn't show it and Sasuke and Sakura were surprised as well and showed it all over their faces.

"Naruto, how did you do that?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know how to explain it. Hiroki told me what to do and I just did it." Naruto said.

The other two genin and the Jounin turned their heads and looked at Hiroki, who was just drifting off in his thoughts. He then noticed their looks and turned their way.

"What?" He asked.

"Hiroki, did you teach Naruto how to climb on trees using chakra?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh, that? Yeah." Hiroki answered with a nod.

"When did you learn this and who taught you?" Kakashi asked.

"My parents taught it to me when I was eight. Why the question?" Hiroki asked as he looked at Kakashi.

"Well, normally, these exercises are taught by a Jounin sensei or in case of clan members, it is taught by their parents. Since one of your parents was an Uchiha, it's perfectly normal for them to teach you." Kakashi said. He then looked at everyone and started explaining how they should use chakra to stick themselves onto the tree. Sakura was able to do it on her first try, but she lacked chakra and wasn't able to do it for too long. She then sat down on a branch as she looked down with a smile.

Sasuke on the other hand wasn't having a good time. He would always slip and fall down. Kakashi only read his book as he gave Sasuke some tips here and there. Naruto and Hiroki were just looking at the two doing their exercises. Sasuke fell again and Hiroki decided to give him a hand.

"Sasuke. What you are missing is something very simple. You first need to learn how to walk before running. A running start is good for a race, but here, you are practicing what you learned. The best way is to take slow steps as you go up and maintain your chakra output to the soles of your feet." Hiroki said.

Sasuke looked at him and nodded his head. He then got up from the ground and did what Hiroki said. He took a deep breath and then started walking towards the tree and placed his left foot first and then his right foot. He was not stuck to the tree. He then started walking up the tree and continued until he was halfway.

"Try jogging now and once you are used to it, run." Hiroki said.

Sasuke did just that and before they knew it, he was already running up and down the tree. He then jumped down as he was sweating and breathing with some labor.

Sakura then came down as well as she stood up near everyone else. Kakashi neared Hiroki as he put his book away.

"You have quite a way with teaching." Kakashi said.

"Well, I just try to pass on my own experience whenever I'm teaching something to anyone." Hiroki said.

"Alright everyone, let's move on to the next exercise. There's a lot of water around this place so it won't be hard to find a suitable spot to train you all. Follow me." Kakashi said as he started walking and so did his genin.

———

Ten minutes later, team seven was in front of a large river.

"Are you going to have us swim here, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"It'll depend if you fall or not." Kakashi said as he jumped on the river. He landed on it and stood up perfectly normal, as if he was on land.

"This is water walking. In theory, it's the same as tree walking. The only difference is that you have to keep changing your chakra output through the body part that makes contact with the water since the water is always in motion. If you try to do it the same way as tree walking, you might be able to stay on for a few seconds, but then you'll fall. You saw me fighting against Zabuza while I was still walking on water. This is an exercise to get you used to fighting in different terrains and is to help you have a better chakra control. The more you do it, the better your chakra control gets." Kakashi explained as he walked from one spot to another while explaining.

"So, who wants to be the first one to give it a shot?"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and then the slowly walked to the border of the lake and started testing the water. They applied a certain amount of chakra on their feet and tapped on the water to see if it would fall or keep firm. After doing it for some time, they then placed both feet on the water and then started walking on it. Sometimes they felt that they would sink so they kept adjusting their chakra output. Sakura saw them going and wanted to go as well, but she was embarrassed of sinking and wetting her clothes. She was the only girl between four males, so it was understandable. Hiroki saw this and encouraged her.

"Go on Sakura. Out of them, you are the one with the best chakra control. You won't sink. Trust me. You can start the same way they did and test the water first." Hiroki said.

Sakura nodded with a smile and decided to give it a try. After a few steps, she felt comfortable enough to start running and jumping around.

"Aren't you going to give it a go, Hiroki?" Kakashi asked as he saw that Hiroki didn't really try the exercise.

Hiroki only looked at Kakashi and smirked as he jumped forwards and started running perfectly fine on the water as if it were ground.

"Let me guess, your parents taught you?" Kakashi asked.

"That's pretty much it." Hiroki said as he stopped in front of Kakashi.

"They are doing pretty fine. I didn't think it be this easy to teach you guys. Naruto and Sasuke were said to be hard to deal with from the report I got from the academy, but the two are pretty easy to deal with. Sakura seems to be doing well enough. She just needs to stop being a fan girl. The life of a kunoichi is not easy." Kakashi said to Hiroki. The young teenager just stood there quiet as he didn't say anything back to Kakashi.

After one whole hour of being there, Kakashi asked them to get out of the water and dry themselves if they needed to.

"Alright everyone, since that is over, we should find out what elemental affinity you guys have. I'm sure that they might have taught about the chakra elements to you in the academy. Anyways, each one of you, grab a piece of paper and then infuse some chakra into it." Kakashi said as he took out four chakra papers from his kunai pouch and handed it to his genin. Hiroki didn't take one though.

"Hiroki, aren't you going to check you elemental affinity?" Kakashi asked.

