Chapter 7

The next morning came and most of team 7 and Tazuna were saying their goodbyes to Tsunami and Inari. "All right, we're off. I leave Naruto in your hands. He's pushed his body to the limit, over doing it as usual. So he may not be able to move today at all"

"But what about you? You're still recovering" Tsunami said

"Why? Do I look wobbly? I'll be ok" Kakashi chuckled

"Come on, let's go!" Tazuna said as he leads to group to the bridge.

After a while, Tsunami was washing dishes when she heard someone shouting and turns to see Naruto still in his pjs. "Oh you're awake"

"Where is everybody?! Where'd they all go?!" Naruto said as he frantically looks around the house.

"Your sensei wanted to let you rest, you got the day off." Tsunami said

"I knew it! They ditched me!" Naruto said dashing back to his room, quickly getting dressed. He said goodbye to Tsunami and was on his way to the bridge. As he was moving, he saw a bloody dead animal and his eyes widen.

In front of Tazuna's home, two dangerous man with swords stood at the door with wicked smiles on their faces. The taller one of the two used his sword and sliced the door in pieces and they entered the house. Tsunami was in the main room and turns,gasping as she saw the trespasses. The shorter man spoke "So you're Tazuna's daughter, huh? That's too bad, you'll have to come with us now!"

Inari was in the bathroom, washing his hands when he heard things breaking and his mother scream. He ran out to find his mom was cowering in the corner with the two swordsman towering over her "Mother!"

Tsunami saw Inari and sits up "No! Don't come out here, run away!"

"Don't move" the taller swordsman said, then looks at his partner "So, should we grab this one too?"

"No, Gatou only asked for one hostage" the shorter one said

The taller turns back to Inari and gets ready to pull out his sword "Alright, so let's waste him!"

"Wait!" Tsunami said. The two swordsman turned their eyes to her "Please don't hurt my son! I'm begging you, he's just a boy. I'll do anything, just please don't hurt him"

The shorter one smirks and turns to Inari "Looks like your mom came through for you, kid"

Inari fell to his knees, crying as they tied up his mom "I-I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry" he hugged his knees as they took her away "W-What can I do? I'm too weak to p-protect you!" He said as he kept crying "I don't want to die".

Then Inari remembers what Naruto said about him being a coward and victim and What Kakashi said about Naruto being tired of crying and knowing what it means to be strong, then finally he remember what his father said the first day he met him. Imagines of his family, Kakashi, Sasuke, Hinata and Naruto flow through his mind "Can I-I be that strong too?"

As the swordsman walked away with Tsunami, A voice told them to stop and they all turned to see it was Inari! "Aw look, the little tough guy is here to save his mommy" the taller said mocking Inari.

"Y-You better get away from my mom!" Inari yelled as he charged at them

"Inari, No!" Tsunami said as she watched her son running towards them. Then she saw the two prepare to take out their swords and glared at the shorter one of the two "If you hurt him, I swear I'll-" before she could finish, she was knocked out but the shorter one "Shut up, take a nap"

As Inari got close, the two swordsman went and cut him down, his hat went flying into the air. However, as they look behind them, they saw had cut a log instead of Inari and that Tsunami was gone "A replacement Jutsu?!" The shorter one said

"The woman is gone!" The talker one said, then looked in front and sees Inari and Tsunami with Naruto "Who the hell is that?"

Naruto set Tsunami down gentle on the side of the pier as he was carrying Inari "Sorry, I'm a little late but you know heroes usually show up at the late minute"

"Naruto, I-it's you!" Inari said

"Who else?" Naruto said as he put Inari down "Inari, you did great!"

"Huh?"

"When you charged, they forget about your mom for a minute. That gave me the chance to use a cool jutsu to get her away from them." Naruto explained

"Naruto, how did you know these guys were coming here?" Inari asked

"In the forest, I saw a boar had been attacked and the trees were cut up too, like someone had been practicing with a sword or something. The cuts went back towards the house, so I followed them here" Naruto answered

"That was really smart!" Inari said impressed

"Blah, Blah it's one of those ninja brats Tazuna hired" the taller swordsman said

"Get them!" The shorter one said and both start charging towards them

Inari panics "T-They're coming!"

Naruto threw two shurikens that them but they deflected them "Ha, you better try something else!" The short one said

Naruto gets onto his feet, turns to them and grins "I did"

The taller one yelled " I want him, he's mine!" Then as they get close, two of Naruto's shadow clones came up from behind them and knocked them out with strong kicks to the head.

Inari looked at them and back at Naruto "Y-You did it!"

Naruto grins as he chuckles "Yeah! Believe it!"

Inari grins too, giggling "That was so excellent! Like a real ninja!"

"You twerp, I am a real ninja, that's what I've been telling you" Naruto said still grinning. Then he and Inari were laughing together.

After tying the swordsman up, Naruto suddenly sneezed.

"You know they say that when you sneeze, someone is taking about you" Inari said

"You actually believe that?" Naruto asked then looked at Inari "By the way, sorry about yesterday"

"Huh?"

"Calling you a coward was pretty mean I guess. But anyway it's not true, you know" Naruto said as he pats Inari's head "because you are really brave!"

Inari starts tearing up and crying but wipes them away "Darn it! I promised myself I wouldn't cry anymore! You're going to make fun of me again and call me a baby! But I can't stop!"

Naruto looked out at the water "What are you taking about? You're happy, what's wrong with that?!" He then turns to Inari, grinning "When you're happy, it's ok to cry really it is"

Inari looks up at Naruto with his tears still falling "Naruto"

"Ok, I can leave you in charge of things, right?" Naruto said with his back facing Inari

"Yeah!" Inari said

"Good! Then I'm going over to the bridge!" Naruto said taking off "It's not easy being a hero! It's tough, Believe it!"

"Believe it!" Inari said smiling as he watched Naruto leave, for the first time in a long time having hope in his heart again.

A/N: ok I know this chapter had no sasuhina moments in it and I'm sorry for that. In the future there will be some chapters where there won't be any sasuhina moments but I promise I will do my very best to put some in most of my chapters. So please keep reading and reviewing!