412 Chapter 12

Title: Hero's Resolve

....

As Kakashi ordered, Sasuke swiftly sprang into action, his Sharingan activated, with lightning-fast precision, he unleashed a barrage of shuriken aimed at Zabuza's clones.

Each shuriken found its mark, dispersing the water clones in a flurry of mist as water splattered on the ground.

Zabuza's clones dissolved one by one, unable to match Sasuke's mastery of the shuriken jutsu. The water mist that concealed their presence began to thin, revealing the true battlefield.

"Well, my water clones were obviously no match for you." Zabuza began in a neutral tone. He wasn't much surprised by the outcome and just continued. "It seems the brats have matured a bit.. Into worthy rivals...Eh, Haku?"

Behind him, a masked figure stood who simply said. "Indeed." In a tone that showed he agreed with his master.

"Looks like I was right." Kakashi said. "Our mysterious masked friend is playing on Zabuza's team."

"He has some nerve, showing up like this." Tazuna gritted his teeth in anger.

Meanwhile, Sasuke just glared at the masked individual and said. "This one's mine." His tone left no room for argument and Sakura knew that.

Glancing at him, she nodded and took her position to guard Tazuna as she knew Kakashi would have to face the other Jounin.

"That was quite a show you put on before. But we're onto you now...and I hate Ham actors." Sasuke said and brought out his Kunai from his pouch.

At this moment, all his attention was on the masked boy. His chakra and aura, very different from what it was the first time they had met.

"Impressive kid, isn't he?" Zabuza asked.

"Yes. Even if your clones have only a Tenth Of the strength of the original, it's amazing he was able to do so well." Haku answered

"But we're still on the offensive. Go!" Zabuza ordered

"Hai!" As soon as his voice fell, the masked man, Haku, was already Infront of Sasuke, ready to strike for the kill.

Luckily, Sasuke hadn't spent the last half month whiling away his time. With extreme calm and precision, he raised his Kunai and parried a blow, aimed at his head.

...

Meanwhile, in Tazuna's home, the two bandits who had broken into the house were following the plot. Shun, or rather his clone lay on the roof as he awaited Naruto's return.

"Mama!" Inari called out in shock as he saw two men looming over his mother. He had been alarmed by the sounds of broken furniture and had come to know what was going on.

"What do you want to do brat?" One of the thugs asked.

"Run! Inari! Don't come in!" Tsunami hollered at the top of her voice as she broke out in cold sweat.

She could endure whatever these men wanted to do to her, but she didn't know what would become of Inari if he was caught.

"We should grab him too." The other thug suggested, but the earlier one shook his head. "We only need one hostage."

Inari visibly flinched at the mention of that word 'Hostage' as he nervously stood at the door.

"Heh heh. Too bad for him." The one eyed thug who had suggested for them to grab him laughed sinisterly as he drew his Katana from it's sheat.

"Wait!" Tsunami screamed. "If you dare touch my child, I'll bite my tongue and drown in my own blood." She threatened. "

The two thugs looked at eachother for an answer but got nothing to tell the other

"Then, what will you do for a live hostage?" Tsunami asked as she glared at the thugs with a firm resolve in her eyes.

"Heh, be grateful to a ma kiddo."

"Aw man, but I'm dying to cut someone up..." The one eyed thug said.

"Relax. You gave your blade a pretty good workout before we got here. So get over it and let's go." Saying that, they tied up Tsunami and left the shaken Inari to himself.

As soon as they left the building, Inari fell to his knees and began weeping. 'Mama, I'm sorry. I'm a weak little crybaby. I can't save you...and I'm afraid... I don't want to die.'

He thought to himself as he buried himself in his knees and wept silently.

-You big crybaby-

The voice of Naruto from the day before suddenly resounded in his head causing him to raise his head.

In that brief moment, he remembered all Naruto had said to him, all Kakashi had said to him about Naruto and what his father had said to him.

"If something is precious to you. Protect it with all your strength. Even at the risk of your own life."

His father would also say this While flexing his non-existent muscles.

Remembering the faces of everyone he had met in this short while, he couldn't help but mutter. "Everyone else is so... awesome...so cool...so strong..."

Standing up to his feet, he wiped his tears and clenched his tiny fists. 'Can I... Could I be strong too...Dad?'

With this thought in mind, he stepped out and shouted at the men who hadn't gone too far. "Wait!"

"Huh?" The thugs stopped and looked over their shoulders at Inari.

"Inari!" Tsunami shouted in worry. 'Why can't you stay put?' she thought to herself as she wracked her brains on how to remedy him from the trouble he had just put himself into.

