[1st POV]
When we reached the next town, it was late in the afternoon. We headed to the motel to stay the night. Sakura, Mr Tazuna and Kakashi shared the same room while me, Naruto and Sasuke were out in the room next door.
The journey to the Land of Waves was going to be three days long. Us shinobi could do that in one day probably, but we had to go at Mr Tazuna's pace, who was just a civilian.
We might take a carriage tomorrow, actually.
"So, can you tell me now how you got so strong?" Naruto asked when we got into our room. I had not even set the bag I was carrying down.
I sighed. I did not know what to tell him.
"I train," I said, and that was the truth.
"What do you mean you train? I train too, everyday!!" Naruto said, "You must be doing something. Is it a secret training with the Hokage? Please tell me, I need to get super strong super quickly."
"Will you drop it already Naruto?" Sasuke said harshly while putting down his luggage. There were three beds in the room and he picked the one at the corner that had the best view of the entrance and the window. Smart. It was such a ninja thing to do.
"Obviously his training and the training of a loser like you will yield different results," he said. "There is nothing else to it."
He sounds bitter.
"Hey who are you calling a loser!! I-" Naruto stopped himself, probably remembering the way he froze when we were attacked and how contrary to him, Sasuke immediately moved to defend.
He looked down and clenched his fist.
"...."
"...."
It seemed both were feeling the same thing. The feeling that they were left behind. They were frustrated in equal term by comparison. Sasuke compared himself to me and Naruto compared himself to Sasuke.
"Do you want to train with me?" I asked suddenly, cutting the tension.
"You too Sasuke," I said and Sasuke turned to me.
"Yes lets do it!!" Naruto exclaimed, "I swear next time an enemy comes, I will not freeze, believe it."
Sasuke gave a silent nod.
"Then lets go," I said.
We went out of the motel after we had dinner. We ran past the town and decided to train in the forested areas. It was quiet but still near enough for us to head back to the motel in case of an emergency.
Kakashi was enough to guard the client. And in case of an attack, he was also competent enough to buy time for us to return. We went out with his permission as well.
"Okay, the main source of a shinobi's strength is chakra," I said, "Now how well can you control your chakra?"
They stayed silent while I demonstrated.
I approached a tree and walked up the thick trunk with the help of chakra control on my soles.
They exclaimed in surprise when they saw me scale up a tree like that. Just like in the show, Kakashi had not taught them even this simple trick. Honestly, I was not sure if he was a good teacher or not.
Maybe he was focusing more on teaching principles and morals at an early stage.
"If you don't have absolute control over your chakra, that means you have no control over your own strength," I said while standing horizontally on the side of the tree.
"Forget about getting strong; you need to master your current strength first. Then you can improve," I said and leapt down. I did a flip and landed with a silent thud, another show of how chakra control could also silence the sound of movement.
A shinobi had to be stealthy after all.
"You think you can do it?" I asked.
The two nodded, Naruto being the one who was excited. He finally figured out how I was doing what I did when we used to hang out in the academy. He always asked how I was able to easily climb on the roof and even run on the walls.
"It's easy, you just have to focus your chakra on your soles and focus," I said with a smile.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Sasuke said and he walked in front of the same tree I had climbed.
He looked up at the daunting task and seemed prepared. Then he began climbing up the tree, but only to fall after taking two to three steps.
He fell down.
"Not easy as it looks huh. Just for the record, I could do this way back in the academy," I said challengingly.
Sasuke grumbled and continued. Naruto took the tree just beside Sasuke and the two began competing on who could achieve it first.
I smiled as they ran up the tree, only to fall again and again. I decided to do my own training on the ground. We only returned near midnight, by which Sasuke was showing some progress and he could run halfway up the tree before he fell.
On the third night of our journey, Sasuke and Naruto both finally mastered climbing the trees. They could not only run but stay on the tree any way they want. But they were yet to be proficient enough to be able to fight while sticking on the tree when I tried to make them spar.
..
..
