Drip, drip, drop.

Drip, drip, drop

Naruto rubbed her eyes as she awoke from last night's sleep. Or at least that's what she thought. When she opened her eyes and sat up, she noticed that she was sitting in water, and a dripping noise could be heard; the same noise she had heard in her sleep.

It was strange though. She was sitting in water, yet she was not feeling wet. She looked around. It was dark and seemed damp, but then again she did not feel the dampness. It was as if she was there, but not there at the same time.

'I'm still asleep, huh…' the blonde thought as she stood up. It was dark, so she had to wait for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. It took a couple of seconds, but the girl was soon fully aware of her surroundings. There were pipes tracing along the ceiling and water was dripping from some of said pipes. She followed the pipes with her eyes, only for them to be enveloped in even darker darkness. She turned around, and traced the pipes once more. Darkness again. It was impossible for the girl to see very far in the dark tunnel.

But at least it wasn't completely devoid of light. The walls and ceiling gave off some sort of reddish light. Naruto wasn't sure how they did that, since there were no lamps or anything, but she didn't let it bother her. It was just a dream, so random lighting wasn't all that weird. But pairing the tunnel she was in with the pipes and water the place almost seemed like… a sewer?

Naruto wasn't proud to admit it, but she'd been down in the sewers of Konoha plenty of times. She had found it was a great place to escape people chasing after her. The sheer smell down the sewers was enough to keep the civilians and the lower-tiered ninjas off her back. They probably didn't think it was worth chasing the demon brat in some sewers anyway. In fact, they wished she'd stay down the sewers all the time. It had even happened more than once that they would block the exits out of the sewers, forcing Naruto to stay down the sewers even longer.

But that was another thing that sort of baffled Naruto. There was no smell down here. Sure, her first thought had been that she was sleeping still and that this was all a dream… but she wasn't sure anymore. She felt very much awake, and very much aware. Her mind began to wander, and she came up with the idea of a genjutsu instead of a dream.

Naruto was terrible when it came to genjutsu. She knew the hand-seals and everything for genjutsu, so she decided to try dispelling any potential genjutsu.

"Kai!"

But nothing happened. Naruto wasn't really expecting anything to happen anyway. If it was indeed a genjutsu she wouldn't be able to dispel it herself. But then again, she was terrible at genjutsu, so would she even be able to think she was in a genjutsu if she actually was trapped in one?

Naruto rubbed her temples in pain. Thinking all of that was not good for the girl. She decided to just play things by ear, genjutsu or not. 'Begin with analyzing the situation you're in.' the girl thought.

She had no recollection of going into any sewers, but she was much too aware of things for it to be just a dream, and she wasn't good enough at genjutsu to recognize it being one. Something wasn't right here. But instead of standing around doing nothing, she decided to look around. She started walking. It was a strange feeling, walking in water without feeling wet. She chuckled quietly to herself.

Naruto kept on walking, not really knowing for how long she had been walking. It was as if her sense of time had vanished. But she did start feeling a bit differently, yet familiar. It was a feeling she had felt before. A feeling of power…

But she didn't have enough time to think about that. The water had started to turn redder and redder the further she went, almost like the color of the walls and ceiling.

Boom.

The girl stopped abruptly, and listened. She could've sworn she heard something.

Crash.

Something sinister… yet strangely familiar.

She started walking again, faster this time. Naruto was unsure of why, but she wanted to know the source of the sound. Wanted to know where she was, and what this familiar feeling was. She began jogging… running… but she didn't get anywhere. She was still stuck in the same corridor. It was frustrating.

It was getting heavier and heavier for the blonde to lift her legs. She looked down, and the water had indeed risen, and was rising even more by the minute. But it was something else that got her interest. She saw herself in the water… but she was different. She was…

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Cerulean eyes was once again visible to the world. The blonde awoke, feeling refreshed. It had been a hectic first day of their mission to Nami no Kuni. Team 7 had been forced to fight two battles, one against two Chūnin nuke-nin and one against a Jōnin nuke-nin.

The first battle had been against the Demon Brothers, Meizu and Gouzu. It had been a fairly even fight, where Sasuke and Naruto got matched against one of each, while Sakura had guarded Tazuna, their client. Kakashi had been taken out, but his demise had been an act in order to test Team 7's strengths and weaknesses. He had, of course, been nearby in case something serious would have happened.

And something had happened. It was nothing life threatening, but it could have been dangerous. Naruto had, subconsciously, let out some of the Kyūbi's chakra in order to help Sasuke. It had all worked out in the end, though Naruto had gotten cut and poisoned.

He had scared the blonde a bit, but her injury and the poison wasn't enough to kill her. In addition to his almost non-existent Iryō Ninjutsu the girl had the Kyūbi no Yoko sealed within her, which wouldn't let the blonde die that easily.

The second battle had proved more challenging. They had been up against Zabuza, also known as Kirigakure no Kijin.In the end, Team 7 had prevailed after displaying great teamwork. However, Zabuza had ultimately managed to escape his demise.

