Ignis Bellator
By Mexicano27
Chapter 8: Real Hero
Sakura was enthralled by her new healing abilities. She would sometimes even give herself a paper cut on purpose just so she could amaze herself by healing it. However, her skills weren't refined enough to completely heal her stomach wound, which she could barely even affect. Kakashi told her that she should be happy enough with her progress as it was, since medical ninjutsu was something that almost no Chunin, let alone beginning Genin, could practice.
He also warned her to not get overzealous with healing herself; if something went wrong with the way she manipulated her chakra, she could wind up seriously hurting herself. He explained to her that many medic-nin used a perverse form of their healing abilities as a weapon, such as cutting enemies open and severing vital veins and arteries to cause massive internal bleeding. He warned her that she was just as likely to kill herself as heal herself if she went overboard with experimenting.
So, on top of not being skilled enough to completely heal her cut, she could only risk using small amounts of chakra each time she tried. Whenever Naruto took a break from trying to climb up his tree, he watched her heal various injuries with amazement. She couldn't help but feel a little flattered at his attention: it was a great ability to know, after all. He would also ask her from time to time to heal the many cuts and scrapes he received from falling down during tree-climbing, which she would do with barely concealed enthusiasm.
They had to do it whenever Kakashi was resting and not walking around, though, or else he would catch them and probably give her a stern reprimand. It made it feel like they were doing something scandalous or indecent, which Sakura found to be somehow exciting.
If Hinata seemed jealous of her new abilities, then that was her own problem. It struck Sakura as slightly odd, though. Hinata had never seemed the jealous type. But then again, she was used to being in competition with that pig Ino, who was far more overt about her emotions. Hinata was the quiet type, the type you had to look out for. If she was anything like Ino, she would be begging Kakashi for medical ninjutsu training soon. Exactly what the Hyuga would want to be competing against Sakura for wasn't something she thought about. She was simply too used to competition to bother questioning it, even if it wasn't necessarily there.
Because of her body's natural healing ability, along with a little bit of help from her medical ninjutsu, she was out of bed and walking around more and more often. However, Tsunami still applied creams and lotions to her cut and she still had bandages wrapped around her waist. She had finally shed her torn shirt in favor of one Tsunami gave her, which was a similar shade of pink but ended at the waist level and had longer sleeves. It was snug and comfortable, but it didn't have the designs on the sleeves and on the back that she loved so much. She'd just have to get another one back at Konoha. Her damaged one was now folded up and stowed in her backpack; if nothing else, it still held sentimental value.
Inari still strutted around the house with an attitude, annoying the hell out of Naruto, and though she would never admit it, Sakura, too. Both Kakashi and Hinata seemed perfectly capable of tuning him out, something she coveted.
All was fine for a day or two; Naruto was still trying to climb all the way to the top of the tree, Hinata stayed with Tazuna at the bridge construction site, and Sakura and Kakashi were recovering fine at Tazuna's house. But something she had noticed hadn't quit bugging her: what appeared to be a family portrait hanging on the wall had an entire corner torn off. It looked like someone had been in that corner, too: a man's arms and torso were still partially visible. So she decided to ask about it, while Tazuna's entire family and Team 7 was eating dinner so at least someone would know.
"Why is that picture torn?" she asked out loud, pointing at it from her seat. "It looks like someone's entire face is missing. Is that deliberate?"
An uncomfortable silence followed, and Sakura felt her face turn red. Had she crossed some sort of boundary by asking? Tsunami spoke up from her place at the sink.
"… It was a picture of my husband, Inari's father."
"This land once called him a hero," said Tazuna sadly.
Inari slid his chair away from the table and got up.
"Inari, where are you going?" asked his mother.
He wordlessly left the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Inari!" called out Tsunami worriedly. She hurried after him. "Father! I've told you to not talk about him that way in front of my son!" she yelled out at Tazuna as she left the room.
"I have a feeling that there's a story behind all of this…" muttered Kakashi.
"The man in the picture… was not Inari's birth father," explained Tazuna. "But they were as close as any father and son could ever be. Inari was a very happy child back then. But he changed… after what happened to his father." To the Genin's amazement, he removed his glasses to wipe away tears gathering in his eyes. None of them had ever seen the mean old man crying before.
