Chapter 15
A vile curse slipped from Naruto’s mouth as he felt his chakra control slip. He quickly pushed himself off the tree as the chakra blast propelled him into the air and scoring the bark where his foot had been. He flipped in midair, positioning himself just in time to land carefully on his feet. He stood, then dropped to the ground after a moment. He glared at the tree in front of him.
Bloody tree, bloody training, bloody Kakashi... He thought venomously.
He upped his glare on the tall tree marked with many scratches going up the trunk with several explosive craters mixed in. With a sigh of resignation, he leaned back stretching out on the soft grass. A soft cry of victory disturbed his peace. Naruto slipped his eyes open, and glanced up to his right to witness a smirking pinkette. She stuck her tongue out at her two companions.
“Suck on that, you two! Girls rule boys Drool!” She cooed, with a cackle. Naruto bit his lip, when he heard Sasuke growl and mumble something.
“What was that Sasuke?” He heard Sakura screech. With another sigh of resignation, Naruto sat up straight.
“Eh, Don’t worry about what that teme says Sakura. How the hell did you get up there?” he quipped at her.
“I’m just too amazing for you.” She stuck her tongue at him again. Naruto rolled his eyes at her, and turned to their teacher, who was lounging against a tree.
“Oi, Kakashi-sensei! How long are we going to be doing this?”
“Naruto, stop lounging around. When you can climb to the top of the tree like Sakura, then you may stop.” The jonin’s voice was flat with boredom. Naruto rolled his eyes at the man, but got up nontheless. He summoned the chakra to his feet, and dashed up the tree, he moved just past his earlier mark, felt his chakra control slip again, slashed the tree trunk and spun off backwards. He landed with a grunt of frustration, successfully ignoring the pinkette’s victorious smirk. He turned just in time to catch sight of Sasuke flying off the tree he was attempting to scale as well. They both turned and glared icicle daggers at their chuckling teacher.
“Ah, sumimasen. Sakura, you can come down from there. I’m going to head back for lunch, you may return when you are ready.” Kakashi used his crutches to limp away. Naruto waited until the Jonin moved beyond his sight, before leaping up onto the tree. This time through sheer force of will he climbed a full foot higher than his earlier marks. When he landed, he sat back down and stubbornly ignored the pink haired kunoichi, whereas Sasuke landed softly next to the two of them and sat down with a smile.
“Hey, Sakura would you be willing to tell me how you got up there so quickly?” She studied the raven for a moment, before letting her face bloom into a happy smile.
“Sure Sasuke-kun.” She said in her sickly-sweet fan girl voice. Naruto had to give her props as he watched his friend squirm under her intense gaze. Then, she leaned in and whispered into his ears and pulled back with a smirk. Her green eyes were burning with amusement as she got up and wished them luck and walked the way that Kakashi had gone. Naruto studied his friend before speaking.
“So.... What did Sakura tell you?” He said conversationally. With a mischievous grin, Sasuke shrugged and replied.
“Hnn.” Naruto felt a little bit of his control slip.
“What do you mean hnn?”
“Exactly what I said dobe. You want some tips go ask Sakura.” Sasuke said, his eyes twinkling with mirth.
“Whatever, teme.” Naruto huffed and strode towards the tree.
I don’t need any bloody tips to climb a bloody tree. He thought with vehemence.
At the moment Kakashi was having a hard time hiding a smirk from the small family and his charges. Sakura was practically glowing, and Naruto and Sasuke were eating furiously. With a large sigh, Kakashi turned to the young woman and young boy sitting next to Tazuna and himself.
“Gomen nasai. They are usually more... civilized.” He said motioning at the two boys, both of whom sent him murderous glances, before asking for more rice. The young woman, Tsunami, smiled at them before filling their bowls. Kakashi simply sat back and watched as the two of them ate at a pace that seemed almost inhuman. Suddenly, they both gagged at the same time and turned around and vomited on the floor. Tsunami giggled at them, while Sakura patted them both on the back disapprovingly and whispered something at them. They glared at each other before settling into an uncomfortable silence. Naruto set his glare on Kakashi, and spoke.
“Oi, sensei. I think I’m going to go back and train some more.” He stood, when the little boy fixed him with a heated stare.
“Why are you doing such stupid things?” The boy asked.
“Its obvious that you will never ever be strong enough to even spit in Gatoh’s direction. No one will ever be strong enought.” He whispered, stood up and started to move past Naruto. Naruto’s arm stopped him in his tracks.
“Now you listen here you little idiot. You don’t know what you are talking about. How will I know if I am strong enough until I try?” Naruto’s voice slashed out at the boy like a physical blow.
“I have people who are important to me, more important than even myself. I would rather let myself die trying to protect them, then let them suffer any form of harm.” his voice was cold as ice, and hard as steel. The boy gave the blond a wide eyed stare, as though he was hearing something else. Naruto released his arm, and turned away from him.
“There are two ways you can live your life, brat. You can go through life as a coward afraid of even living. Or you can become strong, find things that are important to you and striving to protect them with all of your power. Ultimately the choice is yours, and in the end you, and you alone, have to live with the consequences.” Naruto spoke it with a tenderness that, had even Sasuke shocked and drop jawed. Naruto spun around and nodded at Kakashi, before sweeping out of the house. It was a few seconds before Inari exploded.
“Who the hell does he think he is!” He snarled at the silver haired jonin. Kakashi stared at him for a second before he nodded at Sasuke.
“I think that he would be able to answer your question, Inari-san.” Kakashi sat back, watching Sasuke. After a few moments Sasuke spoke quietly.
“Naruto... Naruto is an interesting person. He... uh... He has never had a family. No siblings, parents, cousins, or grandparents.” Sasuke was studying Inari’s face, as he spoke.
