Chapter 3: Realize.

"Dope will you just stop?" Sasuke said looking at his blond teammate, it was nearly midnight and he was ready to go back to the house.

"Go." She said. "I'm staying."
"Why?" He asked. "Kakashi's gonna be mad if you stay out."
"I couldn't care less." She said and placed her foot on the tree and began to slowly walk up the tree getting pretty high up. She jumped down and sighed, she slipped her boots off and pressed her bare foot to the bark feeling the roughness on her feet and began to slowly morph her chakra into the same shape, she walked up slowly getting higher and higher before she reached the top branch and stopped, she smiled looking around from the tall tree and chuckled. She jumped down with a smile and sighed. 'Finally got it!' She thought.

-*o*-

Kakashi walked out of the house the next morning irked that Naru refused to come in yet again, he looked around the woods and found her boots by a tree, he looked up and saw her running up the tree. 'Has she finally got it?' He asked, he watched Naru spring from the tree and land on another one and skidded slightly before stopping and panting. 'Doing more exercises?' He wondered then cleared his throat, she blinked and looked at him before jumping down.

"So you finished your training?" He asked.

"No, not yet." She said rubbed her forehead free from sweat. "I'm not fast enough." She said.
"It's not about speed." He said.
"At the rate that I get it mastered I would be wounded if not dead in a battle." She said, he gave a hum. "What did you want?" She asked.

"You didn't come in last night, have you even slept these past few days?" He asked.
"Yeah." She shrugged.
"Well tonight, I want you in the house by 8pm, if not I will drag you in." He said. "That's an order."
"Sure, whatever." Naru muttered, Kakashi gave a low growl, she walked up to the tree and sighed, she focused and placed her foot on the tree and began to run up the trunk slipping a few times before getting it solid. Kakashi huffed and walked away to send Sasuke out so the boy could finish his training as well.

Naru sat on the top branch and looked at the scrapes on her hands and legs that were stinging, her stomach growled and she sighed quietly and looked out at the water and land. A small blur caught her eyes, she blinked and looked down where she saw it but nothing was there, she frowned and jumped down looking around, she blinked as she saw a wrapped sandwich next to her shoes, a small container sat next to it with a note.

Here's a sandwich since you've stayed out here all night again.

This salve will heal your burns and scrapes.

-Haku.

Naru blushed and looked around but couldn't see the boy, she sighed quietly. 'Thanks Haku.' She thought, she sat down and ate the sandwich with a small blush on her cheeks.

-o0o-

That evening the team sat at the table as Tsunami made supper. The front door opened and Naru came in and sighed. "Well, you're alive." Tazuna said, Naru gave a hum.

"I'm glad you listened to me." Kakashi said, she sat down and sighed quietly and set the salve down and spread some on a cut on her arm.

"Dinner." Tsunami said and set the plates down in front of everyone and they began to eat quietly, Inari glared at Naru and the team, he shook and would glance at the wall to the side where a lone picture hung. After dinner Tsunami washed the dishes as they sat talking quietly.

"May I ask why is this picture torn? It looks like someone use to be in it." Sakura said standing near it. "Inari was looking at it all through dinner." She said glancing at the boy who stiffened but stared at the table.

"It's my husband." Tsunami said quietly, they looked at her shocked.
"They use to call him a hero in this land." Tazuna said, Inari stormed out and slammed the door.
"Inari! Father you know you can't talk about him like that!" Tsunami said and rushed out after her son.

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"Is there a story behind this?" Kakashi asked.

"He wasn't his real father, he came in our family later, he brought so much happiness, he and Inari were very close. Back then Inari use to laugh all the time." Tazuna said shaking. "But then …. All that ended, he never smiles or laughs anymore, ever since the day everything changed." He said bitterly tear tears running from his eyes. "We were left feeling powerless, hopeless and Inari was the one to suffer the most. Ever since that day happened." He said.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked.

"You have to know about the man who taught us the word courage, who was hero in the land." Tazuna said pulling his glasses off and wiping the tear from his eye. "He came here about three years ago." He said.

-Flashback

"Poochie!" A young Inari yelled. "Poochie no!" He cried as he was held back by two boys, another stood in front of him holding a black and white dog that barked.

"That's not his name!" He said. "From today his name is shooting star! And he's my dog now!"
"No he's not! He's my dog and his name is not shooting star! I've had him since he was a puppy, he's my friend and he doesn't belong to you!" Inari said and struggled.

