When Tazuna is finished his story he gazes around at the four ninjas who were listening. Naruto wonders what Tazuna is looking for. Pity or shock, maybe? He wonders if Tazuna really knows what ninja do for a living. Naruto wonders if the people of the Land of Waves would even survive as a ninja people. To give up after one person gets martyred is just pathetic. Naruto frowns, thinking very hard.
When a hero dies in the Hidden Leaf, someone always steps up and takes up their cause. Sometime the whole village takes up the fallen hero's cause. Obviously the Land of Waves should have taken up Kaiza cause and driven Gato out. Just like when the First Hokage died and his brother stepped up and became Hokage. Or when the Whirlpool was destroyed and Iruka niisan's parents taught him their ways so he could keep their traditions and knowledge alive. Or how Naruto's ANBU gives him presents if the yearly present from Jiraiya is late.
Or how Naruto's Dad was Hokage and Naruto is going to be Hokage one day. Once Naruto is Hokage all the people who doubt him now will finally believe it. Naruto smiles in anticipation.
And then he realizes: he needs to make Inari believe in heroes again. He needs to show the Land of Waves how to take up the passed on torch, so to speak. Passing on the torch is why Iruka niisan is teaching Naruto how to fight like a Whirlpool ninja, and why Naruto will be Hokage and why Sasuke will be a policewoman and why Kakashi sensei took on students.
And it's why Kaiza was not afraid to die: he believed his people would take up the fight after he fell. Only, they didn't and now Naruto has to lead the way. His team will get behind him, he knows they will.
Naruto gets up and marches towards the door. He has some serious training to do. He must…
Thump. Naruto trips and falls face-first onto the floor.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" demands Kakashi sensei.
"I'm going to train some more!" announces Naruto, getting back up and continuing on his previous path.
"Naruto, you are too tired to train more right now," lectures Kakashi sensei. "You need to rest. If you exhaust your chakra you will die."
"I'm an Uzumaki of the clan Uzumaki!" says Naruto. "We founded the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides. We NEVER run out of chakra!"
"That's not true," says Kakashi sensei. "I have heard of Uzumakis running out of chakra. It's very common in HALF Uzumakis."
Naruto considers Kakashi sensei's point. Then he says, "I am not just part Uzumaki, you know. I'm part total badass. I'll be fine. Besides," Naruto adds as he marches out the door. "I have to prove to these people that heroes DO exist!"
"Hey!" Madoka calls after Naruto. "What do you mean, 'part total badass'?"
"He is referring to the parent of his that is not an Uzumaki," states Kakashi sensei. "Now we had better set a patrol roster for the bridge."
Grinning because Kakashi sensei just called Naruto's dad a total badass, Naruto heads back to the training ground for some late night training. Naruto has a lot to learn in a short time. What were those study tips he learned from Grandma?
Oh yes: set manageable goals and reach them. First: catch up to Sasuke's highest mark. Second: reach that high-looking branch. Third: reach the top of the tree. Fourth: beat Gato and show Inari that heroes are a thing. Fifth: chunin. Sixth: jounin. Seventh: Hokage.
Naruto glares up at the tree. "Aright tree!" he calls up to it. "You must bend to my will! I shall win this battle!" he make the sign you make before a fight, because that's good manners and starts channelling his chakra into his feet. He is about to start running up the tree when he remembers something Iruka niisan told him.
If you are having trouble with an exercise, take it slowly and feel your way through until what you are doing feels right.
Naruto walks up the tree slowly, focusing on his chakra, feeling how much he needs like Kakashi sensei said. He gets a good way up before he falls off again. But now Naruto knows what he needs to do. He just needs to practice. Focus the chakra. Hold it in place. Fall off the tree, get back up. Fall again and land like a pro. Again and again and again until the sky is full of stars and the air is cold and damp.
Naruto decides to take a break and lies back down on the grass. He breathes in deep and closes his eyes. He decides to rest for a few minutes then go back to Tazuna's house to sleep.
