Naruto was stumped. Tree-walking was easy. He did it in 2 days. Water-walking was more difficult, it took him 4 days. But what he was trying to do now was causing far more trouble.
The question was, would it be worth it?
Tree-walking regulated Chakra to the feet, allowing a Shinobi to stick himself to the surface. One would need to regulate a constant flow of the blue energy to the hardest part of the body, the feet, in order to strengthen the muscles and cause the foot to adhere to the tree. Trees were used as they were generally the hardest surfaces to build up this adhesion, due to their rough yet solid bark.
Similarly, water-walking built upon the basis of regulating Chakra to ones feet, yet the principle behind it was quite different. The user had to constantly change the output of Chakra to match the change of the surface, i.e. water. Water was especially good as a training site as it struck a balance between viscosity and volatility. The thing about water-walking, was that when you needed to change direction you had to take into account how the water would move and how the Chakra would cause a spray.
Naruto had decided that, to maximise his training and enjoyment, he would ski...without skis.
He had watched Konoha villagers water-skiing using boats or hang gliders and he thought why not try a much more extreme version? He had Chakra to burn and the mind to use it...Although some people differed on the latter.
So, here he was attempting to propel himself forward by pushing an insane amount of Chakra out of his feet and ankles whilst trying to control his direction and balance at the same time. Suffice to say, the results were painful.
BOOM!
Naruto gingerly extracted himself from the latest indent he had bashed into the rock from his latest collision. Wincing, he stretched himself checking for any injuries. That arm was going to be tender in the morning...
Setting himself he got ready to try again.
With an audible explosion of Chakra, he rocketed forward, Water parting up and in-front of him creating a sparkling fountain of spray that caught the sunlight as it descended back to the river's surface. He was really enjoying himself this time.
The feeling of the water slapping his skin under the sun as he blasted his path through the mammoth sentinels of water on either side of him put him in a state of euphoria he hadn't ever experienced before. He stared ahead, looking in awe at the golden sparkle of the sun, its rays reflecting magnificently off the diamonds of water drops hanging in the air around him. It was as if he was in a tunnel of silver and gold, each complimenting the other in an unnatural balance that only something all-powerful could ever have created.
In that moment of introspection, he once again lost his concentration. It was too late for him to slalom around the smooth-curved rock that jutted out of the centre of the river.
With another deft boom, the blond-haired Jinchuuriki was lifted a sheer metre above the water's surface. With the wind from his ferocious speed dragging against his skin and the sound roaring past his ears, he yelled his challenge to the sky.
"WOOHOOOOOO!" And with that exclamation, after a good 3 seconds of hang time, he fell back to the surface with a resounding clap. His feet stinging and his body shaking from the adrenaline rush of the craziest move he had tried yet, he laughed uproariously.
"I have GOT to do that again!"
Alas, the wall didn't agree.
CRACK!
XXXXXX
Naruto was happy. It was the first and last thought on his mind at the moment. After a straight 6 days of practise, he had gotten the hang of the most dangerous sport he had ever decided to do. After the first 3 days of which the afternoon was always spent in the hospital, he had strengthened his resolve to steady his balance and get it right. He deduced that to do this successfully, as he had seen on the Konoha beaches, he needed a source of tension to aid his balance.
The conventional water-skiers were always attached by rope to something that was pulling them across the river. However, there was a fundamental difference between their way and his. He was propelling himself across the surface and so he didn't have anything to tie himself to. So he had decided that if he couldn't use something to speed him up to use for this tension, he would use something to slow himself down.
Hence, the 10kg rock that was tied to his waist with ninja wire.
Using the basics of physics, this had allowed him to balance himself by leaning back into the tensile force acting on his body due to the inertia from the rock, effectively lowering his centre of gravity and his speed, although the latter was only slight.
Cackling madly, he shot off down his makeshift water course before slamming into his 'quasi-ramp' of a rock and lifting himself airborne. It was fast becoming his favourite move, as the rush of the skiing with senses stretched to overload was suddenly replaced with a feeling of calm and solitude as he hung in the air. From his vantage point, he could see just beyond the edge of the waterfall that this particular river led to, the luscious green trees hanging down on either side as if inviting anyone to go through them.
