Author's Notes: Wow~! I got quite a bit reviews for the last chapter! (In my standard, at least.) Why do so many people want Sakura dead..? There was one (or two) that felt a little sad for her... But... Well, you'll all see later, anyway.
Question of the Day: If there was one person in the Naruto universe who you'd want brutally murdered... Who would it be? (And it can't be Sakura! Lol.) And if you could fall in love with any Naruto character... Who would it be?
Answer: I'd want Kiba or Kabuto brutally murdered! Kiba is my worst enemy... And Kabuto is just self explanatory. And~ I'd either fall in love with Ino or Tenten. I just like Ino! And Tenten... Hehehe...
Summary: Imagine your favorite anime. You love it, right? Would you love to live there forever, though? Jalen, a 12 year old boy, doesn't. But is the Naruto world as unreal as he thought? Or is the "real world" as real as he thought? Will he survive? Will he ultimately mess up the storyline? Only time, and a substantial amount of sulking, will tell. Rated T for language. OC Self-insert
(Pointless) Disclaimer: I dooon't oooooown Naaaaaruuuuuutooooo~! I think.
Grey Eyes
Chapter 12
Monday, April 22nd
It was another normal, boring day. Tazuna should have been working on the bridge again by now... But he was still too scared to even leave the house without a suitable bodyguard. None of us fit that description. Naruto? Too depressed. Sasuke? Too broody. Kakashi-sensei? Too lazy. Sakura? Too de- I mean unconscious. Me? I don't give a fuck what happens to Tazuna at this point.
Kakashi-sensei was at least up and moving today, if only with crutches. He told us all early in the morning that we'd need to have a team meeting in the evening. I was kind of anticipating this, especially since then I'd get a chance to talk to Naruto without him being all sad. And Sasuke might stop glaring at me all the time. What'd I do to him anyway?
...
Sasuke was hardly any better. I thought that if I push Sasuke into training with me, Naruto would follow. Not only did Sasuke reject my advances to train, but he even tried to fight me! Like, what the hell?!
After leaving a stomped-to-death Sasuke grumbling and muttering curses on the floor, I went to Kakashi-sensei's room.
...
Yeah... I have no idea at all why he'd be mad at me!
"Good. You're all here," Kakashi-sensei said when we all walked into his room. "As you all know... We have a few, uh, urgent things we need to talk about."
"...Such as?" I asked when Kakashi-sensei started staring at Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto had his head down while Sasuke looked completely uninterested.
"First... Sakura. Do any of you know what happened?"
No one said anything, so I had to talk again, of course. "Someone broke in and tried to kill her," I said, ignoring the way Naruto flinched. "They escaped when we heard Sakura scream..."
Kakashi-sensei nodded. "Now... Who do you think attacked her?"
"It was that bastard Zabuza, wasn't it?" Naruto grumbled. My eyes widened as I heard the pure hatred in his voice. It was also the first time I've heard him talk in a while. His voice was obviously pretty hoarse.
Kakashi-sensei waited for a second before shaking his head. "No, it wasn't Zabuza. I don't know if I said this already, but It'd take at least a week before Zabuza could do anything. Especially something like this."
"So was it his partner?" I asked. I knew that wasn't the case, but I just wanted to see what Kakashi-sensei said about it.
Surprisingly, he smiled at me. "Hold that thought, Jalen. I have a few more things I need to ask." I nodded. "Why do you think they attacked only Sakura?"
"I think the person would have killed all of us in our sleep, but they missed Sakura's throat, making her scream, and waking us all up," I decided to say. If it is someone from my world... I don't know why they'd try and kill us all, though. Maybe they just wanted to kill Sakura because they didn't like her? I don't know...
To this, Kakashi-sensei shook his head. "That's not the case. They were purposely seeking out Sakura." To this statement... I felt the room get a little colder. "I did a little searching around... And it seemed like they got in through Sasuke's window. It was the only one not locked. If they got in through Sakura's window, they would have left it open to escape... Not break through it."