"Everyone was affected by what happened that day," he continued, "but no one more than little Inari."
"What happened?" asked Kakashi.
"Perhaps I should start at the beginning," said Tazuna, replacing his glasses. "It was about three years ago when Inari and the man first met. A few kids who wanted his dog were bullying him… I'm still not sure what exactly happened, but they wound up throwing his dog into the water, and pushed him in, too. The dog swam to shore… but Inari wasn't so lucky. He didn't know how to swim, and the group of boys essentially left him for dead. Inari was very lucky that day; Kaiza, a fisherman from another land, happened to see his predicament and pulled him out of the water, saving his life. Coincidentally, he also gave a stern talk to the boys who were bullying him, but that's another story. Inari and Kaiza quickly grew very close; Inari even started wearing a rope around his forehead like his new role model. Kaiza became part of the family, first figuratively, then literally when my daughter remarried to him.
"Kaiza taught Inari to defend what he loved with both his arms. And he was no hypocrite. When a dangerous flood threatened to wipe out a part of the city, he risked his life to tie a rope around the barrier on the other side of the torrent to create a makeshift dam and stop the water. People here started calling him a hero. With a father like that, Inari had the right to hold his head up high… And that's when Gato came to town."
"And the incident that you've alluded to took place…" Said Kakashi. "What happened?"
Tazuna remained silent for a moment before he began talking again.
"Kaiza was the only one to act against Gato. It took Gato's whole gang of thugs just to take down one man… But down he went. Gato had him crucified in front of the entire city, calling him a terrorist and a disturber of the peace. Kaiza was executed right in front of Inari by one of Gato's personal samurai guards. The poor boy's never been the same. The whole town's never been the same…" He sighed sadly. They could all see now why the construction of the bridge was so vital to the city.
Naruto got up from his seat, and fell flat on his face.
"Don't even think about more training today," warned Kakashi. "You're exhausted. You could kill yourself." Naruto climbed to his feet and headed for the door.
"Naruto…" said Hinata, worry in her voice.
"I'm going to prove him wrong!" said Naruto determinedly. "I'm going to show Inari that there is such a thing as a hero!"
Kakashi sighed, and Hinata seemed frantic. Sakura, however, didn't care. With luck, he would wind up needing some wounds healed when he got back.
88888888
It was the sixth morning since Team 7's fight with Zabuza. Naruto was nowhere to be found; he had been training like crazy ever since Tazuna had told his story. Hinata was just finishing her breakfast as Sakura walked in, yawning.
"So, Naruto was out all night again, was he?" asked Tazuna from his seat.
"Ever since you told us that story," said Sakura, rubbing her eyes, "he's been training non-stop. He's crazy. He might be lying out there dead somewhere for all we know."
Hinata gasped at the thought. Could he really have killed himself?
"Well, I hope he's all right," said Tsunami, walking in with her plate. Inari remained silent at his place.
"Relax," said Kakashi. "Naruto's a goofy kid, but he's also a full-fledged ninja. He can take care of himself."
"But what if… if he's really dead?" asked Hinata, horrified. Kakashi sighed, exasperated.
"Like I said, relax. He's fine."
Hinata looked around at the people sitting at the table. None of them seemed willing to actually get up and look for the missing ninja. Even Sakura, his teammate, was looking at a bruise on her arm, her fingers glowed green as she prepared to heal it.
"I'm going to go look for him," said Hinata, getting up.
"I don't think that's necessary, Hinata…" said Kakashi. She ignored her sensei and headed for the door. As she closed the door behind her, she suddenly heard Sakura shriek in pain; apparently, her ninjutsu had gone wrong, and she had created a nasty gash in her arm instead of healing her bruise.
"Dammit, Sakura!" yelled Kakashi as Hinata left the house. "What did I tell you?"
88888888
Naruto felt himself being shaken awake, and heard a strange voice.
"… A cold if you sleep here. Wake up."
He sleepily sat up, remembering that he was in the middle of the forest. His back ached from sleeping on the hard ground, and the hand holding his kunai felt stiff.
