A Loving Heart, A Body of Steel

by renegadeofficer89

Love is the only cure to hatred. A person with a heart so big that he can accept anyone in his life, either human or not will be the saviour of the world. With a body of steel, he will rise above the hatred of the world, and be the catalyst to bring peace. Bloodline/Strong/Naruto, NaruxFemKyuuxHina pairing.

12. Chapter 11: The Wave Arrives! Part 1

I have no words to say to all of you that could express my feelings about the lateness of this chapter. The only thing that I can say for sure is that I am so, so very sorry, and that real life got in the way of this chapter's release. And so, without further ado, here's the next chapter of A Loving Heart, A Body of Steel. Once again, *bows down* I beg for your forgiveness.

Betaed by: Alexnder

CHAPTER 11: THE WAVE ARRIVES! Part 1 Uploaded 26/06/2013

-CHAPTER START-

Uchiha Sasuke, the brother to the current clan head of the Uchiha, Uchiha Itachi, was currently feeling, for lack of a better word, like shit. His team took a C-rank mission that starts off with an ambush by 2 chuunin ranked missing nins from Kiri that his team dispatched easily enough; a combination of his Katon jutsu and a sudden strike by Sai's flammable ink creatures brought them down for the count quickly while Sakura guarded the client. Guess all those ambush training by Kakashi and his brother paid off. Also, Sakura at least wasn't all scared and shaking in her boots, gaining her some points from him. Then, they found out that the client actually lied about the mission, stating a lack of funds as the reason. After having expressed their shock at seeing Kakashi's talking dog, something that Sai didn't share as ROOT training was better than that. They continued on their mission, not expecting too much.

Unfortunately for them, the mission was just about to get worse. Upon crossing the straits that separates Wave and the mainland, they were once again ambushed by another missing nin, but this time, it's someone of an entirely different level from the Demon Brothers, a missing nin by the name of Momochi Zabuza an A-ranked missing nin, the same rank as his teacher. During the start of battle, he was so utterly, unquestionably terrified of Zabuza's sheer KI that he nearly slit his own wrists if not for Sai stopping him. Just as he was about to thank him, he gave Sasuke that creepy smile of his before commenting about how his lack of dick size destroying any appreciation Sasuke felt and made him want to bury his head in the ground. Looking back towards the battle, he saw that Kakashi was trapped in a sphere of water courtesy of Zabuza's Water Prison jutsu.

A quick tactical decision combined with Zabuza underestimating them managed to release their sensei from his prison. As he was released, Kakashi revealed his Sharingan, where he then turns the tables and quickly gets the upper hand. As Luck would have it though, just as he was about to land the final blow some hunter nin hidden in the surroundings jumped out and took him away. Kakashi ate the ground not long after because of exhaustion. To the fear of the genins, Kakashi theorized that Zabuza was not actually dead yet and was rescued by that hunter nin and he'll come back in about a week or so. After theorizing as such, Kakashi then used the remainder of his chakra to summon one of his tracker dogs to take a message as he dictated and Sakura wrote to Konoha requesting reinforcements before he collapsed again, completely exhausted.

Now Sasuke finds himself sitting on the roof of the client's house, looking around for any threats or any weird happenings. The rest of his teammates were with the client's daughter, a lady named Tsunami who was going to town to buy some groceries. And he was tasked to watch the client's house and at the same time wait for the requested backup. Hopefully, they wouldn't take too long. The bridge was huge, and they lacked the manpower to guard it completely while also being able to guard his family.

He knew that against someone that as powerful, as experienced and as deadly as Zabuza, the best he could do was be a meat shield for his sensei and die, most probably horribly. As an Uchiha, that was completely unacceptable. As such, he hoped that the Hokage could send them some powerful backup; a team that could be depended on and not be a dead weight. But he knew that with the backup request that he sent out, it'll be a given that the Hokage will deliver some powerful backup for them, especially since their opposition aren't your run-of-the-mill ninjas.

Due to these circumstances, Sasuke couldn't even train, as that would avert his eyes away from the house and put the family in danger. Though he does a very good job of hiding it, Sasuke was terrified of Zabuza. Gato's goons he could handle easily, his brother and Kakashi taught him too well for such to be more than swatting a fly, but Zabuza was an entirely different matter altogether on an entirely different level. If Zabuza attacked, Sasuke would be nothing but a nuisance to him, no doubt. Even so, he would do his best to defend the client, no matter what. Though they'll still need reinforcements to handle Zabuza.

As he was keeping watch around the house, looking for any potential threats that might appear, a three-pronged kunai with a seal tied around its handle came flying from somewhere, triggering his instinctual reactions. Immediately jumping back while holding a kunai in his hand to counter any potential attacks, he spotted the Hiraishin kunai stuck on the ground. Before he could do anything, a yellow flash blinded him for a bit. As his sight cleared, he was met with the figures of Team 11, Naruto with his usual white long coat, Kushina with her flowing blonde hair, Hinata with her black clothes and Anko with her usual boisterous attitude.

With a toothy grin, Naruto said, "Yo Sasuke. Fancy meeting you here. How's Kakashi?"

Still shocked, he raised his kunai in a hopefully threatening manner, not that Naruto felt threatened by just a kunai. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"That." Naruto said, pointing to the Hiraishin kunai right below him. "I tossed it from the closest point I can get to Wave before teleporting to it and repeating that process until I reached this place. Your chakra signature is pretty obvious you know. At least the enemies are mostly thugs, so they won't be able to bother you too much." Even while saying that, the rest of Naruto's team were already going to their positions, making traps, placing seals and the likes as Anko went to meet Kakashi and getting the current report from him.

Sasuke lowered his kunai and stored it back in his weapons pouch, his stance relaxing. "Damn, I kept forgetting that you're the Fourth's son, so the Hiraishin would be something that you'd know."

"Damn right." Naruto said before going towards Sasuke and ready to take his place as watch. "So, anything interesting happening after Zabuza beat Kakashi up?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Not really. Just keeping a very boring watch." He then sat beside Naruto, both their legs dangling from the roof of Tazuna's house, though the size difference between them was extreme. Sasuke then asked. "Naruto, how much would you rate yourself against Zabuza?"

Naruto didn't answer immediately, thinking of how to say it to him. "Truthfully, I don't think I'll lose against him. Even Hinata might win, and Kushi-chan would definitely win, though she might have to work for it. I would win against him though, that's for sure."

Sasuke scoffed. "You and that bloodline of yours. That's one crazy powerful bloodline."

"Look who's talking, Mr. Future Copycat. My bloodline may gave me extreme endurance and a lot of other such things, but yours would be able to copy everything that I can and will be able to do, if not for the fact that I could kick your ass to kingdom come and beyond before you could even see it coming. Also, all that came from practice. Years and years of practice. So much practice that thinking about it is tiring. I try not to rely on my bloodline all the time, you know, but due to the fact that it's all passive, I naturally was forced to use it, if you can call it that."

Sasuke remained silent at this, knowing just what he meant. His bloodline's too integrated with his body, in that it is a part of him and is permanently activated. They're organs, after all. You can't just turn off your organs. Plus Itachi had taught him that the Sharingan was just another tool, one that he shouldn't rely too much on. He then slowly spoke. "Naruto, is it true that an Uchiha was the one who controlled the Kyuu-" His words was cut short when Naruto's KI increased massively while he looked at him with a glare full of hate and anger, so much so that it seemed like the flames of his rage would erupt out of his eyes at any moment.

"Don't you call her that." Naruto spoke slowly. "Don't you dare. She's my wife, my child's mother, and my lifelong mate. NEVER call her that."

Sasuke cowered due to Naruto's powerful stare towards him, and he could only nod his compliance. The KI disappeared abruptly, letting him breathe a sigh of relief, happy that Naruto didn't kill him outright. "Sorry." Gathering his wits, he continued. "Is it true that an Uchiha controlled Kurumi-san? I mean, she's an extremely powerful being. You demonstrated that before when you revealed her identity. But how did an Uchiha control her?"

Naruto glared at him, though this time without the oppressive KI that his previous words granted him. "Yeah. An Uchiha did do that. Though how is something I dare not tell you for obvious reasons."

Sasuke nodded. He could understand not wanting to reveal how to control oneself. Hell, he himself wouldn't do that. They both then continued to keep guard in silence.

Meanwhile, Anko who headed straight for Kakashi's room, saw that the mask wearing shinobi was sleeping soundly. "Probably still recovering from his chakra exhaustion," She thought. She then entered through the window as silently as she was able, though apparently that was not silent enough when she felt Kakashi's eyes on her. "So, Hokage-sama sent your team as our backup? Guess this is one screwed up mission to require the Demon Family of Konoha to be our backup." Kakashi said, though he meant it as a good praise, in that they are powerful and strong. He held no grudges towards them. Besides, Naruto was his surrogate father's son and Kushina was his granddaughter. The only regret that he had was that he couldn't protect him well enough when he was a child before he travelled outside of Konoha.

