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It was the morning of the sixth day. Our hyperactive, knuckleheaded blonde shinobi named Naruto Uzumaki trained to the point of exhaustion. Kakashi-sensei said he could die since he used up so much chakra today during training. But still, he wanted to get stronger and prove to the world heroes exist, surpass his teammate and rival, and to be one step closer to becoming Hokage. Taking Kakashi-sensei’s advice, instead of practicing his chakra control due to using too much of it yesterday, he decided to do something physically demanding like shurikenjutsu and taijutsu, abusing his Shadow Clone Technique to help fix any errors that both his sensei and onii-chan, Shindō Shunsoku, pointed out. He practiced well into the night until he collapsed on his back and limbs stretched out and as his body experienced the physical and now the mental toll of his unsupervised training when so many of his shadow clones dispelled at once. Birds surround Naruto’s unconscious form as dawn broke and even the sun shining down upon the boy did not wake him up.
At the hideout, Zabuza Momochi was resting once again when his accomplice decides to look for more medicinal herbs. The androgenic person undid his or her white bun holder and letting the long raven black hair cascade down the back. Later, when exiting their hideout, the same person wore the long black hair loosely alongside different attire. The outfit comprised of a pink, sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-colored swirls, that reached past the knees and leaving little to the imagination about his or her body shape. A simple white obi was tied around the waist, tied into a bow, along with a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps and a dark-colored choker around the neck, giving a more feminine look. The person carried a basket and walked gracefully into the wilderness, stashing a couple senbon secretly inside the kimono for self-defense. As the person walked, countless birds chirped and flew in the morning air as the person could not help but smile and enjoy the beautiful morning, especially when Zabuza-sama was almost fully recovered from his injuries from battling the Copy Ninja Kakashi and his students. In fact, looking back, the person recalled watching the blonde hyperactive ninja who successfully managed to fool and even injure Zabuza-sama. At that moment, he or she was shocked that for a moment, protecting Zabuza-sama was forgotten as everything was so fast. Witnessing the whole battle made it all the more crucial to be ready when the second battle happens. This time, Zabuza-sama will ask him or her to join him in killing their opponents and completing their objective.
Meanwhile, Naruto was stirring in his sleep as his hand suddenly twitched, finding a kunai nearby and taking it loosely in its hands as Naruto was still not awake. Nearby, Zabuza’s accomplice was busy picking herbs, the basket half full of the herbs needed to make more medicine for the missing-nin.
A bird flew and landed on the person’s shoulder, catching his or her attention which brought a smile. Suddenly, his or her gaze went past the bird and saw our blonde Uzumaki unconscious on the ground. Instincts kicked in as the person stopped picking herbs and the bird immediately flapped its wings and flew away. Walking silently over to the blonde with a kunai on top of his hand, the person looked closely and recognized this person as the one to not only succeed in freeing Kakashi of the Sharingan from Zabuza-sama’s Water Prison Technique but also managing to get a hit on his arm. This boy was a wild card as he was effective and could be dangerous if left alive. Then the person remembered telling the blonde, “I saw what you and that Uchiha over there,” pointing at the stoic Uchiha, “did back there by using shadow clones to understand your enemy before turning yourself into a fūma shuriken and clinging onto a real one simultaneously within the chaos and then entrusting both your shadow clone and your comrade to throw you toward Momochi-san to get in close and personal was both effective and downright crazy. Even I was surprised by your ingenuity and if it makes you feel any better, I can see you becoming a powerful shinobi sooner than you think. Though I did my duty, it you, your team’s, and Hatake-san’s efforts which slowed Zabuza down enough for me to get only one a one-shot kill on my target. If I tried battling Momochi Zabuza on my own, I don’t think I would’ve succeeded and probably died.” The person remembered how much this blonde blushed and smiled foxily at this genuine praise from this person who smiled at acknowledging this boy’s ingenuity and skills. Seeing the boy was unconscious at the moment, the smile disappeared on his or her face, deciding that now was the opportunity to end this blonde boy now. He could be an obstacle for Zabuza-sama when facing off against Copy Ninja Kakashi and his genin a second time. If this boy dies before that happens, then it should be easier to face them and increase their chances for completing the job of assassinating the bridgebuilder quickly, receive payment from that scumbag Gatō, and kill him as Zabuza-sama and this androgenic individual knew exactly that the business tycoon will want to backstab them rather than paying them for their earlier failure.