"Who the heck are you?" he asked groggily. He suddenly saw the person who had woken him up: a very pretty girl wearing a sleeveless pink kimono. She had dark hair and brown eyes. Naruto blushed and stammered. "Oh, uh, I mean, hi there! Where did you come from? You know, what are you doing out here and all that?" As he struggled to not make a complete idiot out of himself, he looked at the girl carefully. She was even prettier than Sakura! But, prettier than Hinata… Not in a million years.
"I'm gathering herbs," she replied.
"Herbs?" asked Naruto, confused. Who got up so early in the morning to collect herbs? His mind was still trying to completely wake up, but even he knew that that was an absurd pastime.
"Yes, that's right," said the girl. "They're for treating illnesses and healing wounds."
Naruto got up and helped her collect herbs, and they remained in silence for several minutes.
"You start work early, huh sis?" Naruto asked the strange girl.
"I like it early," explained the girl. "It's calm. But I didn't think that I'd find anybody sleeping out here in the middle of the woods." Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm training!" he stated.
"So, are you a ninja?" she asked. "I noticed that headband you're wearing. Or are you just making a fashion statement?"
"You noticed it?" asked Naruto excitedly, jabbing his thumb at his forehead protector. "Only super cool ninja can wear these!"
"Oh, really? I see. That's very impressive."
Naruto laughed again. It was too bad that Sakura didn't get so easily impressed.
"But, does that mean you're training for something dangerous?" asked the girl.
"I'm just developing my skills so I can get stronger," Naruto admitted. Climbing trees wasn't exactly training for something dangerous.
"You seem to be very strong now," she said. "Isn't that enough?"
"No, no!" exclaimed Naruto. "I have to get stronger and stronger, I need to keep practicing!"
"Why is getting stronger so important?" she asked curiously.
"So I can become the best ninja in my village, and everyone will know who I am and they'll all respect me!" Naruto never tired of telling other people his dream. "And, I guess, there's someone I want to impress, too…" he added as a side note. He knew that the chances of impressing Sakura with the ability to climb trees was slim, since she knew how to heal wounds, which truly was something amazing.
"So, are you doing it for this certain person, or are you doing it all for yourself?"
"Huh?" Naruto didn't get the question. The girl laughed. "What are you laughing about?" he asked angrily. "What's so funny?"
"Is there… someone who's precious to you?"
"Someone who… What are you saying, sis?" asked Naruto, confused. "What do you mean, 'precious?'"
The girl got a far away look in her eyes for a moment, like she was suddenly remembering something. "You see," she said, "when a person has something that they want to protect, then they become genuinely strong."
Naruto thought of everyone that he felt was precious to him. Iruka, Konohamaru, Sakura, and even Hinata. He knew that if any of them were ever in danger, he would do everything in his power to protect and save them.
"Yeah, I hear you," he slowly said. "I know exactly what you're saying!"
The girl smiled at him, then stood up and picked up her basket full of herbs. "You will get strong," she assured him. "Very strong. Goodbye. We'll meet again sometime." She began walking down the dirt path, leaving Naruto sitting where he was. "Oh," she suddenly said. "By the way, I'm a boy."
Naruto had never been more astonished.
88888888
Hinata found Naruto sitting down in the middle of the forest, a dumbfounded look on his face. When she saw him, she could barely restrain herself from running up to him and throwing her arms around him. The possibility that he was dead had been very frightening to her. However, she should have realized that Kakashi was right, Naruto could handle himself. She felt ashamed of herself for not having more faith in him.
"Naruto, where have you been?" she asked him. It was a stupid question; obviously, he had been right where he was sitting at that moment. He still looked unresponsive, staring straight ahead without blinking. "Naruto, are you alright?" No answer.
She slowly reached out with her hand towards his face. In a moment of temporary insanity, she decided to indulge herself; she cupped his cheek in her hand. She felt her face turn crimson. Why was she doing this? His cheek felt soft and warm. Without even thinking about it, her thumb traced the path of one of the whisker marks on his face. The tickle it created must have snapped him out of his strange state. He suddenly looked up at her and reached out, wrapping his fingers around her wrist.
