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"I'm glad you had such a good teacher." Kakashi said gently, placing a hand on her head. "It saves me a lot of trouble." He added with a smile.

"That doesn't mean you can start slacking off on me now, Sensei." April quipped with a rueful smile.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Kakashi replied. "After all, you're going to need to train at least three times as hard as the others to overcome that handicap of yours. Just be careful not to overdo it, or you could end up dying." He said, causing her to flinch in shock.

"That isn't funny, Sensei…" She said with a pout.

"It wasn't a joke." He said seriously. "That's why I needed to have a word with you about this. It's much easier for you to over tax yourself than it is for the others. You especially need to be careful during this training."

"… Okay, I understand." April said with a sigh, looking disappointed that she couldn't just go wild like the others. It kind of took half the fun out of it…

Chapter 18: Symbol of Courage

"AHH!! Ouch!!" Naruto yelled as he fell for the umpteenth time in a row, cradling his aching head. He had bumps on top of his bumps! But even so, out of the four of them, he still had the most energy left. Sasuke and April were taking a knee, panting as they took a short break and tried to catch their breath. Although she wasn't sprinting up the tree anymore, just as Kakashi-sensei had predicted, it was taking a lot out of her trying to keep up with the others. Without the extra momentum to aid her, she was only beating Naruto by a few centimeters.

'I'm worn out…' Sakura thought, also panting, as she lay at the bottom of her tree, watching the others. They were all drenched in sweat. Even though she was leaps and bounds ahead of the others, Sensei was still making her practice some more and she now had to go up and down using only her feet. 'What stamina those three have…' They'd been going at it for ages without stopping. 'But Naruto isn't improving at all. It's about time for him to give up and start complaining.'

"Damn it!!" Naruto cursed, stomping his foot in frustration.

'I knew it! He sure is easy to read… huh?' She thought, surprised when he came over to talk to her instead of just stomping off or throwing a fit.

"Umm… Umm…! Hey, can you give me some tips!?" He asked earnestly as he squatted down beside her, keeping his voice low so the others wouldn't hear. It was kind of embarrassing, being the first one to ask for help. April smiled slightly when she saw what he was up to. Naruto was really starting to grow up.

'He's going to get stronger and stronger. But just how strong?' Kakashi wondered as he watched. 'Naruto, the amount of potential chakra you have is most likely greater than Sasuke's… and even my own… I'm really looking forward to this…'

–∞–

"Huaah…" Sakura let out a big yawn as she stretched her arms. While the others kept training, she had been sent to watch over Tazuna-san while he continued his work on the bridge.

"You sure seem bored all by yourself." The old man remarked as he strolled past her toting a beam over his shoulder. "Where're the blonde and purple-haired kids and the other one?"

"They're training."

"You don't have to?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Since I'm so superior, Kakashi-sensei asked me to protect you." Sakura stated proudly.

"Really?" Tazuna asked skeptically, looking extremely doubtful of her skills. Wasn't she the weakest one?

"…" A vein throbbed on Sakura's head. She clearly didn't appreciate the sarcasm.

"Urgh!" Tazuna groaned as he leaned over and set down the beam he was carrying. This work was tough on the back.

"Hey, Tazuna!!" One of the other men working on the bridge called out.

"Hn? What is it, Giichi?" Tazuna asked as he wiped away some of the sweat on his face.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, and… Can I stop working on the bridge?" Giichi asked.

"W-Why is that!!?" Tazuna shouted incredulously, taken aback. "This is so sudden!! Not you, too!!"

"Tazuna, we've been close for long time now. I want to help you, but if we continue this, Gatō will notice us. And if you get killed, then what's the point?" Giichi asked grimly. "Why don't we stop now… building this bridge…"

"…" Sakura watched the two old men with a worried expression on her face.

"I can't do that." Tazuna said firmly after a moment of silence. "This bridge is our bridge. This is the bridge we started building together believing it would bring more resources into our super poor country."

"But if we loose our lives…!!!" Giichi exclaimed anxiously.

"It's already noon, let's stop for today." Tazuna said calmly as he started to walk away. "Giichi, you don't have to come tomorrow."

"Hey, where are we going?" Sakura asked as she followed Tazuna into the marketplace.

"I'm supposed to bring home food for lunch." Tazuna told her as they passed a man wearing a sign that had 'will take any job' written on it.

'What's with this village…?' Sakura wondered with a frown. Why did it look so run down?

"Stop, thief!!" Someone yelled in the distance.

'That's just a child…' She thought as they walked past a ragged vagrant sitting on the side of the street.

"Here we are." Tazuna said as he stopped and entered the shop he had been looking for.

"Welcome." The storeowner greeted them, sounding tired.

'There's hardly anything here to buy…' Sakura thought as she looked around at all the bare shelves, wondering why there was so little food. One of the men in the store eyed her bag as he walked by.