As Kakashi was about to end the nuke-nin's life, the defeated man's neck had been pierced by a few senbon. The muscular man had collapsed, and appeared to be dead. Kakashi had even checked his pulse, and there was none. The one responsible for the senbon had later carried the man away, with the intention to dispose the body. Kakashi had thanked the masked boy for his help, and they had been on their way.

It wasn't until Team 7 had reached their client's house that Kakashi noticed something was amiss. He had told his team about his concerns, and they had all agreed that it was better to be safe rather than sorry. They were going to train for the next week, until both Kakashi and Zabuza had recovered.

Naruto sat up in her futon, and looked out. It was still early, and she could hear the seagulls cry. She stood up, put her futon away, and opened the window. Her nose twitched, and her hair was fluttering as she was hit by the sea breeze. It had a distinct smell of fish and brine, something she had never smelled inside the walls of Konoha.

It was a beautiful sight indeed. Seagulls flying in the air, the water glittering like crystals, the sun shining and a few clouds coloring the bright blue sky. If the blonde had had any artistic talent, this scene would have been immortalized on a canvas.

Naruto was in a sort of trance as she kept her gaze on the sea. Her previous dream, or whatever it had been, had been forgotten as soon as she woke up. However it was still there, somewhere in the back of the girl's mind, but she had problem accessing it as she was oblivious to what it actually was.

She was pulled out of her trance as soon as a new smell entered her nose. It was the smell of… miso. She left her window slightly open, and moved towards her door. She opened it, and as soon as she did the smell of food got stronger. She heard some voices downstairs as well, signaling that it was probably breakfast time.

As she was about to go downstairs, she noticed her orange jacket hanging just outside of her door. She had completely forgotten about that! Tsunami had forced the girl out of her usual attire last night, as it had been torn in her battle with the Demon Brothers. The young mother had told Naruto that she would patch up her jacket, and sure enough the jacket was fixed. Naruto inspected it, and it was good as new.

She quickly grabbed it, and closed her door. She remembered last night, how she met the young boy Inari, and how they had sort of bonded. She smiled as she removed the shirt she had borrowed from Tsunami, and re-wrapped her chest. It was a bit harder to breathe with the chest bindings, but she had gotten used to it by now. It didn't really bother her all that much.

After a few deep breaths Naruto began to put on her bright orange jacket, but something was different about it. The jacket smelled… no, not smelled. It had a soft fragrance of lilies. A very feminine fragrance. With a silent prayer that no one would notice, she went downstairs to join the rest.

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"Training, training, I like training," the blonde hummed as Team 7 walked through the forest. They had left Tazuna's home earlier that morning, Naruto included. The blonde had recovered from yesterday's injury, though she hadn't really needed to rest that much in the first place. Kakashi had explained to her what they would be doing until he and Zabuza recovered. Training. The blonde had shouted in excitement at the thought of training.

Sure, Naruto had been a tiny bit skeptical first when Kakashi had explained that Sakura would be their teacher, but she had quickly changed her mind when Kakashi had told her what kind of training they would do. The pink-haired kunoichi had proven that she indeed did have what it takes to be a true kunoichi during their fight with Zabuza. She had been able to run on the water, though sloppily, something that neither Naruto nor Sasuke could. And Kakashi would be with them as well, if things didn't work out, though Naruto was convinced at this point that Sakura would do a good job.

The four of them reached a small clearing in the forest. The weather was still nice, just like it had been earlier than morning. It had gotten a bit warmer outside, but it didn't really bother any of them. At least not yet. You could also see the water, flowing just outside of the clearing. Nami no Kuni would be an idyllic place to live, if it wasn't for Gatō.

After looking around the clearing a bit, Kakashi motioned for his team to gather around him. They came up to him from different directions, each of them having inspected a different area. It had been an order from Kakashi, to investigate the area and make sure it was safe. They did not want to be ambushed by Gatō's thugs or worse. It was a basic ninja rule, to make sure no enemy got the jump on you.

The Jōnin explained once more what they were going to do, this time in more detail than before. He began explaining about chakra, and how important it was to learn how to control it properly. He met Naruto's gaze, and the blonde felt that those words were particularly meant for her. She did not have good chakra control. It had been evident when she tried the Bunshin no Jutsu during her Academy exams. Naruto had failed those completely. She was a bit deflated, but also motivated. This was something she needed to improve on!

"… so in short, you'll climb the tree by focusing a fixed amount of chakra to the bottom of your feet. Not too much, and not too little. It's crucial to know how much chakra to use," Kakashi waved his hand towards one of the many trees, "Sakura, if you would demonstrate please."

The pinkette gulped, but nodded, and walked towards one of the trees. She closed her eyes, and focused. She put one foot on the tree, and felt her chakra gathering at the bottom of her foot. The girl was careful, not putting in too much chakra at once. A few seconds of silenced passed, but she soon felt her foot sticking to the tree. Her body relaxed, and her breathing was slow and steady. Sakura raised her other foot of the ground, and placed it above her other foot and began walking up the tree, slow and steady.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, Naruto just stood there with wide eyes and mouth agape, and Sasuke was as stoic as ever.

