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Chapter 12 – It Begins

Last time:

"Good, now get on with it." Naruto said while tossing a kunai to her feet. Kakashi did the same for Sasuke.

This Chapter:

Naruto had gone off to train somewhere else. Sakura and Sasuke had been running up the trees for a good hour now. Sakura was still getting higher than Sasuke, even with her weights. The problem was she was also tiring out faster. She was breathing fairly heavily, compared to Sasuke. It seemed she still didn't have the same amount of chakra, that or the weights were really weighing her down a lot.

Sasuke looked up the tree he had been running on and saw he was getting better with each try. What was annoying him though, was Sakura, who was climbing ever higher, until she ran out of breath or broke her control, whichever came first.

'I admit this training is harder than I thought it would be. If you use too much then you break the bark and push yourself off, use too little and you fall off. There has to be some trick to it, some faster way of learning how to do it.' He looked over to Sakura. 'Maybe I could... ask her for tips?' He shook the thought from his head. 'Not yet. Maybe later, if I can't match her height by the time she's too exhausted to carry on, then I'll ask her.' At that he went at the tree again.

'Okay, Kyu-sensei. Is this place remote enough and secluded enough for the training?' Naruto asked Kyuubi through the mental link.

'Yeah, this place looks good. Okay, it's nothing new, I just want you to practice the Kitsune Bikou no Jutsu. You haven't used it in a while and using it in a new environment should help you with its flexibility.' Kyuubi replied.

'Alright!' Thought Naruto as he went through the hand-seals, ending on the fox. "Kitsune Bikou no Jutsu!" He called out as nine fluffy looking tales with red/orange bodies and a white tip, sprouted from his lower back. "Let's see what I can do with these things."

He stretched one tail out and had it latch on to a tree branch and haul himself into the trees, he then swung from the branch using the tail again. Eventually he was swinging full speed through the branches, swiping at the smaller branches in his way with any tail he wasn't using.

He got bored after a while and went back to the clearing. When he got there, he stretched out all but two of the tails and made them latch on to different branches in different directions. He hauled himself up into the air again, this time just hanging there as he had one of the remaining tails pushing into the ground helping to keep him up. The final tail was brought up underneath him like a small chair and he sat down indian style and began to meditate. He was keeping himself like this to exercise the strength of the tails and train his stamina in using them. If one of the tails got too tired he would swap it with the one he was sitting on and carry on.

Zabuza was lying in a bed being tended to by Haku, when a short man walked in through a door with two men, carrying swords, following after him. "Some jounin, the unbeatable ninja just got beat, limping back home like some pathetic has been. Demon of the hidden mist?" The small man cackled. "More like coward of the hidden mist!"

Haku got up quickly, hearing the insult, causing the two men with swords to grab for the hilts and draw them slightly. "Drawing swords?" Haku asked in a somber voice.

The short man walked forward waving off the other two. "Hang on a minute. Alright, let's hear what you have to say about this fiasco. And don't play possum, I know you can talk." The short man said as he walked over to Zabuza and reached for the bandages covering his mouth.

His hand was quickly stopped however by an angry looking Haku. "Keep your filthy hands off of Zabuza-sama."

Haku went on to start crushing the short mans arm causing him to scream out. "AAAARGH! Your gonna break it!"

The two men with swords, noticing the assault on their employer, started drawing their swords again. What they didn't expect was for Haku to appear between them, brandishing their swords and pressing them to their necks. Both men were thinking the exact same thing that moment. 'That's impossible! No one can move that fast!'

"Don't push me, I'm in a really foul mood." Haku said, in what sounded like a calm voice but the look of anger on his face saying otherwise.

The short man growled in frustration as Haku threw the swords across the room. "One chance! That's it! If you fail this time, I'll cut you off and there'll be no one left to cover for you!" The short man barked out before turning to the door and leaving. "Let's go!"

Zabuza moved his gaze to Haku when the door closed. "Haku. That wasn't neccesary." He stated calmly still staring at Haku.

"Perhaps, but I didn't want you using that hand, even if you would have used the kunai, it still needs time to close up properly." Haku explained.

"The wound would've stayed closed, with all the jutsu, ointments you've smeared on it and the tea you make me drink, it's practically completely healed." Zabuza replied.

