Chapter 8: Heroes and recovery

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.

Sakura was stretching while yawning, bored. She had nothing to do other than watch Tazuna and the others work on the bridge. "You seem bored all by yourself," Tazuna said, "Where is that blonde kid and the other two?"

"They're training," Sakura answered. "You don't have too?" Tazuna asked. "I already completed the training so Kakashi-sensei told me to guard you," the pink haired girl bragged.

"Tazuna!"

The old bridge builder looked back to see one of his old friends. "What is it Giichi?"

"I've been thinking...Can I stop working on the bridge?" Giichi asked.

"Why? Why you too?" Tazuna asked.

"Tazuna..." Giichi said, "we've been close for a while and I do want to help you...but if this continues, Gato will notice us. If you die, what's the point?" Giichi took a deep breath, "we should quit building this bridge."

"I can't do that," Tazuna said, "this is our bridge. This is the bridge we started building together, believing we could bring resources into our poor country."

"But if we die?" Giichi protested.

"It's noon, let's stop for today," Tazuna said as he walked away. He looked back at the other man, "Giichi, you don't have to come tomorrow."

In the village streets, Sakura walked next to Tazuna, guarding him. "I'm supposed to bring the food for lunch home," Tazuna said. Sakura was stunned at how poor and beaten down the village was. They walked into a store and Sakura noticed there was barely anything at all inside.

Without warning, a hand touched Sakura and she reacted as any girl with taijutsu training would. She screamed, "pervert!" and kicked the man in his face even as he tried to explain.

Back on the street, Tazuna was commenting on her outburst when a pair of hands touched her. She turned and saw a child holding his hands out. She gave the child some candy and he went away with a bright smile on his face.

"It's been like this since Gato came," Tazuna explained, "All the adults have given up. That is why I am building the bridge. It is a symbol of courage, a symbol people need so they can abandon their fear and stand up for themselves...If we can finish that bridge...the city will return to how it used to be, how it should be." Sakura thought of her teammates, training hard.

Back where the other three were, Yue was practising hand seals while Naruto and Sasuke were running up trees still. Naruto reached his limit and jumped back. He growled at Sasuke's continuing progress despite his renewed efforts. A moment later, Sasuke reached his limit and jumped between the two trees to slow his decent enough to avoid injury. On the way down, he saw Naruto's steady progress compared to his almost stopped progress. 'He's catching up!' Sasuke thought.

'Grrr!' Naruto growled in anger, then remembered what Sakura had told him. Clear his head, relax and focus. He did so and took a step forward to try again when-

"Hey Naruto!" Sasuke called, causing Naruto to fall on his face. "What is it?" Naruto yelled, "I'm trying to train here! Your eyes for show?" Yue snickered at the comment.

Sasuke looked nervous and just hummed and mumbled. "What?" Naruto said, 'why is he talking to me?'

"What did...Sakura tell...you?" Sasuke asked as he looked away.

A goofy smile spread across Naruto's face. "Secret," he said.

Later that night, the two were attempting to set eating speed records, sort of like how Naruto held the speed record (and quantity record) in Konoha for ramen eating. "This is good," Tazuna said heartily, "It's been so long since we had so many people over." Yue had looked at the meal and said, "no meat," but ate anyways without further complaint. The two boys finished and held their bowls up. "More," they said, then promptly puked on the floor, grossing Sakura out.

"If your just gonna throw up, then don't eat it!" she chastised, more towards Naruto than Sasuke of course.

"No, I have to eat," Sasuke said after recovering.

"Yeah, we need to so we can become stronger," Naruto said as he recovered.

'That's right,' Kakashi thought, finally well enough to walk with the assistance of a crutch, 'no need to throw up though.'

After eating, Sakura was looking a picture with the top right corner ripped out. "Why do you have a torn picture on the wall?," she asked, "Inari-kun was staring at it all the time. It also looks like someone tore it that way on purpose..."

Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari suddenly became stiffer. Kakashi felt the tension in the air while Yue smelled a change in the air. "It's my husband," Tsunami said, not turning to face the others. "He was also the man this city called a hero," Tazuna said.

Inari got up and walked to the door. "Where are you going Inari?" Tsunami asked. His response was a slamming door. "Inari!" Tsunami yelled after her son, she then turned to her father angrily, "I told you not to talk about him in front of Inari!" She went away as well.