All eyes in the room turned to Sasuke, who scowled under all the attention.
"Do you know why your window was unlocked, Sasuke? And did you hear or see anyone coming in through that window, Sasuke?" Kakashi-sensei asked. His eyes were so calculating and-
"YOU BASTARD!" Naruto screamed, jumping up. "You must have known who did that to Sakura, meaning you were trying to kill Sakura, too!"
"No, I didn't!" Sasuke screamed back, jumping up and glaring back at Naruto. "I didn't know that my window was unlocked, idiot! And I didn't see or hear anyone coming in because I was sleeping!" He then turned to Kakashi-sensei. "And that's dumb! They wouldn't just walk past me, the last Uchiha, and go to Sakura's room! If it was Zabuza or his partner, then they'd dispatch us the moment they saw us!"
"Meaning it wasn't Zabuza or his partner," Kakashi-sensei summarized. Everyone was silent at these words. Naruto reluctantly sat back down, and Sasuke did, too. "It was somebody else entirely. Someone that didn't want to harm Sasuke, but wanted to harm Sakura, for some reason."
That... Well, if it is someone from my world... If Sakura was the person's least favorite character... I guess that they would only want to kill her off. But... But that'd endanger the whole series! Are they that dumb to do something so... So... So freaking stupid?!
"W-We don't know anyone who'd want to do that," I said nervously. Kakashi-sensei eyed me for a second before sighing.
"They probably weren't trying to kill anyone. Maybe they were in here to just look at us, but since Sakura woke up they didn't know what else to do but kill her," Sasuke mumbled, still scowling at the earlier assumptions.
"That's a good point, Sasuke." Kakashi-sensei halfheartedly smiled. "Or not. I doubt they'd just come in here to watch us. And they wouldn't have a weapon automatically on hold if they didn't want to harm any of us." He sighed. "We'll just have to wait till Sakura wakes up to get more answers. Anyway, I need to ask one more thing."
We all just nodded.
"If- I mean when Sakura wakes up..." His eyes narrowed. "Do you all think we should abandon the mission and go back to the village to report this to the Hokage?"
The air around us thickened.
Leave? That thought never even crossed my mind! We can't just leave! Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari would be dead the moment we step out the house! And it'd be especially hard to leave now because we actually know them now, and they'd more than likely beg us to stay! Leaving isn't even an option anymore!
"I'm not leaving," Naruto said, bringing me out of my thoughts. "I'm gonna get stronger and stronger and stronger until I find the one who did that to Sakura and make them pay! I'm not giving up, I'm not running away, I'm not going to lose to them! I'm going to destroy Zabuza, his partner, Gato, everyone that gets in the way! I'm going to stay here and protect Tazuna, Ms. Tsunami, and even Inari! That's my nindo; my ninja way!" He pointed straight at Kakashi-sensei. "Believe it!"
There was a moment of silence as Naruto's words echoed throughout everyone's head. Sasuke frowned, I stared, Kakashi-sensei smiled, and...
And Naruto, the most depressed one in the house for the past two days... The Naruto that wouldn't even talk to me, me... The Naruto that just now proclaimed his undying will in front of us all of us...
He grinned. Naruto actually, truthfully, grinned!
Kakashi-sensei turned to me. "And what about you?"
I awkwardly smiled. "If Naruto's staying here then I'm obviously going to be here to protect him." I rolled my eyes. "Don't be stupid."
Kakashi-sensei turned to Sasuke. "And you?"
Sasuke snorted. He didn't answer, but that was probably a "Yes" in his language. Kakashi-sensei seemed to think so, too, because he didn't question any further.
"Good then," he smiled. "You can come out now, Anko. These three are more or less serious about this mission."
My heart stopped. Anko-sensei's disturbing chakra filled my senses. Her disturbing laugh echoed throughout the room. Her soft but dangerous hands caressed my face from behind, making me tense.
