Sakura perked up. "Water-walking?" She asked, as she placed her brush in her bag and walked over to kneel on the other side of Kakashi's bed. "What did the Oinin mean by 'water-walking?' And what is an Oinin anyway?"
"To answer your first question; water-walking is a chakra control exercise that teaches a shinobi how to channel chakra through their feet to stand on water. It's how Zabuza and I were fighting on the lake." Kakashi explained.
"And why haven't you taught us that yet?" Sasuke interjected, as he plopped himself down next to Sakura, sitting cross-legged.
Kakashi mentally sighed, as he prepared himself for the eventual explosion from his students; "Because I've yet to teach you tree-walking."
"Tree-walking," Sakura's eyes narrowed in thought. "Is this something that the other Genin squads have already been taught?" She asked with an accusing tone.
Kakashi winced. "Damn, sometimes I forget how smart Sakura is…Maybe?" He squeaked out.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura erupted. "Just what are we supposed to know by now?!"
"A lot more than you currently do," Kakashi told her as he tried to burrow himself into his pillow to escape his female student's wrath. "And that blame lies solely with me," Kakashi admitted as he looked towards his students, "And for that I apologize. I was hoping that you three would approach me with questions on how to improve, but I've realized as I've been laying here that you three probably didn't even know what you had to improve on."
"And what do we have to improve on?" Sasuke asked with his chin resting on his threaded fingers.
"A lot, though the most pressing thing is chakra control. It'll help improve Sakura's reserves, as well as ensuring that you and Naruto don't waste nearly as much chakra on your jutsus." Kakashi explained. "So, we'll start with tree-climbing tomorrow. We need to do this because you never know when we'll run into another Shinobi like Zabuza. Hell, I wouldn't put it past Gatō to hire another nin."
"Would he really do that, Kakashi-sensei? I mean Zabuza had to have cost him a pretty penny to hire; wouldn't that have set him back?" Sakura asked, sounding a bit fearful of potentially facing someone like Zabuza again.
Kakashi didn't want to worry his Genin, but as they say 'Forewarned is forearmed,' so he soldiered on. "The fact that he hired someone like Zabuza means that his operations here in Nami no Kuni are lucrative. Very lucrative. Meaning, he's very likely to hire another shinobi of Zabuza's calibur to protect those operations."
Sakura paled, Naruto gulped and Sasuke clenched his fists so hard his knuckles popped.
"We were lucky," Kakashi continued, "If Zabuza had had an accomplice who knows what would have happened." The irony of this statement would not be lost on Kakashi in the near future.
"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke," Kakashi addressed them, making sure to look each Genin in the eye as he said their names. "I promised you that I would never let my comrades die, and I meant it then and I mean it now. However, I can't guarantee that I'll always be there to protect you or," Kakashi gave a self-deprecating chuckle, "That you might not have to save me. That's why we need to get stronger. All of us. So that we can protect each other."
"You bet, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto grinned.
"Let's get stronger together!" Sakura cheered, while internally she was thinking, "Cha, I'll be stronger than you yet, Ino-buta. Then Sasuke-kun will be all mine!"
"Hnn," Sasuke smirked.
"Alright," Kakashi said, "We'll start tree-walking tomorrow. Any questions?"
"Wait, you never answered my question about what an Oinin was?" Sakura pointed out.
"Ah," Kakashi sweat dropped, "Sorry, I forgot about that." He turned to his orange garbed student-"Really need to get him some darker clothes. How he outran and hid from Anbu in that monstrosity is beyond me…Would you care to field this one, Naruto?"
"Sure," Naruto chirped. It was rare that he actually got to show off his knowledge. Naruto turned towards Sakura. "An Oinin is a ninja who's responsible for hunting down their village's missing-nin and disposing of their bodies. They do it so that enemy villages can't learn secrets from their bodies or take anything from them. Konoha has some Oinin as well. They serve as part of Anbu."
"Wow," Sakura gasped, "I didn't know that happened. And I didn't know you were so knowledgeable, Naruto," she said, sounding impressed.
"Hehe, when you hang around Hokage-Jiji as much as I do you learn some things." Naruto said as he placed his hands behind his head.
Sakura shook her head, as if to ward off an impending headache. "Naruto, stop referring to Hokage-sama so disrespectfully."
"But Sakura-chan," Naruto moaned weakly, having had this conversation before and knowing where it's gonna go, "Hokage-Jiji likes it when I call him that."
"I don't care! It's disrespectful so you shouldn't do it." Sakura huffed, as she crossed her arms.
"Sakura-chan.." Naruto hung his head.
"Although," another question popped into her head as she mentally ran through Kakashi and Naruto's conversation with the Oinin, "I recall you saying that it was a rule for Oinin to dispose of bodies where they dropped, why didn't he?"
"Ah," Kakashi let out a nervous chuckle, "I may have implied that I wanted to take Zabuza's blade for Konoha."
Sasuke scoffed. "That hunk of metal?"
"Don't laugh, Sasuke. That hunk of metal is worth enough to buy you a small town." Kakashi laughed as he saw Sakura and Naruto bolt upright.
"Really/really?!" They yelled simultaneously.
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, really. Zabuza's blade, the Kubikiribōchō, is one of seven special blades that is passed down to the best seven sword wielders of Kirigakure no Sato. Each blade has a special ability associated with it, and when all seven swordsmen are on the battlefield with their blades, they are said to be capable of bringing down an entire nation."
_______________________
Read 25+ Chapters Ahead-
patreon.com/ecchi18