Chapter 28: A New Training
Disclaimer:
Dialogue
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 28: A New Training
After a good night's rest, their teacher called them into his room for a meeting.
The trio of genins were sitting down close to Kakashi's bed, waiting for their teacher to speak.
"There is a good chance that Zabuza is alive," he started.
"No way!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Hmm?" Sasuke looked confused.
"Can you clarify that?" Naruto had a bad feeling about this, but he hadn't been able to find anything wrong with what had happened the day before.
"Since you asked yesterday about the ninja hunter taking away Zabuza's body…I had this feeling that something was off…then I remembered something. Although it's not rare for a hunter to dispose of the target's body, they would usually still keep the head and then…they would burn the rest."
"Maybe he didn't want to burn it there. That's why it was taken away," Sakura suggested.
"Maybe…but there is another strange thing," Kakashi added. "The weapon he used to kill Zabuza…"
Sasuke gasped. "No way!"
"He used those steel needles. Is that what you mean?" Naruto also thought it was a very inefficient killing weapon since it would not do much damage unless you hit the exact spots.
"Senbons, and they are rarely used as weapons. Most ninjas who use them are medics, and they are used for-"
"Acupuncture, of course!" Naruto was very familiar with this. Now he realized what Kakashi was referring to. With acupuncture, it is possible to slow down or even stop someone's heart momentarily and then bring them back. "He stopped his heart with acupuncture and then took him away…right in front of our eyes."
Kakashi nodded. "That is what I am afraid of."
"That hunter made a fool of us!" Sasuke clenched his fists.
"You are still inexperienced genins, don't beat yourself up over it. I should be the one offended…" Kakashi said.
"But we can't be sure of this, right? I mean…this is just a theory," Sakura said, hoping to avoid thinking about that monster still being around.
"True…we are just speculating," Kakashi said. "But, we should still act under the premise that he could still be alive and will attack again when he recovers from his wounds."
"And that he has a very powerful ally," Naruto pointed out.
"That masked guy seemed very strong…" Sasuke agreed.
"We must be prepared. Even if Zabuza never comes back, Gato could have hired more ninjas. There are plenty of missing ninjas out there," Kakashi explained.
"Oh…" Sakura was getting worried again. "But what can we do? You can barely move now."
"By preparing…of course, I mean training," Kakashi told them as if it was obvious.
"You haven't trained us since the team was formed and you want to start now? When we are in hostile territory and could be attacked by enemy ninjas at any moment?" Sakura was in disbelief.
Sasuke and Naruto weren't much different.
Kakashi let out a chuckle. "These are the best moments to train! You will learn faster if you are under pressure."
"I mean…" Naruto mumbled. He had to agree with their teacher. People always progress faster when there is actual danger involved.
"Besides, when I saw Naruto unable to walk on water, I realized that I didn't even teach you the basics…hehe," Kakashi added.
"It's not funny!" Sakura complained.
"You are going to teach us how to walk on water?" Sasuke asked. He could not hide his interest.
Kakashi raised a finger. "Not yet. There's another step you have to finish first."
"So there is something even more basic that you haven't taught us yet?," Naruto concluded.
"Exactly!" Kakashi admitted it with no shame whatsoever. "We will start after lunch."
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"This seems like a good place to start." Kakashi slapped a tree.
"We are going to train in the middle of a forest?" Sakura looked around.
None of them knew what kind of training their teacher had prepared for them, so they were very excited.
Even Naruto, who had mastered countless techniques during his past life. He was always happy to learn something new. That attitude is what allowed him to get so far in life.
"Alright, what are you going to teach us?" he asked.
"I assume you are all familiar with the leaf exercise, yes?" Kakashi asked his students. Of course, he already knew the answer since he had read their academy reports.
Sakura was extremely good at chakra control but she had very small reserves.
Sasuke had above-average reserves and his chakra control was also decent, thanks to all his training.
Kakashi's eyes moved to Naruto. He had no idea how he was going to perform in this exercise. If it was before the 'incident'...he would have assumed that Naruto was going to do very poorly due to his lack of training and the fact that the Kyuubi's chakra was leaking into his own, making it very difficult to control.
He still didn't understand why his old professor had made the decision to create such a seal. Did he really expect Naruto to learn to control the demon's chakra?...he did not know and from what the Hokage had told him…neither did he.
Kakashi made a mental note to speak with Jiraiya the next time he stopped in the village. If anyone knew more about Naruto's seal, it was him.
"Of course we are familiar with that exercise. We learned it at the academy," Sakura said.
"It's meant to teach chakra control. Are we going to do something similar?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi nodded. "The leaf exercise is the most basic chakra control technique, but it doesn't have many practical applications. What I am going to teach you is the next level of chakra control techniques…tree climbing!"
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