"That's amazing, Sakura-chan!" Sakura looked down from all the way up the tree when she heard Naruto shouting. She was happy to be praised, but part of her hoped that it would have been Sasuke-kun and not Naruto praising her. Nevertheless, the girl was proud of herself and smiled as she watched the blonde run towards the tree next to her.

Naruto reached the tree next to Sakura, and immediately began to mimic what the pinkette had done. She closed her eyes, put one foot up to begin with, and focused her chakra to the bottom of her foot. The blonde waited a couple of seconds, just like Sakura, and continued focusing her chakra. But sadly for the blonde she failed to realize the amount of chakra she was pouring into the bottom of her foot. As soon as the girl tried lifting her other foot she was propelled backwards.

She flew a couple of meters before crashing into the ground, and rolled a little further away until she stopped. That she had not expected. She had truly believed that she would be able to walk at least a few steps up the tree, and then fall down. Being sent flying backwards had not been something she had been worried about.

"As expected of you, dobe," Sasuke had decided to take this opportunity to mock the blonde. He was sure that this was something he could do better than the blonde. Well, to be honest he was sure that he could do everything better than the blonde.

"Shut up teme," the girl said as she stood up, rubbing her now sore back. She walked up to the same tree with the intention of trying again, but stopped as soon as she arrived. Instead of trying again she inspected the tree. Her foot had caused some damage to the tree, leaving a mark.

"I bet you can't cause this kind of damage with just the bottom of your foot, Sasuke-chan," she smirked playfully at the raven-haired boy and pointed towards her tree. Naruto had failed to climb the tree properly, but had learned something else. Focusing just a larger portion of chakra couldcause a lot of damage. She wondered if she could utilize it somehow.

"What's the point of doing damage if you'll take the same amount of damage yourself, dobe? I'd rather climb the tree properly," he walked towards the tree next to Naruto, the girl now being in the middle of the three Genin. Sasuke did not imitate Sakura and Naruto. Instead of taking his time and concentrating, he began running. He managed to take a few steps up the tree, but soon felt himself lose his footing. He was forced to jump down, but did so gracefully, and landed on his feet.

"Better than you," he looked over at Naruto with a smug look on his face. The girl frowned, and prepared to run up her own tree, but was stopped as soon as she heard her sensei talking.

"Now, now," the man pulled out a couple of kunai, and threw them at the ground in front of his bickering students. "Use these to mark your progress. Whoever of you two has gotten the highest at the end of the week… will receive something that will help your training," Kakashi decided to use their rivalry and the prospect of a prize in hope of making them both improve faster.

Naruto and Sasuke faced each other and had a brief staring contest. It only lasted a couple of seconds. They quickly grabbed a kunai each and ran towards their respective trees. Sasuke managed to take a few steps up the tree, just like before. He marked the tree with a slash before jumping off.

Naruto, who had tried running up the tree just like Sasuke, had failed. But instead of being shot backwards by her chakra, this time she just fell down as soon as she tried running up the tree. Her feet didn't stick at all. She cursed under her breath as she stood up once more. She saw how far Sasuke had gotten. The sight of his mark got her even more fired up. She was going to beat him!

Sakura watched the two boys, or at least she thought it was two boys, trying to beat each other. It was obvious that Sasuke-kun was winning! She continued to gaze at the raven-haired boy with affectionate eyes. But Naruto was making so much noise that it was hard for the pinkette to concentrate on the mysterious Uchiha.

Kakashi had been silent while watching his two students trying to outdo one another. Sasuke was doing fine, improving one step at a time, but Naruto had a hard time controlling her chakra. It was no surprise to the Jōnin though. The blonde had a massive amount of chakra as well as a demonic fox sealed inside of her, making it harder than usual. The girl would need some pointers. Kakashi gestured for Sakura to climb down, which she did as soon as her eyes left Sasuke.

"Sakura-sensei, please teach your students how to master the tree climbing exercise."

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Hiding deep inside the forest of Nami no Kuni were two nuke-nin. They were currently residing inside a relatively big wooden building. The building was elevated in the air, using the trees around it as beams.

One of the nuke-nin was lying in a bed, while the other was carefully watching over the bedridden one.

Zabuza and Haku had been resting at their hideout in Nami no Kuni for about a day now, ever since they had met and fought with Kakashi and his group. Zabuza had tried to kill Tazuna but had failed, and had been forced to retreat. Or well, Haku, his tool, had helped him escape.

The muscular man, the one lying in bed, had sustained several severe injuries. He had been slammed into a tree with great force, impaled by a few kunai and pierced in the neck by few senbon, the last injury coming from Haku. The senbon had been a means to save the Zabuza, but had left him weak and vulnerable. He would need another week of rest if he was to kill the bridge-builder Tazuna. To be honest, that wasn't really true. He could have easily killed the old man had said old man been alone, but Tazuna had Kakashi and his team. So killing the bridge-builder would have to wait.

Haku stiffened and readied a few senbon in her hand as she heard the main-door open. Three men were slowly walking through the door into the large room where Zabuza and Haku resided. One of them were short, another was of normal height and the third was fairly tall.

