章 6: Chapter 6: Time at the Baratie
Dissclaimer: I do not own Naruto or One Piece.
Chapter 6:
Time at the Baratie.
Team 7 had been at the Baratie for 3 weeks now, and things were running very smoothly. Each of them were making some decent money from the restaurant, plus a few bonuses for their special skills. Zeff himself hadn't needed to replace any tables or chairs and found the dining room far quieter under Kakashi's watchful eye. While Naruto and Sasuke had reluctantly proven to be good workers, and Sakura was vastly appreciated by the guests and the servers. Although Zeff still refused to teach her how to cook.
Evan Kakashi found a small measure of normalcy. His job as the bouncer only needing a sharp eye and otherwise staying out of the way from other people. He also spent time talking with Zeff about the Grand Line, trying learning about various dangers, conditions and more that could be found there. Yet finding most of such tales too outrageous to be real.
One night, The Jonin even learned about a Log book kept by Zeff. "Yeah. This book is a detailed record of my one-year journey to the Grand Line. This is the treasure I hold deeper in my heart than anything on this earth. It's the only record of my crew that remains, after each of them were lost in a storm. I read it, sometimes, to bring back old memories. Some of the best days of my life."
"Hmmmm." Kakashi grew curious at the older man's wishful words.
"Have you ever thought about going back? What made you decide to leave those days behind and open a restaurant here? You're still powerful and strong, even without your leg."
A sad look came to the man's serious eyes. His face grew hard, rigid, even cold.
"Because I lost the one thing, I cared for the most on this earth. My crew were my family. They were everything to me. And I'm the only one out of us still alive."
"I've got no desire to return to that sea. It's got nothing to do with my missing leg at all. Have you ever lost the people you cared for the most, kid?"
That, brought fresh guilt to the man's consciousness. Zeff barely noticed, his eyes trained on the log book.
"Yes. All….too well, Chef Zeff."
Kakashi answered in a heavy voice.
That, Zeff noticed. The chef could hear the pain and anguish in the man's voice.
"Well, that's why I left, but opening the Baratie as a restaurant is a different story. Tell you the truth, perhaps you should start your own Log-book. Keeping a record of the different days, encounters and more that you find on your way back to your home. Sometimes a way to look back on your decisions can be the best to prevent the same mistakes from repeating themselves. Or to look back on your life here to enjoy a peaceful respite when things become overwhelming."
That gave the Jonin an idea. 'A record of our exploits, experiences and events right here as they happen. It couldn't hurt, and could be used as a mission-report if we do return to the village after several months, or even a year.'
The following day, Kakashi called his Genin aside, and introduced the idea of a log book for the squad. Naruto and Sasuke were less enthusiastic, while Sakura eagerly volunteered to keep the book up-to-date alongside her sensei.
The pinkette had also begin to slowly grow some sense of professionalism at the restaurant. Through some positive and negative experiences there. One particular event left its impact on each of the shinobi, and some closer bonds with Zeff and Sanji.
"Hello there. Welcome to the Baratie, the finest sea-restaurant in all the Blues," Sakura spoke to fresh customers, menus in her hands and her memory sharp.
"Your table is at the back of the dining room, if you would follow me…"
As the girl graciously led them through the tables, she heard the doors swing open again.
"Mardy, tables 13 and 20 are free. Use them for the fresh customers," she called to a waiter without missing a beat.
Once her party were seated, the pinkette strode back to the front desk. Before the commotion began.
"Ghhk! What did you make this from!"
Crash!
"Owe!" With the cry, Sakura fell to her knees. A bowl of meatballs was throw aside, breaking to pieces against the stairs. As sherds[1] of the bowl flew, one jagged piece cut across the matre-d's forehead, leaving a long, shallow cut.
"I'm paying for good food here! Not to eat tuna-guts like those meatballs!" A fat man, wearing a pompous baby-blue suit and filthy napkin, complained.
"I demand better food! And having my meal free of-"
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto burst from the kitchen. Hearing Sakura's shout, the Genin noticed his teammate whipping blood from her forehead. In a heartbeat, he was beside her, try to help the girl.
Kakashi was there just as quickly. Once he saw it was a small cut, he turned towards the culprit. But...
