A pregnant pause filled the room.

Naruto would be a liar if he said he wasn't afraid of what was in front of him. This was a monster, no a beast, no, he didn't have a word to describe this entity. This thing was a destroyer of countries and nations with the flick of its tail. It never really occurred to him that an entity like this could be contained into a human. That must be truly uncomfortable and maddening. He felt the chakra around him start to boil. One of the chakra bubbles popped to the side of him. Naruto winced as he felt the heat nearly burn him. He heard the dark laugh once more.

He steeled himself as he said, "Stop playing games with me, Kyuubi."

Naruto heard silence for a moment before he heard an even larger laugh booming from the beast. He soon saw a pair of orange-yellowish eyes and a huge set of teeth glaring at him. He felt his heart stop for a mere moment before he steeled his resolve once again. He said lowly, "So you're the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I must admit, I've heard a lot about you. I'm not impressed. You don't look like much."

The Kyuubi no Kitsune bellowed in laughter. The beast of people's fears said, "So my warden has finally come to visit his poor prisoner. I must admit, you are not much to look at. But I guess after looking into your memories, I can see some strength." Naruto was complexed. Since when was the Kyuubi able to get into his memories. Before he could say anything, Kyuubi spoke, "Oh yes I can see your memories. From when you were a lil baby to now. In fact, I know more about you than you know about yourself!"

The way Kyuubi spoke was in a mocking tone. The Kyuubi knew he was getting under the Uzumaki's skin. The Kyuubi wasn't wrong though. The Kyuubi was bothering him. However, Naruto calmed him before saying, "Kyuubi, You honestly have no idea who I am or anything about me really."

The Kyuubi was amused by this. He started to toy with the boy's head. "Oh? Is that so? I guess Fenikkusu and Karasu haven't told you about me. For that matter, how is Reaver and Fawkes doing?" The Kyuubi's large mouth gained a huge smile as it saw the utter shock coursing through Naruto's whiskered face. Kyuubi taunted some more, "Oh? I guess you don't want to talk about that. Now, now, are you sure that you're really equipped to discuss anything with an entity you know nothing about?"

Naruto for his part was not tipping his hand on his thoughts. Much to the Kyuubi's confusion Naruto gained a smirk on his face. He relied, "If you know me as you well say you do, then you should already know the answer to that question." The Kyuubi bellowed as his laugh knocked Naruto down to the ground. As Naruto got up and dusted himself off, he saw the gleaming teeth near the gate. It caught Naruto off guard a bit.

"I must admit, you're a big talker if anything else. You're like a small dog who just barks and barks but doesn't have a single bite."

"Well Kyuubi as you know, anything with teeth will bite."

The Kyuubi bellowed once more. This kid has some serious balls to talk to him like that. Nonetheless, the boy was merely a means to an end. "So puppy-chan, what is it that you want from your prisoner?" Naruto was clearly irked by his new nickname but didn't let it show. He knew he had to stand firm or else the Kyuubi would start breaking his guard.

He said, "I'm your warden and landlord of this body. You are my jailer and tenant. As such, I'm going to be asking for some rent."

"Oooh, so I'm your tenant, puppy-chan and you want some rent as you say. I'm guessing you're talking about my potent chakra." Naruto nodded his head as the fox gave a huge smile. "You keep surprising with your demands and this confidence that you're exhibiting. Most certainly a trait passed down by Fenikkusu. Such an interesting-"

"You're stalling."

"Stalling? My dear puppy-chan, i have all the time in the world. Understand the only thing stopping from talking over your body, destroying it, and obliterating everything you love is this gate. But this gate is so much stronger than i thought. So i guess we'll have to work together even if it's just using my chakra. After all I can't have my host get himself killed. What an embarrassment! I would be the utter laughing stock of all the tailed beasts! I will not be embarrassed. Do you understand me, Puppy-chan?"

The boy have a little chuckle as he replied, "So the Kyuubi has a bit of a superiority complex. Who would have thought?"

"My dear Puppy-chan, I don't need a superiority complex when I am in fact superior to you."

