Chapter 11

So when her first step stuck, easily, followed by her second step—also as easily—Sakura began to wonder how well she may actually be able to do. With her third step, she was completely parallel to the ground but felt no danger of falling. She was in complete control, and honestly, a part of her couldn't believe it.

"Way to go Sakura-chan!" she hears from the ground beneath her.

Another part of her couldn't believe Naruto was the one who led her here. He's not a sensei, nor is he smart, or talented; he's the Dead Last of their class, and yet he urged her to Tree-Walk before anyone else. When she made it to the top of the tall tree, she was a little winded, but funny enough, she was proud. Not that this was anything to be proud of. She knows this is only a first step many shinobi can easily do, but, to know she was now among them, gave her a small sense of pride.

Reaching the ground, Naruto couldn't help the huge grin on his face as he proclaims, "I knew you could do it! On your first try too! That's so badass!"

"Yeah..." she huffs, winded but mildly enjoying the praise, even if it is from the baka. She leans against the tree to rest some.

"Are you okay," he asks with a heavy amount of concern in voice. 'She had small chakra reserves in the beginning,' Naru-nii answers him as Sakura just waves him off to say she's okay.

"You probably have low chakra reserves," Naruto sagely repeats to her, making Naru-nii laugh a little. Sakura looks at him questioningly as Naru-nii tells him, 'I think she's on board. Now you have to talk to Ji-chan.'

'I remember,' Naruto mentally replies.

'I'll probably disappear before your done so let me just explain what you're going to do every time Kakashi is late, which sucks to say, will happen all the time.'

'Do you know why that is?' Naruto asks. 'I mean, why he shows up late?'

'I do, but I can't really get into that now,' Naru-nii proclaims. 'Next time.'

'So, what am I doing?'

'There are a couple of exercises that'll help you master your Fūton chakra,' Naru-nii sagely explains. 'There are so many badass jutsu that you'll be able to learn after these exercises. It'll be super hard to beat you then.'

"Uuuawwwhh," Naruto moans, salivating at the thought, and finishes with, "I want!"

"Want... what?" Sakura slowly asks from the tree, before pushing off to walk to him.

"Nothing!" he quickly tells her remembering he's not alone. "I think we should start walking to Hokage Tower."

"What? Why?" She gasps, not at all expecting Naruto to say that.

"Cuz, I think Ji-chan can help us," Naruto earnestly responds to his pink-haired teammate.

With an exasperated sigh, Sakura begrudgingly decides to educate him. "Naruto-baka, we can't just walk into Hokage Tower like that. Everyone there is extremely busy."

"Don't worry," he tells her already starting to walk. "It'll be fine. Besides, you need some intro stuff to be Iryō-nin."

"Well, why can't we just get them from Kakashi-sensei," she asks, running after him.

"He's not here and I don't know where he lives," Naruto naturally tells her. "Do you?" She just shakes her head, her beautiful long pink hair flowing easily with every shake of her head as they walk toward the tower they had left only twenty or thirty minutes ago.

'So,' Naru-nii starts as the teammates walk in silence. 'The exercise goes like this; you take a leaf, any leaf will do, place it flat on your left palm, cover it with your right palm than try to cut the leaf in half using just your chakra.'

'That sounds crazy,' Naruto returns. 'Can I really do that?'

'Hell yeah you can and so much more,' Naru-nii answers with complete confidence. 'When you're trying to cut through it, that's when you're manipulating Fūton natured chakra through your hand. Try to think of it like making your chakra as thin and as sharp as possible. Don't worry if you don't get it right away, it took me a while and I had thousands of clones doing it at the same time.'

'Mnn, sounds tough, but it wouldn't be worth it if it wasn't,' Naruto reasons. 'So do this when Kakashi is late? Should I make clones while I do it too?'

'Mnnn, not yet,' he answers. 'I want you doing something before he eventually shows up. Though, you probably oughta make some clones in the morning and have them practice Water-Walking while you wait. Dispel them when sensei shows up so you're not dead on your feet for your missions.'

'Urrggh,' Naruto mentally groans. 'All our D-Missions had better not be like this, or I'm going to snap at some point.'

'Hahaha, yeah. I'm just about out,' Naru-nii states. 'Tell me how it goes tomorrow.'

'Mnn! Will do, Naru-nii,' Naruto mentally returns but with a very real smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Sakura asks suspiciously with a hint of disgust.

"Uahhh," Naruto groans, fidgeting a step before awkwardly answering, "the real question is why aren't you smiling? I mean our team just got a whole lot stronger with an Iryō-nin."

"Baka," Sakura calls back, though lacking the same heat she might have if he had insulted Sasuke. "I'm not an Iryō-nin yet. I don't even know how you plan on getting me material from Hokage Tower. We may be genin, but they don't just see anyone."

"Well, I don't know about others but we're going to see Ji-chan," Naruto informs her. "I don't usually have a problem with seeing him, though sometimes he's pretty busy."

Sakura is skeptical of her blond companion, but sure enough, Naruto, without being prompted to by the Chūnin secretary, without being summoned by the Hokage himself, without even hesitation to second-guess himself, simply grabs the doors handle and walks right in, as if he were walking into his house.

"Hey Ji-chan!" the young blond calls out.

Slack-jawed, Sakura can't believe Naruto-baka would call the leader of their entire village, the strongest shinobi, 'Ji-chan,' as if they were related. No, not even if they were related because even blood relatives to the Hokage would show more respect than that. 'He really is an idiot!' she couldn't help but think, ready to drag him to the floor, to bow and beg for forgiveness, that is until the Hokage just chuckles.

"Back so soon Naruto-kun?" the pleasant elder asks the grinning blond. "Eager for another D-Rank mission?"

"Blechhh!" Naruto tongues. "You can keep those!"

The Hokage couldn't help an aged belly full of slow laughter. It truly was a nostalgic pleasure to see the young repeat the same experiences he had when he was a genin. "What can an old man help you with today," the Sandaime asks, then peers to the pink haired girl still standing by the door with quite the look of surprise on her face. "Isn't this your teammate?"

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