So this chapter took waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy to long to get out and i will make only a few minor excuses. One work was bullshit dealing with people missing work or calling in. I run a store so whenever issues come up I have to deal with it and its just draining on me mentally and making me not want to write.

This chapter was also rather uninteresting to write so i had a hard time motivating myself to do so, and i refused to just put out something bad. So read and hopefully enjoy and one last time sorry for the long delay.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Shinmei-ryu

The group was now sitting in a room in Tazuna's house, their teacher still unconscious from after the fight. With the bridge builder help they had managed to get their sensei to his home. They had been worried at first, but after they had found no wounds they assumed it was just exhaustion.

"So what do we do now?" Naruto asked aloud.

"Well our mission is still in place" Hinata says "We still need to protect Tazuna"

"What did you two do during that fight?" Sasuke asks suddenly "There was no way Hinata should have been able to stand against that huge weapon"

"That is actually a good question Sasuke" Kakashi says from laying down startling the kids. The three of them jumping slightly.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asks

"They mean our senjutsu Naruto-kun" Hinata says before continuing "Senjutsu is gathering energy from nature and using it to empower your body and ninjutsu. As for my weapon it's made of a material called ironwood and is as hard as steel while maintaining the properties of wood"

"Teach me how to do that senjutsu" Sasuke basically demands from the other two.

"We can't, even if we wanted to" Naruto speaks up

"Why not?"

"Because in order to learn how to use it, you have to let natural energy into your body. If this energy is not controlled, and trust me it takes a long time to learn that, you turn to stone."

"You turn to stone?" Kakashi asks sounding a bit sceptical

"Yup. Happened to both of us, only partially though. The only way to learn to use natural energy is to have someone who can pull the energy out of you if you lose control."

"Well that's a valuable tool for what's to come" Kakashi suddenly says from the floor startling the three of them.

"You think we are going to have more fighting sensei?" Hinata asks surprised

"Unfortunately, I think Zabuza is still alive."

That sentence shocked all three of his students "But didn't you check to see if he was dead?"

"I did, but after thinking on the weapons that kid used to kill Zabuza it's possible that he was only put into a temporary death state. Senbon like those can be used to paralyze body parts and slow all bodily functions to almost stopped, making it appear at first glance that someone is dead"

"So what do we do then?" Hinata asks

Kakashi simply gives his signature eye smile "We are going to train"

The three students were in a clearing in the woods looking at their instructor. He had said they will be doing some additional training but they had no idea what. Kakashi was making use of a pair of crutches as he had yet to recover from his fight.

"So the first thing that i would teach you kids now would normally be the tree climbing exercise. However I know that you kids already have that mastered that." Kakashi smiled at that "So instead I will be showing you all some more individual techniques to practice. Now i'll start with Sasuke as you two can still practice what you have for the moment"

Hinata and Naruto nod as Sasuke heads a little deeper into the woods following their instructor. Sasuke suddenly asks as they get far enough away from the others "Why do you have the sharingan?"

Kakashi sighed as he had expected this but hoped it would not come "That's a story for another time. Right now we should focus on training, I will tell you when we get back to the village" Sasuke did not look happy at that but he nodded in agreement. "Good then we will work on figuring out your elemental attributes"

His student nods and Kakashi pulls out a small square of paper and hands it over "Channel your chakra into that and depending how it reacts will tell us what affinity you have" Sasuke did exactly as instructed and the paper quickly crinkled up. "So it appears that you are highly attuned to raiton chakra so we will work on that. I'm the same element so that makes things easier.

"Using your chakra with an element is very different than using it normally. We will start with this" Kakashi says as he holds up his to hands facing each other about half a foot apart from each other. After a moment a short spark of electricity flies from his left hand to his right. "That was the most basic of raiton exercises, a simple spark of electricity. So i assume at some point you have experienced a small shock from static?" at his pupils nod Kakashi continues "This is exactly what i am doing here. Think of your chakra as being that electricity and don't try to control it too tightly, it will find the right path it needs to take. Practice until you can do that then we will move onto the next step"

He watches and his student once again nods before heading back to the other two. Arriving back at the first clearing he sees, and hears, Hinata playing her instrument once again. He stopped to think for a moment. Sasuke was easy to think of the next step but what about his other two students?