"Says the Fox imprisoned in a human body. "

"Talking like that, you might become a demon yourself."

The Kyuubi struck a nerve and he knew it. Naruto normally was able to cancel out such thoughts. But seeing the very entity that has made him a pariah and scorned by the villagers saying this to him was a bit too much for him to handle at the moment. He gave the Kyuubi a cold glare, "Kyuubi, I will be taking your chakra."

The Kyuubi taunted the boy a little bit more, "Oh did I hit a nerve? I'm sorry. So you're demanding to use my powerful and potent chakra, are you? Well after all you are my jailor and as you say, I'm imprisoned here. Unfortunately for you, I haven't fully integrated my chakra into your body. I'll help you with this since I do not want my precious chakra wasted on a disabled child. Hell, I'll even make sure that it goes smoothly and undetected. But understand Puppy-chan, in doing so you'll feel a rush you'll never reach ever again. It will also knock you out."

Naruto gave the Kyuubi a piercing glare. He weighed his options as he knew that letting the Kyuubi tinker with anything is dangerous. Yet, by allowing the Kyuubi's chakra reserves in his system would be a great reserve and he knows his chakra better than anyone. Naruto said, "You'll not touch any part of me other than my chakra. Do you understand?" The Kyuubi nodded. Naruto said with authoritative voice, "Do it."

The Kyuubi bellowed in laughter. "Sure Puppy-chan! I will not mess with anything but your chakra reserves. After all you could always send your lackey dragon to fix it. But in the meantime it's time to go bye, bye!"

With a powerful wave Naruto was blown away from the Kyuubi and could only see darkness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX Haku XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The morning mood that harbored Nami no Sato. At this moment, there was only one person awake and she was nearing the field. She has long black hair, pale skin and large, dark-brown eyes, a slender frame. She was wearing a pink, sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-coloured swirls, that went to her ankles. Around her waist was a simple white obi tied in a bow. She had looked around the area to see if there were any reagents for her friend. As she looked around she saw a blond haired boy. Her heart stopped for nearly a second.

She easily remembered the boy from the incident earlier. She knew that the boy was strong from what he was able to do against her friend. She wasn't going to take any chances. She slowly pulled out a senbon out of her pocket. As she silently walked up to him and was about to end him. Yet something compelled her to put her senbon down. Was the boy sleeping, she thought. Who would be sleeping outside like this? She shook her head. Her mind should not be worried about such things. She picked up her senbon once more.

Before she could speak, she saw the boy yawn in her face. Her face gained a reddish blush as she took a few steps back. It had caught her off guard and she dropped to the floor with the senbon hitting the ground behind her. She saw blue eyes look back at her. The boy cocked his head to the side. He was for the most part dazed and confused. It wasn't until he fixated on her brown eyes. The blond boy asked, "Ummm who are you?"

The young lady was taken aback by the boy's lack of awareness. How can the boy that was as strong as he was before not show any awareness to the outside world. He should be able to have noticed the intent much less the weapon. She gave him a smile as she said, "Hello, my name is... Haku." The smile surprisingly put the boy in further ease, she noticed. 'I could easily kill him and it wouldn't even be a struggle. Was he really that strong or is he just an inexperienced shinobi? I don't know but I'll keep an eye on him."

The boy looked at her before blinking his eyes. She looked absolutely beautiful. He didn't know if it was her pretty face or eyes or her eyes or what but she was down right stunning. He noticed that he had been staring at her for a bit too long. He gave her a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his neck. A blush slowly grew on his face as he said, "My name is Naruto."

She cocked her head to the side and said, "Naruto, like the ramen topping? That's an interesting name. May I ask why you were sleeping outside? You can catch a cold that way." Naruto saw her face contort into concern. Naruto had a smile as he stretched himself. After the night with the Kyuubi no Kitsune, he could feel the rush of chakra flowing through his chakra system. The Kyuubi wasn't wrong when he said he never felt anything like this. Unfortunately, this was the first time that he went to sleep in a long time. As a result, his awareness is finally kicking in. However, his senses were not kicking in for her. Maybe she was just a civilian. That would make sense. He hadn't seen any of the citizens of Nami no Kato. Or maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. Either way he should be on his guard.

