Sorry about not polishing this chapter the first time, Thank you Samsa for your review. I see what you mean by it and have been trying to improve so my writing is more fluid without as many abrupt halts. If anyone else has constructive criticism to give please do. Also, while this chapter is more or less the same, I have replaced some parts and taken other out. So I do urge those who have already read the chapter to read it again, but it's not necessary in order to understand future chapters.
-Scroll to the bottom for information about future chapters.
I do not own Naruto- that right is given to Kishimoto and the other creators of this incredible world of fantasy
Naruto was bored. He hated walking at a civilian's pace, it was so… slow. For a boy who struggled to sit still, he was mentally tearing his hair out. He had run out of tags to write seals on and had grown bored of the kunai exercise. He had asked Sasuke if he had brought his lightning scroll, but apparently Sasuke had left it at home and had only brought a genjutsu scroll to practice with. Naruto didn't dare try and make conversation with Hinata. While he had promised to no longer be blatantly rude to her, that didn't mean he had to get along with her. So he opted to ask Kakashi if he had any ideas.
"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. Do you have any chakra exercises for me? Or maybe a new jutsu to practice?!". Kakashi was not surprised the blonde had gotten bored and sighed knowing that he now had to somehow entertain the energetic blonde. Kakashi looked around for anything to give him an idea for what he could send Naruot off to do. Looking to the trees he got an idea "How about you work on your chakra affinities? Grab a leaf and try to only cause one reaction to occur. Try starting with your wind chakra" suggested the lazy Jounin, he really just wanted to read his book, and if he had to deal with Naruto's complaining all the time, he wouldn't be able to finish a paragraph by the end of the trip. Granted this was his 18th time reading it, but he found the book just got better each time.
Naruto was satisfied with this suggestion and ran to the side of the road to grab some leaves. Putting them in his pocket, he left one out and tried to channel only wind chakra into it. It resulted in the same reaction that happened with the paper when Kakashi had tested their abilities. This didn't faze Naruto though, he had struggled all his life. And he knew nothing comes for free, you had to work for it. Whether it be learning something new, or gaining the respect and trust of another, he had to work. And being the jinjuriki he had it 3 times harder than everyone else. Taking out another leaf Naruto continued the exercise again and again.
Hinata had brought her taijutsu, medical ninjutsu, and water jutsu scrolls. Currently she was studying her medical ninjutsu scroll. Since she had already learned much about the human body when learning the juuken fighting style, she was able to understand the scroll generally. However, that didn't make the more advanced jutsu any easy to perform. How to assess a person's health sure, but this stuff was on for healing bigger injuries like reattaching a torn arm. Hinata currently could heal bigger cuts and burns, and for the injuries she knew she couldn't fix up, she had some healing ointments and a first aid kit so she could hopefully stabilize whoever was hurt until she could find a better healer.
She too knew that the only way to progress was to work hard. Both her cousin and sister were prodigies in the juuken fighting style. Hinata practices for hours on end to keep ahead of her sister, and still her sister was close to beating her in single combat. However, she could only do the same thing for so long before she became frustrated with the poor results.
Rolling up her scroll, Hinata decided to take a break from training and take in her surroundings. Looking at the sky, she saw it was a bright baby blue, and the clouds light and fluffy. Hinata's shoulders relaxed for a second, breaking her usually stiff posture. She loved the feeling she got when she looked at the sky. It made her feel free from her responsibilities, something she had only felt around her mother when she was little.
Bringing her gaze back to the road, her shoulders returned to their original position and she looked to see what everyone else was doing. Sasuke had been practicing a lightning jutsu that she had seen him try to perform for weeks now. It could supposedly numb or paralyzed opponents, but it was a jutsu that required him to touch the enemy to have effect. So while it was great in close combat, the practicing of the jutsu had to be done in intervals so as to allow his hands to recover from being numbed with the lack of control Sasuke had on the jutsu.