"What's wromg with Inari-kun?" Sakura asked. Naruto felt a stab. Why was it every boy other than him got a -kun on the end of their name?

"Inari's father wasn't his blood related father, but they were just as close as a real father and son could be...he laughed a lot back then." The older man stopped as he cried a little at the old memories, then he composed himself and continued, "But he changed since that incident with his father..." The ninja waited for the older man to continue. "On the day of that incident, courage was robbed from Inari and the people's hearts."

"Incident?" Kakashi asked, "what happened to Inari-kun?"

Tazuna explained about how Inari had met a man named Kaiza who had saved Inari from drowning because of some bullies. He told of how he had become a part of Tazuna's family and how he had helped stop a flood from destroying part of the city, making the man a hero. "But when Gato came to this city..." the older man stopped his story.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked, "was it this 'incident' that happened?"

Tazuna shook in anger, "Kaiza was put to death before everyone as a warning to everyone... Since then, Inari changed, then Tsunami, then the whole village."

Naruto listened to the tale and remembered Inari's speech about heroes and then the boy's crying. He got up to leave, but tripped. "What are you doing Naruto?" Sakura asked as Naruto slammed into the ground.

"No training," Kakashi ordered, "you used too much chakra and it could kill you if you release more."

"I'm gonna prove it," Naruto said as he got up. "Prove what?" Sakura asked. Naruto walked out of the house, "I'm going to show this world that heroes do exist."

The next morning, Sakura came down with a loud yawn. Tazuna saw her. "Naruto didn't come back last night?" he asked. Sakura sat down, "he was out climbing trees after that story...Simple idiot that he is. He probably overdid it and died." The last comment was a joke, but Tsunami took it seriously. "I hope he's alright," she said, "a child in the woods at night..."

"Don't worry," Kakashi said, "he may look like that, but he is a real ninja."

"Honestly...I wouldn't be surprised if he overdid it and killed himself," Sasuke said in all seriousness, "he is a moron after all."

Naruto, who had worked himself to the point of passing out, was woken up by a a cute, older girl. "You'll catch a cold sleeping out her," she said. Naruto sat up and rubbed his eyes, "who are you?" he asked.

A few minutes later Naruto found the plant the girl was looking for and was helping her pick some. "This plant is medicine?" he asked as he looked at the plant. "Thanks for helping," she said.

"You are working real early today lady," Naruto said.

"You too,"she replied, "what are you doing out here anyways?"

Naruto smiled, "training!"

he blinked at him, "that forehead protector, are you a ninja?" she asked.

"Yep, I'm a ninja!" Naruto said happily.

"Why are you training?" she asked.

"I want to be stronger," Naruto said, his smile growing bigger.

"But you look strong already," she said.

"No! I need to get even stronger!" Naruto countered.

"Why?" she asked.

"So I become the best ninja in my village and then everyone will respect me," Naruto said, "I also have something to prove."

"Is it personal or is it for someone else?" she asked. Naruto stared at her like she spoke a foreign language, causing her to giggle. "What is so funny?" Naruto exploded. "Do you have an important person?" she asked. Naruto, as many would guess, didn't get it. "When you have an important person to protect, then you become much, much stronger," she said. Naruto remembered things that proved her words to be true, then said, "yeah, I know what you mean."

She smiled and stood up, walking away. "You will become very strong," she said, "let's meet again sometime."

"Yeah!" Naruto said.

She stopped for a moment. "Before I forget," she said, "I'm a boy." Naruto freaked out, wondering how a boy could be cuter than Sakura. Sasuke and Yue walked up as Naruto pondered how strange the world was.

Yue sneezed. "Too many herbs," she complained as she rushed to get away from the boy and his scent.

The nest day, Sakura and Kakashi went to find Naruto and Sasuke so they could eat breakfast. Yue had stayed behind with Tazuna, having "done all the training I can for now," as she said.

"Where is Naruto?" Kakashi asked, "he left again last night..."

"He missed breakfast," Sakura said, "Sasuke-kun also went for a walk and isn't back yet."

A kunai fell to the ground near them, causing them to look up and find a smiling Naruto looking at them from a branch near the top, laying down on it.

"He's already up there?" she asked. Kakashi just chuckled.