"I already know what elements I have an affinity with. Save the paper, I hear you can't get it easily." Hiroki said.

Kakashi then had the other three infuse chakra into their papers. Naruto was the first one to figure out his element as his paper was cut in half. Sakura was the second one. Her paper crumbled like the earth. Sasuke's paper crumpled as it became a ball.

"We have a few surprises here. Naruto's elemental affinity is wind, Sakura's is earth, Sasuke's is lightning. I'm going to hand over one D-rank jutsu scroll to each of you with the elements you have. You'll have to learn the technique and then show it to me in five days." Kakashi said as he gave the respective scroll to each one.

"That's all for today. Let's go back. We have to take turns to guard Tazuna and his family. Gato's men might pop up anytime and do something to them."

———

Team seven returned to Tazuna's house and Kakashi set a schedule for each one to take turns in protecting Tazuna on the bridge and his house. Hiroki was tasked to guard Tazuna until he was done for the day while Naruto and Sasuke kept a look on the house with Inari and Tsunami. Sakura would have some one on one class with Kakashi. The Jounin decided that she was the one that needed help the most in the team, so today he would train her separately. He said that his team would take turns for the watches and one on one classes so it would be fair for everyone. Hiroki only smirked knowing Kakashi's intent.

'Kakashi has seen how far Sakura is from everyone else in the team. Naruto and Sasuke are shaper and their temperament is better than in the original show, Sasuke specially. He still broods, but it's way better and his attitude is better as well. Sakura has been a fan girl all this time and doesn't really take shinobi business very seriously. She has good chakra control, but that's it. If something happens to Sasuke, she freaks out and puts the whole team at stake. She's the weakest link so Kakashi intends to make her stronger and not so easy to break.' Hiroki thought as he then went towards the bridge leisurely.

When he arrived at the bridge, he saw one of Tazuna's worker was shaking his head and leaving the bridge construction.

"I can't do this. I'm afraid that Gato will do something to my family. I can't continue working for you." The worker said as he left and passed by Hiroki.

*Sigh*

"Another good worker left. Damn it. How many more will leave if it continues like this and It'll take more time to finish the bridge." Tazuna said as he cleaned off the sweat on his forehead with a towel.

"Need some help, old man? I see that your workers aren't very comfortable with the Gato situation." Hiroki said.

"Every helping hand is welcome. Can you carry heavy weights? There are a few logs that need to be moved to certain spots so my workers can continue their work. If you can't, I understand."

"I'm a shinobi. Lifting some weights won't do any harm." Hiroki said as he made two clones. "You can tell them where to place the logs and also if you need something else. As for myself, I'll just keep a watch over here." Hiroki said as he jumped on top of a structure and sat down leisurely with his eyes closed. If others looked at him they would think that he was sleeping, but in truth, Hiroki was sensing everything that was going around in the circumference of 80m around the bridge. He felt many people walking by as they had a worried face and some didn't even leave their homes as they felt fear.

'Don't worry. Gato will be taken care of. Just bear for a couple of more days and this will be over.' Hiroki thought to himself.

Three hours passed and Hiroki's clones dispelled while their memories went back to the original. Hiroki got up and jumped down next to Tazuna.

"You startled me kid. Your clones thingy disappeared after I told them that we were taking a lunch break. Let's head back home and eat." Tazuna said as he looked at Hiroki.

"Alright." Hiroki said as he nodded and the two walked back to Tazuna's home.

When they got there, they saw Naruto and Sasuke eating to their hearts content. Sakura was also eating more than the day before and Kakashi... well, Kakashi was just reading his book.

"You two, don't eat all the food. Tazuna needs to eat and so does everyone else." Hiroki said as he looked at Naruto and Sasuke. He then grabbed Kakashi's book and stored it inside his kunai pouch so fast that he only noticed after it was done.

"Kakashi, there's a time and place for everything." Hiroki said as he only looked at Kakashi. The Jounin understood what the boy meant with his words and started putting food for himself and then went up the stairs.

After some time, everyone had finished eating and Hiroki returned Kakashi's book to him before he went back to the bridge with Tazuna. When the two were nearing the bridge, two thugs got in their way.

"Hey, old man. Gato has a warning for you. Stop with the bridge, or your family will be killed. Hehehe. Those stupid shinobi from Konoha won't be enough to protect you." One of the two said as he swung a machete in the air.

Hiroki disappeared from his spot and appeared next to the same man and kicked him on the stomach. The man bent down and puked on the floor before fainting from the excruciating pain.

"You tell Gato that we don't work with threats and we don't like to be threatened." Hiroki said as he flung his foot, sending the downed man to the other one on the side. The man took his partner and ran back to Gato's place.

Hiroki then continued walking towards the bridge with Tazuna as he felt that the bridge builder kept glancing at him every now and then. When they arrived, Hiroki made two clones and went back to the same spot he was on.

'There are two possibilities of things happening. Gato might stop his threats and do things in silence or he will keep it coming more frequently. From what I understand of his personality, the second one is more like him. But it doesn't matter. Either way, nothing is going to happen to Tazuna and his family.' Hiroki thought.