"Shut up!" The boy yelled then smirked throwing the dog into the water, Inari gasped. The dog began to yelp and thrash from going under the water.
"Poochie!" Inari yelled.
"See what happens when you don't listen to me?!" The boy asked "Now I'm not gonna lift a finger to help him!" He said. "Let him go." He said, Inari was released.

"Why did you do that?! My dog is gonna drown!"
"If he's your dog then jump in and get him!" He said. "Be a big hero and save your friend." He said, Inari slunk and gulped in fear. "After all that big talk, you're not gonna let him go under are ya!?" He asked. Inari walked up and so did the boys, Poochie yelped and thrashed.

'I've gotta jump in and save him! I got to! But … but I can't swim. I'm scared, I'm sorry Poochie.' Inari thought shaking as the boys mocked him for not saving the dog.
"You made such a big deal about him, go get him!" The boy said and kicked Inari into the water, he screamed and came up thrashing and coughing.

"I think you went too far Akane. He could really drown..." His friend said, Inari screamed for help and Akane snorted.
"Forget about it." Akane said.
"I dunno." He said then yelped as Akane grabbed his shirt.
"You say one more word and I'll throw you in next!" He snarled.

"HELP! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Inari screamed thrashing around, he saw Poochie come back. "Pooch!" He yelled, the dog swam past him and headed for shore.

"Ironically at that very moment Pooch figured out how to dog paddle." Tazuna said.

The small dog made it to shore shaking off before running away. "Hey! Shooting star is running away get him!" Akane said and they ran off leaving Inari in the water. Inari screamed and went under and sunk down.

'I can't breathe..' Inari thought before it all went dark.

Sounds of a fire cracking and birds chirping sounded pulling him back, he opened his eyes with a moan. "Wake up huh? Finally." A voice said, Inari gasped and sat up and saw a man sitting in front of a fire roasting fish, he wore a blue gray kimono like shirt and tan pants, he had short spiky black hair with a white rope tied around his head. "I had a little talk with those kids, they wont bother you again." He smirked, he had an x shaped scar on his chin. "Here, eat." He smiled.

'Am I alive?! This is real?' Inari thought. "Did you pull me out of the water mister?"
"Have a bite to eat first, then we can talk all about it." He said.
Inari told him everything and bit into the fish.
"So your dog abandoned you too huh? In my country dogs are loyal, they stand by their masters." He said. "But then again, you abandoned the dog first, so what do you expect?" He said, Inari blinked then looked down.

"I really wanted to save him, but I froze, I was scared." He said and sniffled, the man smiled gently. "I guess I don't have courage." He sniffled.

"Hey come on, don't be so hard on yourself, you're a kid, when I was your age, I was scared too, it's not a big deal." He said ruffling Inari's head. "Live your life so you have nothing to regret, if you care about something protect it, no matter how tough, no matter how sad, you've got to keep trying. Even if you have to put your life on the line, protect it with both arms!" He said. "Never give in!" He said, Inari looked at him in awe.

"His name was Kaiza, a simple fisherman, who had come here from another land to follow his dreams. After that Inari and Kaiza were inseparable, the boy never knew his real father, so you can imagine what's it was like to have him in his life, he looked up to him, followed in his footsteps like a real father and son." Tazuna said. "Kaiza spent more and more time with us until he naturally became apart of our family." He said, Naru smiled gently at the story. "And when this town needed him, he became something more."

"We got trouble Kaiza! The flood gates opened and the water's rising! If we don't' stop the lower district will be flooded!" A man said bursting into the house from the pouring rain, Kaiza stood up in shock.

"What?!"
"Father!" Inari said.
"Inari get me some rope!" He said, the boy nodded and ran to do as he asked.

They ran out with the group and saw the flood gate was opened and water was rushing in getting higher and higher. "See the gate? We need to get a line out there to pull it close."
"A line? You'd have to swim out there! It's suicide." A man said.
"If we don't the whole town will be destroyed!" One other said.

"I'll do it!" Kaiza said walking up.
"Kaiza! Don't be foolish, you'll never make it!" They protested.
"Father." Inari said worried, Kaiza put his hand on his head and bent down.
"Don't worry, nothing can stop your dad." He said smiling. "This is our village, so we have to do everything we can do help." He said.

He tied a rope on his waist and jumped in swimming against the fast water, Inari watched with the others. "Father I know you can do it!" He yelled, Kaiza got to the gate and tied the rope on.
"He got it! Let's pull it close!" The men said and pulled the rope closing the gate stopping the flooding waters.

