Naruto walked with his team through the forest, towards Konoha. He faced the ground, in deep thought. He had just been on his first C-Rank mission, only to find out it had been changed to A-Rank. He had made an oath never to be weak and had met Haku. Haku. Naruto frowned slightly thinking of him. He remembered when he had first met him. Naruto had been passed out under a tree, and Haku had woken him up. The boy-who-looked-like-a-girl could have easily killed him.

Naruto, contrary to other people's opinions, was quite intelligent, and was rather empathic, able to almost sense people's feelings just by being near them. He had first realized this when he had met the Kyuubi. Instead of malice and evil, Naruto had only felt remorse and loneliness, no matter how much the fox tried to convince him otherwise.

Naruto shook his head slightly. He was getting off track. Where was he? Mission, Zabuza, Haku- ah! Haku. Thankfully, his mind had returned. Haku was in so many ways like Naruto. Hated for something he couldn't control, an orphan, and had a close connection with water and air. Naruto had wondered why Haku pretended to be a girl, and had never got an answer. He tried to think of any benefits. He thought to himself. A girl was always thought to be weaker, so why would he-

Naruto stopped, causing Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi to stop too, looking at him in question. That's it! Haku might have pretended to be a girl to make others underestimate him. That was so smart! He was pulled out of his thoughts when Sasuke spoke.

"Hey dobe, what's the hold up? We've got to keep moving, unless you're too tired." He sneered, trying to get the Blonde to respond. Naruto looked at him, blinking.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something." He said and Sakura gasped dramatically. While the team had gotten closer during the mission, she still didn't like Naruto all that much.

"Naruto actually thinks?!" She asked, and Kakashi chuckled, before speaking.

"What were you thinking about?" He asked, sounding curious.

"Haku."

"The cross dresser we fought? What, did you have a crush on him?" Sakura joked, and Naruto shook his head,looking kind of sick.

"No, just really respect and admire him. That's kinda gross, Sakura-chan. He was like my brother." He said, and he starting jumping again, and the rest of Team Seven followed, confused.