Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ World on Fire ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I cannot believe that ramen could taste so excellent!”, Aiko exclaims, “It was like it wasn't even ramen!”

 

“I told you that you were in for a treat, Dattebayo”, Naruto smiles.

 

“But did you really need to eat three-bowls, Naruto?”, Sakura questions.

 

“I need my energy for training, don't I?”

 

“There is a such thing as having too much of a good thing”

 

“What do you mean, Aiko-chan?”, he asks.

 

“Well sure carbohydrates are great for energy, but too much and you'll just end up fat”, she explains.

 

“She has a point, Naruto. Through that didn't stop you from eating every-bite, despite the fact that you were full a third of the way, Aiko-san”

 

“What can I say, I have a weakness when it comes to eating things that are delicious”, she chuckles, while sticking out her tongue out as she closes one-eye, `Strange… I'm finding myself being able to be completely at ease while around Naruto-san and Sakura-san…', she mentally notes, “May I ask something?”

 

“Sure, go ahead Aiko-chan”

 

“What is with the faces carved into the cliff-side?”, she asks, pointing.

 

“Oh, those are our past and current Hokages”, Sakura explains.

 

“Hokages…?”

 

“They're the ones classified as the strongest to lead the village”, Naruto clarifies, “And I plan to become the next Hokage, Dattebayo!”

 

“I see, it's good to have a dream”, she smiles.

 

“Naruto, Sakura, what are you doing here?”, a male's voice questions.

 

Aiko turns to look at the speaker and discovers another male-teen around her age and height, his hair was cut relatively short to his scalp and was the color of black-ink as was his eyes, but in contrast to his dark hair and eyes, his skin was pale as snow; or more like white-paper.

 

“Oh, who are you?”, he addresses her.

 

“I'm Saizuki Aiko”, she politely responds, “And who might you be?”

 

“My name is Sai”

 

“Huh? Don't you have a family-name?”, she asks.

 

“Unfortunately, I don't”, he states with a smile, “But your name has a very interesting meaning”

 

“Huh, what do you mean?”, she blinks.

 

“Aiko means Love Child, so that must mean you're the product of a one-night stand, right?”

 

“What…?!”, she quickly shouts, as her eye-brow begins to twitch in annoyance, `What the hell is with this guy…? I've only just met him and he's already insulting me!', she thinks, while narrowing her eyes.

 

“Oh, not again…”, Sakura groans, as Naruto rolls his eyes.

 

`Judging from their reactions, he did something similar to them…', she mentally notes, before she begins to smirk, “Well, for your information, my name could also be read as Loved Child and I was named after a family-friend”, she retorts, “But at least my name matches my gender”, she sneers.

 

“What do you mean by that?”, he questions, as a hint of confusion flashed across his features.

 

“Well Sai is a feminine-name meaning paint, whoever named you must have thought you were a female”, she bluntly informs, `Two can play this game…'

 

“Sai is a girl's name…!”, Naruto laughs from behind his hand, while Sakura gasps in shock.

 

“Apparently, your tongue is as sharp as mine…”, Sai calmly states, not even a hint annoyance on his face, but his eyes spoke it in volumes.

 

`I haven't had this much fun since Satoshi-san!', she mentally chuckles, `But I suppose I should give him some slack…', she notes, “Though of course, you could have been named for the general-meaning of the word Sai which means difference…”, she verbally recants, looking as if in thought.

 

“Most likely”, Sai says, “So where are you from, Aiko-san?”

 

“I'm just a traveler, looking to learn”, she replies.

 

“Looking to learn what?”

 

“That would be none of your concern, Sai-chan”, she flatly states, “Sakura-san, Naruto-san, isn't it time to be heading back?”

 

“Huh…?”, Sai blinks.

 

“Naruto-san does need to get back to training, doesn't he?”, she continues, grabbing hold of their hands and leads them away.

 

“Y-yeah… I do…!”, Naruto stammers.

 

“We'll see you later Sai!”, Sakura calls out with a wave before they vanish from his sight.

 

“Very particular young woman…”, he mutters, as he stares in the direction they went.

 

 

 

 

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“We're back!”, Aiko announces, when they return to the clearing where Kakashi and Yamato awaited.

 

“Are you ready to resume training, Naruto”, Kakashi asks.

 

“My stomach is full and I'm ready to continue, Kakashi-sensei!”, he exclaims, restarting to unzip his jacket again.

 

“We should be going too”, Sakura states, “It's time for Aiko-san's training to begin”

 

“Good luck on your training Naruto-san”, she bids, as she follows the other female into the forest.

 

“Good luck to you too, Aiko-chan”, he waves, before leaping onto a wooden-platform across the front of the giant-waterfall.

 

“Okay, this looks like a good place to start”, Sakura says, as they reach a clearing.

 

“So what's first?”

 

“Well, before we do begin. I need to know what you already do know”

 

“Understandable…”, she nods, “I do know some basics…”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Nawanuke no jutsu, Kawarimi no jutsu, Kakuremino no jutsu…”, she lists off, “But those can only be demonstrated while in action, and the only other one I know I can show you…”, she adds, before formulating a three-seal jutsu, “Henge!”