Anko already knew all that, so she didn't say anything when Kakashi said that. She looked towards him and said, "Damn, you looked like shit. And the truth is that there aren't many available teams right now, and that we just finished a mission and was about to give a report to the old man before we came here. Well, at least you'll be happier knowing that you have a powerful backup for you."

Kakashi gave Anko his trademarked eye smile ("how did he do that anyway" Anko thought) and said, "I guess I am. With your team here, I could continue training my kids more and you guys could guard the old man. You guys are more than capable of doing that, by the way."

Anko scoffed, yet answered him regardless. "Yeah, yeah. Lazy bastard." She said with a smile.

Kakashi once again showed his eye smile. "Maa, maa. Relax. I was-" Anything he was about to say was interrupted by the feeling of a massive KI coming from somewhere close by, so much so that even Kakashi felt scared. His eye widened and he looked at Anko who was still calm. The KI disappeared shortly afterwards, causing Kakashi to become confused and immediately asked Anko. "Anko! What the hell was that?! Why are you so calm?!"

Anko just shrugged before replying. "That was Naruto's KI. We're all pretty used to it now, so it doesn't faze us anymore unless directed at us. Sasuke must've said something that pissed him off. Maybe about how Kurumi was controlled by an Uchiha, or he called her the Kyuubi. He really hates it when she is called that. She's a living being too, you know."

Kakashi made a mental note to not say anything about Kyuubi when Naruto's around. He wants to keep his head on his shoulders, not anywhere around it. He then said, "Anko, any other instruction given by Hokage-sama towards us?"

Anko shrugged. "Nope. We are to reinforce your team and make sure that you finish your mission well, and to ensure that you survive and bring you back to Konoha. That's an easy task anyway. So, any additional info?"

"Nothing much. Just that we'll need to stay until the bridge was complete."

Anko placed a finger on her chin and tapped it a couple of times before saying. "What if you ask Naruto for help? I'm more than sure that he and his family could finish the construction of the bridge in just a day or two. His knowledge of Doton jutsu will definitely help."

Kakashi made an eye smile. "Maybe later. Though I'll need some help to recover completely."

"Hinata-chan can help with that. She's no regular genin, I'd say. Kurumi trained her well in just about everything. She could even spar on par with me."

Kakashi's lone eye widened at this. A genin going up against a jounin?! But he then thought for a while. She is Naruto's wife. No way would Naruto let her be weak. He then nodded to himself. Anko then said, "I'll have her check you when she's back later. They're setting up seals around the perimeter. Don't worry. They'll be able to handle anything that comes here. Just relax." Accepting the offer, Kakashi went back to sleep while Anko went somewhere, maybe towards the client.

-AN HOUR LATER-

Tsunami was walking towards her house carrying her bags of groceries, followed by Sakura and Sai beside her, Sakura with an expression of disgust and appal. What she saw shocked her. The village was deep in poverty. The people were starving; the kids were walking around begging for food and Gato's thugs roamed around like lords. Thankfully she trained better now or she won't be able to fend off this one thug that tried to grab her ass. At least Sai was nice enough to help her beat that stupid thug into the ground. Upon watching the condition of the town, Sakura remained firm that they made the right choice to continue on with the mission, no matter what.

Even so, she still hoped that their reinforcements would arrive quickly. Zabuza was too powerful for her. Even Kakashi-sensei was hard-fought to win against him. When he came at first, the combination of KI, the mist that he generated and the fear that came from the way he used and combined all the previous things nearly caused her to vacate her bowels on the spot. Genins aren't meant to go up against someone like that! Their mission just increased another rank. And as such, she hoped that their backup would be someone powerful enough to match Zabuza or an entire team. Hopefully, with numbers, they could win against him, or at least delay him. As a member of the Seven Swordsman of Kiri, his strength was legendary. She was completely unable to fathom the sheer power that the man had.

The encounter also showed her something: book knowledge meant jack shit in actual conditions. Nothing the academy taught her could ever prepare her for such a powerful encounter. If not for the fact that they had the famed Copy Ninja Kakashi as their sensei, she'd be a pile of chopped genin by now, Tazuna a dead man and Wave will forever be terrorized by Gato. Even so, Kakashi's reveal that he's still alive really made her felt like a bug about to be squished by a gigantic foot.

Sakura was so engrossed with her thoughts that she didn't realise that they had reached the house. She then felt a very familiar chakra signature at the house; a collection of extremely powerful, condensed chakra. Being someone with near perfect chakra control naturally and a strong grasp of the theoretical part about being a ninja combined with Kakashi's training, she managed to train her chakra sensing ability beyond what a genin was supposed to be capable of, though that isn't saying much. But it at least gave her a certain amount of early warning of sorts, though only in close range.

"This chakra... Isn't this the Demon Family's chakra?" The entirety of Konoha, now knowing that their Yondaime's son and granddaughter was a half-demon, and one of his wives was the Kyuubi herself ,"The fact that Kyuubi was a she totally proves women's strength!" Sakura thought, caused them to be called the Demon Family of Konoha, both in disgust and in praise. Disgust due to their part demon nature and praise due to both their power and their bravery at revealing their true nature towards the people. Though Hinata, who didn't have a speck of demonic chakra in her, was also called a demon as well, probably due to her association as a wife of Naruto's. Being in close proximity to them during the academy also helped her recognize their chakra signature. "We're saved! There is no one more powerful than them that Hokage-sama can send to help us!"

She let out a breath that she never realised she held ever since she started thinking about how useless her team was against Zabuza and his cohort. Demon or not, she'll be extremely thankful for Hokage-sama for sending a team so powerful to help back them up. As she was mentally thanking Hokage-sama for sending them, a tap on her shoulder broke her out of her reverie. Looking towards her back, she saw that her final teammate, the ex-ROOT nin named Sai was looking at her with his usual creepy smile on his face.

"Pinky, I think you should just stay out of their matters. Dickless as well. We are too weak to do anything against Zabuza, and the Yondaime's son and granddaughter will definitely be able to handle Zabuza and his accomplice, I'm sure."

Sakura just sighed. Sai's tendency to insult damn near everyone around him at all times was extremely annoying. When asked about, he answered with his creepy smile as always. "I read in a book that calling someone with nicknames is a good way to make them a friend, and that the most usual nickname came from their most obvious characteristics. You had pink hair, so Pinky. The Uchiha is dickless, so Dickless."

"When will you stop doing that..." She thought. As she thought that she replied to Sai "Yeah, I know. We can't do much against Zabuza, and if he came with his ally, we're dead."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, in front of Tsunami, Hinata appeared seemingly out of nowhere from a Shunshin to greet Tsunami, her clan's trademark long sleeved longcoat flowing behind her but with some major differences. Hers was black with white flames at the bottom, the Uzumaki-Namikaze logo at the right shoulder, the kanji for Second at the right, a red coloured kanji for Gentle at the back with her forehead protector around her neck, showing her fake Caged Bird Seal to the world. "Greetings," She began. "Tsunami-san. We have detected your arrival from your house. My name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Hinata, a member of Team 11, the team that Hokage-sama sent to assist Team 7 to protect both your father and your family as well. Anyway, the house was being booby-trapped by Kushina-chan, so my presence will prevent the traps from setting off. They're chakra detection, seal based traps, so it will not trigger if I'm here. Follow me." She then turned around and gestured for them to follow her before setting off down the path.

As they walked towards Tsunami's house, Sakura can't help but look at Hinata's walking figure. During the academy, she was strong and carried herself with an air of calmness and serenity, which, when combined with both her natural beauty made her a kind of contradictory person, though it fits well with Naruto like a jigsaw puzzle, what with Naruto's aura of barely restrained power, his size and strength and his own boisterous attitude making them a perfect match, and Sakura's extremely sure that were it not for the fact that she's already married to Naruto, people would fall head over heels with her. But nowadays, a month after the Great Reveal and their graduation, it seems that she's changed. She now moved with a fluidity of motion that shows confidence, strength and maturity, yet also being able to show off her beauty to the world with pride, like a seductress with immense power. This intrigued Sakura, and being friends with one of the greatest gossiper in Konoha named Yamanaka Ino, it can't be helped if some of her habits rubbed off of her.

Sakura then asked, "Hinata-san, it seems that you've changed somewhat from the academy. You look... mature. I have no better words to say about it. Something happened this one month after graduation?"

Hinata remained silent for a while, making Sakura feel uneasy, thinking that she might've been asking the wrong question when Hinata said, "Nothing, Sakura-san. It's just that I felt complete, for lack of a better word, now. That feeling might've been the reason why I'm changed, as you said."

Immediately Sakura dropped the topic, feeling the air around her changed a bit. The rest of the walk continued in silence. Even Sai, the one usually went around and ended up insulting everyone without even realising it was silent. They then reached Tsunami's house, where they saw the figure of Naruto and Sasuke sitting on the roof guarding the house. Kakashi trained them well; already mastering the tree-walking technique, Sasuke could move straight from his position to wherever he's needed quickly. Though with Naruto being there, that point is moot, since everyone knows anyway that Naruto can use Hiraishin. "Truly the Yondaime's son," Sakura thought.

