"It's true. He did die."

Naruto rose back to shore, only to hear the calm, chilling voice in his ear. He looked over to where his teammates were looking. A masked ninja standing on top of a branch, the wind blowing hard on the clothes and hair of the ninja.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the person, before averting his gaze down to the seemingly dead Zabuza.

The rest of the Genin, along with Tazuna, were shocked too. They had so much difficulty fighting Zabuza, yet this guy, who looks no taller and Sasuke, easily took him out. Sure, it was a sneak attack, but…

Still…

Kakashi walked over to the body of Zabuza, checking his pulse to see if he was alive. He shifted his gaze over to the two senbon embedded in the side of his neck.

"He really is dead. And from such precise senbon throws…" To say Kakashi was amazed was an understatement. In his many years of being a Shinobi, he doesn't remember ever encountering someone who can use senbon this efficiently and skillfully.

The masked nin on the branch tilted his or her head forward, as if to take a polite bow to the group.

"Thank you very much. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."

"That mask...if my memory serves me right, then you are a hunter-nin from Kirigakure." Kakashi stated as he looked at the symbol engrained on the mask.

"You are very well informed." The boy complimented as he stood up fully.

"H-Hunter-nins? T-The kind that assassinate exiled ninja who go against the village they originally aligned with?" Hinata widened her eyes as she quivered in her place.

From his height and voice, he seems to be around the same as Naruto and the other two. Yet...he's a hunter-nin. Kakashi thought to himself as the mere sight of the boy reminded him of his days in the Anbu.

Naruto took a quick look at Zabuza's corpse, and then at the hunter-nin, constantly switching his views of the two, before settling his eyes on the nin in front of him, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Naruto bellowed out of anger, the volume of his voice surprising Tazuna, Hinata, and Sasuke to some extent. Naruto took multiple breaths, inhaling and exhaling repeatedly. "Did you hear me?! Who the hell are you?!"

"Stand down, Naruto. He is not an enemy." Kakashi commanded his student, much to the boy's dismay as he shot his body towards his sensei, the look of confusion and some other emotions on his face.

Anger? Sadness? Perhaps even the feeling of weakness?

"That's not the point! The point is that Zabuza was so strong that he even managed to take you off guard! The three of us stood no chance, while this guy, this kid, who looks like he's no older than me, comes out of nowhere and kills him with one move! What does that make the three of us?! What do we know?! Why does that even matter?!" Naruto questioned his sensei, who began walking towards him slowly.

"Well, you're right, it might be difficult to understand. But it still happened, Naruto." He threw his hand upon Naruto's blonde hair, causing the boy to wince. "In this world, there are kids how are younger than you...and yet stronger than me."

"Kgh!" Sasuke grunted out of anger at the statement. The fact that he, Sasuke Uchiha, got his ass whooped by Kakashi, and that there could be a boy younger than even him, a 12-year old, who is stronger than Kakashi and Zabuza?! He refused to believe this!

The hunter-nin lifted his hand as a gust of wind encircled him, and in a flash, he wasn't on the branch anymore. Then, he appeared right next to Zabuza's body.

He picked up the body, wrapping Zabuza's limo around his neck, carrying the body.

"Your battle ends here for now. Now, I must go and dispose of this corpse." The nin stated nonchalantly, "It is one filled with many secrets. Now, if you'll excuse me."

The ninja lifted up his hand, preparing to use the wind technique he had just used to move away, but right before he did, Hinata quickly reactivated her Byakugan and scanned Zabuza's body, and what she saw surprised her.

He's still alive...but how, Kakashi-sensei said he had no pulse...useless, the senbon were used to put him in a near-death state. Hinata surmised in her head, deactivating her Byakugan and turning to her sensei, who had just watched the hunter-nin disappear right from their eyes.

Kakashi sighed as he grabbed his headband, pulling it down to cover his Sharingan.

Naruto snapped, he dropped down to the ground out of anger and began to punch the ground as hard as he could out of rage, shouting 'Damn it!' with each blow that he dealt to the ground.

But just like how the situation wouldn't change by whining, the ground wouldn't change with Naruto's punches.

Kakashi grabbed Naruto's arm, "These things happen when you are a ninja. If you don't like it, then save your anger for next time."

