"What's wrong, sensei?" Naruto inquired and our sensei jumped at his question. It seemed that the thought was bothering him by that much.

"Body erasing teams usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right there," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei said. The grip on my hand tightened as I said, "d.a.m.n it, I know that something wasn't right!"

"So what?" Sakura despite being the brightest of us Genins had failed to see it.

"How did the boy dispose of Momochi Zabuza?" I asked.

"How could we know? That masked guy took the body with him" Sakura reasoned.

"Exactly my point," I said.

"And if he needed proof of his work, he could have just taken the head and the weapon that he used to kill Zabuza," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei retorted.

"Here I am the one with the Byakugan. Man, how could I be so stupid?!" I gritted.

"No way," Sasuke managed. He was disbelieving this revelation.

"Yeah, exactly," Our sensei rubbed the back of his head as he concurrently agreed with Sasuke's realization. Tazunsan demanded to know what we were talking about.

"Most likely, Zabuza is still alive!" He continued darkly. The pure shock was the face that was written on Sakura, Naruto, and Tazunsan.

"What the h.e.l.l do you mean?!" Naruto demanded.

"Kakas.h.i.+-sensei, Hikari had checked it with his Byakugan and he had confirmed that that man was dead!" Sakura said angrily with her fist propped at our sensei.

"That is my fault," I said and Sakura's eyes turned to me ablaze, "forgive my carelessness, I should have noticed it right away. My Byakugan let me see the chakra flow network within a person. For some of the Hyuugas, we can even see the exact points where the chakra will flow or stopped. I should have seen it in the first place that the senbon merely momentarily blocked the path of his chakra and in addition to somehow stopped his heartbeat."

"I don't get it," Sakura asked.

"The needle that hunter-nin used, unless it hits a vital organ, it has a low probability of killing your opponent. It's even an item used by the doctor in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nins know about the body's structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a momentary state of death is probably easy for them," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei explained, "first, he carried away the body of the much heavier Zabuza. Second, he used a weapon that has a low probability of killing. These two points indicate that..."

"Momochi Zabuza is most likely alive," I finished and he nodded.

"Aren't you thinking too much? Hunter-nins are supposed to kill missing-nins," Tazunsan countered.

"No, with all the suspicion, we must be prepared before it's too late. That's a ninja rule. Plus, whether Zabuza is dead or alive, there's no a.s.surance that Gatou hasn't hired an even stronger ninja," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei replied. I looked around and I saw that Sasuke already accepted the fact that Zabuza is alive while Sakura was still in disbelief. Naruto, on the other hand, was excited.

"Sensei, what do you mean preparing before it's too late? You can barely move," Sakura suddenly asked and our sensei chuckled at her question.

"What else, Sakura? He is going to train us," I said, happier with these new circ.u.mstances, "I am curious to see how much all of you had improved and I don't want to hear it from Naruto's boisterous mouth."

I laughed at my last comment and Naruto immediately annoyed.

"Hey, I don't brag!" he complained but laughed along with me.

"But, Sensei! What a little training going to do?! Our enemy is a ninja that even you struggled against even with the Sharingan!" Sakura said and I'm pretty sure that something inside of her said it more vulgar than what I heard upfront.

"Sakura, who saved me while I was struggling? You guys are growing rapidly. Especially Naruto!" Kakas.h.i.+-sensei said, smiling.

"Eh! So Naruto said the truth?!" I yelled jokingly and immediately got clunked in the head by Sasuke of all people.

"What? Do you think both of us are just some weak half-pint genin? Do you doubt us that much? Even the Dobe don't deserve that," he said.

"No, I didn't, you idiot. I'm only wanted to spite Naruto," I muttered while rubbing the spot that he clunked and he looked away, embarra.s.sed by his sudden impulsiveness, "this is going to leave a bruise, Teme!"

"Who are you calling Dobe?! Teme!" Naruto yelled and Sasuke just ignored him. As usual, Kakas.h.i.+-sensei interrupted them.

"Anyway! This is just training until I get better, you won't be able to defeat him without me," he added in a booming voice.

"But sensei, if Zabuza is alive, he could attack at any time so we shouldn't be training at all, shouldn't we?" Sakura asked.

"I am guessing that he won't be up for a while, I mean, there is an advanced technique in Hyuuga Juken Ryu that had the same effect as the needle did to Zabuza. He won't be up and running any time soon," I said and our sensei agreed with me.

"So we train until then. It sounds like a lot of fun!!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That's not fun," a kid wearing a striped hat suddenly retorted. Team 7 were all staggered at the sight of the boy that gives out a depressing vibe.

