Hey, guys!
Sorry for the late update! " My wireless internet connector was broken so, it was really hard to update when you can't even open your account. Thanks for all the suggestions and reviews as well to does who favorited and followed my story!
Anyway, I apologize for any wrong spelling or grammar and I hope you enjoy! Oh, and by the way! I don't own Naruto or any of the quotes or quote I used in this chapter.
(Chapter 9- Knowledge of the Lonely Phantom)
Inari was more than convince that no one will defeat Gato, he had given up hope ever since his father died by protecting them from the tyrant's thugs. Inari knew hope was lost, that the ninja grandpa promised to bring to ensure the midget's downfall will only fail and die. Even though, he held no trust towards the shinobi his grandpa hired with what money have left, the black haired boy still wanted to see what actual ninjas looked like. What Inari didn't expect was three teenagers and a man with mask to be the people who were supposed to save their village.
"Tsunami! Inari! I'm home!", Tazuna proclaimed loudly, grateful that he had arrived home safe and sound.
"Otou-san! Welcome back! I'm so glad you're back home safely", the woman now know as Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, happily greeted her father. Noticing the visitors they had, Inari's mother smiled sweetly and bowed politely in greeting. "Oh, hello. Please come in, make yourselves at home", she said, ushering them inside for refreshments. Arashi and Sasuke helped Kakashi to the couch and gently seated him on the furniture. Naruto trailed behind them as he preferred to keep distance, he leaned on the wall next to the couch while the rest of the team sat comfortably.
"Tsunami, Inari, these are the ninjas who are going to keep us safe while we finish the bridge. This is Kakashi Hatake, Arashi Namikaze, Sasuke Uchiha and the blonde one is Naruto Namikaze", the bridge builder pointed to the right person in each name as he introduced them. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Tsunami, and my grandson, Inari", he continued.
"It is very nice to meet you both. And thank you for letting us temporarily stay here, Miss Tsunami ", Kakashi politely stated before thanking the female brunette for the glass of water she handed him.
"Hi!", Arashi cheerfully greeted as he accepted a glass water from Tsunami as well.
"Hn", grunted the only Uchiha on the team.
"(It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Tsunami, Inari)", Naruto raised his chalkboard while taking a sip of water. The raven haired woman's smile widened because of the strange group, she waved her hand dismissively before insisting them to drop the formalities. Inari watched the interaction from behind his grandfather's back, now he was pretty determined that the group was going to die but still kept quiet about it.
"Oh, it seems we have a group of gentlemen to protect us. Ne, Inari-kun? Even so, I still think any of you can prevent us from being harmed and for that, I thank you", Tsunami giggles. The silver haired man eye smiles at the mother and replies.
"No need to thank us, Miss Tsunami. It's our duty to protect those who needs it". The redhead of the group grins widely and pumps his fist in the air in enthusiasm with an excited whoop.
"Yeah! We'll beat every single bad guy and keep you all safe! Believe it!", Arashi happily yells out, successfully busting Sasuke's eardrums; who was sadly sitting next to him.
"Will you all just stop it! Stop pretending like you're all going to save the day! It's not like you can!", the bucket hat wearing boy snapped at the team; thinking that they were only giving out false hope to others to earn money. Tsunami gasped at her son's rude outburst before sternly sending up to his room, Tazuna sighed and shook his head sadly at his grandson's attitude before entering the the kitchen to try and find some sake.
The redheaded jinchuuriki was outwardly offended by the boy's proclamation but was immediately held back by his sensei to avoid any kind of misunderstandings, Sasuke felt his eye twitch in annoyance while the silent member of the group remained...well, silent. "I am so sorry for my son's rude behaviour, he's been very upset lately and he isn't in a good mood today", the boy's mother apologized in behalf of her child's attitude. Kakashi nodded in understanding as he held the irritated redhead in place, the other two members stayed mute while they watched the woman repeatedly asked for forgiveness.