"I see you haven't kicked the bucket yet, kid," she whispered in my ear. "I like prey that can keep going after losing a limb." And that's when I turned around and practically jumped away from her.
"Wh-What the hell are you doing here, Anko-sensei?!" I screamed, my face hot and my eyes burning a hole through her. She just smirked, placing a hand on her hip.
"What kind of greeting is that?" She asked. "Even after I brought my way down here in your time of need... Let's face it; you'd all be dead by Saturday at this rate."
I just growled in response, already knowing this. I've calculated that Zabuza will be ready to fight on Friday... And if we keep procrastinating he'll find Tazuna's house and kill us all by Saturday. That's Why I've been trying to train alone but it's pointless if I'm the only one. And the bastard in my head won't give me any advice that I need!
Naruto blinked. "Uh, er... Kakashi-sensei, who is this crazy lady?" He asked. "And how does Jalen know her?"
Kakashi-sensei and I sweatdropped. "She's a Jounin of our village, Naruto; Mitarashi Anko," Kakashi-sensei answered.
"And don't call her crazy... I don't think I'd be able to protect you from her," I added. I then sighed. "You've met Anko-sensei once or twice, Naruto. You probably forgot. She's the one who's been training me separately from the rest of y'all... I've told you some stories of her, haven't I?"
Naruto scrunched his nose up in confusion before gasping in realization. "Yeah! I remember, I remember!" He exclaimed. "You said that she was a perverted, insane, creepy snake living in the body of a woman!"
...
I tried to run beforehand, but no matter how fast you are, you can't escape a perverted, insane, creepy snake living in the body of a woman when she's mad. Especially when she's on a sugar-high from just being inside Sakura's blood stained room.
She grabbed both Naruto and I, threw us both on the ground, and continually stomped on us while laughing maniacally.
...
"S-So... What are you doing here, Anko-sensei..?" I asked after she was done murdering us. Naruto was still trembling in fear. "Or rather... Why are you here?"
"I'm here to train your sorry asses since your lazy ass sensei can't! Why?" She grinned. "I sensed you were in trouble so I decided to come help. I thought it would just be a gang of bandits, but I never thought it be someone like Zabuza and Gato..."
"Wait, wait, wait! How could you sense that I was in trouble?!"
As if on cue, I felt something wriggling around in my hair. I, instantly alarmed, started patting and scratching in my hair.
I felt something warm and scaly.
A snake dropped out of my hair.
It slithered towards Anko-sensei, who picked it up and dropped it in her coat. I gaped. Naruto gaped. Sasuke's eyes widened. Kakashi-sensei raised a brow.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Naruto and I screamed, me frantically running around in panic.
"What just happened?! Why was their a snake in my hair?! When and where did it get in there?! How did it get in there?! Are their any more on me?! Aaaauuuuggggghhhh!" I started to strip, first taking off my shirt and then my pants, trembling all the while.
I'm terrified, no, mortified of snakes! Just the thought of one being on me is enough to... To... To..!
Anko-sensei was on the floor, dying of laughter. "Hahahaha! Oh, God, whatever you do keep your underwear on, sheesh! Hahahaha!"
Naruto was looking away awkwardly, Sasuke was looking away disinterested, while Kakashi-sensei was just smiling at me. Freak.
"W-Well?! Why was their a snake, that obviously belonged to you, in my hair?!"
She stopped laughing, coming down to giggling. "I'll answer every single one of your questions, okay, brat? What just happened? A snake came out of your hair, obviously. Why was it in there? I put it in there to be able to sense your chakra from afar, so I sensed you were in trouble a few days ago and since I had nothing better to do, well, I asked the Hokage where you went and came. When and where did it get in there? I put it in there when you first told me you were going on a C rank mission. Remember? At the dumpling shop? How did other get in there? I sent it in there when you turned around and started to walk away. You didn't sense it because I made it so it has little to no chakra and you didn't feel it because it's so small and you never really check in your hair for snakes. And are their any more on you? The answer to that is... Well, why don't you take off those boxers and see?"
