Chapter Twenty: Ordeals

(Ten Days Earlier; In Iwagakure No Sato)

The Tsuchikage was in his office doing his share of paperwork and like any other Kage, it was their natural and yet to be beaten enemy. The pile of paperwork and forms just kept on coming. Moments later, a young female Iwa Jounin entered his office. She was a dark brown-haired female no older than fifteen with her long sleek hair going down and reaching her backside. The girl was dressed in the standard Iwagakure Jounin uniform and wore a tan brown vest over her Jounin vest that had black kanji written on the back of the vest, which read "Shining Stone." She stood in attention before her Kage.

"Tsuchikage-sama," she greeted as she bowed in respects to him. The Tsuchikage nodded to her and said, "What's your report?"

"From what I've been gathering," the girl began speaking, "The target shares similar characteristics and features to our once most hated enemy. However I've yet to confirm anything besides the fact that he lives in Konoha with his mother the Godaime Hokage and boldly dresses up as 'him'."

The young girl was careful not to speak 'his' name before the Tsuchikage, knowing that the mere mention of 'his' name is expressly taboo in Iwagakure.

"Regardless," Tsuchikage said, "I want as much information on this Genin as you can get. I suspect that this supposed Genin is who I believe him to be."

"But sir," the girl spoke, "How can such a thing be possible? That 'man' has been dead for over twelve years."

"From what my earlier spies reported years ago, no one has ever found his body or whatever was left of him on the battlefield after his battle with Kyuubi No Yoko," Tsuchikage replied.

"Do you suppose an S-rank forbidden rebirth jutsu was used," the young Jounin asked.

"I don't know but I'm not taking any chances," said the Tsuchikage, "Find and retrieve the boy, alive if possible. This is an A-rank mission."

"The kid is a mere Genin fresh out of the academy," the girl remarked, "He shouldn't be that big a problem."

"The boy may be a Genin," the Tsuchikage remarked, "But I trust that you won't underestimate him. There have been several rumors about this particular Genin; though I do question their authenticity."

"…," the girl remained silent.

"You're the one Jounin available for this mission, Shining Stone," the Tsuchikage said, "Plus I trust that you'll see this mission through. Dismissed."

The girl nodded before turning and leaving the office to perform her assignment. While on her way out of the Kage building, she thought smugly, This Genin can't be anywhere near my league! I'll have this mission done in no time! I'm not the Shining Stone for nothing!

(Present Day; At Zabuza's Hideout)

In a cone shaped house in the middle of the forest, Zabuza was laying and resting in his bed with a blanket over him. He did not like the fact that he had lost to Kakashi. Moments later, a short man dressed in a business suit and a two samurais entered the room and went over to where Zabuza was.

"So the mighty 'Demon of the Bloody Mist' is crippled after facing a few kids and some ninja. I'm starting to believe that I'm not getting my money's worth when it comes to paying you Zabuza. Perhaps I should just have you killed immediately and spare myself the pain of losing my money," said the short man with sunglasses with a cane in hand whose name was Gatō.

Gatō walked over to the masked ninja reaching out to strangle Zabuza where he was when a figure came out of nowhere and stood before the short man as tightly held his arms before twisting it hard.

"You will not harm Zabuza. I won't permit it," said the young female hunter nin who was no longer masked. Much to the older man's surprise, it was a young girl. The girl had a pretty face, dark brown eyes, dark hair that was tied up in a bun on top of her head, except two bangs hanging down and framing her face. She wore a green shirt with brown pants and a long, brown belt.

"Get your hands off of our boss," as one the two samurai bodyguards as they were about to do something when she grabbed a dagger from her pocket and threw it at them. Seeing that the samurai were momentarily distracted as they dodged the dagger that hit the wall, she reached for two of her needles and threw each one at one their arms and hitting a pressure point. This in effect rendered their struck arms numb and unmovable.

"I missed your vital points on purpose," she warned, "So don't test me."

"You brat! I expect both you and Zabuza to finish the job you started. I will not accept failure! Get the job over and done, or suffer the consequences," said an angry Gatō who now exited the room with his bodyguards while rubbing his injured arm.

