I should say this right now, but I plan on having Ino have an older brother and you can probably guess what the name is going to be and that is…
Inojin. He will be the older brother to Ino and yes, he will look just like Inojin in Boruto but with tanner skin like his father, Inoichi.
"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"Kyuubi talking/Inner Sakura"
Chapter 4: Training for Zabuza and Helping Tazuna and Family
The following day everyone was awake doing their own thing, trying to get their mind off of the information that Zabuza was still alive with the ally that saved him. They had about a week before Zabuza was going to be in full health. Shikamaru was outside watching the clouds while Chouji was eating his first chips of the day right next to him. Sasuke was doing training on a log near the house with Ino and Sakura watching, and Naruto was reading his books from the library. The book that he was reading was a book about the Shinobi clans with other ones he would read about soon right next to him. Yoshino had recommended it to him because she said all Hokage's must know what the clans are, what they do, and how to sway them towards an opinion to make decisions. He was in the Uchiha clan right now and he never knew how powerful they were.
It also got him thinking about the Uchiha Massacre. Where Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's brother murdered every member of his clan leaving him and Sasuke as the last two Uchiha's left in the world. He remembers when he was younger, an Uchiha Anbu would protect him from the civilians which surprised him as the Uchiha clan seemed to have hated him when he was younger. It didn't matter anymore though as he died that night when he asked the old man about it.
Shikamaru took a break from cloud watching glancing over to his friend Naruto. He thought he would have been training and being as loud as he was in the academy, but he was sitting there reading quietly on the porch. He still could not put his finger on why he changed this quickly. Chouji had gotten up to get more food earlier so he thought he could talk to Naruto to figure out more about his change.
Hands in his pockets he walked up to Naruto, "What's up Naruto? What are you reading there?"
Naruto looked up to see Shikamaru sitting next to him on the bench looking at the books that were stacked up next to him.
"Oh, nothing much, just about Shinobi Clans in the Leaf Village. I am almost done with the book being on the Uchiha section right now. I am guessing the Yamanaka Clan is next though."
Shikamaru nodded and replied, "You know Naruto, my mom told me that you, who is loud, brash, and a little bit blockheaded are reading at The Leaf Library and Archives to better yourself. I never thought I would have seen the day," he said nonchalantly.
He pouted slightly turning the next page, "Ha ha, very funny, you lazy bastard. You of all people should know that power doesn't involve powerful jutsu and cool moves. You must be knowledgeable in certain areas too."
Shikamaru was surprised that Naruto of all people came up with that. He picked up some of the books he was going to read and Shikamaru was wide-eyed at some of these.
Shikamaru spoke again, "Holy cow Naruto, Grasping Elemental Affinities by Minato Namikaze, Uncommon Ninja Arts by The Gallant Jiraiya, and Finding your Taijutsu Style by Might Guy, these are some pretty high-grade stuff." Naruto only nodded his head.
"Thank god, I was getting bored of reading about Sasuke's arrogant clan, now it is onto the…" Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground, and he put his bookmark into the book and slammed it shut. Shikamaru jumped at the loud snapping noise glaring at Naruto.
"You troublesome blonde, what the heck are you doing, doing that for," he asked setting down the books. Chouji had come back from the kitchen with another bag of chips, "Yeah Naruto, that was a little loud."
"Uh, guys…I am going to show you this and…promise not to freak out," he said nervously. Both stared at him confused but when he opened the book and showed him. They were wide-eyed. Shikamaru was the first to speak, "The…Uzumaki clan…, Naruto, you have a clan…I didn't even know about them."
Chouji stopped eating and shoved the chips into his pockets giving his full attention, "Well, tell us about them, come on man."
They both were next to Naruto now and he began to read about his clan. Naruto was shaking while holding the book from the mix of emotions flowing through him. Excitement, nervousness, and fear of what happened to him because as far as he knew, he was the only Uzumaki in the village.
"The Uzumaki Clan was a clan that was feared across the five elemental nations. Their home was in the Land of the Whirlpools next to the Land of Fire and the Land of Water. They are very distant cousins from the Senju Clan, however, what makes them different is the chakra that they possess. While both the Senju and Uzumaki Clans have longevity, and potency in their chakra, only a few of them were ever able to unlock their bloodline. The Adamantine Chakra Chains. (Find books about this to understand more.) They were renowned for their skills in Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, and elemental jutsu, particularly in Water Jutsu. Uzumaki were typically red headed which often reflected their fiery personalities, however, sometimes there were Uzumaki with different colors of hair though that was very uncommon as red hair in the Uzumaki clan was a dominant trait to other hair colors." The three absorbed all this information before looking at Naruto.
