Disclaimer: The Naruto characters and plot are not mine. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto

Chapter 3: The Miracle Man

Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru and Tazuna sat in Kakashi's room waiting for him to wake up. It's been a day since the fight with Zabuza and he showed no signs of waking. Tazuna and Shikamaru sat against the wall sleeping, Kiba was playing with Akamaru and Naruto was watching Kakashi. Naruto was staring at his sensei's mask wondering what he looked like underneath it.

Naruto turned to Kiba whispering "Hey Kiba!" Kiba looked over at Naruto curiously who was smiling mischievously

"What?"

"Have you ever wondered what Kakashi looks like without his mask?" Kiba eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and even Shikamaru opened one eye. Kiba scuttled over next to Naruto.

"Of course I have! I mean what kind of normal human wears a mask all the time? I bet he has a huge elephant nose – or large buck teeth – or a ton of zits – or,"

"Or he has a normal face like everyone else." Shikamaru said cutting across Kiba

"OH ya Mr. I-know-every-thing-about-nothing have you ever heard of a normal person hiding his face all the time?" Kiba snapped back

Shikamaru just shrugged "He's a ninja, he is allowed to his secrets"

Kiba ignored his teammate and nudged Naruto. "Come on man why don't you do the honors."

Naruto began sweating as he slowly inched his hand towards Kakashi's face, it was a foot away, five inches. He was about to grab the mask when Kakashi's visible eye popped open.

"KYYYAAAAA!" Naruto and Kiba screamed and they fell back on their butt.

"OH your awake Kakashi-sensei." Shikamaru drawled opening both eyes. Kakashi didn't say anything; he just sat up rubbing his forehead.

'What's this? Zabuza is dead but what is this feeling? I feel I'm missing something important.' Kakashi thought.

"Is something wrong Sensei?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi didn't answer for a while; he just sat there deep in thought until " Well… Body erasing teams usually dispose of the body they kill right there." Kakashi said causing Kiba and Naruto to stare at him in confusion.

"Huh?"

"How did that masked boy dispose of Zabuza's body?" Kiba shrugged his shoulders as Akamaru leaped into his lap

"How could we know? The boy took the body with him." Kiba said

"Yeah… if he need proof of his work he could of just taken his head. And the weapon he used to kill Zabuza, simple needles." Kakashi muttered slowly

Shikamaru's eyes widened in comprehension "No way!" Kiba and Naruto turned to Shikamaru this time.

"What?"

"Yeah… exactly" Kakashi said, Kiba and Naruto were getting frustrated trying to figure out what Kakashi was trying to say.

"What are you trying to get at Sensei?" Naruto asked

"Most likely… Zabuza is still alive!" Kiba and Naruto paled at Kakashi's statement

"wh-what do you mean still alive? You checked the body and said he was dead!" Naruto said.

"Yeah I did but that was most likely just a temporary death. The needle weapon that Hunter-nin used unless it hits a vital organ has a low probability in killing your opponent. It's an item even used by doctors in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nins know about the body structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a momentary dead state is probably easy for them. First he carried away the body of the much heavier Zabuza. Second he used a weapon that has a low probability of killing. These two point indicate that his motive was not to kill Zabuza, but to save his life."

The air in the small room seemed to drop a few degrees as Kakashi finish saying his theory.

"Aren't you thinking too much? Hunter-nins are supposed to kill Missing-nins!" Tazuna said

"No," Kakashi said firmly " With all the suspicion we will prepare before it's too late. That's a shinobi rule. Plus whether Zabuza is dead or alive, there is no assurances the Gatou hasn't hired an even stronger shinobi." Kakashi looked at his team reading their reactions, Kiba and Shikamaru looked stunned and slightly afraid while Naruto seemed to be shaking with excitement. 'Strange kid, he's actually happy that Zabuza might be alive'

"Sensei what do you mean prepare before its too late? You can barely move." Kiba said

"Well I shall be training you of course!" Kakashi said giving them an eye smile "This training is until I get better, you won't be able to defeat him with out me."

"But Sensei, if Zabuza is alive he could attack at anytime so should we be training? Shikamaru asked

"About that… a person put in a momentary death situation will take a while before their body returns to normal."

"Sweet so we can train till then sounds like fun!" Naruto exclaimed

"That's not fun." Came a bored voice from behind them. The three Genin spun around to see a small little boy standing in the door entrance.

"Ohh Inari where were you?" Tazuna said opening his arms for a hug

"Welcome back grandpa." Inari said, he ran up to Tazuna and gave him a tight hug and he stared boredly at the ninjas. Tazuna's Daughter Tsunami walked into the room and sighed.

"Inari say hello to these people."

"Mom… they are going to die."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY LITTLE BRAT!" Naruto screamed and he lunged at Inari only to be held back by Kiba and Shikamaru.

"There's no way you can win against Gatou."

Naruto struggled against his teammates trying to get at Inari "YOU BRAT I'LL-,"

Kiba slapped him in the back of the head "Idiot why are you getting pissed at a child?"

"Hey Inari listen! I am a super hero who will become the best Hokage ever! I don't know this guy Gatou but he is nothing against me!"

"Pft." Said Inari as he turned and started head towards the door. " What are you stupid? There is no such thing as a hero."

"WHAT?" Screamed Naruto, this time Kiba had to tackle Naruto to keep him from getting free.

"If you don't want to die you should leave." Inari called out as he walked out of the door. Naruto growled as he listened to the boys footsteps disappear down the hall."

"Sorry about that he's been like that ever since… well for a while. Well there is some food down stairs if you want any." Tazuna said and he and his daughter walked out of the room.

Both Shikamaru ad Kiba stood up and headed for the door.

"Ya I'm kinda hungry now that I think about." Kiba said, he gave a high pitched whistled and Akamaru chased after him

Naruto got up and was goin to follow his teammates out the door when Kakashi called out to him.