"Haku you know you didn't have to do that for me. I could have taken care of it myself if worse came to worse," said Zabuza as he held on to a kunai under the bed sheet ready to use and kill the man if it came to it.

"I was aware of that, but as your instrument I must always protect my master in spite of your circumstance," Haku said with a smile. Zabuza sighed, "…I will be better soon. When I'm back to full strength I'll see to it that Kakashi suffers for putting me in this condition. Not only that, but I'll kill his students one by one."

"The blonde one among them looked more dangerous than the others," Haku said, "He was ready to finish you off had I not taken you away from there."

"That blonde kid is Naruto."

"Really," Haku said with interest, "So he's the one that we've heard about from the rumors."

"Haku," Zabuza warned, "Be cautious against Naruto. He's not like the other Genins if he was able to take out and kill the two demon brothers without any trouble."

The girl simply nodded.

(Two Days Later)

It's been three days since Naruto and Team 7 arrived at Nami No Kuni. Kakashi was beginning to feel better after his depletion of chakra and his Genins were still training. A day earlier, Naruto learned that Sakura punched out a man she wrongly took for a pervert trying to grope her butt, when in actuality he was trying to steal her purse. Sai added his two cents by saying how the man most likely mistaken her butt for her face when he went to take a further look. This of course earned the paled skin Genin a busted lip and bruised cheek, both of which Naruto healed. It was after spending the day in the village did the Genins fully understanding the seriousness of the situation Nami No Kuni was in because of Gatō.

During the three days, Naruto was with Tazuna, helping him with the bridge project like the other workers who were brave enough to work on the bridge. Naruto chose to work for free acknowledging that the other men were more in need of money than he was. During this time, he also used kage bushins to help with the bridge project though Tazuna was reluctant to allow Naruto to use his clones at first. But seeing the situation with the few workers he had left after a couple of them quit out of fear, Tazuna allowed Naruto's clones to help out and speed up the process in constructing the bridge.

(Later That Evening)

Sasuke and Sai returned an hour later completely exhausted with the exception of Sakura, since she had almost near perfect chakra control. During that time she was sent to watch over the house while being on guard and watching over Tsunami and Inari, who would every once in while be seen sitting alone by the dock or strolling around with depressed expression.

When Naruto, Kakashi and the other Genins returned home they were welcomed to the smell of warm home cooking.

"You're all back," said a happy Tsunami as she put the food on the table, "How did your ninja training go?"

"It went rather well," Sai responded, "Though I must confess that practicing tree walking requires very good chakra control."

"Dobe," Sasuke said as he turned to Naruto, "How was your day guarding Tazuna? I'm sure it was frustrating getting weaker being unable to train."

"Actually it was quite productive really," Naruto said as he took a seat by the table, "You see Emo-Sasuke I have the capacity to do what many Jounins can't do and not tire out from chakra exhaustion. To elaborate, earlier today I summoned a small army of kage bushins and assigned them their jobs from guarding and protecting Tazuna and the workers constructing the bridge. I even had some work alongside the workers to help speed up the bridge building project. To perform that kind of jutsu requires a great deal of chakra control and chakra which many don't possess. Therefore, my day wasn't a waste at all, in fact performing and practicing that jutsu made me stronger."

Sasuke scowled at the blonde who simply ignored him in return. Kakashi pretended not to pay attention to the tension between two boys. He knew from the start that Sasuke, though it's clearly one-sided, had always regarded Naruto as his rival and someone he strongly desires to prove superior to.

Moments later, almost as if on cue, Inari entered with a bitter look on his face as he looked up slightly up to see the tired out Genins and their sensei eating their dinner.

"You're wasting your time," said Inari with tears falling down his face and with anger at them, "Why do you all constantly train knowing you're fighting a losing battle? None of you know anything about this place and yet you all are helping us anyway for the sake of getting paid. None of you know what it means to suffer-,"

"That's enough," Naruto said sternly cutting the boy off as he rose off his seat and stared Inari hard as though his very eyes were piercing through his soul. The voice that came out of Naruto's mouth was enough to silence and grab everyone's attention as they all turned to look at him. Naruto's voice had a form of authority that none but Kakashi could comprehend. Inari cringed in fear from the feeling the blonde pierced through him the moment he stared straight at him with those hard blue eyes of his. Kakashi saw the look in Naruto's eyes and knew of only one man who had that kind effect…

That's the same look sensei would give before scolding me and the others back then, Kakashi thought as he recalled the couple of times Yondaime had scolded him, Rin and Obito for their mistakes during their days as a Genin cell. Inari got up and dismissed himself to his room upstairs.