Naruto was staring at a leaf with a focus that could cut through the steel. Suddening the leaf split in half perfectly down the middle. A smile grew in his face, going from ear to ear, he had been trying to only cut a leaf for the past hour and had finally succeeded. He had started a little dance of happiness, and quite a bizarre one at that. If she remembered correctly Then, just as quickly as he started celebrating he grabbed another leaf and went to do it again. There weren't many good things Hinata thought about Naruto, but she had to admit he was determined and confident, although, she could also argue that his confidence is just stupidity.
Tazuna had started talking with Kakashi-sensei about something while occasionally taking sips from his bottle of sake. Kakashi had put away his perverted book and was enjoying the conversation with Tazuna. Hinata had lost a great deal of respect for her sensei after she went to the library to learn about the book. On the other hand, she didn't know what to think about her teammates, and their reaction to the book the day of the bell test. Although, a factor to her not being able to come to a conclusion about her teammates was that she was infuriated that Naruto would create such a perverted jutsu and that Sasuke would learn it. Although she had witnessed Naruto and Sasuke pull many pranks on Kakashi whenever he went to a book club meeting or would walk around reading the book. She was confused by her teammates' actions, 'are they perverts or not?'.
As she looked around, Hinata noticed a puddle of water on the side of the road. She knew this area hadn't received rain for weeks, and would've dried up all the rain water. She ran up and was about to inform Kakashi-sensei when he said, "Get the others and make your way towards Tazuna". Hinata was surprised that Kakashi had noticed the puddle. He had shown no signs of noticing. Nodding, Hinata made her way to Naruto and Sasuke, whispering the plan. Sasuke stopped practicing his jutsu, shoving his half numb hands in his pockets. Naruto nodded in understanding, putting his hands behind his head, trying to act casual. Making their way to make a defensive circle around Tazuna, the three kept a sharp eye, looking for any ambushers.
Kakashi had slowed down to lag behind the group. He had pulled out his book so he didn't look to be on guard. Suddenly the water in the puddle rose and formed into two terrifying looking men. One had a cloak hiding his body and a ninja forehead protector with a horn sticking out from it. The other was without a cloak and had a horn on each side of the forehead protector. He had a strange claw on his left hand with a spiked chain running from the claw to the cloak of the other. They then blitzed to Kakashi and wrapped the chain around him. The cloaked brother had a clawed hand too, on his right hand, and it was the other end to the chain. Pulling hard, the two tore Kakashi apart.
The genins' eyes widened in shock, they just saw their sensei torn to smithereens. Once they finished Kakashi the duo turned towards the genin and charged, stretching the chain in between them. Hinata was in shock, at witnessing the death of her sensei, memories of her mother surfacing. Sasuke started hyperventilating, he still was coping with the PTSD from the massacre. While Naruto was distressed by the turn of events too, he knew if he didn't act his teammates would be in the same boat as his sensei. Meeting the enemy's charge, Naruto shouted "Shadow Clone Jutsu!". 20 Narutos appeared and joined the original. When the two forces met, claws met Kunai and smoke filled the area. Recovering from the initial shock after a minute, Hinata and Sasuke ran to join their teammate. Naruto had delayed the two, but was now avoiding a multitude of slashes. Thanks to the Narutos the two were distracted and didn't notice Sasuke and Hinata till the last second. Hinata was able to block enough chakra points to paralyze the one with the cloak, and Sasuke had placed the other under a genjutsu and had started tying him up.