He replied with a shrug, "I don't catch colds. But why are you out here in the fields?"

She said simply, "I'm getting herbs for my friend. He's not feeling all that well."

Naruto was surprised by this. "Oh? What happened to your friend?"

She stiffened slightly which didn't go unnoticed by the blond shinobi. "He was in a battle a few days ago and was hit was poisoned." One thing Haku had learned from being around her "friend" is how to lie. At this point, it was definitely needed. Naruto looked at her once more before speaking.

"That's unfortunate. Is he located in the village?"

"No. He's on the other side of the village. He'll be fine. I just need to pick up some herbs." Haku didn't realize it but the blond was highly inquisitive.

"So what happened to him exactly? Like why was he fighting and who was it?"

She silently cursed but replied with a sad smile, "It was a, how should I put it, a misunderstanding. The person thought my friend was after his girlfriend but it wasn't the case. The man went after him in a jealous rage and it escalated. Luckily no one died. The officers took care of him."

"Why didn't your friend go to the hospital?"

"He hates hospitals. The smell of death lingers and it bothers him."

Naruto gave a chuckle at that. "Same here. But it seems you are doing awful lot for him. I mean it's pretty cool that you're taking care of him. But are you the only one helping him?"

She shrugged as she said, "I don't know where his other friends went. They are probably looking for supplies." Naruto became quiet for the moment. While before the alarms in his head were dead silent, now it was starting to go off. While her story was sound, something just didn't feel right. Naruto could not figure it out. He decided that it was best to stall her in the hopes of scoping her out. Naruto smiled and said, "Well in that case, let me help you with getting these herbs."

She smiled at him as she hid her senbon into the sleeve of her dress, just in case. She said, "Okay, can you grab some of the red flowers over there to your left?"

Naruto nodded as he said, "So Haku, do you have family here?"

She shook her head, "No, I'm an orphan. I wasn't born here."

Naruto's eye went up. He felt empathetic even sympathetic for the girl since like her, he was an orphan. He gave a sad smile and said, "Oh? I didn't know that. I'm sorry to hear that. Do you mind me asking how did you get here?"

She gave him a small smile, "It's fine. I've learned to cope. I'm originally from Kirigakure no Sato. Unfortunately, I was born during the time when war raged the land. My parents-," Haku stopped for the moment to gather herself and continued, "My parents were casualties of said war. I wandered around starving. It's the biggest reason I hate fighting and war. If it wasn't for my friends, I would not have survived." Naruto saw her wipe a tear from her eye. He felt absolutely terrible that she had to go through something like that.

"Is the friend that you're helping one of them?"

She shook her head and said, "Yeah. He is one of my precious people."

"Precious people?

Haku can see that Naruto was completely confused by the boy's understanding. The more she spoke with the boy, the more she felt comfortable with speaking about herself. For Haku, it was weird to speak to someone because she was always on the move. If it wasn't her moving, it was her having to finish a job. So this was unchartered waters for her. It was unfortunate that she might have to kill Naruto in the future. She just hoped that her friend gets better quickly so they can finish their mission without any casualties. She shook her head from said thoughts. She gave him a smile as she picked up more herbs. She said, "Naruto-kun, are you strong?"

Naruto's eyebrow went up. That wasn't a question he thought she was ask him. He was strong. Well he thought he was strong. Why was she wondering if he was strong? Was she trying to gauge how strong he was? This was absolutely infuriating. "What do you mean am I strong? "

She asked, "Not that type of strength. Better yet, do you have people you consider important to you?"

Naruto for his part had to think about it. Off the top of his head, there was Fenikkusu-sama and the phoenix clan, Karasu-sama and the raven clan, Hitomi, hell even Team 7 was important to him. He understood that his list was small but when they're the only people who care about your well being he guess they were important to him as well. But what was the point of her talking about precious people and strength? "Yeah, I believe I have important people in my life. I think. What do you describe as precious people?"