"Well, looky there. The brat came back." The one eyed thug taunted .

"Y...You get away from my mama!" Inari mustered his courage and yelled at the men before running at them at speeds he would consider fast.

The thugs looked at the sight with an amused and sinister smile before the one eyed thug pulled out his katana. "Jeez, this kid is a waste of space."

"Go cut him." The other nodded.

"Yeah!!" The thug yelled in ecstasy at the thought of cutting someone again.

"Inari!!" Tsunami yelled at the top of her lungs but Inari wasn't paying attention. With eyes tightly shut, he ran towards the men in a bid to mount an attack.

With a gleeful look on his face, the one pulled out his Sword and slashed at Inari, however...

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

"...!" The two thugs were instantly alarmed. Not only because of the disappearance of their prey, but also the disappearance of their hostage.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu"They both heard a soft voice behind and were even more shocked. The only thought in their minds now were. "...How?"

"N-Naruto...?"

"It's being a hero y'know. All that nick of time stuff." Naruto said and then smiled at Inari. "Sorry I'm late. Way to go Inari." He praised.

"Huh?"

"When you distracted them, I was able to save your mother." Naruto answered as he turned to the two thugs who were charging at him.

He didn't mention how he was also able to replace him with a log at the same time he rescued Tsunami. But, that wasn't important.

"Naruto! Will you be okay?" Inari asked worriedly as he saw the thugs.

"No sweat." Naruto said as he took a stance, but as soon as the thugs pulled out their katanas, he smirked. "...Suckers!"

Pow! Pow!

From behind them, two clones of Naruto appeared and knocked out the two thugs with a kick to their heads.

There was a moment of silence as Inari marveled at what he had just seen. 'There were two other Naruto?' he wondered.

"Naruto... How'd you know those two were coming?" He asked.

"Huh? There was a stuck pig back in the forest, cut to ribbons with a sword. And trees with fresh deep slashes in their bark. Going in that direction was your house. It wasn't too ahrd to figure out so I got worried..."

"But forget about that. Inari, I owe you an apology."

"..?!" Inari was alarmed and confused at the same time. He didn't really remember Naruto doing him wrong. On the contrary, he felt he was the one who owed Naruto an apology. "Why?"

"I'm sorry I called you a cry baby. And it's not true okay?" Naruto said and ruffled Inari's head in the same way a certain elder brother of his does when he was apologizing or making fun of him. "You're a big, strong boy."

Saying that, he removed his hand as he felt that was enough, only to see the boy looking at him with a stunned expression.

Without rhyme or reason, Inari began crying making Naruto confused on what was going on.

"Oh. Oh no." Inari muttered as he tried to wipe away his tears. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry. Now you'll make fun of me again."

"No way!!"

"Huh?" Inari raised his head to look at Naruto who was looking back at him with a serious look in his eyes.

In that moment, Naruto remembered all the times people had made fun of him and all the people that had been there to cheer and acknowledge him.

Putting his hands behind his head like he always does, he smiled brightly and said. "Nothing is wrong with crying when you're happy. Shun-Nii says it's a means to cleanse the soul when it feels burdened."

"Huh?" Inari looked even more confused only for Naruto to shrug. "Me too. I dunno what that means, but I'm sure he means, it's okay to cry when you feel like it."

Looking at Naruto's bright and sunny smile, Inari burst out in tears once again.

Naruto turned and faced the thugs his clones had tied up. "So... If they attacked us here, it means the bridge is probably a target too."

"You are right." A third unfamiliar yet familiar voice answered.

"Argh!!" Naruto and Inari cried out and turned to face the owner of the voice.

"Shun-Nii!!" Naruto cried even louder in annoyance.

"Yo."

"Don't 'Yo' me!! You scared me!!"

"Mah mah. Don't mind the details too much and you're right. Sasuke has begun fighting the masked man." Shun waved dismissively at Naruto's anger.

"What!! That bastard!! I was supposed to fight him!" Naruto said and immediately took off.

Looking at the back of his hyperactive little brother, Shun shook his head and sighed and then looked at Inari before looking at the thugs.

"I know you're both awake." He said.

"You bastard! Release us this instant!" One of them cursed before demanding.

Shun looked at him, and without a change in his expression, he walked over to Tsunami and placed a hand on her head.

She had passed out due to the shock of seeing Inari being cut apart... Or that was what she saw, not what happened.

Shun's hand glowed green for a few seconds before it stopped. "Your mother will wake up soon." He said to Inari and sat down cross-legged, ignoring the two thugs.