Having spotted Hinata with the rest of the members of Team 7, Naruto stood up from his perch on the roof of the house before saying to Sasuke. "Sasuke, your team's here."

"Hn."

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Hey, what do you do if you're not guarding the house? And I'd say that with Kushi-chan's traps around the house, I doubt that you'll need to guard it. Our traps may not be infallible, but there's so many of them that they could reinforce each other when one fails. So, I'm sure the house is well guarded by now. So what do you do when you're not guarding?"

Sasuke answered. "I train."

"Why do you train?"

Sasuke's head slowly turned towards Naruto. "Excuse me?"

"I asked, why do you train? To gain power? Because you're bored? You got nothing better to do?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto strangely. "What do you mean? To gain power, of course."

Suddenly, Naruto's cheerful air disappeared and was replaced with an air of seriousness, the likes of which Sasuke never saw from anyone, not even from his brother. "And why do you want to gain power? Don't answer me yet. This question, answer it as truthfully from your heart as possible. If you have the correct answer, I'll give you a reward. A truth of your clan, if you want to say it so." And with that, Naruto left in a Shunshin to greet Hinata.

Sasuke's mind was spinning by this point."What did he meant by 'truth of your clan'? Is there something else about the Uchihas that I don't know? Why did he ask why I want to gain power?" Sasuke stayed at his position, his mind still thinking of Naruto's words.

-A HALF HOUR LATER-

The entire group had finished their breakfast except for Kushina who was guarding Tazuna over at the bridge. As they are about to leave to do whatever that they're supposed to do, the limping figure of Kakashi was seen walking down from his room at the second floor of the house, his arms on crutches while Hinata was at his back. As the designated medic (not that her team needs much medical attention) in her team, it's her job to ensure that everyone was capable of fighting at their full performance or beyond if necessary. And Kakashi's case was just one of them.

"Good morning everyone!" he said with a cheerful voice before he turned towards Tsunami. "And a good breakfast too, Tsunami-san. I thank you." He said, bowing his head a bit as a sign of thanks to the lady, who smiled and nodded back.

His attention then turned towards his team. "Alright, as you all know, I am not at my best, nor am I anywhere near recovered. And as such, Team 11 will take over watch duty for us, especially seeing that not one of us are good enough to face Zabuza right now. As such, Team 11 will take over our watch while I take a long rest."

Sakura then said, shocked. "But Kakashi-sensei, what are we supposed to do then?"

With an eye smile, Kakashi said. "No worries. I've arranged something for you three. The entire team will train, and your instructor will be…"

Kakashi haven't finished his talk when a circular black object crashed into the windows opposite the stairs where Kakashi was standing on. Unprepared, Team 7's members immediately jumped backwards and started taking out their kunai when the black thing opened and two kunais shot out from it, impaling the ceiling. And from the middle of the black cloth, out came Anko, her usual getup in place, a devilish grin on her face. The cloth had a white writing on it saying "The Great Mitarashi Anko-sama! Sensei of Team 11!"

Anko then said, "Alright brats! Since Kakashi's down for the count and Naruto and Kushi-chan are going to guard the bridge builder, I'm going to be the one training all of you! And mark my words," a kunai came out of nowhere in her hand before she licked it sensually before continuing with a very sexual voice, "I'll make you a man." And her eyes turned towards Sakura before she added, "Or a woman." The kunai disappeared. "You got that?"

By this point, both Sakura and Sasuke, even Tsunami, had major blushes on their face due to the implications of what she said with that tone crashed on them. The only one not feeling anything was Sai, but that's a given.

Kakashi sighed. "Anko, stop messing with my genins will you?" he then looked towards his still blushing genins before saying. "As she said, this is Mitarashi Anko, one of Konoha's interrogation experts and an A-rank kunoichi, just like me. She'll be your new trainer while I'm resting. Anko, don't torture them too much. They're just genins, by the way."

Anko then scoffed before replying, "Psh, you've been coddling them too much, Kakashi. Do that too much and you'll stunt their growth. No fear, I'll make sure they will get a training session to be remembered with me. Hehehe." Anko's evil laugh at the end didn't ensure the confidence of Sakura and Sasuke. In fact, it made them even more scared of the lady more than ever. "Oh, this is going to be fun! Hehehe.." Anko, ignoring the horrified looks appearing on Sakura and Sasuke's face immediately called out to them. "Alright brats! Follow me! We're going to have a VERY fun time!" reluctantly, both Sakura and Sasuke followed the quickly disappearing figure of Anko, Sai already at her back.

Watching this interaction, Tsunami asked Kakashi who was still standing at the staircase. "Kakashi-san, was that a good idea? It didn't seem like they're going to be safe…"

Kakashi just waved his hand before turning around to get back upstairs. "Maa, maa. They'll be fine. Anko might be a little rough, but she won't harm the kids. Too much." He then walked back upstairs, leaving a horrified Tsunami below at the dining table.

-WITH KUSHINA-

Kushina was bored. Scratch that, she's more bored than she ever was. Here she was, guarding a client who was building a huge-ass bridge to connect their island to the mainland while no one attacked or anything. "Damn I'm bored," She thought. "But having these days of breaks once in a while is pretty good as well." True, she haven't had any break days since she was trained by her father. Her bloodline took care of the recovery period, making her capable of training and/or fighting every single day without feeling tired nor with any lasting injuries, making it rare for her to have break days like these. And as such, she's going to milk it for all it's worth. Her innate emotion sensing ability would be able to notify her of any approaching threat while she rests herself. Not that she was really able to take a nap anyway. Her bloodline made sure of that. It sucks sometimes having the body of a near perfect warrior.

As she was about to lay her head down on the scaffolding where she currently lied on, she heard the sound of Tazuna arguing with another person, someone named Kagura.

"Kagura, please. The bridge is about to complete. I've hired guards to prevent us from being attacked while we're building it! We are lacking the manpower to complete it, and you're one of the last men remaining on this project!"

The man, Kagura, shook his head. "Tazuna, I'm sorry, but I can't help anymore. Gato's thugs came at my house yesterday and threatened the lives of my family if I were to continue the construction of the bridge. I'm really sorry about this, but I can no longer help you. You must look for someone else. I wish you good luck, and hopefully you could finish the bridge. I may not be here physically, but know that I'll always wish for the completion of our hope, something that I can't do."

Tazuna sighed. "I understand. Still, it hurts seeing that there are less than twenty good man and woman here to finish this bridge. I just hope that your family stays safe."

As he was about to leave, a strong hand grabbed Kagura's shoulder and he turned around and faces the towering figure of Kushina who had an extremely deadly aura around her. "Pathetic," she spat out. "Truly pathetic. Is that all your resolve is? Just to build the bridge, the hope your ENTIRE ISLAND had against Gato, and to retreat and run with your dick between your legs as a bunch of thugs came and threatens your family? If that is all, you shouldn't even be here in the first place."

Kagura became pissed at this woman. Who the hell did she think she was, saying that he's pathetic? She may be a ninja, but no one insults him like that! "Who the hell are you lady, saying that I'm pathetic? You don't even know the situation here!"

"Oh, but I do." She grabbed his shoulders harder, making him wince in pain. "It's that you're just too much of a coward to be able to fight for your own country. So what if your family was threatened? Make sure that if they die, their sacrifices aren't for nothing! Make sure that the bridge is complete, and make them proud in the Pure World! Their sacrifice will ensure that others will live happily later! They'll be the unsung heroes of Wave! Yet here you are, acting as a coward by running away. My father would more likely to kill you here and now, just for your cowardice. I am not so bad. Get out of my face, coward. Show even an inch of your face to me," she then grabbed his shoulders so hard that a bruise formed, not that she could see it and making Kagura fell down in pain, screaming. "And you'll rue the day you decided to act like a coward." She then lifted him and tossed him to the back of the bridge.

The rest of the man working at the bridge stopped when Kagura started talking with Tazuna and was shocked out of their minds when they saw Kushina, the giant lady that pretty much did nothing but lie down act like that, tossing Kagura like he weighs nothing at all. Kushina then turned towards Tazuna, completely ignoring the gobsmacked looks that the man on the bridge had and said, "How many men do you need to replace that coward and to finish the bridge?"

"B-but, I-I, I mean, we-"

"How many?" She said, much more forcefully this time.

Tazuna then spewed out "About two hundred men!"

Kushina just nodded, and suddenly, the bridge was filled with hundreds of copies of Kushina. Once again ignoring the utterly shocked face that Tazuna and his fellow builders had, she said. "They're my Shadow Clones, essentially another me. You can ask them to do anything and teach them anything necessary, and they'll be able to send everything that they learned to all the clones just by dispelling, making teaching them easier. Now, go and have them help. They're also able to protect you like I can, so go ahead and work. They'll make sure you're safe, no worries. Don't worry about exhausting them, because like me they have near limitless stamina. Also as you saw I am much stronger than many of you can imagine so don't think I am going to break a nail doing some heavy lifting. Now tell them what to do." And with that, she went back to her original pose, lying down while sensing everything around her with her other senses.

