"And so, we escorted the bridge-builder to and from Nami without incident."

Sakura gave him an odd look.

"Who are you talking to, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked quizzically. "Plus, I think we have differing opinions on the meaning of the phrase 'without incident'."

"Ahem. I will recount the mission hitherto."

~♡~

Team 7 met up in Training Ground 3, as usual, and Sakura found Kakashi hidden in a hollow rock before they made their way to their client's motel. They met a scraggly old man wearing coarse clothing. The man quickly gathered his belongings and reached the lobby where the four waited for him, with a gourd full of alcohol on his hip and shouldering a traveller's backpack.

"Hello, we are the team that has been assigned to handle your mission request. I am a jōnin, and these three are the most capable young genins in Konohagakure. We will be making haste for Nami -- I presume that would not be an issue?" Kakashi addressed the client, wearing the clearest example of a classic business smile.

"I am Tazuna, the great bridge-builder. Are you sure these kids...?" the bridge-builder introduced himself, glancing doubtfully at the trio.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke answered icily. "These are my teammates, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Considering how little you are paying us for this mission request, be grateful that you're even getting this much."

Tazuna gulped and backed off.

He comforted himself with knowing that these were members of two powerful clans that even he, as a civilian, has heard of.

"If you continue to condescend my team with that attitude, I'm afraid we'll have to be less than kind to you as well. We might have taken your money, but how we treat you beyond the scope of this mission is up to our own discretion," Kakashi said pleasantly.

Tazuna made a sign of surrender and resolved himself to avoid speaking unnecessarily.

"Also, Sasuke-kun, it is often best not to give your full name during missions. At times, we'll use code names. At others, just your name would suffice. Of course, there could be situations where it would be most efficient to reveal your identity," Kakashi taught him, unexpectedly dedicated.

Sasuke was a little taken aback -- was he being told off?

No one, except his family members, has dared admonish him throughout these three lives he remembered.

"This is one of them, so stop confusing him," Naruto rebuked disapprovingly.

Sasuke tended to be slow to react when someone did something he perceived as an insult towards him.

Kakashi chuckled, replying mildly, "That was not my intention."

"Are we going now, Kakashi-sensei?" confirmed Sakura, looking at the bridge-builder.

"Naruto, do you have seals that assist in travel?" Kakashi asked in lieu of a response.

"Swiftness, stamina, automatic steps and agility, if the one being enhanced is a civilian. If not, I suppose I have anti-gravity and air resistance reduction if we are going to be lugging the client around," Naruto recited, pulling out a stack of blank talismans and a brush.

Kakashi slowly turned to face Tazuna, who panicked and cried out, "I'll walk! No, I'll run! Leave me this last shred of dignity! Don't drag me around!"

Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly, jabbing a thumb towards Tazuna as he replied, "The first set, then."

Naruto grinned and assured, "I'll minimise the negative effects of forcibly circulating chakra in a civilian."

Tazuna turned as white as a sheet of paper.

He seemed to want to go back to change his response from earlier, but it was too late.

One by one, talismans were written and stuck on Tazuna.

"As long as you think of the direction you want to go, your body will move on its own," Naruto briefly explained.

Tazuna did not dare make a peep as he tentatively imagined going straight.

He found himself sprinting faster than he has ever imagined himself able to do, racing down the street at a speed that was usually reserved for entry-level shinobi.

Team 7 gave chase -- the mission details stated that their client was to direct their route.

~♡~

An exhausted Tazuna who has lost feeling in his legs thought that the limbs might have liquefied as he stopped in front of the river. The worst part was that he was not allowed to stop to rest. No matter how much his legs ached and protested, his muscles somehow held together and would move him onward via the route he previously took a week to traverse. Currently, it was the same day as that of their departure. He was not quite certain of the time, but he could estimate it to be around half past one.

"Please... bring us to Nami. Take your time and row as slowly as you can," Tazuna whimpered as he told the ferryman, the pain manifesting black spots in his vision as he sat down.

Naruto passed a cloudy pink concoction in a glass vial to the pitiable bridge-builder.

"It repairs the damage," he stated.

Only to the chakra system, though.

He was not going to heal someone's physical wounds in front of their jōnin sensei.

Kakashi whistled in amazement.

"What can't you do?" he asked, semi-jokingly.