////////////////
[1st POV]
On the third day of our journey, we finally crossed the sea with a ferry and reached the Land of the Waves, but our journey did not end there as we needed to escort our client back to his home. That would take around half a day of travelling after we reached the country.
We did not encounter any attackers afterwards. A bunch of bandits tried to provoke us more than once but they were easily dealt with. Most of them avoided us just because of our headbands. You don't want to mess with shinobi, much less shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village.
Sasuke and Naruto also accompanied me in my training at night. I usually gave them simple tasks to accomplish, like trying to stick to trees, running up and down on those trees or being proficient enough to spar on the trees and so on.
I gave them advice when they asked and that was about it. I was not teaching them secret jutsus or anything, those I left for them to learn. I was not their babysitter.
..
"So, how do you feel about stealing my students right under my nose?" Kakashi asked when we walked side by side along the road in the Land of Waves.
We were already at the final leg of the journey, Mr Tazuna said that his house is only hours away from here. It would seem that after the initial attack, we would face no more enemies.
But I knew otherwise. I knew Zabuza was going to ambush us before we reached home. It was going to be a nasty fight, Zabuza was the former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, an elite jonin of the highest order.
"I am not stealing your students," I said, "Just giving them friendly tips."
"Friendly tip is it?" Kakashi hummed, "I hope you're careful, a misguidance is worse than no guidance in the matter of shinobi."
"I'll keep that in mind." I said.
When the road continued beside a huge body of water, I knew the ambush was close. Zabuza was supposed to be a shinobi from the Hidden Mist, and those were known for their water jutsu. A battlefield around a body of water was the perfect spot for them.
"Huh!!" Naruto huffed and threw a kunai at a random bush for the nth time.
"Get back everyone, I have a feeling," he said while bringing the whole group to a stop.
We all deadpanned at his antics. He went to the bush to check and only saw rodents running away. At this point we were all getting used to his antics.
"Oh, it's just some rodents," he said and rubbed his nose, "Sorry guys, it seems I am too alerted. But that is better than not doing anything at all."
"Sasuke, make sure you stay behind me. I will protect you this time," he said with a thumbs up.
"No one needs your protection Naruto! You are slowing us down!!" Sakura scolded him harshly and even went as far as to beat Naruto on his head.
I sighed with a small smile. Although he was annoying, my fond impression of him wouldn't allow me to be annoyed ever. He was one of my favourite characters in the show. Although my favourite was always Sasuke, who wouldn't have guessed.
But while everyone was amused with the whole thing, there was a subtle yet deadly shift in the air.
Kakashi and I froze for a split second. Even the tiniest killing intent was all too noticeable for Kakashi and for me, as a sensor ninja, a huge disturbance in the air alerted me.
Instincts screamed. A beating heart became a drum.
Bloodlust. I had never felt such bloodlust before.
My Susanoo, a defensive ability, came alive on the spot, likely reacting to my fear. I looked around just in time to see a giant blade, a greatsword of some sort, spinning madly like the blades of a helicopter and coming for everyone.
The sheer speed, momentum and strength behind the spinning blade gave the impression that it could cleave a mountain.
"Everyone get down!!" Kakashi yelled.
But everyone reacted late.
I swung the Susanoo arm and slapped the blade away before it reached the others. The blade sparkled and was thrown away and it lodged itself on a tree.
A blur followed as a shinobi immediately stood on the length of the cleaver tightly lodged on the tree.
I released a heavy sigh when I finally saw the enemy.
Wrapped around in white bandages and wearing his headband at the side of his forehead, Zabuza's form was unmistakable to me.
To make matters worse, his eyes were locked entirely on my figure and at my flickering Susanoo.
I took a deep breath and called the Susanoo inside my body. Everybody wanted to question what ability I just used but it was not time for questions. Because when he appeared, the bloodlust intensified, completely freezing us.
"Get ready, everyone, we have company," Kakashi said gravely. He reached for his headband and adjusted it to reveal his Sharingan.
There was no time for talking, no time for monologues.
The real battle between elite jonin ninja was beginning.
..
..
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------