Naruto's gaze at the ground softened as he forced a hand onto the dirt.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered out of concern for her crush.

Kakashi turned towards her and the other two, "Our mission is still in-progress. We need to take Tazuna-san back to his house."

"U-Umm...K-Kakashi-sensei…" Hinata murmured, her trademark stuttering returning once again. It was weird, she didn't stutter once in the fight against Zabuza, and here she was doing it again.

"Yes?"

"Z-Zabuza...isn't dead."

"What?"

"I-I could still see him, just barely alive. H-His Chakra was still r-running throughout his body." Hinata informed her sensei.

Kakashi's now only visible eye narrowed as he gave her statement some thought. "Hmm, come to think of it, hunter-nins are generally supposed to destroy a rogue ninja's body immediately after killing them. Well then, it looks like they'll be back. Good work, Hinata."

Now normally, Hinata would have taken the praise immensely, as she barely had ever gotten praise from others, and just getting a simple 'Good job' from someone could boost her confidence up just a little bit.

At the moment however, she paid it no heed.

"W-What?!" Naruto exclaimed out of shock, widening his eyes. Even Sasuke was surprised as well, and a little afraid along with it. If that hunter-nin was with Zabuza, and he took him down and made it seem like he died just like that, then he must be just as skilled as Zabuza.

"Well, let's think about that later. For now, let's go get Tazuna-san back to his…" Kakashi trailed off as he felt a wobble in his legs, they began to feel like jelly as he dropped down onto the ground.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried out in surprise, running over to the Jonin, prompting the other three to do the same.

"D-Don't worry...I'm fine…" Kakashi grunted as his visible eye winced. "The aftereffects of using the Sharingan for an extended amount of time…"

I see...after all, he isn't an Uchiha by blood, his body doesn't have the strength to handle the strain of the Sharingan. Sasuke concluded inwardly.

"My house isn't very far from here." Tazuna spoke up. The Genin nodded as Tazuna decided to pick up Kakashi's body, all by himself.

"Let's go, before they come back."

Later-Tazuna's House

"Are you okay, Kakashi-san?" The daughter of Tazuna, named Tsunami, asked the Jonin, who was now lying down on a sleeping mat due to exhaustion.

"No. I don't think I can move at maximum potential for a couple of days." Kakashi answered bluntly as he raised his head off of the pillow.

"If that's the case, then don't move around so much."

"Alright." Kakashi obeyed as he put his head down, letting the blanket drape over practically all of his body.

"Sensei's awake!" Naruto's voice came in an excited manner as he, Sasuke, and a Hinata entered the room along with Tazuna.

"H-How are you feeling, sensei?" Hinata asked quietly, walking up to his side and getting down onto her knees.

"I'll be fine. Just give me a couple of days and I'll be able to move fully again." Kakashi replied. "However, the matter at hand should be about the fact that Zabuza is still alive, and he's out there, biding his time…"

The mere statement brought a feeling of uneasiness in Hinata's stomach. Remembering on how the last battle turned out, they had barely won, and with another person backing Zabuza up, she wasn't sure that they could win next time.

Naruto noticeably shivered in his place, remembering all of the killing intent that Zabuza had leaked out of his body like wildfire.

It was...frightening. He couldn't move in that situation just out of fear.

At the time, he didn't even know how strong the guy was, and all it took for him to freeze up was the feeling Zabuza had oozed out into the air.

"But how?!" Was the question that blurted out of Naruto's mouth.

"Well, it was most likely that he was in a near-death state. Senbon, the weapon used on Zabuza, usually have a low fatality rate unless it hits a vital spot." Kakashi explained the reason for why Zabuza had survived. "Hunter-nin are trained to know every vital point of the human body, so it's obvious that the hunter-nin knew where to hit."

"But that doesn't prove how he is alive!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Then ask Hinata." Kakashi interjected as the blonde spared Hinata a glance, who gained a tiny shade of red on her face. "Her Byakugan could see the flow of Chakra Zabuza had, that's all the proof we need to know that Zabuza is still alive."

Ok seriously! What the hell does this Byakugan do?! And why does only Hinata have it?! Is it one of those kekkei genkai things? Naruto wondered internally as he continued to gaze at the Hyuga.