"Probably, either way, it's still too early to kill Gatoh. Think about it, he's our best cover, the murders would draw their attention. Then they'd be after us again." Haku said remembering the hunter nins that had been after them. "We need restraint."

Zabuza looked back at the ceiling and sighed. "Right." He said as he closed his eyes trying to sleep again.

Naruto was walking through the forest on his way back to the house. He was cutting through where Sakura and Sasuke had been doing the tree climbing exercise. What he found surprised him slightly, Sasuke was lying down in front of his tree breathing heavily. Naruto walked over quietly.

"So, you've been training really hard I see, Sasuke." Naruto stated as he looked down on the Uchiha.

"Hmph, Dobe." Sasuke said back as he got up. He was getting ready to dash at the tree again but was stopped when a hand fell on his shoulder.

"Come on Sasuke-teme. You keep going like this and your gonna be useless when Zabuza finally returns." Naruto said trying to convince him he would be better off resting now.

Sasuke blanched at that thought, he didn't want to be just a target when it came to a fight. "Fine, Dobe. I'll go back to the house, for now." Sasuke turned away from the tree and started walking for the house.

Naruto just watched the retreating form of Sasuke. 'That was different. I would've thought he would at least snap at me for even thinking he was weak.' Naruto just carried on walking after that thought. The feeling in his stomach compelling him to find food.

That night everyone had a good meal courtesy of Tsunami. Sasuke looked like he was trying to eat more than Naruto, when Naruto asked for seconds so did Sasuke. "Man, that has to be the best meal I've had in a long time! Nothing beats homemade cooking!" Naruto exclaimed after he had finished his third serving.

Sakura had already finished eating long before Naruto and was helping Tsunami with the dishes she had to clean. Once she was done helping she wandered over to a picture that had been bugging her since she had arrived at the house, one corner of it was missing and Sakura was itching to know why. She finally plucked up the guts to ask after about four minutes of staring at it. "Excuse me, this picture is torn. Is there some reason for that. Inari you kept glancing at it all through dinner. It looks like there was someone else in the picture but they got torn out, I mean that's kinda strange isn't it?"

Tazuna gave off a small humming sound as if in thought, Inari gave off small whimper and Tsunami gave out a small gasp. "It's my husband." Tsunami told Sakura quickly.

Tazuna lowered his head and his eyes softened as if remembering something painful. "They used to call him a hero in this land..."

After Tazuna said that Inari got up and made his way to the door. "Inari where are you going!?" Tsunami called out to him but he made no effort to stop he just carried on out the door and into the night. Tsunami then ran to the door pausing before she left to scold Tazuna. "Otou-san, you can't talk about him like that in front of Inari, you know that!" She swiftly left and closed the door after her looking for Inari.

Sakura just looked at the door with slight shock. "Inari's so... " Sakura started.

Naruto was also staring at the door when he spoke up right after Sakura. "What was that about?"

Kakashi 'hmmm'd' and looked toward Tazuna. "Is there a story behind this?"

"He wasn't Inari's real father, he came in to our family later. He brought so much happiness, he and Inari were very close. Back in those days, Inari used laugh all the time." Tazuna explained almost chuckling at the last part. After a second he tensed up though. "But then! All that ended he never laughs or smiles anymore. Ever since the day everything changed." He had started crying halfway through the last sentence making him look older than he was. "The word courage was stolen from this island and we were left feeling powerless, hopeless and Inari suffered the most. Ever since that day, ever since it happened!"

Tazuna paused after saying that compelling Kakashi to talk. "Tell us, what happened to Inari."

"First, you'll need to learn about the man, his father. The man who taught us the word courage, who was a hero in this land." Tazuna said as he wiped away his tears.

"A hero? He must have been awesome." Naruto said in awe of Inari's father.

