Arriving at the Scene

The three traveled through the forest. It had been a day since they had split up from Morino No's squad.

Hyuga Riko was in the lead, Uchiha Yu in the middle, and Haku bringing up the rear. The three advanced in a triangular formation.

They pressed on in silence. Perhaps because this was their first mission outside the village, everyone stayed highly focused.

Hyuga Riko was especially vigilant at the front, responsible as he was for scouting and clearing the way. Perhaps he didn't want to look bad in front of Haku and Uchiha Yu. At the start, he had kept his Byakugan active the entire time, but maintaining it consumed a great deal of Chakra and mental energy. Now he activated it briefly to survey their surroundings, then shut it off, repeating the process after covering some distance.

Uchiha Yu was about twenty meters behind Hyuga Riko, off to his right—close enough to reach him quickly with the Body Flicker Technique. Her left hand stayed near her Shuriken, ready to throw at any moment.

Haku was about thirty meters behind Riko, off to his left. With Haku's level of Taijutsu, he could reach Hyuga Riko and Uchiha Yu to support them within a second.

"There's a lake ahead. According to the map, once we cross it, we should be close to the border! The Land of Grass is just a little farther on. We should reach the outpost in about an hour."

Before Hyuga Riko at the front could finish, a loud thump sounded behind him.

"Enemy attack!" Uchiha Yu immediately moved toward Hyuga Riko, Shuriken already in hand as she scanned their surroundings.

"Hm? Where's the enemy?" Hyuga Riko, his Byakugan active, said he couldn't see anyone.

"Hm? Where's Haku?" Uchiha Yu wondered why he hadn't come closer. Judging by the sound, the attack shouldn't have hurt him. Had he gone after the enemy?

"Um... I don't think we were attacked..." Hyuga Riko tugged at Uchiha Yu, speaking hesitantly. "Haku... he seems to be in the water."

"What? In the water? What's he doing in there? Hiding to ambush the enemy?" Yu didn't understand at first.

"Pfft! Cough, cough!" Haku surfaced. "Why is there a lake here?"

Still confused, Uchiha Yu asked Hyuga Riko beside her, "So that sound just now was Haku falling into the water?"

"Um, I've never practiced Water Walking." Haku's embarrassed voice came from beneath Uchiha Yu and Hyuga Riko.

When Haku heard Hyuga Riko mention the lake, he got excited, and unconsciously channeled far too much Chakra into his feet. Then he stepped onto the water, and with the added force of his leap, a thump sent a tall column of water splashing into the air. He himself went straight into the lake with a splash. Oh no, I used way too much Chakra! I didn't stand on the water at all, and I made such a racket! Haku thought to himself.

All Haku could do was smile wryly. He felt like he'd made a complete fool of himself. Yu had trained with him all along, and he'd never seen her practice Water Walking. So how could she stand on the water so effortlessly?

Duy had always taught him Taijutsu, which had left him with a rather rough approach to using Chakra. He'd practiced tree climbing before and succeeded without much trouble, so he'd assumed Water Walking would be about the same and hadn't practiced it. Now he'd made a complete fool of himself.

"Um, let's get going. We should be much faster than Mori Squad, so we ought to be able to take the initiative in the mission." Seeing Haku's embarrassment, Hyuga Riko hurriedly changed the subject.

"Yeah, let's go," Uchiha Yu said.

Seeing Uchiha Yu and Hyuga Riko turn and walk off without saying anything more, Haku gave up on trying to explain himself.

But then he wondered why they hadn't come to help him. Hey! Don't just leave me here all alone! he could only shout in his mind, too embarrassed to call out for real.

As Uchiha Yu and Hyuga Riko grew more distant, Haku gave up on any further thoughts and could only swim after them with all his might. As he swam, he silently resolved to add more fine Chakra control exercises to his training. He was at a real disadvantage whenever precise Chakra control was needed.

Haku was still secretly relieved that only Uchiha Yu and Hyuga Riko had witnessed his blunder, and that they wouldn't tell anyone else, when Orochimaru, who had been following them in the woods behind him, narrowed his eyes.

"Haku, his Chakra control is poor. He's used to broad, forceful Taijutsu. Looks like I'll have to give him extra Chakra control training from now on." Haku didn't know that Orochimaru would later let this slip while experimenting with Impure World Reincarnation, and the First would overhear him. From then on, the tale that the greatest shinobi in the Shinobi World couldn't Water Walk and had fallen into a lake spread throughout the Pure Land.