Episode(s): 11

~Somewhere in the Forest~

"Alright! Since the two of you managed to complete the tree walking exercise but took the whole day to do it, I've decided to give you two extra training today!" said Haruka with a grin

"Right!" said the two girls.

"Good, Michiru, we are going to be working on your speed. You're too slow. Ami! Is there anything specific you would like to work on?" asked Haruka.

"Yes. Um," began Ami, shyly. "I come from the Yuki clan and have managed to use some of the clan's abilities. I would like to test my ice against your fire, if that's okay."

"Actually, I have a better idea! Why don't you two fight. Ami, you're only allowed to use your ice while Michiru must dodge. I will randomly attack you both with fire! How does that sound?" asked Haruka as she looked at the two girls.

'I can focus on attacking Michiru while fighting against fire from Haruka-Sensei! This should help a lot!' thought Ami in happiness.

"Alright! Let's get ready!" said Haruka as she jumped up into one of the trees. Ami and Michiru jumped away from each other and got ready. "Start!"

"Here I go! Secret Art: 100 Needles of death!" said Ami as she attacked Michiru. Said girl quickly moved to get out of the way but was scraped by a few. 'Hopefully I can get to 1,000 needles soon.'

"Faster!" said Haruka. She then let out a fire ball toward the two. Michiru managed to dodge the attack successfully while Ami put up a wall of ice. Both girls noticed that their sensei was holding back.

'She's not trying. Yet her fire is still melting my ice. I need to make it stronger,' thought Ami in determination.

Ami quickly turned to her teammate at pushed forth a moving wall of ice. Michiru, not expecting it, got hit and was pushed back into a tree.

"Michiru!" said Ami in shock. She was about to go to her teammate when a ball of fire was thrown her way. She managed to block it with a wall of ice, but the ice quickly melted, and she was thrown back.

"Michiru, always expect the unexpected. By letting your guard down, you give you opponents the opening. And Ami, you must also be prepared, if I was the enemy, you would be dead. That ice shield that you made was too weak. You have to be able to make them strong in a moment's notice," said Haruka as she moved toward the two girls.

"Let's do it again," said Michiru as she got up.

"I can do it. I might not do it right away, but I can do it," said Ami as she stood up. 'She's right. I may have to fight Zabuza or someone stronger and there is no guaranty that Sensei will be there to save me.'

"Then let's go again!" said Haruka as they all got into their stances. And when a leaf that was falling from a nearby tree finally hit the ground, they moved.

~That Night~

After a long day, the ninja and Tazuna's family were together, eating inner. Luckily for everyone, they had a big enough table. Tazuna sat at one end of the table with Inari to his left and Kakashi on his right. On Inari's left sat Rei, followed by Michiru and then Sasuke. To Kakashi's right sat Haruka, then Ami, then Naruto. Usagi sat at the other end of the table.

"Hahahaha. Hey, this is fantastic," said Tazuna as he rubbed his head. "It's been ages since we've had so many guests around out table."

"I want some more!" yelled Naruto and Sasuke together.

"And I want you both to sit your asses down, shut up, and eat like normal people," said Haruka, not missing a beat. She then turned to the two boys, who both began to sweat. "And if you puke, I'm gonna make you guys do such an intense training that your future children are going to feel it."

"Yes ma'am!" yelled the two boys as they sat down and looked at their bowls, trying to hold down the food.

~A Few Minutes Later~

After dinner, everyone was drinking some tea.

"How do you manage to do that and not choke?" asked Haruka as she looked at Kakashi with his finished cup.

"Do what?" he asked with a smile. Haruka smiled back at him.

"Choke on a fist," she said with her smile. Kakashi chuckled nervously. While the Genin laughed or chuckled at him.

"Excuse me, why is this picture torn?" asked Usagi as she looked at a torn picture.

"You kept glancing at it all through dinner, Inari," said Rei as she looked at the young boy. "It looks like there used to be another person in the picture."

Kakashi and Haruka looked at each other as Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami all tensed up.

"It's my husband," said Tsunami as she continued to clean the dishes.

"They used to call him a hero in this land," said Tazuna. Inari then got up.

"Inari, where are you going?" asked Tsunami as Inari walked out the door. She went to follow him but glared at her father before she walked out. "Father, you can't talk about him like that in front of Inari, you know that."

"What happened?" asked Michiru in confusion.

"Hmm. Is there a story behind this?" asked Kakashi as they all looked at Tazuna.

"He wasn't his real father. He came into our family later. And he brought so much happiness," said Tazuna with a strained voice. "He and Inari were very close. In those days, Inari used to laugh all the time. But then, all that ended."

Everyone watched in shock as Tazuna began to cry. The Jonin were the only ones able to hide their emotions.

"He never laughs or smiles anymore, ever since the day everything changed," said Tazuna as he took a deep breath. "The word courage was stolen from this island. We were left feeling powerless, hopeless, and Inari suffered the most, ever since that day, ever since it happened."

"Tell us," said Haruka. "What happened to Inari?"

"First, you need to know about the man, his father. The man who taught us the word courage, who was a hearo in this land," said Tazuna as he took off his glasses to wipe his eyes.

"A hero, really?" asked Naruto in surprise.

"You can decide that for yourself. He came here about three years ago," said Tazuna as he told them of the story of how Inari almost drowned and was saved by his father. "His name was Kaiza. A simple fisherman who'd come here from another land to follow his dreams. After that, Inari and Kaiza were inseparable. The boy had never known his real father, so you can imagine what it meant to him to have Kaiza in his life. He looked up to him and followed in his footsteps, like a real father and son.

"Kaiza spent more and more time with us, until he just naturally became a member of our family. And then when this town needed him, he became something more."

Tazuna told the group how Kaiza saved the village and became its hero.

"From that time on, Kaiza was considered a hero in this land. He taught us all the meaning of courage, and Inari was so proud to be his son. But it wasn't long after that, that Gato showed up and took over. He terrorized the whole village. Only Kaiza stood up to him. Gato couldn't have a local hero getting in his way. It took his whole gang to stop one man."

The Genin listened in shock to the gruesome details of Kaiza's execution. The Jonin, used to this, simply looked on as the story continued.

"Since then, Inari has changed. So did Tsunami and all our people. We lost our will."

After a few moments sitting in silence, Naruto got up, only to fall over.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" asked Ami in concern.

"You better take the day off," said Kakashi to his student. "No more training, you've used too much chakra. If you push any harder, it could kill you."

"I'm gonna prove it," said Naruto as he struggled to get up.

"Prove what?" asked Usagi, confused. Naruto managed to get to his feet, thought it was shaky.

"I'll prove that. . . that it's true. That in this world, there are real heroes," declared Naruto, shocking everyone.

'Can't let him leave me behind!' thought Ami with determination and a smile on her face.