Tazuna, eyes still wide open at this blatant show of power from Kushina was stared at by a couple of her clones. They circled him, waving their hands in front of him, whispered in his ear, and did a lot of other things, yet Tazuna and his men still stood at their spot, their work forgotten.

One of the clones sighed. "I guess boss broke them."

Another responded. "Oh yeah? Then who's going to finish the damn bridge? We had no knowledge about making a bridge, just at destroying them."

A third entered the discussion. "Shut the fuck up you bloody idiots! We need to snap them out of their shock!"

"Any ideas?" Another said.

"Just watch." The third clone then walked in front of Tazuna before lifting her pointer, middle finger and thumb and placed it right in front of Tazuna. All the clones immediately held their breath and all of a sudden, an unnatural silence descended upon the area that when combined with the fog surrounding them also made them nearly invisible. Suddenly, the clone snapped her fingers. The echo that the snap caused around the bridge combined with the silence felt like a pressure wave from an explosion that spreads out, snapping all of them out of their shock. Tazuna, being at ground zero was the first to snap out and was met with the chest of Kushina, seeing as his head was only at her chest's level.

"So, old man. What do you want us to do? As the boss said, we're at your command. Let's finish this bridge, and we'll help you reinforce the damn thing with our seals."

"Reinforce? Seals?" A confused Tazuna asked.

The clone just sighed before replying. "Ninja jargon. No worries. Now, what do you want us to do?"

Tazuna completely snapped out of his shock at this and started spewing orders like a boss, which he damn well was. "Alright! I'm going to need about 20 of you with Shiro over there to help with the supports!"

"Y-yes sir!" the man, Shiro, snapped out of his shock before being followed by 20 of Kushina's clones.

"30 of you over there for the main structure! Another 50 on the water for the base, and..." Tazuna kept giving orders to the masses of clones to perform, which they performed happily. Meanwhile, the figure of Kushina who was lying down, just relaxing was thinking. "No wonder the Naras liked to just stare at the clouds so much..."

That day, the entire construction crew, with their morale replenished due to Kushina's support was finding out that ninjas are completely awesome, what with their capability to manipulate water, walk on walls and water, lift hundreds more weight than what they, or sometimes their machines are capable of among other feats that speed up construction massively. This selfless act from Kushina made the bridge construction 10 times faster, promising a completion time before the week even ends. Though they still made a promise within themselves that they won't ever make her angry. Just one person being tossed away like a piece of rock was one person too much.

-WITH TEAM 7, ANKO, NARUTO AND HINATA-

The members of team 7 are currently standing at a conveniently placed clearing close to Tazuna's house with Anko standing right in front of them, a kunai in her hand with Naruto and Hinata standing beside her.

"Alright brats!" Anko shouted, causing Sasuke and Sakura to stiffen rigid while Sai just stood there, his face emotionless. Anko saw this and internally griped. "Dammit. This ex-ROOT kid's going to be a damn hassle. Not fun..." She continued nevertheless. "Today I'm going to teach all of you the methods of dodging!" Sakura and Sasuke were completely speechless at this. But before any of them could say it, Anko ploughed on. "Kakashi taught you brats tree walking yet?"

Sakura, whose rage had been building up ever since Anko appeared exploded. "Stop calling us brats! We're 14! We're not brats! And Kakashi-sensei already taught us tree walking!" within her head, her inner self screamed out. "Shannarooo! Teach that slut a lesson!"

Suddenly, without any warning, a massive pressure descended upon them within the clearing, causing both Sakura and Sasuke to fall on their knees gasping for breath, sweat pouring out of their entire pores. Even Sai was down, and had fear on his face, though no one noticed this, themselves being too busy taking in huge gulps of\ air. Using all her strength, she looked upwards only to meet the glowing eyes of Naruto, his chakra leaking out of his body unrestrained and uncontrolled, like a raging dragon ready to breathe out his deadly fire to anyone who dare stood in front of him.

With his arms crossed and looking downwards towards Sakura, he released his bijuu level chakra, causing the three not used to it to feel like they're being pressured to the ground with the grounds around him cracking at the sheer pressure his power emits. Staring at the fearful eyes of Sakura from his position, so high up that she's forced to look up, unable to tear her eyes from the frighteningly glowing eyes of Naruto. He then slowly spoke. "Listen to her well" Naruto spoke darkly, adding as an afterthought "Brat. You who know nothing about the life of a ninja. So sit down, shut your mouth and listen to what she tells you." He slowly reduces his chakra output until all three of them are able to stand up again, though still dealing with the shortness of breath such an intimidating presence causes. As Team 7 was catching their breath with their clothes wet with sweat, Naruto walked back to where he was before even as Hinata came forward to calm him down.

Anko just grinned at this. Though she didn't need Naruto taking all the fun from her, seeing them cowered and down just from Naruto's chakra was fun in its own way as well. "Well," She continued. "I don't need that, Naruto, but thanks anyway. Now," She said, looking towards the still panting figure of the three. "Go and climb the closest tree. And get ready to dodge!" the three ,though, ignored her, instead preferring to take huge gulps of air. At this, Anko just sighed before saying, "Alright. Don't blame me for this. You've forced my hand." She then bit her finger and breaking the skin, making it bleed before running through a couple handsigns and slamming her hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" immediately, seal marks spread out from the point where her palm hits the ground before a puff of smoke appeared, and disappeared moments later, revealing the figures of three man sized snakes hissing towards their summoner. "Alright! Guys, those three need some motivation to climb trees! Go ahead and have fun! But don't chase them if they manage to climb any tree." Anko said. The three snakes, having the command from their summoner, immediately shot towards the still panting figures of Team 7.

Sakura was still in an immense amount of fear as she thought, "W-what the hell was that?! He's crazy! That power! He IS a demon!" As she was about to continue her thoughts, a huge crash was caught by her ears and she looked ahead, only to meet the terrifying visage of a huge snake whose jaws are big enough to swallow her whole and was open wide, heading straight for her. "AAAAAAAAAAAHH!/AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Both Sakura and her inner self screamed as the huge snake rushed towards her, causing her earlier panic about Naruto's powers to disappear and replaced with a massive fear unlike anything she had ever faced. Running on pure instinct and adrenaline, she turned and ran while screaming nonstop as the snake chased her.

The rest of the team fared no better. Sasuke and Sai didn't scream though. They just turned around before running for their lives as the remaining two snakes darted towards them like an arrow, causing both of them to run much faster, faster than they ever could remember having run, towards the closest, tallest tree in the vicinity. Immediately they climbed the tree even as Sakura screamed even more as the snakes stopped chasing Sasuke and Sai and chased Sakura.

Anko then thought of another way to motivate her. "Hey guys! Chase that pink haired brat and make sure that she either climbs a tree, or she'll end up in one of your stomach! She's all yours!" the snakes, hearing this, intensified their attempts to take a bite of Sakura, literally.

Meanwhile, Sakura was practically showered in sweat and her throat was hoarse from all the screaming she did before even as the three snakes tried to eat her. "That snake bitch is crazy! I'm just a genin! I can't do anything about them!"

"But they stopped chasing Sasuke-kun and Sai! Why did they..."

"Of course! She wanted us to climb trees! But why?" Placing that question in the backburner, she sped towards a nearby tree before focusing her limited amount of chakra and started running full speed up that tree, a gravity defying act if a non-ninja were to see it. On reaching the top, she immediately hugged the tree like it's a lifeline, which it pretty much was. The snakes, seeing that their prey managed to climb the trees, immediately split up, one to each member of Team 7.

Anko then continued. "Now, you'll learn to dodge while tree-walking and/or hopping!"

Sasuke decided to be a smart-ass for once and said, "Dodging what?" while still holding onto a tree branch with one hand while his legs are sticking to the trunk while looking at Anko.

In a split second, a kunai was buried up to the hilt right beside his hand, even wounding it a bit in the process, the hilt still vibrating due to the strength of the toss. "Dodging what? Kunais of course! I'll be throwing kunais at you, and it's your job to dodge them as they come, or be filled with holes! No worries! Hinata here is a great medic, and she'll be able to heal you in seconds! So, dance, bitches! Dance! Muahaahahahaha!" and with that, Anko created 10 Shadow Clones of herself who immediately started tossing kunais towards the three member of Team 7 who are hanging on the trees.

As they are running around on the trees while dodging the hail of pointy steel that the clones of Anko are throwing, Sakura, who was already tired from before was being targeted by 5 kunais that she dodged by jumping to another tree close by, her body completely stained with sweat. She then nearly blanked out when she realised that the snakes from before are watching at the three of them, ready to take a bite out of them if they so much as stepped on the ground. While she's doing that, more and more kunais came shooting at her, and in her tiredness, she was hit by three of them at her arm and thighs, causing her to fall down from the tree, though the snake immediately caught her instead of eating her.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was also having a bad time. He dodged most of the kunais, though during that, his concentration was broken, almost making him fell from the tree he's on. A bunch of kunais went whizzing past him and he immediately grabbed a branch close by while panting for breath due to all the dodging and chakra expenditure that he performed a while ago. "That snake bitch is crazy!"Hiding behind a tree trunk, he was absolutely shocked as a kunai came straight at him from the front, nearly hitting his face. A quick head turn prevented the kunai from spearing his face, and he continued running away, more and more kunai whizzing after him.