The tallest man was standing to the left of the shortest one. His face was scarred and he wore an eye-patch over his right eye. He had the look of a warrior of many battles. The man had a small brown beard as well as brown hair which was tied with several knots.

His bare torso and arms were covered in several tattoos. One tattoo could also been seen on his leg, just below where his striped hakama ended. The look wouldn't be complete without a weapon, and sure enough a large katana was attached to the man's hip. He was one of Gatō's personal bodyguards, Waraji.

On the right of the short man stood another warrior. This man didn't have the rugged look like the tall man did. No, he had a thinner face and a leaner body, but his glare was just as nasty as his partner's. He was quite the opposite of the other warrior, excluding their eyes and weapon of choice.

Just like his companion, he had a katana attached to his hip. But instead of showing his bare chest he wore a much too large jacket and a cap. It looked like he was visiting Yuki no Kuni, not Nami no Kuni. You could spot his shoulder-length gray hair under his cap. He was another of Gatō's personal bodyguards, Zouri.

The tiny man between the two warriors was indeed the shipping magnate Gatō. He had a disgusting grin on his face, one of pure malice, befitting a man of his reputation. A pair of black glasses blocked his eyes from view, but they were sure to be just as nasty as his grin was. He had brown, puffy hair and could be seen wearing a black suit with a purple tie. If you were to describe him in just a few words it would be 'a classic villain.'

"Tsk, I thought Kirigakure no Kijin would be stronger, but it turns out that he's pretty pathetic," the small man snarled. Zabuza made no attempt to answer or even acknowledge the short man. He had let a few brats get under his skin just the day before and look where it had got him. He would not let Gatō's insults get the better of him.

The two bodyguards moved in front of Gatō and readied their swords. But neither Zabuza nor Haku moved. However, Haku was ready to intervene in case they dared to try anything. She was not in the best of moods. It was hard to be in a good mood around Gatō, after all.

"Nah, wait a second," the shipper motioned for his bodyguards to take a step back. "Don't you dare ignore me, Zabu…," Gatō was reaching towards Zabuza, but before he could grab a hold of the man or even finish his sentence Haku gripped his wrist.

"Don't you dare touch him with your filthy hands," she hissed at the short man. Her eyes had lost their usual kindness, and were instead radiating hatred for the old man. She tightened her grip around Gatō's wrist. A loud yell and several cracking sounds filled the air.

Zouri and Waraji were about to fully draw their katana, but were left gripping nothing. In between them stood the girl, holding two katana against their throats. She had moved faster than the three of them could see, and had even disarmed them before they even managed to fully draw their weapons. They were both dumbfounded at the speed and strength of the girl. Gatō had no time to be startled by Haku as he was busy screaming in pain.

"You better leave. I'm angry right now," the girl's expression had worsened, if that was even possible. She emitted a dangerous aura, and let the katana slightly cut the throats of the bodyguards. It was not life threating, but a few drops dripped onto the floor. It was enough for them to know that she was being serious.

Gatō, who by now had ran towards the door, was clutching his broken wrist and cursing at the girl. His bodyguards were soon next to him, leaving their katana to the girl. They did not want to risk angering her further.

"I-I'll le-let you g-get away with it this t-time, but don't yo-you d-dare fail m-me a s-second t-time!" Gatō was in pain and was on the verge of wetting his pants, so his threat wasn't all that threatening. Especially considering his stuttering. The short man tried his best at being intimidating, but it had failed miserably. The three of them quickly left the hideout when Haku glared at them once more.

Zabuza eased his grip of the kunai he was hiding under his cover. He had been prepared to kill Gatō, but Haku had stopped him. They had to be patient to successfully complete their mission. Not their mission from Gatō, but their true mission. The shipping magnate was just the stepping stone for the two nuke-nin.

The bedridden man looked over at his tool, whose expression now had changed. She once again radiated her usual kindness, and smiled at the bedridden man.

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Sakura was panting excessively and feeling completely exhausted. They had been training for hours now, and her chakra and stamina was not limitless, unlike her two companions. She couldn't believe that they were still doing the tree climbing exercise.

Naruto wasn't improving all that much, but the blonde had managed to take a few steps up the tree at least. Every single step towards the top seemed to give the blonde new powers.

Sasuke was faring far better. The Uchiha had managed to climb about halfway up the tree, and he had managed it in a short amount of time. However, over the last hour or so Sasuke hadn't managed to improve one bit. He could see the blonde slowly catching up to him, and it frustrated him.

The pinkette had explained to her two teammates how she focused her chakra, and her trick of mastering the tree climbing exercise. Sasuke had listened nonchalantly to her explanation, while Naruto had been just as enthusiastic as always. They sure had some unique personalities Sakura had mused.

The kunoichi had, after explaining to the two of them, moved over towards the water. She had been instructed by Kakashi to work on her water walking rather than her tree climbing. It was harder, but well worth it when you had mastered it. Not only would she be able to run and fight on top of the water properly, she would also be able to utilize every little bit of chakra in her body to the max.

