Naruto: BELIEVE IT

"Watch."

Sitting on a patch of grass, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke watched as Kakashi walked up to a tree trunk, vertically. Defying gravity, he walked as if his feet were glued to the trunk.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, seeing that it was something he was able to perform already.

"Through a variety of regimens, both your bodies and minds grew. It's been a short time, but I can confidently say that all of you grew in many ways—especially your chakra reserve. Today, we will be focusing on your manipulation of the chakra.

What I'm trying to highlight in this exercise is the 'efficiency'. No matter how great your amount of chakra is, if you cannot manage it efficiently and deplete your stamina, you would still lose with an advantage at hand."

Pointing at his feet, Kakashi continued,

"You're not allowed to use your hands. Focus your chakra toward the soles of your feet and use that power to cling to the trunk. By achieving what I'm currently performing in front of you, you can achieve a certain degree of 'efficiency', or should I say, 'control' over your own chakra.

To use no more than needed, but maximize the amount within the acceptable range—it is the subtle control that is required in any action that ninjas perform. It will surely come in handy!"

Hopping down, Kakashi concluded,

"And so, the primary objective of this exercise is to increase your 'chakra control' and successfully attach yourselves to the trunk. The secondary objective is to build up enough stamina,"

Kakashi's eye intentionally hovered over Sakura for that,

"necessary to complete your task after you manages to complete the primary objective. Try to maintain the state for as long as you can."

"...But this is..."

Sasuke muttered as he eyed Naruto. He was aware that back in the test, Naruto performed exactly this as he fought Kakashi; there was no doubt that the blonde already mastered this exercise.

Question was, how?

'He had no one to teach him... he figured it out by himself?'

For some reason, Naruto reminded Sasuke of one person whom he hated, enough to make his mood worsen.

"Tch,"

Standing up, Sasuke walked up to the trunk as Kakashi finished his explanation and told them to start, with a distributed kunai in hand.

Noticing Sasuke's worsened mood, Sakura exhibited a confusion before walking up to the trunk next to the one Sasuke was using.

"So, Kakashi-sensei,"

Meanwhile, Naruto stayed seated, finding no reason to participate in this exercise.

"What about me then?"

Kakashi too was aware. Considering Naruto's chakra reserve, it must have taken a long time for Naruto to master this. When also considering the fact that Naruto's reserve grew over time as he aged, Kakashi wondered how many times Naruto 'relearned' this to keep up with himself.

"...Well, there certainly are the next steps of this exercise. It is said that at the highest ladder in the world of chakra control, there lies medical ninjutsu, genjutsu, and the most complex kinds of fuinjutsu."

Kakashi hummed before asking,

"Have you tried walking on the water before?"

__________

"Why is it that he's always ahead of me?!"

Lying on the ground, exhausted, Sasuke growled. After practicing for long, he was unable to reach the top of the trunk and achieve the full mastery over this exercise.

The fact that Sakura managed to stick on the tree way before the current time made him feel even worse.

"S-Sasuke-kun! You can do this—"

"Shut up!!"

Sakura hiccuped in surprise as Sasuke barked at her. Standing up with a vivid frustration, he ran up the trunk once again, only to slip and fall eventually.

"Huff... huff..."

"Yo, guys,"

To them, Kakashi waved his hand, putting his book away,

"It's already getting dark. How about we end it here for today?"

"...Damn it!!"

Slamming his fist on the ground, Sasuke stood up and stormed off, leaving Sakura and Kakashi by themselves.

"Sasuke-kun..."

While Sakura muttered miserably, Kakashi sighed as he facepalmed.

"You too, Sakura. Go back and get some rest."

"What about you, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I'll first have to tell Naruto that today's exercise is over. Then leave."

Kakashi walked away on the direction opposite of where Sasuke left. Sakura stood still for a moment, before, with her curiosity having overtaken her, began to tail Kakashi.

Going through the training ground and the forest, they eventually reached a lake close by.

As the sun was setting, there was a campfire just under. With his whole body completely soaked, Naruto seemed to be drying his clothes with his top half off.

"Naruto!"

Kakashi called, and Sakura immediately blushed and covered her eyes—before peeking through them.

"Kakashi-sensei? Sakura?"

"We're done for today!"

"Ah, got it. You guys leave first. I'll do a little more before going."

As Naruto replied, Kakashi shrugged. Yawning, he then waved his hand and walked away coolly, seeing that his duty was done.

"Well, see you tomorrow then."

"You too, Sakura."

Sakura said in the end, and Naruto replied with a nod. Squeezing his still-wet cloth, Naruto stared at it for a second before placing it down near the fire and standing back up.