Sighing, Tazuna gave a detailed account to everyone about what had happened with Inari and the man who became his surrogate father named Kaiza. The old man explained how Kaiza saved Inari from drowning one day after the boy was bullied by the older boys of the village. From that day, Tazuna elaborated, Kaiza quickly became a hero in Inari's eyes and the two were inseparable. Many others started seeing Kaiza as a new hope for the people seeing how he possessed such a carefree yet courageous heart and spirit which inspired many as he helped wherever he could.

"Everything was going so well for everyone," Tazuna continued before giving a sad expression, "But later Gatō and his men came to our island and took over. Kaiza was the only brave enough to stand up to his cruelty. He was later captured and Gatō and his thugs had Kaiza publicly killed in front of everyone and Inari, it crushed the poor boy's heart. Adding to this terrible tragedy was the fact that my daughter Tsunami was planning on marrying and settling down with Kaiza and have another child with him. Like my grandson, my daughter was heart broken by that tragic event and she cried many times thinking about how her son lost his birth father and surrogate father who would have loved to become his new father."

Everyone was silent after hearing Tazuna's story. Tsumani wiped away the few tears that spilled out of her eyes remembering what happened. Sai and Sasuke didn't say a word as Sakura gave a sympathetic look at Tazuna and Tsumani. A moment later…

"Please excuse me as I have to go talk to Inari," said Naruto calmly as he went upstairs to Inari's room. Sakura was about to follow after Naruto when Kakashi said, "Let them be."

"But Kakashi-sensei," Sakura was about to argue when Kakashi raised his hand to silence her.

"Trust Naruto, Sakura," Kakashi said, "I'm sure he'll resolve this in an appropriate manner. He won't do anything rash, I promise."

Sakura reluctantly complied as she sat back down. She decided to trust Kakashi's words and leave matters to Naruto. It amazed Sakura that her sensei displayed such trust and faith in Naruto.

(Meanwhile In Inari's Room)

Inari sat there on his bed holding a picture of a smiling man with a small cross shaped scar under his chin without. The man looked so happy and carefree.

"You were so strong," Inari said with a tear-covered face, "Why can't I be strong like you?"

"Because you lack the will to swallow your hurt and fight for what you truly believe in," said Naruto who was now standing next to Inari who turned to look at him.

"Inari," Naruto said calmly, "I will not deny that you went through a painful experience, but you're selfishly going at it as though you're the only one who's suffering. You think your mother and grandfather take pleasure in seeing you behavior the way you do? Quite the opposite really; in fact, you're the one who's adding more to their pain by your constant moping and pessimistic attitude. I know you truly loved that man Inari, but so did your mother and grandfather. What you should be doing is feeling grateful that in spite of the ordeals you went through you still have your family there for you. Believe me, I know people who suffered far worst than you, me being one of them."

"And what do you know about suffering," Inari sneered, "From what grandpa told me, you're the son of a Hokage in your village. You never had to go through the kind of hard times like me, grandpa and mom did!"

"Everyone in my home village knows me as the village clown and prankster, someone who always give them something to laugh about, even if the joke is on me," Naruto said as he continued with a still calm but now stern demeanor, "What they don't know is that my antics of being the village clown and prankster are my methods of maintaining my sanity. But you're right though; I didn't go through what you and your folks did…I go through something different and far worse everyday for as long as I can remember."

Inari looked at Naruto as he continued calmly, "Unlike me, you didn't have to go through the experience of being an infant that was only a week-old being kidnapped by a traitorous ninja from your own village seeking to sell you to village enemies because of whose son you were. Unlike me, you don't have to go through the experience of always worrying if you'll wake up the next morning to see another sunrise because you have enemy villages who want your death because of who you are and what clan you're from.