"Kakashi-sensei, why are we in a clearing? Wait! Are we going to learn cool new jutsus or something?!", Arashi energetically and loudly asked his big brother figure with a foxy grin. Currently, in a clear meadow with trees lining the area, it wasn't very far from the village or Tazuna's house so; if anything happens, they'll be there in a snap. Kakashi's lone curved up again in one of his creepy eye smiles, indicating that he was, indeed, going to be amused and entertained.
"Well, you could say that, Arashi. Today, you are all going to learn how to climb a tree...", the jounin stated, earning two curious looks from both the red haired Namikaze and the Uchiha. "But, Kakashi-sensei, we already know how to climb trees", said the resident jinchuuriki with an affirmative nod from Sasuke. Naruto, who was standing behind his twin, stared in boredom at the sight. He knew what the scarecrow was talking about and in fact, he already mastered this technique. Heck, he already had control over his chakra; no need to revisit this lesson again.
"I can see that, my cute little genins..", cue eyebrow twitches, "..That is why I am going to teach you how to climb a tree using only your chakra". Cue starry eyes and a dark eyebrow rising. "You heard me right, genins. Today, you are going to learn Tree Climbing. This exercise will help you achieve chakra control and patience, it will also help enlarge your chakra reserves", Kakashi explained almost too cheerfully.
Walking over to chosen tree, the older male nonchalantly continued going up the tree with his hands held casually behind his back. Turning to his student, still stuck to the tree, Kakashi proceeds to define how tree climbing works. "All you have to do is use the right amount of chakra to stick and you'll be fine", the copy cat nin chuckled. Okay, maybe not much on the word 'define'.
Filled up with a large amount of determination, Arashi was the first one to try out this new training technique with a kunai in hand. The redhead ran to the nearest tree and promptly flew away from the trunk of the tree the second he had laid his foot on the bark. Sasuke came second, after witnessing the other teen's attempt to complete the exercise. Taking his own kunai, he charged towards his own tree, though he didn't fly off the tree Arashi, he didn't stick to the body and lamely fell on his back. The blonde member of the team watched the whole spectacle, laughing mentally at his teammate's misery and failure.
"Why aren't you training, Naruto? Don't you wanna try climbing up that tree?", Kakashi popped out of nowhere with his usual orange book in hand. The blonde teen glanced the taller male and shrugged carelessly, earning a raised eyebrow. Pointing towards the innocent tree beside him and then to himself, Naruto raised his own eyebrow while his eyes still stuck on Kakashi's form.
"Aww, come one, Naruto. It's not fair that you're teammates are doing all the work, you should all carry the burden", the masked ninja mocked whined. The silent boy stared at him with deadpanned eyes before a quiet sigh was given. With an indifferent aura enveloped around him, Naruto casually walked up the tree until he reached the top, he scratched the bark as his mark and jumped down.
After handing the silver haired man a note, Naruto left with his hands in his pockets. Kakashi stared at his blonde student walk away before closing his book and reading the note. "(I'm going back to the house. Please do not mind me, go back to the exercise)". 'Well, there goes the chance to actually see the kid's skills', the older shinobi sighed. Glancing back at the two other students, Kakashi grinned as he saw Arashi cheer in glee for climbing higher than Sasuke; though, his celebration was short lived when his dark haired rival scratched the tree a head higher than the redhead's previous mark.
A few hours of tree climbing exercise later, the rest of team 7 finally headed back to the house to rest. They arrived just in time for dinner, which was prepared by Tsunami and Naruto. Finding out that the silent blonde was actually a good cook wasn't the only surprise they found. Team 7 also found out that he preferred wearing an apron while cooking, just like his father. 'He looks like Otou-san/Minato-sensei when wearing an apron', Arashi and Kakashi mentally commented as they watched Naruto set the dishes on the table while wearing a red apron, which belonged to actually Tsunami.
