The Broken Laughter Of The Kitsune

Sayonara Gato!!

Narumi watched in amusement from her perch in her tree as the Uchiha once again failed to climb the tree, while his fan girl once again cheered him on. She chuckled as she remembered the reactions of her teammates when they learned of the exercise and her mastery of it.

Flashback

"Ok team, today we're going to work on your chakra control," Kakashi said to his team who were gathered around him in a clearing about twenty minutes away from Tazuna's home. Haku and Zabuza were sitting in a tree a couple feet away. Well Zabuza was in the tree reading Icha Icha Paradise while Haku sat at the base reading some medical books on the human body.

"So how are we going to do that sensei?" asked an intrigued Sakura.

"Simple, we are going to climb trees," Kakashi said with an eye smile, while both Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped at his statement. Narumi just cleaned her nails absentmindedly, completely disinterested with the topic.

"How is climbing trees going to help us with our chakra?" demanded an irate Sasuke. Narumi snorted and the Uchiha immediately rounded on her, "Whats so funny dobe?"

"Nothing, nothing," Narumi said with a smile while she waved her hand dismissively at the cold youth. "Please sensei continue with your explanation," the Uzumaki girl said with a grin.

"Thank you Narumi, anyway Sasuke, can you climb a tree without using your hands?" asked Kakashi to a now interested Sasuke.

"But sensei that's impossible!" protested Sakura. Narumi snorted while Zabuza and Haku looked at the girl as if she had grown a second head.

Kakashi just eye smiled and approached a tree. Stopping for a second, Kakashi made the ram seal and then proceeded to walk straight up the tree without the use of his hands. Sakura look shell-shocked while Sasuke was clearly amazed. Narumi just smirked at her sensei, who was now hanging upside down from a tree branch.

"Perhaps a better word for this exercise would be called tree walking or another name is surface clinging," Kakashi told his students with an eye smile. Zabuza rolled his eyes at the man and went pack to reading his book. "The goal is to send chakra to your feet and use it to cling to the tree," Kakashi directed while throwing a kunai at each one of his students feet, "Use those to mark your progress as you go along. Also I suggest you get a running start," Kakashi instructed.

Immediately both Sakura and Sasuke grabbed the kunai, concentrated, then made a mad dash for their respective tree. Narumi meanwhile looked at the kunai and just shrugged before slowly walking towards her tree.

Sasuke was about five feet up the tree before it gave a loud crack and he was thrown off, though he was able to make a mark before he fell. Looking up, he saw a shallow crater the size of his foot on the tree near his mark and mentally cursed. 'If I use too much chakra I just get thrown off but if I use to little, five bucks says I land on my ass.' Sasuke thought. Suddenly he was broken from his thoughts when he heard a joyful cry from Konoha's Pink Banshee.

"This is easy!" Sakura called. She was sitting on a branch halfway up the tree, her kunai stuck in the main part right next to her. 'Beat that Ino-pig! Sasuke will be mine in no time!' Sakura thought triumphantly and looked down at her crush expecting to see some form of awe. Instead she saw a look of barely controlled annoyance on his face.

"It seems the only pink haired female on the team has the best chakra control," Kakashi said with an eye smile. Sakura got a look of confidence on her face and looked over to see how her other teammate was doing. She was surprised to see her just standing there looking at the tree, absentmindedly twirling a kunai in her hand. Kakashi also noticed this and asked, "Narumi, anything wrong?" called out the jounin.