"Look at how high I can go already!" he yelled. He then stood up and lost his balance. Both watched helplessly as Naruto fell back, only for him to stick to the bottom of the branch. "Just kidding!" he chuckled.

"You scared me!" Sakura yelled. 'Good, now I can kill you later myself!' Inner Sakura yelled.

Naruto's feet suddenly lost their grip of the tree, his chakra finally running too low or his focus was lost. "Stop being a show off!" Sakura yelled. Naruto would have fallen, but Sasuke ran up the tree and grabbed his foot. "Moron," the Uchiha said. "You're the best Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed. Kakashi smiled at how well they were growing as they all went back to Tazuna's house.

A little while later, Kakashi was doing pushups with one finger while Tazuna and Sakura sat on his back. He was up to 198. "I was going to ask earlier, but why are you here? Protecting someone who lied to you?" Tazuna asked. "Abandoning one's duty is not courageous," Kakashi explained, "under courage is nothing. That is what the Yondaime Hokage said. Shinobi don't move only because of money." He then got up and noticed how he was almost fully recovered.

[Zabuza's hideout]

Zabuza tested his body's recovery by manipulating the water in an apple with his chakra. The apple burst apart. "You've almost fully recovered," Haku said. "We will attack soon, Haku," Zabuza ordered. Haku agreed.

A/N~

Sorry for the late release, but I had to get used to doing something I'm not used to: waking up in the morning. (usual wake up time: Noon to 1:40pm) There also might be a slight delay in everything I do because I have (possible) jury duty this week.

Sky Zephyrus: Confession time! I'm currently working on chapter 16 of KTD. I think I've proofed up to chapter 10 or 11. I'm just releasing these slowly so people have time to read them and review each chapter so I can fix any mistakes. Nervousness and fear of people shouting "Plagiarist!" or something like that are the reasons this fic didn't get posted long ago. That and I didn't have the manga chapters beyond the beginning of the Sasugay vs Garra fight. Now I got up to the beginning of Part II, which is my current goal.

9 tailed reaper: Sasuke hate is icing? I thought it was a whole other cake to be enjoyed with the NaruSaku and Yuri cakes...

Sakura will learn some new moves, as will Naruto. You will soon see one of the moves Yue will teach Naruto. Even though you didn't mention it, Ino will have a taijutsu style that I think works good for the Yamanaka clan. Both Sakura and Ino will know some kenjutsu, maybe Naruto too. As for non-canon moves, yeah. Some moves they learned are learned from Yue's second kenjutsu sensei.

Final thing: Anyone up for a few new Rasengan and a new clone technique? Hope you are, because they are coming later. Not as many new rasengan as in Necessary Darkness, but there will be at least two new ones in KTD. Yue is also going to have a hand full of jutsu I made just for her since she can't use most regular jutsu. I balanced her jutsu well, or at least I think I did. Most are below B-rank.

Thedarkpokemaster: Sakura as powerful as Naruto and Sasuke? Not happening. She will be stronger than in canon, but her weakness is a major part of the story. She needs to rely on Naruto or it just ruins part II.

I'm going to alter who's rank is what for Part II. There will be three more people from the Konoha 11 that will be jōnin. Here's a clue: Naruto is still going to be a genin.(gives Danzō and the council the finger)

DarkBringer: My crossovers (which are all being worked on) contain abilities or items from other series, not actual characters. Well, two I am planning has other series' characters, but that is the only one.

Ninja Gaiden? Sorry, I have some really bad memories of that series (from the crappy games) so I won't be doing anything with that.

Yue having met Minato. She would have been about two or three when he died, so she wouldn't remember him even if she did. Can't really say anything, but she knows about him and his ideals.

You misunderstood my reply, more like I didn't write it well enough. There will be less orange for the Part II outfit (no orange pants!), but he will have the orange and black jacket at first. It gets burned to a crisp. Besides, Naruto has BRIGHT BLONDE HAIR! No amount of black will hide that.

All: I have decided that rather than releasing just Kyubi's Kit this week, I will be releasing the first chapter a new fic that hit me like a lightning bolt a few days ago. It's a crossover, of sorts, basically a Naruto/DMC type deal. I am actually using it to help me with writing long chapters. Chapter 16 and onward of Two Demons will, hopefully, have longer chapters.