Naruto mulled over the question for a moment before replying, "I'll never be creative. I also lack talent in kenjutsu. I can't know everything. I'm unable to travel to a specific time. I don't have an ocular ability. I lack the propensity for hatred -- I can't hold grudges. There are many things that I cannot do."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"You don't need to be creative -- you have me. I am good at kenjutsu, and you have your taijutsu. You know plenty and can find out pretty much anything if you wanted. It should be possible, if it is you, to travel through time with your fūinjutsu. I can give you my eyes if you so desire. It is not a weakness to be unable to hate," Sasuke listed off one by one. "Are there any more stupid ideas I need to debunk?"

Sakura felt a different corner of her heart being tickled by the selflessness of Sasuke whenever it involved Naruto.

"Your relationship... is a little ambiguous, isn't it?" Kakashi commented. "An Uchiha offering his eyes to someone is the highest degree of respect there is."

Sakura looked horrified.

"Uchiha... Eyes?" she mumbled dazedly.

Kakashi did not mention how it was supposedly an impossible scenario without the said Uchiha being on their deathbed.

A smile flitted across Naruto's features, and he leaned closer.

"And, if you ever wished it, I'll give you my chakra," he murmured into Sasuke's ear, covering the precious eyes that the other cherished so little.

Sasuke batted Naruto's hand aside and hissed, "I don't need my eyes, but what will you do without chakra?!"

He could not deny that having the chakra of his brother would benefit him, but he never thought of taking it for himself. Snatching Asura's chakra would mean that the other would cease to be. It was their chakra, which lived on, that enabled their souls to reincarnate in their descendants. He would never kill his brother, no matter how far his sanity slipped. Indra knew the source of their immortality and could never do that to Asura. Their chakra was, essentially, the vessel of their souls. He could never steal Asura's, even if he were to lose his own. He would sooner die than let his brother die in his stead.

"I can live without it," Naruto responded, defiantly.

Sasuke's eyelid spasmed.

"That's different, you idiot!" he shouted in exasperation.

How could it be the same? He could take the eyes of another Uchiha, and he would not be born blind in the next life simply because he gave them up in this one. If Asura gave him his chakra, it would not matter if Naruto lived on with natural energy. He was destroying his future, ending his cycle of reincarnation permanently.

Naruto quietly watched Sasuke through his outburst, unaffected.

"You...!" Sasuke choked out, grabbing Naruto's shoulders.

"I have been thinking about it, and it's better to entrust it to you than let it be futilely absorbed by a book of unidentifiable origin as it regenerates," Naruto explained calmly, switching to the ancient language they were both fluent in.

"What will you do if you die, then?" Sasuke demanded, following suit.

"I'll just have to live. Even if I died, it's alright. A thousand years is a long time. I don't remember most of it, but that is fine too," Naruto responded, still motionless.

The two were still glaring at each other when the boat shook violently.

"Hoshigaki?" Naruto said in astonishment as he recognised the chakra belonging to the user of the shark-themed water jutsu that just rammed into their boat.

Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate as he clarified, in apprehension, "S-rank missing-nin of Kirigakure, Hoshigaki Kisame?"

The boat was blown onto the shore, shattered into smithereens.

"A single Sharingan? Ho, so it's Sharingan no Kakashi," drawled a voice as a silhouette appeared on the water's surface.

Naruto peered into the water and saw the sharks that were starting to disappear into the depths.

"Everyone's safe," Sakura reported, reminding the other three members of Team Kakashi of the civilians under their care.

"Ha, I would feed you but the patchwork fella will not let me go if I don't get this job done," said Kisame as he strolled in front of the scattered group.

"Job?" Kakashi asked tersely, hoping to avoid conflict.

He knew that he was severely outmatched against this man.

"Yes, I need that old bridge-builder fella behind you. Someone wants him dead, and I need that money he's givin'," answered the blue-skinned missing-nin with a sharp grin.

Kakashi gritted his teeth and said, "This person is under my protection."

"A shame," Kisame sighed. "You don't know how lucky you were, that I wasn't really up for it today. But... now I'm gettin' pumped."

Kisame hefted up his sword Samehada and charged at Kakashi.

He managed to scrape the silver-haired man's arm with the flat of the blade as they clashed, the true appearance of the grotesque living sword showing itself as it consumed Kakashi's chakra.

"Samehada doesn't find your chakra appetising," Kisame said in disappointment, returning his sword to its place on his back as his attention was drawn to the three genins behind.

Kakashi held his ground and growled, "Your opponent is me."

Kisame cackled, "So you were babysitting a group of children."

He carelessly batted the jōnin aside, swiftly running through a series of hand seals.

He thrust his hand towards the weakest-looking genin, a mass of water continuing his action in that direction. It was so fast that normal genins would not be able to react before they died. The water took the form of a shark as it rapidly approached the three genins, too far for even Kakashi to be able to block it in time.