Naruto smirked, his team had just taken out two chunin level ninja easily. Kakashi saw the fight was done and walked out from the tree line unscathed. Seeing their sensei, the genin had their jaws drop, looking back to where they saw him get tore up, they saw a pile of logs. "Well done team, there were definitely points we could improve upon, but no one got hurt". As he finished, the assailant Sasuke had tied up had managed to escape the genjutsu and had managed to cut his bonds. The clawed man made a swipe for Naruto. Hinata saw this and juuken striked the man sending him flying, away from Naruto and into a tree, knocking him unconscious. Naruto's eyes were wide, 'I could've been killed by that! If Hinata hadn't acted I would've been seriously hurt or worse! Hinata for Kami's sake! She hates me!'. Hinata stood in front of the tree she had hit the man into, turning around she scowled at Naruto. "Hey Uzumaki-teme. Pay attention or else you're gonna…", Hinata started swaying, "get...killed". Hinata then fell to the ground. Her team and Tazuna rushed to her. When she had hit the man attacking Naruto. He had managed to claw her hand, leaving a nasty cut. Kakashi went over to the unconscious man and inspected the claw for a minute before announcing "This claw is coated with poison. Naruto, patch her up!". Naruto flinched for a second, and was about to question Kakashi about how he knew he could patch Hinata up, but then remembered what Hiashi had said and that Hinata could die if he didn't act fast. Taking out a first aid kit from his backpack Naruto got to work.
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Naruto wiped his brow as he finished patching Hinata up. Sitting her up against a tree Naruto turned to Kakashi with a dark look in his eyes. "How did you know I could do it?". Sasuke was suspicious of his sensei too. He knew Naruto had been studying first aid since their third year in the academy, and could deal with venom no problem. 'How did Kakashi know? Naruto has only spoken with me about him learning first aid. And that was a year ago. Naruto hasn't brought it up since. Nor has he shown any skill in first aid during training or anywhere else. If he knows about this, what else does he know about us?'. Sasuke then gave his sensei an inquiring look, showing he also wanted to know. Kakashi smiled and said " Well I was passing through the Library and saw some of your clones reading. One of them was reading a very advanced medical book, that someone who wasn't knowledgeable in the field wouldn't be able to understand". Naruto held his dark gaze at his sensei, then sighed. Deciding pushing further would do him no good, Naruto turned to look at the men that attacked them. "So who are these punks anyways?".
"They're B-class criminals, TheDemon Brothers. They're missing nin from the Hidden Mist Village. I'm guessing they were hired to take out Tazuna on his way back to the village. Such powerful criminals rank higher than a simple C-rank mission," Kakashi said with a narrowed eye turning to Tazuna.
Tazuna sighed in defeat, and explained his village's situation. How a crime boss, named Gato, has monopolized all the ship ports and has put his village in poverty. How the thugs and thieves take most of the village's money and sometimes kidnap young women in the middle of the night for their personal pleasures.
Naruto and Sasuke were furious, both leaking enough killing intent to make Tazuna sweat bullets. Kakashi knew these two wouldn't abandon this village for nothing, but he decided to make it worth the Leaf's while. "While that is unfortunate, we can't just liberate an entire town for free. If you used all the town's money for this mission, that means you can't afford the entire mission. Come on you two, we're going back to the leaf". Sasuke scowled at Kakashi, and Naruto was about to go in a rant when Tazuna stepped in " please help my village, we might not be able to pay you now, but we were once a decently wealthy village and can pay your village double the appropriate price once we are able to get things back to the way they were''. Kakashi acted like he was considering the offer and smiled, "Well I'd say that seems fair. Now we can't leave these two on the side of the road, so I'm going to send a message to the leaf for a retrieval team and to explain recent developments. Naruto, go check on Hinata and try to wake her up if she seems healthy enough".