"!!" Sakura exclaimed, blushing bright red when his hand brushed against her back as he reached for the bag. "Kyaa!! Pervert!!" She shrieked, immediately lashing out at him with a roundhouse kick, sending the unlucky pickpocket flying.

"No, I was…!!" He tried to protest as he fell, but he was out as soon as he hit the ground.

"You sure surprised me earlier." Tazuna remarked as they left the store with their groceries.

"What's with this place?" Sakura huffed indignantly. Couldn't a cute girl go shopping without getting assaulted around here? "!?" She flinched when she felt someone reach out and tug her skirt near her butt. 'Again!?' She thought with a vein throbbing on her forehead. She spun around, ready to give the pervert a piece of her mind and a taste of her fist, but stopped when she saw who it was. "!" She gasped, taken aback. It was a just a little kid… He was holding his hands up like a beggar. Not knowing what else to do for him, Sakura decided to reach into her bag and give him some candy she had brought along with her. The little kid's face lit up like it was Christmas upon receiving such a rare item and smiled up at her with heartfelt gratitude before rushing off with his new treasure.

"It's been like this since Gatō came." Tazuna told her. "All the adults have lost hope. That's why we now need that bridge. A symbol of courage… We need for the people to lose their fear and regain the desire to stand up for themselves. If that bridge… If that bridge can be completed, the city will return to that time… They people will return to how they used to be…" He said solemnly.

'Sasuke-kun… Naruto… April-chan…' Sakura thought sadly, feeling sorry the people of the Land of Waves. She wondered how her teammates were progressing… They had to get stronger so they could save these people.

–∞–

"Daaa!!!" Naruto yelled as he, Sasuke, and April raced up their trees again. The moment Naruto felt his foot start to slip, he marked his place and threw himself into a flip so he would land on his feet.

"!" April gasped when she tried to take the next step and couldn't get any traction at all, causing her to fall in a bad way. She quickly stabbed the tree with her kunai, using it as break as she tried slid down the trunk of the tree until she could get a purchase and flip away. "Phew!!" She breathed a sigh of relief once she landed safely on the ground, wiping the sweat from her brow. Looks like it was time to take another break. She was starting to get too tired to even take the fall right…

"!" Naruto said, relieved that she was all right. However, his mood darkened considerably when he noticed that Sasuke was still going. 'Damn it!! Damn it!!' He cursed internally. 'Sasuke keeps climbing higher and higher!" Sasuke felt his chakra weaken and marked his place as he pushed off of his tree and used April's as a spring board, jumping between the two of them to get back down.

"!" He gasped when he saw where her latest mark was and realized just how far she and Naruto had advanced while he wasn't paying attention to them. 'Damn…! They're catching up to me…' He thought as he landed, furrowing his brow. While his marks were getting closer and closer to together as he started to reach his limit, they were steadily closing in on him.

'Goddammit!' Naruto cursed silently in frustration. Sasuke thought he was so cool… 'No!! No!! Stop thinking about Sasuke! I'll just lose my concentration.' He scolded himself, shaking his head to clear it. He thought back to the tips Sakura had given him. She said to gather chakra in your feet, it was important to relax and focus on the tree. He closed his eyes and formed a hand seal. 'Focus!! Focus!!'

'Oh? It looks like Sakura gave him some good tips.' April thought as she watched him calm down and regain his focus. She stood up and brushed herself off a little. 'Me, too… I should try meditating a little to re-center and focus my own mind and spiritual energy.'

'Ok!! Here it goes!!' Naruto thought determinedly once he was he ready to begin again, launching himself forward.

"Hey, Naruto!!" Sasuke called out, startling him so much that Naruto tripped and fell flat on his face.

"What the hell's your problem!!?" Naruto demanded incredulously with an angry vein throbbing on his forehead. "Can't you see I'm trying to focus!!?"

"… Well… Umm…" Sasuke said really hesitantly, looking extremely conflicted.

"What is it?" Naruto asked grumpily, crossing his arms. 'It's rare for him to try to talk to me…'

"Wha… What did Sakura tell you?" Sasuke asked grudgingly, blushing slightly out of embarrassment. To think he would have to ask Naruto of all people for help…

'!?' Naruto and April thought as she opened her eyes, and they both gaped at him in surprise. Was the sky about to fall? A sly grin spread across Naruto's face. "It's a secret!!" He said mercilessly, causing Sasuke to flinch in shock at the blunt rejection.

"!" Sasuke said as his eye twitched dangerously. The forest was dead silent. April let out a sigh. What a shame, just when Sasuke finally attempted to swallow some of his pride… Naruto just couldn't resist throwing that back in his face, huh? He still had some growing up to do… "St-Stop dancing!!!" Sasuke snapped at her abruptly to break the awkward silence.

