Namikaze Naruto- The Unpredictable Shinobi

Chapter 16: Some Revelations and Inari

The Sun rose. Naruto woke up in a sleeping bag and was surprised at the events the previous night when Kakashi woke up. She was helping Tsunami when she noticed that a small boy with a depressing aura was poking in and out of the living room and kitchen. She asked about him to Tsunami. She told her the story of Kaiza, the kid, Inari's step father, who was a hero until his hands were chopped for declaring that he would 'save the land with his own hands', and was killed under the orders of Gato. Naruto was yet to see the boy's feelings, so she waited patiently before she could talk to him.

Kakashi was up, albeit a little weak. They were eating breakfast when Sakura screeched, "Sensei, if you're going to end up like this, you should stop using the Sharingan." "Hn" Sasuke smirked smug. Naruto wanted to defend but was cut off by Kakashi, "Hai, hai, that's why I'm planning to train you now, more than ever, since Zabuza is still alive." The genins gasped. Fortunately, Inari was in his room, Tazuna in the courtyard and Tsunami our of earshot, so none of them could ear the conversation and get scared. "But sensei, you yourself checked his pulse." Sakura argued. Kakashi sighed, "Sakura, there is a reason I've lowered my voice. We do not want to frighten Tazuna and his family, do we? Tell me what does an Oinin do?"

"Kill the rogue ninja, chop his head and burn the rest on spot." "Even if we assume that Zabuza was burned later, what was the weapon of kill?" "Senbon" was the reply as the eyes of the genins widened. "Exactly! A couple of senbon can't kill people but can put them in a death-like state. So, yeah. Zabuza is alive." Kakashi finished lamely. "So, sensei, what will we be training?" Naruto asked. "Tree climbing was the simple answer. "But we already know how to climb trees." Sakura deadpanned. "Hmm, do you now? Please demonstrate." Kakashi led the team outside to the woods and Sakura began climbing a tree. "Nuh-uh, Sakura. Without using hands." Kakashi corrected her with a chiding tone. "How?" Sakura whined. "Like this" Kakashi demonstrated as he climbed the tree as if he was walking on the tree trunk. He stopped and stood on a branch and threw three kunai on the ground at the feet of his students. "Walk on the tree using chakra on your feet and mark the spot where you begin falling using one of the kunai at your feet."

Sakura, being a female, had better control over chakra. Also, being of a civilian, she had smaller reserves, helping in easier control. She got the technique down within few hours. Sasuke has bigger chakra reserves compared to her. He was still struggling when Sakura finished. Our dear blonde already knows it, but now she was a 'he' and was supposed to have the control the level of a male. She was an Uzumaki who have large reserves on par with the best of Senju. Kyuubi only added to her reserves and was supposed to slow her progress. Overall, Naruto pretended not to get the trick down.

Kakashi praised Sakura for her accomplishment, "Good job, Sakura. Well, what do you know, a civilian beat you guys." He taunted the other two. Naruto mentally rolled her eyes pretending to concentrate and all, but was internally discussing various things with Kurama. Sasuke was fuming, but didn't say anything. Both were barely reaching a quarter of the tree's height. Hearing Kakashi's taunts, Sakura cheered for Sasuke. "Come on Sasuke-kun! You can do it!" "Hn" was the half arrogant, half irritated answer. 'That moron should increase his vocabulary. It's a good thing I understand the Uchiha Hn-language from Itachi-kun and Shisui Nii-san.'

Kurama was enjoying himself at these thoughts. They discussed more serious topics, like the events with Zabuza and Haku, about her coping up with killing someone.

Meanwhile, Sakura continued yelling. "Sasuke-kun, come on. Put the appropriate amount of chakra in your feet. Just the right amount!" she tipped him. Naruto rolled her eyes but smirked internally. Now Sasuke would do it faster and she could finish her act faster- it was getting boring. Chats with the Kyuubi were fun and important, but they could do it without all this drama!

Sasuke, who might've been thinking to expand his vocabulary, replied a 'Thanks', causing Naruto to fall. "What the hell, teme! You said something other than Hn and it turned out to be a word of thanks?!" She laughed and Kakashi snickered. Sakura blushed at the token of gratitude, and became even redder when she heard Naruto, suddenly feeling special before Sasuke. "Shut up, Usuratonkachi!" "And here come the insults." "Just shut up!" "Hai, hai."

Sasuke was able to get on the top of the tree by evening, and Naruto by nightfall. At dinner, both were racing for second helpings, while Naruto wisely chose to reduce the amount of each helping, as she didn't want to puke due to the lingering effects of the killing. Sasuke, however, began puking soon. They were laughing and enjoying the dinner when Inari decided to be the buzzkill.

"You guys will be killed." "What was that?" Naruto asked. "You will be killed by Gato. All this training is useless." Inari said. "We are Ninja, Inari. We can defeat Gato." She reasoned. "No, you can't. Why try to play heroes, huh? Why meddle in affairs that are not yours?" He protested. "We might or might not play heroes, but your grandfather did ask us for help and we agreed to do so. We also want to help your land." Naruto replied. "You just don't understand, do you? You keep smiling away, laughing, having fun. You live happily in your shinobi village. You don't even have an idea of what pain is!" Inari screamed. Naruto's smile faltered a bit, but it was unseen by her teammates as she faced away from them. She slowly rose up, walked to him and asked, "Why don't we take this to your room?" He was about to retort, when he saw her smile, too sweet for his own good. He agreed grumbling and they went off after Naruto said, "Don't disturb. He needs his alone time dattebayo." A please would've been inserted, except, her façade didn't pay much attention to ethics and manners.

Though her behaviour with the little boy was far from her façade, she had to retain it, lest it slip away. She locked the door and put-up privacy seals, the kind that won't be detected by those outside. Heh, she was a seal master of level 6 of 11!