"He was, to the town's people and to Inari. He showed up about three years ago. Inari had been pushed into the water after his dog but he couldn't swim he almost drowned, the dog managed to get to safety. That's when He showed up, he saved Inari. Inari was broken up about letting the dog down and how the dog abandoned him in his time of need. Inari thought he didn't have any courage, because he was too scared to try and help the dog, but he helped Inari. He explained that Inari was still young and that even he was scared when he was a child. That day, he told Inari something that would change his life. He told Inari to live his life so that he had nothing to regret that if he had something he cared about he should protect it with both arms, no matter what and never give up. The man's name was Kaiza, he was a fisherman who came here from another land to follow his dreams. After that day, Inari and Kaiza were inseparable. Inari had never known his real father so you can imagine what it meant to him to have Kaiza in his life, he looked up to him and followed in his footsteps like a real father and son. Kaiza spent so much time with us, eventually he naturally became part of our family. And when this town needed him most, he pulled through for us all and became something more. Sometime before Gatoh showed up, there was heavy rain and a flood gate we used to regulate water flow through the town opened, the water levels were rising and the water would cause wide spread damage if we didn't close the flood gate. The current was too strong for one man to close it, they needed to use rope and close it as a team but no one was willing to brave the current. Kaiza showed up though and managed to swim through the current getting a rope onto the gate allowing the whole village to work as one and close the gate. That day Kaiza become a hero in this land, he taught us all the meaning of courage and Inari was proud to be his son." Tazuna paused looking down at the table thinking about those days.

Naruto spoke up wanting to know where this hero was. "So what happened to him, Tazuna-san?"

Tazuna looked back up, grim look on his face. "Not long after that, Gatoh showed up. He terrorized everyone in the village with his thugs. Kaiza was the only person to stand up to him, it took Gatoh's whole gang to bring that one man down. Kaiza was beaten and ridiculed by the gang, they broke his arms as a cruel joke. Then they did the most vile act possible, they executed Kaiza in public, under the pretenses that he was upsetting the order of the land by going against the Gatoh company. Using him as an example to scare the other villagers, so that none of them thought to rise against him again. Inari saw everything, from that day onward he stopped believing in heroes. Everyone changed that day, they lost their will." Tazuna finished.

Naruto looked over to the torn picture and stood up. He walked to the door and was about to leave when Kakashi spoke up. "Where are you going, Naruto?"

Naruto looked back to everyone, a glint in his eye. "I'm gonna go train some more. After all if I'm gonna prove to Inari that there is such a thing as heros, I'm gonna need to stay on top form." Naruto left after saying that.

Sasuke soon followed saying he was going to train as well. 'I'm not going to be out done by the Dobe!'It had been four days since Sasuke had started the tree climbing exercise. The last few days Tazuna had restarted work on the bridge. Naruto had been sent the first couple of days to set up more clones, both shadow and water, seeing as there was enough water, around the bridge and guard Tazuna while he worked. He even created some clones and had them henge into some normal looking workers to speed the work along. He even helped a little himself.

This day however, Sakura was sent with Tazuna to the bridge. She was sore from all the training that she'd done but to her it had been worth it in the end. When Naruto had taken Tazuna to the bridge the first time she had gone back to the tree climbing exercise with Sasuke. That day had to be one of the best she had, had so far, because when she finished her training that day, Sasuke had asked her for advice about the tree climbing exercise. The memory brought a smile to her face, even now.

Tazuna walked by and saw the smile on Sakura's face. "Hey, are you gonna just sit and smile all day? Shouldn't you be training in some way?"

The smile fell from her face and she looked up at the old bridge builder. "Well, there isn't anyway for me to train. I'm just supposed to watch and guard you anyway."

"No way to train? You could always help us with the construction work, like that blonde kid did when he was here. Which reminds me, where is he? I thought he would be guarding me again today." Tazuna asked the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Naruto-kun? He said he wanted to do some of his own training today. He did send some of his clones with me though, to replace any that had run out of chakra." Sakura answered Tazuna.

Naruto was back in the clearing where he'd been training with his tails a few days prior and his other jutsu for the last couple of nights since he had been down on the bridge during the day. 'Okay, Kyu-sensei, we're back in the clearing. What did you want me to practice this time?'

'Alright, I want to get you practicing using my chakra for the fox jutsus. Since we're going up against a nin of Zabuza's level you may need to call on my chakra for the fight. This will be different to the night you beat Mizuki though.' Kyuubi explained to the blonde.

'What do ya mean, Kyu-sensei?' Naruto asked Kyuubi.

'In the forest, when you got angry and fought Mizuki, you took my chakra for the fight, I didn't give it to you willingly. When I give you my chakra, I filter out most of the demonic influence before giving it to you. When you take the chakra though, I don't get a chance to filter out the demonic influence. Getting rid of that demonic influence is important, especially if you're using a lot of my chakra. With the demonic influence in the chakra it causes your body's chemistry to alter, making you more aggressive and bloodthirsty. That's why you almost killed Mizuki in the forest, it was because of the demonic influence of my chakra. I stopped you before you went too far though.' Kyuubi sighed in Naruto's mind. 'The human body was never made to use demonic chakra anyway, it's too powerful. Even with my filtration of the demonic influence, the chakra may still damage your body if you use too much of it.'