"I'm sure she's just joking," Kakashi-sensei piped in before I actually took off my last article of clothing. What? I'm fucking scared of snakes! Remember my phobias? Orochimaru? I'm pretty sure snakes are one of them. "Anyway, she came here a while ago earlier this morning. But, Anko, you must have been pretty worried to get here so fast... This is a feat, even for a ninja, you know?"
"So this lady knows about Sakura?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms. Anko-sensei just nodded. "What are you here for, anyway? Just coming to check on Jalen can't be the only reason!"
Anko-sensei grinned maliciously. Kakashi-sensei smiled knowingly. Sasuke raised a brow. Naruto squinted in confusion. I gulped.
"Anko is here to train you three while I stay here and watch over things. I can keep a watch on Sakura's condition and make sure no attempts are made on Tazuna's life," Kakashi-sensei informed us. "I'm obviously still chakra exhausted, but I can at least do that. Anko will be the one to train you all before Zabuza's predicted attack." He smiled. "Good luck."
I tried to run again... I even sent a whole bunch of chakra to my feet to boost my speed... But Anko-sensei caught me, grabbed everyone else, and we were off to who-knows-where...
...
"Alright! Get your asses ready for some training!" Anko-sensei announced. She teleported (or whatever) us to a clearing in the woods by Tazuna's house. We are now standing in front of her, getting ready for our training session.
It's a good thing we can finally train, though. I was getting worried.
Heh, you better be thankful that lady came when she did... You'd all definitely be 6 feet under, otherwise.
Yeah, yeah... Finally talking again, huh?
Shut your damn mouth, dumbass. I'm not in the mood.
Oh~? Someone's angry that I'm not gonna die, aren't they? Well, boohoo for you, bastard.
He didn't say anything else so I sighed. Our relationship... Isn't getting better. Not like I care, but it sucks having a bastard stuck inside your head.
At least Naruto isn't as depressed anymore, though! He's actually smiling!
"So, we're first going to review what chakra, the ninja's basic source of power, is... And all that crap," Anko-sensei said, sounding less energetic than she was before.
"We know that," Sasuke sighed.
"He's right!" Naruto nodded. "A long time ago we learned about, uh, catra!" Uh...
"Your blond is showing, kid. It's called chakra, chakra!" Anko-sensei facepalmed. "God, what are they teaching at the academy these days?" Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "Oh, whatever... I taught you about chakra, Jalen, so teach your idiotic teammate."
"Whatever," I sighed. "Chakra is the elemental life energy a ninja uses in Jutsu; it's the source of all his power. This energy has two forms: Physical Energy which exists in all the cells of the entire body all working together, and Spiritual Energy; the primary source of power which is intensified through training and experience. These two types of chakra must be drawn out and brought together in order to perform Jutsu. Blah, blah... Bringing them together perfectly... Blah, blah... That's the key, or whatever," I groaned. "I'm tired! This is annoying! This will just confuse them, including me if I think about it too much!"
I looked up at Anko-sensei. She was glowering over me, a long, thin senbon in her hand. "What did you say..?"
"N-Nevermind, damn it," I growled. "Uh... Hand-Signs, also known as Hand Seals, focus and unleash the chakra."
"Tch, nerd."
"SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HAD ME MEMORIZE THIS FOR A WHOLE FUCKING DAY, YOU CRAZY BITCH!"
"Now, now, calm down," she chuckled. "Do you have any questions, blondie?"
Naruto was flustered. "U-Ugh, come on, what's the big deal with all these complicated explanations?!" He asked. "The whole point is to learn the Jutsu, isn't it?!"
"Naruto's right for once," Sasuke agreed. "We're already using chakra energy in our Jutsu."
"Nope. You're far from mastering this power, you haven't even come close to surface of it," Anko-sensei waved them off. I sweatdropped.