Haku stood up as she collected the final parts of herbs she needed. She smiled at the boy as she said, "Your precious people are the people that truly care about you and your well-being; they're the ones that truly love and appreciate you. Ultimately, they are the ones who are important to you." Naruto's eyes went wide as he could only make an o face. Haku continued, "When a person… has something important they want to protect… that's when they can become truly strong"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX Team 7 XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi looked at the other members of Team 7. He quickly took note that the blond haired boy was not at the breakfast table. While he wasn't as concerned if it was Sakura that was gone but he would to at least to know the boy's whereabouts. He said, "Good morning kiddos. By chance have any of you seen Naruto?" Kakashi looked around to see Sakura stiffen up from the boy's name. Kakashi inwardly frowned. He remembered that he needed to take care of that problem. He inwardly sighed. "I guess not. I need you guys to find your teammate and -"

"Good morning Kakashi-sensei." Naruto leapt inside from the open window. He dusted himself off and searched around. He looked and saw his two teammates looking back at him. He said, "Good morning Sasuke and Haruno-san." Sakura winced at hearing Naruto saying her name. It wasn't said icily. No it was said absolutely no emotion. It was scary. Kakashi for his part was getting sick of it. This wasn't helping the team, only dividing it. Naruto plopped down next to Sasuke and said, "I'm sorry that I'm late. I trained a bit too much and went to sleep in the fields."

Kakashi sighed in relief, "I guess that answers that question. So kiddies, as you know Zabuza isn't dead. The good news is that it's going to be at least few days before he's able to recover. That gives us some time to train and survey the area. If we're going to fight at least we will be in better shape. We are going to split up into three areas. Sasuke today you will be watching and protecting the bridge. If anything were to arise, throw a fireball in the air. Sakura, you'll be with me. Naruto, you will be going with Tsunami to the village. See what you can find out about Gato. We'll rendezvous here and catch up on some training."

Tsunami looked on behind the doorway. If she was honest with herself she was afraid. These ninjas seem to be strong but were they strong enough to beat Gato? She was worried about Inari. What will happen to him if they were to lose? Her father would be good as dead if they fail. She wished that there was more they could do. She wish there was a military or some type of protection from guys like Gato. Alas, these four will have to do. She hoped. She said in a serene voice, "Are you ready to go Naruto-kun? We have to hurry if we want some of the better quality stuff."

Naruto smiled as he stood up once more. This gave him the chance to at least clear his head of what happened with Sakura. To be honest with himself, just looking at her was making his blood boil. Maybe it was because he expected better of her. He honestly didn't know but being away might just clear his head. He said, "I'm good to go Tsunami-san. Let's get going."

After Naruto and Tsunami left, Kakashi gave Sasuke the eye to go follow the bridgebuilder. Sasuke nodded as he got up and went to the door. He knew this would be a great time as any to read the scroll about this new fire technique. He was absolutely giddy about learning a new technique. He quickly grabbed the scroll from his chair and walked out. This left Sakura, Inari, and a hobbled Kakashi. Inari quickly ran up to his room. Kakashi looked at his female student and sighed. He got up with the help of the chair. He looked at her and said, "Ok Sakura, we're going to have a little talk."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX Tsunami XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Tsunami walked down the street. While it was cloudy and grey outside, it didn't compare to the atmosphere that surrounded the people. Naruto gained a huge frown on his whiskered face as he saw the people of Nami no Kuni basically without life. It was as if they just existed. It bothered him as he saw a kid no older than 7 on the street sleeping with their rib bones showing. For Naruto, it struck a cord because the child's condition could easily have been his if it weren't for Karasu-sama and Fenikkusu-sama. It didn't help that no one was helping him either. It was utterly appalling. He whispered, "Is no one going to help the kid?"