Meanwhile, Sai had a serious look on his face as he dodged, deflected and ran from the hail of kunais coming towards him. "Just like ROOT training," He thought. Undoubtedly, ROOT training was extremely tough, so tough that a lot of the candidate died before they managed to complete the training, yet it resulted in highly skilled yet emotionless ninjas, all ready to follow any of Danzo's orders to the letter, their lives considered expendable compared to the success of their missions. But with the death of Danzo, all of them were reintegrated within Konoha's main ninja forces. Due to that, Sai had no problem dodging the rain of kunais that Anko sent his way, though even he was starting to become tired after a while.

Sakura awoke with a jolt, and the first thing she saw was the face of Hinata close to hers, her hand covered by a green glow from the Mystical Palm jutsu that she was using to patch her up. Hinata, already realising that she's awake looked at her and smiled before saying. "Sakura-san, please lie down. I have not finished healing you yet, and the wounds are pretty bad, though they hit nowhere fatal."

Immediately afterwards, Sakura felt the sting of the kunai hitting her and had to grit her teeth hard to prevent herself from screaming out in pain. And so, she lied down, even as Hinata healed her. While she's doing so, some questions went into her head, and she decided to voice them. "Hinata-san, what happened just now? The last thing I remember was that I got stabbed by some kunais before I fell and blacked out."

Still healing her, Hinata replied. "You fell and Anko-sensei's snakes caught you and brought you here. As the designated medic of the team, I was tasked to heal you to perfection so you could continue the training."

Sakura gasped. "What?! The snake rescued me? I thought it was ordered to eat me! And continue?! That training's deadly!"

"Yes it did. They are to act as 'motivation' for all of you to perform the exercise well instead of just doing the same exercise again and again, but they also help catch you if you were to fall down and bringing you to me to be healed. And about the training. Let me ask you. Deadly? Do you even know the risks of being a ninja? We enter deadly situations every day. We are to be able to kill without remorse, while also being able to prevent ourselves and our teammate from dying. What did you do every day? Hoping that your Prince Charming would come and help you every time you so much as cried out? This is the real world Sakura-san. A little kunai to your body right now will help prevent one to your head later on. Alright. You're healed enough now. Here." Hinata said, before offering her a hand to help her get up.

Sakura felt ashamed at this. She realised that she was too lax in her training that she was unable to withstand even a nonlethal kunai wound. She was taught within the academy that ninja life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, yet all her knowledge went out the metaphorical window when faced with an actual combat situation. She was not much of a help for her team, nor was she able to properly support them. The only thing she was capable of was being the last guard for Tazuna, and even then she knew that she wasn't much of a guard. She strengthened her resolve and reminded herself to ask for additional training from Kakashi when she's done with this mission. She then saw that Hinata had finished healing her and was offering her a hand to help her get back up. Thanking Hinata, Sakura grabbed her hand, intending upon using it to help her get up.

But just as soon as she grabbed her hand, she realised something. "Her hand… they're rough!" Hinata's hand wasn't like hers at all! They're rough, filled with callouses and tough muscles, even her bone felt different! Every inch of her hand was rough and hard, no softness within them at all! Much different from her own, whose hands are soft and well cared for, thanks to her array of skin care products. Sakura immediately blurted out. "Hinata-san, your hands… They're very rough!"

Hinata said nothing, just pulled her up. As Sakura was dusting her clothes, she said. "Sakura-san, my hands are rough due to the amount of training that I did. Your hands are soft, thanks to your products and the care you did towards them. But a strong kunoichi trains herself, day in and day out, placing beauty second, deadliness first. True, my hands are rough. But these," She said, lifting her hands to face level. "These are also the same hands that were trained to be its absolute best, the hands that are trained to kill, but also the hands trained to heal, to cure, to comfort my husband, to cook for the family, to care for our children. A ninja housewife's life is hard, harder than even regular ninjas, and these hands are the proof. Will you be able to be a serious kunoichi, Sakura-san? It all depends on your resolve." And with that, Hinata left her, ready to go and heal someone else who needs it.

Sakura was internally floored by this revelation. Hinata, the gentle yet strong kunoichi of Team 11 was more of a ninja then she was! And yet, her beauty was apparent, and so does her strength. "How am I going to be like her…?" She pondered, not realising the figure of the same snake that saved her at her back.

"BEHIND YOU!"

Immediately turning around thanks to her inner self's warning, she saw herself face to face with the snake, ready to pounce on her ass. Immediately she jumped to a nearby tree, barely dodging the powerful bite from the snake, only to be showered by another hail of kunai from a hidden Anko clone. Already expecting this, she internally sighed. "Here we go again…" She then started back her deadly dodging dance of death on the trees of Wave.

-WITH NARUTO-

Naruto was standing beside the maniacally laughing figure of Anko. "She seems to be enjoying this a bit too much..." Naruto sighed internally. "Anko, seems that you really liked torturing Kakashi's brats aren't you?"

Immediately Anko stopped laughing and her head snapped towards Naruto. He then had a sympathetic look on her face, her lips quivering and her eyes nearly wet with unshed tears, though there are also that small glint of playfulness in them. "What?! How can you say that, Naru-kuuuuuun?" she pouted. "I would never do that! This is training for them! What makes you think I'd do something as horrible as that?!"

Naruto nonchalantly replied. "Since you can't do the same to us, you're making them go through that torture. It is training, I admit. A pretty lethal one, but with Hina-hime over there healing them, they'll be fine, though a bit bloodied at the end of the day. But as long as it works, eh?"

Anko immediately lost her pout and resumed looking at Team 7, though this time, with a seriousness never before seen in her eyes. "Well, partly true. The thing is, even though Kakashi's a powerful ninja of his own right, he sucks at training others. The snake pedo may be a traitor, an asshole and a bastard, but his training method was one of the best available. No matter how much I hated him the truth is that there are lots of things that one can learn from him if you attracted his attention enough."

Naruto, who was also looking at the members of Team 7 who was busy dodging the kunais, stones and other miscellaneous things that Anko's clones threw at them to preserve their lives, he said, "True. I was trained the same way too, though by ANBUs when I was 4."

Anko's head once again turned so fast towards Naruto's face that it's a wonder she haven't snapped her neck as of yet. "You trained with ANBUs when you're four?!"

Naruto just chuckled. "Stop doing that, Anko. You can break your neck due to the whiplash. Anyway, yeah. I got this bloodline of mine when I'm 4, so at that time, the old man placed me in the Hokage private training ground before sending ANBUs my way to train me. Though at that time, Kurumi-koi also helped train me, though she could only give instructions from within me."

Anko slowly nodded, now understanding where he gained his strength. "No wonder you're so damn strong. You've been training your ass out since you're a child. I guess you'll do the same to Kushina and all of your children eh?"

"Yup. Without regrets."

Anko stayed silent afterwards, digesting the info Naruto just gave her. The sound of kunais thwacking on trees and people jumping on them remains strong, even as Anko thought about Naruto. She then looked towards him. "Naruto, do you think that your batch's genins will be any good?"

Naruto said nothing for a while before he replied. "I'm sure. A lot of us are clan heirs. Kinda coincidental if you ask me, but they're all good in their own ways. But to exceed the legends that Konoha has created in the past? I doubt that. They'll be great, but not that great."

Anko nodded, her assessment similar to Naruto's. The kids are good. She could see it even now. Sasuke and Sai are powerhouses of their own right. With Sakura standing at the back as support with some powerful offensive capabilities of her own when properly trained, Team 7 will be a force to be reckoned with.

As if reading her mind, Naruto said. "They're strong, I will give them that. Together, they're a damn good team. With Sai acting as mid to long range attacker/support, Sasuke as close to mid front attacker and Sakura, when properly trained, a genjutsu using medic, they'll be a strong frontline team."

Anko then said, "But that also means that they'll need to train themselves harder. And I doubt Sakura wanted that. Not that she's able to."

Naruto shrugged. "Well, if she wants to die at the battlefield then be my guest. Try driving that point in hard enough and maybe she'll learn sooner or later. And I'm sure she's able to. Anyone is able, as long as they have the dedication and drive to do so."

Anko then had a grin on her face. "Sounds like a fun method to train someone. I like it. Well, let's make them work harder shall we?"

Naruto shrugged while he had a small smile on his face. The training method may be brutal, but it works, and that's what matters. Better be bloody during training then being dead during a real battle. And so, Naruto just looked as Anko went into the fray herself, even as she cackled slowly at the prospect of torturing some helpless genins.

All three genins of Team 7 suddenly had shivers running through their spines even as they are being showered by kunais form Anko's clones, while Hinata had a feeling that she'll have more practice with her medical capabilities after this, making her facepalm internally.

-THAT EVENING-

Tazuna was seen walking from the bridge, Kushina escorting him right beside him, her clones were left on the bridge to continue their construction through the night. As he was walking on the dirt road, he thought of something. "Kushina-san, what did you mean that your father hates cowards?"