The same black haired girl in a pink yukata who had talked to Sasuke Uchiha the previous day finds Naruto Uzumaki lying fast asleep in the forest. It is early in the day; the sun has barely been up for an hour. The girl squats down beside Naruto and shakes him gently to wake him.
"Whaa…?" Naruto mumbles incoherently. "Why is the sky inside?"
"You are outside," says the girl, smiling. "Why are you out here all alone, anyway?"
Naruto sits up and looks around himself. Then he grins and says, "I'm training to be strong!"
The girl smiles at him and says, "You seem plenty strong already."
"Maybe," says Naruto, nodding. "But I need to be even stronger. I am not nearly strong enough."
"Why do you need to be strong?" asks the girl.
"So I can beat Gato and his henchmen and prove to Inari that heroes DO exist!" announces Naruto, clenching his fist determinedly. "And then I am going to become the Hokage!"
Haku smiles and says, "A noble sentiment. But are you trying to be a hero for your own reasons or because you truly care about this Inari person?"
By the look on Naruto's face, the girl can tell he is caught off-guard by this question.
"I don't wanna be Hokage because of Inari," Naruto says, cocking his head to one side. "I wanna beat up Gato because of Inari's dad, so the people of the Land of Waves will learn how to fight back and Inari will realize that his Dad was a hero. I'm not a hero. I'm just a kid. I'll be Hokage first, THEN everyone will call me a hero."
"That is an odd way of looking at it," smiles the girl. "I always thought a person became a Kage AFTER being recognized as a hero, not before."
Naruto stares. "But the Hokage's were all heroes…" he seems immensely confused. "But no one will like me enough to make me Hokage if I'm supposed to be a hero first! Do you mean I have to make everyone like me…? I'm confused!" Naruto slumps forward into the grass.
"Why are you so sure no one likes you?" asks the girl, concerned.
"Because lots of people glare at me like I'm the devil when my Grandparents aren't looking," Naruto mumbles into the grass. "I dunno why, but Iruka niisan tells me to ignore them and Mr. Nice Police Chief tells me to report anyone who tries to hurt me. Some people are really mean. Some shops won't let me in if I go there alone."
The girl looks down at Naruto sadly. Poor kid. She does not respond however, as the only reason she heard him was because she enhanced her hearing with chakra. She decides to take a different approach. "Do you have someone special in your life?"
The question catches the boy by surprise, and he sits up straight and stares at the girl. "What do you mean?" he asks. "Are you asking if I have a girlfriend?"
The girl smiles. "No, I am not asking that," she says. "I am asking if there is anyone close to you, who is important to you. After all, we are out our strongest when we fight for someone else not for ourselves."
Naruto screws up his face in thought. Then he smiles, nods firmly and says, "Yes, I understand. I have people who are important to me and I want to get stronger for them."
The girl smiles at Naruto. Sensing another chakra source approaching, she stands and walks away. As she leaves, she says, "Get stronger. I know we will meet again soon, and I want to see how strong you can become."
Once she is out of sight, the girl stops and watches Sasuke join Naruto, and hears the now blue-haired girl tell Naruto that if he stays out at night again Kakashi sensei will tell his Grandmother.
"I didn't mean to stay out all night!" Naruto says, quite loudly. "I was gonna go back to Tazuna's, but I fell asleep!"
"Well...don't do it again!" Sasuke says, starting out nervously and then saying the rest very fast. "We have to take turns patrolling the bridge at night!"
"Okay!" Naruto salutes and grins. "How come you dyed your hair blue?"
"Because I can!" Sasuke says it very fast and somewhat defensively.
Naruto shrugs and says, "It looks cool, but you know your dad's gonna ground you, right?"
"Idon'tcare!"
"Have you seen Sparky?" asks Naruto.
"NO!"
"I caught up to your marker."
"F###!"
"Don't let your dad hear you say that!"
The girl in the pink yukata smiles and leaves the two to their awkward attempt at friendship. Smiling to herself and reflecting on her conversation with Naruto, the girl makes her way back to town to get some food for herself and her master. She is so wrapped up in her thoughts that she does not see the man standing in her way until she has already walked into him.