But what the silver-haired Jōnin had failed to tell her was the amount of times she would fall into the water. She was absolutely dripping wet at this point! Her clothes were sticking to her skin in an uncomfortable way, but she was too exhausted to move back to the house to change her clothes. She settled with sitting down instead, leaning against one of the many trees while watching the other two compete with each other.

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Kakashi had left his Genin on their own a while ago, after making sure that they were doing everything right. To be honest, he hadn't had to do that much. Sakura had proved to be an effective teacher. Kakashi hadn't left it up to Sakura due to being lazy though, it had been quite the opposite. He wanted to strengthen Team 7's teamwork. He believed that making them work together, as well as train together, would make them much stronger. They needed to be able to trust each other unconditionally.

The silver-haired Jōnin had to protect their client as well, who was working on the bridge. Sure, he was injured, but he doubted Gatō would send another shinobi after them. Kakashi would be able to protect the old man against a few thugs while being injured, but the shipping magnate would probably not bother sending anyone other than Zabuza, and said nuke-nin was still recovering. He estimated that the risk of encountering an enemy before the week was over was almost non-existent.

There were quite a few people working on the bridge, something that surprised Kakashi. From the sounds of it the people of Nami no Kuni were very scared of Gatō and wouldn't dare defying the man in any way. Yet here they were, working on the bridge, which was an act against the evil little man. But the overall mood on the bridge wasn't very good. The workers all looked tired and frightened, as if they thought Gatō and his thugs would jump them any second now.

But Kakashi couldn't blame them and he was sure that the old man would let them leave the bridge if they just asked. Tazuna might have argued a bit before letting them go, but the old man was always thinking of what was best for Nami no Kuni and its people. If someone felt unsafe working on the bridge, which most of them most likely did, they would be allowed to leave. But Kakashi knew that Tazuna himself would never leave. He was glad, because that made the mission worthwhile doing. If the client himself would have given up on the bridge because Konoha was present, he would have lost his respect for the old man. Luckily Tazuna had his heart in the right place, and fought as hard as he could against Gatō to free his country.

"So, how are your kids doing?" the old man asked. He had been present when Kakashi had explained about the training they were supposed to do, but the old man hadn't understood much more than just training. He didn't really get all this chakra stuff. "Are you sure you can leave them alone?"

Kakashi was sitting on the ledge of the bridge, leaning against the fence. He was injured, so he was allowed to slack off a little bit. He closed his book and looked up at the old man, who was working hard, carrying building materials back and forth on the bridge.

"Well," the Jōnin began, "Sakura is doing well. She did have good chakra control to begin with, so this exercise should be easy enough for her," Tazuna would have been surprised if he hadn't seen the pinkette in the fight against Zabuza. The pinkette didn't look all that capable, but Tazuna knew by now that she was. He hadn't really taken her seriously when they ha first met, the same with the blonde. But they both had proven him wrong.

"As for Naruto and Sasuke… they are both stubborn enough not to lose to one another. They will be able to complete the training," Tazuna chuckled at Kakashi's response. He had noticed the rivalry between the two of them. It was a refreshing sight to see. The two of them would argue and bicker about the smallest of things, but they shared a bond with each other. Neither of them would admit it though. Heck, neither of them were probably aware of it yet.

"I must apologize, Kakashi-san. When I first laid my eyes upon your team I thought that they were just a trio of losers, and the fact that I had only paid for a C-ranked mission strengthened that belief," Kakashi just watched the old man without any particular expression on his face. He didn't really believe that the old man needed to apologize anymore, "But they are all very capable, and I'm sure that they will do great things," Kakashi smiled at the old man in agreement.

'You have great intuition, Tazuna-san,' the silver-haired Jōnin thought as he relaxed and opened his book once more.

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Inari had been acting strange the whole day. He hadn't seemed as depressed as he used to be, even though he still didn't smile or talk much he seemed different. Tsunami was happy with the change, but wondered what had happened to her son. She had tried asking him, but didn't learn much. Another thing happened during dinner that evening that surprised the young woman.

The young boy, who often ate alone in his room, sat down next to Naruto during dinner. He didn't say anything. He just sat there waiting for dinner. Tazuna and Tsunami were both happy to have Inari joining them. Team 7 weren't aware of fact that Inari often ate alone, so they didn't really think it was anything unusual.

Naruto gave the boy a warm smile, who in turn did nothing, but his cheeks were slightly redder than before. Neither of the two of them had talked since last night, and they hadn't told anyone about their conversation either. Naruto had felt a little embarrassed at what she had done, as had Inari. The boy hadn't really known what to do. He hadn't felt this way in a long time. The last time was when Kaiza was still alive, and for a young boy like Inari that was a lifetime ago. He didn't really know how to act around the blonde, nor how to act around his mother or grandfather anymore. He couldn't just let go of the past just like that. It would take a bit longer for the boy to be able to be able to genuinely smile in front of others, but he felt like he was finally on the right way.

Everyone but Tsunami were sitting at the table. The woman had just finished cooking dinner, and was preparing the table. Sakura had offered to help her, but she had firmly declined. They were guests in her home and they were protecting her father. She would not allow them to do any sort of housework.