"B-But how will we prepare, sensei? Y-You said you won't be able to move for a…" Hinata paused when he heard Kakashi chuckling quietly, yet loud enough for everyone to hear, "S-Sensei?"

"I'm going to put you through some training." Kakashi responded simply as if it was obvious.

"It's not going to help at all." The voice of a young boy could be heard now in the room. The group turned to the entrance to see a boy with black hair wearing a white hat with 2 blue stripes. He had a yellow shirt under a green jumpsuit with two grey buttons.

"And who are you?" Naruto pointed at the rudely.

"Inari! Where were you?" Tazuna asked the boy, Inari, who ran up to him, embracing him into a tight hug.

"I'm home, grandpa."

"Inari, say hello to them, these are ninja that escorted your grandfather." Tsunami scolded her son.

An uneasy atmosphere formed around the room for everyone to feel. Inari looked at the three Genin, particularly Naruto, with dark emotionless eyes. He let go of Tazuna and looked up his mother.

"Mom, they're going to die. There's no way anyone can win against Gato." Inari responded to his mother.

"What did you say, you brat?!" Naruto rose to feat, slightly ticked off, before grinning and jabbing a finger in Inari's direction. "Listen up, I'm a great ninja who's going to become known as Hokage, a superhero! I don't care who Gato is, but he won't stand a chance against us!"

"A hero? How stupid. There's no such thing as a hero." Inari retorted in response. Naruto made a noise of anger as he began to charge at Inari, wanting to teach him a lesson, however, he froze in his tracks when he felt a soft skinned hand grab his arm.

He looked down to his left to see Hinata looking at him, her eyes saying 'Please don't'. Naruto read the expression and calmed down.

"If you don't want to die, you should just go home." Inari ran off with that statement, completely getting away with his rudeness.

"Where are you going, Inari?" Tazuna enquired as his grandson put his hands on the door, the boy responding with that he was going to watch the ocean.

"I'm sorry for my grandson's rudeness, he's gone through a lot." Tazuna apologized with the slight bow of his head.

Later-With Naruto

I'm so going to teach that kid a lesson! Naruto thought to himself as he stomped up the stairs barefoot. This time, there was no one to stop him from giving the kid a lesson.

No Kakashi.

No Tazuna.

And no Hinata.

He walked over to the door to Inari's room, and readied his hand to barge in when he heard the quiet sound of a sob, followed by many other sobs.

Naruto peered into the slightly open door, where he saw Inari sitting in an open window, holding something in his lap and looking down at it.

By the constant jerk of Inari's elbows, Naruto could easily tell that…

"He's crying…"

"Dad…" Naruto heard the boy croak, sorrow dripping out of his voice as he looked into the room with a sympathetic look on his face.

Later That Day-In the Forest-Team 7

"Well, it seems as if Hinata has the best Chakra control." Kakashi announced as he saw Hinata, who sitting up on top of the branch of the tree she had climbed.

On the other hand, Sasuke had gone up about an quarter of the way, a slash mark engraved in the tree along with a foot mark gap which signifies where and how he failed, while Naruto failed literally in two steps with no mark on the tree at all.

The Genin were currently undergoing a Chakra control exercise. Kakashi instructed them to mold their Chakra into their feet and climb up the tree without using their hands.

Well...she is a Hyuga after all. Good Chakra control is a necessity when using the Gentle Fist style. Kakashi thought to himself with an eye smile as he walked down the rest of the tree.

"H-Hinata?!" Naruto cried out of shock as he and Sasuke looked up in awe. Even from her spot at the top, Sasuke could see the tint of red on her face.

Hinata's small smile of embarrassment turned to a frown when he saw Naruto's frustrated look, however, she recovered the smile when Naruto clenched his fist and curved his frown into a fox like grin.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Naruto cheered as he looked at the results. That's what he can do after he masters this exercise?! That was one of the coolest things he's ever seen.

Even if it is a little annoying...it's still cool...Naruto thought inwardly.

Damn it. How can a Hyuga be better than me, an Uchiha?! Sasuke wondered as he formed a fist with his hand. Perhaps she isn't as useless as I took her for.