'So, this power is only to be used in a dire situation, huh?' Naruto stated more than asked.

'Correct. But if I give you the chakra, it may take some time for it to be useful since I need time to filter it. This means you'll be defenseless while I'm trying to filter the chakra of it's demonic influence.' Kyuubi explained further.

'Couldn't there be some way for you to filter the chakra and then store it somehow? Then I could just take the filtered chakra from storage, then I could be ready to fight in no time' Naruto asked.

'It could be possible, Kit. I could filter the chakra and you could store it in a seal on your body for later. There's a problem with this though, there aren't that many seals that are powerful enough to store demonic chakra. One of the few seals that can store demonic chakra is currently on your stomach.' Kyuubi replied.

'Umm, Kyu-sensei?' Naruto looked down at his toned stomach through the steel mesh shirt he wore. 'There's nothing on my stomach.' Naruto said back.

Kyuubi chuckled lightly at Naruto's comment. 'Maybe not now, Kit. Give me a second to filter some chakra and you'll see what I mean.'

Naruto kept looking down at his stomach until, finally, a spiral with some other symbols surrounding it appeared. Strangely enough, it appeared, just as he felt Kyuubi's chakra enter his system. 'I see it now, Kyu-sensei! If I can look at this with my Kaiseki Boushi, I'm pretty sure I could use some of the symbols to come up with a seal to store the filtered chakra!' He exclaimed mentally.

'Good. You can study it and make a new storage seal later, when you have the equipment needed to make a new seal. Besides you're going to need a lot of time to study the seal, there are more symbols than what you see on the surface. It has many layers of different symbols to make it strong.' Kyuubi explained to the excited blonde.

'Oh! Okay, you can stop filtering the chakra into my system now Kyu-sensei.' Naruto replied.

'Kit you really are easy to distract when comes to new things aren't you? You came out here to practice using my chakra and activating those fox jutsus without hand-seals. To do that you're going to need my chakra.' Kyuubi told the blonde as he chuckled.

Naruto just chuckled to himself and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, embarrassed at his absent-minded antics. He then took a stance and readily accepted Kyuubi's chakra. First off he activated the Kitsune Boushi no Jutsu, feeling it would be the easiest to activate since it used the least chakra. He activated it as soon as the chakra hit his eyes. It seemed to actually activate on it's own but Naruto took no notice. Next he went on to the Kitsune Bikou no Jutsu. It took a couple of seconds to fully form the nine tails without hand-seals but he did it. There was something different about the tails though, they seemed to glow slightly and swish about a little more viciously. He practiced a little with the tails, swinging through the trees as he had been doing the last few days. The tails seemed to react faster even though they were formed slower, they also seemed to burn the branches they touched, slightly. He also struck out with the tails, checking out how deadly they could be. It turned out they could be extremely deadly, especially if he used it in conjunction with the chakra armor, making a small spike or blade at the end of the tail.

The last jutsu, the Kitsune Tsume no Jutsu, seemed to come easier than the tails and unlike when he usually uses his own chakra the claws turned out red. Naruto didn't like to use this jutsu against other people unless he really meant to kill or seriously harm said person. From what Kyuubi told him, it could be really harmful when using his chakra. He still tried it against some of the trees though and was surprised to see where he cut was singed and the leaves of the tree would start dieing.

"Whoa, these things are really destructive." Naruto exclaimed, looking at the claws of chakra. He disengaged the jutsu after that. 'I don't think I'll be using that jutsu with your chakra anytime soon. Unless of course there's someone I need to protect.'

'Fair enough, Kit. Just remember, if your using your chakra they only cut, they don't poison like they do with my chakra.' Kyuubi told the blonde.

'I know, I remember what you told me. I think that's enough training for the day, the suns starting to go down. How do I get rid of the rest of your chakra Kyu-sensei? I still have some left.' Naruto asked Kyuubi.