"What. Have. You. Done?" Came Sanji's voice, in a chilling whisper.
"Ah! Someone decent that I can complain to. Now this is-"
"What. Have. You. Done? Wasting food. Hurting a girl. Especially one that sweet, kind, and dedicated."
Sanji's face was hidden by a shadow. Until he met the customer's eyes, with a murderous glare. The cook beat Kakashi to the punch, figuratively speaking.
"It took me 2 whole days of preparation to make that dish, and as you can see everyone else here loves those meatballs. Now the dish has sherds of tableware scattered in it, it's become dangerous to eat."
"But even worse. That girl, Sakura-chan, has giving this restaurant nothing but hard work and good decisions. Now, that young lady is hurt. Her injuries were caused by you!"
What followed, was a beat-down even the devil would smirk at.
"WHAT KIND OF MONSTER HURTS A YOUNG LADY!"
Jaw—arm—leg—liver—shin—elbow—spine—wrist—and groin.
Each were kicked, with the force to crush bone and shatter joints.
While all the patrons watched, prettified or smirking at the unsavory man's comeuppance. Even Sasuke had come in to see the commotion.
By the end, the man could barely breath, and was held up only by Sanji's hand.
"Sanji!" Patty's voice rang through the dinning room.
"Not Again! What are you doing to our-"
"Look at Sakura!"
"Huh?" the burly cook gawked. Before his eyes caught the girl, and the blood on her forehead.
"This bastard threw a plate of food away, and one piece cut her beautiful face! He hurt a young lady, and worse than that, her! You dare try and get between this, Patty!"
Now the entire kitchen was the cook's side. Patty even snarled, marching up to give his own beat-down, but someone else got there first.
"Sanji! Why Is That Disgrace To All Manhood Here In My Restaurant! I Thought I Taught You Better Than That!" Zeff's voice roared through the ship.
"I'm Not Done With Him, You Damn Geezer. He's disrespected Me, the Food, And Sakura-chan!" The sous-chef shot back.
"Yeah, chef! I wanna give this fop a piece'a my mind too!" Patty frown towards his boss, knuckles cracking in his hands.
5 minutes later, the patron was flying out of the restaurant, with near every bone in his body, broken.
Patty and Carne were whipping their hands clean as Sanji and Zeff nodded at the handiwork. The former took out a smoke, then noticed a boy kneeling at his feet.
"That…was…so…cool!" Naruto's head rose, eyes glittering with pure admiration.
"Please! Teach me how to do that! How to beat up other guys that hurt Sakura-chan, and be great and strong, like you!"
"Hm," Sanji replied, his curly eyes twitching. "You wanna learn how to fight, and protect a lady? Sure, I'll teach you-"
"Hey, little punk!" Zeff called over them.
"What, geezer!"
"What do you think you're doing with that kind of offer!? I'm the chef around here, so if anyone wants to learn that job falls to me. Get back in to the kitchen and grab the first-aid kit for Sakura."
"We already have it, Chef." A voice cut between the gentleman. Kakashi was knelling down beside Sakura, cleaning the cut while a second Naruto stood beside him, handing out bandages and cleaning-up the blood.
Zeff nodded at the sight, glad they had the presence of mind not to take a bleeding wound into the kitchen.
From there, the Chef promising to start teaching the boy some new skills once all the work for the day was completed. Then, he approached Kakashi, dragging the Jonin upstairs to the chef's office.
"Alright. Listen up, you lazy brat." Turning to meet his eyes, Kakashi grew tense at the aggression Zeff had towards him.
"Whadoya think you're doing with these kids? I thought I told you how dangerous the Grand Line was. Did you even listen to me?"
"Umm. Yes. You mentioned how chaotic things could be, but I'm sure the training we've done will–"
Crash! Zeff's wooden stump drove into the wall near the Jonin's head. Despite evading him, Kakashi was surprised, and with splinters of wood were flying, he made the mistake of closing his single right-eye.
Bam! Bong!-miss-miss-Rip!-missCrrrwrang-miss-miss! Bzzzing!
"You honestly think your ready for that sea!? For those kids to survive it!?"
Miss-miss-Trunch! Gwaa! -miss-miss-Brrrrg!-miss-Bung!
