The Kids of Yesterday {Various!Naruto X Reader}

9. Stories Of The Past

It's a beautiful day outside and you are with the boys, watching them train. Kakashi is at Tazuna's house resting, and Sakura is in charge of guarding Tazuna while he works on the bridge.

You are sitting against a tree, the boys in front of you, both trying to outdo the other. You sigh.

"You guys aren't making very good progress," you comment as they both land on the ground. They turn towards you.

"We know (Y/n)," Sasuke shortly replies.

"Yeah! We're doing our best here!" Naruto chirps, flailing his arms around. You giggle at his action which causes his cheeks to flare up and Sasuke to send him a death glare.

"Why don't you guys take a break, I'm getting tired just watching you guys train," you say with a yawn. They walk over and sit in front of you.

"Here," you say while making a hand sign. Two shadow clones poof standing beside you. "Kina One, go grab us some waters please. Kina Two, go check on Sakura and Tazuna at the bridge please." You instruct your clones.

"Right!" They both reply at the same time, but before either of them can leave, Naruto jumps up.

"I'll go with your clone to get water," he says, walking towards her.

"What? Don't you trust me?" You tease. The tips of his ears turn red.

"O-of course I do, it's just-" he starts to defend himself until you cut him off.

"I'm just teasing you!" You stick your tongue out at him as Sasuke glares daggers at the hyperactive boy now standing beside your clone. The other clone has already taken off towards the bridge, seeing as she isn't needed for this exchange.

"Race you back to the house!" Kina One calls to Naruto, already running ahead.

"Hey! No fair, that's cheating!" Naruto calls after her, running in the direction she took off in and disappearing into the trees.

Once Naruto has disappeared, you hear Sasuke breathe a sigh of relief. You glance at him.

"Everything okay?" You ask with a small smirk.

"Huh, oh yeah," he replies while not meeting your eyes.

"C'mon, you can tell me. I won't judge!" You inquire. He glances at you and you can tell he's debating whether to tell you or not. You wiggle your eyebrows. He sighs.

"I guess I'm just frustrated," he tells you while looking at the ground.

"Oh?" You raise your eyebrow.

"Yeah. I just... I just thought this would be easier, and now I'm just frustrated that-" he starts to say before you cut him off.

"That you and Naruto appear to be at the same level for this technique?" You finish bluntly. He looks away as a pink hue dusts itself onto his cheeks. "I take it from your silence, I'm right." He huffs in response. "Y'know, Naruto's a lot tougher than what people give him credit for. You shouldn't look down upon him. Everyone learns things differently and at different paces than others. Don't worry about it too much. Want some advice?" You ask while standing up, Sasuke following shortly after.

"Hn," he blinks while crossing his arms. What does that even mean? I'm going to tell him anyways.

"Alright, the technique is pretty tricky at first, but once you get it, you've got it for good. A trick would be to think of it as if you were walking on ice. Not extremely thin, but thin enough that if you made the wrong move it would crack and break. When walking on the ice, you focus on where you're stepping and how much pressure you apply to your feet, as well as what area you're using to apply that pressure. It's the same with chakra. You need to think of where you want the most chakra pressure to be when you step. As you know, too much pressure will cause you to break the ice, or in this case, the tree. Focus on maintaining the chakra in your feet as if every step you take is going to solidify your stance, instead of moving forward," you explain. Sasuke stares at you, in what you believe to be awe. "Do you want me to demonstrate?"