"Are you absolutely sure about this, Adrik?"
The teen nodded to the Hokage without a hint of hesitation.
"... Very well. But, I will have to inform both Asuma and Kurenai of your decision with you here."
Adrik nodded again.
"That's fine. So, what's my schedule going forward?"
The Hokage sighed as he rested his head in his hand.
"You will be assigned to Team Seven for Mondays to Wednesdays. You will work with Team Eight on Thursdays and Team Ten on Fridays. Saturdays and Sundays..."
The Hokage thought for a second. An idea began to form in his head as he found a perfect solution to Adrik's decision.
"I believe there is a team I can assign you to that trains those days, at least partially."
Adrik raised an eyebrow.
"Partially?"
The old man nodded.
"You see, one of the three genin on the team is the personal student to their sensei. The two work themselves to the bone every day. The other two genin train with them somewhat on the weekdays, along with completing missions. Though, there is a... problem..."
Adrik tilted his head slightly.
"What's that?"
The Hokage sighed.
"They are rather... eccentric when it comes to most things. They mostly train their physical strength and endurance along with their taijutsu skills, but that is all. The jonin could provide some insight on kenjutsu and ninjutsu, I suppose. Just know that training with this team will consist of physical conditioning and sparring with not much in between."
Adrik nodded.
"That sounds fine."
The Hokage shook his head.
"I believe my words did not describe their training well enough. I meant to say that they push their limits every second of every minute of every hour of every day. If you are not pushed to exhaustion, they consider it a failure on their part and seek to double their efforts along with yours. Bones will break and muscles will tear before they consider progress to be made."
Adrik flinched slightly as he could already feel his muscles and bones aching at just the thought of such training. The Hokage continued further.
"And that is not everything. See, they appear to have developed a natural genjutsu that distracts nearly all but those who know them well enough. Trust me when I say it is horrendous."
Adrik nodded nervously.
"Seeing as it is Friday, you can meet them tomorrow. Be sure to show up at Training Ground Nine at five in the morning. I am sure this won't be a problem for you."
Adrik nodded again.
"Now, I believe you said you would be training with Team Seven today before starting your new schedule, correct? You may want to hurry up. It is already nearly eight."
Adrik's eyes widened as he looked over at the clock above the door.
"Oh, right. Well, have a good morning Lord Hokage. I'll come get my mission after lunch."
The Hokage nodded as Adrik stood up from his chair and bowed before quickly running to the door.
"Tora?"
The teen flashed a thumbs up before leaving the office, closing the door on his way out. The Hokage chuckled slightly before getting back to his paperwork. Adrik had a knack for being able to catch Tora the cat. It was well known by now that he would take the mission if no other team had by the start of the afternoon. It was also well known that said cat would forever have what amounts to a bounty every day as he would constantly escape his owner, the Fire Country Daimyo's wife. How the teen did it in under half an hour, nobody would ever know.
X
Adrik, Naruto, and Sasuke sat in a line in front of Zabuza. Off in the forest around the clearing, Haku was helping Sakura identify different herbs and their uses, such as in poisons or healing ointments.
Zabuza looked at the weapons sitting in front of the three genin. In front of Sasuke was a tanto with a longer blade than usual. In front of Naruto was a regular katana. In front of Adrik were the two daggers he got from Tenten's father the previous afternoon.
"I hope you all chose what weapon you want to use carefully."
The three genin nodded.
"First off, what's with the dinky little daggers, Smokes?"
Adrik raised an eyebrow as Zabuza pointed to his two daggers. He shrugged.
"They just felt right."
Zabuza raised a non existent eyebrow and slowly nodded. He pointed to the other two genin.
"Blondie, Broodie, I'll get you two started on proper swinging and blocking techniques."
Zabuza pointed back to Adrik, missing the indignant looks from Naruto and Sasuke at being given their nicknames.
"Smokes, you'll be working with my Water Clone. A fighting style with daggers is gonna be a lot different from the other two here. After about... An hour and a half, you'll each come back here and we'll start with light sparring."
Zabuza brought out a small sealing scroll and unsealed the contents, leaving a decent amount of water to splash to the ground. Before it could soak into the dirt, he made a seal and formed a clone from all of the water. The Water Clone walked Adrik over to another side of the clearing, daggers in hand, while Naruto and Sasuke picked up their weapons and waited for instruction from the real Zabuza.