"WHAT DO YA MEAN?!"
"Shut up and listen. It's just like this nerd said."
She's pissing me off.
"You have to draw on Spiritual and Physical energies and then combine them within yourselves, but how do you do that?" She sighed, the signaling of another speech. "Each Jutsu requires different types of chakra in different proportions. You must select and combine them in exactly the right way. Until now you've just guessed at the proportions, hoping they'd come out right. Even if you produce a whole bunch of chakra, unless you can balance and control it, it's all worthless. The Jutsu won't work at all, or it'd just be a joke," she looked at me. "You, in particular, waste so much energy doing that. What if you run out of chakra and can't fight back? You'll just be prey."
"Tch, nerd."
"Ah, don't try and switch it up on me now, brat!" She exclaimed, grabbing me and putting me in a choke hold. I just sighed, not even trying to resist.
"Uh, so how do we end up not being prey? Ehehe," Naruto nervously scratched the back of his head.
"Train so hard that controlling your chakra becomes second nature," Anko-sensei answered, still not letting me go. "To achieve this goal... Dying shouldn't even be a problem to you..."
We all gulped, the air becoming thicker.
"What do we have to do? What? Tell us!" Naruto practically begged. Anko-sensei smirked.
"That's easy... You must climb a tree."
And with that Anko-sensei climbed a random tree by bringing chakra to the soles of her feet and not using her hands. Cue gasp. Sasuke asked how would that make them stronger. Anko-sensei replied with a speech about how hard it is to balance the chakra to your feet and doing that means you have good chakra control and can use the precise amount of chakra for a Jutsu and blah and bluh and blegh. Naruto asks how will that help against Zabuza. Anko-sensei snaps on him and tells him it just will. I yell at her to stop being a bitch to Naruto. She yells at me to stop protecting my boyfriend. I throw a kunai at her. She blocks it and throws a senbon at me. I dodge it and...
And at the end of the day Naruto and Sasuke end up vigorously training to climb trees using chakra while Anko-sensei and I end up in a sparring match to the death.
Let's just say... We're all tired in the end... Really, really tired.
Tuesday, April 23rd
Tazuna finally grows the balls to leave the house and work on the bridge today. Kakashi-sensei finally gets off his lazy ass and accompanies Tazuna, being his bodyguard. Inari continues to brood and cry in his room. Tsunami is in a chipper mood with a new Jounin here to protect her and...
And Sakura woke up. Naruto, Sasuke, Anko-sensei, Tsunami, and I were just downstairs eating breakfast when we heard someone coming downstairs. We all just thought it was Inari because, well, we just did! But they were coming down the stairs slower than the little boy...
And then we heard a groan. Sakura's groan.
"S-Sakura..?" Naruto mumbled, trying to rub the sleepiness out if his eyes. Another groan. "S-Sakura..!" Naruto jumped out of his seat and ran towards the stairs. I looked up, still tired and confused, and that's when I heard Sakura speak for the first time in days.
"N-Naruto... Naruto, what's going on..?" She asked, her voice hoarse. I gasped. Sasuke gasped. Tsunami gasped. Anko-sensei chuckled. Naruto cheered.
"SAKURA! YOU'RE AWAKE! OH, SAKURA! SAKURA!" He ran up the stairs and Sakura yelped in surprise. Sasuke and I got out our seats and ran to the stairs to witness what was happening.
Naruto was practically raping (metaphorically, of course) Sakura, crushing her frail body in a bear hug with tears coming out of his eyes and snot coming out of his nose. Sakura looked, to say the least, discomforted and dazed, just standing and looking at us with a blank expression while Naruto raped her.
You're sick.
Metaphorically, of course!
"Sa-Sakura," Sasuke breathed, his expression one of disbelief, before controlling his emotions and putting his face back into it's regular bored way. But... But then he smiled. "You're finally better now..."