"Unlike me, you don't have to worry about strong and vicious S-class criminals who're after you and will use anyone and anything as instruments for the sole purpose of getting to you because of something you know that you refuse to give them. Unlike me, you don't have to worry about the many enemies your parents made over the course of their lives coming after you for revenge. Unlike me, you won't always have enemies. Unlike me, you don't have to live a life that's a constant fight. Unlike me, you don't suffer from horrific nightmares that would have driven a sane person to madness. If I let my guard for just a moment, I'll lose my life."

The young boy was stupefied at what Naruto was telling him so calmly and collectively. It was so unreal to the dark haired boy.

"H…How…," Inari asked with a dumbfound expression, "How could you go on…through such a harsh life?"

"I learned to deal with it," Naruto replied, "Rather than whine about the hard times and problems I have to live with, I learned to count my blessings and remember that I have family and friends who are there for me. I grew fond of these precious people in my life so much that I seek to protect them from my nightmares and enemies. It's also one of the reasons why I push myself so hard to become stronger in order to become Hokage of my village. It's not to prove that I'm better or stronger than anyone else, it's because I value everyone and everything that's precious to me. They're worth protecting, with my life, and I'll fight and kill anyone who dares to bring harm to them."

Naruto turned and headed towards the door of the house, before exiting, Naruto turned half-way to Inari and said, "Count your blessings Inari. If you truly want to make that man in the picture proud of you if he were still alive then I suggest you find someone or something you value and fight to protect it."

With those words, Naruto exited the room, leaving Inari alone with his thoughts. The young boy wiped away his tears as he stared at the picture and contemplated on everything Naruto just told him.

(The Following Night)

Sasake and Sai had finally master tree climbing after much effort. Needless to say, the boys were most pleased with their success though they returned back exhausted and in want of food and rest.

(A Few Days Later)

Haku stood up and walked over to the window. Releasing the bun, her hair fell down to just under her shoulder blades. Twelve minutes later, she left the cone-shaped house and went walking into the forest. She now wore a pink kimono with red cherry blossoms on and brown sandals. She carried a basket and was humming slightly to herself.

After an hour of walking, she came upon what she had searched for. Kneeling down, Haku started to pick medical herbs. Soon her basket was almost full. A bird landed on her shoulder, and she smiled at it, cooing slightly at it before returning to her task. Haku was startled when the bird suddenly flew off. Feeling slightly down, she followed where it was going.

She saw the bird land next to a boy. The boy had blonde, spiky but stringy hair, and a Konoha forehead protector. He was dressed similar to a Konoha Jounin with black fingerless leather gloves and wore a white vest with red flame designs that went passed his waist and a little more than halfway to his kneecaps. On the back of his vest was the red kanji "Konoha No Nidaime Senkō" or Konoha's Second Flash.

Haku got up and walked towards him. The bird flew off, as if thinking that the girl was going to kill the boy. Instead she crouched down in front of him and shook him awake.

"Hey, you'll catch a cold sleeping here," she said kindly. Naruto was awoken from his slumber by a gentle nudge. He opened his eyes and looked up at the pretty girl his age. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes before looking at her.

"Hello neesan, what are you doing here," Naruto inquired. Haku smiled and gestured to her basket.

"I'm picking medical herbs," Haku said with a smile on her face.

"Ah, I see."

"By the way, I'm Haku," the girl greeted.

"I'm Naruto," he replied in return.

"Are you a shinobi," asked Haku.

"I am, so what of it," Naruto replied.

"Well, what were you doing out here," Haku asked.

"I was training before I decided to take a break," the blonde replied straightforwardly, "I must've fallen asleep till you woke me."

"Why would you be training," the girl asked, "You look very strong already."

Naruto smiled before replying seriously but still cheerfully, "Maybe, but I want to become even stronger so that I can become the Hokage of my village."

"So, you train because of your precious people," Haku said.

"Wow," Naruto replied, "You're the first person to have ever read me like an opened book. Were my motives that obvious to you?"