After several minutes, Zeff was left panting. While Kakashi's face was slightly bruised, after dodging most of Zeff's kicks but still hit a few.
"You—hhhh…hhhh….-damn it, I'm getting old. But-hhhh…-you really think those-hhh…hhhh….those kid are ready for the Grand Line!?...hhhhh…hhhh."
After a few moments to catch his breath, the Head-chef stood tall, chastising the lazy Jonin.
"That sea is in a constant state of war. You may have been safe where you used to be, but's that's changed completely, you cyclops-brat. If you were to head to the Grand Line tomorrow, those three would end-up dead within a week."
"If it were up to me, none of those kids would set foot on that sea until they were 18 at least! But I can tell asking you and them to wait until they reach home might not go down very well. So, you need to prepare them for the dangers coming up to face them."
Kakashi groaned at the lecture.
"I agree, your stories certainly mean the Grand Line is a dangerous place. But they shouldn't' be any worse than the Great Ninja Wars or the Chunin Exams in our home could. My Genin should be able to handle it after a mission we did a short time before coming here went badly but they didn't break. If they went there alone, then I'd have my doubts. But that's not the case. I am won't let any of them die, plus they can still grow along the way. We will be prepared."
Zeff hesitated at that proclamation. The deadly glint in Kakashi's eyes sent a message to the chef. Still, the man wasn't going to let things be.
"Really. Is that what happened to all of your old friends who died on your watch?"
The Jonin froze….
…..his blood turned cold at the accusation. Growing into blue flames and anger.
Yet before he could respond-
"I can tell you blame yourself for their deaths, Kakashi. Whoever they were. I don't know what happened, and I'm not asking to know."
"But if you take those kids to the Grand Line as they are now. Without any real fighting skills or the power to stand on their own. Then you'll only kill yourself trying to keep them alive, and leave them alone and leaderless to make it back to their home."
"They need to prepare for what's waiting on that sea. And you need to ensure they are ready to face it. Especially after neglecting to teach Naruto anything!"
Bam. "You've been working on that water-walking power with them for weeks, but never thought to do that same with Naruto! What kind of teacher ignores their own students that blatantly!"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Well the cooks have been crowding Naruto to see his sexy-jutsu every night. Sasuke and Sakura are always embarrassed or angry at it, so instead of fighting the inevitable, I wanted to keep them separated to stop any fights form springing-up. Plus, he hasn't asked me for any new skills, so I don't believe he has the motivation to training right now."
"Hmmmm." The Chef derogatively snorted. "That's excuse is flimsy at best if you ask me, brat. Why not leave on of his clones to entertain my cooks while the real one works with you and the others. Plus, Naruto is a kid. Of course he doesn't have much discipline or dedication from out of thin air. Those are traits a teacher needs to give him. Even pound it into his head."
"That brat Sanji always wanted to look at women when he was that age, so I had to whack several lessons about priorities and discipline into his thick skull! Now you have to do the same, and any excuses will only cause those kids to die!"
Kakashi opened his mouth…then closed it. A moment later, he tried again. But the words to refute this case died in his throat. 'Teaching them good habits and discipline. My own teammates and sensei already had that when we came together, and back then I prided myself on being more dedicated and focused than anyone else. Might Guy, Asuma, Hayate, Yugao, and others all had good training habits as well when we were Genin. But…none of them are Naruto or Sakura. Sasuke even gained some training morals form his clan before their deaths. But I just assumed that—'
"Bring that Sasuke-brat and Sakura out tonight when I start to training Naruto." Zeff cut into his musings. "There are a few things you can learn that would defiantly benefit both you and each of them."
Crack!
The chef planted his stump on Kakashi's chest.
"Got it, you grey-hound, punk?"
Kakashi was quite for some minutes. Then he nodded. "Alright."
0…...0
4 hours later, the restaurant was spotless. All from Naruto's enthusiasm to start learning. So Zeff made good on his promise and raised the fins to start teaching the boy.
Kakashi brought Sasuke and Sakura along, as promised. And Sanji was present as well. The sous-chef had been friendly towards the team, but not given anything more than professional courtesies to the ninja.
Zeff began to speak with Naruto.
"So. You wanna learn how to fight like Sanji can, Naruto-brat?"
"Ya. Ya. Ya. I really do. He's so cool!"