"Naruto could you stay here for a minute?" Naruto shrugged and closed the door as he sat down next to Kakashi.

"What's up sensei?"

"Well I wanted to know what exactly that technique you did with those clones was."

"You mean my soul clones?"

"…Soul clones?" Naruto scratched the back of his head

"Ya um, it's kinda complicated but basically I learned this technique from a scroll that allowed me to make permanent clones out natural energy." Kakashi blinked in surprise

"Natural energy?" Kakashi asked

"Yup something like that."

"Do you even know what natural energy really is?"

"Kind of, isn't it just chakra plants use and stuff?"

"That is just the basics of it, but the important part about natural energy is it is a major component in Senjutsu or Sage Techniques. When you combine it with spiritual and physical energy normal shinobi have it drastically increase the strength of all Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu. So what it sounds like your saying is that these clones are little Sages.

Naruto shook his head "Well they are pure Natural energy, they don't have any spiritual or physical energy at all." Kakashi blinked again in surprise

"They are pure Natural energy?" Kakashi asked and Naruto nodded "Ok so their chakra source is entirely different. Since they are your clones can you in any way absorb this Natural energy?" Naruto just shrugged

"Not that I know of but I'm not that far into the scroll yet, it will be some time before I learn all the secrets." Kakashi nodded this Soul Clone technique sounded too complicated for Naruto to give a comprehensible description of it, but he had many other questions.

"I have another question… how in the world do you know how to paralyze people the way you do." Naruto gave Kakashi a full-blown grin when he asked this.

"Oh I get most of my Taijutsu style based on Gentle Fist style," Kakashi groaned loudly " What did I say something wrong?"

"How did you get your hands on a Juken scroll?"

"Well I found it in the Library you told me to visit, why what's wrong with Juken?"

"It is the prized Taijutsu of the Hyuuga clan, no one else is allowed to use it and how it ended up in that library is unknown to me." Kakashi said and Naruto's eyes widened

"W-what happens if they find out I learned their Taijutsu?" Kakashi meet Naruto's eyes and was silent for a moment.

"They will kill you." Naruto paled again

'But it's a good thing you bastardized it with that Kung Fu style so its barely recognizable, but what I don't get is how you can cause paralysis using a Taijutsu specialized by the Hyuuga."

"I use the basics of Juken with chakra palms but since I can't attack someone's chakra point I attack their muscles and bones to cause failure in the muscle or weaken bones. The Kung Fu is just for blocking or causing major damage." Naruto said Kakashi nodded and rubbed his chin.

"And you learned the Human anatomy through a scroll in the library I assume?"

"yup!"

"I think I know what your trying to get at but your style isn't developed enough to were you can use it effectively in combat. You will need a lot more knowledge on Taijutsu to be able to complete."

"Do you think you can help me with that?" Naruto asked but Kakashi shook his head.

"I'm a Ninjutsu type not Taijutsu – but I believe I know the right person." Naruto's eyes went wide in excitement.

"Really! Who is it?"

"Ha-ha that will have to wait till after this mission." Kakashi said giving his student an eye smile. The two of them were silent for a while and just watched the birds flying around outside the window. There was a question that was stuck in Naruto's head and he turned to Kakashi and broke the silence.

"Kakashi-sensei, in that library I saw scrolls on Jutsu's that were super advanced, and I even saw forbidden techniques in there, now I know normal libraries wouldn't have Forbidden stuff lying around like that, so what was that place?"

"That was a Jounin Library."

"Eh WHA?"

"Yup that is a library for Jounin to go and study new Jutsu or whatever, the place is so big I would not be surprised if someone slipped in a forbidden scroll of some kind. That's the Library the Third himself used when he was training under the Second Hokage."

"Whoa!" Naruto muttered and Kakashi smiled again

"Ya I thought you might like it!" Naruto nodded vigoursly

A few minutes of silence later Naruto sighed and looked out of the window, he watched as a bird swooped in a landed gently in its nest and sat there serenely. Naruto almost envied the bird for its peaceful existence. It doesn't have to battle crazy eye-brow-less freaks for a living. His thoughts slowly turned to that of Inari and what he said earlier.

"Sensei how does someone turn out Inari."

Kakashi sighed and scratched his head. "That's what happens when someone losses hope Naruto. Gatou has some how taken the hope of these people and just left this town a shell of its former self. Once someone losses hope it takes a miracle to get it back."

Naruto tore his eyes away from the bird and looked at Kakashi with seriousness he had never seen before.

"Why don't we be that miracle sensei?" Kakashi gave him a eye smile

"If anyone here could do it I believe it could be you Naruto!"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Now what I'm about to teach you is an accent technique all great shinobi learned so they could become even more powerful, the accent skill of…Tree climbing!" Kakashi said giving his Genin team an eye smile

"Are you serious, tree climbing?" Kiba yelled and Naruto eyes twitched in annoyance, who he toying with them? Anyone could climb a tree.

"Yup climb the tree… without out using your hands!" That got Kiba's and Naruto's attention and Shikamaru nodded in understandment.

"We are supposed to use our chakra to stick to the tree right sensei?" Shikamaru asked and Kakashi nodded then a light went off in Naruto's head.

"Oh it's kinda like that water-walking trick?" Naruto exclaimed

"Ya a little bit except you don't have to push out more chakra when tree walking because a tree is a solid object. Tree-climbing its pretty difficult to master, because your foot is the hardest place to gather chakra so you must concentrate." The three Genin nodded and Kakashi smiled at them "Now you guys pick a tree and focus your chakra to the soles of your feet. Once you feel you have the right amount just run up the tree."

Just run up the tree… sounded simple enough. The three Genin picked a tree closed there eyes and focus on their chakra. Kiba was on the left Shikamaru in the middle and Naruto on the right. After only a few second Kiba and Naruto opened their eyes and dashed towards their tree.

