Naruto: The Youngest Anbu

Chapter 23

Kakashi turned to his students and gave them the infamous eye smile. "Now let's get started shall we?" They both nodded. "Great, now what I want you to do is to try to channel chakra to your feet but not too much. Just enough so you'll be able to stick onto a surface. Got it?" They both nodded and did as their sensei said. "One more thing," Kakashi said as he handed them a kunai, "when you climb up the tree, use this to mark your progress." They both nodded again and started practicing. Sakura got it on the first try. She immediately got to the top of the tree without any difficulty while Sasuke on the other hand struggled with his chakra control. He tried for a couple more times but kept failing and didn't get very far. Sakura laughed.

"Come on Sasuke, I know you can do it!" Sakura cheered.

"Hn," Sasuke grumbled.

About an hour later...

Naruto finally walked out of the bushed into the area where Sasuke was practicing and Sakura was watching. When Nauto emerged, they both turned their heads towards him and stared.

"What?" Naruto asked as he cocked his head to one side.

"N-nothing," Sasuke blushed as he turned his head away. Sakura saw the blush and tried to hold in her laughter. Naruto saw it too and smirked.

"Oh, really? Are you okay Sasuke? Your face looks a bit red. Are you sick or something?" Naruto asked innocently as he walked over to Sasuke and placed his hand on the raven's chin, tilting Sasuke's head to face his and connected their foreheads. Naruto closed his eyes and pretended to feel for the raven's temperature. Sasuke was startled and abruptly backed away.

"W-what!" Sasuke stammered, eyes wide.

"What's the matter Sasuke? Are you okay?" Naruto asked innocently.

"W-wha- Y-yeah, everything's fine," Sasuke said as he composed himself and turned his head away.

Naruto smiled, "Okay then, whatever you say!" After that, he cheerily walked away.

When Naruto was out of earshot, Sakura grinned evilly, "Oooooooh, Sasuke, you have the hots for a certain blondie?" Sakura teased.

"S-shut up!" Sasuke yelled, flustered. Sakura smirked. "A-anyway, can you give me some tips?" Sasuke asked, leaving his pride behind.

Sakura was surprised, "Yeah, sure. What you need to do is just concentrate on the task at hand and don't let other outside circumstances break your concentration. Sasuke nodded and took her advice and it worked. He tried pushing any thoughts of Naruto out of his head and focused. He closed his eyes and channeled chakra to his feet. After that, he opened his eyes again and looked up at the tree. Sasuke started running towards the top before making a mark with his kunai and jump off, realizing that he didn't have enough chakra on his feet. Sasuke panted.

"That was a lot better Sasuke-kun!" Sakura congratulated.

"Yeah, thanks." Sasuke sighed as he looked up at the tree. The most recent mark on the tree was significantly higher than the others that were made before.

A few hours later...

Sasuke stood at the top of the tree, panting and gasping for air.

"YAY!!!! YOU DID IT!!!!" Sakura cheered while clapping happily. Sasuke kept panting but smirked. By the time Sasuke got to the top of the tree, the sun was just over the horizon. The sky was a beautiful shade of pink and orange with the slighted glimmer of stars peeping through. "Lets, go Sasuke-kun!" Sakura smiled as she jumped out of the tree she was sitting in.

"Yeah, okay." Sasuke agreed as he also jumped out of the tree. They both started to walk to Tazuna's house in comfortable silence. When they opened the door, they saw Naruto and Kakashi helping set up the table while Tsunami was bringing the food and setting them in place. Inari was coming down the stairs, his eyes still a little red from crying. Tazuna was also helping set up the table as well. Haku and Zabuza were also coming down the stairs a few seconds after Inari. When Sasuke opened the door, everybody in the room stopped what they were doing and turned towards them.

Naruto smiled, "You did it?"

"Hn," Sasuke replied with a smirk.

Kakashi gave his eye smile, "Congratulations. Anyway, you guys are just in time for dinner." They both nodded, walked into the room, and washed their hands. Sasuke then started to help set the table, along with Naruto Kakashi and Tazuna while Sakura helped Tsunami bring the dishes over to the table.

A few minutes later...

"Itadakimasu" Everyone said as they put their hands together and started digging in.

Suddenly, Inari jumped up and yelled, "What are you guys doing? You will just die. None of you are strong enough to beat Gato and his men! They are too strong. You are just wasting your time! You will just die anyway! You will never understand the pain I have been through. How much I have suffered. NONE OF YOU HAVE A CLUE!!!"

Everyone stopped eating and looked at the child, except for Naruto. He sighed as he finished his last bite of food.

"Thank you for the meal. Please, excuse me" Naruto said as a shadow loomed over his eyes. Everyone turned their attention to the blondie as Haku, Zabuza, and the rest of team 7 looked at him sympathetically.

Suddenly, Inari yelled out, "Why do you ninja always act so high up as if you are better and stronger than anyone. You don't know anything! You don't know anything about pain!!!"

Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. The 2 rogue ninja and the rest of team 7 were worried because they know what Naruto was capable of. Naruto took a breath and calmed himself. He stood up and shoved his hands in his pocket. Inari just continued to yell and scream. Finally, Naruto had enough and slammed his fist into the wall. A large crack formed and eventually spread to the rest of the house. Pieces of wood and stone started to fall from the walls and the ceiling. Everyone finched and widened their eyes except for team 7 and the rogue ninjas.

"If I hear one more word about you knowing what true pain is, then I will kill you," Naruto growled and glared at the boy. Everyone flinched. Inari flinched the hardest. A shiver went down his spine as he felt the sheer force of the glare that was focused directly at him. Naruto turned his head and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him as he walked out into the light of the setting sun.

Yay! Another update. Sorry if it took a while. To be honest I'm way past the time I usually go to sleep just because I want to keep my promise to you all but I do enjoy writing these fanfics. Hope you like the new chapter and stay safe!