Chapter 76

He had been doing that for a while, until he finally caught sight of him. Just as he was about to tag Sasuke, a whistling sound suddenly emerged. Naruto resolved himself and decided to take the hit. Although it hurt, it was not something that could kill him. As long as he tagged Sasuke, that was all that mattered.

A stone came hurtling towards his heart. He gritted his teeth and took the hit with a grunt. Sasuke on the other hand also decided to ignore the incoming stone, but unfortunately, it came hurtling towards his head. Bang! Bang! Both young men were hit, however, Naruto achieved his aim and tagged Sasuke. He wanted to quickly tag Naruto, but he had already begun to bolt.

"Stop right there Naruto!" The two began to chase after each other in the swamps.

---

In a weird way, I was enjoying myself; Hurtling stones at them like that. This type of training was something I was put through as well. Only, in my case, they were actual kunai that were sent hurtling towards me. Good times.

I lay on the ground with my hand supporting my head as I observed. That was when I saw Naruto begin to use chakra to run away from Sasuke. "Oo, broke the rules; Can't have that." I sent three stones at him, much faster and with much more power than before. I had coated them with slight yin cloak, in order to mask the sound, but not completely, and watched them reach its intended target.

"Welcome back. How was it, did you find Gato?" Just like that, three people appeared beside me.

"Unfortunately, even after exterminating most of the strongholds, Gato is nowhere to be found." Kakashi spoke first, however his eyes never left the swamp. He was surprised something like that could show up here. He looked at me, and I smiled back.

"That slippery worm is nowhere. Even his men don't know where he is." Zabuza spoke next. The displeasure, evident in his voice.

"Well, I figured as much. It should not be a problem. I am sure he will show himself when the bridge is almost complete." I yawned and threw another two stones at the two guys playing tag in the swamp.

"Mm. We figured as well. From now on, we just have to sit tight and wait for him to come to us." Kakashi spoke before finally turning to look at the swamp. More specifically at Naruto and Sasuke, one constantly moving and hiding, the other trying to find the other. Zabuza and Haku both looked interested as well.

Although it was dark and gloomy in the swamp, we on the outside could clearly see what was happening on the inside. Neither spoke, but proved to be veterans and understood what was happening after only watching for a little while. Both men would occasionally nod, then frown, then shake their heads, clearly analyzing and judging the reactions and decisions of the two young men in the swamp.

As we watched, we saw Sasuke doing quite well; He never stood at one place for too long. He moved around, trying to create as little noise as possible. He plucked a large leaf and fashioned a blow stick out of it, and hid under water. The two veterans approved. When you were being hunted down, alone and wounded, or even without chakra, it was best to be cautious and move around when the coast was clear; Sasuke was displaying those tactics, and they were happy.

Naruto, on the other hand, we saw pull out a very surprising tactic. He was moving round imitating the whistling sound that indicated an attack was coming. "Hahaha! Nothing less of the number one surprise ninja." I laughed loudly, with his big brother by the side looking proud. Zabuza shook his head, unimpressed by the unorthodoxy tactic. However, that unorthodox tactic worked, as we saw Sasuke startled. I smirked and hurled two stones at their direction to make the situation more fun.

Unfortunately, they both decided to take the attacks at the cost of winning. Disappointing. I had had enough. Since Kakashi was here now, he could take over their training so I can go back to sleep. I released the swamp and revealed an unwilling duo.

"Okay, game over. It was a tie." I said in a lazy tone. The two protested a few times but I was already beginning to tune them out when Kakashi spoke. "Both of you did well. There is still much to tweak around. Well, we can add that to your training from now on. However, your decisions at the end was poor. If those stones had been kunais or any other weapons, you would be dead. You both need to know when to pull back." They both looked down in disappointment and contemplation.

Although he was right, I did not completely agree with him. Sometimes you needed to sacrifice something in a desperate situation. Although both of them allowing the stones to strike their hearts and head was a very stupid thing to do, they could have moved a non-vital part in the way instead. In a desperate situation such as the one they both found themselves in, life and death could be decided in a split second; One who decided to pull back or the one that decided to sacrifice something. Well, other factors could have come into play as well.

Zabuza's frown indicated he thought so as well. I was sure Kakashi understood that as well. Maybe he would teach it to them, maybe not, either way, I did not really care; They were his students after all.

I unzipped the bottom of my sleeping bag and began making my way to the house when I was stopped by Kakashi. "Sakura, if you don't mind, can you put up the jutsu once more? I will be using it to train them from now till the bridge is complete." I nodded. 'Night Swamp'. I spoke in my head, and the same swamp reemerged.

I finally got to the house with a smile and fell asleep. I had not gone even five minutes in when I felt something unpleasant approaching. I was beginning to get pissed now. All I wanted was to enjoy my sleep. Was that so hard?

The unpleasant feeling kept staring at me. This time I completely refused to open my eyes. I already knew who it was, but I completely refused to pay her any attention, however, even after five minutes, she continued to stand over me. 'Heh. Let's see if you can keep staring or I can keep ignoring you.' I snuggled even more comfortably in my sleeping bag and tuned out everything. Sometimes, the best way to annoy people was to ignore them.

I was not worried one bit about sneak attacks. Aside from my chakra carpet in full blast, I had my auto pilot. Well, I doubted she would do anything drastic in such a place if she were an enemy, unless she intended on blowing her cover and making a run for it. I closed my eyes tighter and completely tuned her out.

---

Akari was raging at the moment. Her plan was to confront the sudden 'rising star' Sakura. However, she had been standing in front of her for a while, and yet, she had been completely ignored. She knew very well Sakura could tell she was standing there, because she saw Sakura frown in annoyance when she stood in front of her, before snuggling even more in her sleeping bag.