Tsunami did not look at the boy as shook her head. This was their reality. The poor child didn't have too great of chance of surviving. While the village would love to help the child, they knew they needed to put the needs of the healthy over the weak. It's the only way they can build the bridge. It bothered her to no end that her village was like this. She saw Naruto was close to giving the boy something. She quickly but discreetly grabbed his arm. She whispered into his ear, "Don't give him anything."

"Why? He's going to starve if we don't do something."

"So will we if we do. Do you see all the merchants around?" Naruto looked around and saw that they were looking inconspicuously at the two. Every time Naruto moved his head, he could feel another pair of eyes watching him. He nodded his head slowly. She continued, "They're watching your every move. You are an outsider. They don't know you or what your attentions are. So they want to know what you're about. More like how much money you have. If you give money to the boy, when you come their shop they'll mark the prices at least 20%."

Naruto's eyes went wide as he whispered back, "20%? That's a huge gap."

She nodded her head sadly, "Yeah. They have to. If they don't they won't have nearly enough money to feed their families. The food supply chain is raising their prices because they know that the merchants are desperate and giving them aged, lower quality food is a win-win for them. They get rid of old food while making others pay for it. It doesn't help much that there are very few visitors coming to Nami. If anything, the ones that are coming are Gato's soldiers and guards. If we're lucky, they might come in and buy something but it's rare."

Naruto inwardly growled. Naruto didn't realize just how bad if a condition Nami no Kami was in. He knew it was bad when the old man lied to them but this was far worse than he could imagine. It didn't have to be this way. How did Gato get Nami no Kuni to this point? He asked in a whisper, "How did Gato come into power?"

Tsunami discreetly looked left and right. She was hoping that no one was paying attention to the two and what they were discussing. She whispered, "Not now. There are too many people around to speak about it." Naruto nodded his head as Tsunami made a left turn to one of the markets. She said, "This way, Naruto." Naruto followed and a part of him wish he hadn't. The place reminded him of home before he learned how to steal food. The food there was way passed the expiration date. The fruit was was starting to get black spots around. The bread had a small, hint of mold. The milk was about a day away from being spoiled. Naruto was starting to get flashbacks.

Naruto saw Tsunami get a small bag of rice, some beans and some milk. For him to see women trying to find food for their young children made his hand go into a fist. He wanted to punch something, anything. He felt someone hit his leg. He looked down to see a child no older than Inari bump into him. He recognized that the child tried to do the infamous 'bump and steal'. Unfortunately for the child Naruto didn't have his wallet in his pocket. All it did was raise his blood pressure.

"Your total is 8,000 ryo."

Naruto's eyes went especially wide. Just for those three items it costs that much. This was absolutely insane. He growled as Tsunami meekly paid for the items. She bid the man a good day without haste. She knew if she didn't get Naruto out of there, there will be a problem. She grabbed Naruto's hand and led him out. She whispered, "You have to blend in more than that. If you don't, you'll stick out like a sore thumb. So try to be more subtle." Naruto begrudgingly agreed as he put his hands in his pockets. His face held a sour note until he reached about 3 miles away from Tsunami's house where there was no one around. She whispered, "Naruto-san, the kid that tried to pickpocket you is connected to Gato's guards. He was checking to see if you were one of the natives."

Naruto's frowned only deepened afterwards. He knew the kid had something off about him. He sighed as he said, "So Gato is using children to do his bidding. That bastard!" Naruto slammed his fist into palm. He took a deep breath before asking, "So how did he get to power?"

Gato is from here. Nami no Kuni used to be a great segway to many different countries. CItizens of Nami are great builders and made things from boats to bridges to even rebuilding towns. Gato's family is a large reason as to why Nami was successful. It wasn't until his father died that Gato took over. He had been doing underhanded things such as making us drug mules and prostitutes. He took money, fortune, and lives away from us. "

Naruto's eyes were opened from this information. So Gato is a homegrown villain. "That's makes a bit more sense. But what does he want to do with taking out the people of Nami no Kuni?"