 

She vanishes in a cloud of smoke and when it clears, Sakura finds herself staring at an exact mirror-image of her appearance.

 

“Very good…”, the pink-haired girl mutters, as Aiko changes back, “What about Bunshin no jutsu?”

 

“Um…”, she utters, as her eyes sheepishly darts left to right and back, “Well…”, she starts to say before doing the three-seals required to active the jutsu and is consumed in a cloud of smoke again, and when it clears Aiko was still standing where she was, but what laid beside her at her feet was a pathetic-looking washed-out version of herself, “You see…”, she says, starting to blush, “In the 9 to 10 years of practice, I still can't do it right…”

 

“I see…”, she comments, as she watches Aiko dispel the jutsu, “Well that's not important. So first on our list of training will be tree-climbing”

 

“Tree-climbing…?”

 

“You focus your chakra into the soles of your feet and climb up the trees using only your feet without the use of your hands”, Sakura straightforwardly explains with her eyes closed, and when she reopens them she finds the teen missing, “Huh?”

 

“Unfortunately Sakura-san!”, she heard Aiko say, her voice coming from above her, and upon looking up finds her hanging upside-down from the branch in the matter she spoke of, “I already mastered this years ago”, she continues, before releasing the hold the chakra in her feet had on the branch and somersaults to the ground, “So what's next?”

 

“Have you ever done `water-walking' training?”, she carefully questions before she went into detail about it.

 

“I wish I did…”, the teen flatly replies, “Then my clothes won't have to get wet so much…”, she off-handedly mutters to herself.

 

“Okay. To walk on water, you need to focus your chakra into your feet like in the tree-climbing exercise, but you must continuously emit it so that you float on top of the water's surface”, she explains.

 

“Got it!”, she nods in understanding, “But where are we going to train?”

 

“There's a small river a little ways in that direction”, she replies, pointing.

 

“Let's go”, Aiko says, starting in the direction she had pointed to.

 

“Aiko-san, wait up!”, Sakura exclaims, following after the red-haired teen, `She's just as impulsive as Naruto…', she mentally notes.

 

 

 

 

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-Short While Later-

 

 

 

 

“W-wow…!”, Aiko gasps, “It's so beautiful”

 

“I can't agree with you more…”, her teenage-sensei states, as she enters the rocky/sandy-clearing.

 

“Is this where you trained in doing water-walking, Sakura-san?”

 

“No, but this is a great spot to have a picnic”

 

“So how was it you walk on water again?', she half-way mutters to herself, “Oh yeah!”, she exclaims, before focusing her chakra into her feet and takes a step onto the stream.

 

“Amazing!”, Sakura says, watching as Aiko walks to the middle of the river without so much as a sign of sinking, “Pretty interesting that you're able to do it on your first try”

 

Upon reaching the middle of the river and hearing Sakura's comment, she glances around at the water that surrounded her and down at her feet.

 

“Woo-hoo!”, Aiko cheers, beginning to leap up and down into the air, only to scream a moment later that is quickly cut short as she vanishes underneath the water's surface.

 

She resurfaces a few seconds later spitting out water, and spots Sakura on the shore doubled over with laughter.

 

`God damn it…', she inwardly curses, as she begins swimming towards the beach.

 

Halfway to land she stops swimming when she sees a pair of high-heeled sandals standing on the water in front of her, causing her to glance up to meet her blue-grey eyes with a pair of jade-green ones.

 

“Perhaps I should've also told you that you have to continue to focusing on your chakra until you can walk on water unconsciously”, Sakura chuckles, offering her hand to the drenched teen.

 

“Would've been nice to know that beforehand…”, she mutters, as she accepts the hand and is lift out of the water, then quickly concentrates on maintaining a flow of chakra in her feet and walks the rest of the way.

 

“But now your clothes are soaked, what are you going to do?”

 

“At least I came prepared for that”, she smiles, as she rifles through her pouch and pulls out a scroll labeled: Gear, she unrolls it and places her hand over a summoning-crest, `I knew storing extra clothing in a scroll would come in handy someday…', she mentally praises, as a puff of smoke erupts from the paper and she was suddenly holding a forest-green sun-dress.

 

“That's pretty neat and convenient”, Sakura comments.

 

“Thanks”, she says, before heading for the cover of some bushes to peel off the wet clothes & netting-shirt and pulls on the summoned-dress, “I'm all set”, she responds, returning from the bushes.

 

“That's great, but what about your shoes?”

 

“Um…”, she sighs, glancing down at her drenched boots and rolled-down leggings, “I don't have any other shoes”, she admits.

 

“We can get you a pair in the village”

 

“Good, but what are we going to do now?”

 

“Well, first we're going to go back to the village and buying you some dry-shoes, then we're going to drop off your wet clothes at my house, and then we'll go to the hot-springs”

 

“That sounds great”, she replies, as she follows the pink-haired teen from the river-clearing.

 

 

 

 

 

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