Sakura stood, watching as Naruto began to place his foot on the water once more. Without being able to make a single step on it successfully, he fell into it, before he swam back to the shore and tried again.

Within this brief time where she watched, Sakura saw Naruto repeating this process about twenty times or so. Shaking her head eventually, she mumbled to herself,

"...Doesn't he ever get tired?"

Feeling that watching Naruto's never-ending tries were tiring her, she too turned back and left, leaving Naruto by himself.

...

The next day, when team 7 met back in the same training ground, they saw that Naruto wasn't present.

"What is he doing?!"

Sakura fumed, thinking that he was slowly becoming like Kakashi, even though Kakashi wasn't late this time around.

Sasuke didn't seem to care; he was only interested in resuming his training.

Kakashi, after thinking for a little bit, pinched the bridge of his nose,

"Don't tell me..."

He walked through the forest, and curious, the two students followed.

Upon reaching the lake, Sakura couldn't help but have her eyes widened in disbelief.

The fire was still lit on. And there was Naruto, still trying.

"H-Huh...?"

Even Sasuke seemed petrified.

"...Naruto,"

As Kakashi called, Naruto, who was about to take a step on the surface of the water, turned around,

"Ah, good morning."

"Have you been here the entire night?"

"Well..."

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly,

"I finally got a direction, sensei. I was stuck on what to do after tree walking, and was glad to learn how to improve. Besides, this exercise is pretty fun by itself."

'Fun? This?'

Sakura couldn't help but think in disbelief.

"Look."

Naruto then performed the water-walking. He successfully made first two steps and stood atop the water, before falling immediately with a splash as the water rippled.

Swimming back to the shore, he called,

"I've got the first part of it down!"

This day, Sasuke learned that there was a reason why he couldn't surpass Naruto. Above all, Naruto, for some reason and somehow, was more diligent than he who had a solid reason to get stronger.

And Sakura too—perhaps, she began to see Naruto in a new light. Slowly, she began to question,

'Why did I hate Naruto again?'

The memories during the academy years slowly began to fade.

__________

"...Asuma is injured?"

In the Hokage office, Kakashi revealed a shock as Hiruzen sat in front of him, explaining him about the current situation.

"Momochi Zabuza... he said."

"Asuma requested for a back up, Kakashi. He managed to escape with his students and client safe, but he was deeply injured in doing so. It's already been a day since this letter was written, and I cannot estimate the severity of the situation there."

"If it's Zabuza... indeed, it's a bad match-up for Asuma. I suppose this raises the mission's difficulty to that of an A-ranked at the very least..."

"It may be A-ranked, however,"

Kakashi looked at Hiruzen as the latter, with a visage full of seriousness, spoke,

"The fact that Asuma decided to continue the mission with students with him, instead of choosing to retreat, means that the situation isn't as bad as we believe."

"Something like... Zabuza too being injured."

"Therefore, I want to catch two birds with one stone."

Having undergoing two ninja wars in a row and with the village's main force, the sannins, either defecting, retiring, or wandering around, were no longer present.

In this state, Hiruzen was well aware that there wasn't much time left for him, and if the village were to face a crisis in this state... there will be a disaster.

Thus, even if it was risky, he wanted to groom the future generation, so that they will stand as the pillar of the next generation.

Team 7, 8, 9 and 10. They were the ones whom Hiruzen was paying the most attention to, and among them, team 7 and 10.

Kakashi was the man considered to be Hiruzen's right-hand man. One of the strongest, the potential next Hokage, and the one of the few who knew the ins and outs of the village—including the dark secrets.

Asuma,not only was he the son of Hiruzen, but also had the experience as one of the 12 guardians of daimyo himself.

These two were considered the highest of the elites that the village had so far, and the fact that Hiruzen distributed these two in grooming the core of the next generation meant just how much expectation he was holding.

The proven Ino-Shika-Cho combination, and... two prodigies, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

"Team 7, hereby I issue an emergency mission. This mission will be treated as A-ranked, and therefore, will be paid appropriately."

Kakashi felt like chuckling. To think that his students will go straight into A-ranked mission after undergoing only the D-ranked ones...

"Join team 10 and aid them in successfully completing the mission. Based on the details provided by team 10, there is a high chance that the completion of this mission will bring national profits...

Do you accept?"

In some way, this was even riskier than the chunin exam where 50% of participants were said to be eliminated, some by death.

However, Kakashi had confidence.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi had trained them to a sufficient extent. He knew that it was time for them to actively gain an experience.

Just as Hiruzen thought, he too believed that the A-ranked—it was an opportunity rather than a danger.

It was time for some action.