"Who the h.e.l.l are you?!!!" Naruto demanded, p.i.s.sed as expected.

"Oh! Inari! Where were you?" Tazunsan yelled happily. I knew that he wanted to try to change the subject.

"Welcome back, grandpa," the boy said monotonously. Never in my life that I ever saw a boy as bitter as that, I eyed Kakas.h.i.+-sensei and he seemed content watching the boy.

"Inari, say h.e.l.lo to these peoples," Tsunami-san said, no doubt chiding him for not respecting their guests, "they are the ninjas who protected grandpa."

Inari gave us a long cold look and stepped down from Tazuna's hug.

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"Mom, they are going to die," he said and pointed at us and naturally, our Naruto was easily triggered, he went forward to choke the kid.

"What did you say, you little brat!!" he yelled. Inari gave us the coldest look so far.

"There's no way you can win against Gatou," the boy said.

"Man, this is so messed up. No children should feel this way," I grumbled to myself.

"You brat!! I'll...." Naruto was shoving his sleeves up his shoulder signalling that he was ready to give the boy a good punch. Sakura again was quick to give him a clunk on the head.

"Naruto, let it be. Just sit down," I warned him.

"Hey, Inari!! I am a superhero who will one day become an incredible ninja called Hokage!! I don't know this Gatou guy, but he's nothing against me!!" Naruto said with his fist held high.

"What are you, stupid? There's no such thing as a hero!!" Inari once again monotonously said. I knew where this will be going, it will deteriorate if not intervened. I immediately appeared in front of Naruto with my left hand held upon his shoulder and my eyes glanced on Inari.

"Let this go, Uzumaki Naruto," I said and it seemed to work because I had never used their full name when I am asking someone to do something.

"If you don't want to die, you should have left," the boy said as he walked towards the sliding doors.

"Where are you going Inari?" Tazunsan asked and I noticed that his guardian didn't chide the boy at all.

"To look at the ocean from my room," the boy monotonously said. I let go of Naruto and lay down next to Kakas.h.i.+-sensei facing the wall.

"Sorry," Tazunsan said slowly and from his tone, I knew that the boy had gone through so much. Naruto refused to let go, went chasing after the boy. I used my Byakugan and looked for him. I saw the boy cried heavily while holding a picture of a man. I immediately heaved a sigh.

"Poor kid," I said to myself.

Naruto was at the front of the kid's room but he did not barge in. He must have heard the boy.

The next day, after listening to a long dragging explanation of chakra, Kakas.h.i.+-sensei wanted us to climb a tree.

"This isn't normal tree climbing. You'll climb without using your hands," our sensei explained and that got my attention.

"Interesting," I said.

"Sounds fun!" Naruto said.

"How?" Sakura asked. Thank Sakura for being so inquisitive. Our sensei formed a hand sign and on cue, I activated my Byakugan to observe him. Chakra seemed to pool around his legs.

"Well, watch," he said and then walked towards the nearby three using his crutches. Amazingly, he never stopped, not until he reached the highest branch and was standing upside down looking at us. We were immensely surprised to see that.

"He's climbing..." Naruto said.

"Vertically... with just his legs..." Sakura finished his words.

"That's wicked!" I exclaimed.

"You understand now? Gather your chakra in the bottom of your feet and climb up a tree. This is what you can do once you can use chakra well," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei began. I walked towards the tree he climbed and inspect them. Amazingly there is neither proof that it was rigged or anything nor any trace that was left after his steps. He really did climb up a tree with no hands and using crutches too.

"Wait a minute! How is learning to climb a tree going to make us stronger?!" Sakura yelled and I walked towards the other tree. I closed my eyes and kneaded some chakra. I walked up the tree.

"Here's the main part, listen closely..." our sensei said. On cue, the tree bark beneath my feet had exploded to smithereens. All of them were surprised. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at me while Sakura and Naruto's jaws dropped open. I stood up and laughed nervously. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei continued with his teaching.

"Anyway, first is to teach you to control chakra and to bring out the proper amount to the proper area. As I said earlier, this is the most important aspect when using jutsu. This can be difficult for even a skilled ninja. Take Hikari for example, all that large amount of chakra but he had little to no control over it. There's a reason why his Mokuton techniques seemed weak when it was supposed to be the pride of Konoha. The amount of chakra needed to climb a tree is a lot smaller but it must be exact. It is said that the bottom of the feet is the most difficult area to gather chakra. So basically, if you can learn this control, you should be able to master any jutsu. Theoretically," he diligently said. Naruto's face immediately lit up in confidence.