Naruto quickly determined its trajectory and grabbed Sakura, throwing his body weight to the side and dragging the pink-haired girl with him as they rolled a few times.

Sakura registered the danger belatedly, adrenaline coursing through her and causing her heart to pound in her chest.

"Naruto?" she said weakly as she was released by her saviour, who stood up and dusted himself off.

For the first time, Sakura found the blond a little impressive.

"That was... kinda cool," Sakura admitted reluctantly.

Naruto offered her a hand.

She accepted his assistance and stood with his help.

She mumbled, "Thanks. You saved me back there."

Sakura was unsure if Naruto even heard her.

He merely hummed, "Mm."

Naturally, Naruto could not care less about what his childish teammate thought of him at the moment.

He was reaching out to a certain person through the seal that connected them, knowing that this situation had to be defused as soon as possible.

In the meantime, Kakashi was confronting Kisame, "Why would you attack them?"

"Just for laughs, of course!" Kisame replied, flashing his sharp teeth.

"This is our fight. Leave them out of this," Kakashi spoke tightly as he used water ninjutsu to keep Kisame occupied.

"Hello, Itachi-san. Do you happen to be in Nami?"

"They're shinobi. Why are you excluding them on purpose? They'll be sad if they heard you, Sharingan no Kakashi!" Kisame yelled, brandishing Samehada to swallow the chakra -- thus rendering the attacks useless.

"Excellent. Could I trouble you to retrieve your partner?"

Kakashi cursed as he narrowly evaded a shark water prison.

"He is out of Kakashi-sensei's league... Yes, they are clashing right now."

Kisame began throwing shark-shaped water bullets at the "defenceless" group.

Naruto threw kunai to form a three-point barrier around the two civilians and shouted at Sakura to dodge.

Sasuke attempted to shock Kisame with a bunch of lightning balls.

Only one connected -- the rest were absorbed using Samehada.

"His sword is interesting," Naruto muttered to himself.

It was a new fixation, but he was particularly fascinated by things that absorbed chakra.

He noticed Itachi nearby and snuck away by replacing himself with a clone.

He reached Itachi's side and passed him a single-use genjutsu catalyst.

"Please bring him with you, Itachi-san," Naruto requested.

Itachi watched his partner's rampage and massaged his temples.

"He enjoys fighting way too much... Is it that difficult to stay low?" Itachi mused.

Naruto chuckled. "You're wronging him. He didn't want to fight at first. We just happened to be protecting his assassination target."

Itachi was surprised by this revelation.

"Kakashi-sensei... might actually lose an arm at this rate, Itachi-san," Naruto reminded, still spectating the chaos below.

Itachi activated his Sharingan and looked down while activating the seal.

He wove an intricate genjutsu and draped it on the unique seal of the likes he has never before seen.

Naruto took the tag and blew on it.

The small tag was carried on the wind and stuck to Kisame's ankle when it was exposed.

Kisame jerked to a stop, his eyes becoming unfocused.

Kakashi capitalised on that gap and moved to strike.

It was unfortunate for him but Itachi's genjutsu was too powerful after being amplified by Naruto's seal.

"Shit. Why does that have to be now? I gotta leave," Kisame cursed, putting away Samehada and coincidentally avoiding Kakashi's Raikiri. "Let's play again next time, Sharingan no Kakashi."

He disappeared from sight.

Itachi was impressed -- and how could he not be? Kisame was not usually so susceptible to genjutsu. He usually had to go for quality and quantity to bring the other down, but Naruto's seal made it look so easy. Such a makeshift illusion constructed in under a minute could bring back the Kisame who was drunk on the thrill of the fight to sanity.

Kakashi keeled over, fainting from chakra overuse.

"Ah, I have to go. Stay in touch, Itachi-san," Naruto said with a cheerful wave and returned to his position.

As Itachi lost sight of the blond, the subtle gentleness that pervaded his demeanour chilled. He was apathetic and cold once more, indifferent to friend and foe alike. His unwavering Sharingan were like the herald of death, doom befalling whoever gazes upon them.

"He can't know," Itachi said lowly, disappearing in a crow shunshin.

~♡~

"What can't I know?" Naruto asked in bafflement.

The tree rustled its leaves -- an action Naruto determined to be its version of a shrug.

"You sound crazy when you speak to them out loud like that, Naruto," Sasuke reminded.

"Insanity comes with the occupation," replied Naruto, dismissively. "It wouldn't be the most unusual thing about me."

Sasuke had to concede to that -- most shinobi are insane anyway. Naruto would not be the first weirdo who talked to trees. Well, he may still be the first to hear them respond though.