'Give me a second, Kit. I can reabsorb it, once I do the demonic influence will be restored though. Get ready for a bout of exhaustion though, when my chakra entered your system it pushed a lot of yours out, once I take mine back, it'll feel like you've used a lot of your chakra.' Kyuubi replied.

'Okay, go for it.' Naruto told Kyuubi. Kyuubi started to reabsorb his chakra and it hit Naruto like a large group of fan-girls. 'Damn, that's a lot more exhausting than I expected. I don't think I could even make it to the house now.' Naruto thought to himself.

'If you're going stay out here tonight then at least activate the Kitsune Bikou no Jutsu. I don't want you freezing to death.' Kyuubi told Naruto.

Naruto nodded, went through the hand-seals and waited for his chakra to replenish to the point of having enough to cast the jutsu and to wrap himself up in the tails before going to sleep. He eventually performed the jutsu and curled up on the ground, the tails wrapping around him and keeping the cold out.

Naruto woke up to the feeling of someone leaning over his body and their hand coming a little too close to his throat. He reached out and swiftly caught the person's wrist even though he hadn't even opened his eyes. "I wouldn't try that if I were you or else I might consider you a threat and kill you." He said calmly as he pushed the hand away from his neck. He then sat up and opened his eyes to see who his attacker was.

Haku had been up early that morning to gather herbs for an ointment, again. He'd used so much to help heal Zabuza's wounds that he had to replenish almost all his stock. When he saw the Konoha nin that had been the cause to Zabuza's wounds though, he was severely tempted to kill him then and there and even brought his hand close to strangling the nin but was stopped when his wrist was grabbed. He widened his eyes at the supposedly sleeping nins action and then at his words. 'No one has been able to sense my presence before, even Zabuza-sama has had trouble from time to time.' Realizing this Haku felt a certain respect forming for the blonde ninja. "What are you doing sleeping out here? You may have blankets to protect yourself from the cold but there are still a lot of things that could hurt you out here."

Naruto just looked at the person in front of him, he or she was wearing a pink kimono and had long hair. The facial features suggested that the person was a girl but their posture and the pitch of the voice suggested more for a boy. Naruto shook himself getting more of the sleep out of his head the tails flaring out behind him causing the person to gasp. "I know, I was out here training to become stronger but I guess I went a little too far. These tails were part of my training, they're also pretty good at keeping me warm and safe though. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, so what's your name?" He cancelled the tail jutsu at the end of his sentence to make the person feel more comfortable.

The rest of team 7 and Tazuna's family were around the dining table when Kakashi spoke up. "Naruto's late, he's usually on time for meals. Sasuke, was he still sleeping when you got up?"

"Yeah, I haven't seen him since yesterday morning." Tazuna added.

Kakashi wasn't the only one to notice the blondes absence, Sakura was also starting to get worried. "Actually, Kakashi-sensei, I'm not sure if Naruto-kun came back yesterday. He wasn't here when I got back with Tazuna-san." Sakura informed her sensei.

"The Dobe wasn't in the room last night and he wasn't there this morning either. He probably trained too hard and collapsed, who knows, maybe he went too far, used up all his chakra and died." Sasuke suggested in an unimpressed voice.

"Sasuke-kun! I know Naruto-kun is a little over-enthusiastic sometimes but he knows his limits. He would never do something that reckless." Sakura whined.

"I have to admit, I'm a little worried about Naruto-kun. The woods aren't a safe place for a child to stay the night." Tsunami admitted.

"Don't worry, Naruto may act goofy and reckless sometimes but he's also a fully fledged ninja. He can take care of himself." Kakashi assured everyone.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Kakashi for a moment and got up. "Where are you going, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked the Uchiha.

"I'm gonna go train some more." Sasuke replied and he carried on out the door. Almost nobody heard him mumbling something about 'being beaten by the Dobe'.

Haku got over the blonde's, now known as Naruto, tails. "My name's Haku. So are you a ninja? Because I noticed that hitai-ite you're wearing." Now Haku had an immense interest in Naruto, seeing as he knew such a strange jutsu.

"Oh, this?" Naruto said as he reached up to touch his hitai-ite. "Yeah, I'm a ninja." He replied. 'Damn! The names unisex, I still can't tell which gender Haku is and it feels like I should know Haku from somewhere, but why?'

"I see. So why were you trying to be stronger? Do you have some one, precious, you wish to protect?" Haku asked Naruto.