Haku couldn't help but smile brighter and blush at what Naruto said to her. She spoke, "I believe that you have people precious to you and you're working harder to become stronger to fight to protect them. I believe that if you have someone to protect…you can be truly strong."

"It's clear that we have a common understanding of fighting for those we seek to protect," Naruto said, "One of the selfless and bravest things a person can do is sacrifice their life for someone you care about."

"I see," said Haku as she smiled before she stood up from where she had crouched down and took her basket.

"You will become strong then," she said and walked away. Naruto watched her retreating form until she was completely out of sight. Turning, Naruto started walking off away from the scene, heading back to the house where Kakashi and the others were.

'I'm sure you knew who she was Naruto,' Yondaime said.

I know she's that fake hunter nin, Naruto replied, I have heightened senses after all don't I? But there was no point in alerting her to the fact that I'm aware of this since she didn't pose a threat to me; not that I allowed my guard to drop.

No sooner had he thought that statement, a kunai came speeding for his head. Sensing the danger, he immediately dashed out of the way as the kunai lodged itself into one of the nearby trees.

What was I saying about not allowing my guard to drop, Naruto thought while going into full shinobi mode.

"Impressive for a Genin fresh out of the academy," said a new young feminine voice, "Most would have died from that surprise attack."

Naruto looked up to see a girl his age standing high up on top of tree branch. The girl grinned before she flipped and landed down gracefully on her feet. Upon standing back and facing him, Naruto got a clear look at the very attractive girl in front of him before noticing the symbol that her headband carried. Yondaime went on full alert on seeing THAT symbol.

'She's from Iwagakure,' Yondaime warned with no form of humor in his voice.

"So you're a kunoichi from Iwagakure," Naruto said, knowing fully well that Konoha and Iwa have a form of hatred for each other, especially after what Yondaime did to them during the Iwa-Konoha War many years ago. That memory was still fresh in the minds of the Iwa nins who lived during that time.

"Yes I am," the girl said, "My name is Ryota, but my alias is "Shining Stone"."

"…," Naruto said nothing but kept his guard up.

"And you're Senju Uzumaki Naruto son of Godaime Hokage," Ryota said, "And you're also the idiot who self-proclaimed himself Konoha's Second Flash. (Scoffed)…As if you're the second coming of Yondaime Hokage."

"I don't have time for you girl," Naruto said coldly, "Crawl back underneath the Rock from where you came."

The kunoichi snarled at Naruto's insult to both her and Iwa.

"You fool," Ryota said, "I was thinking of bringing you back alive! But I think I'll just return with your corpse instead!"

"Thanks for your invitation to Iwa in a body bag but I plan on living passed today," Naruto shot back as he got into a fighting position.

'Naruto,' Yondaime warned, 'Don't use any of my fighting stances or attacks. We don't want to alert Iwagakure further about you than they already seem to know. It would be trouble should they discover that you're both my and Kyuubi's container.'

Naruto mentally nodded in understanding. Before Naruto did anything else Ryota did a complex series of hand seals before her body glowed in mystic chakra. Moments later, Naruto detected power building up in her.

"Iwa No Chikara (Rock Strength)," Ryota said as she felt the power and changes coursing through her body.

This is trouble, Naruto thought as she suddenly dashed at him speedily and leaped into the air before coming down straight at him. Seeing her coming, Naruto jumped out of the way as she punched into the ground with tremendous force, breaking the ground apart as earth pieces and particles came flying at him. After being assaulted by the flying earth pieces, Naruto landed down on the broken up ground some distance away from the girl.

This girl must have excellent chakra control to be able to perform such an attack, Naruto thought, It's almost like fighting Kaa-chan, only my age.

The girl in turn smirked at Naruto with a confident look. Haughtily she said, "Does the amount of my strength intimidate you? Clearly the gap between our abilities are-"

Her speech was cut short when Naruto punched the ground and sent a massive force straight at her. She quickly jumped and evaded the attack as she land down to the right of where she once was standing. She turned to Naruto who was looking at her with a calm but serious expression.

That one attack matched the one I used just now, Ryota thought in shock, I wasn't expecting this! He must have as good of control of his chakra as I do! And he didn't even use any jutsus or hand seals for it.