Reaching with an outstretched hand, the birds on Naruto’s unconscious form panicked and flew away. Before the hand could reach the boy’s neck, the boy stirred and sensed danger. ‘DRAT!!’ he or she thought, yanking the right hand back and pretending it was not there attempting to wrap around his throat and choke the blonde who was half asleep now with a kunai at the ready. This should not be surprising to the androgenic individual as shinobi truly never sleep peacefully and must be ready at all times in case of sneak attacks or ambushes. But still, the boy fooled even him or her. This blonde boy was truly unpredictable as a fake smile was put on as the boy was now waking up and said, “Huh, what’s going on? I had a feeling someone was nearby.” He rubbed his eyes before the androgenic person replied, “Well, you pointed your kunai at me in your sleep. But I assure you, I’m not an enemy.” The lie worked as Naruto saw the person speaking and could not believe how angelic and beautiful this person is. “Woah, who are you?”
With an even sweeter smile, the person said, “My name is Yuki Haku, what’s yours?”
“Uzumaki Naruto,” the boy said with a shy grin, making the now named Haku whose attractive appearance made the blonde feel butterflies in his stomach. Haku snickered at the blonde who was taken by the soft, angelic voice of this individual. It was not feminine nor masculine; in fact, it sounds almost familiar. He could have sworn he heard it before when the person asked, “Now what’s a handsome boy like you doing sleeping out here in the wilderness. You’ll catch a cold if you do.” Naruto felt a little bit more comfortable and said with his usual foxy grin, “Oh, I was training.”
Acting surprised, Haku replied, “Oh? Is that what that headband means? You’re a shinobi?”
“Yup, and I’m going to get stronger to prove to this world that heroes exist and become a very strong shinobi! BELIEVE IT!!” Naruto solemnly declared, punching a fist into his hand.
Haku was genuinely speechless, but then remembered the battle between him and the water clone of Zabuza-sama before helping to free Copy Ninja Kakashi from the Water Prison Technique.
Naruto then noticed the basket full of herbs and asked, “Haku-chan, what’s in that basket?”
Haku blushed and was taken aback by the affectionate “-chan” honorific, does this boy…? No, he needed to answer him somewhat truthfully so as to not arouse suspicion. “O-Oh, Naruto-kun. Well, you see, a relative of mine is sick and I’m collecting herbs to make medicine to help them get better.”
Naruto looked sad and asked, “Oh, I’m sorry. Are they okay?”
Haku answered with a reassuring grin, “No worries, it’s just the common cold and I know my way around medicine to take care of them in their old age.”
Naruto was happy about that, but then asked, “Could I help you?”
Haku was surprised at the blonde’s genuine offer to help. Deciding to use this opportunity to get some crucial information, Haku decides to accept. “Thank you, Naurto-kun?~” Naruto could not help but feel his heart flutter when Haku used “-kun” which reminded him of Hinata Hyūga, making him blush even deeper before remembering the cute Hyūga heiress and thought, ‘I, I wonder how Hinata-chan is doing right now. Wait, since when did I start calling her “-chan” in her name? But it feels good for some reason.’ Elsewhere, Hinata sneezed, wondering if someone was thinking about her. She wanted to believe her Naruto-kun was thinking about her which made her heart melt, her face tinted with pink. When her teammates and sensei noticed, she tried to play off her sneeze as just allergies and ignored her blush enough to signal that they should resume their mission.