Zeff grinned. 'Kid's got enthusiasm. It's a start. And he'll need some decent fighting skills for the Grand Line."
"Well then. Pay attention to me, and so should Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi," the chef glanced at the other Ninjas.
"Listen-up. I've been watching all of you for a while. Including how you ninjas use those strange powers, and the training Sasuke and Sakura have been doing at night. You guys all have one commonality that is crucial to your skills, and something that you always put at risk."
"WHAT! What Training!?" Naruto cried out in betrayal.
"Be quiet, brat." Zeff scolded him, joined with a light kick to his head.
"While you were fooling around turning into a naked girl, your sensei was teaching the other two some new skills."
"Naruto." Kakashi spoke-up. "I'm the one to blame for not telling you. Sasuke and Sakura were very perturbed by how popular your sexy-jutsu was with the cooks, so I decided to keep you guys separate and prevent any hostile incidents like the ones in Hamna Village. But, it was unfair to leave you out of this training; so I will begin to teach you the same skills they we developing tomorrow. Alright?"
Naruto gapped at his teacher. It was one…of the rare…rare occasion when someone else had apologized to him in his life. While Sasuke and Sakura glanced down, slightly admonished at the memories of their talks with Kakashi weeks ago.
"O—Okay, sensei. Yeah, let's get started right now instead of worrying about that!" the blonde replied.
"Now then," Zeff continued.
"As I was saying. Each of you have some impressive skills and powers. Likely even more than what I've seen since there hasn't been a right fight here at all since you arrived. But, from Naruto's shadow-clones, to each time you walk on the ceiling, all of you have to use your hands to make different shapes and put those power to use, correct?"
"That's right," Sakura answered. Followed by a textbook explanation about chakra and ninjutsu. Which Zeff patiently waited through, since Sakura was a girl.
"Next time just jump to the hand-signs part, Sakura. All the extra crap was irrelevant here."
"Anyways, I get the gist that you depend on these hand-signs to use these 'jitsu' you talked about."
"Jutsu, chef Zeff."
"Whatever, girl. The point is, you depend on your hands to use them. But, if your hands were cut, damaged, or worse you lost a hand entirely, then all of your skills would be lost with them. Tell me. Can you use any of those powers with just a single hand?"
Three of the Leaf Shinobi shuffled, uncomfortably. While Naruto's face was scrunched tightly, thinking about using certain jutsu and how two hands could be used.
"Hm. Yes, we can," Sasuke spoke-up. Calling everyone's attention to him.
"It might be very difficult, to put it mildly. But some ninjas can weave hand-signs using only one hand. One of our own enemies on a mission, Haku, was able to do it. Still, you make a decent point. So what-"
"WHAAATTT! Haku Could Make Hand-signs With Just One Hand!?"
A certain blonde, inattentive loudmouth cried in shock.
Sakura and Sasuke blinked, while Kakashi was more reasonable.
"Hhhh. That's right. We didn't tell you, did we Naruto?" The Jonin replied, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well Haku really—"
"Enough!" Zeff proclaimed. "You're moving this lesson off-topic, brat. Anyways, the point is, your hands are important to use these powers that you've got. But, if any of you throw a punch or us your hands to fight anyone, then each of you put them in danger far too recklessly."
"That is why Sanji and I are going to teach you the basics of my own black-leg fighting style."
"Now, you all know that I used to be called 'Red-foot Zeff,' at one time. This nickname had a reason behind it. I only fight using my feet, even now with my peg-leg. Under no conditions will I use my hands to fight someone. The name 'Red-foot' came from how hard I would kick someone in a fight. Even crushing boulders to dust, and staining my boots bright red with the blood of any adversary I met."
The man's serious tone left the Genin stunned. Even Kakashi was impressed, recalling the power behind the man's kicks.
"However, all of that was done for a very specific reason," Zeff continued, raising his hands to the air.
"To protect these precious hands. I'm a cook. If I ruin my hands, there would be no way for me to do anything in a kitchen. Ruining your hands in battle is the end of one's life as a cook."
