DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I don't own Hikari Aino.

A/C: Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated, as well as readers' suggestions/ideas. (Particularly when it comes to Lemons – I really suck at those! :S) Flames and mean comments are not welcome – saying 'no offence' means squat. If you don't like what you're reading don't leave a comment!

My apologies for the late entry, my laptop decided to die on me by doing the 'Blue Screen of Death' and I lost everything. So I had to start over with the chapters I had been writing at that point and it's taking awhile - and it's FRICKEN ANNOYING!

So, yeah. Don't worry - I'm going to continue adding new chapters as soon as I can!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

xx

FAITH IN ONE'S ABILITIES

"Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can."
~Unknown~

Wanting to make entirely sure that both Naruto and Sasuke could control their chakra without even thinking about it, Kakashi requested them both to take one more day to try and make it all the way to the stop without losing their momentum. Sakura and I groaned in frustration and we both had to be held back by Kakashi when we attempted to severely injure the both of them for showing off.

Eventually, the front door opened revealing a very tired and dirty but triumphant looking Naruto, followed closely by Sasuke, who was mirroring similar emotions and attire as well.

"Hey Naruto! Hey Sasuke!" I yelled, throwing myself at them and sniggering mischievously when they both were nearly floored by my enthusiastic greeting. But they nevertheless returned my hug tightly.

Sakura glared at me, just as Kakashi looked up from his 'Icha Icha Paradise' book, which he had his nose buried deep in, and grinned at the boys.

"Ah! About time! Have you mastered the chakra control technique, boys?" He asked with a pleasant, but highly bored sounding voice.

"Yep. Ready when that bastard is!" replied Naruto, who grinned like a fox and stood in the nice guy pose.

Sasuke merely 'hn'ed' nonchalantly and parked himself onto the couch groaning from exhaustion, disturbed only by Sakura who excitedly sat down next to him asking him endless questions about how it felt being able to actually master the technique. Luckily, Tsunami interrupted Sakura before Sasuke could tell her to buzz off, so she could announce that dinner was ready, and he sighed in relief.

"Itadakimasu!" We chanted once more and tucked into Tsunami's food.

I glanced over at Sasuke and Naruto warily praying that they weren't going to start having another one of their food races again, where I'd have to duck and cover when Sasuke or Naruto suddenly projectile vomited, and I'd have to scrape the foul smelling goop off me… again. But it seemed that the Gods were on my side for once and nothing gross happened.

Both Naruto and Sasuke both sat quietly and ate peacefully. Or should I say Sasuke ate quietly and peacefully, Naruto inhaled his food as usual - earning disapproving and revolted glares and glances from everybody else. Tsunami beamed over at the two younger male members of team seven before speaking.

"So boys, did you learn a lot today?" she asked pleasantly.

"Mmm hmmm. Yeah, lots!" answered Naruto enthusiastically as he slurped up the remaining broth in his bowl. Sasuke shrugged but didn't say anything.

"I think that means in Sasuke-ese, 'I performed well I suppose.'" I answered for him, earning an annoyed glare from the raven which I pointedly ignored in favour of taking a long sip from my green tea.

Tsunami hummed in a typically motherly way before helping herself to a rice dish in front of her. Sakura turned towards Kakashi who was somehow eating his food with his mask still over his face (what the heck is underneath that thing anyway?) with a quizzical look in her sharp green eyes.

"What are you gonna teach us tomorrow, sensei?" she asked.

But before Kakashi could reply, Inari suddenly slammed down his bowl and chopsticks without warning, causing everyone to snap their attention towards him in shocked bewilderment.

What the heck is that all about? I thought worriedly.

"Why are they still here?!" He growled passionately, causing Naruto to glare at him with annoyance. It was clear that Inari was testing his patience, whereas I was beginning to think that Inari was bipolar due to his random outbursts.

Tsunami scowled disapprovingly at her son.

"Inari, hush! You're being very rude." she scolded sternly. But he ignored his mother.

"All these so called 'ninjas' have been doing for weeks is running up tree trunks for some pointless exercise! They're not going to be able to defeat Gato! They should leave and save themselves!" He snarled, pointing at each of us in turn.

Naruto got to his feet and brandished a shaking fist at Inari's face.

"You know what kid? You don't know shit about us!" He growled through his clenched teeth.

"Naruto!?" I gasped in disbelief.

"Sit down, you baka!" snapped Sakura, tugging on Naruto's jacket, but he shrugged her off. She turned to Sasuke for some help.

"Sasuke-kun. Do something, Naruto's being rude again!" She screeched into his ear, but Sasuke threw her one of his famous 'death glares' and she flinched and shrank back a bit.