"It's not dancing. It's meditation through movement." April said calmly as she continued her little exercise, moving slowly but gracefully through a repetitive set of simple stances. It was a good way to relax without having to sit still. She felt like if she stopped moving for too long, she wouldn't be able to get up again…

"Oh, you're doing that 'daichi' thing again?" Naruto asked. He vaguely remembered her attempting to get him to try it awhile back, but he just didn't have the patience… Plus it looked kinda lame.

"It's tai chi." She corrected him with a straight face, sweat-dropping. "And you guys are harshing my mellow, so would you mind keeping it down for a bit... Unless… you want me to teach it to you? This is a good beginner's exercise for learning how to focus your mind and spiritual energy while moving."

"…" Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a glance. Well, it's not like anyone else was around to see, so...

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." April said with the hint of a smirk. "Okay, let's get started…"

"Hey, it's lunchtime, you guys!!" Kakashi called out as he hobbled into view, having just come back to fetch them.

"… As soon as we finish eating lunch!" She finished with a gleam in her eye as she suddenly realized how hungry she was upon hearing those words, causing the boys to sweat-drop.

–∞–

"Wow!! This is super fun!!" Tazuna said with a laugh as they all sat around the table, eating lunch together. "It's been a long time since we ate with so many people!" It sure was lively. Naruto and Sasuke were scarfing down their food so fast that they were practically inhaling it.

"More!!" They both shouted at the same time, holding their plates out for seconds. Their eyes met in a fierce glare and sparks of animosity flew between them. Naruto was determined not to lose to Sasuke in anything, and Sasuke was still pissed about how he had embarrassed him earlier when he asked for help. April just shook her head slightly at them as she continued to eat. Boys…

"!" Sakura said, wondering what their problem was. They were acting even worse than usual…

"Ugh!!" Both boys suddenly groaned as they turned green in the face and their cheeks bulged out.

"?" Sakura blinked.

'Uh-oh…' April thought, recognizing that look.

"Bleeerggghhh!!!" Naruto and Sasuke barfed, leaning over so they wouldn't hit the table.

"…" Both girls stared at them with extremely unimpressed looks on their faces. So gross…

"If you're going to throw up, then stop eating!!" Sakura scolded them, more upset than usual after seeing how scare food was at market.

"No, I must eat." Sasuke said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Yeah, we have to no matter what." Naruto agreed determinedly. "Because we have to become stronger."

"Yep, yep! But no need to throw up." Kakashi told them calmly, nodding his head.

"Right, throwing up is your body's way of telling you you've had too much! If you keep forcing yourselves like that, you'll just get sick and possibly end up with some kind of eating disorder. If you really want to get strong, just eat normally until your full, wait a bit, and then see if you still have room. You have to give your body a chance to absorb at least some of the nutrients before you can take in more. The only thing you're doing right now is wasting food." April lectured them with a frown, furrowing her brow slightly with disapproval. Not to mention that making such a terrible mess in someone else's home was incredibly rude.

"Hmph. You think you know everything, huh?" Sasuke remarked sarcastically.

"No, just more than you." April replied with as hint of sass as she took another bite of food. Sakura gasped indignantly on Sasuke's behalf.

"Hah!! Burn!!" Naruto laughed and pointed at his rival with a grin while Sasuke glowered at her in response.

"Hey, why do you have a torn picture on the wall?" Sakura asked while Tsunami was washing the dishes after supper. April had offered to help out of courtesy, but Tsunami had turned her down, saying she didn't have to because she was a guest. "Inari-kun was staring at this during dinner. It seems like someone purposefully removed the person who was in this picture."

"!" Tazuna, Inari, and Tsunami said. Their expressions changed instantly.

"…" Kakashi and April could tell by the looks on their faces and the sudden change in the atmosphere that Sakura had just stepped on landmine.

"… It's my husband." Tsunami answered quietly without turning to face them.

"And… the man called the hero of this city…" Tazuna added with an uncharacteristic amount of reverence in his tone. Inari quickly got up to leave.

"Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami asked as she turned around, concerned. Inari slammed the door shut behind him as he exited the room. "Inari!!" She called out, heading for the door to follow after her son. "Father!! I have told you not to talk about that man in front of Inari!!" She reminded Tazuna angrily before also slamming the door behind her.

'… Awkward…' April thought as silence fell over the room.

"… What's wrong with Inari-kun?" Sakura asked tentatively.

"It seems there's a reason behind it." Kakashi remarked, subtly implying that he would like to hear it.

"… Inari had a father that wasn't related to him by blood. They were very close, like a real father and son… Inari would laugh a lot back then…" Tazuna said solemnly. Naruto perked up when he heard that and glanced at the photo hanging on the wall. Sure enough, there was a big smile on the younger Inari's face.

"?" He, Kakashi, and April said, concerned when Tazuna clenched his fists and started to shake.

"But…" Tazuna's voice trembled as thick tears began for in his eyes. "… But Inari changed… since the incident with his father…"