Dropping his hands to his pockets, the chef fixed each ninja with a hard stare. "This rule can apply to you ninjas as well. If any of you throw an attack from your hands, then you're putting yourselves at risk of losing a finger or your entire hands against a skilled enemy. Even using a blade carries the same kind of danger to you. So, learning my way to fight, the Black-Leg Style, will be more than ideal for you all. Do you agree, Kakashi?"
As everyone turn to the Jonin, the man's eye retained a neutral appearance. He removed his hands from their pockets, and eyed them both carefully. Then Kakashi moved his gaze to his own feet, shuffling one, then the other.
This continued for several moments, Kakashi glanced at his students before facing Zeff with new respect.
"Fundamentally, you make a strong case Chef Zeff. The concept of fighting with solely one's legs would be quite practical for us. And it presents some new opportunities for training right now. However, there is a practical shortcoming that is more crippling for Shinobi than cooks."
"You may emphasize protecting your hands but can still move around and be a first-class chef with a missing leg. We do not really have the kind of luxury, and many shinobi careers have been cut-short by the loss of a leg.[2] Even Ninja's who have only one hand or a single arm can still uses weapons, single-hand signs, or other techniques. But more critically is how they can be mobile and agile with two legs."
"Those attributes would be cut to less than half by the damage or loss to someone's leg. We favour stealth and mobility more than power. Your technique sounds like it'll leave our legs a little too exposed to be completely transferable to Ninja-arts."
Zeff's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Hmm. I can see you're aren't as lazy or complacent as you seem to be, brat. I admit, those are some good points. But few things in life are ever perfect. Those shortcomings by risking your own legs are always present, but enough training and preparation can limit to amount of risk. Something that is true for nearly any skill a person learns. No different from a cook burning their hands in the kitchen or losing a finger, and the awareness to prevent such incidents."
Kakashi silently mulled over Zeff's opinions, and found he agreed with them.
"Alright. I suppose there's nothing that can be lost from trying to learn these Black-leg style skills from you. If I could make one request, though. Could Sanji take Naruto and begin to train him personally. While Sakura and Sasuke stay here with us?"
Zeff nodded, while Naruto shouted in unfairness.
"Why, Kakashi-sensei!? Are you giving them special-treatment just because of the extra training!? That's really unfair, ya know! If you'd told me about it, then I'd have been here even before them and ready to learn, Believe it!"
The Jonin sighed, mildly frustrated at the boy's habit of jumping around.
"Naruto, I'm not being completely unfair. I figured I'm the only one who can train with Sakura out of every here without being kicked to a pulp by Zeff. Also, you are a little behind in the technical field when it comes to your taijutsu compared to them. So, training one-on-one with Sanji would go a long way to improving your skills. Making you the centre of one teacher's attention, instead of being mixed in with the others."
Kakashi smiled at the sight of Naruto's grin. The Jonin was certainly learning more about his own students, but still not without faults.
Glancing back to the others, he noticed a frustrated glint in Sasuke's eyes.
'Hhhhhhh. Always stepping on someone's toes.'
"Sakura, Sasuke. While Naruto is off with Sanji. You can train on the water, practicing the new skills each of you developed last week while learning this new style of fighting. Does that sound good?"
Once all of the Genin were placated, Zeff and Sanji displayed their skills to the ninjas. From front and side kicks, to twisting hand-stands, heel-strikes and swing-kicks. Even while cartwheeling around to get a different angle to strike from. Followed by a spar between Sanji and Kakashi to show a live-combat application. The Genin were amazed. While Kakashi could easily envision using such skills in his own arsenal.
'These techniques could certainly be used in conjunction with hand-signs. Casting genjutsu over an enemy during a series of kicks, or preparing ninjutsu while delivering a barrage of kicks. I could even use ninjutsu as an opening move, setting-up an opponent for several kicks. Or using certain combinations to maneuver them into position for a devastating attack.'
Once the demonstration was over, Zeff demanded each of the Ninja to start running laps.
"Run around the edges of the fins at a full sprint for 100 laps, kids. Plus an extra 150 for the sensei. Once I can see how strong your legs are, we'll know where to begin from."
As they began sprinting around the restaurant, Kakashi leapt down to the water to give the Genin extra room. Followed by Sasuke, and another shout from Naruto in disbelief. Sanji stayed on the blonde, driving him to keep running with a few kicks of encouragement. As they continued to sprint, Zeff kept a watchful eye on each of his charges.