Kushina then replied. "It means what it means, Tazuna-san. My dad hates cowards. You can be weak. You can be powerless. You can be poor. But you can never be a coward. Being a coward means you've surrendered, and surrender means that you've lost. My dad didn't mind if you were to die fighting, resisting until your last breath or last drop of blood, in fact, he expected and trained his family members to do so. The sacrifice of the Uzumaki shall be remembered, and their spirit be carried as long as our blood remains. We, as did our ancestors, will fight till our last breath if it needs to. My only wish is that our sacrifice will not be in vain. But when someone decides to be a coward and takes the easy way out, potentially weakening their own allies. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and if one of them is missing, the entire chain falls apart. That is why my dad hates cowards with a passion."

Tazuna just nodded, but internally, he's amazed. This kid had one hell of a life philosophy! "Her dad must've trained her hard," He thought.

They then chatted in more mundane matters as they are walking back towards Tazuna's house to finish the day. Though something still bothers his mind.

"Are you sure about letting your clones work the entire night?"

Kushina looked at Tazuna like he's an alien from outer space, making him sweat. She then replied. "No worries, they are more than capable of working even in such a condition. And thanks to my family's bloodline, we don't get tired and are actually capable of fighting non-stop for days, up to two weeks if necessary. So, your concern is unwarranted. Maybe the bridge will be finished by tomorrow, even! And my clones will create multiple seals to strengthen the bridge, making it impervious to anything nature or men can hammer it with, though it'll take a while for the latter to be implemented."

Tazuna just nodded, not understanding one bit about whatever Kushina just said. But he understood that it's going to be pretty good, both for the bridge and Wave, consequently. The rest of the walk was spent in silence until they reached Tazuna's two story house. As they entered, Tazuna shouts out, "Tsunami! I'm home!"

A short while later, a figure came out of the designated kitchen, peering outside. "Dad! Welcome home! Dinner is being prepared!" both of them entered the house and went straight to the dining table, ready to have their dinner.

Kushina then saw that everyone was not back yet, and she decided to ask her Hina-mama about it. "Hina-mama, where's everyone else?"

Hinata replied, "Everyone's out training, and I'm just a clone, your Hina-mama's busy healing them all."

Kushina was perplexed, though she had an idea. "Healing? For what?"

"Well, they're all going through Anko's dodging training."

A look of understanding appeared on Kushina's face before she crossed her arms and nodded. "Oh. I understand. Well, they'll need it then. It isn't easy, Anko's dodging training."

The Hinata clone said, "Yep. It isn't. Now, they've finished and about to come back. And Tsunami-san, Inari will be here as well in a bit."

Tsunami was surprised. "Wait, how did you know that?"

Hinata giggled while continuing to cook. "Ninja secret, Tsunami-san. Can't go around telling you everything right?"

Tsunami nodded and said nothing, but as they're cooking, a bunch of light footsteps, those of a kid, was heard, before the figure of a scrawny kid aged around 8 years old wearing a bucket hat and a yellow shirt. He then entered the house, saying with a sad voice, "Mom, I'm home."

Tsunami replied, seemingly unaffected by her son's attitude and sadness. "Welcome back! Dinner's about ready!"

As Inari was about to climb the stairs to his room, he saw a mysterious person standing right beside his mother in the kitchen, wearing a strange black longcoat with white flames and a strange insignia that he never saw before. As he was standing there holding the stair's guardrails feeling confused as all hell, Tsunami said, "Inari, say hello to the miss here. She's one of the Konoha ninjas grandpa hired to guard him. Come here."

Not wanting to be rude, Inari went to the kitchen to greet Hinata, but as he was about to do so, the door opened, and in went the figure of Sasuke, Sakura and Sai, all three had clothes filled with holes both tiny and large, themselves covered with dried blood, dirt, sweat and even pieces of branches and leaves stuck in their hairs. As Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari gasped, Hinata just continued her part of the dinner, completely ignoring the sight of Tsunami running straight towards the three, her maternal instincts surfacing.

"Oh my god! What happened to you three?! Were you attacked?!"

Too tired to answer, the entire team just said nothing and lifelessly flopped towards the rickety sofa at the living room, slumping on it almost immediately, completely ignoring the worried Tsunami still fussing over them. Naruto, Anko and Hinata then entered, a huge grin on the face of the first two. Tsunami, looking at Naruto and Anko before looking back towards the prone figures of Team 7 immediately made the connection. She stood, lifted a hand and pointing a finger towards Naruto and Anko. "You! You two made them this way! What did you do?!"

Naruto just chuckled slowly before replying, "Training."

Tsunami was incredulous! What kind of training did they went through that made them that way?! But before she could say anything, Inari suddenly said, "What's the use? You all are going to die anyway."

The members of Team 7, who were indisposed due to their extreme fatigue, are unable to reply. And so, the task falls to Hinata, who went towards the kid before kneeling in front of him, asking, "Why did you say so, little boy?" with a soft smile on her face.

Inari said nothing, though his eyes suddenly glistened with tears while her lips quivered, before he shot upstairs, completely ignoring Hinata, who was understandably confused at this. She then looked at Tsunami, who lets out a sigh filled with sadness and grief. She then told the ninjas present there about the story of Kaiza, the man who Inari considered a father of sorts, who died standing up against Gato. By the end of her story, Naruto, Anko, Kushina and Hinata had a stony expression on their face while Tazuna was looking at the ground in silence and sadness, remembering Kaiza and his heroic sacrifice for the people of Wave. Sadly, his death ultimately culminates in the fact that the people of Wave lost hope because of that.

All four of them then robotically continued their activities, though an undercurrent of anger was seen from their faces. A while later, dinner was finished, the dining table was prepared, Team 7 was woken up and Kakashi, who had recovered a little, was downstairs, ready to eat dinner. As they are eating, Inari came down and went straight towards his spot on the table and shovelled rice into his mouth, not wanting to be with the ninjas any longer than he had to.

Kakashi looked at his cute little genins. They looked like they just went into a skirmish with enemy nins, though he himself knew what happened to them. And so, he decides to ask them about it, eye smile already on. "So, my cute little genins. How was your training just now?"

All the members of Team 7 involuntarily flinched when the question was voiced, though Sai flinched the least. Sakura and Sasuke's face then took on an aura of despair and pain so obvious that a dark cloud seemed to form right above their heads, pouring an imaginary rain of despair and pain on them.

Looking at this, Kakashi eye smiled again, before saying, "Seems like the training did you lots of good. I guess being forced to train like that was somewhat beneficial. I think I might continue-"

"NO!" Kakashi's words was cut short by the loud scream of Sakura and Sasuke who already dreaded the training method used by Anko and wished that she'd die a couple times just for putting them in that condition.

Kakashi nonchalantly replied. "Well, seems that it worked, so I cannot say that it didn't. So tomorrow, you'll be continuing the training. Helps build your chakra, chakra control, battlefield awareness, dodging skills, among others. Harsh, but it works wonders. So you'll continue tomorrow, and I'll do the same once we're back in Konoha."

Sakura was the first to voice out her thoughts. "Kakashi-sensei, I know we need to be strong, but training like that was murder! I had kunais sticking out of my body more times than I cared to count today!"

Kakashi nodded. "And that's why it works." He looked at his so-called cute little genins. "The life of a ninja is not a good one. We deal with death on a daily, if not hourly basis, either dealing it, or being dealt it. By making you capable of dealing with pain and attacks, you'll be able to survive longer, and be able to ensure that you're the ones dealing death, not the other way round. Being stronger only helps with that. Do you understand?"

Sakura stayed silent afterwards, digesting what her sensei said while Sasuke just replied with a "Hn." They continued to chat about training and what they should do to protect Tazuna and his family, not noticing the ever tightening grip Inari had on his chopsticks and rice bowls. Finally, after a while of this talk about training and getting stronger, Inari reached his boiling point. Slamming his rice bowl and a fist on the table with a loud bang, he stands up before shouting out, "What are you all thinking?! You can never win against Gato! He's too strong! Don't you all get it?! Just like Kaiza! You'll just die! There is no way you can win! You can't be a hero! Heroes don't exist! Stop trying to be one!"

This outburst from Inari silenced everyone on the table and made all eyes turn towards him, still huffing from his outburst before. Naruto calmly replied. "Brat," This made Inari angrier, though he's still panting from his rage just now. Naruto continued. "We are ninjas. We deal with death on a daily basis. A fat midget with thugs surrounding him won't be too much a problem."

Inari heard this and his rage spiked again, causing him to scream out in anger. "His thugs are too good! He even had samurais as his guard! His forces are many and his men strong! Can't you see?! He's too powerful!" he once again huffed, before adding, "And I'm not a brat!"

"Powerful eh?" Naruto said before turning towards Kakashi and Sasuke. "Sasuke, if you've activated your Sharingan, don't turn it on. Same for you Kakashi." He then stood up, showing his impressive 7' height while leaving a confused Sasuke and Kakashi, though both of them knew better than to oppose that order. Naruto slowly stepped towards Inari's field of view, letting his massive body overshadow Inari's own, making him felt like an ant, Naruto's extremely imposing stature right in his face, which only reaches a little bit higher than his belly button. Naruto looked at Inari from above, a seemingly dark aura surrounding him. Even his eyes seemed to glow with an unearthly fire.