He could not show Hinata anything that fit into her current fighting style of mainly staying in the back with a bow and Naruto's swordsmanship was at least as refined as his was back when he still had one. After a bit of thinking he came up with a plan he headed out towards Naruto first.

"Alright Naruto you're up next" Naruto stopped swinging his sword and nodded following. Hinata smiled softly at him and he returned the gesture waving as he passed through the treeline after his teacher.

"Naruto, I just want to confirm, besides the academy ninjutsu do you know any other?"

The blonde shakes his head "No. Kima-nee-chan and Myrei didn't know any to teach us. Don't really need any though. The shinmei-ryu is all I need"

"Now that's a poor decision" Kakashi says "You should make use of any advantage you can get, even if it only gives you a tiny advantage, and with your chakra supply I can think of one ninjutsu that you could make great use of"

He had his students curiosity as he put his hands into a cross seal "Kage bunshin no jutsu" He calls out and a second person appears looking exactly like Kakashi.

"Another clone? I suck at clones!" He whines much to his teachers apparent amusement.

"This is not your ordinary clone" as both the Kakashi's lightly hit the side of Naruto's arm. Naruto looks back confused for a second before realization dawned on him. "Figured it out? Yup the Kage bunshin creates solid clones that can actually hurt people. The other thing to remember is that they can't take a hit, well more precisely they can take exactly one hit." Kakashi pulls out a small scroll and hands it over "I have no doubt that you will be able to figure it out"

Kakashi looks over one last time before he heads back over to his final student. Now he knew that he had no skills he could teach her but he could teach her about strategies to employ as a primary long ranged fighter himself. Well no talk so much as have her go over a scroll he had prepared while he found a place nearby to read his book. He had no doubt that his students could learn what he taught them.

The three genin head back to their hosts house. The two boys look exhausted, but not without anything to show for it. Naruto had managed to learn how to use the kage-bushin and while Sasuke was not finished the exercise he had been assigned, he had been able to start to feel the electricity forming.

Hinata was the only one who appeared fine as her training was more of a study than anything physical. Kakashi was quite happy at the rapid progress that the two boys had made. He was expecting the tasks he had given the two of them to take most of the week, not a few hours.

He helped them into the house and were greeted by the smell of cooking food "Welcome back" Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, says as they enter the room "You're just in time for dinner"

The kids happily sit down around the table and only a few minutes later the food was served. It was certainly nothing extravagant, plain rice with some fish, but after training all day they were certainly thankful for it.

Tazuna was also sitting with them along with his grandson, Inari. Inari out of all of them at the table was sitting there looking as though the world had already ended. He slowly ate his food as he watched those kids laughing without a care in the world.

Sasuke looked over watching Naruto and his girlfriend. They were sitting together and the boy seemed to insist on feeding Hinata, much to her embarrassment, and the amusement of the adults. That only seemed to annoy the boy more than he already was. Inari decided he had enough, slamming his chopsticks onto the table and stormed off.

Naruto and Hinata look over at where he left, Naruto's chopsticks still in her mouth "What's his problem?"

"It's a long story" Tazuna says with a heavy sigh. "Sit down I'll share it with you"

With that Tazuna entered into his story about Inari's father and Gatou coming into the town to take over for his shipping business. He also explained why it was so impactful on the smaller boy.

"So that's what happened. It's why pretty much everyone has given up"

The leaf nin seemed to be a lot more subdued after hearing his story. Sasuke quietly finished eating and started to head off to bed "Not like it matters. We are still here to do our job"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Naruto says annoyed

With a sigh Kakashi speaks up "Sasuke is right. It does not change our objective here. We are still here to defend our client like we were paid to do. That is what we need to focus on, not Inari"

Naruto frowns "I don't like that. Couldn't we help him?"