"So where did Kisame run off to?" Sasuke queried, returning to his shurikenjutsu practice.

"Itachi-san," Naruto replied absently, squinting at a dandelion seed.

He could not control wind using chakra the way he could through natural energy. There was technically nothing restricting him from moving natural energy despite the chakra in his body. It was, however, rather difficult to do so without mixing natural energy into his chakra to form senjutsu chakra. Having that ability still would have allowed him to spread these seeds throughout the continent without him going around, bonding with plants.

This tiny little thing could drift far away into foreign lands before rooting itself into the earth. With the aid of his Mokuton or natural energy, it would be able to thrive in any kind of climate in soil or rock, barren or fertile. He could only regret that he would not be able to get away with giving up his chakra. It was simpler without it, really. He could not use all of the elements, as he hoped to be able to do, but he could move earth and water alongside wind now.

He could not understand why neither fire nor lightning could be controlled but there was no one he could consult regarding these doubts.

Naruto scaled a nearby tree and unfolded a sachet of dandelion seeds, which he sent onto a drift to be transported away. Wherever the wind would bring it, it will go. Like it or not, it was beyond his control.

This was not a new feeling, yet there was still a sense of novelty to it.

It was probably... because he knew that he could change it if he wanted to enough.

"Sasuke-kun? And where is Naruto... Naruto-kun?" Sakura called out below, waving at the raven-haired teenager who was in the process of retrieving his projectile weapons.

Naruto jumped down from his high perch, landing lightly between the two with the aid of chakra.

"Here," he said plainly, pocketing the evidence of his prior actions.

"You two should hurry back! Kakashi-sensei is awake!" Sakura exclaimed.

Neither of them seemed surprised by her abrupt announcement.

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "How many days has it been?"

"Six. A little longer and he would have been out for a week," Naruto informed, clearing the traces left by Sasuke's training.

While the jōnin was unconscious, Naruto had transferred his chakra to Kakashi to help him recover his chakra and wake up sooner. Or so it was supposed to go, at least. He eventually decided it was too much of a pity to let their team's leader continue like this. He thus chose to integrate the chakra within the implanted Sharingan eye with his chakra system, giving Kakashi the power to use it more efficiently. It was not as if he could install a mechanism the man did not already have to allow the eye to be deactivated on short notice, so Kakashi will just have to bear with the drain. He privately thought that covering the eye did not help at all in that regard, but withheld his opinion. He also smoothened out Kakashi's chakra system while at it, unblocking tenketsu and clogged chakra circulatory pathways.

Naruto was envious of the Hyūga clan in that regard.

Kakashi's comatose state of self-healing was not something induced by Naruto, but one of his brain's own protective mechanisms. He had bottled up all of his fears and anxieties since young, holding everything in until it was way past his bursting point. Naruto's apparent death through self-explosion during the bell test did not help either. Kakashi never allowed himself solace, blaming himself for the tragedies that befell those closest to him.

Now that Kakashi was knocked out, his brain had a long-overdue chance to repair itself.

"It's a good thing. We've run out of the nutrient solution Naruto-kun prepared," Sakura explained with a shrug.

The energetic Kakashi that Sakura found herself faced with was a somewhat jarring sight. Just an hour ago, their sensei was still unconscious and vulnerable. While they took turns to watch over their sensei, she was the one who took care of him most of the time.

He was back to normal again -- something that Sakura could not quite bear. She was doing something useful when she cared for the jōnin. Other than that, she was the only deadweight in the team. She was unable to protect herself, needing a teammate to pull her out of the way of a fatal jutsu. Naruto saved her life then and, if not for him, she would have died.

The Kunoichi of the Year award was wasted on someone like her, who was so useless as a shinobi.

Kakashi was drinking a bowl of porridge that the bridge-builder's daughter brought him when Sakura returned with her male teammates in tow.

"It's about time, Kakashi-sensei. You slept for six days," Sasuke dryly informed as he stepped into the room.

Kakashi chuckled, "Maa, I just thought I died and went to heaven there. When I came to at some point, I saw a golden figure bathed in light who fed me something sweet. The angel told me to rest, and six days passed before I knew it!"

Sasuke's eyelid twitched.

"Pervert," he spat out in disgust, pulling Naruto behind him.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"You're behaving like an overprotective boyfriend, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi kindly alerted.

Sasuke was speechless.

He found his belongings neatly placed in a corner and pulled out his favourite orange book. He flipped to a page, glanced between the book and the genins before him, nodded and put the book away. He then explained to them in a sagely tone, "The main protagonist does this to defend his heroine from being hit on by a stranger. He was jealous and scared his girlfriend would fall for the other guy."

