Upon our arrival, Tazuna's daughter eagerly helps us set up a bed for Kakashi sensei so that he can rest. Once he's situated, I decide to have a look around; it's a small and simple house, no fancy decorations or a ton of furniture. I notice a single picture hanging on the wall, a young boy with dark brown hair and a goofy smile stands in the center of the photo, Tazuna sits to the left of the boy and Tazuna's daughter, who I assume is the boy's mother, is to his right. There is another person in the photo as well, but the face has been torn out. Odd, I think to myself, heading back into Kakashi's room.
"Glad to see you're awake, sensei," I say, giving him a smile.
"Yeah," he mumbles, "I was just thinking, tracker ninja deal with the body immediately on the spot so there is no room for error."
"Is that really important?" Sakura asks.
"Do you remember what that tracker did with Zabuza's body?"
"I guess he took it away somewhere," she says.
"Exactly, but why? He should have started working on him right away, as fast as possible. Do you remember the weapons he used?"
"Senbon needles," I say.
"See, none of it really adds up."
"What are you talking about, you guys beat him," Tazuna says.
"Here's the thing, Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi says.
Still alive? But Kakashi sensei checked for a pulse, and there wasn't one, I think to myself.
"Just you wait, sensei. I'm going to beat him and things are going to get better. Believe it!" Naruto yells.
"No, don't believe it, things aren't going to get better," a voice says.
We all turn to find a young boy standing in the entrance of the room. That's the same boy from the picture on the wall.
"Who the heck are you?" I ask.
"Oh, Inari. Come here and give me a hug!" Tazuna says, opening his arms wide.
"Mom, these ninja are going to die. Gato and his men will come back and everyone will die!" Inari yells.
"What did you just say?!" Naruto yells. "Listen up, brat. Do you know what a super ninja is? Well that's me, but a lot better. I'm going to be Hokage and this Flato or Blato guy is no match for a hero like me!"
"Ha! There is no such thing as heroes. You're only full of stupid ideas!" Inari says.
Inari glares at Naruto for a long moment before running out of the room and up the stairs. Gosh, what's with this kid? Naruto follows the boy upstairs, presumably to give him a piece of his mind, and I shake my head; Naruto needs to learn to let things go. Kakashi sensei begins talking again, this time about a training regime he plans for us to complete in the next few days, but I pay him no mind; my thoughts are focused on Inari's words, 'there is no such thing as heroes.'
"All right, training starts now!" Kakashi yells. "Today you will be learning how to climb a tree."
"Climb a tree?" we all ask.
"Yes, that's right, but without your hands."
"You've got to be kidding me," Naruto mumbles.
"Am I? Watch this," Kakashi says.
We all watch in awe as Kakashi sensei begins climbing a tree using only his feet. By focusing his chakra to the soles of his feet, he is able to connect to the tree and climb up with ease. This is so cool! Kakashi sensei throws each of us a kunai to mark the tree with and we're left to our own devices.
I clear my mind of all distractions and tune the others out, focusing only on my breathing and my chakra. I attempt to place my foot on the tree, just to see if it will stick, but it slips off easily. I guess I need more chakra? But too much will break the tree.. Dang, this is harder than I thought it would be. I try a few more times, each time with more chakra focused into my feet, until it finally works. A big grin spreads across my face and I begin walking up the tree, slowly at first, running full speed ahead once I get the hang of it. I fall to the ground a few times, but by my third attempt I'm climbing with ease. Once I reach the top, I glance down at the others, curious to see where they're at. The only one who seems to be making any progress is Sakura, she's already made it halfway up her tree.
"Sakura! How did you get up there so fast!?" Naruto yells.
"It's not that hard, Naruto!" she yells back.
"Looks like it's one of the girls in our group who has the best chakra control," Kakashi says.
"Hey, don't forget about me!" I yell.
"Hey, where is Hikari? I don't see her," Sakura says.
"Up here!" I yell, waving to them from my perch.
"Wow, Hikari! That's amazing, but just you wait, I'll still beat you!" Naruto says confidently.