Yawning, Sakura covered her mouth as she stretched, feeling some popping from her back and feeling better. She rubbed any lingering sleep from her eyes as Sasuke was finishing breakfast at a calm pace. Kakashi was reading his Icha Icha which earned a scolding from Tsunami for reading such adult content with her son, Inari, present. Said boy did not care as he was brooding as Tazuna sat, wondering where the blonde Uzumaki was. “Hey, anybody seen that blonde kid?” the old bridgebuilder asked.
Sasuke ignored everyone while Sakura thought for a moment. “Naruto-kun didn’t come back again last night.”
“Yesterday, I checked on him and saw he was following Kakashi-sensei’s advice in taking a break from the Tree Climbing Practice since he used up a lot of chakra,” said Shindō who was helping the blushing Tsunami with the dishes. “I know him, and he wouldn’t be too reckless as to go doing something like that. Believe me, it was trained out of him growing up together.”
“Even so, I’m worried about him,” Tazuna said.
Tsunami paused in drying a plate before looking out the window. “I hope he’s all right. A child all alone at night in the woods…”
“Don’t worry! He might not look it, but he’s a true shinobi,” Kakashi replied, looking at Shindō with an eye-smile and earning a curt nod and smile from the tokubetsu genin.
Inari, however, was sick and tired of hearing and saw Sasuke finish his food, resting his head on the top of his hands whose fingers were interlocked. The more stoic Uchiha replied, “I don’t know. It wouldn’t surprise me if that moron overexerted himself and collapsed, maybe even died.”
Shindō glared at the Uchiha as he angrily picked up the finished plate in front of the Uchiha before saying, “Think what you want, but I assure you that my omōto-chan is more than capable of taking care of himself when it comes to training.” He turned his back and went on to wash it with extra effort, making Tsunami blush some more and feeling her heart flutter. She both Shindō-kun and Kaiza-kun merge into one in her mind, seeing the similarities between them in terms of strength and personality. The only difference was age, but Tsunami tried to concentrate on drying the kitchenware. Unbeknownst to her, however, Shindō is also stealing brief glances at Tsunami whose beauty was out of this world. Unfortunately, their age difference, Inari’s attitude, and his shinobi duties take higher precedent than his own personal attraction of this pretty mother, no, young woman beside him. She reminded him of his mother, Mina, making him a bit saddened from losing her during the Nine-Tails’ attack twelve years ago.
As Naruto was picking out herbs based on Haku’s instructions, the brunette asked him with an angelic smile, “So, Naurto-kun, you said earlier you were training, right?” Receiving a curt nod from the grinning blonde Uzumaki, Haku continued, “Which hidden village is that symbol on your headband?”
“Oh yeah, I’m glad you noticed! I’m from Konohagakure no Sato in the Land of Fire!!” Naruto exclaimed with a beaming, prideful smile. “And I’ve been training since yesterday, although I overdid it and you found me over there.” Naruto pointed to the spot where he awoke to see Haku’s angelically beautiful face.
“Oh, but you look already strong, Naruto-kun?” Haku replied.
“No, no! I want to become even stronger!!” the blonde said with enthusiasm.
“Why is that?” Haku asked, frowning a little.
Without noticing, Naruto exclaimed, “So I can be the best shinobi in Konoha!! Nobody there recognizes my strength, so I’ll make them acknowledge my strength. But right now, I also need to prove something to someone.”
“Someone?” Haku asked.
“Yeah, he doesn’t believe heroes exist in this world, but I’ll show him that heroes exist since my father was once a hero himself!! In fact, both my fathers were heroes, and one of them even became Hokage!! I want to be like him so everyone in the village acknowledges me, not just my onii-chan who’s helped me get this far!” Naruto paused for a moment with a truly happy look, seeing his Shindō-niichan’s proud smile from all the training they do. “I want to match or surpass him as he promises to help me become Hokage one day. In fact, he was helping me and Team Seven out with our training and we’re getting so much stronger altogether.”
Haku could not believe there was another Konoha shinobi involved, and by the looks of it, this could be a problem. Wanting to dig a little more, Haku asked with an innocent grin, “And who might your onii-san might be?”
