(Y/N) Uzumaki

Chapter 13

Sakura and I had to keep an eye on Tazuna as he built the bridge. I know Sakura and I didn't get along well a while ago but right now shes 50/50. Sakura yawned and Tazuna said "you always this lazy?" Sakura and I looked up at him. "Where's that weird blond kid and the one with the attitude?" My brother and Sasuke, heh? "They're training climbing trees." Sakura said

"To tough for you two?" He teased. I smirked a little. "In fact, we're the best. That's why the sensei sent us here to guard you." Sakura said and I smiled at her. "You're joking." Tazuna said. Sakura got mad and I felt sweat drip from my forehead. "Tazuna, uh, I need to talk to you." Someone said going up to Tazuna. "Huh? What about?" "The thing is, I've been thinking a lot about the bridge. And I decided I've push my luck far enough. I want out." "Now you're going to quit on me, just like that?! You're kidding!" Tazuna yelled

"You know, I stayed on because of our friendship. But I'm putting my life on the line every day I stay here. Gato and his thugs will show up eventually. When they do, they'll kill you and the bridge will never get finished anyway. It's a lost cause, Tazuna. Why dont we stop now while we can still get out of this alive?" The guy said. Sakura and I watched from a distance.

"No chance. This is our bridge. Our island is poor, and it will stay that way until this bridge connects us to the mainland. Commence, trade, and hope- that's what we're building here." Tazuna said. "Theres not going to be much if we're all dead." The guy said "Its already noon. Let's break for lunch" Tazuna said walking past him. "Tszuna, let's not end it like this." "Save your breath. Oh, and Giichi, dont bother coming back after lunch."

"Um. Where are we going?" Sakura asked. We were walking around town and it was quite..odd. "you want to eat tonight, dont cha? I got to pick up some dinner things for dinner." Tazuna said. As we were walking we heard someone yelling about a thief. It was such a poor village like Tazuna was saying. That's why this bridge is extremely crucial.

"Here we are" tazuna said as we walked into an almost empty shop. There were little amount of vegetables spread out. As Sakura and I were standing next to each other, a guy from behind came up and touched..our...behind. I gasped as my face got as red as my hair. I was so shocked I couldn't do anything but luckily Sakura kicked him right in the face. "You pervert!" She yelled as he went flying back.

"Wow, you really surprised me back there. Girls around here don't fight like that." Tazuna said. "They should. Something's seriously wrong here." As we were walking I felt pressure on my behind again. Again?! This time Sakura and I both turned around but it was a little kid. The child reached out their arms and said "Please?" And giving us a big closed eye smile. The little kid was giggling and Sakura and I pulled out something for them. "Aw, thank you." The kid then ran off and I felt tears in my eyes.

"This is how it's been since Gato came here. The children suffer. And the adults are afraid to stand up to him...They've lost all hope. That's why we have to finish the bridge. It will bring commerce and trade. But much more importantly, that bridge is a symbol of courage. We must restore the spirit of our people. When the bridge is finished. People will start to believe again. They'll believe that they can live with dignity. We can't let Gato stop us." Tazuna said. We must help these people.

~Sasuke POV~

Damn. He's catching up to me inch by inch. No. Forget him and remember what my Tomato said

~ Flashback ~

"Sure, so I noticed that you're trying to beat my brother. What you need to do is relax and dont be so tense."
(Y/n) said putting her hand on my shoulders "Hn" "The problem you're having is to much chakra so take a little off each time you go and when it gets to a good amount, remember how it feels and go with it each time. Remember, spiritual energy. Pretend Naruto isnt even there and it's just you and the tree." She said smiling at me. Damn that smile.

~Flackback end~

~ (Y/n)~ POV

I asked if I could help with dinner since I loved cooking. And now, here we are all eating together..kind of. Naruto and Sasuke are inhaling the food. "Haha. Hey, this is fantastic. It's been ages since we've had do many guests around our table." Tazuna said. I watched as Sasuke and Naruto inhaled food. "You do realize that you're going to make yourself sick, right?" I said putting my spoon down and folding my hands to look at them. "I want some more!" They both yelled. They glared at each other but seconds later they threw up on the floor. "Yep, like I said" I said grabbing for spoon and continued eating.

"Don't eat so much if you're going to puke it up!" Sakura yelled "I have to eat." Sasuke said "And I have to eat more than him. Its the only possible way I'll get strong enough to beat him" Naruto said. I felt an angry irk mark grow on my head. I stood up and got out of my seat and I moved so fast it was like I slid. I squeezed Sasukes cheek yelling "BE!" I slid to Naruto and squeezed his cheek hard yelling "HAVE!" They held their cheek that was now all red.

"Tsunami and I made this food for you and you're just inhaling it! Try and taste it, will ya!" They both nodded their heads. I rarely get upset but how they were acting was just sad.

We all sat around a table drinking tea. I sat in between Sasuke and Inari. "Excuse me, this picture is torn. Is there some reason for that? Inari, you kept glancing at it all through dinner. It looks like there was someone else in the picture, but they got torn out. I mean that kind of strange, isnt it?" Sakura said. Sakura, you idiot. Dont you know you shouldn't ask people questions like that. Like you said, you had parents to teach you manners.

I noticed everyone got quiet..."It's my husband" Tsunami said. "They used to call him hero in this land." Tazuna said. Inari got up and left. "Inari, where are you going?" His mother asked she followed him saying "Father, you can't talk about him like that in front of Inari, you know that. Ugh"

"Inari's so- I mean what happened to him?" Sakura asked. "Hm. Is there a story behind this?" Kakashi asked. "He wasnt his real father. He came into our family later. And he brought so much happiness. He and Inari were very close. In those days, Inari used to laugh all the time." Tazuna started crying. So I'm guessing my guess of a traumatic experience was right. "But then, all that ended." We all stared at him.

"He never laughs or smiles anymore, ever since that day everything changed...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." Tazuna said. "Tell us. What happened to Inari" Kakashi said.

"First you need to know about, his father. The man who taught us the word courage, who was a hero in this land." Tazuna said wiping his tears. "A hero, really?" Naruot asked. "You can decide that yourself. He came here about three years ago."

(Story telling)

"Interesting enough, Pooch figured out how dog paddle."

(More story telling)

"His name was Kiaza. A simple fisherman who'd come here from another island to follow his dreams. After that, Inari and Kiaza were inseparable. The boy had never known his real father,so you can imagine what it meant to him to have Kiaza 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 said

(Story telling)

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

(Story telling)

"Since then, Inari has changed. So did Tsunami. And all our people. We lost our will." Poor Inari... Naruto got up but soon fell on his face. "What are you doing down there, Naruto?" Sakura asked. "You better take the day off. No more training. You've used to much chakra. If you push any harder, it could kill you." Kakashi said. "I'm going to prove it." Naruto said standing up. "Prove what?" Sakura asked. "I'll prove that it's true. That in this world there are real heroes."

Word count- 2592