Sakura began to slow down after the 15th lap, her basic levels of fitness quickly falling short, while the absence from any dieting gave the girl the energy to last longer than she otherwise would have. Meanwhile, Sasuke lasted for 20 laps, stumbling over the water after the first 10, before he began running low on chakra. From there, the boy leapt back onto the fins, and continued to run.
Kakashi kept at the hard pace, as did Naruto. One had a life-time of intense, dedicated training, while the other's ridiculous stamina and habits of running from Chunin and Jonin on a semi-regular basis were truly paying-off.
Sakura and Sasuke were amazed to see Naruto outperforming them, while the orange Uzumaki revealed in his accomplishment. Until the 50th lap.
"Hey come on, Sasuke!" the boy gloated, dropping into a jog beside the struggling Uchiha. "Can't the class genius keep going? Who's the Loser no—"
"NARUTO!" THWAK-SPLOOSH!
Sanji had knocked the blonde out to the water. Frowning at the boy's choice to slack-off.
Once he's swam back to the boat, the sous-chef began to scold him.
"Don't slack off! Stick to the running, or the geezer will kick you even harder than I can!"
Naruto's complaints died at that threat, before he took off in a rush.
After several minutes, Kakashi finished first, followed by Naruto 30 laps later. The boy stooped over, panting, while Kakashi was simply breathing deeper than usual.
"Good. You've got some good legs and decent stamina Naruto. Now head off with Sanji, while I start Kakashi on the fundamentals, and your fellow ninjas finish their laps."
Sakura nearly stopped in surprise, amazed at Naruto's accomplishment. Before a few words from Kakashi encouraged her to keep running. The girl was still on her 56st lap, pushing hard but moving far slower. While Sasuke was on his 78th, and even more determined to finish.
Sanji called Naruto aside to work with him one-on-one, first stretching out the boy's legs to maintain their flexibility, then teaching him to basics of balance and coordination for the Black-leg techniques. It was a struggle as the boy would try adding his own moves and jumps; anything that looked cool or flashy. Only to meet a stern kick from Sanji to follow his words exactly.
While Kakashi remained with Zeff, going over the same fundamentals. Eventually Sakura dropped to her knees, nearly exhausted after her 72nd lap, until Naruto's encouragement rang in her ears. Sanji joined in, the pair of blonde's driving the girl to run slightly harder, with some determination.
'I…can…'t le…let Na..Narut-…uto do…be..etter…tha..an me…' the tired girl thought with spite, pushing through her screeching muscles.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was still pushing hard, with only 9 laps to go. But felt the strain from such continuous sprinting. Still, the Uchiha didn't stop, as he had deduced the reasons behind such intense running in a taijutsu-style reliant on kicks and leg-strength. Eventually, Sasuke finished and joined Kakashi, while Naruto was practice simple front kicks and round-houses. Surprising his tutor from how quickly the boy could respond to more tactile learning methods.
Eventually Sakura was down to her finals few laps, while Sasuke was struggling with certain moves. Even Naruto's movements were starting to slow down, feeling fresh muscles he didn't understand could hurt.
"Wh—wh—Why..why are m…hhh….my shoul-..hhh…shoulder sss…so hard? And my tummy…hhhh….it feels tight and hurts." The blonde panted.
"Hmmm. So, your abdominals are underdeveloped," Sanji observed.
"Listen up, Naruto. When somebody uses kicks, they have to twist their entire body to bring speed and power to bear. Your core-muscles, the ones in the stomach bellow your rib-cage, are a crucial part of this fighting-style. They are your source of balance whenever your throw a kick."[3]
"Plus, to raise your legs, you use the lower-core muscles while the middle and upper ones control your balance. Basically, you're doing a half-sit-up each time you raise your leg."
The sous-chef took a smoke from his cigarette, before he continued.
"If you don't feel that kind of burn, then it means your kick is sloppy or wrong. Or you lean backwards too far and throw-off your own balance. Start doing some leg-raises, then side-crunches to build-up your core. Plus, your shoulders hurt since there are tensing-up from the exertions."[3] The teacher instructed.
"Uhhhhhhhhh," Naruto gapped in confusion. "I'd don't really get what you said. But I can do those exercises, sure."
