12 Ice Style

"Don't mention it," said Kakashi. "Is there somewhere we can rest?"

"Of course," said Tsunami. "You're more than welcome to our house. I'll prepare suitable rooms for you."

"Sakura, Sasuke, make sure you two rest well tonight," said Kakashi in a serious tone. "Starting tomorrow we train more seriously. Naruto, could you come with me please?"

"Sure thing," replied Naruto, following Kakashi outside.

--- Naruto & Kakashi Outside ---

"Naruto, what did you do to Zabuza?" asked Kakashi once they had reached the woods outside.

"I infused lightning element and wind element chakra into his chakra pathway to mess it up," said Naruto, shrugging his shoulders. "Basic stuff."

"That shows you have mastery over two elemental chakra already," said Kakashi in great surprise. "And you say it's basic stuff. How did you master them?"

"I've been training myself since I was four years old," said Naruto.

This had caused Kakashi an even greater deal of surprise considering those that had no strong families or clans would not start training themselves at such a young age.

"Where did you get the training matterials," asked Kakashi.

"Now that's prying into my secrets too much," said Naruro with a frown. "Everyone is entitled to them, no?"

Kakashi fell silent for a few moments before sighing. "I suppose you're right. My chakra element affinity is also lightning. I can teach you a few lightning jutsus."

"I would appreciate that," replied Naruto. "But you can't be lazy anymore. Train Sakura and Sasuke more earnestly. They're going to die if you leave them as it is."

"What about you?" asked Kakashi.

"I have my own training material to master," replied Naruto. "I'll stay here in the woods."

"I wanted to ask, what were training with Sakura?" asked Kakashi.

"I was teaching her basic chakra control - she's really good at it - and a few water and earth style jutsus," replied Naruto. "I was also teaching her pink muscle training. Get her to continue them. Also, teaching her more taijutsu. She's smart when she's not being a dumb fan-girl."

"You've been working on all of that with her?" asked Kakashi in shock. "In a mere two weeks?"

"Yeah, why so surprised?" asked Naruto with a puzzled look on his face.

"That's a monstrous level of training!" exclaimed Kakashi.

"How do you think I became so strong?" asked Naruto rhetorically. "If Sakura follows my training plan, give her another month and she can easily win against Sasuke."

"That's how effective your training is?" asked Kakashi.

"Of course," said Naruto proudly. "The only thing I haven't taught her is Genjutsu. Spar with her tomorrow. You'll see the effects first hand. Also, I was wondering if you could tell me about my parents considering you were my dad's student."

"Of course, you have inherited your mother's love for Ramen," said Kakashi, laughing. "It's pretty amazing actually."

Kakashi and Naruto continued talking about Minato and Kushina. It was actually more Kakashi talking and Naruto listening with a big smile on his face. It felt really good that he got to know about his parents and it was something he has been wanting to find out for a long time. Without any realisation, a few hours had passed and both Kakashi and Naruto returned back to Tazuna's house. Naruto had left behind a few Shadow Clones to continue his training. He wanted to finish mastering his father's self-made Jutsu before Zabuza and Haku returned.

--- Next Day In The Woods ---

"Sakura, Naruto said you have grown a lot stronger while training with him," said Kakashi.

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura had gone to the woods to train while Naruto had gone to the bridge to protect Tazuna as he worked on the bridge.

"Yes I've actually grown a lot stronger," said Sakura, smiling from ear to ear.

"Good. How is your Taijutsu?" asked Kakashi.

"I'm not as good as Naruto, but I'm about 3 times stronger than when I first graduated from the Academy," replied Sakura.

"Good, I want you to spar with Sasuke in Taijutsu only so I can better understand where you stand," said Kakashi. Sasuke looked annoyed and wanted to say something. "I will not hear any excuses."

Unwillingly, Sasuke faced Sakura who looked excited that she could get physical ... ahem ... spar with her crush. Sasuke immediate jumped and launched a speedy punch at Sakura, to which she easily dodged and returned a punch of her own. Her punch grazed Sasuke's cheek as he dodged it.

Sasuke was not expecting Sakurar to retaliate so readily and was not as prepared as he should have been. He finally took Sakura seriously. Both parties exchanged a flurry of punches and kicks as the spar became more and more heated.

'It's amazing at how much Sakura have improved,' thought Kakashi in surprise. 'I have to admit, Naruto is a much better teacher than me. Sakura's level has definitely risen close to a high-level Genin. If she were to accumulate some more experience and train a bit more like this, she will definitely become one of the stronger Genins."

Sasuke and Sakura's spar continued for another 10 minutes before it ended with Sasuke's winning.

"Sakura, what kind of training did you do with Naruto for you to grow this strong so quickly?" asked Sasuke curiously.

"It was really hard," replied Sakura tearfully. "Whenever I got tired and didn't want to continue, he would always push me one step more to the point I would collapse."

"What kind of training did you do?" asked Sasuke persistently.

"In the beginning he made me do pink muscle training," replied Sakura. "I didn't understand it at first and it was the hardest training I had done. But I started feeling its effects about a week into the training. As you can see, I don't have bulging muscles, which is great. But the power I can exert is a lot more than I normally can."