Tsunami barely had time to put the food down before Naruto started piling food on her plate. The blonde had no manners whatsoever. Team 7 were used to it by now, but Tazuna, Tsunami and even Inari were surprised. It wasn't that they were offended or anything, they were just surprised seeing the amount of food the blonde was piling up. Tsunami and Inari were both a bit more surprised than Tazuna, both of them knowing Naruto's gender. It sure wasn't a feminine way of eating. Not that Naruto was acting all that feminine to begin with.

"Oi, Naruto-baka, show some manners!" Naruto felt a fist connect with her head, courtesy of Sakura. Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi were all used to this behavior by now. This happened every single time they went out to eat at Ichiraku's Ramen, but the pinkette had hoped that the blonde would show some restraint. These people weren't used to the blonde's antics after all.

"Buwf Shakursa-chawn," the blonde spoke with her mouth full, "I neewd to phinish fasht..." She wasn't able to finish her sentence. She felt another whack on her head, and saw Sakura glaring at her.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!"

Everyone, excluding two boys, laughed at the blonde and pinkette. Dinner at Tazuna's house hadn't been this lively in a long, long time. Even Inari had a small, almost non-noticeable, smile on his face, but it quickly disappeared. It wasn't replaced with a scowl though. His expression was more neutral than anything. Sasuke wasn't laughing nor smiling, but at least he didn't look too annoyed.

Naruto was used to people laughing at her in the Academy, and became stiff for a second, but she realized almost right away that they weren't laughing at her. They were laughing with her . The girl just rubbed the back of her neck, and smiled sheepishly before continuing wolfing down her food.

The blonde finished first, as expected, and had even asked for seconds, much to Sakura's dismay. Naruto being Naruto was able to finish her second serving even faster while the others were still busy eating their first portion. She was just about to ask for a third serving, but felt her stomach disagreeing with her. Naruto put her hand over her mouth in an attempt to not throw up. She managed to somehow keep her food down, but her face wasn't looking too good.

"Nice face, dobe," Sasuke, and everyone else, had noticed Naruto's face and her almost throwing up. Tsunami had left the table in order to get a bucket for the poor girl.

"Shut up, te…" The girl wasn't able to finish her sentence. She felt like throwing up once more, and it showed on her face. Her efforts to keep herself from throwing up was in vain. The bucket, which Tsunami had placed next to the blonde, was slowly being filled.

Sakura was disgusted and furious at the same time, screaming at the blonde to show some manners and to stop eating like a pig. Kakashi had just put his face in his palm in a defeated manner. Tsunami was fussing over the blonde, Inari had a slight look of worry in his eyes, but avoided looking at the blonde and Tazuna was busy drinking sake, not really noticing Naruto throwing up.

"Naruto, the food won't run away. You should take it easy and eat slowly, it's better for you," the masked Jōnin stated as he lifted his head from his palm. At this point he was more afraid of the blonde dying due to overeating or getting something stuck in her throat rather than being killed by enemy shinobi. He shrugged at the thought.

The blonde coughed a couple of times after finishing throwing up, before turning to her sensei with her trademark foxy grin on her face.

"I know that, Kakashi-sensei," she giggled a bit girlishly, something that raised a couple of eyebrows on her teammates, "but I need to get stronger so I can defeat Zabuza and Gatō! I made a promise after all."

Inari felt his heart ache. He wanted to believe that the blonde could defeat Gatō, but he was afraid of her getting hurt at the same time. He had seen what Gatō could do, and it wasn't pretty. He didn't want to think about whether or not the blonde would die. He left the table, avoiding eye-contact with everyone, and went up to his room.

Naruto, who had started shadow-boxing while still sitting at the table, again much to Sakura's dismay, noticed Inari getting up. She more or less knew how the boy felt, but decided against calling out to him. Inari was frail at the moment, and calling him out in front of everyone would probably just worsen his mood. It was one of the rare moments the blonde actually thought before doing something.

She had promised him before that she would free Nami no Kuni from Gatō, and she did indeed intend to keep that promise. She stopped her silly boxing, and stood up. The blonde hadn't been able to eat a third bowl of food, but it didn't really matter right now. She went towards the door with firm steps and a look of determination, and told them all that she'd be back later.

There was a silence at the table for a couple of seconds. No one really knew why both youngsters suddenly went up and left. Tsunami and Tazuna had an inkling as of why Inari left, and Team 7 well… Naruto was Naruto, the number one surprising ninja. Who knew what that prankster was up to?

The silence was soon broken by Tsunami, who asked if Naruto would be okay alone. Kakashi assured the woman that Naruto was fully capable of taking care of herself. The pronoun was missed by both Sakura and Tazuna, but not by a certain raven-haired boy. He first figured that Kakashi just made a mistake, but soon questioned that thought.

He had seen Tsunami's relived face when Kakashi told her Naruto would be safe, meaning that she would have heard the pronoun as well, but the woman hadn't been surprised. Sasuke was smart for his age, and began putting two and two together. Naruto had been treated differently by some people, and the blonde had been put to sleep by Tsunami alone…

'I'm probably just overanalyzing things,' he quickly dismissed the thought as silly, and continued eating at his own pace.