"From that time on, Kaiza was considered a hero in this land, he taught us all the meaning of courage. And Inari was proud to be his son. But it wasn't long after that Gato came and took over, he terrorized the whole village, only Kaiza stood up to him. Gato couldn't have a local hero getting in his way, it took his whole gang to stop one man." Tazuna said.

Kaiza knelt on the floor surrounded my men and Gato stood in front, Kaiza grunted in pain as he was beaten with a stick, his arms tied to a post behind him. "You over played your hand Kaiza." Gato said. "All that talk about how you're going to protect your village with your two arms." He said smugly. "Those arms aren't much good now are they?" He said, Kaiza growled then cried out slumping as he was beaten but would sit up and glare at the short man. "You still got that defiant look in your eye though, well my men will get rid of that." Gato said chuckling. "Get to work on him." He said, the man beating him kicked Kaiza flat to the ground. Two men walked up with huge mallets and chucked Kaiza gasped and screamed in agony as they swung the mallets down.

The next day everyone was called out to a gated in area and stared in shock and horror as Kaiza was tied to a wooden cross, both arms purple, blood ran down his face that was littered with bruises.

"Listen up! This man has defied the Gato corporation, he has disturbed the order of this land! His punishment is execution!" He said, everyone whispered in shock, Kaiza panted. "Let this be an example, so no one dare stand in our way again!" He said.

"FATHER!" Inari screamed standing at the front gripping the fence sobbing, Kaiza looked up and managed a tiny smile.
"Do it." Gato said walking away, a samurai next to him pulled out his blade, Inari sobbed and screamed for his father who continued to smile at the boy as they killed him his blood flying in the air.

"You told me, that you'd protect me and this land! With both your arms! You made me believe you could do it! But it was a lie!" Inari said in anger.

"Since then Inari changed, along with Tsunami and all our people." Tazuna said. "We lost our will." He said, the whole team was silent at the story. Naru thought about the times with Inari telling them to go home and they were stupid.

Naru stood up and sighed and stood up. "Where are you going Naru?" Sakura asked snottily.
"I'll prove to that kid …. there are hero's." She said and walked out, Tazuna looked at her shocked then smiled gently.

Naru walked through the woods the next day silently, she sighed quietly thinking about how she snapped on Inari during breakfast, the boy called her a fool for working in the night, saying she didn't know pain, she didn't know what she was talking about, that she didn't know what it was like to not have a family which set her off. She told the boy to shut up, he was ignorant and would always be a baby with that attitude and that he was useless and of course Sakura jumped in yelling at her for saying that agreeing with the boy that Naru didn't know what he had been through. Naru yelled at them all and stormed out.

Naru POV

"Stupid people." I muttered and sighed and rubbed my head.
"Dope!" Sasuke's voice sounded, I grunted and ran through the woods quickly, I came up to the beach and stopped panting. I walked along the shore and stopped under a tree and sat down and rubbed my head.

"Well you seem upset." I looked and saw Haku near the water, I smiled and stood up. "Are you okay?" He asked, I rolled my eyes.
"Stupid team junk." I said, he gave me a slight smile. "So what are you doing today?" I asked, he sighed.
"Not much." He said and shrugged.
"Is your friend better?"
"A little, he wants to get up but I wont let him so he starts yelling and cussing." He sighed.

"Well …. you wanna hang out?" I asked, he blinked. "We can find some lunch and just get away from our annoyances." I said, he smiled and nodded.

"That sounds great." He said, I smiled and walked next to him, we entered town and got some lunch from a small tea shop and headed out to the large piers, we sat down and began to nibble on the food.
"So how long are you going to be here?" Haku asked.
"I guess until Tazuna finishes." I shrugged. "I don't know." I said.
"You don't seem to like your teammates, is there a reason for that?" Haku asked, I sighed.

"They're not real teammates to me. I've known them since I was …. 6 maybe 7, and the girl Sakura she's always been spoiled and bratty, putting me down, hitting me. All for a stupid boy who hates her." I rolled my eyes. "And Sasuke, well he's this quiet, revenge obsessed boy who cares for nothing." I said looking down. "It's kinda pointless for me." I shrugged.

"Why do you get treated badly?" He asked, I sighed quietly and took a drink.

"I'm not exactly …... normal." I said hesitantly. "I've been treated like a germ … I'm hated in my own village." I said bitterly with a chuckle.
"You seem like the sweetest person in the world … how could people not like you." He said with a smile, I blushed red and smiled gently.