Naruto snorted and covered his mouth to block further offensive noises from escaping.

Sasuke flushed and spluttered, "That's nonsense! Why would I be jealous? It's just that you are a pervert who likes erotica and touches young boys with ulterior motives!"

Naruto could no longer help it -- he rolled on the ground as he laughed himself to tears.

"Hmm... If you put it that way, I do sound like a pedophile," Kakashi sighed dramatically.

Sakura took a cautionary step back.

He eye-smiled and asked pleasantly, "But hypothetically, if you aren't even Naruto's significant other, who do you think you are to prevent me from pursuing him? You are legal as soon as you become a shinobi."

Naruto chipped in, very much enjoying how his brother squirmed at the teasing, "Indeed. I do not care about trivialities like age anyway."

The unspoken was obvious to the Uchiha.

If Asura cared about such things, he would only have one choice for a lover.

And that would be Indra, the only person that he never considered. After all, however deep the connection they shared, he would only love the other as a sibling. No matter the age or their identities, Asura would never think of Indra in that way.

The same held true for Indra towards Asura.

Sasuke was at a loss.

Naruto decided that it was enough and said with a note of finality, "Anyway, I have yet to find someone who attracts me in that sense."

Sasuke looked down in embarrassment and Sakura, who completely missed the fact that Naruto and Kakashi were just poking fun at Sasuke, felt a foreign sense of rapture when she interpreted it as the disappointment that results from rejection. It was a tingly feeling similar to the giddy sensation of infatuation. For some reason, she found that the sight of Naruto and Sasuke standing side-by-side was less harsh on the eyes now.

~♡~

"My cute little genins, let's get started with our special training!" Kakashi's cheerful voice rang through the woods.

The three genins stood in a line in front of him, awaiting further instruction.

"What will we be doing?" Sakura asked cautiously.

If it was combat training, she would have to get mentally prepared to be beaten around for a while.

Kakashi, whose mask was the sole thing that could not be removed during his coma, smiled refreshingly.

"The tree climbing exercise," he said with relish.

He knew that two of his students had large chakra reserves and would likely have bad chakra control to match. It would be nice to finally put these cheeky brats in their place. He knew that he has lost his dignity as their elder, but he could still make them suffer as their jōnin sensei.

Naruto stifled a yawn. He had stayed up late, tracking the movements of the dandelion seeds that he scattered during the day. He ended up more entranced by the path through which the wind took the seeds than he would have thought.

"Tree climbing? What kind of training is that?" Sakura asked, confused.

Anyone could climb a tree. She did not see why such an activity could be considered shinobi training. It was not as if being able to do so would aid them in combat.

"This isn't normal tree climbing," Kakashi replied. "You will climb without using your hands."

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke reacted to this proclamation, which disappointed Kakashi a little.

"How?" Sakura said in disbelief.

"Well..." Kakashi said, forming a hand seal. "Watch."

Focusing his chakra to his feet, he began to stroll up the trunk of a sturdy tree and even walked upsidedown on a branch. His hair, too, defied gravity and did not shift during that climb. It was somewhat bizarre.

"Do you understand now?" Kakashi spoke at the end of his demonstration. "Gather your chakra in the bottom of your feet and climb. This is something you will be able to do if you control your chakra properly."

Sasuke answered simply, "Understood."

Sakura had hearts in her eyes as she looked at Sasuke and did not make a peep. Naruto rubbed his eyes blearily, seemingly having missed the explanation. He was still nodding off, dozing in a standing position.

"Well, this is something you will have to learn through experiencing it with your bodies." He dropped three kunai so that each buried itself in front of one of the genins below. "Use that kunai to mark how high you make it, then use that as your goal and try to surpass it. You'll probably be unable to just walk up the tree at first, so increase your momentum by giving it a running start."

Naruto blinked slowly.

"We just walk up the surface?" he clarified, summarising the jōnin's long lecture in one sentence.

Kakashi smiled. "Yes."

Naruto picked up the kunai and began running towards the tallest tree. He reached the top in one go, stabbed the kunai at the topmost part, then hopped down stepwise branch by branch. He did this within the span of seconds, irking Kakashi to no end.

As a jinchūriki, Naruto was supposed to have the hardest time with this task. If he got it in such a short time, then the other two will also manage to do it quickly. He would not be able to occupy the three for the next few days like this.

Sure enough, Sasuke went up the same tree that the blond climbed and walked down with the kunai that Naruto left on the top.