Naruto smiled and nodded, he was about to go off at his sensei for ignoring Tazuna's village. But he now realized that his sensei never meant to abandon the village, he just wanted to make sure they profited from it. Turning his attention to Hinata his mood soured, he checked her forehead and felt that she wasn't burning up. He then started to lightly shake her, then he did light taps to her arm. Nothing. Taking a little water from a water bottle he splashed a little on her face. Nothing. Sighing, he turned to Kakashi and said " she's out cold. My guess is she'll be asleep for another two hours at least''. Sasuke smirked and said, "well I guess you'll have to carry her". "What?! Why do I have to carry her?!" Naruto shouted. " Well I'm carrying her pack, and Kakashi needs to be ready to defend against enemies, so… that leaves you to carry her" Sasuke reasoned. Naruto scowled at his smirking friend, readjusting his pack, and with a little help from Sasuke, they got Hinata on his back so he could carry her piggyback. When Kakashi got back he giggled seeing the scene of Naruto with a sleeping Hinata on his back. Naruto heard Kakashi's giggle and said "Take a picture, it'll last longer. Now let's go so we can kick some crime boss butt!". The group set off once more for Tazuna's village.
As Naruto guessed, Hinata had woken up about two hours later with a headache. Because of the headache, she didn't take note of her surroundings and snuggled her face in Naruto's back trying to block out the world. Naruto blushed at this and took a flask out of his pocket and held it next to his ear saying "here, take this, it'll help with the headache". Hinata still wasn't processing who was carrying her, all she knew was that she wanted this headache to stop and go back to sleep. Grabbing the flask Hinata downed the foul tasting liquid and handed it back to Naruto. After a few minutes, her headache went away and Hinata started to take in her surroundings groggily. She saw she was moving, and realized she was being carried. Whipping her head forward she saw it was Naruto who was carrying her.
Hinata's face turned pink as she questioned her teammate, "W-What are y-you doing?!".Naruto weakly smiled at the embarrassed Hyuga, "well you passed out from the poison and after patching you up, somehow I was left to be the one to carry you as we continued to wave country". After a few seconds of processing Hinata nodded in understanding and moved to get off Naruto. Naruto let her down without fuss and continued walking. Hinata went over to get her pack from Sasuke, and as she grabbed her pack she noticed the bandage around her hand. It was skillfully done, and investigating further, was a correct response to poison. "Who did this?" Hinata asked Sasuke. "It was Naruto. Had he not been here, you would've eventually died from it". Hinata was surprised by this information. 'Naruto was the one to do this? What other secrets are you hiding Naruto Uzumaki?'. Swinging her pack over her shoulder Hinata walked on trying to analyze Naruto, wondering what else he was hiding.
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Several Days Later
The group arrived at a foggy shore where a small boat was beached. Everyone but Kakashi piled in and the jounin was the one to push the boat into the water, before jumping aboard and taking a seat to rest. Unfortunately the boat was meant for 4 people, Naruto volunteered to stand on the floor of the boat using chakra to keep him from falling off so his sensei could rest after being on alert for the past few days.
Arriving at the halfway point of their journey across, the genin looked in wonder at the huge bridge being built above them. "Impressive huh? That's what's going to save our village. With that, Gato won't be able to prevent us from trading and we'll be able to live happily " Tazuna said with pride. He had made many impressive and fancy bridges in his life, but this one meant the most to him. 'Once this bridge is finished, my village will have part of their suffering relieved'.
To get out of the boat, the riders had to beach the boat. The beaching caused Naruto to fall from the sudden stop. He had stopped using chakra to keep stable after getting distracted with Tazuna's bridge. This caused him to fall face first into Hinata's chest. Naruto froze, and Hinata looked down at him. Those watching could count to 5 before both genin turned scarlet and with the speed of Gai, hopped out of the boat and twenty feet apart on shore. Tazuna and Kakashi chuckled at the scene before them, Sasuke had raised his eyebrows in surprise and was thankful Hinata wasn't getting angry, otherwise his friend may not return from this mission in one piece.
Tazuna decided he had enjoyed the adorable scene in front of him long enough. "Alright you pubescent teenageers, let's get going. I've got a bridge to build and don't have the time to watch you two be embarrassed all day". Naruto and Hinata turned even more red, making multiple rude refutations to Tazuna's tease. Sasuke's sweat dropped and Kakashi smiled. The group started walking through the woods to get to the village when they came across a clearing connecting to a lake. When they reached the center of it, Kakashi and Naruto stopped. Both because of instincts from years of experience, though, it was two different kinds of experience. The two then started to draw kunai. Hinata and Sasuke followed. "Hinata, Naruto, Sasuke. Triangle formation around Tazuna, Hinata use your byakugan to try and find who's here" Kakashi ordered.