"Well ….. my village is very blind to things they don't understand, or wont listen to. If it's different, it's bad and they must shun it." I said rolling my eyes.
"I understand that one." He said and chuckled. "I had the same." He said, I blinked. "I was shunned and nearly killed." He said, I sighed and shook my head. "So even your teammates treat you like that? You have no one?" He asked.

"My teammates just followed their parents example of shun." I said. "I have three people who are …. somewhat close. My academy sensei who didn't even speak with me until I was 8, my other two friends we're close. For a time one of them couldn't."
"Why?" He asked.
"Her clan is elite and they didn't want the heir of their clan to hang around a monster like me." I rolled my eyes.

"That's horrible." He said. "What of your parents?" He asked, I sighed.
"Never knew 'em. Don't know their names, what they look like … nothing." I said shrugged.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." I chuckled and sighed. "What about you?"
"They died when I was young." He said.
"I'm sorry." I said, he nodded.
"What made you want to be a ninja?" He asked, I frowned.
"I think when I was younger it was to become Hokage and prove everyone wrong and make them notice me." I said. "As I got older, I think it was just to prove people wrong." I shrugged. "Have you ever thought about it?"
"I got training …. I don't like it, it's too bloody, but if I can protect the people close to me, then I guess." He shrugged, I nodded. "And plus I got some special powers that make it a little dangerous."He said, I nodded.

"Same." I said. "Things are so complicated." I said, he nodded his head and sighed.

"Naru!" Sakura's voice sounded, I groaned.
"How do they find me!?" I snarled, he chuckled.

A brown pug ran out of the trees and up to them, Naru looked at him, he wore a blue vest and a blue hitai-ate on his head. "Naru-chan."
"Yes?" She asked hesitantly.
"I'm Pakkun Kakashi's summon, he's looking for you." He said.

"I'll be there in a moment." I said, he frowned and walked away, I sighed.

"I guess you gotta go?" He asked.
"This sucks! They want nothing to do with me, hate me, but kami forbid I leave for an hour!" I said standing, Haku followed and smiled.

"Naru, can I ask …. are you a jinchuuriki?" He asked, I froze and gulped, I looked down shaking. "Naru?" He asked, I gulped and ran away from him. "Naru!?" He called.

I panted and ran into the woods. Why did I tell him so much!? It was finally nice to talk to someone who didn't know! And I had to open my big mouth! I'm so stupid! I finally felt comfortable with someone and I was stupid! I stopped and panted heavily and rubbed my head and blinked back tears.

"Naru!" Haku jumped down in front of me, I stumbled back. "Why did you run from me?" He asked.

"I …. I ..." I looked down shaking.
"Naru?" He asked stepping up and out his hand on my shoulder, I flinched. "Naru, look at me." He said, I looked into his brown eyes, I saw worry but not disgust, hate or anything, I shook. "I... I'm sorry if I ..."
"You …. you don't..." I stuttered.
"Naru, if you're worried about me turning my back because I know this, I wont." He said, I looked at him shocked. "I don't care if you're a jinchuuriki. I don't judge people by a title or anything. I don't care if you're a jinchuuriki. You're a good friend." He said, I blushed looking at him. "I haven't met someone like you in a long time, it's nice to have a friend." He said, I smiled gently. "You're a great friend and person." He said. "Will you please believe me?" He asked, I nodded my head, he smiled and hugged me, I paused but hugged him back shaking.

"Thank you." I whimpered, he chuckled and continued to hold me, I buried my nose in his shoulder and took a breath and paused but blinked a few times and sighed.

"You gotta go, I don't want you to get in trouble." He said pulling back, I nodded my head and looked down. "But I'll tell you what." He said, I looked up at him. "Meet me by the dock tomorrow at noon and we'll escape for the day." He said, I beamed and nodded my head, he smiled and hugged me again. "I wont leave you." He said, I smiled and walked away with a wave.

I got back towards the house a grin on my face, my heart beat loudly in my chest and my face was hot no doubt from a blush on my face. I grunted as Kakashi jumped down in front of me, I blinked.

"Where have you been?" He asked.
"Out." I said and walked past.
"Naru! I am your sensei, you can't leave-"
"I was out training and walking, calm down." I said and walked into the house and sighed. I walked into the bathroom and wiped my face off and sighed. I continued to think about Haku and my heart pounded in my chest. Could I really like Haku like that? It was kinda nice to have someone I was so comfortable with and could open up to. But I wouldn't let my guard down, it happened too many times, but as I thought about it, I couldn't think to not distrust Haku, it was nice.