“He grew up alone, a ward of the State of Konoha. But not only that, he grew up being hated by everyone around him. No one wanted to be friends with him, no one wanted to be in the same vicinity as him. He bore the brunt of the village’s hatred for seven years before I met him.” Sasuke’s voice became slightly pained at the memory. Sakura turned to her friend, and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“How did you meet him?” Inari asked, his interest piqued.
“I met him as he tried to commit suicide in my family’s practice pond.” Inari’s eyes popped in his head.
“What- But..”
“I saw him jump. And i rushed in and saved him, took him to a hospital. He was in the hospital for a whole day. That was when I found out, that this wasn’t his first attempt.” Sasuke’s eyes were glazed over as if he were far away.
“After that day, I strove to get him to talk to me. At first he was just completely cold to me. He was an emotionless wreck. Then, he turned into a furious angry person. Then, about three months after I started to get to know him, I finally broke through that shell of his. He told me about all the hate crimes that villagers had done to him. Now for me, who had grown up with the thought of the existance of justice, it was a horrible awakening. This poor innocent boy had grown up without the love of a family, without knowing the gentleness of being with people who love you, and instead bore the hatred of an entire village. No one would spare him a kind word, or a gentle glance. No one would even tell him the crime for which he suffered. Naruto has grown up knowing only injustice and pain, but still he maintains his gentle heart.” Sasuke gave the boy a small smile.
“Naruto has lived a hard life, harder than anyone else’s. But he has found something to anchor himself with, something that he uses as the reason for his existance.” Inari frowned, but took the bait.
“And what is that?”
“He chooses to walk the path of the guardian. He decided a while ago, that he has important people, people worth protecting. So he searches constantly for the power to protect that which he treasures the most.” Sasuke said with a wry smile.
“Will you all excuse me now? I wouldn’t want Naruto to get any farther ahead in training than he already is.” Sasuke got up and walked out, ruffling Inari’s hair on the way out. Inari watched the Uchiha leave with confused frown, then he too slowly got up and walked into his room.
As Sasuke stepped out from the house, he turned and smirked at the blond who was leaning against the wall. Naruto stuck his tongue out at him, then gave him a grateful smile.
“You didn’t have to say anything. No one has to defend me.” He said slowly. Sasuke gave him his famous Uchiha smirk.
“Really dobe? You need to develop some people skills. Otherwise me and Sakura will be cleaning up your failed attempts at friendship.” Naruto wrinkled his nose in distaste.
“Making friends is hard. I don’t even know why you bothered trying to talk to me.” Naruto shook his head, only to get punched in the head.
“I love a good challenge. Plus it didn’t hurt that you challenged my core morals, dobe.” Sasuke replied, grinding his fist into the shorter blond’s head. Naruto growled and swept the raven’s legs, and walked off.
“Ja, ne Sasuke. I’ll be at the tree.” He said with a wave over his shoulder. Sasuke didn’t move for a while, a smile plastered on his face.
Heh, Naruto. Are you trying to make friends? Do you feel some kind of comraderie with Inari?
Flashback
“Man, what the hell is wrong with that idiot brat kid!” Naruto spat as he leaned against the wall glaring at the door where Inari had walked through after arguing with the blond. The dark haired Tsunami gave him a pained glance, and Tazuna simply shrugged. But without explanation Tazuna got up and handed him a picture. the picture was that of Inari and a kind looking man.
“Eh? Who is this?” He touched the face of the smiling man. Tsunami gave a sad smile, and Tazuna tried not to show any emotion.
“That is the man that Inari came to love and revere as a father. His name was Kaiza. He was a good man. Inari never had a father, as Tsunami’s husband died when he was very young. Inari met Kaiza, when he fell into the dam and started to drown. Kaiza had jumped into the cold churning water and pulled Inari out. After that, he and Inari became closer than even I was to the boy. Inari Idolized him, and Kaiza, well he loved Inari like his own. They began to spend every waking moment together. In time, he won myself and Tsunami over. He even married Tsunami so he could become a proper father for Inari. We were happy for a time. Then about three years ago, Gatoh began to move in. He started buying up all of our shipping comapnies. And slowly our way of life began to fall. About a year after Gatoh had almost monopolized our shipping industry, almost all of the citizens had given up but not Kaiza. He stood against Gatoh , a spitting furious figure of righteous anger. He would tell Inari, and myself, ‘If something is truly important to you... even it's heart-breaking, even if it's sorrowful... you keep on trying and trying, even if you lose your life, you keep on protecting it with these two arms!! ...Then, even if you die, you leave behind the proof that you are a man... forever...’ He was so vehement and persuasive, that Gatoh was forced to deal with him. Gatoh’s thugs took him one night and cut his arms off. Then, they had him publicly executed. Inari watched the whole bloody ordeal, and it broke him. After that, he believes that his father lived by empty words and he turns a blind eye to the predicament of our village like most villagers. He has been that way ever since. Always running from his demons.” Tazuna had turned away from them during his tale and Tsunami had left the room. Naruto studied the picture, the pure smile on the small boy’s face, before handing the picture back to Tazuna.
“Don’t worry Tazuna-san. Everything will work out.” Naruto said softly, patting the elder man on the back.
“I promise that by the time we head home, Inari will have seen the error of his ways.” Naruto gave the elderly man a dazzling smile. Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi gasped together. Tazuna gave the blond a look of confusion.
“I’ll prove to him, that his father’s words weren’t empty.” Naruto’s eyes spoke of the depth of his promise.
End Flashback
Sasuke chuckled quietly and sat up. Studying the stars with a happy grin, Sasuke got to his feet and walked after his blond friend.
Naruto, Are you actually becoming a human being again? He wondered as he moved along the small trail.
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