I noticed Kakashi 'pretending' to scowl disapprovingly at Naruto, judging by the way he shifted his posture making out that he was going to correct Naruto when in reality his eyes gave an approving twinkle. It was clear Inari was being a thorn in Kakashi's side as well - it was just that he was better at hiding it than the rest of us.

But Sasuke was a close second.

"Actually, I tend to agree with the Dobe." Sasuke retorted, taking a sip from his teacup and giving a level stare at Inari as Sakura gasped in disbelief that Sasuke was blowing her off and because he was siding with Naruto. I smiled approvingly at Sasuke who ignored me and looked away, but I caught him smiling slightly.

Naruto sighed in frustration.

"Whether you like it or not, we're going to save you and this Village or die trying!" Naruto vowed, pounding himself on the chest with a clenched fist.

"So quit complaining!" He snapped and glared at the furious little boy sitting in front of him.

Inari stood up with angry tears streaming down his face as he glared back at Naruto.

"You're all gonna die for nothing…" He muttered, sounding hurt and unconvinced, then he turned and bolted for the door. We watched him go and Sakura smacked Naruto upside the head in irritation.

"You idiot! Why'd you have to go and say something like that?" she growled and went in for a second blow.

That tears it!

I was getting incredibly sick of them constantly bickering and pounding each other into bloody pulps. Yeah, I do agree with Sakura to a point that Naruto could've handled the situation a little bit differently without yelling at the obviously despairing little boy, who has little faith that we actually had a chance of defeating this bastard whose causing all of these damn problems.

Hell, I've been having doubts as well.

On the other hand, I could see Naruto's side of the argument as well. Inari doesn't know anything about us and what we're bound to encounter over our lives, so he really can't tell us that we cannot achieve the seemingly impossible. Only time can actually dictate to us what will and might not happen… no matter how infuriating it is.

I jumped to my feet at the same time that Sakura swung her fist towards Naruto's head, and with snake-like reflexes grabbed her wrist which stopped her in her tracks.

"Will you stop it? The both of you!" I growled, glaring at them both.

"Inari is obviously hurting and things are not going to get any better if you two keep whaling on each other for every little thing."

Both of them looked slightly ashamed, while Sasuke just rolled his eyes and took a sip from his green tea, obviously choosing to stay out of the argument. I released Sakura's wrist and she took it back, rubbing it and giving me a dirty look.

I sighed and slumped back down in my seat, resting my head on my arms.

"Clearly, something other than his stepfather's murder and the Water Country's predicament is troubling him." I mumbled into the table.

Sasuke snorted obnoxiously.

"Any moron could've told you that…" He said dryly and took another sip.

I turned my head and glared at him, I was about to say something back at him, but thought better of it and returned my head back to my folded arms.

"If the four of you are through being immature, I'm going for a walk while the rest of you, hit the hay. We've got more training to do in the morning." Kakashi promised us as he stared at us sternly before rising from the table and turning to our bewildered hosts.

"Thank you for the meal, Tsunami-san." He said, bowing graciously. Tsunami nodded back smiling slightly and looking slightly nervous. Tazuna merely shrugged and nodded.

"You're welcome."

Less than enthusiastic about the whole prospect of more training in the morning, the four of us headed for bed.

"Hope Inari will be okay out there…" whispered Sakura, off side towards me.

"Should be." I agreed.

But I had a hunch that Kakashi was up to something that involved Inari. So instead of heading for bed, I followed my masked sensei - keeping to the shadows and masking over my chakra as best as I could so he wouldn't notice me.

(A/C: from this point on there will be more than one points of view between the members of Team Seven.)

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

I approached an obviously pissed off Inari sitting on the edge of a cliff - pouting to himself and smiled slightly when I sensed the presence of one my students hidden in some nearby bushes. It was clear that she had been trying to mask her chakra in an attempt to be undetected, but it was not enough as I could still detect a sliver of her chakra. I think we need to brush up on cloaking our chakra tomorrow as well as the other training I had in mind. Forcing away the overwhelming urge to spring my student, I came over to Inari.

"Mind if I sit here?" I asked him, and felt a pang of amusement when he pointedly shuffled away from me. Not waiting for an answer, I simply sat down beside him.

"Go away…" Inari mumbles.

His face was turned away, so I had to really listen to his words to get anything out of him and I didn't miss the resentful expression on his face, and I withheld the shudder I felt when I realised how similar Inari was to Naruto. Except for the obvious annoying and hyperactive personality…thank god.