Kiba took one step and the bark beneath him exploded with splinters and Kiba went flipping backwards and fell face first into some mud. Naruto took one step and gravity took over and he fell straight back into the ground.

"O wow ow!" Naruto moaned as he rolled around in pain. Shikamaru was still just standing in the same stop watching his teammates fail. Kiba had a face full of mud pie and Naruto - well he was being Naruto. Shikamaru sighed, how did he end up doing such a troublesome mission. Shikamaru focused his chakra once again taking a little bit more time than the others. When Shikamaru opened his eyes as ran full tilt toward the tree the up he went. Running higher up the tree. He was about one third the way up when the bark under his feet splintered and he flip off the tree and landed lightly on his feet.

Naruto and Kiba were gob smacked, how in the world could this lazy ninja – no the laziest ninja in the world find this tree-climbing exercise so easy.

Naruto growled and stood up 'I've got it this time' he thought and he gathered a little bit more chakra than last time and ran back at the tree. He got a couple more steps in this time before he slipped down the side of the tree. Naruto marked his spot with a kunai and landed hard on his feet.

Only about three feet up the tree, that made Kiba smirk. He could definitely beat that, Kiba gathered his charka and ran up is tree. Pretty soon the bark beneath his exploded, he marked his spot and flipped back to the ground. He looked up and gaped, he was in a dead tie with Naruto. It was on. Kiba and Naruto glared at each other before they began racing up their trees with very little success.

About five minutes into the session Kiba and Naruto had only made it about five feet up the tree. Shikamaru hadn't moved from his spot, he was watching his teammates slow progress up the tree. He watched as Naruto leaned against his tree rubbing his aching head. Naruto groaned and sauntered over to Shikamaru.

"Hey Shika," Naruto muttered glancing over at Kiba. "Can you give me some tips on how to get higher up the tree?"

"Hey help me too I'm also your teammate!" Kiba yelled.

Shikamaru sighed and scratched the back of his head, troublesome teammates. "Alright the first thing you need to do is calm down."

"But I am calm!"

"Shut up Naruto." Shikamaru snapped back "You two are so wound up that your chakra flow is out of wack. You must calm down and focus on the tree only then will you be able to run up that tree. Naruto you're not focusing enough chakra to your feet and Kiba your focusing too much that's why the tree keeps on exploding. Once you guys focus on those thing it should be a snap for you to run up the tree."

Naruto and Kiba stared slightly stunned at Shikamaru, when did he get so smart?

Shikamaru continued ignoring their looks "The only problem is I never see you guys calm and I don't know what you guys do that is peaceful but you better find out quick. For example one way I keep my sanity is by staring up at the clouds and imagine I'm up there with them with not a care in the world." Shikamaru got a strange faraway look in his eyes and there was a very long pause.

"But you look at the clouds all the time." Kiba said

"I need to."

"Why?"

"Because I have you two as teammates."

Kiba and Naruto glared at Shikamaru but once again it went unnoticed.

"You two better hurry up and come up with something or you'll never catch up with me." Shikamaru said and he dash forward and ran up, up, up the tree. He was probably about half way up the tree before he lost control and flipped back down to the ground. When he landed he looked around expecting to find still staring at him in wonder but instead found them concentrating once more on their charka. 'I hope they are good at following instructions.' Shikamaru thought and he stared back up towards the sky.

Naruto slowly breathed out and in as he felt his heart rate slow. He pumped some extra chakra to his feet and ran, this time Naruto feet stuck to the tree like he was running on solid ground. He was going up, ten feet, twenty, thirty feet. Naruto felt his heart pounding in his chest just as the bark beneath his feet exploded, he marked his spot with a kunai and flipped back to the ground. He was about ten feet behind Shikamaru and Kiba was a little ahead of him.

Shikamaru ran up once again and passed by his old scratch mark and keep going, he was almost to the top when the nark exploded underneath his feet and he tree hopped back to the ground. Kiba and Naruto looked at each other with the same idea, they had to beat Shikamaru.

Naruto felt a surge of chakra channel down to he feet as he speed up the tree passed his old mark and into the leaves. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't even tell how high he was going but he didn't stop and his chakra didn't falter. Suddenly the leaves stopped growing and the tree ended, Naruto quickly grabbed hold of his tree to keep from falling down. He looked over and saw Kiba also hanging from his tree grinning ear to ear. Then Shikamaru head popped out of the tree line as he latched on the top of his tree.

"Guys!" Naruto called out and his teammates looked at him. "We are awesome!"

Kakashi stared up at the trees in astonishment. His student never cease to amaze him, a bunch of other Jonin sensei's had told him the average time for Genin to master tree-walking was about one day but his student completed it in twenty minutes. He waited for a minute as his Genin slowly descended to the forest floor walking down their trees.

'These kid are something else. They must be feed off of each other, their competitiveness is causing them to work harder so they can get stronger.' They walked over to Kakashi laughing and patting each other on the back. Kakashi put away his book and gave his team an eye smile.

"Good job you three, you mastered this Chakra control exercise in record time. But your not done yet, I want you to do twenty laps up and down the trees. When you're done meet back at Tazuna's house." Shikamaru groaned and Kakashi simply waved and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Troublesome Sensei."

The twenty laps weren't as bad as Shikamaru originally thought, only a half hour later they were back on the ground.

"Finally I can eat!" Kiba said placing Akamaru on his head and walked off towards Tazuna's house, Shikamaru followed but Naruto stayed behind.

"You guy go on I'm going to continue training!" Naruto called out Kiba and Shika didn't look back as they disappeared from view.

"Whatever just don't be late for dinner." Shikamaru said and they were gone.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten clones poofed into existence and saluted Naruto. "Alright you guys I want this Tree-walking thing down to an art we are going to run up this tree till we can't run any more."

There was a Chorus of "Yes Sir!" and Naruto and is clones began their training.