"The second thing is for you to develop the stamina needed to control chakra properly. Depending on the jutsu, controlling your chakra properly can be very difficult and a ninja will usually be gathering his chakra during battle while constantly moving. These types of situations make controlling chakra even more difficult. That's why from this tree climbing, you must gain the stamina needed for this proper control," sensei added.

"I think this training is brilliant. My chakra control went haywire since I awakened my dojutsu," I commented. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei raised his eyebrow at me.

"You didn't do this kind of training with Sandaime-sama? It's a basic exercise, you know?" Kakas.h.i.+ asked and my friends looked at me.

"No, never and not even with my mother. Sarutobi-sensei just had me copy every technique he knew and run me ragged with stamina training," I said as I rubbed the back of my head. Our sensei brought his hands to his chin and scratched it.

"I see," he mumbled as he thought about it.

"I didn't know that Byakugan can copy ninjutsu," Sasuke suddenly said. That was not good--he was sharper than the rest of them.

"Not exactly," I said but Kakas.h.i.+-sensei interrupted me before I could explain.

"Well, enough talking. This is something you'll have to learn with your bodies," he withdrew four kunai and threw them in front of our feet, "use these kunais to mark how high you make it up the tree. Then use that mark as your goal and try to surpa.s.s it. You guys won't be good enough to just walk up the tree at first. So get momentum and try running up the tree. Got it?"

"This training is nothing to me!! I could do it before breakfast!!" Naruto yelled confidently, "cause I'm the most improved."

"Why don't you stop the bragging, pick a tree and hurry up and try to climb it," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei sighed. There were no retorts from Naruto as all of us were gathering chakra at our feet. Then I bolted towards the tree but once again, the tree exploded. Sasuke managed to climb halfway before the tree bark was smashed under his foot while Naruto, he didn't even make it up.

"This is pretty easy!!" Sakura said. I noticed that she was not on the ground; she was sitting on the first branch of the tree she climbed.

"It looks like the best at controlling chakra right now is Sakura," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei announced, "wow, not only does she know a lot about chakra, but her control and stamina are quite good. As of now, Sakura is the closest to be a Hokage, unlike a certain someone. I guess the Uchiha clan isn't worth much either these days and I am pretty sure, with all that sloppy chakra control, that recent Hyuuga prodigy would no doubt bring shame to his clan."

All three of us were now triggered. I immediately shut my eyes and kneaded chakra once more. I felt a presence that was watching us and on cue, my Byakugan was activated. I saw Inari was spying on us but he moved away when he was satisfied with what we were doing. Afterwards, I took the chance and observed Kakas.h.i.+-sensei's chakra flow. I took his amount and extrapolated it with my weight and gravitational acceleration so that I could produce the exact amount for myself. Instantly, I ran up Kakas.h.i.+-sensei's tree. He was startled by it and jumped down before I reached him.

"Hey, not fair! You thrash talked us rotten," I protested. I was standing at his spot looking down on them that was on the ground.

"It did the job didn't it?" Kakas.h.i.+-sensei smiled. I looked at my feet and noticed it. I was standing upside down on a tree branch. That made me relieved and understood the underlying facts about this exercise.

"You will oversee their training. I had to rest for a while," our sensei said before he walked out of the forest. I walked down and did my tasks as expected of me.

"Guys, I am using my Byakugan to observe your chakra. With this, I could see how much more or less chakra you will need to succeed," I said before sitting down.

After a few hours, Sakura was faring better than the rest of them but she collapses under an insane amount of fatigue. She managed to sprawled down next to me and I handed her my water canteen for her as a gesture. It was then that I had a really good glimpse of it. Scars that were so similar to mine, she must have the same problem as mine. Deep inside, I began to saw her in a new light and I promised to never let her be.

"Thanks, Hikari-kun," she smiled. I smiled back at her but never turned my eyes away from her. I felt that she knew that I was staring judging by her puzzled expression. It was forced as if she was constantly on edge because of the possibility of me finding out her secrets. I was going to say something but Naruto who was frustrated as he walked away from his tree towards us had disturbed my concentration.

"Guys, could you give me some tips?!" Naruto pleaded and my lips quirked up to a smile. Sakura was surprised by his behaviour. Perhaps something about Naruto was exceeding her initial expectations.

"Listen, chakra uses spiritual energy, so you can't get too excited. To gather chakra to your feet you have to relax and focus on the tree," Sakura explained.

The next day, only Naruto and Sasuke went into the forest to train and I stayed at home to nurse Kakas.h.i.+-sensei while Sakura watched over Tazunsan. Our sensei and I were sitting on the ledge while we were waiting for Tsunami-san to finish cooking and everyone else to come back.

