OMG I actually got another chapter out in less than a month! I think this might be my fastest work but I'm not that sure. As always I accept criticism and/or suggestions. Please enjoy.

The sun shone with all of its warm glory in the sky as the sea breeze washed over my skin, the dampness cooling and refreshing compared to the sun's rays. The surrounding water glittered like tiny diamonds only disturbed by the rolling of the waves. The clinking of metal hitting metal occupied most of the noises on the bridge as the men worked diligently, with sweat glistening on their bodies, to finish it. Within a few days it will be complete and the island can finally be free from Gato's reign. I was sitting against the railing across from Sakura as I watched the men work and kept an eye out for any sign of danger. So far the day has been going pretty smoothly but Gato could always send someone instead of Zabuza and the boy to finish the job so Sakura and I have to be on our toes. Although Sakura seemed to be worn out from yesterday as she yawned while stretching her arms. Tazuna walked by at that moment as he carried a piece of metal on his shoulder.

"Are you guys always this lazy? What happened to the crazy blond kid and the boy with the attitude?" he asked.

"They're still training, climbing trees." Sakura answered.

"Is it too tough for you guys?"

"No actually we're the best at it so the sensei sent us here to guard you." Sakura said with pride.

"You're joking right? Well at least he sent her here." Tazuna said while looking at me and then he continued what he was doing.

'That's a little harsh.' I thought as I watched Sakura try not to blow up at him. A man, one of the workers, was walking towards Tazuna as he was putting down the piece of metal he had carried.

"Hey Tazuna I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Tazuna said as he used a towel to wipe the sweat off of his face.

"The thing is that I have put a lot of thought into the bridge and I've decided I've pushed my luck to the limit. I want out."

"What! You're going to quit on me now, when we're almost finished. You've got to be joking."

"Look Tazuna I stayed on because of our friendship but I'm risking my life everyday that I'm on this bridge. Sooner or later Gato and his thugs will show up and kill us and then the bridge will never get done. So why don't we stop now instead of throwing our lives away." Tazuna didn't speak right away but when he did there was the fire of determination in his eyes.

"No. Our island is poor and it will stay that way until this bridge is completed. Once this bridge connects us to the main land we will regain trade and commerce. And our hope, that's why I won't stop until it is finished."

"What hope will there be if we're all dead?" Tazuna was finished listening to him though as he started to walk past him.

"It's noon so lets break for lunch. But Giichi don't bother coming back after lunch."

"Tazuna please lets not end it like this." Tazuna paid no heed to him as he told the workers to take a break for lunch.

'Kami please help these people.'

A few hours later…

Once work had been finished for that day Sakura and I followed Tazuna in town to get a few ingredients for dinner. As we walked through the town there were so many people who were living on the streets from young children to adults who had signs that said, 'Will do any kind of work.' The whole atmosphere of this town is depressing. It was nothing like the Leaf Village, which was always filled with laughter and a cheerful atmosphere.

"These poor people." Sakura whispered.

"This is how it's been since Gato arrived and the children are the ones suffering the most. All of the adults have lost their hope, which is why we must finish the bridge. That bridge will be the symbol that will restore the spirit of our people, it will bring trade and commerce, and most importantly it will bring back hope to these people. I won't let Gato stop us."

None of us talked the rest of the way as we finally made it to the market. If you can even call this place a market, it's pitiful. There was hardly enough food on the shelves to feed one family let alone the whole town.

'How are these people still alive.' I thought as Sakura and I waited for Tazuna to pay for the food. Two guys entered the market behind us but I didn't pay them heed, since I could tell that they weren't a threat to anyone based on their age and they are too skinny to have any muscles. Even so I had my backpack with me, because I had wanted to carry my sketchbook with me to the bridge, so I held my bag a little bit closer. But they never attempted to go for my bag instead there was a hand on my ass.

'He's dead.' I thought as I whipped around and punched the guy in the face. He landed outside of the market completely knocked out. A second later the second guy flew out of the market, also knocked out, as Sakura had kicked him in the face while yelling, "PERVERT!" The second man landed on top of the first one, some people outside of the market jumped in shock when they suddenly appeared in the road.

"You have a nice kick there Sakura." I said with a smirk on my face.