"Aren't you going to do anything about them?" Inari asked and Shun tunred to him. Due his eyes also being blindfolded, Inari didn't know what to make of him and fidgeted slightly.

He was only assured that Shun wouldn't attack him since Naruto called him big brother.

"You see little Inari. Interrogation Techniques 101... Ignore them." Shun said and smiled at the boy.

Inari looked confused and asked why but Shun shook his head and said. "Just watch."

The two thugs had already woken up and were surprisingly quiet for some time.

"Oi! You're a Jounin right? Just send us to the officials, you'll surely claim rewards for turning us in."

"No worries. No worries." Shun said and continued sitting.

Due to his eyes being blindfolded, they also didn't know what he was thinking so they just kept quiet.

Close to thirty minutes passed and the thugs were beginning to get antsy.

"Now that you've come here, aren't you afraid of Zabuza?" The one eyed thug asked.

'Here we go. Usually, when questioning criminals, they will probably not answer if you ask them first. Instead, they will Start a conversation if they're ignored for a while.' Shun thought.

"Are you with Zabuza? The demon of the mist?" Shun asked in shock.

The thug immediately turned smug and snorted. "Of course. But, we're following our boss's orders to kidnap the daughter of the bridge builder."

"You don't say. Who is this boss? Also, Zabuza is nothing but a rogue nin. Why would you follow his instructions?" Shun asked in genuine curiosity.

"Humph. I won't tell you." The thug said.

"I see." Shun said and kept silent.

After a brief moment of silence "You! Can't you continue asking? Or can't you negotiate with me?!"

"Are you teaching me how to question you?" Shun asked in confusion.

"I.. Could you let us go if we tell you the answer?"

Shun shook his head. "No. I'm not really interested in why you would follow who you follow. Afterall, I could kill you if I am asked to do so."

"You!!" The men were enraged and fearful too. "That's because you don't know the full extent of Zabuza's strength and who is backing him. Do you think we're the only ones under him?"

"You're not?" Shun asked.

"Of course not. We're many. You can not even begin to count. Hundreds. Hundreds I tell you."

"Wow. That's a lot." Shun said and stroked his jaws as though he was thinking. "Is that why you were confident enough to kidnap Tazuna's daughter?"

"Humph. Zabuza was getting cocky, so the boss asked us to kidnap Tazuna's daughter to threaten him. This will make the work easier." The other thug confidently said.

"Wow, that's one boss you got there." Shun prasied.

"Of course. Zabuza isn't even aware that the boss plans to kill him off after he's spent fighting the enemy Shinobi. That way, the boss wouldn't spend a Ryo on him." The one eyed thug added smugly.

"I see." Shun said and kept silent once again.

There was a moment of silence again. "Oi. I don't see any village band on you. You're not from any major village right?"

Shun nodded his head without saying anything.

"Then that's better. You just have to let us go and we'll introduce you to the boss. That way, you can earn big."

"Oh? Like how much are we talking?" Shun asked in an interested tone.

"A lot. Over 100,000 Ryo! That enough to make us rich for a lifetime."

"Damn. That's a lot!" Shun exclaimed.

"Shun-san?" Inari's nervous voice called from behind but Shun waved his hand and the kid fell unconscious.

"Kids. Am I right? Anyways, how should I trust you guys? You won't double cross me right?" Shun asked.

"Of course not. You have our word. We'll put in a few good words for you."

"I see. Alright then." Shun said and pulled out a knife and cut them free. "By the way, what's the name of this your boss?"

"It's Gato-sama! The richest man in the world right now." They said with pride.

...

Meanwhile, in reality, Inari looked confused at what Shun mean by Interrogation Techniques 101, but before he could ask, the rope tying up the thugs were cut and they stood up.

Inari jolted in shock but Shun said. "Don't worry, they can't harm you."

At that moment, Tsunami also woke up and Shun went up to her and said. "Your father's life is in danger." Looking at Inari, he said. "Your grandfather. Do something about this. You're a hero right?"

Without waiting for them to answer, he turned to the thugs and said. "Lets go."

With glazed eyes, the thugs began walking towards a direction and although Inari didn't understand what just happened, he still trusted Shun.

Shun had afterall come with Naruto, and Naruto called him big brother.

Without thinking too much, he immediately ran back home, picked up a rake and ran off to their neighbors..

As for the thugs... As one would expect, they were actually in a Genjutsu.

As for when they were caught in it? It was when Shun had said. -I know you both are awake-

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