Chapter 8

                                    

                                          
"You'll climb trees."
Kiba snorted. "Easy! How's that gonna help us, sensei?"
Kakashi shrugged. "I'm still bedridden from chakra exhaustion, so I'll have my team explain it to you."
Sasuke gestured to himself. "Follow me. Kurenai, please stay and ensure Kakashi doesn't do anything stupid." She nodded.
The seven all walked to the edge of the forest. "Now, as Kakashi said, you'll walk up trees without your hands."
"Hey!" Kiba yelled. "How the hell is this going to help us?"
Sasuke activated his sharingan. "Kiba, look into my eyes." The tomoe supported by the iris began to rotate slowly in a hypnotic fashion. Kiba blinked once, then twice.
"Okay, I think I understand."
"By channelling a set amount of chakra into the feet, it is possible to walk up trees vertically," Sayuri said. "Like this." She planted her foot on the bark, and then the other. Soon enough, she was upside down on a thicker branch. "It's said that the feet are the hardest area to channel chakra. By doing this exercise, you will be able to use every jutsu." She paused. "Theoretically, anyway," she sheepishly added.
Naruto tossed four kunai at each of them, and all were caught. "Use these to mark where you are on the trees."
Kiba thumbed his nose. "Heh! This'll be no sweat!"
KIba's boast was quickly proven wrong as he took a step up the tree and fell flat on his face. Shino was blown off the tree in an explosion.
"Also," Sayuri called. "Since Yin chakra is based around your mental state, remember to stay calm."
Sakura slipped, but caught herself. Hinata was forcibly ejected from her trunk of choice, a few small cracks and a foot-shaped crater in the bark.
Naruto nudged Sasuke. The three all sat on the same branch, in a nice little row. "What did you show Kiba anyway?"
Sasuke shrugged noncommittally. "I trapped him in a fight with a bear that couldn't climb. Kiba lost." Naruto winced in reply.
"I'm putting a hundred ryo on Sakura getting there first. You?" Sasuke revealed a hundred-ryo note.
"A hundred and fifty on Kiba getting there last." Sayuri palmed a hundred ryo note as well as a fifty ryo note. "What about you, Naruto?"
"Hey, why are you beating on Kiba? He's not that bad," he defended. "But two hundred ryo on Shino getting there second."
"No way Naruto, Hinata's been training in her clan's Gentle Fist practically since she came out the cradle. She probably has great chakra control," Sasuke commented.
"I don't know about that," Naruto countered. "When I sparred with her, I couldn't help but feel like her strikes were... weak, if that makes sense. Her strikes were fast, sure, but her hits weren't at their utmost." 
He paused to gather his thoughts. "I've seen Hyuga fight. When they hit someone, their strikes are painful. Like, scream in agony painful. But when Hinata hit me, the strikes were similar to acupuncture. Pins and needles, as they say."
Sayuri closed her eyes in watchful thought. "So Hinata's hits could be a lot harder?"
"Yeah, at least, I think so," Naruto replied. Sasuke shrugged.
"That girl's going to go far, that's for sure."
Sakura leapt from branch to branch, stopping to rest next to them. "That was pretty easy," she commented.
Sasuke grinned smugly. "If you would please," he pompously stated with an outstretched hand.
Sayuri grunted and slapped the note in his hand. Naruto sighed, and did the same. Hinata smiled to herself, having just reached the canopy.