"I won't lie Naruto, as troublesome as it is, this makes sense. You do have a fiery personality whether you like it or not. When you are passionate about something you don't stop until you get it," said Shikamaru.
Chouji then stood there dumbfounded. His friend Naruto was a part of a clan. "So that means…"
"Yes, it is true," said Asuma leaning on the doorframe. He whistled to get the Ino, Sakura, and Sasuke's attention. All three looked at him shocked they didn't hear him. "Listen, guys, as much as I would like to help you get to know about the Uzumaki clan, we will have to talk about that later as we have some training as teams to do. Kakashi is now up but he is bedridden until tomorrow morning so you guys will be dealing with me for a while." The three nodded and stood up following him to the woods.
After about 8 minutes of walking Asuma stopped everyone. "Alright everyone we will be training ourselves for Zabuza and because it is Sunday, tomorrow is the start of the bridge builder working on the bridge, we will be doing something that I know both Team 7 and Team 10 haven't done yet." This had gotten everyone's attention as they thought they wouldn't be getting training aside from Naruto and Sasuke as they were going to do it anyway.
"Alright so, does anyone know what Tree Climbing is," he asked smirking.
"Well, duh sensei, we all have climbed trees before, what do you think we are dumb," asked Ino in in a snarky tone.
"Troublesome, unfortunately, I have to agree with Ino," said Shikamaru leaning against a tree, with Chouji backing up Shikamaru.
"I agree with Ino, Asuma-sensei," said Sakura.
"Unfortunately, I do too," scoffed Sasuke crossing his arms.
Ino squealed in happiness as Sasuke looked away from her in disgust.
Asuma looked over at Naruto who was looking at a book, "What about you Naruto," he asked looking at him. He walked over to Asuma pointing to the text that he had read after learning Stage 2 in the Leaf Sticking Exercise. "It is this right here, isn't it Asuma-sensei, it is a chakra control exercise." Asuma looked at it and smiled, nodding his head approvingly, with Sasuke glaring holes into the blonde.
"Good job Naruto. Yes, it is a chakra control exercise that is required for any of you to be a good ninja. It allows the increase of your chakra control and chakra reserves. The point of the jutsu is to channel chakra into your feet to be able to hold yourself to the tree, like so." Asuma took a step onto the tree stunning all the Genin. He continued up the tree until he was upside down on a branch staring at the Genin students.
He then jumped back down and landed with grace, "Theoretically, if you can complete this jutsu, you can learn any jutsu you put your mind to. Now." He pulled out a 6 kunai, giving everyone one each and leaning against the tree. "Now, you guys will have to get a running start as all of you are beginners in this, and use the kunai, I gave to you all to mark your progress into the side of the tree." He heard a groan from Shikamaru and chuckled lightly.
"You all better get started, it is currently about 10 o'clock and you will not be getting a break until I deem you deserve it," he said pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.
Chouji was the first to go charging at the tree making it only 3 steps before falling flat on his back. Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other before both running up Naruto was the first to fall making it 3 steps with Sasuke making it 5. Shikamaru sighed and ran to the tree making it 4 steps before landing gracefully.
"Haha, I got you Ino-pig," they heard Sakura screech. "Whatever! you only beat me by like 5 seconds forehead."
Asuma smiled, "It appears the girls of the team seem to have the best control. You boys better catch up to them otherwise you will be left in the dust."
"Yes, it appears they are closer to their dreams than all of your dreams," said a one-eyed Jonin.
All of them saw Kakashi with a crutch under his left arm as he took a seat next to Asuma. "Aren't you supposed to be resting Kakashi?" asked Asuma. "Well, I am sore, and I need to walk around to feel better, and besides I need to rest for my chakra, not for my physical stuff."
Asuma took a puff on his cigarette as he watched the Genin struggle with the Tree Climbing Exercise. "I thought you said that Naruto was bad at Chakra Control. He appears to be doing a lot better than most would be."
"Well, with how much chakra control he needs for all of that chakra then yes he is bad," replied Kakashi nose deep into his Icha Icha book.
"Kakashi. You are underestimating your students. He has the potential to be an incredible shinobi with who he is, what he has, and who he can be," said Asuma putting out his cigarette.
Kakashi sighed, "I do not think so Asuma, he has so much to work on for the basics and it is going to hold his team back unless he picks up the slack. That is why training Sasuke is easier because he can learn everything easily, unlike Naruto."
"Kakashi, do you know how dumb you sound right now? You need to…" he didn't get to finish as Kakashi was walking away from him. All Asuma could do was shake his head. It didn't matter, if Naruto needed training, he would help him with what he could. He laughed when Chouji and Shikamaru fell from the tree again. This was going to be a long day.