I awkwardly grinned. "D-Done taking a nap? We've been waiting forever... Sakura."
And then she fainted.
Hehehe, yeah. Let's just say Naruto's sobs turned from joy to sorrow reeeally fast. Anko-sensei had to shut Naruto up (by threatening him) and carry Sakura's unconscious body back up to her room (Anko-sensei cleaned the blood when she got here).
We trained a lot more today, too, Anko-sensei over-watching us. She mostly just threw random crap at us while we were climbing and laughed at our failed attempts. Only when the sun was setting did Naruto have enough.
"WHY IS IT SO HAAAARD?!" He screamed, having a little tantrum on the ground. He was covered in dirt from head to toe, and a knot was forming on his head from falling on it too often. I would catch him sometimes, sure, but that only ended in us both getting hurt...
Sasuke didn't show that he was tired, if his ragged breathing and dirt on him didn't give it away, but I'm sure he was having a tantrum in his head.
Even I was past the point of irritation. So much to the point where I would use every bit of my breath to cuss Anko-sensei out whenever she threw something at me, and then use whatever strength I have left to punch the ground whenever I fall. Tree climbing is hard...
And it's harder because I'm not originally from this world and I'm still not completely use to using chakra, so I still put too much chakra in it when I should have less, and I still put too less chakra in it when I need to put more. Even though I'm training my ass off, I just don't see much improvement! It's so fucking irritating!
"You three aren't going to beat Zabuza by just sitting there! Go on already, you twerps!"
"AAAAUUUGGGHHH! AND I'M TIRED OF YOU!" Naruto screamed, glaring and pointing at Anko-sensei who was reading one of Kakashi-sensei's perverted books. "All you do is YELL and YELL and YELL for us to do better, but you aren't teaching us shit! And then you laugh at us when we fail; you're the worst teacher ever!"
"Then," she sighed, closing the book. Uh-Oh... "Why don't we do something else? I've grown tired of watching you all fall on your asses."
I tried to run, again... But you should know by now it's impossible to get away from Anko-sensei... It's just impossible.
...
Dinner that night was tiring, to say the least.
Tazuna, Inari, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, Anko-sensei, Sasuke, Sakura (surprise, surprise), and I were at the dinner table eating while Tsunami was at the sink washing dishes and whatnot. Naruto and Sasuke was gorging themselves, Naruto stopping once in a while to talk to Sakura. Anko-sensei was still reading Kakashi-sensei's Ichi Ichi Paradise... I hope she doesn't get addicted to that like Kakashi-sensei...
Kakashi-sensei and Tazuna went to the stores and got the groceries for this big dinner. Tazuna was clearly in a better mood now, and Kakashi-sensei was getting around more and more without being a lazy bum.
Inari was just looking down at his food, brooding. I had the mispleasure of having to sit beside him, but our bad moods seemed to repel each other, so we said nothing.
Sakura was weak. Like, really weak. Like, I-Need-Food-In-At-Least-30-Seconds-Or-I'll-Die weak. She was chuckling along at everyone's different conversations, but that was mostly it. She hardly talked, and she had that blank look in her eyes the whole time. That near death experience must have really impacted her.
"I WANT SOME MORE!" Naruto and Sasuke yelled at the same time, holding up their bowls. They then glared at each other, electricity coursing through the space between them. It was slightly humorous...
After Naruto snapped on Anko-sensei earlier, she decided to pelt us all with senbon. Naruto and Sasuke then silently made a bet on who could dodge the most senbon, but Naruto obviously won since I blocked most of them for him. As if I was gonna let Anko-sensei skewer Naruto over something stupid. Since then, Naruto and Sasuke has some sort rivalry going on, or whatever.
Naruto and Sasuke then got dark green and turned away from each other, regurgitating behind their seats. That's... Nasty. And Ms. Tsunami is gonna have to clean that up, too...
"Hey, don't eat so much if you're just gonna puke it up, you blond!" Anko-sensei yelled, hitting Naruto in the head with her book.