This left Sakura, who now felt pressured to succeed. Instead of listening to Kakashi, she tentatively stepped her foot on the trunk as she held her hands in the position of a ram seal. She thought this was what Sasuke did before her. She adjusted her chakra until it gave her a grip on the surface and started her upwards climb. She lost purchase about two-thirds up the tall tree of choice used by Naruto and Sasuke before her, and harshly landed on her feet with a wince.

She felt a bit forlorn -- she was behind them even in this new exercise.

"Don't feel too bad about it," Naruto comforted her. "We already knew how to do this. You can try again until you make it to the top."

Sakura was cheered up by his encouragement and tried again with determination.

She still stumbled on the two-thirds mark that she left before, but regained her grip on the surface and continued steadily upwards.

Then she was at the top, marking the spot right below the place Naruto's kunai had been stabbed.

"You did well," Sasuke said gruffly, causing a smile to bloom on Sakura's face.

Finally, she had Sasuke's acknowledgement.

She had to sit down on a branch for a while to recover before carefully walking down the tree.

"I did it!" Sakura shouted, pumping her fists.

Kakashi smiled stiffly.

It was not even time for breakfast yet.

"I see everyone's chakra control is better than I previously thought. Let's step it up a notch -- we'll upgrade to the water-walking exercise. It follows the same logic, but the changes in the water's current will require finer control over your chakra. You have to be able to walk on it freely to pass!" Kakashi exclaimed as he landed on the ground after retracting his chakra.

He guided them to a nearby stream that led to the ocean.

"You do it like this," Kakashi said merrily, stepping onto the water's surface. "The ram seal will help in gathering your chakra."

Sakura gawked at the physics-defying feat.

"Maximise your water tension by balancing your weight with chakra," Naruto explained as he walked onto the water following their sensei. "You'll have to pay attention because fish, rocks and other things under its surface affect the chakra you'll need to stop yourself from sinking. It's going to change throughout so you will have to be careful. You can swim, right?"

Sakura nodded shakily, venturing towards the shallow area.

Sasuke walked onto the water and handed the kunai he had held on to since before to Kakashi before walking back to dry land.

Kakashi could no longer fake a laugh.

This was not funny.

He stared at Sakura, knowing that her making it across was a matter of time. Her minuscule chakra reserves were almost negligible placed next to those of her teammates. She lacked in stamina, perhaps, but it would be easy for her to manage what little she had. It was simpler to work with a small amount when that small amount was all that one had, after all. It was similar to the principle of the comparison of a tap of a large water tank and a water bottle with a drinking nozzle. Due to the water pressure, it required precision to handle the tap to get a trickle and control the size of the trickle as opposed to simply squeezing the bottle slightly to get the same effect. The tank had a much larger capacity, but the tap would not allow for the fine controls that come easily for the owner of a water bottle. Of course, the maximum rate at which one could draw on their chakra could also be determined by the position and type of the tap and the size of the drinking nozzle.

The fact that Naruto and Sasuke already knew how to do the exercise did not make their feat any less impressive, considering their age.

He could only hope that she takes as long as possible. They could call it a day when there's a "casualty". If Sakura runs out of chakra, he would be able to stop it here. Otherwise, it will be a blow to his pride if the two brats did not learn anything new during this session. He did not want to be the one to step down first, but there were no appropriate exercises within his knowledge base. How maddening...

He noticed the sound of rushing water in the distance -- something that most certainly did not come from the small stream before them.

Could it be...?

"If it's a combination of the two exercises..." he laughed darkly as he was struck by an ingenious idea.

A doused Sakura who looked hardly better than a drowned rat victoriously succeeded in standing stably on the water's surface.

"Try to take a step. Slowly," Sasuke advised, sitting at the edge of the water.

Naruto was snoozing on the water "bed", his passive chakra emission keeping him dry and afloat.

Sakura carefully walked around him... and misstepped.

She crashed into him, knocking Naruto into the water and waking him up from his slumber.

"What?" Naruto mumbled as he swam to the shore.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun!" Sakura apologised, abashed to have made such a mistake.

"It's this idiot's fault for being in the way," Sasuke reassured her, whipping out a towel and drying Naruto's drenched blond hair.

He did it so naturally that Kakashi could not help but wonder if the raven-haired boy was doing this on a daily basis.

Sasuke averted his gaze in discomfort as he felt the eyes on them become a little hot.

Kakashi almost felt guilty for what he planned for them next, seeing Naruto like that.

Keyword: almost.

As expected, Sakura could walk on water properly within the next several minutes.

"Alright, team, let's head for breakfast first and continue to the next step after you're all fed and watered," Kakashi announced, ushering the trio back to the bridge-builder's house.