Naruto-kun is mad at me...and he's also excited? Hinata thought out of confusion, looking at the look Naruto had engrained on his face. She could easily tell the emotions Naruto would be feeling just from the facial expressions he was making. She didn't know how, she just could.

But for once, she was wrong about Naruto's emotions. He wasn't mad at her, in fact he was happy for her. He was mad at himself that he's been bested once again, and not by Sasuke, by Hinata, the girl who didn't like to stand out in the first place.

"Good control and stamina, Hinata. Maybe Hinata, and not someone else, is the closest one to becoming a Hokage right now, if she wanted to be. And the Uchiha Clan isn't as superior as I thought, either." Kakashi taunted Hinata's teammates, as a way to push them further.

Now both of them are going to dislike me… Hinata thought with a frown on her face, a blush present on her cheeks due to the praise she was receiving from Kakashi.

While she didn't like being compared to Naruto and Sasuke in a way like this, it was nice. To finally be praised. To feel like you're actually successful at something.

This was something Hinata had wanted for years. But unfortunately, it had come from Kakashi, her sensei, and while that was acceptable and all…

She wanted praise from two other people especially. Naruto…

And her father.

She broke herself out of her trance as she looked down at Naruto and Sasuke, who were giving each other competitive looks.

If this training goes well, it will become a treasure for all of them, especially Naruto, as he has Chakra reserves that Sasuke and Hinata could only dream of hidden inside of him. Kakashi thought to himself.

Away from the group, closely watching them with a glare was Inari. After hearing a declaration from Naruto on how he was going to catch up and beat Sasuke, and eventually Hinata, he scoffed and walked away.

There is no point in doing something like that...

Later, Naruto and Sasuke still hadn't managed to make it to the top. Naruto could go up a little bit, but it pales in comparison to Sasuke and Hinata, the latter who went up and down the tree multiple times now, deciding to stop because she didn't want to show off.

Meanwhile, Sasuke has barely improved also, he was getting close to climbing up half of the tree however.

Hinata watched her two teammates attempt and fail, continuously. Eventually, she was surprised when…

Naruto turned away from the tree and walked towards her.

"Hey? I was just wondering...could you give me some tips?" Naruto asked the Hyuga as he clapped his hands together in a pleading manner.

Hinata's face flushed red due to being in close proximity within Naruto, and he was talking to her too!

"But don't tell Sasuke." Naruto added quickly as he glanced back at the Uchiha, who were looking at the two out of confusion.

"U-Umm...o-o-okay…w-well, don't get t-too-"

"Hinata," Naruto interrupted, "Speak up, I can barely hear you, and you're stuttering a lot too."

Hinata hadn't realized the volume of her voice at that moment. To Naruto, she had sounded like a mouse. Hinata cleared her throat, slapping herself inwardly.

Come on Hinata...you can do this!

"W-Well," Hinata spoke, her voice much more decipherable to Naruto this time, "Don't get too tense and lose concentration. You want to focus a consistent amount of Chakra into your feet, and make sure you keep that amount as you that amount as you go up the tree. Make sure not to transfer too much Chakra to your feet, and make sure not to transfer to little. I can help you with my Byakugan."

"Oh, speaking of that, if you don't me asking, what is the Byakugan?" Naruto asked intrigued. Hinata once again blushed, resorting to explaining another thing to Naruto.

"It's the kekkei genkai of the Hyuga Clan…" Hinata began, and continued to explain the Byakugan, it's functions, it's drawbacks, like the blind spot, and other things.

After the explanation, Naruto nodded his head out of understanding, making it one of the first times that Naruto had actually listened to something fully...for the most part.

"So...you're going to use your Byakugan to see how much Chakra I'm transferring into my feet?" Naruto questioned, to which he got a confirmation from the nod of the Hyuga's head.

Hinata formed multiple hand signs, bringing her arms close to her face as she uttered one word.

"Byakugan!"

Naruto made a sign with his hands, bringing them up to his face as he sent Chakra down to his feet.

It was at this moment that Hinata noticed something…

His Chakra reserves are huge! They are so much bigger than Sasuke-kun's and mine! No wonder he's having so much trouble! In fact, no wonder he couldn't even perform the regular Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Jutsu) in the Academy! Hinata realized.

But how could Naruto have this much Chakra?

She decided to push that question aside for now as she noticed Naruto's shoulders shaking.