The genin nodded and huddled up, activating her byakugan, Hinata's world went monochromatic. Hinata threw a kunai into a tree to the left of her and silence followed after the rustle of the leaves. Cruel Laughter full of bloodlust filled the air, walking out of the trees was a tall skinny man with a slight build, that carried a huge sword on his back. "So… what do we have here? Kakashi of the sharingan, a Hyuga, and two brats. To think the leaf has fallen so far as to send a team so weak on such a mission. For those of you who don't know, I am the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza, and this will be your final resting spot. Hidden Mist Jutsu!". A thick fog filled the clearing, making it impossible to see except if you were a Hyuga. "Duck!" Hinata shouted, seconds later the massive sword came spinning overhead, and would've beheaded all of the genin and cut Tazuna in half. The sword slammed into a tree and stopped halfway through the trunk. Zabuza then landed on the handle. Then he disappeared in a burst of speed, and landed in the middle of the triangle about to cut down Hinata, trying to cripple his opponents. Kakashi met Zabuza's sword with a kunai and now had his forehead protector pulled up to show a sharingan in his left eye.
Kakashj then stabbed a kunai into Zabuza's stomach, only to have him explode into water. Kakashi then turned around to block Zabuza's sword again, forcing him to bring a knee to the ground for support before puffing into smoke. The two jounin level shinobi then battled it out, and the clanging of metal filled the air. Eventually Kakashi was able to get past Zabuza's defenses and stab him in the chest. Zabuza burst into water. The real Zabuza fell from above and cut Kakashi cleanly in two, only to have Kakashi fall into a puddle of water. Zabuza then felt a blade at his throat. "It's over" Kakashi stated. Zabuza smiled and replied, "I don't think so". At that moment another water clone went to slash Kakashi. Kakashi dodged and landed on the nearby lake.
Zabuza chuckled, "Wrong move, Water Prison Jutsu!". Water formed a bubble around Kakashi, and any attempts he made at breaking it was futile. "Take care of the brats!" Zabuza ordered his clone, while he himself ran across the water as if it were solid ground, to place a hand in Kakashi's prison. The other Zabuza rushed the genin, Hinata went to meet it while Sasuke and Naruto threw kunai and shuriken. The clone dodged the projectiles, and ducked under Hinata's attack. Then he sent her flying backwards with a kick to the stomach and readied his sword. Naruto had an idea come to him and ran over to Hinata to tell her his plan. Naruto then made a clone, and said "Transformation Jutsu". Naruto then turned to Sasuke and shouted "Hey Sasuke! Catch!" he then threw a folded up windmill shuriken. Sasuke caught it and realized what was happening. Sasuke smirked and turned to the clone of Zabuza. He then unfolded the shuriken and started to charge. Naruto had summoned some clones to aid Sasuke. Zabuza's clone readied his sword and started destroying the Narutos with ease, making its way to Sasuke. Sasuke used this distraction to hurl the shuriken at Zabuza's clone. The clone leaned back matrix style to avoid the shuriken. The shuriken continued and was on a one way course to the actual Zabuza who had his hand in the water orb containing Kakashi so the leaf Jounin couldn't escape. Seeing the shuriken approach him, Zabuza jumped and turned upside down, feeling the blades shave off a few hairs from the top of his head.