"You have a heck of a right hook." She said as she calmed down a little. Holding my hand up she looked at it at first and with a smile on her face we high-fived each other. Tazuna and the store owner were just standing there shocked, not believing that two teenage girls just knocked out two grown men with one hit. Walking over to us Taznua said, "Well now I know never to doubt you guys again." With that we walked out of the store, while accidentally stepping on the guys, and escorted Tazuna back home safely.

By the time Sakura, Tazuna, and I made it back the boys were already in the dining area of the kitchen resting after their long day of training. Tsunami prepared dinner for us as Naruto chatted to me about his improving progress and Sakura was trying to start a conversation with Sasuke. Kakashi was sitting across from me reading his little perverted book, as always. As time passed the room was being filled with the smell of delicious food and when it was finished we all dug into it, especially the boys for some reason.

"It has been such a long time since we've had company like this." Tazuna said with a big smile on his face. I noticed that Inari hasn't really said anything since we came back home, he's just been sitting there silently as if something was disturbing him. I couldn't really be sure since his hat was covering most of his face.

'I wonder why he is so sad all of the time?' I thought. I was about to ask him a question when both Naruto and Sasuke both yelled out.

"I want some more!" Both of them glared at the other with determination in their eyes. Suddenly their faces turned a green shade and they threw up their dinners on the kitchen floor. Since I was sitting next to Naruto I got to see and smell it all which made me push my bowl away from me, upset that I had lost my appetite.

"You guys are disgusting. If you're just going to throw it up then don't bother eating it." Sakura said as she pushed her own bowl away.

"I have to eat more." Sasuke said, still glaring at Naruto.

"And I have to eat even more than him so that I can beat him." Naruto said as he was still glaring at Sasuke too.

"That's true but throwing up your food is unhealthy so I don't recommend it." Kakashi said who was completely done his dinner.

'How does he do that?' I thought as I gave Naruto a napkin to wipe his mouth.

Once everyone was done eating, and the boys didn't have any more accidents, I helped Tsunami bring the dishes to the sink so that she wasn't stuck with all of the work.

"Thank you for your help Akina, you can sit back down with your friends now." She said as she put the last dishes in the sink.

"Are you sure? I don't mind helping you clean up so that you're not stuck with all of the work."

"That's very considerate of you Akina but don't worry about me I'm used to it. So go ahead and sit back down." Seeing that she wasn't going to give in I went back to my seat next to Naruto. When I sat down though I noticed that Sakura wasn't at the table anymore, she was now in the kitchen staring at an old photograph which had a large chunk of the top right corner torn off. She must have wondered over there when I was helping Tsunami with the dishes.

"Hey Tazuna, why is this picture torn? It looks like someone was standing there before. Inari you've been staring at it all through dinner. Is there some reason for that?" The cheerful atmosphere was dropped immediately and was replaced with an awkward tension. Tazuna's face revealed sadness making the lines on his face deepen, his age really starting to show, and I couldn't really tell what Tsunami's expression was since she was focused solely on the dishes.

"That's my husband." Tsunami answered, her voice was so void of emotion compared to her usual cheerful voice.

"They used to call him a hero in this land." Tazuna said staring only at the table. Without a word Inari got up from his chair and walked out of the house, ignoring his mother's plea.

"Inari wait, where are you going? Father I told you not too talk about him like that in front of Inari, you know that!" Tsunami followed Inari out of the house. The silence that followed the door closing was deafening until Sakura spoke up.

"What happened to Inari? He's so…distant."

"Is there a story behind this?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"The man wasn't Inari's real father but you wouldn't have ever known that when you saw them together for the first time. Even so Inari looked up to him as his real father and in those days Inari would laugh and smile all of the time. But then that all ended on that cursed day, the day that caused Inari's laughter and smiles to end. The day that stole the meaning of courage from this land, and Inari was the one who suffered the most." Tazuna took a minute of silence to wipe the tears from his eyes.

"What happened to Inari?" Sakura asked.