6 HOURS LATER
It was now a little past four o'clock and most of the Genin had one break aside from Naruto. Asuma had to explain to everyone the reason Ino and Sakura could make it to the top of the tree was because of their high chakra control and low reserves which was why they were tired the fastest while Naruto was still going because of his high chakra reserves which in turn allows people to last longer in terms of energy.
Ino and Sakura were on their 5th break which he didn't blame them as their reserves were barely at a Low Genin level. Shikamaru was on his 2nd break, though his break resulted in him napping for a couple of hours. Sasuke and Chouji were on their 2nd break as well.
"Naruto, you know, you can take a break right," Asuma said cupping his hands around his mouth.
"I know just one more time, I will get it for sure," exclaimed Naruto as he fell to the ground landing hard. He took a deep breath before getting ready to run up the tree.
"Yeah, right Naruto, you won't get it before Sasuke," said Ino.
"Shut it, Ino, your Sasuke-kun isn't even 75% up the tree when I am almost there."
Ino was getting ready to chase him but couldn't as he was already up the tree. Naruto had great momentum and he didn't stop, and it wasn't long before he was at the top of the tree. Naruto then ran back down which was way easier than up.
"Yes, that is what I am talking about I did the exercise within 6 hours," he said doing some weird dances and jumping up and down. Shikamaru was waking back up from his nap.
"You troublesome blonde, can you be quiet for like 5 more minutes," he said shooing his hand towards the noises.
"Shut up your lazy bum you have been sleeping the past two hours," yelled Naruto.
"Alright guys I think we should call it a day, Tsunami-san probably has dinner ready anyway," said Asuma.
Ino was having a hard time getting up from the culmination of sore muscles and depleted chakra and it didn't help when Sakura opted to not help her because of this rivalry with Sasuke. Ino was getting ready to fall when she felt a hand grab hers and it was Naruto's.
"Naruto? Why are you helping me?" she asked surprised.
"Well, you are tired, and you needed help so…yeah," he replied shrugging his shoulders.
"I just didn't expect you to help me after the comment I made earlier," she said regaining her balance by leaning on Naruto.
"Eh, water under the bridge, you would have said something way more personal if it was to hurt me more than that. We are comrades Ino, and we should be here to help each other, even if there is some petty rivalry in the way of that," he replied to her.
Ino never really thought about it. The rivalry has gotten to the point where it was a rivalry about love and not about strength or power. There were ninjas now and they should likely talk about it otherwise they could get themselves killed. Ino was too much in thought to realize she was on Naruto's back being carried by him. "Hey, Naruto, put me down, you idiot."
"Ino you can hardly walk, and you should rest, you worked hard today so just rest for the next like 5 minutes then you'll be fine," said Naruto adjusting his grip on her to hold her easier.
Ino then relaxed slowly putting her arms around Naruto. She was a bit confused when she put her arms around his chest area, and it felt like he was way skinnier than he was leading on with his clothing. Like he was malnourished or something.
"Well, thank you, and sorry about earlier," she said feeling bad now.
"Like I said, it is whatever," he said waving his hand in a non-caring motion.
She then hit him on the back of the head, "Ouch, what the heck was that for," he asked rubbing it.
"That was for picking me up without knowing," she exclaimed.
"That doesn't even make sense Ino," replied Naruto.
This continued all the way till they reached the house. At dinner, Asuma and Kakashi spoke about the next day, "Alright so Asuma and I have come up with the plan for tomorrow. So, the plan will be for Naruto will stay here at the house to guard the house, as he has completed the tree exercise already, with myself watching over the training of Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru while Asuma will be protecting the bridge builder for the day tomorrow."
"I understand why Naruto is not training as he completed it already but Sakura and Ino did too so why do they have to train," asked Chouji.
Kakashi nodded, "Well good question. That is because we need to increase their reserves while you other three need it for control."
Everyone nodded at this understanding the orders from their Sensei and the dinner were eaten in silence.
After dinner, everyone was getting ready for bed while Naruto helped with the dishes. "Thank you Naruto-kun for helping with the dishes, I help me with the workload," said a smiling Tsunami.
"Oh, it was no problem. Did you need any more help before I hit the sack?"
"No, but thank you though, I will need your help escort me around the village tomorrow for stuff I need like groceries and the like," she said taking off her apron and hanging it up.
"Sounds good, Tsunami-san. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Naruto-kun."