Once the shuriken had passed a few meters, it burst into smoke to leave Hinata behind. "Water Gun Jutsu!". A beam of water shot from her finger at Zabuza. To avoid having his arm cut clean off, Zabuza jumped away from Kakashi, setting him free. Hinata cancelled the Jutsu and crashed into the water. Resurfacing, she used water jutsu to propel herself to the shore and join Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto had turned a clone into Hinata while Hinata turned into a shuriken. Using Zabuza's clone's surprise of seeing two Hinatas, Naruto and Sasuke were able to hit it with multiple kunai and destroy it. The trio of genin now watched their sensei staring down Zabuza.
Without any warning the two started making hand signs so fast, their hands became blurs. Simultaneously they shouted "Water Dragon Jutsu!". The lake water started to rise and then rushed at their caster's opponent, forming into two fearsome dragons as they sped towards the other. The two dragons coiled around each other to burst into an explosion of water after sinking their fangs into the other. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as Zabuza's widened. 'WHAT! That Jutsu is a secret to the Hidden Mist! And it wasn't developed till after the 3rd Great Shinobi War! How does he know it!' Zabuza narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out the silver haired jounin. 'Well, I'll just hit him with my own invention!', before Zabuza had started making signs Kakashi had started making his own. Zabuza didn't pay much attention to what Kakashi was doing, just enough so he could avoid any possible attacks. Kakashi finished and shouted "Tidal Wave Jutsu!". Zabuza was in horror, he had just shouted out the same jutsu and his own tidal wave to cancel out kakashi's. Zabuza was panting from the amount of chakra it had cost. Zabuza was trying to figure out how Kakashi had known that jutsu! And Kakashi had performed it before him, so he couldn't have copied it! 'How did he know…' "how to perform that jutsu?" Kakashi finished Zabuza's thought. Zabuza flinched in fear, saying "How is this possible? Can you...", "see into the future? Yes, and your future has you dying real soon" Kakashi answered. Zabuza paled and started to run.
He didn't get far thanks to a pair of senbon needles puncturing his neck before he could leave the water, causing him to drop dead. A strange person wearing a green robe, and white mask appeared to catch Zabuza and turned to Kakashi. "I'm a hunter nin from kuri. I've been after this one for a while, thank you for stalling him long enough" the mysterious person said. They then disappeared into the trees with Zabuza's body. Kakashi was too tired to give much thought to the hunter nin. He shuffled to the shore and collapsed. The genin rushed over to their sensei. Hinata immediately started scanning him for injuries, after a minute of scanning his body for damage, she sighed in relief and informed her teammates, "He's just facing chakra exhaustion, while it's not great, it could be worse". Naruto let out the breath he had been holding and Sasuke nodded. While he was concerned for his sensei's health, something just didn't sit right with him. Something about that hunter nin was off, but he just couldn't think of what it was.
Tazuna jogged up to the genin and saw that their sensei needed to rest. "C'mon, he can rest in my house, it's not too far from here". Naruto and Sasuke got Kakashi to hang between them, an arm around their shoulders, and dragged their sensei to Tazuna's house on the outskirts of the village.
Entering the house, they were greeted by Tazuna's Daughter, Tsunami. She hurried Naruto and Sasuke into a spare room to let their sensei rest in. Laying him down on a guest futon. The two boys then flopped on the floor, tired from the excitement of the day. Hinata, while just as tired, resisted the urge to join them, and instead sat with her back to the wall. It was late, and the genin fell asleep within seconds. Watching from the doorway, Tsunami smiled at the sight, 'they look so peaceful'. Forcing herself away from the scene, she went to get some rest too. On her way she passed by her father passed out on the couch and quickly covered him with a blanket so he wouldn't catch a cold. Seeing her father and the ninja were okay, she entered her room and went to sleep.
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Hinata had woken up finding herself using Naruto's shoulder as a pillow, with his arm wrapped around her waist. She felt a blush adorn her cheeks for a second, but then remembered the events from yesterday, becoming angry at the blonde for his pervertedness. Fortunately for her, everyone else was sound asleep, so no one was able to stop the Hyuga from standing up and Juuken striking Naruto in the stomach. Naruto coughed in pain, and had woken up from the strike only to pass out right after, his limbs twitching. She didn't get to do this last time since she was too embarrassed at the boat to do anything, and she had known they'd need him in top condition for any attacks. Having taught Naruto his lesson, Hinata walked out of the room to see who else was awake, and if she could find anything for breakfast.