Kakashi and Sasuke were horrified to see the fried sweet treats set out on the dining table, with the creator of the dishes smiling at them behind the assortment. Sakura lit up when her eyes landed on a plate of red bean dumplings in the corner. Naruto took but a glance at the table before turning around and walking out of the house. Inari and Tazuna were already seated and drooling at the unhealthy treats -- one could easily guess that this was not at all a common sight in this household.

"A sweet reward for our shinobi helpers..." the bridge-builder's daughter Tsunami spoke, only to notice the two remaining male members of Team 7 make a quick escape.

Sasuke and Kakashi caught up to Naruto, who was spearing fish using kunai and reeling his catch up with the help of a wire connected to the end of the weapon. By the time the two of them reached the waterside, Naruto already had a sizable pile of plump fish. He looked up, spotted the additional jōnin who was hungrily looking at the fish, and paused.

"I don't like oily food," Naruto stated in his own defence.

"I don't eat fried food," Kakashi replied with an expression as if finding a compatriot.

"I won't touch sweets," Sasuke chipped in, "but I eat anything that Naruto makes."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Say that when you stop whining about my lack of skill in making savoury pancakes," he said wryly.

"I still eat it -- it's a testament to your ability! I'd eat it even if it's sugary," Sasuke argued.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow (it was obvious now since he lost his hitai-ate) and said, "So you live together."

Naruto, who was much more awake after he was dunked into the water by Sakura, nodded and explained, "This guy has been living in my home without paying rent for the past few years. He can't sleep inside an empty house."

While Kakashi was distracted, Naruto quietly accepted the gifts of the wild brought to him discreetly by a shrub. When the silver-haired man looked at Naruto again, he found that it was no longer just a pile of fish that was set before the blond. There was also a basket of woven leaves with nanohana and takenoko. He did not have time to wonder about where they could have appeared from. Naruto took a fish and smoothly gutted it, rinsing it in the river. He then channeled chakra through the kunai and removed the scales on the fish. He handed the knife to Sasuke to deal with the rest of the fish, unsealing a set of seasonings and condiments.

With the teamwork of the two boys, a makeshift meal of mountain greens, fish and rice was prepared within the next half an hour and served. Naruto also boiled a pack of dehydrated tofu, seaweed and miso cubes to go with the food. The tableware was entirely stainless steel, which was easy to wash, light and hygienic.

Sakura came out to see the three crowded around a pot and munching away on their meal and felt a bit tempted to try some -- she stopped herself with a self-reminder of her diet. She already had sweets, and could not eat more. She would become ugly if she grew fat...

Naruto noticed the longing in Sakura's eyes and held out an untouched bowl of bamboo and rapeseed shoots on rice to her invitingly.

She hesitated to take it.

"It's healthy and there's no meat, so you can have some. You need to replenish before we continue training again later," he coaxed the girl.

"It's all vegetables," Sakura told herself as she accepted the serving of delectable food. "And I'll burn the calories during practice."

She tried a mouthful... and then another.

Before she knew it, her bowl was empty. She gulped. How dangerous... Was this Naruto's heinous plan to make her gain weight? If it was, it would be very effective. Licking her lips, her eyes drifted to the pot of miso soup that had enticing chunks of fish within it.

Noticing her line of sight, Sasuke filled her bowl with the soup.

"Eat up," Sasuke told her briefly.

Kakashi smiled at the sight. His food was gone (he sneakily ate whenever people did not look his way and chewed with his mask on). He did not fail to notice the fact that his Sharingan's drain on his chakra when uncovered was not as significant as he had assumed. Despite this, he was still debating the merits of keeping his eye uncovered full-time. It restricted his vision when he did so and was a waste of chakra. It also did not seem to conceal his Sharingan at all, now that his enemies all knew about it -- his reputation was preceded by his skill in using his Sharingan.

Naruto was watching him intently, clearly baffled by his strange behaviour.

Kakashi eye-smiled and made a shushing motion.

Perhaps only Naruto had noticed the seals on the mask that prevented its removal by other people. He had found it quite off-putting that their sensei would have willingly worn a mask throughout the days he was unconscious. The only reason why he let the man maintain that sense of mystique was his consideration for a shinobi's privacy. Kakashi was neither the first nor last shinobi who opted to hide his face. He understood that one's identity was a sensitive matter in the shinobi world and would not foil the other's cover. Even then, he had to remove it regularly to ensure that his patient did not die of dehydration or starvation. He also took it upon himself to replace the mask each time. Naruto did not want to imagine the stench the article would emanate after days of wearing it without washing.