He slowly made his way down the hall as he too was starting to get tired from the long day. He heard sniffling from the slightly open door and saw Tsunami's son Inari crying holding a picture of a man that only he could assume was his father. Naruto sighed quietly. The world was cruel and could be unforgiven at times, he understood that after years of hatred thrown his way. He just hoped Inari would realize that there are people who have suffered more than he has, and he can't make excuses for himself.
THE NEXT DAY
It was 8 am and Naruto decided that since he wouldn't be training with the others you would do it himself by sending 5 shadow clones to a room to read so that technically someone was guarding the house but also 10 shadow clones to do the tree climbing exercise. Tsunami was getting ready to head out to the market as she said she would the other night with Naruto when she realized she had no money. Embarrassed, she went to tell Naruto that they could not go.
"Uh, Naruto-kun, I am afraid I cannot go to the market today," she said sadly.
Naruto looked up at her, "Why not."
She didn't say anything at first but that was enough for Naruto to understand that she didn't have the money. He reached into Gama to pull out and hand her 1000 dollars. To say Tsunami was in shock was an understatement. "I can't accept this; it is very kind of you to give me anything but…"
"Listen, when I say I understand more than anything what it is like to not be able to afford food, I mean it. There have been nights where I don't have money or food so, please just take it. You need it more than me," he said in a sincere voice.
She reluctantly accepted and hugged him. "Thank you, so much." "No problem, ma'am. Let's go shopping. Oh, and I meant to ask if you know how to cook fish?" He asked, leaving the house.
Locking the door, Tsunami nods her head. "Of course I can. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I can catch fish and if you need me to, I can go and catch some fish for dinner if that would be easier than grocery shopping."
She looked excited at him, "Oh that would be lovely. We have a freezer in the basement of the house that you can put them in so that we can have them tomorrow." Naruto nodded and they continued their way to the village. Little to their knowledge Inari was following behind them angry at the blonde.
AT THE BRIDGE
"Alright boys keep it up we will be done soon if we keep this up," yelled Tazuna.
"You know, you make a pretty good leader, Tazuna-san," said Asuma leaning on the side of a pole.
"You think so," he asked surprised.
Asuma nodded his head, "I do."
Tazuna started to laugh at his proclamation, "You are a funny kid, but I think that blonde boy is a pretty good leader, even if he is loud. He has a level head on his shoulders. He must have a good family to take care of him at home," said Tazuna walking over to Asuma.
Asuma frowned at this. He might have been gone for the past six years away from The Leaf Village, but he knew Naruto had lived a life harder than most people older than himself have. Tazuna noticed the frown on his face and asked, "What's wrong, does the kid have it hard at home? It can't be as bad as here right."
Asuma went into his jacket pouch to pull out a cigarette and lit it taking a puff before responding to him. "I'll be honest, Tazuna-san he doesn't have all that good of a life. He doesn't have it…easy per se in life. He has had to work hard for everything to go his way. I think that is what makes him and will make him a good leader."
Tazuna frowned, "Damn. I guess that life is hard everywhere even if it is a nice place such as the Leaf. Sometimes when you are in pain and go through suffering you forget other people go through it too."
"Yeah, life is challenging, but for Naruto, it is incredibly challenging. It isn't my place to say much more than that but if you spend time with him, he can tell you more about his life," he said taking another puff on his cigarette.
Tazuna nodded before walking back to some of the workers to help.
IN THE MARKET
Naruto couldn't stop looking around. Nearly everyone was in rags that were torn, stitched, or falling apart. What hurt him the most was seeing the malnourished children running around looking for food. Tsunami stared at the boy, and she slightly frowned.
"It has been like this for years Naruto-kun, but I believe that with all of your help, it can get better," she said warmly. Naruto nodded, still staring at everyone as Tsunami was getting fresh fruit for dinner. He felt something in his pocket and his reflexes kicked in grabbing the hand and digging in there he saw brought back memories. He saw a little girl with a scared and dirty face trying to get some of his money. He then knelt at the girl's height went into his wallet and gave her 50 dollars to go and spend. She smiled and happily thanked Naruto jumping around and running off to children her age. Naruto smiled and turned to Tsunami.
"I will be back in a bit Tsunami-san, I need to do something really quick," he said in a quieter tone than usual. She nodded and smiled at him. He sifted through his toad wallet and saw he had about 4000 after being given 1000 dollars to Tsunami. He went to the nearest store to give out his money. He gave out a today of 3000 dollars leaving around 1000 in his wallet left over.
He gave 500 to the owners of shops but threatened them to give the other half of the money out to the people and if they didn't, he would beat them to a pulp. In the end, many people in the market had some money to go around and eat well for the next week or so. When they asked around for who was the blonde boy whiskered boy that did this. They were told that it was Naruto Uzumaki, a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf. They were grateful that someone was there to help. For the first time in years, the Land of Waves felt hope.