"S-Stand still, Naruto-kun. Try to make the least amount of movement as possible. And transfer less Chakra, your using way too much."

Naruto made a sound, which Hinata could only assume that he meant to say 'Okay' but he was too focused on molding Chakra to actually say anything.

"How about this?"

Hinata smiled, "Yes, that's it! Now, just remember that exact amount, and keep it like that as you climb up the tree."

Naruto nodded his head as he put his arms down to his side running towards the tree at great speed, trying his best, and struggling, to keep the same amount of Chakra into his feet.

He implanted his left foot at the bottom of the trunk, and lifted his right farther up, he kept taking more steps.

Left. Right. Left. Right.

And he got even higher than he did before. Sasuke looked on in awe as he saw the boy running up the tree. Incredible, the done was catching up, and it was because of something the Hyuga had told him!

Just what did she say that sparked this much of an improvement?! Sasuke wondered as fortunately for him, Naruto had stumbled in the middle of his run and lost the amount of chakra, accidentally decreasing it.

Naruto quickly swiped his kunai across the bark if the tree to mark his ascent as he fell down to the ground, managing to actually land on his feet.

When he looked up at his progress, a grin spilled across his face.

"Alright!"

Impressive. Such a sharp improvement. And his reserves are bigger than all of ours. Kakashi thought impressed. He's grown...all of them have.

Although Naruto showed more growth than the other two, they still had noticeable progress.

Sasuke seems to have less problems with being on a team, while Hinata seems to have crawled out of her shell a little. She seems more confident and she has been stuttering much less.

Of course, the team still had it's problems, but it was much better than when they did the bell test.

In fact, if they tried the bell test now, they would have a much better chance of getting a bell.

Kakashi looked at Naruto's tree. He wasn't as high up the tree as Sasuke, but he managed to just barely beat the amount Sasuke had climbed when he first tried the exercise.

"Thanks Hinata, you're the best!" Naruto flashed her a smile, causing her to blush as she played with her fingers.

"N-No p-problem, Naruto-kun…glad I could...help…"

Ok, scratch Hinata getting over the stuttering problem.

Hinata looked to Sasuke, who was glaring at Naruto's mark on the tree intently.

She immediately felt guilty. She had shown Naruto all of this attention, that she has completely ignored Sasuke.

Sure, he did intimidate her, but still, that was no excuse for her to ignore him when he is on her team.

She walked over to the last Uchiha slowly and catiously.

"A-Ano...I can h-help you also if you would l-like me to…" Hinata said to the boy in almost a whisper.

Naruto looked at Hinata out of annoyance.

Why does she have to help him also?! That bastard has been an ass ever since the team was made!

Sasuke looked at Hinata in the eyes for a while. Black eyes staring dead into lavender eyes.

Hinata began to feel beads of sweat roll down her face due to the animosity brewing between the two.

It all ended with Sasuke retracting his eyes, turning away from Hinata with a scoff.

"Naruto can have his help from his fangirl. I don't need such a thing. I am Sasuke Uchiha, from the prestigious Uchiha Clan! I don't need help from someone who hails from the Hyuga Clan!" Sasuke declined the offer as he faced the tree again.

"Oh...ok." Hinata said, deciding not to push further due to how Sasuke was.

She turned her head to Kakashi, who merely gave her a shrug of his shoulders.

"Hyuga."

Hinata returned her attention to the Uchiha, who had his pupils directed at her.

"Yes?"

"Thanks." Sasuke said quietly so Naruto and Kakashi couldn't hear.

Hinata widened her eyes slightly, surprised that SASUKE UCHIHA was thinking HER. She had never heard Sasuke thank anyone before, this was a first.

"N-No problem…" Hinata said as she walked away, still taken off guard by Sasuke's attitude.

Was Sasuke softening up to the team?

No. That couldn't be it.

Could it?

Was he starting to think of Team 7 as actual friends or comrades, people he could trust?

"Oi, Hinata." Naruto spoke to the girl, breaking her out of her trance. "What did that bastard say?! If it was something bad I swear-"

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. It wasn't anything bad." Hinata assured her crush with a small, genuine smile.