Kiba and Shikamaru entered Tazuna's house and saw Tsunami cooking something and Kakashi leaning on his crutches staring at the bookcase.

"We're back Sensei." Shikamaru drawled and Kakashi turned to them surprised.

"Your back fast, where is Naruto?"

"He is still training."

"That boy doesn't know when to stop huh?"

"Nope."

Kakashi sigh and limped over to his students "Alright so I've decided I will continue to train you guys in particular area I believe will benefit you. Kiba tomorrow I want you to guard Tazuna up at the bridge and Shikamaru ill teach you some stuff. And the next day we'll switch got it?" Both kids nodded then Kiba spoke up

"What about Naruto?"

"Oh Naruto knows exactly what he needs to train. Now I have somewhere to go right, don't worry I'll be back." Kiba and Shikamaru raised an eyebrow to their Sensei vague comment.

"So… what are you about to do?"

"Get some stuff."

"Where are you going?"

"Places."

"When will you be back?"

"Eventually." The two Genin groaned and decided to give up on prying any answers out of their mysterious sensei.

"Aw you two are so cute thinking you can actually get answers out of me?" Kakashi said ruffling his student's hair "Don't go worrying about me, I'll be back before Naruto gets home."

"But Naruto might not come back till the morning" Shikamaru said

"Exactly!" Kakashi gave them the peace sign and went up in smoke.

"Uhg…. International rapist-sensei." Kiba growled

"OK Kiba I doubt Kakashi is going out to go rape women." Shikamaru said slapping Kiba on the back of the head

"Who ever said anything about him raping women?"

Shikamaru ignored him and looked out of a window at the dieing Sun.

"I wonder how Naruto's doing out there."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about him. I bet he's done with his training, found a incredibly deadly Missing-nin in the forest, unknowingly become his best friend, and due to a series of strange and tragic events the Missing-nin kills Naruto once he realizes his friend is a Missing-nin."

"Ok I doubt enough time has passed for Naruto to become best friends with anyone, and Naruto is smart enough to recognize a Missing-nin when he sees one."

"Sure Mr.-know-nothing-about-anyone shows what you know I bet -,"

At this point Shikamaru was completely ignoring Kiba; his random rants about nothing important really annoyed him. And the worst part was he could never get him to stop when he rants. Shikamaru's gaze traveled over to the bookcase and he eyed all the books and board games on the shelves, then he spotted something and made him grin. Oh vengeance will be sweet.

"Hey Kiba."

"What?"

"Do you know how to play Shogi?"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"You guys got to be faster then that if you want to beat me!" Naruto called out to his clones as he held on to the top of his tree. For the last half an hour he had been racing his clones up and down the trees getting his training in. It had been pretty even races when he first started but a couple clones tripped a dispelled themselves so Naruto got all there memories which surprisingly made him faster. It seemed that this chakra control exercise also made you faster as a result.

The Naruto clones came running up from the tree line and Naruto took off back down to the ground hoping from branch to branch. This time around Naruto picked up a lot of speed on his decent, it was too much for Naruto and he slipped off a branch and went tumbling towards the ground.

Naruto crashed through a couple branches and twigs, when he was about twenty feet away from the ground he looked down to see a girl standing right below him carrying a basket full of flowers and herbs.

"Look out!" Naruto called, the girl looked up and a look of surprise appeared on her face and she froze up. Naruto closed his eyes bracing for the crash.

THUD

The wind was knocked out of Naruto; he opened his eyes to see the girl was laying on the ground her knee in his stomach. Naruto rolled off of her gasping for air. The girl instantly scrambled over to see if he was ok.

"Oh im so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you." The girl was named Haku but Naruto didn't know that. She took a sharp intake of breath when she got a good look at Naruto. 'It's that boy that fought Zabuza before! Was he waiting for me? How did he know who I am?"

Suddenly Naruto's clones landed from the treetops surrounding Haku and Naruto. Haku fell back on her butt and grab her flower basket and held it tight to her chest, one of her hand fishing around for her Senbon needles. 'OH shit, oh shit its and ambush!'

"No, no, no its ok I'm not going to hurt you hold on." Naruto crossed his fingers and the clones disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Haku stared at him in confusion. ' Whats going on, is this not an ambush?' Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head

"Sorry I was doing a little training and I kinda tripped."

Haku looked up at the trees "Training in the trees?"

"Yes super secret tree training!"

"Super secret training?"

"Yup which means super awesome ninja like me can't go around giving out training info!"

Haku scoffed lightly "If you're such and awesome ninja then how did you trip?"

"Wha-uh SHUT UP! Its not my fault it was uh, some stupid squirrels fault ya. " Right after Naruto said that a large nut fell from the sky and hit him right on the head. Naruto looked up and saw a squirrel sitting on a branch looking down at him. It squeaked and ran off.

Haku giggled at Naruto's antics, Naruto looked back down and stared at the flower basket she was holding.

"What were you doing out here anyways."

"I was gathering herbs to help heal a friend of mine." Haku looked around her and saw most of her herbs scattered around. "Oh geez."

"Oh let me help you with that since I kind of caused it in the first place."

Haku smiled at Naruto "Sure."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Gah!" Kiba yelled out in frustration. He had just lost a Shogi match for the fourth time in less then an hour. Whenever Kiba thought he was winning Shikamaru would get a random checkmate. The worst part about it is he didn't even gloat! He just sat looking as bored as can be. Kiba grumbled angrily as he reset the Shogi board.

Shikamaru smiled inwardly as he watched Kiba set up the board. Ever since they became a team Shikamaru had the hardest time trying to get Kiba to shut up, who knew that completely destroying him in Shogi make him shut up. Oh ya he had to do this more often.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"You know you didn't have to help pick up my stuff."

"I know but it would have been rude since I caused you to drop your flowers."

"Herbs, not flowers"

"Whatever."