I chuckle at his confidence and begin my descent down the tree, coming face to face with Kakashi sensei once my feet are firmly on the ground.
"Well Hikari, I guess you mastered that pretty fast," Kakashi says.
"You're really good at that, Hikari. I wish I could go that high," Sakura says.
"Don't worry Sakura, I know you can do it. You just need to focus more chakra into your feet so you don't lose it halfway up the tree," I say.
She gives me a small smile and runs back to her tree, testing her skills once more. Maybe she's not so bad after all, I think to myself, taking a seat beneath my tree. I watch the others, laughing as Naruto and Sasuke make this into a competition and try to outdo each other. Sakura eventually makes it to the top of the tree and I give her a large smile. She smiles back and quickly makes her way down the tree. Naruto seems to have taken notice of this and he slowly inches his way towards her. I stifle a laugh as I watch him ask her for advice on how to get up the tree. I look over to see Sasuke watching Naruto's every move; when Naruto gets back to his tree I hear Sasuke ask him what Sakura said, but he refuses to tell him. Sasuke gives me a quick glance and I can tell he's contemplating asking me for advice. Finally, he starts walking towards me; I motion for him to sit in front of me and he silently agrees, crossing his legs and taking a seat in the damp grass.
"What do you need, Sasuke?" I ask, as if I don't already know.
"I was wondering if you could give me some advice on this chakra focusing thing," he mumbles.
"I'm sorry, what was that? You seem to be mumbling," I tease.
"Could I get some advice on this chakra thing," he says, his face turning red.
"Of course. First of all, don't rush into it. You and Naruto are both trying to outdo each other, but if you guys don't stay focused you're never going to get it. When you attempt to walk up the tree take a minute or so to balance the chakra in your feet and make sure it is stable. If you use too much you'll crack the tree but if you don't use enough you'll just slide back down. Second, you need to concentrate on the tree too, if you do that your chakra will even itself out. Third, you have to stay calm. If you don't, you'll lose your focus and you'll fall down. That's about it, now go and try again."
Sasuke gets up and leaves, not bothering to thank me, getting back to the training exercise. What a butt, he's always so quiet and he keeps to himself, we're just trying to be his friends, I sigh.
"Hikari. Sakura. Why don't you go to the bridge and guard Tazuna since there is nothing left for you to do here," Kakashi says.
"Yes, Kakashi sensei," I say.
Sakura gives me a hand off the ground and we quickly head to town.
As soon as Tazuna is done working for the day, he takes Sakura and I to the market with him to get food for dinner. As I look around the market I notice just how bare it is, there is hardly any food in these stalls. According to Tazuna, it has been like this for years; the reason he's building this bridge is in hopes that it will bring the hard times to an end.
Once we get back to his house, Sakura and I help make dinner with his daughter. She is a very nice woman and all she can seem to talk about is how happy she is that we are here to help the village. As we set the table, I notice Sasuke and Naruto haven't come back yet. As if on cue, Kakashi sensei enters the house, but neither of the boys are with him.
"Where are Naruto and Sasuke?" I ask.
"They're still at it," he says, taking a seat at the table.
I roll my eyes and get back to helping with dinner. Those two can be so thick headed sometimes, I sigh. About half an hour later the two of them come stumbling into the house, taking a seat at the table.
"Perfect timing," I say, setting bowls of food in front of them.
They start devouring the food, obviously making this into some sort of competition, and it's not long before the two are finished.
"More please!" They both yell at the same time.
"You two are disgusting," I grumble, refusing to offer them more food.
Sakura gets up from the table and walks towards the picture on the wall, the one I noticed yesterday with the face torn out.
"Why is this picture torn? Who is this?" she asks.
A chair skids on the floor and I look over to see Inari leaving the table; he quickly runs up the stairs, presumably heading to his room. Tazuna sighs and begins to explain; apparently the man in the photo was Inari's 'dad', and he is the only man who's stood up to Gato. After trying to be the hero, he was killed. No wonder Inari doesn't believe in heroes, I think to myself. Naruto gets up from his spot at the table and heads towards the door.
"Where are you going?" I ask.