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A few days passed, and each day consisted of training, training and more training. Naruto had been able to train a bit more than Sasuke and had thanks to that caught up with the boy.

The blonde had gotten some extra training in during the evenings and nighttime, which had been unknown to the rest of her team, including Kakashi. But during the third day of training, Sasuke had finally confronted Naruto about the sudden increase in chakra control. He had been somewhat surprised at the answer, but thinking back he really shouldn't have been. Naruto was crazy about training; the blonde wanted to become Hokage after all, and all the late night "walks" were suspicious to begin with. Naruto had snuck out to train in order to surpass him. Sasuke was not about to let that happen, so when the blonde had left after dinner he had done the same.

They were currently dead-even, both of them close to reaching the top branches of the trees. But it was late evening of the third day, and both Naruto and Sasuke were panting and sweating in exhaustion. They had been training non-stop ever since dinner, and they were both feeling the weariness kicking in, but neither would back down.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other with eyes burning with rivalry, stubbornness and just a tad bit of respect. Neither of them would admit the latter though. A trail of dust formed behind them as they rushed towards their respective tree once more. The grass on the ground had started to wither due to them running back and forth so much, forming a sort of path.

Neither of them backed down as they rushed up their trees, but they were both exhausted so they couldn't make it very high. It didn't take long for them to fall back to the ground. They didn't even make it halfway up the tree, but as soon as they hit the ground they got back up again, ready to try again.

Another hour passed and the two of them could be seen on the ground, both of them on their backs with their feet and legs up against their respective tree. They weren't panting as much as before, but they were still tired.

"Had enough yet, teme?" Naruto turned her head away from the night sky and faced the Uchiha. It had become a habit for her to call the boy teme. She did truly believe that he was a teme, just not maybe as big of a teme as she once thought. Naruto still thought that he was a stuck-up, cynical, arrogant bastard, but at the same time she knew that he was a hard-worker. She had also learned a little bit about the Uchiha Massacre, so she knew that the boy had had a hard time growing up as well. Still, he didn't need to be a teme all the time!

"Hn," Sasuke just grunted as usual. He had missed out on two evenings of training, which had irritated him. The boy would usually take any and every chance he got at training, so why didn't he think of training after dinner like Naruto had? It was so frustrating for him to see the dead-last catching up to him. Heck, Naruto had managed to get even with him when it came to the tree climbing exercise.

Thinking of Naruto caused some mixed emotions to stir inside the boy. Naruto obviously kept some secrets from him, and from Team 7 in general, but the boy kept telling himself that he didn't care about that. 'The dobe can do what he want as long as he don't get in my way.'

"Heeeeello, earth to Sasuke," Sasuke hadn't realized that he had been lost in thought for about a minute. Naruto's voice had finally registered with the Uchiha.

"What?" he scoffed, not really acknowledging the blonde. He kept his gaze up at the stars, but he didn't watch them. Sure, he saw them, but only in a shallow, superficial way. Ever since the death of his clan that had been the ordinary way for Sasuke. He had one goal, and one goal only. He wouldn't let anything or anyone get in his way, and he had learned to keep people at bay by acting this way.

"Sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way, Sasuke-kun," she decided to belittle him, "but as I was saying, I'm going to go for a walk in the forest before I go back," Naruto stood up, and walked away without waiting for a reply. Not that she was expecting one to begin with. Without turning her head she spoke once more, "You better not follow me this time," she had soon disappeared into the dark forest.

"Hn, like I'd want to follow you, dobe," he quietly spoke to no-one as he was left alone.

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Nami no Kuni was a nation filled with many rivers and thick mangrove forests. Naruto had been walking through these forests the last couple of nights, and had even swum in the rivers to cool down after all her training. It had been during one of these explorations, as she would like to call them, that she had found a beautiful forest glade, which was where she was heading right now.

It didn't take all that long for the young girl to arrive. As soon as she entered the hidden glade she saw a river with crystal clear water. It wasn't a very deep river; if she stood up the water it would just reach up to her thighs. The whole area was covered by the famous mangrove of Nami no Kuni, which made the place very hard to find. You couldn't see it from the outside. There were a couple of places where the mangrove wasn't as thick where you could enter the glade, but it was still very well hidden.

When she had first found the place she'd been ecstatic. The girl had never left Konoha before, so exploring Nami no Kuni and actually finding a beautiful place like the glade had been wonderful. It was like her own secret base!

She had found this place during the first night she had been out. The girl had felt exhausted after all the training, and felt like taking a bath however she had not wanted to bathe out in the open, so she had started searching for a nearby river inside the forest. With a bit of luck she had stumbled through the thick forest into the hidden glade. It had been the scent and the sound of water that had guided her through the narrow path between the trees.

So once again Naruto found herself in the same hidden glade. She looked around, though not as much as done the first time she was there, before she undressed herself. She soon stood in only her underwear and chest bindings. It was summer, so it wasn't very cold outside, but she did feel a little bit chilly. It was probably not due to the weather, but due to the fact that she wasn't used to being almost naked outside. It was summer after all, so the water wasn't too cold either; it'd just take a couple of seconds to get used to it once you got in.