Rather than being angry at this revelation, the kunoichi instead smiled brightly at him, which caught Naruto off guard, though he didn't dare drop of guard.

"Why are you smiling at me like that," Naruto asked cautiously.

"I waited a long to time to face off against someone who could stand a chance in giving me a good fight," Ryota answered, "Some of the shinobis back in my village are afraid to fight me, especially since I'm an Iwa prodigy. When I accepted this mission, at first I thought that I was going to return back to Iwa with some Yondaime Hokage-wannabe Genin fresh out of his village's ninja academy. But after seeing what you did just now, it's safe to say that there's more to you than meet the eyes. I wish to see which of us is the stronger fighter."

"I'm not here for your amusement girl," the annoyed Naruto retorted, "I have more important things to do than to satisfy your ego."

"As if you had a say in the matter," Ryota shot back as she rushed at him and started doing combat with him. Neither Naruto nor Ryota held back from delivery fast and solid hard punches and kicks to each other, with the surrounding trees being the casualties of their battle. Punch after punch, kick after kick, this kept on going as they did battle, occasionally blocking and ducking from each other's attacks. Thus far, no other jutsus but brute force was used in their fight.

After another minute, both Naruto and Ryota pulled away from each other to catch their breaths. Both ninjas were breathing hard as they stared each other hard to the face.

Damn, Naruto mentally cursed, This kunoichi is a real problem and she doesn't look like she's done yet.

What a fighter, Ryota thought admirably, What kind of training regiment did he undergo? I don't recall any mentions of Yondaime Hokage having insane strength; only insane speed. From the looks of it, one would think that this Naruto character and I are evenly matched. But I intend to fix that in time.

Naruto saw that the Iwa Jounin was up to something, though he didn't know what.

"It would seem that we hit a stalemate," Ryota said as she stood up and dusted herself, "Let's stop here for now. I think I've learned enough about you today."

"Where are you getting at girl?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Ryota said, "I'll leave you alone for now. But next time, (venomously) I'll kill you."

With that, she jumped into the air and dashed speedily through the trees and away from Naruto.

"She's going to be a problem," Naruto said aloud to himself.

'Yes I know,' Yondaime spoke after watching how his son handled the Iwa kunoichi, 'But I'm happy that you didn't reveal what you're really capable of doing. The last thing we need is Iwagakure acquiring too much about you.'

Naruto nodded in agreement before running back to the house. After a good long run, Naruto found Sasuke and Sai guarding the house. Upon his arrival, the two boys noticed Naruto's dirtied and somewhat ragged appearance.

"What happened to you," Sai asked, "Ran into trouble I presume?"

"Nothing some food and a little rest can't fix," Naruto remarked with a smile on his face.

"You didn't answer the question," Sasuke shot at him, "Did you run into any of Gatō's men?"

"No," Naruto said, "I ran into something worst."

The two boys looked at the blonde carefully on hearing that.

"Who," Sai asked.

"Some girl with an ego," Naruto said, causing the boys to sweat-drop. A moment later…

"Yo," Kakashi greeted as he entered the scene. Seeing Naruto's appearance he inquired, "Ran into one of Gatō's men?"

"You're the second person to ask," Naruto answered, "The only trouble I ran into earlier was some girl with the ego of Rock."

Kakashi's ear's perked up on hearing that, especially at how Naruto placed a particular emphasis on the word 'Rock.'

"But the problem was neutralized for now," Naruto assured. Kakashi said nothing, though some unwanted memories of the Iwa-Konoha War came to his mind. He dismissed the memories before looking at Naruto again.

"Good," Kakashi acknowledged, "No need to worry about a minor problem."

Of course the Jounin knew that Konoha and Iwa were not in good terms with each other and if Iwa was given a chance against Konoha they'd take it in a heartbeat. The Jounin decided not to worry about that for now and concentrate on other matters.

(Later That Night; Elsewhere)

"How do you feel Zabuza-san," said Haku was she sat at Zabuza's bedside dressed in complete hunter ninja garbs with the mask lying on the bed.