"Why don't you hit Sasuke in the head, you witch?!" I yelled at her, pointing and glaring. "I'm pretty sure Naruto is hungry since you constantly steal his food, but Sasuke has no reason, so hit him!"
"It doesn't matter if the little runt is hungry or not if he just throws it up! Stop always trying to protect your boyfriend!"
"He's eating fast because he's scared your fat ass will take it from him; so throwing up is just what he has to do! And he's not my boyfriend, so stop being a bitch!"
"Fat? Did you just call me fat?! Oh, I'm so definitely killing your ass after this meal, you twerp!"
"Yeah, yeah... We all know you gotta eat before you do anything else."
"Why, you..!"
"Now, now... Don't kill each other while you're at the dinner table," Kakashi-sensei said. Anko-sensei glared at the other man, before huffing (and puffing and blowing the house down) and sitting back in her seat. "And Naruto, Sasuke, I know you two must be hungry and all, but puking won't help you."
While Tsunami began cleaning up the puke (I feel for you, girl), Anko-sensei and Kakashi-sensei talking about Ichi Ichi Paradise, Naruto and I talking about the ramen we'll eat when we get back (if we get back), Sasuke and Inari brooding, and Tazuna talking about random stuff no one cared about, Sakura got up weakly and started to walk around.
No one really cared because, well, what are we supposed to care about? She's a weak, little girl who almost died... What are we wondering about if she justs randomly gets up? She needs to regain most of her strength anyway... And tell us every detail of the night-that-won't-be-spoken-of when she feels ready to talk about it.
After Tsunami finished cleaning up all the puke and pouring us some tea, we all heard Sakura's voice.
"E-Excuse me," she said, her voice soft. "This picture is torn... Is there some reason for that?" She was standing by the wall where, true to her words, a torn picture was hung up. It had Tsunami, Tazuna, and a (surprise!) smiling Inari! And to the left was a big tear that made me think there was somebody else purposely torn out. "Inari, um, you kept glancing at it all through dinner. It looks like there was someone else in the picture but they got torn out... I mean, that's kinda strange, isn't it?"
Tsunami froze. Tazuna tensed. Inari instantly looked down.
...Okay... This is creepy.
"It's my husband," Tsunami said in a low voice. We waited for something else, anything else for her to say, but she said nothing.
"They used to call him a hero in this land," Tazuna said, looking down. Inari slowly slid out of his seat and walked away, but although I'm sure nobody else could, I could see the tears forming in his eyes hidden under his hat.
"Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami asked, but Inari ignored her, opening the door to the hallway and closing it behind him. Tsunami swiftly walked past me and to the door, opening it. Before she left, however, she looked back and said, "Father, you can't talk about him like that in front of Inari, you know that! Ugh!" And with that she was gone, slamming the door behind her.
"That brat is so... Man, do you guys know how to discipline kids these days?" Anko-sensei asked before getting up and stretching. "I'm going to bed... You twerps should get to rest, too, because we're going to have a long day tomorrow." She Body Flickered and was gone.
"Hm... Is there a story behind Inari's actions?" Kakashi-sensei asked.
"...He wasn't his real father, he came into our family later... And he brought so much happiness. He and Inari were very close," Tazuna said. Naruto gasped. I just narrowed my eyes. Is he... Is he dead..? "In those days, Inari used to laugh all the time... Gah..." Tazuna was shaking by now, tears threatening to fall out his eyes. "But then..!"
"Hm?"
"All that ended... He never laughs or smiles anymore..!" Tazuna said, tears now running down his face. "Ever since the day everything changed."
"What changed?" I asked. He's going too slow, damn it!
"The word courage was stolen from this island. We were left feeling powerless, hopeless, and Inari suffered the most!" Tazuna exclaimed. "Ever since that day; ever since it happened."
"Tell us," Kakashi-sensei said. "What happened to Inari?"