Tazuna discreetly noticed his daughter's poorly concealed delight when the blue-eyed teen requested for an apron for him to wear. Turns out, Naruto was very cautious with his food, he despises wasting food and messes when preparing meals. The bridge builder didn't why but the knew the it wasn't very nice to snoop in other people's business.
As they ate, they listened to Arashi blab about their day and how he got a higher up the tree than Sasuke, who was silently brooding in his chair. Tsunami would occasionally giggle at the hyper active genin's story while Tazuna would smirk and grin when he heard the mentions of the two nins falling on their butts. Inari stayed quiet and ate with the rest, though the boy knew that he was going to snap soon if the redhead won't stop ranting any time soon.
"-I'm telling you! We're so gonna beat this Gato guy for sure! We are all going to help you rebuild the bridge too, Tazuna-san! That's a promise!", Arashi confidently swore with pieces of rice still stuck to his face. The bridge builder loudly laughed and shook his head. "Alright, kid. I gotta admit, you've got guts", the old man replied.
"Hell yeah! I-"
"Will you guys just shut up! Why do you guys bother to try so hard?! No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for GatÅ's men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, the weak will only end up getting killed!", Inari angrily interrupted.
"Inari!", the raven haired boy's mother gasped.
"Hey, listen, kid! You don't need to be rude! All we want to do is help you!", the redheaded jinchuuriki shot back.
"Do us a favor and don't! There's nothing you can do to help so, just drop your chances and leave!", Inari yelled while tears formed in his eyes.
"That's enough, Inari! Go to your room, right now!", the bridge builder scolded but earned a loud 'No' as a reply. Naruto had enough, he pulled out his chalkboard and scribbled down on the smooth surface.
"(Inari-san, don't you think you're being a little hard on yourself and your village. Just because Gato wasn't defeated before, doesn't mean he can be beaten now. Just trust us and you might like the results)", the blonde insisted calmly.
"No! I won't! You don't know anything! You don't know how painful it is to lose someone precious to someone evil! You don't know how painful it was when my dad died! And it was all Gato's fault! If my dad couldn't stop him than no one could!", the boy argued; fist clenched tightly beside him. Blue eyes softened at the young lad's statement, the blonde teen wrote down another message and showed the board to Inari for him to read.
"(It's true that I don't understand your pain of losing a parent, Inari-san. But, it will not help you stop this madness, either. Sometimes, it better to leave what's in the past and live your life in the present. And right now, your whole village needs all the help they can get)". Inari glared holes into Naruto's eyes after reading his message, feeling as if he was going to explode in anger at the older male.
"You just don't get it, do you! Of course you don't! You have both of your parents with you! You're treated as if your some kind of Prince, back in your village! And you're always guarded by a bunch of other ninjas like a precious gem! So, how would you know pain?!", Inari sobbed. Everyone stared sympathetically at the young boy while the blonde teen he was arguing with stared at him in indifference. Shaking writing down aother message, he pushes it in front of the ravenette's face to urge him to read more.
"(Inari-san...you're father died not because he wanted to be the hero, but because he wanted to protect you. I can tell that your father wanted to protect you, even if he knew be couldn't. I might not know the feeling of your precious person dying but I know how it feels to be...ignored. And truthfully, I think that the pain of being forgotten and ignored is much more agonizing, knowing that they're right in front of you yet, they treat you as if you're dead. I'm not asking you to forget what happened to your father. All I'm asking for you to do is man up, don't let your father's sacrifice die in vain. Trust us to help you, at least)"
Everyone stood stock still in shock. Taking in the others' disbelieving looks, the silent blonde unceremoniously threw the chalkboardon his chair and walked away. Tears leaked from Inari's eyes after reading the message, he whimpered pathetically before sprinting off to his room.
'What did he mean by ignored and forgotten? Was he...?', Kakashi trailed off as he, once again, watched as his blonde student walk away with a slightly angered aura around him. 'I really need to talk to Minato-sensei', the silver haired man inwardly sighed.
Finished!