"Alright, Hinata! Since you have seem to have gotten the exercise down pat, I need you to run over to the construction site at the bridge. I want you to guard Tazuna while Naruto and Sasuke finish up here." Kakashi commanded, promoting Hinata to nod her head respectfully.

"What?! Come on sensei! Let me go too!" Naruto pouted at his sensei.

"Naruto." Kakashi leaned his head forward with an eye smile, "This exercise will greatly help with your Kage Bunshins. I highly recommend continuing on this exercise, or else you'll be a burden in battle."

Naruto sighed out of defeat, "Alright." He turned in Sasuke's direction, who had just touched the ground, setting a new height record just barely. "Oh hell no! I'm not losing to this bastard!"

Naruto trudged over to the tree and began to work at it once again.

Later That Night-Tazuna's House

Team 7 and Tazuna's family barring Tsunami, who was cleaning the dishes, were at the dinner table chowing down. Well, mostly Naruto and Sasuke chowing down while Kakashi and Tazuna ate slowly bit by bit.

Tsunami had cooked the brunt of the food, but Hinata helped her as well.

Inari and Hinata, barely touched their food.

Hinata currently had a lot on her mind. After Kakashi sent her off to guard Tazuna, she oversaw the hard work on the bridge, and she witnessed one of the workers quitting on Tazuna, much to the man's frustration.

Then, when they were going through town to get ingredients, Hinata was horrified to see the condition of Nami no Kuni and it's people.

Kids were practically begging people for food, or munching down little pieces of bread, while other people wore ragged clothes, and they looked like they had seen better days.

Even the shop they went to for ingredients had barely any food in it.

It was then that Tazuna told Hinata the importance of the bridge. Once it was completed, the poverty of the place could halt, and they wouldn't have to be in the depression they were currently in anymore.

Hinata had remembered a little girl tugging at her side, begging for food. She had given her the food, but felt bad for everyone she saw. After she had given the girl food, other kids looked at her with hopeful eyes, but she couldn't spare a lot, especially since Tazuna was handling the food.

And now, to sit here at a dinner table, munching down while others near them would be lucky to even get a good meal, just felt wrong to Hinata.

And for that reason, she wasn't eating. She had lost her appetite so what she had witnessed earlier.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Naruto and Sasuke barfing their recently swallowed food. Since they have practically shoved it down their throats, eager to get back to training.

"N-Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun…you guys shouldn't f-force the food down your mouth…" Hinata mumbled to her fellow Genin. Well...not so fellow in the case of Sasuke but still.

Sasuke looked at her as if she had two heads, "No, I'll eat!"

Naruto nodded his head out of agreement. "Yeah! If I want to get stronger, than I have to eat as much as I can! Besides, this stuff is really good!"

"If that's so, then you might want to stop forcing the food down your mouth, both of you are are puking." Kakashi scolded.

"Hinata, thanks for helping me cook all of this." Tsunami said out loud,

"N-No problem."

"Wow, Hinata! You made some of this stuff?! You must be a damn good cook!" Naruto exclaimed, causing the girl to blush heavily as she put her hands on her face.

"N-No...it was all Tsunami-san's doing." Hinata quickly denied her contributions, not wanting to hog the glory she didn't deserve.

Hinata looked away from Naruto, and that is when she noticed a picture frame up on the wall

It looked like any other ordinary family picture. There was Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari, who was actually smiling joyfully, a complete contrast to his current demeanor. And then…

A tear in the picture.

From the looks of it, there seemed to be a fourth picture with them. Inari's father? Or maybe a sibling?

Speaking which, she hasn't seen Inari's father at all…

"U-Umm...if you don't mind m-me asking, why is that picture ripped?"

Tazuna, Inari, and Tsunami all tensed at the mention of the picture. But the most stiff one of them all was Inari.

"It's my husband." Tsunami answered in a raspy voice, with a hint of sadness.

"He was the man known as the hero of this town." Tazuna started to speak, only to freeze when Inari rose up from his chair, running to the door with his hat covering his eyes.

"Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami called after her son, who opened the door and shut it hard behind him, leaving Team 7 staring at where the boy once was in awe.

Tsunami soon followed and opened the door slightly, before turning to Tazuna with an angry look on her face.

"Father, I told you not to talk about him in front of Inari!" And with that, Tsunami let and shut the door behind her.