The blonde jinchūriki looked around the glade once more just to be sure, and pulled off her underwear and unwrapped her chest bindings. She was just about to jump in, but remembered her hitai-ate. Naruto was very proud of her hitai-ate. Not only did it prove that she was a true ninja, but it was also a symbol of trust, given to her by Iruka. He had truly recognized her as Uzumaki Naruto, ninjaof Konohagakure no Sato. She pulled her hands towards the back of her head and untied her hitai-ate.

Her hair seemed to grow bit longer as soon as the hitai-ate came off. It was no illusion; her hair had been growing more rapidly over the last couple of weeks. It wasn't long by any means, but a bit longer than usual. Ever since it started growing faster she had started to tie it up under her hitai-ate, which made it look shorter than it actually was.

Her clothes and bindings were soon scattered all over the place, but she didn't really care. Naruto was never one to neatly fold her clothes anyway. She did however carefully put her hitai-ate down, not wanting to scratch it. It was one of her most treasured possessions.

"This feels sooooooooo good," she walked into the river, and started swimming around. The water was colder than the previous nights, but the girl didn't mind. She always showered in cold water back in Konoha anyway, so this kind of temperature didn't bother her.

She soon started humming as she relaxed in the river. Water had always calmed the blonde. She hadn't had many opportunities to take baths in Konoha, so she would take any opportunity she could.

…

Sasuke didn't follow Naruto. He simply walked where he wanted to walk, nothing more and nothing less. Why would he be following the dobe anyway? No, he needed to scout the area around Tazuna's house, and if the blonde happened to be in said area it was the dobe's own fault.

The Uchiha had left the clearing about fifteen minutes after Naruto after a bit of pondering, and had ultimately decided to scout the area. By now thirty minutes had passed since he had left the training ground, and he hadn't seen any signs of Naruto. The thought had occurred to him that there actually was an enemy nearby, but he couldn't really sense anyone so he doubted it.

His second thought seemed to be the most believable. Naruto had tricked him into going into the forest. Sasuke cursed himself, but quickly corrected his thoughts. He didn't follow Naruto. He would have gone into the forest whether Naruto did it or not.

The mangrove slowly grew thicker and thicker as he kept on walking. He was just about to turn back when he heard a humming sound. It came from inside the wall of trees. Sasuke was now on alert; the humming was feminine. As far as he knew only Naruto was out in the forest tonight. However there was something familiar about the tone, but he couldn't quite place it.

Sasuke was not that curious of a person, but something about the humming had triggered his interest. It could be an enemy, so he had to move carefully and observe whoever that voice belonged to. But the wall of trees effectively blocked his path. He didn't have enough stamina or chakra to break through the trees, but even if did he wouldn't have. He did not want to alert the potential enemy of his whereabouts. Another possibility would have been to use his chakra to climb the tree, which was a bit ironic. But it was the same issue there. He didn't have enough chakra or stamina to pull it off.

He was a bit angry at himself for not being able to utilize his skills when they were needed, but he kept his cool regardless. He had to find some way in between the trees. He moved slowly and quietly alongside the wall of trees, and soon enough he found a small passage through the trees.

As he moved through the trees the humming got louder. If it was an enemy, it sure was a stupid one. Probably at Naruto's level. Who in their right mind would announce their location like that? No, Sasuke dismissed the idea of an enemy, but he still did not want to alert whoever it was so he kept on walking silently.

The wall of trees got thinner and thinner and Sasuke started slowing down even more. He soon found himself gazing over a fairly large clearing. Sasuke was still standing on the path between the trees, using the darkness to his advantage. Before moving in he wanted to scout the area, to find the source of the humming.

It didn't take more than a second for him to find the humming person. At the far side of the glade was a river and in the river he saw a figure. It was nighttime so it was naturally pretty dark outside, but Sasuke could make out some of the proportions of the figure. It was most likely a woman. It looked like a fairly young woman with short hair. But with the darkness it was hard for him to make out anything of significance.

Sasuke squinted his eyes in an effort to see better. A couple of seconds passed before he suddenly stopped. Here he was peeking on a woman in a river. Said woman was obviously bathing, though he couldn't really see her naked skin. Sasuke was no pervert, and he surely didn't want to risk being labeled as one. If Naruto would find out that he was peeking the blonde would have a field day. Sasuke would never hear the end of it. But speaking of Naruto, where was the stupid blonde?

Another thought entered the Uchiha's mind, a thought he had had before. But was this really…?

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Okay, so this chapter is a bit late. I meant to have it up waaay earlier. It has been done for a while after all. What I wanted was to find a beta-reader/cheerleader for my story, but alas I have no friends and no one has replied to my forum post so QQ, no luck in that department.

This chapter was meant to be a build-up I guess. Not much happening. Hope I'm not making characters to OOC. Yadda, yadda, yadda, more stuff gonna happen in the next chapter… hopefully.