She looked at the cloudy sky. "I don't know."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX Gato XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gato was known for many things; patience wasn't one of them. Gatō has puffy brown hair and wears a small pair of black glasses. He also wears a black suit with a purple tie. He took a puff of his cigar as he looked over some of files on his desk. He sighed as he was hoping that Zabuza could finally take out the bridge builder and get this over with. He slammed a ream of paper on his desk before feeling the wind blow. He furrowed his brow as he squinted his eyes. No one was supposed to be here. No one had an appointment.

When the wind stopped, there were two cloaked figures appeared in front of him. His heart nearly skipped a few beats from the power emitting from them. He could never see their faces but their mere essence was more than enough to get to Gato. The shorter one of the two had a deep dark voice, "Gato-san, what is the progress of taking over Nami no Kuni?"

Gato quickly bowed to the two men. While Gato was no doubt a powerful man with strings in the backs of many powerful political men and women, these gentlemen are impossible to get strings on. His hands shook as he replied, "T-there has been a slight delay in our plans." Gato expected the two to start destroying his office in a fit of rage. However his was met with a large dose of Killing Intent. It was more than potent than Gato had ever felt. He started to shake as swear easily poured down his face. With the intimidation and fear fully in place, the taller one uttered one, single word.

"Why?"

Gato started to stutter, "T-there w-was some comp-plications a-as the b-bridge builder was able t-to reach Konoha. He was able to bring in S-Sharingan no Kakashi." The tension and Killing Intent quickly dissipated. If it was true that Sharingan no Kakashi is in Nami, that changes things a bit. Zabuza nor his accomplice are no where near strong enough to beat Kakashi. They wouldn't stand a chance in hell. This is indeed a setback. But it was only minor delay. The taller cloaked person said in a dark voice, "I see. This does complicates things just a bit. I see that the Demon of the Mist is a bit injured. With Sharingan no Kakashi still around, he will not be able to carry on the mission himself. We'll be sending grunts to help you."

Gato quickly bowed, "Thank you my lords! All I needed was some more help and some time-"

"You do not have any time than the original time we gave you. You know and I know that Nami will be a large piece in the coming months. If you do not deliver us Nami no Kuni, you better hope that we don't find you first."

Gato instead of being fearful, he became angry, "If you don't need me-"

"We don't need you. Understand this. We don't need you. You need us. We're merely opening the opportunity to create something bigger than yourself. Do not waste our time."

With that the two cloaked men disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX Kakashi XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi sighed. His female student has been a bit touch and go since they first started to become a team. Her abilities weren't very clear. Normally with shinobi students, you are able to tell what shinobi arts and techniques would properly fit them. For example, Sasuke was clearly a fire user with the proficiency of close to mid range techniques. With Sakura it wasn't that simple. He started her off with learning genjutsu. While her chakra control was amazing, it wouldn't matter if she didn't have the chakra level to fully keep it for long periods of time. Her physical prowess was left to be desired.

At this moment, he needed to understand what happened between Naruto and her so he can understand what was dividing the team. "Sakura, I want you tell me to the best of your ability, what happened with you, Naruto, and Zabuza?"

The air felt a bit cold for Sakura. It wasn't because they were outside. No, Sakura felt a strong and potent Killing Intent. Sakura felt a bit intimidated because of it. She knew it was not coming from her blond teammate but her sensei. Normally, he would be reading one of those perverted books but now he's looking directly into her eye with his lone eye. Highly intimidating. She started to stutter as tears started to for, "W-well Naruto, no I froze during the fight between the two brothers. I couldn't move. It was as if my body just wanted to die.

Kakashi nodded his head, "Okay. Then what happened?"

"Before I knew it, I closed my eyes and accepted my fate. I-it wasn't until I opened my eyes to see Naruto peering down at me that I realized that I survived."

Kakashi looked into the tearful green eyes of his female student. While he could tell she was remorseful for what had happen, she also felt like she was the victim. He sighed that this squabble has even gotten this far. While he understood why Naruto was acting the way he is, he also knew that dwelling and causing a rift could be much more damaging. He said, "Sakura, I understand that this is your first true mission and your first true fight and you froze. It's unfortunate that it happens all the time, " Sakura let out a sigh of relief before Kakashi continued, "However the people who do freeze have a high tendency of death and causing the death of others."