"First you need to know about the man; his father... The man who taught us the word courage, who was a hero in this land."
"A hero? Really?"
"You can decide that for yourself. He came here about a year ago... Inari was being bullied by the kids in this land. They threw his dog in the ocean and then threw him in the ocean to save it. Interestingly enough, at that exact moment, Pooch, the dog, learned how to dog paddle. The dog ran away and the kids chased after it, leaving the drowning Inari to, well, drown. Right before he actually did drown, though... A man saved Inari and scolded the kids. He then cooked Inari some fish he caught. His name was Kaiza, a simple fisherman who'd come her from another land to follow his dreams. After that... Inari and Kaiza were inseparable. The boy'd never known his father, so you could imagine what it meant to him to have Kaiza in his life. He looked up to him and followed in his footsteps like a real father and son. Kaiza spent more and more time with us until he just naturally became a member of our family. And then when this town needed him he became something more..."
And then Tazuna explained in full detail how Kaiza saved the whole land from a flood. Or rather, the lower district, but he still saved a lot of lives. And then Gato came... That bastard. Gato just couldn't have a local hero in his way, so him and his whole gang... Stopped Kaiza.
They killed him in front of everyone! Even Inari! They just sliced him up! They killed Inari's father in front of him!
My hate of Gato increased so much...
Naruto suddenly tried to get out of his seat, but he instantly fell on the ground.
"What are you doing down there, Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"You better take the day off tomorrow. No more training," Kakashi-sensei said. "You've used too much chakra. If you push any harder, it'll kill you."
"I'm gonna prove it," Naruto mumbled. I tilted my head to the side. What is he talking about?
"Prove what?" Sakura asked.
"I'll prove that... That it's true! That in this world..." Naruto awkwardly stood up, his legs trembling. He was so desperately out of chakra. He grinned, "There are real heroes!"
I grinned as well. Yeah, Naruto... You show Inari that... And... My eyes sharpened. I'll be the one to kill Gato...
Author's Notes: Hehehe... Sorry guys. I thought that I would get to Zabuza after this chapter, but I wasn't so lucky. But don't worry... There will be a fight next chapter, just not against Zabuza. And who else is loving Anko right now as much as me? Anyone?!
Oh, and I've updated my profile! Go and read it if you like! And Yeah... Sorry for not updating last week. But this is a SUPER large chapter, so blah!
R.T.R:
DaOneInDaCorner: Shishishishi~ I'm glad you liked my last chapter, and I hoped you enjoyed this one, too! And Yeah... I just couldn't get enough of Psycho Stalkers from The Future Diary so I just HAD to put it in my story. I HAD too!
Dark Murcielago: Thanks for reviewing and Thanks for loving my story! And gaara? Jalen and GAARA?!... *World Implodes*
X: No, no... You're not a terrible person for wanting Sakura dead. You're a completely normal person for wanting her dead. (*^﹏^*)
Ssup7750: As much as I want her dead, I'll explain why I really can't have her dead. Naruto would be totally depressed and angry and just might go Nine Tails Mode if Sakura died. They won't get around to training because they'll be mourning too much, an eventually Zabuza and Haku would kill them all. Not to mention a CERTAIN SOMEONE that's appearing in the next chapter... Hehe... And YAY! A NEW MEMBER IN THE I-HATE-KIBA-CLUB!
Kage Kurai: Nope. I just couldn't think of a question (or I was too lazy) and... Yeah. But There's a question this time! I'm anticipating the results... *licks lips* And yay! Two members in my unofficial I-Hate-Kiba-Club! And thank you for liking this chapter!
xXTraineraXx: Le gasp! You feel... R-Remorse for SAKURA! Leave. Just... Just go... ... ... Ha! Just kidding! I love all my readers, including you! Here, have some TEA!
AND... Yeah. I hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to answer the question of the day… And don't forget to read my updated profile (Did it for LOLs).
Bye niI~!