The first time, the jōnin had been awake and gave his consent to remove the mask -- as for the angel thing, Naruto hoped it was a joke.

~♡~

Team 7 stood before a sheet of falling water.

It had considerable height and was out of place in the topography of Nami no Kuni. It made no sense to have a waterfall on this mangrove island. There were rivers, but a waterfall should have been impossible -- an elevation of such degree from which water flows was incoherent in a geographical sense.

It could only be the result of a large jutsu, as the riverwater cascaded towards the depths of a deep canyon.

"You have made admirable progress," Kakashi spoke over the sound of rushing water. "Now, I will have you walk on a vertical surface made of moving water -- a waterfall. I am not going to be demonstrating this time, but this should be possible -- theoretically at least."

Naruto's eyes went wide.

"How creative...!" he muttered under his breath.

Like many other things, he just never thought of doing this before -- probably because it was pointless.

"Have you gone crazy, Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura demanded, going pale as she stared numbly at the waterfall. "Sensei, this isn't just about controlling chakra flow from our feet anymore!"

"This is absurd," muttered Sasuke.

He simply could not see any situation during which being able to walk on a vertical surface of running water would be helpful.

Honestly, neither could Kakashi.

He would accept all three remarks from his genin team -- they were true enough.

He eye-smiled, gestured towards the waterfall and left the site after making a shadow clone to supervise -- he still had to ensure that their client did not end up in trouble.

Intrigued, Naruto was the first to step up.

"I'll give it a try," he bravely volunteered.

He went up to the waterfall, hopped across smooth stones and arrived at the place where the sound of crashing water was the most deafening.

He took a deep breath, backtracked a little and sprinted for it.

His soles of his shinobi sandals unfortunately could not find purchase on the moving liquid and slipped.

Naruto fell into the water with a plop.

After failing miserably, he swam back to the shore and complained, "It would be easier to fly!"

Kakashi's shadow clone said sternly, "Even if you figure out how to fly, I will not let you off until you manage to walk up a waterfall."

He was internally joyous for having beaten these genins down a notch at long last, but buried his glee. Of course, this exercise was not something even he as its inventor could complete. He suspected it was impossible for someone to do it, regardless of the theories that would show otherwise. It did not matter even if they never succeed as long as Kakashi managed to teach his genins something.

Sasuke's brow creased.

"This is stupid," he muttered, going forward to challenge the exercise where even his brother had failed.

He first reached out a hand and poured out chakra to feel behind the water. He smirked when he found solid rocks behind the curtain of water. If it was like that... Sasuke believed he could get around this dumb task. He lifted one foot and placed it against the water. For an observer lacking sensitivity to chakra, this would seem like him testing his step.

However, Naruto could detect what Sasuke did past the cover of the water and gaped.

Sasuke formed stilts on his feet using chakra constructs, gingerly walking on the stone worn smooth by the water. He used suction to stick to the solid surface behind the water, climbing upwards slowly but steadily. Naruto was just about to expose his trick for what it was when Sasuke misstepped due to having not expected a rough stone somewhere about a quarter up the waterfall -- possibly an irregularity within the jutsu that created this landform itself.

"Even after cheating, you still failed," Naruto scoffed.

Sasuke hissed, "I did not cheat. Kakashi-sensei didn't say we weren't supposed to walk on the stones behind. It isn't my fault you didn't even think of doing that."

"Excuse me? He clearly stated that the point of this exercise was for us to be able to walk on a vertical surface of flowing water!" Naruto refuted, glaring at the other.

While the duo's bickering continued, Sakura came forward and tentatively placed her hand against the flow of the water to sense its pattern and speed. She stood there for a while, her palm lightly pressed against the harsh torrent of water. The roar of water filled her ears, causing her to feel very small indeed. She felt scared that she might slip, swept away by the current. She knew that if she was washed downstream, she would drown without being able to fight the flow of the water.

It was the presence of her team that gave her the courage to step up.

She gingerly pushed towards the sheet of falling water as she controlled the chakra from her palm and, once she successfully found the way to oppose the water's flow with her chakra, took a step forward. Their reluctant jōnin sensei was not so incompetent as to not pay attention to his students as a clone. The shadow clone was thus the first to witness Sakura's unbelievable act of walking up a waterfall.

"It worked!" Sakura exclaimed, giddy from the exhilaration of success.

The pair who were locked in their argument abruptly ended their quarrel and looked up at the pink-haired girl blankly.

There Sakura stood, triumphant, at the top of the waterfall, above the sound of the ceaseless deafening crash of water succumbing to gravity.

The glow of the sun beamed down on her lustrous head of pink and seemed to form a beautiful halo around her.