The next moment, the boy dropped to the ground. Followed by sloppy leg-raises. Sanji was quick to correct his charge, and soon Naruto's form improved.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was being knocked around and tutored by Zeff himself, while Sakura finished her laps and began to stretch with Kakashi out on the water.
"Sakura, I'm curious. Why didn't' you run out on the water at all like Sasuke and I did?" the Jonin asked her.
"Be..because…hhhh...sensei…hh…I don…hhh…don't have…hhhh…as much ch…hhhh…chakra… Doing that…hhh…hhhh….I wouldn't….hhhh…..hhhh….hhh…finished….Or…hhh..would hav…have needed…hhhh…to stop part w-…hhh…part way…" the unfit girl brokenly replied.
The answer took Kakashi by surprise. Before nodding at his student's explanation and decision.
"Good judgement. You recognized a weakness and didn't fall into it. And used your intellect instead of your ego."
By the time Sakura had finished stretching, Sasuke was battered, bruised, and could barely move. So Kakashi stepped forward with the next stage of his training plan.
"Alright. Sakura. Let's start you on learning some of these Black-leg techniques. Sasuke," the Jonin-sensei commanded.
"…I want you to step back and start a new kind of training. Active your eyes and try to keep track of Zeff's techniques. It'll be some good practice for the perception and adaptation-methods of your Sharingan."
Zeff blinked, sharply. "His eyes? And what the heck is a 'Sharingan,' Kakashi?"
Belatedly, the Jonin realized he had never informed Zeff of the special eyes carried by him and Sasuke. This was followed by a brief explanation, with some extra reasoning from Kakashi.
"You just finished teaching Sasuke some fundamental skills. My thoughts were for Sakura to begin learning the same ones, while Sasuke traces them with his eyes. He wouldn't be copying the techniques and using them immediately, as that can take a large amount of practice and skill. And it wouldn't' be unfair since they are both learning the same skills. Yet, Sasuke can get used to his Sharingan's more passive abilities, and understand the intricacies of these techniques better from observing how Sakura and I execute them."
Zeff frowned at the concept. But after some mental notes not to do anything himself for the Uchiha to possibly cheat from, he accepted the Jonin's explanation.
Sakura began to learn the Black-leg techniques, under Kakashi and Zeff's watchful instruction. With the pinkette driving some additional focus into how precise and accurate she was, out of concern for her crush copying certain mistakes by accident.
At the end of the training sessions, the moon was high in the sky, Kakashi was winded, while two Genin were slumped over in exhaustion, and Naruto was just sore.
Each of the adults carried them to bed, before turning-in themselves. Before some unusual company arrived the next day.
End.
Please Read and Review.
I sincerely hope everyone has enjoyed this chapter, and the training that began. This has been a personal topic that I have wanted to explore for a while. The logistical importance of a Naruto-ninja's hands would truly make the Black-leg style very useful and logical for them to use, given how entire jutsu could be sabotaged by any damage to their hands.
Now, this doesn't mean that each of them will learn that style to the same degree. As I do have plans for each of the ninjas to have their own interests and development. But, everything needs to start somewhere. And proficiency with this style would be very useful regardless.
Stayed tuned, as in the next chapter. It's time for Team 7, to meet the future King of the Pirates.
[1]-shattered pieces of a ceramic vessel, bowl or plate are called "sherds." Different materials than glass "shards." I am a professional Archaeologist, currently ¾ through a Master's degree. This distinction is important on professional grounds.
[2]-Might Guy has shown he can still be a viable fighters even after loosing his leg during a mission with Kakashi (Naruto Novel: Ice in the Sky). However, using Guy as a baseline reference to measure all ninja's against is an unrealistic and abstract standard.
[3]-I have been practicing martial-arts for years. Including Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, Gojuryo and Boxing. These comments are drawn from my personal experience. Core-muscles are essential for balance and power in a kick, keeping one set crunched in while the other set remains straight. Correlating to a person standing upright, raising one leg high enough to strike while the other remains on the ground. Also, it often takes years to eliminate the habit of a fighter tensing their arms and shoulders needlessly during drills, sparring or in a fight. Wasting copious amounts of energy by keeping these muscles flexed needlessly.
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