Dinner that night was the same as usual, but his time Inari wasn't eating with them downstairs. Everyone was off doing their own thing when Naruto was reading over again Taijutsu styles that he would like to learn as his shadow clone from earlier dispelled after reading them. He was outside on the dock with the sun almost setting trying to be in a relaxing environment. It was frustrating to find the right Taijutsu style for himself. It wasn't that he thought he couldn't do it. It was the fact there were so many styles to learn and he just didn't know where to start. That was when he found the Hummingbird Fist, created by the 4th Hokage. It relied on being fast as well as the strength to be able to stun the enemy. The style overall was to throw the opponent into a loop from the about of stimuli being set off from the move sets being used in speed and strength.
He also couldn't stop thinking about the Uzumaki clan either. Knowing he had a clan sparked several questions within the blonde who wanted him to learn more, but when he asked Asuma-sensei about it he said to ask his dad about it as he knew more of the specifics and even told him not to talk about it anymore as it was a dangerous thing to talk about. He would just have to wait to talk to the old man when the mission is done.
He felt the dock vibrate and turned around to see his teammate Sasuke coming up to him. He continued to stare at him as he grew closer until he was standing right next to him on the dock staring off.
Naruto sighed and closed the book standing to meet Sasuke's eyes. "Yes teme, can I help you with anything," asked Naruto in an annoyed tone.
"I demand that you tell me what you are doing to be stronger," he asked heatedly.
Naruto looked confused at him. Why was Sasuke asking him how he was getting stronger?
"Uh, training, why would you ask me, you're stronger than I am Sasuke?" Naruto said in a confused tone. Sasuke looked a little embarrassed shifting slightly under his gaze. "I was asking because whatever you are doing with your training, I deserve it more than you do," he said a little more confidently.
Naruto started to chuckle and point a finger at Sasuke. Sasuke's brow started to twitch, "What is so funny you dobe?"
"What is funny is that you are demanding me to teach you what I am doing to make myself stronger when I am not even doing anything. All I am doing is training on my own time in learning from books, physical training, and other stuff," he said with a straight face. He could not have Sasuke find out about his shadow clone training because that was his thing and if Sasuke found out about it, he would ask Kakashi to train him in it and Kakashi would spend more time with him.
"I know damn well that is a lie Naruto Uzumaki. I demand that you tell me what you are doing for your training," he practically yelled out.
Naruto had enough of this and got in his face, surprising Sasuke with how fast he moved. "Listen here, Sasuke-teme, my training consists of physical training, teamwork training, reading books, and weapon-throwing practice, which if I am correct is the same thing that you are doing. That is all I am doing and even if I was doing some type of training to improve myself even more, I wouldn't tell you. So go and ask Kakashi-sensei like you always do or something and leave me out of it," said Naruto calmly. Walking away from the dock with the mood ruined, he would go back inside and talk with some of the others.
Sasuke stood there thinking about what Naruto said to him. The more he thought about him, the more he grew angry at him. Clenching his fists Sasuke stormed off to go and punch a log for the Interceptor Fist of the Uchiha Clan to burn off the anger his blonde teammate caused.
THE NEXT DAY
Today Ino, Sakura, and Naruto were at the bridge watching over Tazuna and the workers. Kakashi was at the house resting, getting used to walking without his crutch
"Tazuna, I am sorry, but I have to quit," said a worker coming up to him.
"WHAT?! What do you mean, we are almost done with the bridge," asked Tazuna putting down some metal.
"I have a family Tazuna and I would like to live to see the next day and be there for my family. I am sorry but I must," he said putting down his construction hat and walking away.
"Dammit, that is the sixth worker in the past week alone," sighed Tazuna upset.
"You can't give up Tazuna-san, the people of Wave need you," said Naruto putting his book away.
"I am not going to give in kid; it's just I wish people see what I see. A future where Gato is no longer here, and we are free."
"Naruto quit trying to be cool in front of the bridge builder," said Sakura in an annoyed tone.
"I am not trying to be cool Sakura; he needs our help, and I am going to help him."
Ino was shocked, to say the least when Naruto called her Sakura and not Sakura-chan as he did in the academy.
"Anyway, old man, how many people do you need to help you to speed up the production of this bridge," asked a smiling Naruto.
"Uh, I would say that about 80 people to speed the building of the bridge. But I doubt…" He was cut off from Naruto forming Shadow Clones by the dozens surrounding the group. Tazuna was astonished that he had this many…well Naruto's around him but was happy, nonetheless. This had to have been at least 100 clones at his disposal.