"So I guess chivalry isn't dead eh?"

"Huh what's chivalry?"

"Hmm never mind."

"…"

Naruto and Haku were walking through the forest trying to find the main road again. They have been walking for about five minutes and talking quite comfortably. They finally reach the road and it split off into two different directions, one way back to Tazuna's house the other back to town. Haku was goin back to town.

"Ill guess I'll see you later." Naruto said grinning widely, Haku smiled softly.

"Maybe, just make sure not to trip over any more squirrels

"Ha if a squirrel gets in my way again I'm kickin its ass!" A nut flew past Haku's head and hit Naruto in the temple, a little bit harder then last time. "Ah sonovabitch!" Naruto looked back toward the trees and saw another squirrel sitting on a branch looking at him. It cocked its head to the right before giving a loud squeak and running off.

"Well it seems you made enemies with a bunch of squirrels, you should probably watch your back." Haku said giggling. Naruto mumbled something about "Stupid squirrels" and crossed his arms childishly. "Well I'll see you some other time then." Haku turned and walked down the road towards town. Naruto watch her walked away till something dawned on him.

"Wait I don't know your name!"

Haku turned and smiled sweetly " My name is Haku."

"Mine is Naruto."

"Cute name." Haku said and Naruto blushed deeply, Haku began walking again and Naruto finally turned and walked down the dirt road towards Tazuna's place.

Naruto arrived shortly after leaving Haku on the dirt road. As he climbed the steps there was a small pop and Kakashi appeared right next him startling him.

"S-sensei what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, without lifting his eyes from his book Kakashi raised an arm showing a shopping bag.

"I had to go get so stuff real quick, glad to see your back and still in one piece."

"I was only training Sensei."

"I know." Kakashi opened the front door and walked in closely followed by Naruto. They walked into the living room to see Kiba and Shikamaru sitting at the living room table huddled over a board game. Akamaru was eating out of large bowl and Tsunami was in the kitchen, no one else. Shikamaru and Kiba didn't look up from their game, just concentrate on the game pieces.

"I'm back." Kakashi said

"Ok." Kiba said not looking over at him.

"I bought some cool stuff." Kakashi said trying to get their attention

"That's nice." Shikamaru said

"I was inside before Naruto!"

"Good job." It was Kiba turn again.

Kakashi sighed and turned towards the stairs. "I'm goin back to bed I'm feeling a little light headed."

"Alright." The boys said in unison as Kakashi climbed the stairs closely followed by Naruto. When Kakashi entered his room he tossed his bag to the side and crawled into his makeshift bed. He threw the comforter over his body and leaned against the wall eyeing Naruto with a bored expression.

"What's up Naruto?"

"Um I had a little question about our fight with Zabuza."

"Hm?"

Naruto paused thinking how to exactly ask the question. "What was that feel I got when we were in the mist, it was so suppressive that I wanted to kill myself."

"Oh that was a version of the Kanashibari no Jutsu (Temporary Paralysis Technique)."

"What's that?"

"It's a technique, mostly used for physical restraint, it's kind of like having an opponent tied up by invisible steel ropes. It is a basic Ninjutsu usable even by Genin like you, but its intensity will vary greatly according to the user's level. It can usually be used through eye contact and the victim would see something horrific and freeze up."

"What would they see?"

"Usually their death."

"Oh so it's some kind of Killer Intent Jutsu?"

"Huh-wha Killer Intent? No, ok first off "Killer Intent" is horrible grammar, its intent to kill and that's not what I'm talking about at all. I'm talking about a Paralysis Jutsu; intent to kill means your going to try and kill someone in a fight. Some people can say what Zabuza did in that mist was using "killer intent" or whatever bullshit, but what he did was use the chakra in the mist to project his paralysis Jutsu on all of you without having to look into your eyes. That is extremely difficult to do but Zabuza is one of the best at that Jutsu so it comes almost naturally to him."

Naruto blinked at Kakashi "Geez you seem really angry about the term "Killer Intent"." Kakashi just shrugged.

"I've heard so many Genin call Kanashibari no Jutsu "Killer Intent" and it is really annoying after the hundredth time trying to correct them."

"How easy is this Jutsu?"

"It's a D-rank, short to mid range Jutsu. Like I said even Genin can use it." Naruto's eyes widened and he practically began bouncing up and down.

"Teach me teach me teach me-,"

"First off shut up, calm down." Naruto stopped bouncing and closed his mouth but his eyes were still wide. "Secondly if you're going to start using that Jutsu you have to get use to it being used on you. Are you willing to go through that kind of stuff, it will be almost like going trough a torture session?"

Naruto nodded so fast Kakashi was surprised he didn't break his neck.

"Alright don't say I didn't warn you." Kakashi's single eye traveled up Naruto till he made eye contact with him.

It happened just like before, the air around Naruto became cold, his body lock up and his breath was caught in his throat. But this time something new happened a vision flashed before his eyes, I came and disappeared so fast Naruto almost thought he imagined it. He saw Kakashi leaping from his bed and stabbing him in the head with a kunai. The vision looked and felt so real that Naruto began to shake in fear. When the vision passed Naruto saw Kakashi sitting there and began to shake even more.

"I'm sorry." Kakashi said which brought Naruto out of his stupor. He saw Kakashi staring at the ground a sad look on his face. "I thought maybe I should give you a higher intensity thinking you could handle it."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Kakashi looked up in surprise. "I can I get stronger if I don't get pushed pass my limits, ill just stay the same level I'm at now." Kakashi smiled at Naruto

"You're a crazy kid you know that?"

Naruto smiled also "I get that a lot."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So how exactly is this training?" Shikamaru said yawning. He was sitting cross-legged vertically on a tree and a magnetic Shogi board between him and Kakashi.

"Well your practicing your chakra control while doing to strategy exercises." Kakashi said as he moved a piece.