X
"I'm just gonna use two kunai since that's about the closest thing I have to daggers."
Adrik nodded as he held his weapons and watched Zabuza.
"Now, with larger blades, you would regularly take time to learn how to manage their weight and the power you can put behind it. With something as light as these, the power you put behind each swing and stab will be much more dependant on your own arm strength, specifically in your wrists. That, however, comes at the benefit of agility. Daggers are very maneuverable and won't provide much of a hindrance to your own movements."
Adrik nodded. So far, this was sounding pretty similar to what Tenten had said the previous day. Perhaps she was closer to being a weapons master than he thought a genin would be.
"Now, the most effective way to hold weapons like these is in a reverse grip. Often times, a regular grip is much more situational."
Zabuza flipped the kunai into a reverse grip. Adrik did the same with his daggers.
"Since your daggers are one sided, you will need to keep a mental track of which way the bladed edges are pointed for your slashes, but you probably already know that. The last thing I can think of before we move on to more practical stuff is that you shouldn't tighten your grip too much. Especially with the rings at the bottoms, you should be able to change up how you hold them pretty easily and quickly enough to potentially catch an enemy off guard."
Adrik nodded. Zabuza brought his arms up in a cross formation with the kunai pointed inwards in a guard.
"Start off with a basic slash."
Adrik did as asked. He brought his right hand dagger back before swinging it in a downwards diagonal slash. Zabuza blocked it and sent an unexpected kick into the teen's stomach, winding him slightly.
"Again."
Adrik caught his breath and grit his teeth before sending his left hand dagger upwards in another diagonal slash. Once again, he was kicked, this time in the shoulder.
"Again."
Adrik swung both of his daggers outwards in an arch. Once again, they were blocked. And once again, Zabuza kicked Adrik. This pattern would continue for a while. Adrik would try to break through Zabuza's guard only to be hit. Each time, he would try a different way of attacking. He changed grips, changed the directions of his slashes, and even tried going for stabs, but he got kicked every time.
X
"You two are really something awful. I'm not even swinging my sword and you're still struggling."
Both Naruto and Sasuke grit their teeth as their new sensei mocked them once again. Each and every time they landed a hit on Zabuza's giant sword, he would just shrug it off and send them back with a kick.
Naruto rushed forward with both hands on his katana. He swung with a strong downwards arch but it was blocked. In return, he got a kick to the jaw that sent him back. Sasuke managed to keep Naruto from landing flat on his face shortly before he rushed in with a stab and a reverse grip horizontal slash with one hand on his tanto. His eyes widened as his feet were swept from under him before he got kicked square in the chest, sending him flying back and landing next to Naruto. He didn't even notice when his Sharingan activated as he and his blonde teammate stared the guarding jonin down.
Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other once before rushing towards Zabuza at the same time. Naruto slashed straight down before following it up with a diagonal slash up and to the right. Before he could be kicked away, Sasuke stabbed into the jonin's guard twice before spinning into another horizontal slash. The two would keep up with their assault, sending slashes and stabs at the jonin's sword while not giving him any time to kick them away.
X
Adrik kept growing frustrated as he couldn't find a way to break Zabuza's blocking stance. Each attack was met with a kick in return. As he became more irritated, he started using the momentum from being kicked to his advantage. After each kick, he would immediately rebound the moment he landed to attempt more attacks. He would occasionally come from the sides, forcing Zabuza to switch how he was blocking.
Adrik was kicked back once again. He landed on the side of a tree and launched himself off of the bark. Before he reached Zabuza, he landed in a crouch and spun around to attack the jonin from behind with an upwards reverse grip slash. He rolled to the side, anticipating the kick that would come after his attack was blocked, and jumped up slightly. In a split second, he threw the dagger in his left hand like he would a kunai. It bounced off of Zabuza's kunai and the teen ducked right as he landed to avoid a high kick. He spun in place clockwise, catching his dagger out of mid air and stabbing to the side with his right hand dagger. It was blocked and he received a kick to the chin.
Adrik landed a short distance away in a crouch. He narrowed his eyes as he rushed back towards Zabuza. He threw both of his daggers as he ran. As he got closer, he pulled them back into his hands out of mid air using small strings of black ash that wrapped through the rings at the bottoms of the handles. He spun several times, continuously slashing at Zabuza's kunai. As he stopped, he jumped over the kick aimed at his side and threw his daggers down at the jonin. Once again, he pulled them back to his hands as they bounced off of the jonin's kunai. As he came down, he brought both daggers down in a stab.