“Oh, his name is Shindō Shunsoku and he’s amazing!!” Naruto exclaimed. “You’d like him, he’s strong, powerful, and someone I want to fight more than my rival Sasuke-teme on my team.” Haku was piecing together an interesting mental picture and asked, “You call him Shunsoku, as in the legendary Shunsoku clan?”
“Yup, I was adopted when my real parents died when I was a baby,” Naruto looked a bit somber as he wished he could have met them. “But still, I’ll always be grateful to Toshirō Shunsoku being the best father ever.”
Behind Haku’s smiling and friendly façade, the androgenic teenager dreaded that particular name as Konoha’s Tailed Beast Without a Tail, or the Zero-Tails (零尾, Reibi) according to Zabuza-sama, was an S-rank shinobi who was legendary like the Clan of Zero-Tailed Beasts. Naruto and Haku snapped to a different topic as Haku asked, “Naruto-kun, based on what you’ve told me, you’re training to get stronger. Is that for someone else, or for yourself?”
Naruto was surprised at the familiar question. Tō-san and even onii-chan asked him would ask him the same thing during training. Naruto at first would have said he was doing it for himself, but the more he thought about it the more he realized that all he wanted was acknowledgement from those who doubted him as he hated those who look down upon others and he forever inscribed his nindō to endure through anything, no matter what! With resolve, Naruto decided to answer honestly, “I, don’t know. I hate those who doubt my strength as I understand there are things I can’t do, but there are some amazing things that I can do! I don’t know if I’m doing this for myself, but the people in my village hates me for connected to an incident that happened when I was born, and other than a handful of people I can count on both hands, most villagers don’t like me and I always resorted to pranking to get their attention, to acknowledge my existence. Even after becoming a shinobi through the skin of my teeth, people still don’t respect nor acknowledge me, so I want to become stronger until they do.”
“So, you’re doing this out of pride or spite?” Haku asked.
“No, because the Fourth Hokage was my hero who entrusted me with a burden only I can bare because he believed in me. I believe that becoming Hokage will make everyone acknowledge me because I’m strong and powerful, but I know I can grow more.”
Haku was speechless and needed a moment to think. It seemed this boy has a drive to be the best, but the reasons are mixed and decides to find a new way to figure him out. For some reason, Haku began to see similarities between them as Haku was driven for one purpose and nothing else mattered. This was to serve and help Zabuza-sama with the missing-nin’s goals and plans. This realization made Haku laugh as Naruto frowned. “Huh, what’s so funny?”
With a smile, Haku asked with a smile, “Naruto-kun, do you have someone important to you?”
Naruto was confused about the question as he just told the brunette beauty about his onii-chan and tō-san, but then thought about it. With resolve he said, “Yes, of course I do! Shindō-niichan, but he can protect himself. There’s also Old Man Teuchi and Ayame-niichan at Ramen Ichiraku. There’s also Iruka-sensei, and Ojii-san, the Third Hokage.”
“Wow, that’s quite a lot of important people you have, Naruto-kun,” Haku said, but then smiled mischievously and teased, “Could I also be one of them?”
Naruto blushed heavily but answered, “W-Well, yeah, I suppose so. I mean, you’re beautiful and all.”
Haku blushed at the blonde’s compliment before smiling back, ignoring the blush across the face. “Oh, uh, well. T-Thank you, Naruto-kun.”
Naruto scratched the back of his head again to ease the tension and shyness. “Yeah, hahaha hahaha!! So, what did you mean if I had important people?”
Haku smiled. “Well, Naruto-kun, when a person has something important to protect, that’s when they truly become strong.”
Naruto took a moment to remember Iruka-sensei saving him from Mizuki-teme, how he returned the favor by saving his sensei from the same traitor, Kakashi-sensei promising to keep his genin and the client safe against Momochi Zabuza, every feat Kaiza did to protect the people of the Land of Waves and being what sounds like a great stepfather which reminded him of his own, and even the time he saved Hinata-chan from bullies. In all these instances, he smiled as he realized how he was beginning to understand that there was something deeper Haku was talking about and smiled at the brunette. “Yeah!! I understand perfectly well.”