Tazuna smiled, "Alright every one of you clones or whatever the heck you are called come with me and I will show you what you are to do."
Naruto, Ino, and Sakura just watched as all the Naruto clones were put to work and started to build the bridge way faster than before.
Ino was the first to comment, "Dang Naruto, are those Shadow Clones. Are they real clones?"
Naruto nodded staring at her, "Yeah, they are. They are called Shadow Clones and the jutsu is used for people who have tremendous amounts of chakra."
Sakura budded into the conversation, "Wait, you had to learn a different clone jutsu because you couldn't do the regular one. Dang, no wonder why you were the dead last," smiled Sakura, thinking that she got him with this one.
Ino cut her off, "My god forehead would you quit trying to put him down all the time, and don't you know that the Shadow Clone Jutsu is way harder to learn than the Academy clone that we all learned? I would've thought that the top kunoichi would know that." Sakura was about to yell at Ino when Naruto said something to reply to Ino.
"Exactly, I have so much chakra that I am physically unable to create a regular clone. The reason my clones looked like they were dead all the time was because there was so much chakra in the clone," said Naruto.
Sakura had walked away from them feeling ignored in the conversation. Ino stared at the ground trying to find some type of topic to talk about with Naruto, but truth be told, she had never really had a proper conversation with her fellow blonde.
"So…Naruto, what is that you do then aside from training and all that," asked Ino popping a squat on the ground.
"Well, I train a lot of the time, but I also like to read I guess," replied Naruto showing her a book.
"You. Naruto Uzumaki likes to read books. I remember when you were younger you said you hated to read." she said surprised.
Naruto nodded, "Well yeah that was back when I was like 8 years old, but I guess the main reason why was because I didn't know how to read."
Ino just stared at him as if she thought he was kidding. Which begged her to ask, "Why didn't you know how to read when you were 8, Naruto?"
"No one would teach me, and I didn't exactly have any family to teach me, you know. Being an orphan kind of doesn't help either I suppose. The old man…I mean Lord 3rd was the one that taught me and after that day I enjoyed it a lot," he said with a slight smile.
Ino frowned. She never realized how much she had taken for granted. She had a brother, mom, dad, cousins, and an entire clan to help her with something if she needed but, but Naruto had himself.
Naruto decided to change topics before it became too depressing. "So, have you learned any cool clan jutsu yet?" Ino perked up at this.
"No, but I will be soon. Daddy has been teaching my older brother, Inojin but he said that once I master the Mind Transfer Jutsu I should be able to learn something else," she said happily.
"Inojin? Hey, I remember that name. I remember seeing him when I was younger picking you up from the academy. Do people still claim he is a prodigy?" asked Naruto.
Ino looked confused, "What do you mean Naruto, he is a prodigy."
"Ino. Prodigy is the most used term in the Leaf Village. There is a prodigy for everything. There is an Uchiha prodigy, a Hyuga prodigy, and a Yamanaka prodigy with your older brother. People like that are often arrogant and think highly of themselves. Now, before you are going to hit me, I do not know if your brother is like that," he said putting his hands up in a defensive gesture. Ino had her fist cocked back but then realized Naruto was right. Inojin did act like that from time to time.
She put her fist down before speaking, "No you are right. Inojin is like that sometimes. I know that being 16 years old and being a Special Jonin plus getting ready to take the Jonin exams is something that not everyone does. I guess that was part of the reason why I became a ninja was so that my mom and dad could look at me like they do Inojin. I am not saying they show favoritism or anything because they show us love and affection to each of us; it is just I want to show my clan that I can be strong too and so they can be proud of me."
She then felt an arm on her shoulder and saw Naruto crouching down smiling at her. "That is a great goal Ino, I knew that wasn't the only reason aside from getting Sasuke of course."
Ino nodded, not meeting his eyes, feeling embarrassed about sharing her dream with him.
Naruto now sitting next to Ino said, "Ino, the way that I look at it is that there are two main types of prodigies. There are talented prodigies like Sasuke and your brother, and everything comes naturally to them. However, the better of the two options is what I call the hard-working prodigy. They work their ass off like no tomorrow and they always find ways to improve. They admit their faults and never stop learning." All Ino could do was just nod her head. He was right in a way even if it was a weird way like Naruto's.
"Ino you can hate me for saying this but if you continue to have a fangirlish crush on Sasuke, you will be left in the dust by everyone else. You have amazing potential to be a great kunoichi and it would be a shame to see it go to waste." Naruto said with finality in his tone.
Ino was shocked not only at Naruto saying she had potential but her to give up her crush on Sasuke. "But Naruto I can't just stop doing that. What if Sasuke…."