As Adrik landed, his attack once again being blocked, he got down to the ground as low as he could to avoid a kick meant to hit his left leg. He sprang to the side and threw his right hand dagger. As it bounced off of Zabuza's guard, he ran past the man, confusing him slightly. The jonin turned around when he saw the black string and blocked the dagger that swung at him. Adrik finished pulling the dagger back towards him and spun. He threw his two daggers off to either side of Zabuza and pulled on the strings, sending them spinning towards the jonin. Zabuza put his kunai out to either side to block the attacks and his eyes widened slightly when Adrik was already up close. Right as his daggers reached his hands again, he slashed inwards in a cross pattern.
X
Naruto and Sasuke slashed upwards at the same time, slightly sending Zabuza's guard up. Sasuke dropped low and stabbed upwards, only for it to be blocked. Naruto jumped up and spun in mid air, slashing downwards a few times before landing. Both he and Sasuke were kicked to the right and left of Zabuza respectively. They looked across at each other and nodded before rushing at each other with Zabuza in the middle. Upon reaching the jonin, they swung their weapons diagonally, Naruto jumping up and his slash going down and to the right and Sasuke crouching down and his slash going up and to the left, effectively making Zabuza's sword spin. Their eyes gleamed as they stabbed their weapons in tandem, finally landing a hit on the jonin.
Naruto's and Sasuke's eyes widened as they stabbed the jonin, only for him to go up in a puff of white smoke to reveal a log in his place. The jonin walked out from a bush at the edge of the clearing with a mildly impressed look. The two genin recognized the technique Zabuza used and fell to the ground, only now recognizing their exhaustion.
X
Adrik's eyes widened as the Water Clone fell back into a puddle of water. He stumbled back slightly as he had forgotten his intention to only attack Zabuza's guard. He was surprised when the water rose up to reform the Water Clone, this time without the two kunai in his hands.
"Huh. I'm impressed, Smokes. Throwing your daggers is a pretty good move since you can just get them back whenever you want."
Adrik put his hands on his knees as he panted. After a few seconds, he put his daggers into the two black sheathes tied at the back of his utility belt. He looked back up as Zabuza approached him
"Now, let's move on."
Adrik tilted his head slightly as he finally managed to control his breathing somewhat.
"Next up, you'll be learning how to block with your weapon."
Adrik visibly flinched as Zabuza began to laugh madly.
At the same time, across the clearing, both Naruto and Sasuke were staring at the cackling jonin with pale faces. It seems the three genin hadn't realized this wasn't a one way training session.
X
After Adrik, Naruto, and Sasuke finished their weapon learning crash course with Zabuza, they put on a pretty poor show with their sparring. The three of them were more tired than they had ever been and forcing them to spar after that was as close to cruel as they felt their training could get. Unfortunately, their sloppy performance in the spars meant Zabuza would be training them even harder. While Naruto and Sasuke considered themselves lucky for having the weekends off, they still couldn't help but envy Adrik for only training with them for a few days a week instead of the full five days.
After the spars came lunch time. While Adrik was intending to complete his regular D-Rank mission solo as usual, he couldn't help but ask the other three genin for assistance as he was still incredibly exhausted. Not to mention Sakura seemed perfectly capable since her morning hadn't consisted of fighting a jonin who was entirely too happy to fight back.
The only real reprieve came after the mission when they went back to their training grounds. They were left to study the other arts that they wanted to learn. As Zabuza didn't know much about fuinjutsu, he got some scrolls to help Naruto and Adrik while helping Sasuke with genjutsu, also giving said black haired teen a few scrolls for later.
Meanwhile, Sakura was onto the second part of her training, which consisted of taijutsu. After just fifteen minutes, she came back looking like a dead girl walking. Haku, however, seemed completely unbothered. If anything, she seemed slightly... happy?
This catches us up to now, where Naruto, Adrik, Zabuza, and Haku are walking back to their apartment buildings. The blonde teen couldn't help but find it strange how he was getting so many neighbors in such a short amount of time.
"Hey, No-brows Sensei, when are we supposed to train with our chakra affinities thing?"