The two went back to picking up some herbs until Haku stood up, grabbing the basket. “Thank you, Naruto-kun, for all your help. I must return so I can my sick relative,” Haku said with a grateful smile.
Naruto beamed with a smile and was happy for the praise. “No problem, Haku-chan, I hope we meet again!!”
“Yeah, sure,” Haku said, nodding with a smile before turning around before walking away. “Oh, and by the way, I’m a boy.”
Naruto was dumbfounded as he could not believe he was attracted to a guy! ‘What?! No way!!’ the blonde thought, panicking. ‘But he’s cuter than Sakura-chan!! But then again, Hinata-chan…’ He then remembered the Hyūga heiress’s prettier and more demure face and could not help but feel his heart race and he could not help but admit that he liked Hinata despite being weird.
Haku, meanwhile, disappeared into the forest and once out of sight of the blonde Uzumaki, his face grew serious and emotionless expression as he thought, ‘Naruto-kun, there’s no question you’re strong, and you’ll become stronger thanks to those around you. But I’m afraid of what will happen when the day comes you get to know the real me…’ There was a pang in the teen’s heart as he returned to the hideout where Zabuza awoke to find his partner in crime and asked, “Where’d you go?”
“Out to find these herbs that should speed up the process some more. You should be back to full strength by tomorrow.”
“Hehehe, and finally get my revenge on Kakashi of the Sharingan,” Zabuza said with an evil grin under his bandaged facemask.
“While I was looking for some herbs, I stumbled upon that blonde shinobi, Uzumaki Naruto.”
Zabuza turned menacingly at Haku who froze in fear before the former Kiri-nin’s demonic aura subsided as he asked in his usual gruff voice, “Did he recognize you?”
“I don’t think so, but I decided to gather some crucial information and there are important things you must know.”
Zabuza only turned to Haku as the only nonverbal cue to continue. “Zabuza-sama, Uzumaki Naruto told me a lot about himself, and Copy Ninja Kakashi brought back up from Konoha, a shinobi going by the name of Shunsoku Shindō.”
Zabuza’s eyes widened as he recognized the clan name. “Haku, don’t play games with me, that clan died out long ago at the beginning of the Second Shinobi World War.”
“No, Zabuza-sama, the blonde told me that he was raised by the Zero-Tails himself and whose son is Uzumaki Naruto’s adoptive brother helping to train those three genin, including Uchiha Sasuke whom you may recall that day when you fought against them?”
Zabuza clenched the sheets of his bed as he hated to admit it, but Haku was right. Konoha has always produced most of the strongest shinobi in history. Now, there was the last living Shunsoku to deal with, but then he remembered the timing and asked, “Haku, did that brat tell you how old the last Shunsoku is?”
“I couldn’t pry further without him getting suspicious,” replied the brunette as he began to prepare the herbs to be grounded and mixed together. Zabuza could only grunt in annoyance. “Well, it doesn’t matter. You will be by my side tomorrow when I fully recover. And this time, we will win!”
Sasuke Uchiha walked out of the house, followed by Haruno Sakura and their sensei Hatake Kakashi following close behind. When they were at their impromptu training ground, Naruto was there doing the same chakra control practice by running up trees using their feet to remain anchored to vertical and even upside-down surfaces. This time, Naruto was focused and made it closer to the top like before. Through gritted teeth, Sasuke pulled out the kunai Kakashi left for them with Sakura joining in as per Kakashi-sensei’s orders. The pinkette needed more chakra reserves and not fall behind her comrades. The Haruno continued running up and down the tree repeatedly, feeling exhausted after a couple of minutes like before; however, she managed to do a little bit more than last time and she was making progress as Kakashi thought, ‘It looks like Sakura-san is finally beginning to progress at the same rate as Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun who’re almost to the top of their tree, respectively.’ Naruto did not pay attention to the fact that Sakura and Sasuke were practicing the same exercise as him because he remembered Sakura-chan’s advice the other day: “…chakra is the result of spiritual energy mixed perfectly with physical energy. So, you shouldn’t get too excited as you will lose concentration. To gather up enough chakra and channel it to your feet, you have to relax and focus on the tree. Understand its surface and in time you’ll be able to know how much chakra to use without thinking.” Naruto focused more on his chakra and this time, he managed to climb higher than last time. One, two, three more steps and he could catch up to Sakura-chan!