And with the shut of that door came a wave of guilt which dumped down on Hinata.

What she had just mentioned seemed to be a sensitive topic for the family of three.

Why did you have to say something so sensitive Hinata? You're so stupid! Hinata belittled herself inwardly as she looked down at the floor.

"I-I'm...sorry…" Hinata apologized as she took a deep bow toward a Tazuna, staying in that position for a long time, "It was foolish of me, to speak of something like this not knowing that it could be something bad."

"It's alright. Well, since you know about Inari's father, I guess I should tell you about him. The man in the picture is Inari's father yes, but not biologically." Naruto listened in interest as he gasped at the torn picture on the wall. "Inari and him were so close, like a real father and son. Inari used to laugh so much back then. "But…"

Tazuna's hands tightened into fists, the nails digging deep into his skin as small tears dropped down Tazuna's face.

"Ever since that day, after the incident with Inari's father, the boy has changed...and not for the better."

"And what happened with Inari during the incident?" Kakashi asked the old man, who looked up to face Team 7, a grave look appeared on the man's face as he adjusted his glasses.

"To explain the incident, I will need to talk about the man who was known as a hero on this island." Tazuna took off his glasses as he wiped off the single tear that trailed down his face.

"A hero?" Naruto repeated.

"It was about three or so years ago. That's when Inari met the man. One day, Inari ambushed by three people, two of them restrained while the other one forced Inari to watch his dog, Pochi, drown in the water." Tazuna began the story, immediately getting a gasp of horror from Hinata.

They made him watch his dog drown?! How horrible…

"Inari wanted to save his dog, but he hesitated when the three let him go. He was scared, due to the fact that Inari couldn't swim. Inari was pushed into the water. Then, Pochi actually learned how to dog paddle, and he left Inari to drown, abandoning him." Tazuna continued, remembering how horrified he was when he learned that his grandson had almost died, "Thankfully, Inari was pulled out of the water before drowning."

"And the one who saved him…" Kakashi trailed off to let Tazuna finish.

"Yes, it was that man. A great, strong man named Kaiza. He was a fisherman who had come hero to fulfill his dream. Ever since that day, Inari adored him, mostly because he never got to know his own father. It wasn't long before Kaiza became part of our family."

Naruto closed his eyes and smiled as he continued to listen, hoping to become a hero like that, one where the people would look to him for help...where they would acknowledge him as a great man.

"Kaiza was also the man that our village needed. After Kaiza prevented a sector of the village from being flooded, the people began to call him a hero, and he became a father Inari could be proud of." Tazuna smiled at the memory, before curving his lips into a deep frown. "But...around that time, Gato has turned his eye on this town. And one night…"

Tazuna grimaced as he remembered the day the hero died.

"Kaiza was captured by Gato, and there he was beaten to near death. Gato went as far as cutting both of his arms off."

Tears began to sprout in Hinata's as she turned away, holding her arms tightly together.

"The next day, Gato had Kaiza publicly executed as a way to discourage the people from ever standing up against Gato again. And he threatened that if anyone were to stand up like Kaiza did, they would meet the same fate as him. Ever since, Inari, a Tsunami, and all the other people of the village changed."

After that last statement, came silence.

Utter silence.

So that Team 7 could process what they had just heard.

Suddenly, Naruto tightened his fist, jumping out of his seat, and taking a step towards the door, but due to his fatigue courtesy of the tree exercise, he merely collapsed to the ground facefirst.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata spoke the name of her crush out of surprise.

"If you're trying to go out and train, don't even try. You molded way too much Chakra. If you try to train anymore, you'll die." Kakashi warned Naruto.

From the amount of time had been training, even someone with Naruto's Chakra capacity could barely move afterwards. Training now is not a good idea.

"I'll show him," Naruto said, rising to his feet slowly, his legs trembling uncontrollably, "That there are heroes in this world…"

"I'll prove it to him!"

Finished!

Thankfully, this arc will be finished in 1 or 2 chapters.

After this arc, I might have a mini 2-3 chapter arc which will highlight Team 8 from their Genin test and to something else before the Chunin Exams.

Keep in mind that this is a maybe.

Anyways, that's all for now guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Take care, goodbye!