13 Chapter 13: Desperate Training! Hurry before Zabuza Returns!

Zabuza lay on the ground while the figure that had carried him away kneeled beside him.

"First I should drain the blood." The figure said, then, right as he went to make the incision he needed to make. Zabuza grabbed hold of his wrist.

"Don't bother, I'll do it." He said.

"You're already awake? I'm impressed, I was sure you'd be unconscious a while longer." The figure commented.

"Don't patronize me Haku." Zabuza commanded.

He then yanked out the needles that were in his neck.

"Damn, you were rough on me." Zabuza commented.

"I apologize Zabuza, but the neck has few muscles so it's the easiest to hit your acupuncture points there." Haku replied.

"You're so innocent and clever. That's what I like about you." Zabuza smiled.

"That's because I'm only a kid." Haku replied smiling back.

Zabuza grunted as he tried to move.

"You won't be able to move for about a week, but you might be able to move sooner." Haku said to stop Zabuza from struggling so much.

"Look, the mist is clearing."

"Next time, I will defeat the sharingan." Zabuza stated.

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Kakashi suddenly opened his eyes as he sat up from his bed. What was that? That feeling of something not being right? He wondered. He thought back to the time when the hunter-nin appeared.

Sakura freaked out as she had been attempting to peak at what was underneath Kakashi's mask.

"Are you alright sensei?" She asked cautiously.

Naruto came back into the room after hearing Sakura freak out. Then he saw Kakashi had woken up and had a serious look on his face. Looks like he's realized that something doesn't add up.

"Zabuza's alive." Naruto announced, causing Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna to freak out at his words. Kakashi looked up wide eyed, but when he thought about it some more, he came to the same conclusion. But he wondered why Naruto thought the same.

"Why do you say that Naruto? I even confirmed that Zabuza was dead." Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, that's right baka-Naruto! Even Kakashi-sensei said Zabuza was dead, so how can he be alive?!" Sakura shouted.

Sasuke kept silent as he waited for Naruto to explain.

"It's simple, the job of the hunter-nin is to eliminate all traces of the missing-nin, right Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto began explaining.

"That's right." Kakashi answered.

"Then why did the hunter-nin need to leave? Why did they chose to instead carry Zabuza's heavy body away. They could have just as easily taken care of the body right there. Also, the needles they used. They're the kind of weapons that are difficult to use because if you don't hit a vital organ, then you can easily survive from being hit by them. But they could be used to feign death just as well by hitting the right acupuncture points." Naruto explained.

"Oh come on Naruto, you're just over thinking things. Right sensei?" Sakura asked looking at Kakashi. But seeing his expression, her hope was destroyed.

"No way, that person is still alive?" Sakura said dumbfounded.

"In all likelihood, Zabuza is alive. However, there's some good news." Kakashi said.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"Anyone who is put into a momentary state of death won't be able to move for awhile. They will need to give their body time to rest and recover." Kakashi answered.

"But how does that help us?" Sakura asked.

"It means, that we'll have time for me to give you guys some training." Kakashi replied.

"What? How is training going to help us? Even you struggled so much against him sensei!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Don't worry so much Sakura. I should be recovered by the time Zabuza does, but it would still be best if you guys trained yourselves. After all, when I got stuck, who was it that got me out?" Kakashi said smiling.

Sakura was shocked as she thought back to Naruto and Sasuke working together to free Kakashi.

"Don't sell yourselves short, you guys are improving rapidly, especially you Naruto." Kakashi smiled.

Naruto grinned as he placed his hands behind his head. Sasuke had smirked as well, but he couldn't help but glance at Naruto. Somehow, after the academy, Naruto had become so strong so quick. While he didn't want to admit it, Naruto was stronger than he was. Sakura looked at Naruto and Sasuke, she grit her teeth in frustration, was she improving though? All this time, she hadn't done anything useful.

Kakashi saw each one's expression and thought for a moment. Sakura lacks confidence in herself, she's probably the brightest one here when it comes to theoretical applications. But she doesn't have the confidence to put what she learned into practice. Sasuke had already acknowledged Naruto as his rival whether he knows it or not. So he's going to keep trying to outperform him. Naruto though.... hmmm, Naruto already has a handle on the basics. I'm also certain Naruto could have handled himself fairly well against Zabuza if he had been by himself.