Shikamaru sighed as he used his bishop to take Kakashi's knight. The two of them have been playing about four games of Shogi and Shikamaru could say he was not bored. Sure he has won all four games but every game last longer then thee last and Kakashi becomes harder to beat.

Kakashi moved another piece. "Checkmate." Shikamaru said as he moved his silver general next to Kakashi's king. Kakashi nodded.

"I'm impressed, most people can't beat me in Shogi." Kakashi said as he reset the board. "I guess it's time to take you a little seriously now."

Shikamaru looked up at his sensei curiously "A little seriously?"

Kakashi gave Shikamaru and eye smile "You didn't actually believe I was trying my hardest to beat you? I was using these games to find out your main strategies. I figured out you have three main strategies you use in a match. First one you use a "Pawn suicide" idea where you using all your pawns first so your opponent uses the big guns to kill them off and you can use your better pieces to kill those."

Shikamaru stared wide-eyed at his teacher, he was completely right.

"Your next little strategy is you use your knights and lance to dominate most of the match, killing off my silver and gold generals, and then near the end bring in your bishops to trap the king. The other one you use is when you use your gold generals to kill of most of the pawns so you can promote your generals, rook and bishop, and then you dominate with those four pieces. Very cunning strategies if you were at war but since you're a ninja you must think of strategies for a quick battle."

Kakashi lifted his headband showing his spinning Sharingan eye. "You are good at coming up with long term strategies before a match while me and Naruto and can come with a plan on the fly forever altering a fight. I want to get you to the point where you can think up a strategy in the middle of battle without having to stop and think about it, it just needs to be automatic. Your move."

Shikamaru move his piece first. Kakashi never even looked down at the board as he moved his first piece. Shikamaru was surprised at Kakashi as he played the game without even looking at the board and was more surprised when five minutes later Kakashi said "Checkmate."

Shikamaru stared speechless; Kakashi barely moved any of his pieces but still managed to get a checkmate without him realizing what his sensei was doing.

"See you were so focused at executing your plan you never stopped to see what I was doing. You got to learn to plan your attacks based on the enemies movements, lets do it again."

They played five more games all ending up the same way, and Shikamaru could tell Kakashi never once looked down at the game board. After there fifth game Kakashi sighed. "Alright enough of this lets go something less boring, like Taijutsu practice." Kakashi grinned evilly, put a hand on Shikamaru's shoulders and Shunshined far away.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto stared at the large river in front of him. He cracked his knuckles nervously as he thought about his next chakra-control exercise. He remembered he had to add a whole lot more chakra to be able to stay on top of the water, but he didn't know how much. He didn't have Shikamaru here to give him tips… but he had the next best thing.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" fifty shadow clones popped into existence and saluted Naruto. "Alright today we will be working on water-walking!" there were a lot of cheers amongst the clones. "I expect to have it mastered by tonight so all of you work your hardest out there!" There was a loud chorus of "Hai" and all the clones lined up along the river.

Naruto pumped slowly a small quantity of Chakra to his feet. His slowly took a step on the river and his foot stayed afloat; he put his second foot out and the water. The pressure from the extra weight caused the chakra to just quit.

Splash!

Naruto came up from the river gasping for breath. His first attempt wasn't as bad as he thought it could've been. He looked around and saw all his clones had fell in the water. This might take longer then he first thought.

Naruto sat next to the river he had been training in, his orange jacket lying open next to him so it could dry. Most of the day had gone by but Naruto barley even noticed. After practicing for hours straight Naruto had only been able to stay afloat for thirty seconds. But once he regained his memories from his clones he was able stay a whole four minutes and thirty seconds longer. Still not mastered yet. But it was getting late so Naruto called it a day.

"Hey you." Came soft voice from behind Naruto, he spun around to see Haku standing smiling holding her flower basket. "Anymore Squirrel attacks today?"

Naruto laughed lightly "Nah not today, I think they might be formulating a plot against me though." Haku giggled

"You better watch your back." Haku held out her flower basket for Naruto to see "Hey I'm going out to get more herbs… wanna come with me?"

Naruto smiled and nodded "Sure why not."

"So why are you picking these herbs again?" Naruto asked as he plucked some herbs from the ground.

"My friend has become ill so I'm making some medicine so he can get better." Haku said mentally counting all the herbs that were in her basket. "He is a very important person in my life. He saved my when I was younger and I promised to protect him with all my life, he is the reason I am strong. Is there someone in your life important enough you would protect with your life?"

An image of Kakashi-sensei and his teammates flashed through his mind. "Ya there is."

"Then you must train so you can become strong enough to protect them and anything else precious to you. Only then can you become truly strong."

Naruto stared at Haku; her strange speech seemed to have struck a match in Naruto's head. "That's how they did it." Naruto said in wonder.

"Huh?"

"The Hokage's, that's how they became so strong. Its not because they learned a ton of Jutsu's- ok it is because of that but the reason they trained that hard is because they loved our village and its people so much they would do anything to protect it!" Naruto said and Haku nodded in acknowledgement

"Love can change people in many ways. I heard a story once of a mother and her son going to a carnival, at this carnival the son strayed too far from mom and he accidentally got trapped under an eight hundred pound fireworks cart, which had just caught on fire. No one knew what to do; none of them were strong enough to lift the car nor wanted to get to close in fear it might explode. But the mom came right over and lifted the cart.

Now this woman never had ninja training, nor did she lift weights for fun or any of that stuff. She was just an ordinary house mom. But this ordinary house mom came over and using the power of love she lifted a eight hundred pound cart off her son and they got away just before the cart exploded."

"Wow." Was all Naruto could really say, Haku words had such a profound effect on him he was simply stunned.

"I can tell you will be strong in the future." Haku said smiling Naruto smiled back

"Thanks Haku-chan." Haku stood up along with Naruto. "I plan to be, my first proof is me causing a miracle so Wave country can be free!" Naruto said giving the thumbs up, Haku stared wide-eyed at him.