'So that's how Naruto is able to exert so much strength despite being so slim,' thought Kakashi, remembering his spar with Naruto. "Sakura, can you tell us how to train our pink muscle,"

"Sure," said Sakura excitedly. "But it's going to be hard though."

Later that day, Team 7 was having dinner at Tazuna's house. Naruto noticed that but Sasuke and Sakura looked exhausted with Sakura having a happy look on her face and Sasuke looking at Naruto curiously.

"You want something, Sasuke?" asked Naruto, raising an eyebrow.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke as he looked away.

A young boy was also at the dinner table and continuously shot dirty looks at Team 7.

"Hey, kid," said Naruto angrily. "If you've got something to say, spit it out. I'm tired of looking at your ugly mug."

"You're all stupid for facing Gatõ!" declared the young boy with a disgusted look on his face. "You're all going to die anyway, so why are you going to even try fighting him? I bet all of you have lived sheltered lives in that village of yours and don't even know the meaning of suffering!"

Naruto was already feeling angry at the young boy and upon hearing his declaration ticked him off. He grabbed the young boy and slammed him against the wall. "So do you want us to turn into cowardly cry babies like you? News flash, kid; some of us have had it worse than you! Have you ever been without the love of anyone? Have you ever been kicked out of your home and left to starve? Have you ever been beaten by your own villagers to the point where you simply wanted to die? You think you know what it's like to go through the garbage and be happy you found some rotten food to keep away the hunger? If you think your life is so bad, then fight back! Change it! You're not a tree where you're stuck in one location! Argh, dammit! Why am I wasting my breath on a coward who only knows to cry?"

With that said, Naruto dropped the young boy and stormed out of the house angrily.

"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto's life couldn't have been that bad, right?" asked Sakura.

"Sigh ... no Sakura, everything he said was true," said Kakashi with a deep sigh. "Naruto was kicked out of the orphanage when he was only a little kid and lived on the streets for months. It wasn't until he was beaten half to death until I found him and took him to the Hokage who gave him an apartment to live. He had to learn everything himself and was constantly chased out of stores. That's putting his childhood experience nicely."

The whole room was completely shocked at hearing how difficult Naruto's childhood was. Everyone looked at Naruto in a whole new light. He was a truly brave kid who did not give up on himself.

--- One Week Later ---

One week had passed and Team 7 had been constantly training for Zabuza to initiate another attack. Naruto had made steady progress in both of his training - his chakra control as well as with the A-Rank Jutsu his father had created.

However, the greatest improvements had been made by Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto's training plan had been adopted by both Sasuke and Kakashi. Together with Kakashi, the three of them had made significant progress. Sasuke's drive to catch up to Naruto and stay ahead of Sakura had pushed him to train harder than ever. As for Sakura, she had been training with an even bigger flare. Upon understanding that she was the weakest member of the team, she was the one putting in the most effort in getting stronger. This was because in every single mission she had taken part in with her team, she had made the least contribution. Not wanting to drag her team down, she had been secretly taking training tips from both Naruto and Kakashi.

"Guys, liven up! Today's the day!" said Naruto in a serious tone.

The team were having breakfast in Tazuna's house and Naruto had just received the experience of one of his clones.

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" asked Sakura, slightly shocked. "You scared me."

"Over the past week, I had sent my Shadow Clones to spy on Zabuza and Gatõ," replied Naruto. "I just received intel from one of my clones that Zabuza will attack us at the bridge today. Also, Gatõ is looking to have Zabuza killed off to avoid paying his fees. While we're at the bridge fighting against Zabuza, Gatõ is also going to send some men to kidnap Tsunami and the kid to use them as hostages if needed."

"Wow, Shadow Clones are amazing," said Sakura in awe.

"I'm going to leave a few Shadow Clones behind to look after your family, Tazuna," said Naruto, looking at the bridge builder. "The rest of us are going to resume our usual work of protecting you at the bridge. When Zabuza shows up, we'll take care of him. Sasuke and Sakura, the two of you will stay with Tazuna and I'll put up the same barrier as last time. Kakashi will fight Zabuza and I'll fight that Haku guy."

"No, I'll fight Haku!" demanded Sasuke angrily.

"You're no match for him, Sasuke," said Naruto. "While I was spying on them, I found out Haku has the Ice Style Bloodline Limit.."

"That's one scary Bloodline Limit to face off," said Kakashi. "Even I don't want to be on its receiving end."

"Ice Style Bloodline Limit?" said Sakura in confusion. "What's that?"

"The Ice Style is a nature transformation Bloodline Limit of water and wind," explained Kakashi. "It belongs to the members of the Yuki Clan and were so feared for their Ice Style that they were killed off a long time ago. I didn't know one of their members still lived."

"Haku can make mirrors of ice where he can enter it and instantly travel between them," explained Naruto.

'Why do I feel that Naruto has stolen my spot as the team leader?' thought Kakashi, scowling. 'Tsk. This is annoying. I'm the Jonin here.'