"Everything begins with the man Inari called father, his name was Kaiza. He was a simple fisherman who came here from another country to follow his dreams. Inari first met him when a few of the local boys pushed him into the water to save his dog Pooch. Neither Inari nor Pooch could swim before that day but miraculously Pooch learned to doggy paddle at that exact moment. Inari was still in the water drowning when Kaiza pulled him out and even talked to the boys who had pushed Inari in. From that day on Inari began to follow in Kaiza's footsteps since Inari had never had a real father before. Their relationship grew to be like a real father and son, even though they had no blood relations to each other. Kaiza came around here more and more as time went on that he naturally became a part of this family. One day when a storm nearly wiped out this town Kaiza became much more, he became what this town needed. A hero. The storm was much worse than we thought it would be and when we tried to close the floodgate the water was already rushing in. The only way to close it was to actually have someone swim out there to tie a line but the current was so strong and everyone was afraid that no one would make it across. Kaiza was the only one who was brave enough to actually attempt even though everyone pleaded with him that he shouldn't do it, that it was a suicide mission. Kaiza believed that if you cared about something then protect it with both arms even if you have to put your life on the line never give up. He loved Inari and this land so he jumped in the water and was actually able to hold up against the current. They were able to close the floodgate and Kaiza was known as a hero throughout this land. He taught us all the true meaning of courage and Inari was so proud to be his son. But it wasn't long after that Gato and his men barged in here and terrorized this whole town into submission. Kaiza was the only one who would stand up to Gato. Gato had to use his whole gang just to take down one man since he didn't want a local hero to stand in his way. They tortured him to try to get him to submit but he never did, even when they smashed both of his arms making them completely useless. One day he hung Kaiza up on a pole in front of the whole town like some sort of public display. He was practically on the brink of death but he still had that fire in his eyes despite his wounded body. Inari was there as well as Gato made the whole town watch his men execute Kaiza right then and there, his punishment for his defiance. Since then Inari changed along with Tsunami and the whole town, we lost our will to fight." No one said anything as we all thought about the how much these people need us. Suddenly Naruto got up to run towards the door but he fell on his second step.

"Naruto what are you trying to do?" Sakura asked.

"You need to let your body rest Naruto, you've used a lot of your chakra today so just take it easy." Kakashi said as we watched Naruto struggle to get up.

"I'm going to prove it." He said, even his voice was slightly shaking.

"Prove what?" I asked, even though I can already guess what he is going to say.

"I'm going to prove to Inari that in this world there is such a thing as heroes."

(No one's POV)

The night was calm and silent, only disturbed by the wind rustling through the trees. The moon was full proud as it gave the earth its soft glow. Even the young ninja resting inside were sleeping soundly in their beds, their bodies exhausted from their constant training. All of the four genin shared the same room, since it was the only one available, and the girls had the right side while the boys tried to share the left. The sight of Naruto and Sasuke sleeping in the same bed would bring a smile to anyone's face and have them laughing for days about it. Sasuke was pressed all of the way against the wall to avoid Naruto's stretched out limbs. Of course Naruto of course had no idea that he was doing it as he snored, rather loudly, into his pillow. It was a good thing he was a hard sleeper or else he would have noticed that Sasuke had stolen his pillow to try to cancel out said snoring. In the other bed Sakura had enough space to spread her body and only her light breathing made any noise. Sakura rolled over and placed her hand on the spot where Akina would have been sleeping if she were there.

In the forest…

Not far from the spot where they first began their tree climbing exercise Akina panted slightly, tired from her training. All around her many of the trees had large dents in them and some had pieces lying on the ground. For the past two hours she had been working on concentrating chakra in her fists just as she had done in their first encounter with Zabuza when she saved both Naruto and Sasuke. It was hard first to try to maintain the chakra in her hands but as she let the energy flow through her it became much easier. She tried to switch the concentration between her feet and her fists as she attacked the trees and found that to be the most difficult part. Akina decided to sit down, when she felt that her legs would no longer support her, against a tree letting the cool breeze cool the sweat on her body. She only wore a pair of her favorite loose black shorts, a black sports bra and a navy blue tank top. The forest at twilight was her favorite time of the day because the world was so quiet yet that was when one could really hear the sounds of nature. Right now she could hear the rustling of the animals as the nocturnal creatures awakened from their den, the chirping of the crickets as they hopped about, and the occasional hoot of an owl. Also the smell of the trees mixed with the smell of the damp grass beneath her was something she never got tired of. Suddenly she got that feeling of being watched, a slight tingle ran up her spine. The hairs on the back of her neck were rising up. Still staying calm she let out a little bit of her chakra into the surrounding area.