"Hikari, what do you mean about your chakra went haywire when you used too much of the Dojutsu?" he asked while reading the ever-familiar orange book.

"Well, it seemed that the eye multiplied my ability, chakra capacity, stamina, and whatnot when I am using it. It gets harder to control it with my prior skills or lack thereof. My mother said Otsutsukis was expected to master chakra manipulation naturally. She never trained me that way. Hence, I never know how to efficiently control my chakra. I wonder who came up with it?" I answered.

"I see. It's good then, you did the training. You should feel the improvement yourself," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei continued.

"I agree. Before, the eye kept turning on whenever I kneaded chakra. It's such a ha.s.sle when I needed to be low profile but if you ask me, I don't even need all this power at all, but, it is part of me and I had to deal with it," I said as I tapped my foot on the surface of the water.

"Don't think of it as a curse. Think of it as a gift to protect your friends. The strength of a true ninja comes from the desire to protect others. I know I have seen it multiples of times," he said as he rustled my hair. I gave him a soft smile.

"Thank you for being so kind to me. I don't even know how to repay it," I muttered.

"Don't. It's nice to take care of you--it makes feel like I have a little brother to care for," he laughed along with me.

"I sure hoped that I could teach some things to them. You know, pa.s.sing along my knowledge. I want my friends to be just as good if not better than me. It is a dream I have recently," I said, rambling. Kakas.h.i.+ chuckled at the words.

"Give them a year or two when both of them stopped bickering. I used to be that way you know, with my teammates?" he said.

"Eh, who was the one who had the stick gone up to his a.s.s?" I joked.

"I did," sensei said and I couldn't contain my surprise, "my best friend was an Uchiha. Believe me when I said that Naruto was the mirror image of him, even had the same dream."

"No way," I muttered in surprise.

"Yeah, Uchiha Obito was the one who had taught me that valuable piece of advice; those who disobey the rules of s.h.i.+n.o.bi are sc.u.m but those who abandon their friends are even worse than sc.u.m," he added as he looked to the sky, "if it were not for him, I would fall much deeper down the rabbit hole of depression. A couple of months afterwards, my other teammate died on my hands not too long after losing Obito. I was closed to be much worse than I once was but my sensei snapped me out of it. Though now, I too couldn't ever repay him."

"I am sorry. I never knew you had endured this much," I said while looking again at my feet.

"I am telling you this because, no matter how strong we are, we could never save everyone. I don't want you to fall down the pit as I did. People come and people go, Hikari. We best deal with it and move forward in honour of them," he said. He somehow knew about my pain along with my longing for mother, the pain of losing Aino, and the fear of losing another loved one. A tear fell on my cheeks.

"I am sure you understand, I can't have another person leave me. I loved them all; Hias.h.i.+-sama, Sarutobi-sensei, you, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hanabi, Hinata, and everyone else. I had long since accepted that I lost my mother, Konoha is all I have and I must never disappoint you all," I sobbed.

"I know. Just promise me you won't fall further," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei softly said and I nodded as I wiped away my tears.

"I won't even consider that and if one of my friends did that, I'll be sure to knock some sense into him," I gritted while sobbing miserably.

"Hey, what's going on? Did you bully him, Kakas.h.i.+-sensei?!" Sakura suddenly interrupted with an angry looked on her face. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei immediately raised his hand in defeat, shook his head and pointed at me.

"I missed my mother. That's all," I croaked as I wiped my face and her face softened.

"You better wash up. Naruto and Sasuke-kun should be back any minute now for dinner," she said as she entered the house.

After dinner, it was uneventful. Inari ran up to his room at the mention of his father. All of our faces are changed after hearing what had happened to Inari's father, Kaizsan. I gritted my teeth.

"This Gatou person was more twisted than anyone I know," I thought to myself.

He had robbed the courage out of the people of Land of the Waves. I strongly believed that he should have been promptly taken care of. Naruto was silent as he took in the story. I saw his eyes were the same as the ones when I found him on the swing during the graduation day. Afterwards, he stood up and bolted to the doors.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura suddenly asked. Naruto stumbled over and yelled in pain. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei knew where he was going.

"If you're thinking of training, take the day off. You've released too much chakra, any more and you could die," sensei said. Naruto lifted his head and muttered,

"I'm going to prove it," his words attracted the attention of every person present at the moment.

"What?" Sakura asked. I knew enough about Naruto and he was going to make me proud again.

"I'm going to prove that in this world, heroes do exist, Dattebayyo!" he awesomely said.