Kakashi's words seemed to hit her in the chest like a pile of bricks. Kakashi could see it clearly in her eyes. He didn't need a Sharingan to see her sorrow and regret. Yet where was that determination? She needed that drive to continue on. Kakashi sighed as he said, "Sakura, what is it that you want to be? What is your drive?"

She looked up at him with a bit of confusion. This was a question that all shinobi had to ask themselves. Why did she want to be a shinobi? Was it to impress Sasuke-kun? The more she thought about it, the more she moved away from that train of thought. Was it to beat to Ino-pig? Not really. That was more for Sasuke-kun's affections, which she knew she will get before Ino-pig. If it wasn't those, then what was it? She sighed as she had her head looking at the ground. She didn't know why she wanted to be a shinobi.

Kakashi had a feeling this was the case. This was normal for most shinobi especially right after the Academy. Life and death goes over their head until it's time to do damage. This group is different in that Naruto was a lot more mature than he originally thought and Sasuke had a drive, an ambition, a reason. While he disagreed with Sasuke's reason, at least he had a reason to work harder. That's what Sakura has to figure out on her own.

Kakashi sighed as he gingerly stood up against the tree. With his chakra exhausted, it was a lot harder to move. He cracked his neck as he winced, "Sakura, we're going to try something different. I know I've been working on your genjutsu but right now we need bolster up your other techniques. So today you're going to learn a new defensive technique."

Sakura perked up at the prospect of learning a new technique. At least this gives her something to take her mind off the whole reason for being a shinobi. While she had been advancing, this should help her relatively low technique repertoire. She jumped up and said, "I'm down! What's the technique?"

Kakashi seemed to have smiled at this. He said, "When we get remind me to test your team's' chakra affinities. For now, you should be able to learn this technique. It's a defensive move. It's called Doton: Dosekido-mu (Earth Technique: Earth Stone Dome). It's a higher ranking jutsu that I think you will benefit of having. This technique is a jutsu that helps to create a powerful earth barrier directly from the ground around the user and if the user so chooses people around him/her. It's nearly impenetrable and it doesn't take that much chakra. "

Sakura narrowed her eyes as she said, "That seems like a pretty strong jutsu. I don't see many people using that technique. What's the catch? "

"Smart girl. The technique takes insane concentration. That means you can't take your mind off of the technique. If you do, well the technique ends almost instantly. With that thought, I believe that this technique will work well with you because of your ability to concentrate so well. So let's try it. There are only two hand signs. The hand signs are ox and snake. Then you slam your hands to the ground. Lets try it."

Sakura nodded her head. She stretched her head as she put her hands together. Hesitantly, she started to do the handsigns. Repeating her sensei, "Ox and snake. Ox and snake." Doing her mantra she did the two. With her chakra rushing to her hands, she slammed her hands to the ground. She said, " Doton: Dosekido-mu!" Much to her surprise, parts of the earth came up and surrounded her. As soon as the earth surrounded her, it quickly went back to the ground. Sakura looked at her sensei with great confusion. "Kakashi-sensei, What just happened?"

He gave his student an eye pulled out a time watch from his jacket as he said, "Sakura, I told you that it takes an insane amount of concentration in order to fully use it. Concentrate completely on the technique. Try it again but this time hold it for ten seconds. Go." Sakura nodded and tried it once more. After doing the hand signs she slammed her hands on the ground. This time the she concentrated her hardest on the technique. Once again parts of the earth came up and surrounded her. As much as she put into maintaining and holding the technique, alas the technique once again collapsed. Kakashi stopped the watch as soon as it collapsed. He said, "Six seconds. Better bet not good enough. Try it again."

"Hai."

AN: Ok this chapter is a little short. I decided to break this chapter into two parts. Ideally, I wanted to wrap Wave up in two maybe three more chapters. I wanted some character development. Next chapter we'll learn something about Agent Zero and what Shikamaru has been upto. As always, read and review.

JK10 is out.