'There!' Without hesitation she whipped out a kunai, that she always carried in her shorts pocket, and threw it at the location where she had found another chakra signature. She heard the sound of a thud and the rustling of the tree branches. In a moment she jumped into the tree branches of the tree behind her, beginning the chase. They ran for a little, the person going different directions to try to throw her off, but they soon stopped in one of the bushes that were huddled against some of the trees. Without a sound and her chakra completely suppressed Akina landed on a low branch right above them. A cloud passed overhead and completely blocked the light of the moon, her perfect chance to strike. She pulled another kunai from her shorts and jumped on the person's back. The person didn't know what was happening until they were lying flat on their back and Akina had her kunai pressed against their throat. The cloud passed over the moon, taking away the darkness and revealing to Akina who was watching her.

"Sasuke?" Akina was completely shocked to see that it was Sasuke who she had chased.

"Yes it's me, can you get off of me now?" Sasuke was flabbergasted at the fact of how easily she had taken him down. Not only that but he was sure that she couldn't keep up with him and he thought he had lost her when he couldn't feel her chakra any more. Akina released the kunai from his neck and allowed him to get up himself, since she could tell that she wounded his Uchiha pride.

"So what are you doing out here?" Akina asked as she began to walk back to where she threw her kunai at him.

"I could ask you the same thing since it is 2 o'clock in the morning." He said as he followed not far behind her.

"I was training. Now what are you doing out here at 2 o'clock in the morning Sasuke?" Akina stopped in front of the tree where she had first sensed Sasuke and pulled her kunai out of the trunk of the tree.

"Even when Naruto is asleep he makes so much noise with his snoring and he moves way too much." A small laugh came from Akina as she remembered looking at the boys' bed before she had sneaked out to train. She turned to go towards the house when she noticed that Sasuke had stopped walking with her. He was standing in the small clearing where she had trained in, observing all of the damage to the trees. Akina looked into his eyes and she thought that she saw a hint of jealousy in them.

"Is something wrong Sasuke?" She asked as she leaned against one of the damaged trees. He didn't answer her for a few moments, he just stared at all of the trees.

"No it's nothing." It was an obvious lie but Akina decided not to ask. Waiting for him to ask her questions if he wanted them to be answered. The walk back was pretty quiet, as Sasuke had focused all of his thoughts on what he saw. While occasionally stealing glances at her form; her flushed face, some sweat on her brow, and her hands were scuffed up as if she had been punching something hard.

'Based on the damage to the trees she wasn't working on the tree climbing exercise but then what was she doing? The damage to those trees points out that she had used an attack but what kind? Was it taijutsu or ninjutsu? Is that why her hands look like that? How strong is she because I'm pretty sure none of us have seen much of it since she arrived at the village. Is it something she learned from the Mist Village?'

"Spar with me. Right now." Akina was shocked at his words, completely stopping in place, but his eyes showed that he was completely serious. They were already at the edge of the forest and soon they would be walking on the dock towards Tazuna's house.

"It's late Sasuke lets just go back." Akina said as she continued to walk away but Sasuke appeared before her, blocking her path.

"No. I wanna see what you've learned by being in the Hidden Mist Village because none of us really know what you're capable of. It seems that you know a lot more than you lead on." Akina was silent for a moment as she tried to understand where this sudden reaction came from.

'But then again they haven't seen what I can really do. And Sasuke must be frustrated because he feels as though what he has learned up to this point has been insignificant in terms of the recent events.' Akina thought as she also tried to figure out how to avoid sparing with Sasuke.

"It's not that I know more than you guys it's just that when you grow up in the Mist Village you had to learn things fast in order to survive. Even though time has changed since Zabuza went to the academy the whole demeanor of it hasn't. It's a kill or be killed world so you have to be ready to be the killer instead of the prey. Which is why I train so hard and I can comprehend things faster than you guys, it's a tough world with strong opponents. And I want to be ready to defend the people I care about against any who wish to cause them harm. Now if you don't mind I am tired and I'm going to go to bed." Without another word or glance Akina walked right past Sasuke and headed towards the house. Sasuke let her walk away as he thought about what she said and something else he had noticed. As she had been talking her violet eyes took on this hard expression as if she was guarding something but there was a smaller one there hiding behind that tough demeanor.

The small expression he saw in her eyes was sadness.

Looking back towards the house he saw no one there, only the clashing of the waves greeted him along with the somber light of the moon.

'Who are you Akina Yukito?'

Sorry if it seems short or if there were mistakes. I'm still not sure about the ending, that was the part that put me in a writer's block for a day or two. But I'm a little happy that Sasuke and Akina had a small bonding moment. Do not worry there will not be friend-turned-love relationship between them. That's a little cliche in my mind, sorry if that offends anyone.