After another two grinding minutes, the blonde finally he reached the top of the tree as Sakura did on her first try. “Heh, finally!!” he exclaimed. “I made it, Sakura-chan…”
Sakura and Kakashi saw Naruto at the top of the tree and could not believe that he made it first before Sasuke who managed to do one last sprint up to the top of the tree and succeeded. He was exhausted, however, before Sakura and Kakashi smiled at the two for achieving the first steps of the exercise. The Uchiha beamed with pride when Sakura exclaimed, “WAY TO GO!! Shānnarō!”
Sasuke only smirked while Naruto smiled warmly. He caught their attention when he began to stand on the branch, saying, “What do you think? Look how high I am! I can climb now!!” Kakashi and Sakura were surprised to see he could climb so high and in only four whole days. They were immediately alarmed when Naruto was losing his balance and his foot slipped off the surface but held onto the tree with his hand. “AHH! BAKA!! BE CAREFUL!!” Sakura screamed.
Suddenly, Naruto lost hold of the branch and looked like he was about to fall. “OH NO!! If you fall from that height…!!”
Naruto seemed to fall over, making Sakura close her eyes shut, not wanting to see the blonde fall to his death. Kakashi, however, was unable to move much as he was still recovering before Naruto laughed aloud. Opening her eyes, Sakura’s expression turned from fear to rage when Naruto was standing upside down like Kakashi did almost a week ago, saying, “Just kidding!!” Naruto smiled at Sakura and Kakashi-sensei with a foxy grin. “HAHAHA HAHA!! YOU FELL FOR IT!!” Inner Sakura exclaimed, “YOU SCARED ME, NARUTO-BAKA!! I’LL KILL YOU LATER!!” The real Sakura screamed, “Don’t scare us like that, Naruto-baka!!” The chakra accumulating from Naruto’s feet suddenly began to disappear and Naruto was truly in danger. There was no way for Kakashi to do anything to save Naruto since he cannot physically move much because of overusing his Sharingan during his battle with Momochi Zabuza.
“Stupid Naruto!! Stop showing off!!” Sakura yelled before in the blink of an eye, Sasuke Uchiha leapt from his tree and over to Naruto’s and grabbed his ankle while keeping his chakra focused on the surface of the branch to stand upside down on it as Naruto dangled perilously in Sasuke’s grip. “You moron,” he grumbled. Sakura was smiling with her heart fluttering at Sasuke’s feat and said, “YAY!! SASUKE-KUN!! YOU’RE THE BEST!!” Kakashi, however, could only breathe a sigh of relief and with his trademarked eye-smile, he thought, ‘These guys are growing well…’ “Well, congratulations you two. You’ve successfully climbed up the tree using only your chakra. Now, I suggest you follow Sakura-san’s example and repeat it after a ten-minute break to climb it all again. Repeat it until dusk with ten-minute breaks in-between. I must go speak with Tazuna-san about something important. And Sakura-san, take the rest of the day off as you’re exhausted and you’ll need your chakra for tomorrow.” The pinkette turned confusedly at Kakashi-sensei but nodded all the same as she really wanted to take a bath and sleep as today’s training was more brutal on her than ever. Naruto and Sasuke, on the other hand, nodded curtly before Naruto managed to focus chakra into his feet again and Sasuke and him walked separately down the tree before taking a ten-minute rest like Kakashi-sensei ordered.