"We don't have the luxury of time. You three need to rest up and then get back to training in the morning" He speaks in an authoritative tone "Now head off to sleep after you finish eating"

"Hai!" the two remaining students say before finishing their food

"Oh where will you be sleeping?" Tsunami asks

"Huh? I'll be sleeping with Hina-chan" Naruto says as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"We can't have her sleeping with a boy can we?" She asks looking at Kakashi

"But we have been doing it for years" Naruto responds

"Really?" Tsunami replies

"We were sharing a room when we were training since we were three" Hinata explains

"Oh. Wait you have been training since you were three?" she responds surprised

"Yes, just after i was kidnapped" She says with a slight smiles

"Oh, okay then…" Tsunami says, unsure of how exactly to respond to that.

"Don't worry about them" Kakashi speaks up seemingly amused at the conversation "They are responsible enough" With that the two of them headed off to go to sleep.

"Well I guess i will be off as well" Kakashi says and heads off to sleep, slower than the rest due to his injuries.

"Is it really so odd that we share a room?" Naruto asks as he takes his shirt off and places Balmung beside his bed.

"I think it is for most people" Hinata responds as she grabs her own change of clothes from her bag. She starts to take off her own clothes changing into her sleeping clothes "I'm changing"

That is all she needed to say, she trusted Naruto enough to know that he would not sneak a peek at her changing, and she was right. Despite dating for a few years now they had never done more than kiss, not too surprising when you considered their age.

"Finished" she announced and Naruto finally turned around smiling at her, which she happily returned. "We should get to bed, we still have training"

"Says you, all you're doing is reading" Naruto says with a small pout making Hinata giggle at him

"Doesn't mean we don't need sleep" She insists going to lay down on her sleeping bag before the blonde gently grabs her wrist pulling her in close

He lays a gentle kiss on her lips which he holds for a few seconds "Goodnight hime" he whispers pulling away leaving the girl blushing.

"Goodnight Naruto" she responds in a light voice before they lay down to go to sleep.

Haku was looking around the early morning looking for the necessary herbs for Zabuza. She soon noticed something that was not normally around, well someone. A person was laying against a nearby tree. Upon closer inspection she recognised him as one of the genin from the fight the other day. In an instant she had senbon in her hands between her fingers, slipped down from her sleeve, a motion from practice that had her armed in a moment. She slowly made her way closer bringing her needles to bare as she gets close.

As she got a good look at the black haired boy resting against the tree. She soon kneeled beside the boy bringing her needles up before pausing and looking closer. He could not be any older than she was. After a moment of thought she decided against killing him. He would not be that great a threat and with Zabuza still unable to move it would put him at risk.

Sighing slightly she shakes his shoulder "Wake up. You might catch a cold"

Sasuke's hand reflexively went to the holder at the side of his leg to grab a kunai but he stopped himself from attacking once his eyes opened and he actually got a good look at the situation. He stands up and notices the girl in a kimono he had startled into falling on her ass from his hasty action when she woke him. Sighing he reaches out a hand to help the girl up.

"Thank you" she replies cheerfully despite just having been on the ground. "So if you don't mind what are you doing here?"

Sasuke looks at her before sitting back onto the ground and holding his pointer finger and thumb together on both hands making a large circle. "Training" Was his simple one word reply as he started focusing on his hands.

"You are a ninja correct?" the girls asks looking at him.

Deciding that she did not plan to leave he decided to answer her "Hn" was his simple reply with a nod.

"Why?" she asks "Is there a reason you fight?"

"To get stronger" He says his voice taking a slightly darker tone.

"You look plenty strong already" She comments

"I'm nowhere near strong enough" he says as he moved his hands apart a circle of electricity kept going between the now separate fingers.

Haku picked up a few more herbs looking back at him "Do you have any precious people? People are strongest when they are protecting someone precious to them"

Those words immediately struck a chord with Sasuke as his focus shattered and his electric paths broke. Haku could see the rage in his eyes and gulped, knowing she had said the wrong thing. The anger that came from his next sentence sent chills down her spine "All my precious people were stolen from me, and i will destroy the one who took them from me!"