Naruto grinned. "Yeah. I guess you could say that. What I'm protecting is more of a somewhere though. I want to protect the land of waves from a man who's trying to make money from their suffering. I also want to protect my hidden village, so I have twice the reason to train."

"I see. That's good to hear. I think a person becomes truly strong when they try to protect someone, or somewhere in your case, precious to them." Haku explained.

At that moment it hit Naruto, he figured out who this person was. He should have been able to tell from the height, hair colour and voice but somehow it eluded him until he felt the persons chakra signature properly. He didn't give anything away though and carried on as if he knew nothing. "Yeah, I know what you mean Haku. By the way... how's Zabuza doing? Are his wounds healed yet?" Naruto asked as if he knew the two of them personally.

Haku was slightly taken aback by Naruto's question but answered it anyway. "He's fine, he should be ready to fight again in a couple of days. How did you know?" Haku asked lowering his head as if in defeat.

"I should have figured it out from just your voice but I'm sad to say I didn't figure it out until I felt your chakra signature. You're pretty good at hiding that aren't you? That's probably why I couldn't sense you in the forest. There's something I need to know though, why do you help Zabuza? You just don't look like the bloodthirsty type, it's not in your eyes." Naruto asked with a concerned look in his eyes.

Again, Haku was taken aback by his question. No one had ever asked him such a thing. "I guess it's because he's my precious person, he's the closest thing I have to family or a friend."

Naruto just looked into Haku's eyes again. He was being truthful and what surprised Naruto a little more was he saw himself about six years ago in those eyes. This boy had experienced something awful just as he had all those years ago before he found out about Kyuubi and made some friends at the academy. Haku had been alone. "What happened to you? Where's your family?"

"My... family?" Haku asked slowly, getting a far off look in his eyes. "I killed them."

Naruto looked at Haku a little more surprise showing on his face. "I doubt that you did it on purpose. Tell me, what happened?" Naruto repeated with more force.

Haku lowered his head again. "When I was younger I lived in a village, not far from the hidden mist village, where it snowed almost all year round. I was happy back then, my only family were my mother and father and we lived comfortably. We always had food in our stomachs and a roof over our heads and we cared for one another. That changed the day I found out what was in my blood. My mother came from a family of ninja who had a Kekkei Genkai. During the war, that Kekkei Genkai was in high demand, everyone wanted to exploit it. After the war though everyone feared it, almost everyone with the Kekkei Genaki was hunted down and killed. My mother was among the few who survived, she managed to hide her abilities and married my father. I was born soon after and we were happy. After a few years I found out about my Kekkei Genaki when I was playing, my mother saw me using it and she scolded me, saying I should never use it again. At first I didn't understand but when my father found out I understood perfectly. He killed my mother and was going to kill me, I saved myself though and killed him using my Kekkei Genaki. From that day, I was alone, I didn't have anyone. No one cared for me, I had to go through trash to feed myself. I was saved though, by Zabuza. He not only accepted what was in my blood but wanted it. He trained me and took care of me, I became his tool, I felt wanted and I had a purpose because of that."

"I know what you're going through Haku, I was unloved and unwanted some time ago aswell. But from the way your talking, it sounds like you're nothing but property to Zabuza. You need friends to become strong." Naruto said also looking down.

"I understand that but how can I have friends?" Haku looked up.

Naruto looked up as well a grin on his face, he reached out his hand and said. "Shake my hand Haku and I'll become your friend."

Haku looked shocked again, staring at Naruto's outstretched hand. "How can you say that? In a few days time we'll probably be fighting against each other. You should kill me right now, ideally, to ensure the success of your mission, how can we be friends?"

"That may be true but we're not fighting right now are we? This is just the life of a ninja Haku, one day we're the best of friends, the next, mortal enemies. So shake my hand and you can say that you have at least one friend. Life is no fun without friends." Naruto explained, shoving his hand in Haku's direction, again.

Haku reached his hand out slowly and shook Naruto's hand. "Thank you, Naruto-san. I can tell your good person and a great ninja. Good luck." Haku got up at that and started walking away.

"Are you sure you want to wish me good luck? I will be fighting you and Zabuza in a few days after all." Naruto called to Haku's retreating form.

Haku stopped at hearing Naruto's voice. He turned his head so that Naruto could see his face. He smiled and nodded to Naruto.