"A lot better. In a few hours I should be more than ready to move again. Go make certain the others are ready to move out early by morning. The blood of my enemies will pour over this country and their bridge of optimism," said Zabuza as he reached and grabbed his giant sword.

"I'll inform the others right away," said Haku bowing her head before taking her mask with her before doing what she was told to do.

(The Following Day)

The sun shone right onto Naruto's eyes, and it took a few minutes for him to blink away the weariness. He turned and looked at the clock.

Damn! I overslept, Naruto thought before jumping out of bed, running to the bathroom, getting washed, running back to get dressed and just as he was putting his flame-designed white vest on, he heard a yell from downstairs.

"Get away from my child!"

That was Tsunami-san. What going downstairs, Naruto thought before he sensed two unfamiliar chakras.

Detecting trouble, Naruto snuck out the window, and clung to the wall using his chakra. Making his way to the door, which was sliced to pieces, he looked in and saw two gruffy thugs, evidently low level samurais, holding and taking Tsunami hostage and leaving a partly crying Inari. Quickly hiding, Naruto watched as the two samurais came out, leading a tied up Tsunami.

A moment later though, Inari remembered Naruto's words, 'If you truly want to make that man in the picture proud of you if he were still alive then I suggest you find someone or something you value and fight to protect it.'

Naruto's right! Mom is someone worth protecting and fighting for just like grandfather is fighting in his own way. Kaiza-san did the same for us and this village because he felt we were something worth protecting and fighting for, Inari thought before he ran out the door.

"Let go of my mom you bullies," said Inari catching up tp them not far from the wooden bridge that was connected to the platform of their house to the mainland area of Wave.

"That brat is coming at us," said one of the samarais as he took out his sword ready to end Inari's life down in front of his mother's now tearing eyes who was now in fear for her son's life. Jumping and landing some distance between Inari and the samurai thugs, Naruto took out two of his kunais.

"Release her," Naruto commanded.

"What? You're one of those shinobi brats Tazuna hired," one of the samurais said.

"Let's kill him and be done with," the other said. His partner looked at threatened, "If you so much as move an inch then we'll kill your little brat!"

They then rushed at Naruto who led them away from Tsunami. Inari, seizing the opportunity, ran to his mother as fast as he could.

"Mom I'll save you," Inari said and untied her.

"Inari…," Tsunami said and hugged the boy.

(Meanwhile)

Getting them where he wanted, Naruto, being a good distance from them, grinned as the samurais rushed at him.

"Fools," Naruto said holding out his kunais and placing a seal marker on each of them. After creating a kage bushin, Naruto handed his clone one of his kunais before they began running towards the samurais as the samurais rushed at him. Timing it perfectly, the blondes threw their kunais at them, and seconds before the kunais passed the samurais, Naruto and his clone Shunshin'd to the kunais before grabbed the kunais again. The surprised samurais managed to half turn and see Naruto and the Kage Bunshin behind them before their throats were slashed. The kage bunshin puffed away and Naruto grabbed the spare kunai before removing the Shunshin seals from both kunais.

Inari and Tsunami, ran over to him, being careful not to step in the blood pool from the two dead samurais.

"Naruto-kun! Are you alright," Tsunami asked.

"I'm fine, thanks. If those two attacked here, maybe their other partners will attack the bridge where Kakashi-niisan and the others are. I'll clean up this mess before I go," Naruto said and made some Kage Bunshins. The clones picked up the two bodies and carried them out on the water. Naruto followed and made some hand seals speedily and…

"Katon: Gōkakyū No Jutsu (Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique)," he called out and the massive fireball he blew from his mouth incinerated the bodies. When he was done, he dispelled the clones and walked back to the two. He noticed Inari looking slightly afraid.

"Don't worry Inari, I won't hurt you," Naruto reassured. Smiling, Inari said, "Thanks Naruto."

"No problem," Naruto replied as he turned in the direction of the bridge, "I must go now. Be careful, O.K.."

Naruto didn't give Inari or Tsunami a chance to respond at he turned and ran from the scene…

Naruto is now hurrying to Kakashi and the others after realizing that an ambush awaits them at the bridge. What will happen next and what does that Iwa Jounin girl have in store against Naruto? Find out next time.