Naruto woke up in pain, and saw Sasuke and Hinata had left the room and only Kakashi-sensei was left. Naruto couldn't remember why he was in pain though. He had been having a nice dream about resting in the forest with this cute girl from Konoha he had a little crush on. They were laying down on a hill, his arm around her waist, and her head on his shoulder, when suddenly he was woken up to a searing pain in his stomach, only to blackout before he could process what had happened. Getting up, Naruto made his way to find food.
Opening the door to the room Naruto was met with Hinata staring at him as if he was the devil itself. While he was used to getting called a demon, this was a look that tried to kill him like no other. Naruto slowly closed the door and let out the breath he had been holding before trying to make sense of his terrifying teammate. 'WHAT WAS THAT?! I know she hates me, but what did I do to deserve that! Is she just now getting angry at the boat incident?!'. After a couple minutes and multiple deep breaths, Naruto steeled his nerves and walked out the door, trying to ignore Hinata's gaze and sat down at the table. Tsunami had made a western breakfast, eggs and sausage. Since the Land of Waves used to be a huge trading nation, many foreign cultures had influenced the country.
The dish in front of Naruto smelled divine, and he was starving, having not eaten since yesterday's lunch. Picking up the strange tool called a fork, Naruto shoveled the meal into his mouth. He didn't have a lot of home cooked meals, but he sure did enjoy them. They just had this comforting feeling. Naruto didn't know what to call it, but it reminded him of how families looked in Konoha, happy. Naruto only had this feeling when at Sasuke's house when they were younger and with Hitomi-sama. However, over the years, Naruto slowly forgot what that feeling felt like. While the breakfast wasn't the same level of that feeling, it was enough to make Naruto smile.
Having finished his meal Naruto looked around, seeing what everyone else was doing. Tazuna was at the end of the table with a cup of coffee and a blueprint, Tsunami was at the sink washing dishes, Hinata had abandoned her stare and had gone back to reading her medical ninjutsu scroll. Sasuke was still eating, having taken his time when eating his food. While this didn't seem strange to anyone else, Naruto new Sasuke was savoring every bite, remembering happy memories with his family with every bite. Seeing Sasuke do this Naruto was reminded that Hinata also was a victim of the death of a family member. Looking back at the Hyuga, Naruto wondered 'is she missing this feeling too?'.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Naruto decided to ask about this bridge they'd be protecting, "so Tazuna, how many people are working on that bridge?". Tazuna looked up from his paper and decided to humor the boy's curiosity. "Well, only 30 of them are getting paid, the rest are towns people that want to help out. So in total it's about 43 people working on it. The reason why production has stopped is because of Gato sending men to terrorize the builders". "Hmm, I'm guessing production has been on hold since you left?" Naruto said. "Yes, it'll take a few days to get word out that we're starting it back up, so feel free to explore the village, train, or get some alone time with that girlfriend of yours" Tazuna said, taking a sip from his coffee. Naruto and Hinata turned beet red and once again made multiple rude refutations to Tazuna's claim. Sasuke smirked at the two, enjoying the scene.
It was then Kakashi decided to enter the room, after waking up 2 minutes prior. He was using the door frame for support as he addressed his team, "It's nice to see you all are enjoying yourselves. Tsunami, are there any crutches I can borrow?". Tsunami nodded and went into a closet in the hallway. She pulled out a pair of simple wooden crutches and handed them to Kakashi. Getting them into place, Kakashi sighed as his muscles relaxed a little. "Okay, now that I can move, I want you all to be ready to train in 30 minutes, we have some time before the builders are ready to come back, and I have some things to teach you before we fight Gato's thugs and gangsters". Naruto threw a fist in the air, excited to learn something new from his sensei.