"Brat," He began. "You said that Gato's a powerful man, right?" Inari just nodded, his face frozen in a look of fear. "Well, is he this powerful?" Suddenly, a huge burst of chakra came from Naruto, enveloping him in a cloak of blue chakra and blowing everything except for Inari away around him. The pressure generated by the chakra was immense, so immense that Team 7 was floored almost literally, their hearts almost bursting out of their chest due to Naruto's sheer chakra pressure. Tazuna immediately frothed at his mouth while Tsunami only remained conscious due to her own instinct as a mother protecting her child, though she's unable to move. Kakashi's single eye widened immensely even as Naruto's wave of bijuu-level chakra pressure crashed into him like a tsunami on a beach. He immediately understood why Naruto told him and Sasuke to not use their Sharingan. Doing so might cause them to become blind due to the sheer amount of chakra erupting from Naruto.

Inari, who was at the ground zero of this event had his eyes widen so much that they look like they're about to pop out of his head. Cold sweat was pouring from his entire body even as his body shivered uncontrollably from Naruto's sheer chakra presence. As Inari fell on his knees with a thud right in front of Naruto with his eyes wide, mouth gaping and his face stuck in a look of absolute shock and fear, Naruto said, though even he was not sure that Inari was still listening to him. "This is my power. This is the same power that I'll use to crush Gato and his henchman. Anyone who opposes me shall die. By my hands they shall be broken. And a coward kid like you should just hide behind your mom until everything's done. Listen kid," Naruto said while lifting Inari up from his collar and looking straight into his frightened eyes, his entire body still flaring with blue chakra. "You can bitch about your stepfather all you want. I don't care. But he is a hero for standing up against Gato even if he failed, and I will not see his stepson humiliating his memory by acting like a spoiled brat who thinks that he's the unluckiest bastard in the entire world. Let me tell you kid," Naruto said, turning Inari around while pointing a finger towards Hinata. "My wife there was banished from her clan after being beaten by her own father beforehand. They even sent assassins to kill her for a while, though that stopped after they realised that the assassins never came back. He," pointing towards Sasuke, "Lost most of his clan members, his father included, due to an assassin that killed them. The culprit was never caught. Though I AM the culprit, but no one needs to know that. He" a finger to Sai now, "Was trained from a toddler to be an emotionless, merciless killer by his former master, believing that emotions and feelings only made people weak and that ninjas are supposed to act as weapons, cold, merciless, unfeeling. And finally, the coup de grace, me." Naruto said, his hand still lifting Inari while another hand points towards himself. "My parents died as I was born. I never even knew them.

I had assassination attempts on me since I'm only a couple hours old. I was starved, beaten, bullied, and thrashed every day since I'm in the orphanage. I lived alone on the streets, mobs hunting me since I'm 3. I nearly died due to beatings at 4. I left my village to train and to let the people steam a bit at 5. I came back, becoming this giant that I am and a half demon as well with a daughter at 8. Don't count the times the people that I now swore to protect tried to kill me and made my life miserable. Even now, my family was hated and shunned by the people, though the people have changed a little. Now who do you think had it worse? Get bent you brat. Learn the ways of the world before you start whining and giving around your 'woe is me' shit. Some people had it worse, yet they still stand. Get the fuck out of my face you coward." Reining back his chakra, he let Inari go, making him drop lifelessly on the floor.

The entire house remained silent at that point, even as Naruto walked outside the house for whatever reason. Hinata immediately followed him, intent on calming him down. Kushina though just stayed at the table, eating her dinner. Tsunami, who recovered the fastest immediately ran towards where Inari was kneeling, catatonic and gave him a calming hug. The rest of the ninjas then gradually returned to normal, Kakashi being the fastest before sending a dirty glare towards Kushina and saying with a slow voice yet with an undertone of barely concealed deadliness, "Kushina-san, what the hell just happened with Naruto just now?" Kakashi said while his eye narrowed dangerously. Sure, regular people didn't know much about a ninja's lifestyle, but that's no reason to do that!

Kushina immediately replied. "I don't know. I guess it's because he's pretty pissed at that brat. I mean, he whines like a stupid bitch, going all 'woe is me' on himself. The people here had it harder than he did, and they still fought for survival. Yet, even with all his available support, the kid did nothing and just fell in despair without even trying to do anything about it."

Tsunami immediately stood up with tears flowing from her eyes and power walked straight towards Kushina, before slamming the table right in front of her. "You! Call your father back here!"

Kushina nonchalantly replied, "What for?"

Tsunami, tears still falling from her eyes and rage evident in her eyes and heart, slammed the table again before screaming out. "Apologize! Apologize to Inari! Apologize to my father! Apologize to me! APOLOGIIIIIIIZE!" she said, screaming the last part so loud her throat became hoarse. She immediately fell on the floor again, crying hard at the sight of her son kneeling on the floor, seemingly paralyzed.

Kushina, seeing this, stood from her chair before kneeling right beside Tsunami and placed a hand on her shoulder. At first, she batted the hand away, but after a couple of times, she ignored it, allowing Kushina to place her hand on her shoulder and pulling her in, letting her cry on her. Even as Tsunami's tears stained her shirt, she rubbed her back as she sobbed harder.

Gripping her shirt, Tsunami screamed out, "Why?! Why did he do that?! WHYYYY?!" before burying her face into Kushina's chest and continued crying herself hoarse. Kushina continued rubbing her back even as she replied, "I don't think I know why. But if there's something I can tell you it's this: he's not dead, no worries. Just in a state of shock because he never felt such an enormous chakra pressure before. My dad had the most chakra among the people of Konoha, and that was it fully released."

Hearing this, Kakashi asked Kushina about it. "Kushina, how much chakra does your father had actually? Just now, that was an immense amount of chakra. So much so that I am unable to even comprehend its complete amount."

Kushina placed a finger on her chin before humming thoughtfully. He then replied to Kakashi while Tsunami immediately ran back towards Inari and started lifting him towards his room, hoping that he'd wake up sooner. "Umm... I think dad had about as much chakra as the Sanbi, maybe more. But from what Kuru-mama explained to me, dad sure has more chakra than Sanbi-san, but lower than Yonbi-san."

Kakashi's eye widened at this. A human possessing as much chakra as a bijuu, a monstrous chakra demon?! That's insane! Yet here it was, the ultimate proof. But considering that the entire family (minus Hinata) were bijuu hanyous, it made a bit more sense. Still, that's a huge amount of chakra for someone. Kakashi then continued his questions. "If he had that much chakra, his chakra signature would've been enormous! But I didn't feel anything before, making him feel like a chuunin, while you felt like a regular genin. How did you conceal that amount of chakra? And how much are yours?"

Once again, Kushina thought, before replying a moment later. "Well, the Linker Core in our bloodline allows us perfect chakra control. It also acts as a chakra suppressor and storage, where all that chakra will be stored within it, allowing us to hide our chakra signature better than anyone. Even sensors cannot detect our chakra once our Linker Core suppresses it. Conversely, it can also release all that chakra when necessary, though the result would be similar to what you just saw my dad did. And my chakra... I think I have less than Ichibi-san, but definitely more chakra than the old man back at the village."

Kakashi was shocked for what seemed the umpteenth time that day. This kid had more chakra than the Sandaime?! That was just plain insane! He was the Kage for good reason, and this kid here said that he had less chakra than she did! But now that he thought about it, he shouldn't be surprised. Being bijuu hanyous really made them powerful, and their bloodline even more so. Yes, Kakashi had heard about their bloodline before. Being ex-ANBU, the Fourth's student and being on some of Naruto's old protection detail, he always had an update about them, even their bloodline and their uses. Even if it's before they left Konoha for a journey. That's why he shouldn't be too surprised, actually. But he still was, just because of what Naruto just did. He never, ever felt that amount of chakra from a person, which caused even him to tremble in fear. Speaking of which... "Where did your dad and Hinata go?"

This Kushina replied immediately. "Dad would probably go to find a good meditation spot and meditate there for a while. Hina-mama's going together with him, to calm him down. Dad never blew his top like that, but maybe with that little kid who didn't know shit about the world bitches about how his life was incomparably horrible to Dad of all people, he just lost it. I was honestly expecting the kid to become a smear on the wall, you know? No one has pissed dad off and lived."

Kakashi unconsciously shivered at this. That kid's very lucky indeed. But another fact hits his mind now. "Then why are you still here?"

Kushina shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not all that good at calming someone. I'm better off staying here, making sure everything is fine and guarding the drunk old man from being killed by Gato's goons. Any problem, just tell me. I may not be a medic, but I know enough."

Kakashi just nodded before looking at the conditions of the people in the house. Inari seemed to have recovered a little from the way his chest heaves rapidly to take in life giving oxygen for him with Tsunami's arms still wrapped around him. Tsunami herself was still crying, possibly because how close she was to losing her only child. Tazuna was still frothing at the mouth and blacked out, something that Kakashi pretty much expected. Sasuke, Sakura and Sai were already fine though still extremely shocked. Well, not so much for Sai, but that was given.

