Chapter 061

Naruto nodded before standing up.

"He is alive, and he will be back soon," Naruto said, "I should think we have about a week or two, based on the injuries and how long it takes to get better from a near-death state."

Kakashi sat up and looked at his Genins.

"Sensei, how are you going to prepare for this before it's too late? You can't move for a while," Sakura asked. Kakashi chuckled and replied, "I'm going to make you, Sasuke and Sai go through some training."

Sasuke took note that Naruto was left out of the equation.

"What about Naruto," Sasuke inquired, "Is he going to take part of our training session?"

"Naruto is not my student therefore it's not my responsibility to train him," Kakashi said, "And like I said before, he wasn't made "Elite Genin" for nothing."

Sasuke scowled again at that title; it made him feel outranked by the person whom he always regarded as the village clown.

"But sensei," Sakura asked, "Even if we train, it won't be very helpful. The enemy gave you problems even with you using the Sharingan."

"Sakura," Kakashi said, "All of you helped me out during my battle with Zabuza. You're all growing rapidly."

An eight-year-old boy wearing green overalls, a hat that shadowed his eyes and a depressed attitude walked into the room. Everyone turned to look at the boy.

"Who are you," Naruto asked.

"Inari where were you," Tazuna asked as the boy went over to the old man and hugged him.

"I'm home grandpa," Inari said. Tsunami scolded, "Inari, say hello to them. These are the ninjas who escorted your grandpa."

Inari turned to look at Kakashi and the group. The young boy snorted, "It doesn't matter. They will die anyway. There's no way they can win against Gatō."

"What's that," Naruto said indignantly.

"If you don't want to die, then you should go home," Inari replied as he started walking away.

"Where are you going," Tazuna asked. Inari stopped and said, "I'm going to watch the ocean."

The boy continued walking and went on his way, leaving the other behind.

"Ah, forgive him. He has been like that since a…an unfortunate incident sometime ago," Tazuna said.

(Later)

Naruto was walking down from the room they had when he heard sobbing coming from Inari's room.

"Huh," Naruto asked himself and stealthily opened Inari's door. The little boy's room was simple; it had a bed in a corner and a desk in front of a window. On top of the desk Inari sat, crying and staring at a picture. Naruto walked up behind the boy, too silent to be noticed and looked at the picture. It was a man with dark hair, a kind smile and a cross shaped scar on his jaw. It was clear that the man meant a lot to Inari. Naruto didn't know what to do other than try and comfort the boy. He laid a hand on his shoulder and Inari nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What…oh, it's you! What do you want," Inari asked coldly

"Who is that," Naruto asked, pointing to the picture.

Inari began, "That's none of your-"

"If you don't want to tell me, fine, but you will never feel better than you did a moment ago if you keep it inside," Naruto interrupted before exiting. Inari looked at him before looking at the picture. Tears started to fall again.

(The Following Day)

Kakashi, using crutches, was in the forest with Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Sai. He was going to have them practice chakra control by having them practice tree climbing (A/N: by this time all of you should know this so I'll spare you all the details). Although Naruto healed Kakashi's injuries however, the Jounin was still weakened from the depletion of chakra when he used the Sharingan against Zabuza.

"Naruto, since you have already done and mastered this exercise, you'll guard Tazuna today at the bridge while I help the others with tree walking," said Kakashi while standing high on the side of one of the trees he walked up on, "We'll switch between guard duty from time to time. You have the first watch, so make tracks."

"See you guys later," said Naruto as he went on his way. Sasuke and the others were perplexed, unable to determine when Naruto learned and mastered tree walking when they didn't know such a jutsu exist. After Naruto was out of sight…

'This would be a good time to practice your taijutsu and ninjutsu Naruto,' Yondaime suggested, 'Create some Kage Bushins and send one of them to Tazuna and another to guard Tsunami and Inari while you and the rest of your clones head to another sector of this forest to train.'

Naruto did as Yondaime advised. One of his clones went over to where Tazuna was and another hurried over to where Tsunami and her son were. When that was all done, the blonde and the rest of his clones hurried into the forest and trained.

(Later That Day)

'Naruto' yawned while stretching slightly. He had been guarding Tazuna alone for most of the day, since Kaksshi had gone to train his team. His 'twin' was keeping his watch on Tsunami and Inari. So, 'Naruto' spent the majority of the day alone, watching the workers on the bridge.

"You look bored. Where are the others," Tazuna asked, briefly stopping in his work.

"They're training. Kakashi-niisan said we'll switch between guarding you, and obviously I got chosen first."

Just then Kakashi appeared next to 'Naruto.'

"How's everything," Kakashi asked, to Tazuna or 'Naruto,' he didn't tell.

"Boring," 'Naruto' replied. Tazuna chuckled and got back to his work.

"That's guard duty in a nut shell," Kakashi retorted. They both watched as one of the workers walked up to Tazuna. After a brief conversation, Tazuna yelled, "What? You want to quit?"

Kakashi and 'Naruto' looked at each other before Kakashi sighed.

"That's right. With the danger of Gatō, people would understandably fear for their lives," the worker said. 'Naruto' frowned at the man's cowardice but remained silent. This was going to be a long week, if not two…