"What's the point of training? You're just gonna die anyways". All heads turned to a little boy standing at the bottom of the stairs. He had dark hair like his mother's but it was more brown compared to her black. "What did you say kid?" Naruto asked, ticked off at the boy's comment. "You heard me blondy. Heroes don't miraculously show up and save the day. They die when they actually are up against people with power, and suffer because of their stupidity". "Inari! These are our guests! Please don't be rude" Tsunami snapped, pain evident within her voice. Kakashi had endured a multitude of different types of pain, and could now identify almost any emotional pain. This was the pain of the loss of a loved one. 'I'm guessing his father'. Kakashi watched as Inari silently left to his room. Tsunami sat down at the table with her head down and explained how Inari's step-father, Kaiza, was the village hero, and how when Gato arrived Kaiza was the only one to stand up to the crime boss. She burst into tears, not being able to continue the story, leaving Tazuna to finish the story. Team 7 continued to listen and learned that Kaiza had been publicly humiliated and killed in front of Inari, and how, ever since Inari has blamed Kaiza for leaving him for a foolish cause.
As Tazuna finished, silence fell over the room. All of Team 7 had related to Inari's pain. They all suffered their own forms of pain, but Hinata felt hurt most by this story. It was so similar to her own pain, she felt a sense of kinship with the boy. She decided to have a talk with him before she left for training.
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Hinata walked up to Inari's door and knocked gently. A muffled "Come in" could be heard on the other side of the door. Hinata stepped inside and saw Inari at the window with his head buried in his arms. "What do you want? Are you going to beat me up for insulting your pride?" Inari asked mockingly. Hinata stayed silent for a second before speaking "I'm sorry about your step-father". Inari's eyes widened and had started to cry. "He seems like he was a good man, kind, caring, and brave". Inari's turned around shouting "YA, THAT DUMB BRAVERY ENDED UP KILLING HIM!", tears still falling from his eyes. "Your step-father was not stupid for being brave when no one else was. He was a man of honor, and should be respected as such" Hinata warned. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LOSING SOMEONE! YOU PROBABLY BECAME A NINJA FOR THE GLORY AND MONEY! TO BE A HERO! HEROS ARE THE FIRST TO DIE, BUT YOU WOULDN'T KNOW THIS BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN SHELTERED ALL YOUR LIFE BY YOUR MOMMY AND DADDY. BELIEVING THAT THE WORLD WILL SHOW MERCY TO YOU WHEN YOU ACTUALLY GET INTO DANGER! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY PAIN!" Inari exclaimed, blinded by his emotions.
Hinata took a deep breath to calm herself, buried emotions surfacing, "Actually I do. Just like you lost your Step-Father, I lost my Mother. She was my hero, she made me feel confident. Not that that confidence would last much after I actually tried talking to someone. Unlike you however, I didn't give up on heroes like her. Instead I strive to become one, because that's what she would've wanted me to do! And it's what Kaiza would've wanted you to do! Don't disrespect his memory by cursing those who strive to be like him!". Inari flinched at being accused of disrespecting his step-father, admitting that's what he had done. "You're not the only one who knows pain, and your's isn't the worst of it. Sasuke, the one with black hair, lost his entire family in one night. And you know who killed them? His own brother" Hinata finished, leaving Inari sitting on the floor consumed by his thoughts. After a minute, Hinata went to leave, and on her way out she heard a soft, "I'm so sorry". Hinata then felt a single tear roll down her cheek. A lot of buried emotions resurfaced, and she hoped they would go away soon. Wiping away the tear, Hinata went to prepare for training hoping it would help drown the pain.
At the bottom of the next chapter I'll list the ships I have for the konoha 11 + Sasuke. However, I'm taking suggestions for Sakura. I was thinking Rock Lee, but if any of you have a better ship, please tell.