Kakashi sighed to himself, looks like Sasuke and Sakura have a lot of catching up to do.

"Alright, we'll begin training immediately, meet me in the woods." Kakashi said as he got up. He had been given a pair of crutches, so he used those to help him get around. The three genin nodded as they all stood up.

Suddenly, the door opened and a little kid walked in.

"Inari! You're home!" Tsunami said.

"Grandpa? You're back?" Inari asked.

"Yeah, thanks to the hidden leaf ninjas, they got me back safe and sound! Gahahahah" Tazuna laughed.

Inari looked at Naruto and the others.

"You're all going to die." He said before turning and leaving.

"What was that?!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi remained silent however.

"Now now, please don't mind Inari, the town has just had a hard time because of Gatou and his men." Tazuna explained.

The three of them nodded but Sakura was still fuming.

"But how dare he tell a young maiden that she's going to die?! If he keeps being broody then no girl will fall for him!" Sakura said loudly in anger.

"But isn't Sasuke broody?" Naruto suddenly said allowed.

Sakura flinched at the words while Sasuke seemed slightly annoyed at the comment.

"NA-RU-TO!!" Sakura said slowly as she turned to face him with the face of an oni.

Naruto saw this and slowly backed away.

"Well....I think we should get back to training. Right Sakura? Oh look, Kakashi-sensei is leaving we should go follow before we're late." Naruto pleaded.

Naruto tried to leave but suddenly felt a hand grip his shoulder. When he turned he saw Sakura's oni face right next to him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo!!" Naruto yelled out.

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Zabuza lay down on a bed while Haku was sitting beside him. Gatou opened the door and walked straight into the room, followed by two thuggish looking men.

"Even you couldn't kill the leaf shinobi, so much for the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza!" Gatou said displeased.

Zabuza remained silent despite Gatou's provocations.

"Why you-!" One of Gatou's men said as he went to pull his sword.

"Stop, I've got this." Gatou said sticking his arm out. He walked up beside Zabuza's bed and looked down at him.

"Not even a word eh, Zabuza?"

Gatou reached out towards Zabuza but suddenly his wrist was being squeezed tightly by Haku.

"Don't you dare touch Zabuza!!" Haku said with is killing intent flaring as he glared at Gatou.

"Oi, oi, calm down!" Gatou tried to say.

Haku just continued to squeeze harder, causing Gatou's wrist to start making cracking sounds.

"Oi, you two, do something!" Gatou called out.

The two thugs went to draw their swords but before they realized it, Haku already held their swords in his hands as he placed the blades on their throats. The two of them gulped as sweat dripped from their foreheads.

"F-Fine, but you guys only get one more chance!" Gatou shouted as he left with his two thugs.

Once they had gone, Haku turned to face Zabuza who was looking at him.

"You need to calm down, Zabuza, we can't create a scene just yet." Haku said.

"Hmph, you're too kind Haku, but you're right." Zabuza said as he closed his eyes again.

"Just focus on recovering Zabuza, I'll handle the rest." Haku responded.

Zabuza didn't make any sounds as he laid there. Haku smiled as he sat back down beside him.

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Kakashi had gathered everyone in the woods. Sasuke was on the far left with Naruto holding his bruised head in the middle, and Sakura humming to herself on the far left. Kakashi couldn't help but scratch his head. Sakura can be pretty scary when she wants to be, Kakashi thought.

"Ahem, he coughed getting their attention. Now, we will begin a very special training..."

Kakashi paused for dramatic effect.

"What kind of training?" Sakura asked.

"Chakra control!" Kakashi answered.

"Chakra control, but how is that going to make us stronger?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke also wondered how Chakra had anything to do with being stronger, as he said. "We don't need to learn about it since we can already use ninjutsu just fine."

Kakashi could only sigh to himself, maybe if one of them explained it to them, he then looked towards Naruto.

"Naruto, do you know why chakra control is important to a shinobi?" He asked.