Hinata let out a small scream in surprise, wrenching her wrist out of Naruto's grasp and taking a few steps back before tripping on a root and landing on her butt.
"Hinata?" Naruto asked in a daze.
"Naruto? Er, umm, what were you staring at a few seconds ago?" She could feel her face burning, and she wished it would stop. Why had she touched him like that? Why?
"I… that girl… was a guy… he, her, it, or whatever…" He wasn't making any sense, and he trailed off. Whatever had just happened, apparently he hadn't fully realized exactly what Hinata had been doing.
"I, well, that's fascinating. What do you say we get back to Tazuna's house now?"
"No," said Naruto slowly. Then he said it again louder. "No. I need to train. I need to finish climbing this tree. I'm almost to the top by now, I'm too close to just quit now."
"But Naruto, it won't be quitting," objected Hinata. She was beginning to recover by now. "You need some breakfast in you before you try scaling this tree again."
"Sorry, Hinata," he said, getting up. "I just… Do you think you could help me?"
"What?" Hinata was still on the ground, and was looking up at Naruto now.
"Could you, you know, walk me through it? You're great at this, right?"
Great? No one's ever said I was great at anything…
"I, I guess so," she said reluctantly, getting up.
"Hinata, you're the greatest!" said Naruto happily, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. For a second, she thought that she was about to faint.
88888888
"Can I ask you something?" Tazuna asked. He, along with Sakura (who was now wearing a bandage on her arm), was sitting on top of Kakashi's back as the Jonin did push-ups with one index finger.
"What?"
"You know I tricked you to get you to come here. You even got one of your pupils seriously injured. So why did you stay?"
"Because evil thrives where good men do nothing," Kakashi replied simply. "It would have been irresponsible to leave your land in this condition without even trying to do anything."
Tazuna thought about what Kakashi said as the Jonin stopped doing his push-ups.
I'm almost back to full strength now. Zabuza can't be very far behind…
88888888
Zabuza crushed the apple in his hand with almost no effort. The pieces fell to the linoleum floor with a multitude of splattering noises. It felt good to be alive again.
"It seems you're almost completely healed by now," said Haku from behind him. The boy had only barely come back from the woods with a basket of herbs for him to eat, which helped enormously with the healing process.
"Excellent… Let's get going Haku." It was time to kill the bridge builder once and for all. He would then collect his pay from Gato, then kill him, too. Then, he could return to the Mist Village, and take what was rightfully his.
"Certainly."
88888888
Naruto stumbled into the house, leaning against Hinata. It was close to midnight, and he looked exhausted. However, they both had smiles on their faces.
"So, you're finally back!" said Tazuna.
"I finally did it…" Naruto croaked out. "I made it to the top of the tree."
"He really did it, Kakashi-sensei!" confirmed Hinata. She looked ecstatic at this turn of events, as if Naruto's victories were also her own… the way a good teammate should.
"Excellent," said Kakashi. "Tomorrow, you can both go with Tazuna to oversee the construction of the bridge."
"Yes, sir!" they said in unison.
"Whew, I'm all worn out from working on the bridge today,' said Tazuna. "But construction is almost complete!"
"Father, you and Naruto are two of a kind," said Tsunami. "I hope you don't work yourselves to death!"
"What about me, Sensei?" asked Sakura. "I get to go to the bridge too, right?"
"Not you, Sakura," said Kakashi sternly. "You have been abusing your new powers to the extent that they're just plain dangerous. Honestly, you're acting even more immature than Naruto does on his worst days!"
"I… What?" Sakura asked, furious.
Naruto collapsed into a chair as the two bickered back and forth. Inari was in the room, and without warning, he exploded.
"You're all a bunch of idiots!" he screamed. "You can train all you want, but you're still no match for Gato's thugs! You might act all cool , and talk all tough, but you can never win!"
The entire room was silent for a moment; everyone was shocked by his outburst
"Yeah, it takes a real man to just sit at home crying over everything, and not lift a finger to help," said Naruto in a low voice, which was dripping with sarcasm and trembling with rage. "Well, I've had it with your crap! If you're too much of a baby to do anything, then just shut up and let us real heroes do all the work!"