"I'm going to train. If I want to prove to Inari that heroes still exist I need to do the best I can and train harder," he says, closing the door behind him.
"Naruto!" Sakura yells.
"Narutooo!" I follow.
"Well he's obviously not here and knowing Naruto he can be anywhere right now. And Sasuke isn't here either," Sakura whines.
I sigh and take one last look around the forest. With how determined Naruto was yesterday, I figured he would be back here training. I scratch my head and try to think of other places he could be. Suddenly a kunai buries itself in the ground between my feet.
"Ah!" I yell, jumping back and looking at the trees. "Oh my gosh, Naruto, there you are! You're almost to the top, I'm so proud of you!"
"Hahaha, am I too high for you guys?" he yells, jumping into the air and falling backwards off the branch.
"Naruto!" I yell.
Sakura lets out a scream and I begin running towards the tree when suddenly Naruto sticks his feet back on the tree and he hangs upside down on the branch.
"Haha! Fooled you didn't I?" he laughs.
"I'm going to kill you, Naruto!" Sakura yells.
"Don't ever do that again!" I yell.
Suddenly Naruto's feet pop off the branch and he actually starts falling. I begin running towards him, prepared to catch him, but before I can do anything, Sasuke is pushing past me, flying up the tree, and grabbing Naruto by the ankles.
"Hurray, you saved him Sasuke!" Sakura cheers.
Sasuke drops Naruto to the ground and gives him a smirk. Naruto scowls and lets me help him up off the ground.
"How much longer do you two plan on messing around out here," I say.
"I want to have this mastered by the end of the night!" Naruto yells.
"Just keep an eye on the time please, dinner is soon. It would be rude to keep our host's waiting," I say.
Sakura and I make our way back to Tazuna's house and once again help his daughter with dinner. As the evening comes around Sasuke and Naruto are still not back and I get ready to go find them and drag their butts back here. As I get ready to leave the two of them come trudging through the door, Sasuke basically carrying an exhausted Naruto.
"We made it all the way to the top of the tree," Naruto grins.
"Good, that means tomorrow you guys will be guarding Tazuna," Kakashi says, helping himself to a plate of food.
Everyone starts eating dinner when I hear a weird noise coming from the opposite side of the table. I notice tears streaming down Inari's face and give Sakura a concerned glance.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Naruto asks
"All this stupid training is just a waste of time. Gato has a whole army out there. He'll beat you down and destroy you. These cool things you say don't mean anything. No matter what you do, the strong always win and the weak always lose," he cries.
"Speak for yourself; it won't be like that for me, got it?" Naruto says.
"Why don't you just be quiet! It makes me sick! You guys don't know anything about this country, you're just butting in. You don't know what it feels like to suffer and be treated like dirt!"
The room goes silent, the only noise coming from my chopsticks rattling to the floor. I give Inari a sharp glare and he winces.
"Listen to yourself whining and complaining like some sorry little victim," I say.
"You can whine all day for all I care. You're nothing but a coward!" Naruto yells.
Naruto, Hikari, you've gone too far!" Sakura yells.
Naruto and I ignore the calls and looks from the others and excuse ourselves from the table, heading outside to get some fresh air.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Kakashi says, poking his head into Inari's room.
"What do you want?" Inari sniffles, rubbing his watery eyes.
"Naruto and Hikari can be a little harsh sometimes, but they don't hate you. Your Uncle told us about your father and how you grew up without him, but you see, Naruto and Hikari also grew up without a father…. They never knew either of their parents. Neither of them had any friends in our village, they only had each other. Still, I've never seen them sulk, cry, or give up. They've always been eager to join in, they want to be respected, they will put their lives on the line for that. I think they just got tired of crying and decided to do something about it. Even though they are young and still learning, they both know what it means to be strong like your father. They know better than any of us what you're going through. Even though what they said to you earlier sounded cruel, they've probably said that to themselves thousands of times."
"Really?" Inari says, glancing out the window to get a look at the siblings.
Hikari and Naruto are huddled together out in the yard cracking jokes and laughing at each other. Inari glances back at Kakashi and gives him a nod of understanding.