Sasuke, after calming himself and took huge gulps of air, immediately fired a question towards Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, is what Naruto said true? He's had it worse than all of us?"

Kakashi suddenly had a solemn air around him before he nodded. "He sure did. In fact, that was probably just the summary. What happened to him was horrendous at best sometimes, not that I'd wish an enemy of mine to go through. But I guess knowing Kurumi since his childhood helped him become a considerably nice person."

Sakura, hearing this screamed out, "Nice?! He almost killed everyone here from sheer chakra pressure! How was that nice?!" Being a ninja with very low amounts of chakra, Sakura fared only a little better than Tsunami at resisting the effects of Naruto's chakra pressure. Even that much almost made her heart stop beating.

Kakashi gave a glare towards Sakura who flinched. He then replied, "Remember the Great Reveal. He did nothing to everyone; just show them that he's now what they thought he was, a demon. Albeit partly, but a demon nonetheless. If he so wanted to, him and Kurumi could rampage right then and there, killing everyone who hated him. But he didn't. And you already know about his bloodline. I dare bet that he could smash Inari's skull with two fingers. Yet, he only scared the kid, showing some metaphorical and literal muscle to him. If he so wanted, he could crush the kid like a bug, and not one of us here are powerful enough to stop him. In fact, I think I'd rather go ahead and fight the entire Third Shinobi World War alone than going against him."

Sakura was scared, yet perplexed at the same time. "Kakashi-sensei, does that mean Naruto's more powerful than you?"

Kakashi hummed before answering. "Well, he might not be a better ninja than I am though I doubt that, but would you like to handle a rampaging ten-tailed bijuu?"

Sakura stayed silent afterwards. What Kakashi said was true; entering a war alone would be easier than handling a bijuu. At least the enemies are still humans, relatively easy to handle. One good hit and they're dead, no matter how powerful they are. Compare that to a ten-tailed bijuu of immense power and destructive potential, and you'll be running to enter the war, given the choice.

Kushina, hearing this, giggled, causing Sakura to snap her head towards her direction with a look of rage and confusion on her face. Kushina decided to spare her curiosity by answering her unasked question. "What Kakashi said was true actually. Even at full power, I'd rethink multiple times whether or not I'd tangle with my dad when he's angry. As much a human as we are, we are still bijuus, and when we're angry, well, let's just say that what dad did just now was absolutely nothing compared to what he is able to do. In such a condition, at best I will be able to delay him before I myself die."

Sasuke, who was silent the entire time, nodded before saying, "Yeah. I understand that."

Everybody looked at him like he grew a second head, making him glare back at them before saying, "What?" Everybody said nothing before continuing with whatever they're doing just now.

-WITH NARUTO AND HINATA-

Naruto immediately shunshined rapidly towards a clearing far from the house, his mind still replaying his extremely stupid actions from before. If not for the fact that Kushina also placed chakra suppression seals around the house as well, he would've called all ninjas, missing nin or not, in a range of a hundred kilometres around them towards Tazuna's house.

"Dammit! I shouldn't have blown up like that! Why did I care what an idiot of a kid like that said? I was trained better than that!" Naruto shunshined towards the clearing, placed a chakra suppression seal on the ground to prevent any exposure of chakra and immediately sat cross legged at its centre with his fists meeting each other, the back of his knuckles facing down and his arms help steady above his crossed legs and started to meditate to calm himself down.

He never blew up like that. Never. People have tried killing him, assaulting him, torturing him, yet he never did anything even remotely close to what he did just now. "Am I letting all the power I have get to my head" He thought as his mind wandered to find his centre. As he sat on the ground meditating, his entire body unmoving, a sense of calmness and serenity washed over him. After his much unnecessary outburst just now, he allowed himself to bath in nature's tranquillity as he sat there, calming his turbulent mind.

Meanwhile, Hinata was tree-hopping all over the area, her Byakugan activated to its maximum to find Naruto. Thanks to Naruto's hard yet excellent training, she now had a range of 10km on her Byakugan, a range never before achieved by any Hyuuga, Main family or not. Her Byakugan is also capable of detecting even the minutest of movements over such a great range, making her one of the best sight based tracker in Konoha, not that a lot of people knew about this. If Naruto were to be asked about this, he'd say, "Well, I already knew that the Hyuugas are stupid, letting such a talent go. Oh well. Their loss, our gain."

"Naru-koi, where are you...?" She thought worriedly. Naruto was faster than she was. Much, much faster, and she had lost sight of him in just a couple of minutes. She knew he shunshined away, his rapidly decaying chakra signatures proved that. But even his shunshin was extremely far and fast, making her unable to catch up with hm. But suddenly, as she was following the trail of chakra, she saw a weird blank at the corner of her vision. Focusing on this blank, she saw that it was a huge expanse of area where no chakra was seen, though she could still see the things inside, only the chakra from the animals inside was not seen. "A chakra suppression barrier!" She immediately sped forwards towards the area, and as she reached the location where Naruto was meditating, she was met with a peculiar sight.

Naruto was still in the same position as he was before, except that he was somehow radiating his purified youki, small wisps of golden flames can be seen floating away from his arms and face. Though not fully activated, his entire body was leaking with purified youki for some reason. Due to the strong lifeforce emitted by the purified youki, he attracted all manner of animals around him. Brown coated wild rabbits were jumping around him; a snake was actually coiling around his body, birds flying around him, chirping happily. There's even a tiger and a deer close by, doing nothing but lying on the ground, none of the animals engaging in their normal habits. If not for the fact that Hinata had already gotten used to the fact that the entire family seemed to attract both weirdness and trouble like shit attracting flies, she would've freaked out by now.

Hinata calmly dropped down from the tree she was standing on before slowly walking towards Naruto, who was still leaking youki from his body. The animals, who sensed Hinata's approach, immediately fled the scene as fast as possible, not wanting to come close to a threat such as Hinata. Seeing this, Hinata sped her walking, though just by a bit before going towards Naruto, fell on her knees behind him and hugging his huge body from behind.

Naruto already realised Hinata's presence a while ago but decided to focus more on his meditation. But when Hinata hugged him, his first response was to break his meditation before grabbing the (relatively) tiny yet strong and calloused hands that wrapped itself around him. "Hina-hime..." Naruto said slowly.

"Don't," Hinata said. "Don't blame yourself."

Naruto responded heatedly. "But I almost killed him for no reason other than he pisses me off! I felt like this power," he lifted his hand towards his face. "This power that I have, it's gotten to my head already! I have misused it once, what's the guarantee that I won't misuse it again?!"

Hinata said nothing, just hugging him tighter while burying her face into his back. After a while, she said, "That's the guarantee. Even now, you still regret doing that to the kid. Someone who didn't care would not mind that, and will most probably keep doing it again. You, my love, on the other hand, kept remembering the look on the child's face, and thought that you'd misuse it again. Just thinking about it already shows that you would never do something like that again. That's your guarantee. My love, you're strong, yes. Stronger than any regular human, Ninja or otherwise, But you are also kind and gentle. I know that you can find it in yourself to forgive yourself, and as such, I will not speak more. You already know."

Naruto almost had tears in his eyes hearing this. He definitely didn't regret saving her and marrying her, no matter how much of a sudden decision that was at the time. Grabbing her hands tighter but not to the point where it hurts, he said, "Hina-hime, thank you." Still holding her hands, Naruto stood up, making her let out an "Eep!" in shock before turning around giving her a hug now before letting himself and Hinata fall on the ground, his body acting as a cushion for Hinata while still hugging her. A small cloud of dust burst from beneath him as he fell on the ground, an indicator of how much he weighs.

Hinata crawled up his massive body before giving him a kiss on his lips, a long, loving kiss. Not one filled with lust, but one meant to show love towards another. After a while, they separated, Hinata looking down into Naruto's bright, slit pupil sky blue eyes while Naruto himself looked into Hinata's lavender tinged Byakugan eyes. He gave her another kiss, shorter this time before saying, "Hina-hime, I love you."

"And I love you too, my Naru-koi." Hinata replied, before giving him another kiss. Once the kiss ended, she laid beside him, his arm embracing her with her head on his shoulder and another hand on his chest. She then said, "So, what now?"

Naruto replied, "My hime, stay with me here tonight? I have no plans to go back to Tazuna's house tonight after what happened just now, and this looks like a nice enough spot to sleep. How about it?"

Hinata smiled before using an elbow to support her head and looked into Naruto's eyes again. "I will be with you no matter where you go, my love, even to the depths of hell itself, as long as you're by my side."

"Thanks, my hime." Naruto said, before making himself comfortable on the ground, Hinata doing the same beside him while being embraced by Naruto's massive arms. That night, they both slept peacefully with Hinata within her lover's arms, and Naruto having Hinata's loving presence beside him.

-CHAPTER END-

No battles yet this chapter, but this arc needs quite an intro. So, as usual, read and/or review!