"…. Show your feelings back. Come Ino, please, just consider it," said Naruto getting up to go talk to Tazuna. Ino was left to sit in her thoughts for the remainder of the time on the bridge.
AT DINNER THAT NIGHT
Everyone was eating silently tonight which was good for Naruto as he had a slight headache. Not from the Shadow Clones or anything but rather Sakura herself. When they were at the bridge Sakura would always complain or be loud trying to get the attention of the two of them. What the hell did he ever see in her, he did not know.
Naruto smiled at something as he thought of a good conversation starter. "So how did the training go today for you guys?"
"Troublesome," was the muffled sound of Shikamaru laying his head down on the table.
"We completed the…munch…training, so I would say good…munch…" ate a hungry Chouji.
"I completed it at noon today," said Sasuke smugly.
Naruto nodded his head and continued to eat his rice. Chouji finished chewing asking Naruto a question in return. "How was the building of the bridge today."
Tazuna answered before he did, "Well, I will have you know that Naruto here summoned a bunch of those clones and we were able to speed up the process of the bridge," he said patting him on the back.
Naruto scratched the back of his head looking sheepish, "It wasn't that big of a deal, I mean we are here to help you guys."
SLAM! Everyone jumped at the noise and saw Inari standing in his seat, hair shadowed over his eyes.
"You know, all of you will die if you stay here, right? Gato is going to kill you all if you stay here," he said in a slightly annoyed tone.
Naruto spoke before anyone did, "Well, Inari, the whole point of being here is because we were asked to help your grandpa in protecting him and helping him in the bridge being complete, so we are here to help this country and help the people. Besides people like Gato have no kind of power," he said.
"Gato has more power than you can ever imagine. I am doing you a favor by telling you to leave before you all get killed," said Inari slamming both of his hands on the table again.
Naruto decided that it would be best to go with a calmer approach after all he was an 8-year-old kid. "Listen Inari, I will admit that Gato does have money but that is the only thing he has to make him powerful and with what your Grandpa Tazuna is doing, he is trying to cut off the money that he is making so then he won't have power anymore."
Inari snarled, "That doesn't matter, you have no right to budding in with the problems of this country. I bet that you have a family to go back home to, a large house to go to, and all the friends in the world at your side at a moment's notice. You know absolutely nothing of what suffering is and you have no right to come in here trying to understand it. Your life is probably all sunshine and rainbows being a ninja and all with you handing out money to the homeless by the thousands," tears slowly building up in his eyes.
Everyone was silent. Tsunami and Tazuna were more amazed that Inari was bottling that up for so long. Naruto, however, was starting to twitch in his seat. His fingers and his eyebrows were slightly twitching now, and his friends were trying to understand why. Asuma who was in the middle of biting an apple and Kakashi who was reading his book were now wide-eyed.
One thing was on their mind. "Oh fuck." They were going to prepare for the biggest outburst of their life, but nothing came Naruto just sat there not moving, which was freaking them out more.
Naruto had collected his thoughts and he had to keep it together. He couldn't break down in front of the few people he knew.
He slowly breathed in and tried to calmly speak but his voice was shaking slightly from rage, "You listen here, Inari, and you listen well. I don't know what suffering is huh? Well, let me give you the incredibly slimmed-down version of my life to understand what it was like. The very minute that I was born both of my parents died in the Nine Tails attack on the village protecting me. I have no mom, dad, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, no nothing to go home to. When I was 3 years old, I got the great present of literally being thrown out of the orphanage by the matron there and do you what she said to me." His anger was rising the more he talked but no one stopped him from his rant.
"She said to me, "There is no point in living here when no one will ever love you." And she slammed the doors on my face making me homeless. Thankfully, after a year of being homeless, the Hokage found me and gave me an apartment with an orphan stipend in the red-light district. Just to note that I am 4 years old, but I forgot your life is so bad that I don't know what suffering is. Oh, and when I wanted to become a ninja, like any kid would, at the age of 8 years old. I didn't know how to read and write. I was illiterate at 8 years old. I didn't even know how to write my name. How old were you, Inari, when you started to read?"
Inari was shaking in fear at Naruto's words towards him. "I…. I was 4 when I started. My mom taught me."
"Right, you were taught by someone. I asked anyone and everyone, but no one would help me, and it wasn't until the Hokage intervened that started to learn how to write and read."
Sakura of all times thought it would be a great idea to talk right about now. "You idiot, you need to be more respectful towards him. That, and how were you paying bills if you couldn't read."