Naruto was walking back to Tazuna's house, his stomach getting the better of him. He cut through where Sasuke was training and saw the Uchiha had done quite a lot of progress. He carried on to the house and got an onigiri courtesy of Tsunami. He ate it on his way to the bridge to help Sakura with protecting Tazuna for the day and to help with the bridge. At the rate the building was going, the bridge would be finished in couple of days.

When he arrived he got a hug from Sakura and a scolding for staying out all night. The rest of the day passed without a hitch. He didn't tell anyone about his meeting Haku.

The bridge would be finished tomorrow and Naruto felt it would also be when Zabuza would make his appearance. He could tell because it felt like a calm before a storm again, as it felt when they first met Zabuza. Naruto, Tazuna and Sakura were currently walking back to Tazuna's home. Sasuke was still doing the tree climbing exercise.

Zabuza was now sitting in a chair, his left hand, right bicep and chest were all covered in bandages to cover up the scars from the previous fight. He held an apple in his right hand, without a second thought, he crushed it. "My strength has returned, tomorrow, Haku, we make our move.

Haku, standing a little behind him nodded silently.

Naruto had gone out to do some last minute training after finishing dinner. He just went over some defensive jutsu, expecting to need them tomorrow. On his way back though he was surprised to see Sasuke had reached the very top of the tree he had been climbing. Naruto rushed up a tree next to Sasuke's, with no problem at all, and stood near the worn out Uchiha. "Finally made it to the top, huh, Teme?"

"You better believe it, Dobe. I'm not gonna lose to you!" Sasuke glared at him.

Naruto grinned. "Come on, I bet you're hungry by now. Let's get back to Tazuna's place."

Sasuke looked over and nodded.

Soon afterward, Naruto and Sasuke came through the door to the Tazuna residence. Sasuke being supported lightly by Naruto. "He made it! Sasuke-teme made it all the way to the top!"

"That's good to hear. Sasuke, starting tomorrow you will accompany Tazuna to the bridge with the rest of us." Kakashi stated to the Uchiha.

"No problem." Sasuke stated as he sat down and dug into the food Tsunami had kept for him.

When Sasuke finished, they all drank tea while just talking, sharing a few stories and laughing. Except for Sasuke, who just let out an amused 'hn' whenever he found something funny. All this started to get to Inari, he couldn't believe they were so relaxed when they could die any day now. Images of his father and all he did for him and the village flashed through his mind, the look in his father's eyes when he had helped him and the village. Inari saw the look in Naruto's eyes, it was like his father's. He started to cry from remembering about his father. "How... how can you be so relaxed?" He said in a small voice.

Naruto looked over to Inari. "What did you say?"

Inari got up and slammed his hands on the table. "All this stupid training is just a waste of time! Gatoh's got a whole army, they'll beat you down and they'll kill you!" Everyone was now looking at Inari. "These cool things you all say, they don't mean anything! No matter what you do! The strong always win and the weak always lose!"

"I guess we're gonna win then!" Naruto said with a grin.

"Why don't you be quiet! Just looking at you makes me sick! You don't know anything about this country, you're just butting in! Always laughing and playing around, you don't know what it's like to suffer and be treated like dirt!" Inari yelled at the blonde

Naruto's face went dark, he lowered his face lightly so the hitai-ite's shadow would cover his eyes. When Kakashi-sensei saw this, one thought went through his head. 'Kuso! That kid did not just say what I think he said. I just hope Naruto keeps his cool.'

"Don't talk to me about suffering! I'm here to get rid of Gatoh and I'm gonna do it with or without your support! Do you know why I'm gonna get rid of him? Because he's the cause for this town's suffering. I've suffered every day for most of my life! I don't want anyone else to go through that! So you can whimper and whine all day for all I care, you're nothin' but a coward!" Naruto shouted back at Inari.

"Naruto-kun! That's harsh!" Sakura scolded the blonde.

"Hmmph! I'm gonna go on patrol and check out my clones." Naruto said as he got up and used a shunshin jutsu to leave. He didn't return that night.

"He doesn't hate you, you know?" Kakashi said as he walked up behind Inari.

Inari was sitting on the docks his house was built on. He had been there for almost half an hour now going over the things Naruto had told him. When he heard the jounin's words, he just looked back at him.