Naruto nodded his head as he stopped holding it. "Chakra control is important because it determines how well a shinobi can conserve and use their chakra in battle. If two shinobis of equal strength were to fight, the one with better chakra control would win."

Sasuke and Sakura looked at Naruto in shock.

"Correct, now explain why that is the case." Kakashi said.

"You see, the one with better chakra control will be able to preserve their chakra longer, and they won't need as much chakra to perform the same jutsus as the one with weak chakra control. Also, in battle, there tends to be a lot of moving, so you can't stand still to try and gather chakra, you have to be able to do it while on the move. Which is where chakra control comes into play." Naruto explained.

"Exactly, now, do you guys understand?" Kakashi asked.

The two of them nodded their heads after hearing the explanation.

"So how are we going to train our chakra control?" Sakura asked.

"Simple, tree climbing!" Kakashi answered.

"Tree climbing?" Sasuke and Sakura asked in unison.

"That's right, Naruto, why don't you demonstrate." Kakashi suggested.

"Okay." Naruto agreed. He then walked to a tree and placed his foot onto it.

Sakura and Sasuke focused on Naruto as he slowly lifted his other foot and slowly began walking up the tree. When he got about half way, he stopped and face everyone.

"Is this good Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto called down.

"That's good, Naruto, I think they have the idea now." Kakashi replied.

He threw two kunais at Sasuke's and Sakura's feet.

"Use those to mark your progress, and since you haven't practice, you should try getting a running start at first." Kakashi told the two.

Naruto jumped down and landed beside Kakashi as Sasuke and Sakura picked up their kunais.

"But Kakashi-sensei, what's Naruto going to do?" Sakura asked.

"You two don't worry about Naruto, he's at a much higher level than you two, so he will be doing special training on his own." Kakashi smiled.

Sakura looked down in embarrassment, somehow, she had always had this feeling of being better than Naruto. But now she saw how laughably arrogant that feeling was of her. Sasuke looked down as he couldn't help feeling inferior to Naruto and it pissed him off. The two then focused their chakras and started running up the tree. Sasuke managed to get up some distance before the bark exploded below his feet and he had to jump back onto the ground. Sakura on the other hand made it all the way up to the first major branch on her tree.

"Hey, this isn't so bad." She said while feeling happy at being able to do it so well.

Kakashi smiled up at the two.

"Now keep practicing until you guys can make it all the way to the top." He instructed.

"Naruto, follow me."

Naruto nodded as he followed Kakashi deeper into the woods leaving Sasuke and Sakura to their training. Sasuke watched the two slowly get deeper and deeper into the woods until he couldn't see them anymore. He grit his teeth as he focused on his training again, he was determined to catch up to Naruto and then surpass him.

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Naruto and Kakashi had been walking for awhile, and Naruto wondered just what sort of training kakashi had for him. After awhile, Kakashi stopped walking and Naruto waited for him to explain his training.

"Naruto, because of our training sessions up until now, you've mastered the basics and your foundations have been built. You've also implemented your wind nature into your jutsus. At this point, you're already at the level of a high level chuunin shinobi. But we both know that isn't enough against Zabuza." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded his head as he felt this too. It wasn't so much his skills that were lacking, but more that his body still couldn't keep up with him.

"I believe you have the technical skills of a jonin, but your body hasn't caught up with you yet, which is lowering your ability to that of a chuunin. So I've thought long and hard about how you can overcome that difference in a short time. But it's dangerous and it's entirely on you if you can master the technique." Kakashi said. Causing Naruto to gulp.

"What I'm about to train you in is a technique called the hidden gates." Kakashi said.

Naruto looked at him shocked, he remembered the times he saw Lee and Guy use that move. While it explosively raised their strengths, it also caused tremendous strain on their bodies. He hadn't expected Kakashi to teach him how to open the hidden gates.

"However, this technique is dangerous and I would never consider teaching it to you if we weren't in our current circumstances." Kakashi explained.

"I can also only teach you up to the first gate, do you want to learn?"

Naruto thought about it, he really had no other idea on how to improve his physical conditions rapidly to make his body stronger and faster. He looked up at Kakashi with determination in his eyes.

"I want to learn the technique Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said.