"So what you're the Miracle man?"

"Ya you can call me something like that" Haku stared down at her herb basket for a while before looking back up at Naruto.

"I've gather enough herbs for a good to nights of medicine. Thanks Naruto-kun." Naruto smiled at her blushing slightly Haku walked up to Naruto and gave him a peck on the cheek. Naruto turned beet red and watched as Haku walked off in the opposite direction.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

When Naruto finally made it back to Tazuna's house It was dark outside but he still noticed Shikamaru and Kiba laying in the grass staring up and the stars Akamaru laying on Shikamaru's chest.

"What are you guys doing outside?" Naruto asked and Kiba answered

"Oh you know, staring up at the stars discussing our place in the universe."

"Would our place in the universe happen to be in the kicking ass and taking names department?"

"Hell ya."

"I like it." Naruto said and he sprawled out next to Kiba and stared up at the bright sky. Stars took up every corner of the sky, which glowed bright in the darkness of twilight. "Its beautiful, so much more cooler than gazing at stars." Naruto said teasingly.

"Shut up Naruto." Shikamaru said but he wasn't serious. A shooting star just shot across the evening sky drawing Naruto's gaze.

"It's a wonderful night to be ninja's."

"Yup"

Bark!

"Mhmm."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So sensei, what are we going to be working on today?" Kiba said slightly irritated at Kakashi. He had been waiting for about five minutes as Kakashi collected his thought, but no it was time to start training. Today was his turn to train with sensei

Kakashi stood in front of Kiba eyeing the clearing they were in; it looked like they had enough room.

"Today were are going to be working on a new Jutsu." Kiba's eyes went wide but he shivered when he saw a maniacal glint in Kakashi's eyes. "Tell me Kiba… Do you like fire?"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto and another fifty shadow clones to at the edge of the river eyeing excitedly. Naruto turned around and raised his hands in the air to catch the clone's attention.

"Today my brothers!" Naruto said his loud voice carrying amongst the crowd of clones. "WE SHALL CONQOUR THIS RIVER!" The Clones clapped and cheered and they all went to work on water walking.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Shikamaru looked around the bridge watching all these men going are working on something. While he just sat there, guarding Tazuna from nobody. He didn't even have anybody to play Shogi with! God he was bored.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It was the ending to a long training session; Kiba was lying panting heavily on the ground. His coat had burn marks all over it the hems of his pants were burned off and he even burned off and eyebrow. The ground around him was charcoal black with a few patches of fire still burning. Kakashi stood over Kiba reading his book with Akamaru lying on top of his head.

"Hmm you will need a little bit more practice controlling the Jutsu, but once you get it down you will be a very formidable opponent." Kakashi said and Kiba weakly gave a thumbs up before coughing up some ash he inhaled. Just then Shikamaru came stumbling through the clearing looking very, very bored.

"Hey guys, I just dropped Tazuna off at the house and I came to tell you dinner is going to be early tonight." Shikamaru said and he walked up to Kiba and Kakashi seemingly ignoring the state of the training grounds. Kiba had finally stood up and Shikamaru took one look at Kiba and one of eyebrows rose. "Do you know your missing a eyebrow?"

Kiba's eyes went wide "What, I'm missing an eyebrow?" Kakashi nodded "Why the fuck didn't you tell me!" Kiba said glowering at his sensei.

"I dunno I got distracted by the road of life I guess."

"GAH!"

"I think we should go find Naruto so he can eat, he missed last nights dinner." Shikamaru said trying to distract Kiba from his anger.

"Ah ok, he is over at the river training, follow me!" Kakashi turned on his heel and quickly left the clearing.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto crouched low on a high branch listening intently to his surroundings.

"Ai Naruto, what are you doing up there?" Naruto looked down to see his team staring up at him, and then he saw Kiba.

"Do you know your missing an eyebrow?"

"GAHHH!"

"Shhh" said Naruto putting a finger up to his lips; a vein throbbed on Kiba's forehead.

"Did you just shush me?"

Then Naruto heard it, a crunch and a rustle. Naruto jumped off the branch just as Ryoku's blade came slicing through the spot Naruto was just standing. Ryoku landed on the branch below and watched Naruto soar through the air. Naruto landed on the opposite tree then kicked off it darting straight towards Ryoku. Naruto twisted midair sending a vicious kick Towards Ryoku, Ryoku's blade came up and blocked the kick just in time, and Naruto used the momentum to twist the rest of body just enough so that he could put a foot on Ryoku's head and pushed off leaping high into the air.

Naruto stuck to the side of the tree and began running towards the top; Ryoku was standing where he was before staring up at him. Then Itami and Ukime fell from the treetop towards Naruto, their large spiked chain connected to each of their Demon Brother Gauntlets.

Naruto channeled chakra to his hands and then did a handstand on the tree. Naruto bent his body so far that his feet were pointed vertical at Itami and Ukime. The two soul clones didn't have time to move out of the way. They impaled themselves on his feet; there extra weight made Naruto to lose control over the chakra and the three of them went tumbling towards the earth.

Naruto crossed his fingers and cried out "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" twenty clones appeared in midair. "Naruto prank tactic VII: Random Ambush!" The Soul and shadows clones fell towards the earth and passed Ryoku and down towards Shikamaru and Kiba.

For the next ten minutes only screams could be heard.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba and Kakashi have finally made it to Tazuna's dinner table. Shikamaru and Kiba were looking very angry with large bruises all over their body. Naruto was still laughing his ass off and Kakashi was virtually unharmed happily reading his porn his Akamaru still on top of his head.

"Gah! You are so dead Naruto!" Kiba yelled

"Ha-ha hey at least people wont notice your missing eyebrow, "Kiba the uni-brow freak, dog monster"!" and with that Naruto laughed even harder. Right before Kiba attack Naruto Inari slammed his hands on the table in anger.