I chuckled, putting away my beloved book, reluctantly.
And I had just gotten to the best part…

Looking at the fantastic view I had of the bay, I watched as the boy tried to wipe away tears from his face, unsuccessfully trying to hide this fact from me. I couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for how the poor kid was feeling. After all, I could've told Naruto to pull his head in and stop being such a brat… but at the same time, Naruto did have a point, Inari really didn't know what the life of a Ninja is all about.

Then again… Naruto still has a lot to learn about that topic as well.

"Hmmm. It's funny, you and Naruto are more alike than you believe." There that should draw his attention.

I got my reward when Inari looked at me with a somewhat sceptical expression on his face and to be honest I was slightly disappointed not to see interest reflected in those ebony eyes.

"Ha. I doubt that…" Inari said playing with a piece of loose grass between his fingers.

I smirked when I noticed the curiosity forming on the boy's face.

"Prove it…" He asked reluctantly.

Gotcha!

"Well for starters, Naruto is in fact an orphan - which meant that he never knew his father."

Which is sad… His father really was a great man…

Inari's eyes widened as I grinned, and sensed who I now recognised as Hikari beaming from ear to ear.

Good. Naruto needs friends like you, Hikari… I thought approvingly and continued my explanation of why Inari and Naruto were alike to the doubting child beside me.

"He spent a good chunk of his life trying to survive and just getting by. In reality he's had a pretty rough childhood." I explained gravely.

"How?"

I winced.

Even I didn't want to remember this, I still couldn't forgive myself for not having the guts to actually stand up and take care of the brat when he was growing up. It would've probably been what my teacher would've wanted for his son. It was too bad that his death had affected me and caused bad memories of my own father's death to surface - thus corrupting my judgement.

But knowing I had to give the child an answer, I just told him what I had been requested to say by the Third Hokage, should anyone ask me of this.

"Oooh. Now that I cannot tell you. It's taboo to speak of it under the Hokage's law - and if anyone speaks of it they are severely punished. But I can tell you that Naruto is hated and feared in our village for circumstances out of his control…"

I paused, hesitating for a moment before continuing.

"Naruto himself isn't fully aware of why, but he does know that he is hated in Konoha."

I felt Hikari's anger flare from her hiding place and felt a smile spread across my face. Loyalty is a hard thing to come by, as well as respect and trust. And I'm pretty sure that Naruto has all these things from Hikari - and from what I've observed so far, even from the elusive Uchiha kid.

Inari's face twists up in anger as well.

"Do you and the others in your team like him?" He asks. I smiled, and reached over to ruffle his hair, ignoring Inari's complaints.

"Well, I admit that the brat is a little bit weird. But there are aspects about Naruto that I do like - such as his courage, devout bravery and unwavering loyalty, and his rather annoying sense of humour." I admitted.

Inari shrugged still looking unsure.

"As for the rest of my team? Well, from what I've observed, Sakura sees him as a bit of nuisance - but that's probably because she believes that he annoys Sasuke too much-"

And that's a bit of an understatement… I thought, exasperatedly.

"-and is generally protective of him. Or should I say obsessive of him to the point of being scary." I shuddered a bit, causing Inari to chuckle lightly.

"As for Sasuke and Hikari-?"

I scratched my head, trying to think up an appropriate answer to this question. It was hard to describe their relationship with Naruto, as they were practically fused together by the hips.

"Well, the three of them are always seen together and they're very protective of one another. So I guess, yeah, Sasuke and Hikari like Naruto. At least enough to be willing to protect him with their lives."

Inari nodded but still didn't look appeased and I felt myself sweat dropping at this response. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen, while my students and I are appreciative of your concern for our safety. You really don't need to worry, we will take care of Gato and save your village. You have my word on that." I reassured him. Inari nodded, but I could still see doubt in his eyes and I realised at the last minute that Inari didn't have faith in himself. I got up from the Cliffside and held out a hand towards Inari who took it and allowed me to pull him to his feet.

"C'mon. Let's get to bed, it's getting late." I suggested and started leading the way back to the house.

But before we went inside, I paused and crouched down in front of Inari and looked him with a serious expression on my face.

"I'm pretty sure that Naruto didn't mean to be rude, he was probably just a little upset that you have doubts about his abilities. Just remember, 'whatever you're going through, many others have not only experienced the same but got out of it just fine.'" I reminded him.

Inari smiled slightly before nodding.

"Thanks." Then he turned and went to bed.

Standing up and only wobbling slightly, I made to enter the house too…

"Pleasant dreams, Hikari!" I called out, chuckling when I heard Hikari utter a curse under her breath.