Glaring at each other, the two got up from the table and left the room in opposite directions.
"Naruto!" yelled Sakura angrily. "You went too far this time!"
"Piss off, Sakura," he said angrily, and left. She gasped; he had never talked to her like that before. In fact, he had been treating her like a queen all week. Kakashi sighed and got up from the table. What was getting into kids these days? He followed Inari outside, where they had a great view of the ocean as the moon reflected off of the waves. Unknown to either of them, it was the exact same spot that Naruto and Hinata had been sitting their first day at Tazuna's house.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked. He sat next to Inari down without waiting for an answer. "You know, Naruto's kind of a brat, but he wasn't really trying to be mean or hateful. He just… doesn't really have a silver tongue, I guess. He grew up without a father, same as you."
Inari looked up at this bit of information. He hadn't known that he had shared anything in common with the blond ninja.
"He grew up without any family, in fact," continued Kakashi. "He doesn't know any members of his family, and he has no memory of them. His whole life is just one giant, painful memory." Kakashi forced himself to not think about how Naruto not knowing who his family members were was primarily his fault. He had made himself forget about the promise he had made to his sensei, and Hinata had to just go and force him to remember.
"And in all the time I've known him, he's never once cried about it. He never uses his miserable past as an excuse to sulk. He always tried his hardest, hoping that someone will give him recognition or praise. That's his dream, and he's willing to risk his life for it. My guess is that one day… he just got sick of crying. He knows what it means to be truly strong, just like your father did. Naruto probably can relate to you better than anyone else."
"What?" Inari couldn't believe what he had just heard. Could Naruto really know what it felt like?
88888888
"Well, make sure Sakura stays out of trouble," said Kakashi to Tsunami. He, Tazuna, Naruto, and Hinata were all set to head out for the bridge. "She hasn't fully healed yet, so make sure that she doesn't try and heal herself. She could kill herself if she does."
"Just leave it to me," said Tsunami.
Team 7, minus Sakura, set out for the bridge.
88888888
"Are you ready to attack?" squawked the walkie-talkie. It was Gato. "Zabuza, are you there? Pay attention!"
Zabuza crushed the device with his foot, and Gato's voice disappeared.
"Time to end things, Haku," he said.
"Of course," agreed the boy.
88888888
Team 7 arrived at the bridge in no time. It looked like it was going to be a nice day, with a little bit of cloud cover, but no chance of rain. It was that perfect time of year where it wasn't snowing or sweltering hot.
"What the hell?" Tazuna's voice rang out.
All of the construction workers for the bridge were on the ground, unconscious or dying. Kakashi approached one near him, as his two Genin immediately stood at Tazuna's side in defense of the architect.
"Who did this?" he asked the worker.
"M-monsters…" the man groaned out. Kakashi suddenly noticed the mist. It was spreading and getting thicker.
"Kakashi-sensei!" called out Naruto. "They're back!"
I was right after all, he's survived, thought Kakashi. He hurried over to his two Genin to help in defending Tazuna. Time to end this once and for all.
88888888
Tsunami was standing at the sink doing dishes. She could hear Sakura upstairs, pouting about having to stay at the house. While she felt bad for the girl, she agreed whole-heartedly with her sensei. She needed to learn to follow his instructions and not use such a potentially dangerous power. And besides, she wasn't even completely healed from her chain injury. It really was for the best that she stay here. It would probably be boring having to stay at the bridge for the entire day, anyway.
She heard footsteps behind her. Was it Inari? He certainly moved fast; the last time she had checked, he was still upstairs. She turned around.
It wasn't Inari she had heard. It was a menacing looking man wielding a katana with a smirk on his face. Her mouth jaw in terror. Gato's thugs had found them.
"Tazuna's daughter, right?" asked the samurai, smiling. "You're coming with us."
888888888888
Quote of the Day:
"Imagine waking up to radio reports that said, 'Schools and businesses have been closed because of frozen pizza.' Sounds ridiculous, but if all the frozen pizza sold in the United States each year was spread across six states, those radio reports could be true."
- opening paragraph of press release from the National Frozen Pizza Institute