"I know what he said was harsh but that's what Naruto's life was until a few years back, even then he still had troubles. You may not know it but Naruto also grew up without a father, actually, he never knew either of his parents. He had almost no friends but I've never seen him cry, sulk or give up. If he's knocked down, he gets right back up and keeps going until he can't move anymore, even then he still tries. He keeps going because that's the only way he knows. He works hard, everyday, trying to get stronger so that he can earn respect. It's his dream and he'd put his life on the line for that in a heart beat. Thanks to all that he has earned the respect and friendship of a few people around him. Now he protects those people the same as his dream. He managed this because he stopped crying and decided to do something about his life." Kakashi explained to Inari. 'With the help of a certain fox.' Kakashi added in his thoughts.

Inari continued to look out to sea, still deep in thought.

Team 7, minus Naruto, were heading out with Tazuna to oversee the last part of the bridge being built and to keep any ninjas from killing him before it was finished, of course. "If Naruto show's up, tell him to head for the bridge as soon as possible." Kakashi asked Tsunami as they were about to leave.

"What about you? You're still recovering." Tsunami told the jounin.

"What's the matter do I look wobbly? Don't worry I'll be fine." Kakashi reassured her, at that they left.

Almost fifteen minutes after they left Naruto came through the front door of the Tazuna residence. He took a quick look about for the rest of the team but only found Tsunami in the kitchen. "Oh! Naruto-kun! Your sensei said you were to go straight to the bridge if you showed up here." She quickly told the blonde.

He grinned. "Thanks Tsunami-san! I'll..." Naruto frowned and turned his head away for a moment. When his head snapped back to look Tsunami in the eye, he had a serious look on his face. "Tsunami-san, find Inari and don't come outside until I say it's safe." Naruto slowly walked out after that.

Tsunami ran upstairs and found Inari in his room, she told him what Naruto told her and they just sat down, Inari in his mother's arms, waiting for the all-clear from Naruto.

When Naruto went through the door he saw exactly what the clone saw before it dispelled itself. Two guys with katana at their waist. A tall one, shirtless with a tattoo on his left shoulder and eye-patch over has right eye. The second, shorter, wearing a heavy coat and beanie hat and tattoos under each eye."What do you guys want here?" He asked in a monotone.

"Oh look! One of the ninja brats Tazuna hired. What should we do with him?" Asked the taller of the two in a mocking tone.

"Whatever you do, it won't work, you're not getting past me. I will not allow Gatoh to get away with what he's doing anymore." Naruto announced in a defiant tone.

"Oooooh, big words. What are you gonna do to back them up though?" Asked the the short one, drawing his sword.

Naruto... grinned? "Myself? I'm not gonna do anything but my friends behind you may have something to say." Naruto replied.

Several water clones were currently standing on the water behind the two with swords. "That has to be the oldest trick in the book, you really think we'll turn our back on you? What do-" The short ones words were quickly cut off when one of the clones struck at the back of his neck knocking him out. The same happened to the taller one a split second after he saw his partner fall.

Naruto tutted lightly. "I tried to warn you." He gave silent command for his clones to tie the two up, remove their weapons and guard them. He turned to the house and called out. "Okay Tsunami-san, Inari! It's safe to come out now!"

A few seconds later Tsunami, followed closely by Inari, opened the front door and poked the heads out. They saw Narutos tying a couple of guys up while another Naruto was doing something with a couple of katana and a scroll. The one with the scroll looked up. "Hey guys!" He rolled up the scroll and picked up the two katana. "I wanted to seal these two katana away but I don't have enough space on the scroll I have with me right now, could you two look after them for me?" He asked handing out the two to Tsunami.

"How did you beat those two? They're a lot bigger than you!" Inari yelled at the blonde.

Naruto looked down at Inari and smiled. "They may have been bigger but I was smarter, faster and stronger. Besides I already told you, I'm here to get rid of Gatoh and these two work for him, so it's just the start. Oh, and Inari, sorry for yesterday. I went a little too far with that coward thing. You're just afraid for our lives, thanks for that. I'm still gonna kick Gatoh's butt though. Which reminds me, I better get to the bridge, I'll be back later I promise. The clones will watch over you until then. See ya!" Naruto brought his hands up into a seal and a small shock wave went out from him. He'd just lowered the level of the weight seal and after a second he disappeared.

Author Note;
Whew! Another chapter that didn't want to end, hope ya like it!