The Bending Ninja

Chapter 8

(Hani's POV)

I woke up and got ready. I was still tired, but oh well. I noticed Naruto wasn't at breakfast. "Where's Naruto?" I served myself food and began eating.

"That fool must have stayed out all night training. What is he thinking, climbing trees at night. He could be dead for all we know, from using up so much chakra."

'What? Does she really think that poorly of Naruto? I know she didn't think highly of him but still.'

Tazuna's daugther who was walking around and serving others, "Well I certainly hope he's ok, a child spending the night in the woods alone."

Kakashi spoke, "There's nothing to worry about. Naruto's a goofy kid, but he's also a full fledged ninja. He can handle himself." 

'yeah that sounds like Naruto.'

"Sakura's right." 

'Sasuke too!?'

He kept talking. "Naruto's such a loser, he's probably lying out there dead somewhere." I sighed. He stood up and began walking out. "I'm going for a walk." 

I was done eating too so I got up and walked out too. "I'll be back later. I'm going to train a bit. I'll keep an eye out for Naruto too!" 

I shut the door behind me. And started walking next to Sasuke. I suddenly thought about how he and Naruto have been alone. I've heard of the Uchiha massacre, but I would have thought he would have friends at this point.

"Hani."

"Huh? What is it Sasuke?" I look at him as we walk.

"How did you reach so much higher on your second attempt?" he looked over to me and me made eye contact.

I faced forward again as I replied. "Hmm...I used imagery. You need precision and consistency. I took information from my knowledge of the elements I can bend. You need precision and consistency or stability. I saw what happened when you use too much chakra. The amount or the way I imagined it, force, of chakra needed to be firm, strong, but not overpowering. Combining that with consistency and stability, I came up with a calm flowing river on a calm breezy day."

"How is a river firm or strong? It's water, it's easy to move." Sasuke sounded very skeptical, so I explained, "well small amounts of water on its own can be weak. The elements are quite versatile. If I pour water on your hand, there's not much power there. But remember the fight against Zabuza. Kakashi Sensei couldn't break through the WATER prison, and Sensei's final jutsu was the Water Vortex that had enough power to push Zabuza and take down trees. If you step into a calm flowing river, you can feel it push against your legs, and as water flows steadily in a pretty consistent force, it's a pretty solid analogy for the type of chakra needed to climb a tree."

"Hm. I see now."

"Yeah. Imagery is a good tactic for learning, but it isn't convenient for actual battle. It's also good to have a level head and not power your bending through anger," I advised a bit more.

"Jutsu."

"Huh?"

He smirked and gave a chuckle. "You said my bending. I thimk you meant my jutsu."

"Oh haha yeah." I felt embarassed so I looked away.

We finally came across Naruto.

Sasuke hit Naruto's head. "Hey twerp, did you just forget about breakfast?"

"You should eat breakfast Naruto." I said.

We began training soon enough.

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A few hours passed. I made it to the top and had been focusing on control. I was standing up about 2/3rds of the tree when I heard some commotion. It was so far down though...I wonder...I changed my stance to a snowboarding stance. It sounded like someone asked where I was. I lowered the chakra a tiny bit, but still enough to keep me connected to the tree. I began to slide down the tree at a good pace. I smiled at the fact that it worked. I saw Kakashi and Sakura when i was half way down, and they've appeared to have seen me. Kakashi seemed intrigued that i was sliding down the tree, and Sakura was shocked, probably at how high I was.

"Ah!" Suddenly I lost it. My chakra wasnt holding me to the tree so I started falling quickly. I was luckily able to still push off that tree and land on the side of another. "hehehe."

At this point I was close enough to the floor and I jumped down. Looking around I saw Sasuke upside-down and holding on to Naruto's ankle. They were all looking at me and Kakashi seemed to have died a little bit. 

"Are you okay, Hani!?" Naruto shouted down to me.

Sasuke responded sounding annoyed. "Use your eyes loser, of -course she's fine."

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Later that night, we were waiting for the boys in order to eat dinner. I came back about 5 hours ago, pleased with what I've accomplished. but...

"Sakura..."

"Yes, Hani?" 

"I just realized...Did you want to train more? Maybe I should have gone to guard Tazuna on my own and you could have stayed to train more. I was just happy to be training, I didn't even think about it."

"Oh. Don't worry about that. It's good that you train."

The door opened and Sasuke supporting Naruto walked in.

"We both made it, we climbed all the way to the top!" Naruto told us.

I stood up smiling. They worked so hard!

Kakashi spoke. "Good. Now we move on. Starting tomorrow, you're  both bodyguards for Tazuna!"

Naruto cheered, "ALL RIGHT!" It caused both him and Sasuke to fall back.

"YOU ARE SUCH A LOSER!"

We all laughed other than the 2 boys on the floor. 

It was all good but then...Naruto and Inari began yelling. Inari said something Naruto being all happy and laughing, and how wedon't know how it felt to be treated like dirt. I can't stop thinking about what Sakura told me about Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto Probably did know...