Sakura was then pinned down with the nastiest glare she had ever received from Naruto. "Well, Sakura, for your information. I never said I could count or do some math. There are also plenty of people who can do bills and can't read. That and Sakura, I would suggest you keep your mouth shut if you know what is good for you."
Sakura then sat back down quickly. Naruto stared back at Inari. Naruto was starting to leak off anger in droves now and he was starting to get amped up. "Inari. I have little to no friends I can probably count them on a single hand. Oh, and let me not forget that my entire time at the academy was a sham because a man by the name of Mizuki sabotaged my education claiming that "I was not worthy enough to be a ninja." I get called the deadlast all the time and it hurts so much because I am not the deadlast because I suck, I am the deadlast because he taught me improperly and no believed in me," he said getting up from his seat and giving his food to Chouji.
"I am not hungry anymore. You can have it Chouji."
Naruto angrily walked up to the door to leave when he turned around to Inari. "Inari, when I help people, it isn't out of pity or so I can get popular. It is because I have suffered through the same thing they have suffered, and I do not wish that upon anyone. Inari, if you were to live a day of my life, you would probably wish to die," he said as he opened the door.
Ino stood up after processing everything he said, "Wait, Naruto, where are you going."
He gave his foxy grin showing his mask in front of everyone, "Oh, don't worry about me Ino, I am going for a walk. It won't be long until I am back."
Inari with tears streaming down his face ran to his room with Tsunami following behind him. Leaving the others in his thoughts. "Sensei, what he said isn't true is it?" asked Chouji.
Asuma took a deep breath and said, "Everything he said was true, but like he said. He kept out a lot of information from everyone. Most of it was censored for Inari's sake." Ino stood up and started to walk to the door with Shikamaru on her tail when Asuma stopped them.
"What are you guys doing?" asked Ino.
"As much as I hate to say it, he needs to be left alone. Let him cool off," stated Asuma.
Ino and Shikamaru were going to protest when Asuma patted their shoulders. "He'll be back, just don't worry about it. He is at most 5 minutes away."
They listened to their sensei and went on their way. Sasuke was sitting there in silence realizing Naruto and himself have a lot more in common than they thought.
WITH NARUTO
"God damn kid. I don't know about suffering huh? Let him see if he could withstand being beaten to near death every couple of months and being ostracized by 99% of the population," he said pacing back and forth.
The sun was starting to set, and he had finally taken a seat on a tree trunk when he heard the snap of a twig. He spun around with kunai in hand revealing a very pretty…uh… he didn't know coming out from behind a tree. He was going with a boy since he could his Adam's apple.
"Hello, are you ok, you seem to be in distress," said the boy.
"Oh, it is nothing I'm just stressed out about something," said Naruto.
Naruto noticed the boy was carrying a basket with herbs like yarrow and ginseng. It begged the question, "Do you have someone in your family that is sick? With all those medicinal herbs in seems like they have a bad sickness."
The boy nodded, "Indeed, they are for my father. He recently caught a cold, and I would like to see him get better. My name is Haku by the way." He extended out his hand.
"Oh, forgive me, I am Naruto Uzumaki. Do you need help with the herbs, it is going to be dark soon." The boy waved him off. "That is quite alright shinobi-san, thank you for the offer though."
"What gave away that I am a shinobi?" he asked then realized what he asked.
Haku was about to speak when Naruto answered before him, "NO don't answer that was a dumb question." The boy laughed slightly.
"Well, Naruto being that you are a shinobi why is it that you fight? Do you have any precious people?"
Naruto thought about it for a couple of seconds and smiled thinking of the Ichiraku's, the old man, and even his teammates as annoying as they were. "I do have precious people. I fight to prove those who ever didn't believe in me wrong. That and to become the Hokage so that I can show the village I am something."
Haku smiled slightly, "Well when I fight which is rare, I fight to protect those who mean something to me. I believe that the only way that you can be strong is when you can protect those you love and are those you deem precious to you." Naruto thought about it, and he wasn't necessarily wrong, but he never thought about it as his list of precious people was far from few.
"Thank you, Haku-san, I will use that from now on for when I am to protect those I care about. Anyway, I will leave you to it as it is now dark out. Have a good night." He said, starting to turn away from him.
"You as well Naruto, oh and by the way I am a boy," he said hoping for a reaction.
Naruto chuckled, "Oh I know," he said seeing a somewhat shocked Haku.
"How," was all he asked.
Naruto pointed towards his neck, "I saw your Adam's apple earlier in the setting sun."
Haku just nodded his head and made his way back to Zabuza's hideout. Naruto slowly made his way back to Tazuna's house contemplating what was said between him and Haku. He would make his way to have people to protect so that he could be as strong as possible.
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