Naruto had neglected to notice a very big part of physics though, and it would cost him, or rather, anyone who was unfortunate enough to be walking around near the river at this very moment in time.
You see, when a weight is tied behind a moving object, it moves at the same speed due to it having a physical bond to the momentum. However when the moving object stops or slows down, the tension in the connection falls and the object being pulled continues at the same momentum at which it was originally.
With an audible 'TWANG', Naruto glanced up as his 'axel-rock' went zooming over his head.
'Crap! I'm gonna get pulled along at this rate! It'll break me in half if I get caught in that!' And so, flipping out a kunai stored in his 3/4's, he sliced the connection between himself and the rock.
Naturally that meant the rock was no longer tied to anything.
The now unrestricted, airborne projectile zoomed away from him, angling out towards the tree line to the left of the river. Naruto heard a piercing shout before a solid 'thump' was heard and moderate amount of dirt and stone exploded into the air above the tree line.
'Ouch!' Naruto winced, 'that's gotta hurt...'
Quickly, he shot a burst of Chakra to his feet and sped to where the stone had disappeared beyond the trees. Shaking himself, he ran as fast as he could to see if he had hurt anyone.
'Please let no-one have died from that!' Hurrying to the crater he had spied, he noticed a black, human-shaped lump lying on the ground. Shouting in worry, the blond-headed daredevil ran as fast as he could to check up on his unfortunate victim. Damn! It was an Uchiha! Naruto recognised the white and red fan symbol painted to the back of this particular ninja's top.
"Mister, HEY MISTER! You ok?" Naruto began to panic when the guy didn't move.
It was an Uchiha alright. The same pale skin, tightly stretched to the bone like porcelain, allowed Naruto to identify the stranger with certainty. Anxiously dropping to his knees, Naruto placed his index and forefinger against the teenager's throat to see if he was still alive. He detected a faint pulse; the guy was alive, but unconscious.
Sighing in relief, Naruto sat back on his haunches and regarded the unfortunate victim. The stone had left a big bump on the left side of his head, just missing the Shinobi's eye. The projectile had no doubt crushed the Uchiha's left cheekbone and blood was running down the side of the nin's face.
If it had hit his eye...
Naruto shuddered. He didn't even want to think about what the Uchiha would try to do to him if he damaged one of their precious demon eyes. The clan would hound him wherever he went and they were bad enough as it was already, putting subtle Genjutsu on him to make him walk into things whenever they locked eyes with him. It was a disgusting trick, one they exploited when they noticed his obvious weakness in that particular field. He was beginning to become very careful about avoiding people's eyes when he saw that cursed symbol anywhere.
Nevertheless, he had to get this guy to the hospital, to make sure he didn't end up dying. Hoisting the limp body onto his straining shoulder, he began the arduous trek to the one building he hated the most.
Konoha Central Hospital.
XXXXXX
Itachi stared impassively at the scene behind his mask. He had missed his target due to unforeseen consequences. That was not good.
His master would be very displeased with this turn of events.
Narrowing his eyes at the blond Uzumaki, questions continued to rage in his head. The boy was strong, unbelievably so. If Itachi had to estimate, he would say the brat was at his level when he had been his age.
That would make him just above Chuunin.
But what he had seen earlier was unbelievable. The strength of mind and concentration required in controlling ones movement on the surface of the water going at that speed? It was hard. Something Itachi thought only a genius from the Hyuuga or Uchiha clans would be able to pull off. And this boy had done it in 6 days.
He had been assigned to watching the Uzumaki this week, and was rapidly changing his opinion of the kid. He was about Sasuke's age and yet, he was far more skilled.
But his mark had escaped, and that would delay things indefinitely. There would be no better chance than the one he had just missed, not to mention that his ultimate mission would also be postponed.
And that was by far a bigger and more important task. One that was reliant on his failed objective of the day.
Yes, his master would not be pleased.
At all.
ZZZZZZZ