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard?" Inari yelled tears running don his face. "No matter how hard you train you're still no match for Gatou's men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, when facing the strong the weak will only end up getting killed!"

Everyone stared at Inari in surprise but Naruto just scoffed. "Whatever kid I'm not like you."

"I'd hate to be like you! You don't know anything about this country yet your being so nosy! What the hell do you know about me? I'm different from you you're always clowning around and acting so cheerful, you don't know how hard life can be!"

Something Snapped inside Naruto's head and he stood up and glared down at Inari. "What the fuck do you know you little cry baby? Your not even old enough to wipe the shit off your own underwear yet you act like you know the world already. Look at you, what do you know about a hard life, you have you mom and your grandfather here supporting you, feeding you and all this good shit and you think your life is hard. I have nobody!" Naruto leaned over the table eyeballing Inari

"I have no family, no loving family to support me. Hell I didn't have friends till I was teamed up with these two." Half my life I was homeless, stuck in a world that hated and ignored my existence. Only recently do I have a place of my own where I can sleep on a bed. You've never had to fall asleep with one eye open or walk out of your house in the morning wondering will this be my last day on this earth."

So just keep on crying little brat but just know you don't know shit about a hard life. And if it is hard get off your fat ass and do something about it, don't be a sissy." Naruto turned and began walking towards the door " I'm going to do more training. And I'm confused when this mission became about you Inari, we are here to help liberate your people not just you." And with that Naruto walked out of the house leaving an eerie silence behind him.

Everyone just sat there stunned at their little ball of sunshine just exploding like that. Shikamaru and Kiba were more shocked than anything else. They never really knew about Naruto's past but they never imagined it could be that bad.

"Sensei?" Shikamaru said and Kakashi slowly looked at his student. "Was Naruto's life really that hard?"

Kakashi slowly nodded "Ya it was, sometimes it was actually worse then that."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Haku needed a break from Gatou and his men; Zabuza was finally all better so it was safe to leave him there by himself. Haku had decided a nice nighttime stroll was a good way to clear her mind. What she didn't expect was to find Naruto asleep on the ground in front of her path through the forest.

She crouched down next to his un moving form and stared at his face. 'He is really cute.' Haku though as she watched Naruto's peaceful sleeping face, her eyes drifted down to his whisker marks on his cheek. 'Those are cute too, I wonder how he got them.' Haku reached out and with her thumb gently rubs the whisker marks on Naruto's face.

The effect was immediate Naruto began squirming around and a low rumbling sound came from his throat. 'His he purring?' Haku thought and she continued to rub the whiskers.

Naruto slowly began waking up, hey cracked open his eyes and looked up at Haku. He didn't say anything just pressed his cheek against her hand.

"What are you doing out here this late?" Haku said soothingly, she looked down at Naruto and saw in his and eyes nothing but sadness. Naruto shrugged and sat up.

"Just doing some training."

"People normally don't train at night Naruto-kun, what happened?"

"Its… nothing, just some kid being a big crybaby acting as if he has the worse life. but really he doesn't know suffering when I was his age I would give anything to have a family like his. His crying kind of brought up some old memories – I just needed a place to think. IM not sure if you would-,"

"My life has been a bunch of crystal stairs either Naruto." Haku whispered, Naruto looked at Haku and saw sadness in her eyes. "M-my mom was killed by my dad when I was really young, then he turned and tried and killed me just because I was like my mom. I accidentally killed him, since then I was homeless till my friend found me and he brought me into his care." Haku's voice was cracking through her story but now it was strong and a strange looked passed through her eyes.

"I was homeless most of my life." Naruto began as he stared up into the starry sky. "I never knew who my mom nor my dad was and the orphanage was always kicking me out. So I became a street rat stealing all my bread and food and occasionally killing some rodents. Most of the population hated me for unknown reasons. But then the Hokage got tired of me looking homeless, so he gave me an apartment and a monthly allowance, now everything is starting to look better."

"It seem we are quite alike." Haku said and moved her hand over on top of Naruto's

Naruto looked over at Haku, the moon was full tonight and the light it made bathed Haku's face in a light blue angelic glow. Naruto blushed deeply as he realized just how pretty she was and he felt himself being drawn to her.

Thump Thump!

Naruto heard his heart beat pounding in his chest as he face moved towards Haku's painfully slow. Soon Haku noticed Naruto moving slightly towards her and her eyes widened.

"Hey what are yo-," Haku voice was cut off as Naruto pressed his lips against hers. Haku's eyes widened as Naruto pressed hard against hard lips, but soon her eyes drooped lazily. This was completely new territory for both Naruto and Haku but they decided now, they liked this new sensation. Naruto backed away gasping for air his face beet red, Haku was also red and was staring down at her hands in her lap.

"That's was-," Naruto began

"Nice?" Haku finished

"Ya."

Suddenly Haku leaped forward, wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and kissed him hard on the lips. Naruto reacted immediately placing his hand around her waist and pulling her close to him. After a couple minutes the separated and stared into each other's eyes.

"It seems you have melted my heart of ice Miracle Man." Haku said giggling Naruto gave her a goofy grin and the thumbs up.

"I'm glad I could help!" Naruto said grinning. Haku smiled at first, then her smiled faded replace by a look of frustration and sadness.

"Thank you." Was all she said then Naruto felt a pinch in his neck and his world went black.

T.B.C

HELLO to all my faithful readers! after a long disappearance im back with a whole new chapter of Soul Sage. im glad with the way its progressing and i really enjoyed this chapter. the only reason it was not out sooner is due to computer problems but i have a different comp im using now so its ok! and remember PLEASE REVIEW! your thoughts are extremely appreciated. and all of you reading my other story i shall be updating it soon to so keep a look at. this is your homie Grembari signing out!