Zabuza scoffed and shrugged.
"You have those Shadow Clones, don't you? The Hokage told me about them. Just use that technique or something."
Naruto nodded with a smile while scratching the back of his head.
"I think he meant how Sasuke and Sakura are going to train their affinities, father."
Zabuza looked at Haku for a second before nodding.
"Oh, right. Well, I'll just tell 'em to train that on the weekends or something. That bubblegum haired girl needs the training more than Blondie and his brooding friend right now."
Zabuza once again ignored the annoyed look from Naruto at the nickname. Adrik nodded along with Zabuza and looked at Haku, who was walking between him and Zabuza with Naruto on the other side of the jonin.
"Speaking of Sakura, what did you do to her? She could barely even walk before half an hour was up."
Haku grew annoyed at the memory, something Adrik, Naruto, and even Zabuza had yet to see.
"She is... a problem. She talks far too highly about your Uchiha teammate for it to be considered normal. She fights like she has just started her career as a kunoichi. Her chakra levels are far too low for someone her age. Her stamina and strength are severely lacking."
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"Hey, don't talk bad about Sakura like that!"
Haku snapped her head towards him, making him flinch.
"And why shouldn't I? I am pointing out her flaws, all of which could have been easily corrected at this point in her career. The only positive of today was that I was able to convince her to start eating more after our little spar. She honestly does not seem fit for ninja duty. Why do you care so much?"
Naruto crossed his arms.
"I care about my teammates! Is that so bad?"
Haku shook her head.
"It is clear as day. I don't know why I bothered asking. You have a crush on her, don't you?"
Naruto blushed slightly with a surprised expression.
"So what if I do, huh?"
"Why?"
Naruto took a few moments to visibly register the question.
"... Huh?"
"Why do you like Sakura? What do you find so appealing about her?"
Naruto smiled as he blushed once again.
"Well, she's super cute and she's really confident!"
"I've seen better."
Naruto looked at Adrik with slight shock. Haku nodded along.
"Hey, wait, I thought you were supposed to take my side on this!"
Adrik shook his head.
"I take your side when it's valid."
Naruto held his shocked expression for a while longer.
"Is there any other reason you like her?"
Naruto nodded enthusiastically.
"Her hair is a really nice shade of pink, she's great at talking to people, she... she uh... um..."
Haku nodded.
"That is what I mean. You like her, but for no good reason. Now, correct me if I am wrong, these are just my observations. Sakura is a selfish person, latching on to any praise she can get for a boost to her fragile confidence. I saw this when I complemented her chakra control, which was likely a mistake. She constantly either hits or ignores you, specifically, for no other reason than that she dislikes you and does not want to interact with you, perhaps hoping you will stop chasing after her. She constantly ogles the Uchiha and lets the very idea of him distract her from whatever it is that she is doing. She doesn't take her career seriously. Back in the Land of Waves, I could see her shaking from the fear of the situation, and that was while she was just guarding the bridge builder. She is weak and hates you for no good reason. Tell me, what about her is still appealing to you?"
Naruto stopped for a second and looked down. The images of all the times Sakura hit him and yelled at him flashed through his mind. Even back from their first days in the academy, it wasnt much different. Haku waited a few more moments for an answer, but it seemed she wouldn't get one.
"Now, tell me. How many kunoichi do you know of that are at least the slightest bit more appreciative of you? How many do you know that wouldn't hit you for no good reason?"
Naruto kept quiet as the answer to that came faster than he would've liked it to. Haku sighed.
"You are a good person Naruto. Do not waste your time pursuing someone like Sakura. It will only hurt you."
Haku walked ahead. The entire time, Adrik and Zabuza stayed silent, choosing not to get involved. It wasn't like they had a retort anyways. Naruto continued staring at the ground with dozens of thoughts speeding through his mind all at once. Images kept flashing through his mind faster and faster until they all stopped on one. It was back in his apartment. It was just him and one other person. Someone he hadn't seen for weeks.
"Hinata!"
That was the one word Naruto shouted before he ran off. Hopefully, he would make it in time to see the person he was after before the day ended.
"So, where is he heading?"
Adrik shrugged with a small grin.
"Just leave him to it. I'm sure he'll be fine."
Zabuza shrugged after a second and he and Adrik continued, following after Haku who had heard the whole thing go down with a grin of her own.