"Hey Tazuna-san, what's with that picture on the wall over there?" she asked, pointing to the picture of Tazuna and his family. "It looks like a piece is missing."
The three family members tensed at the mention of the picture. An air of sorrow seemed to fill the air.
"It's…my husband," Tsunami said after several minutes of tense silence, her voice sounding a little choked up.
"The man they called the hero of Nami," Tazuna added in a solemn tone.
Inari abruptly stood up after hearing that and ran up the stairs.
"Inari!" Tsunami said in a worried tone. The woman turned on her dad with an angry expression, "Father! You know you can't talk about that man in front of Inari!"
"What's wrong with Inari?" asked Sakura, feeling depressed for causing such obvious pain to someone else.
"Inari…he lost someone he loved didn't he?" asked Naruto, surprising the others at the soft tone of his voice. "That man…your husband was important to him right?"
"There seems to be some kind of story behind this…" Kakashi added. "Care to share?"
Tazuna sighed as he began to tell his tale. "Inari had a friend that he was real close to, a man who was a father in all but blood. They were very close, like a real father and son…Inari was always laughing and smiling back then…" Tazuna paused as he clenched his hands. "But Inari changed, since that incident with his father. The word courage has been stolen from the people of this land. And from Inari, ever since that day…because of that incident…"
"That incident?" asked Kakashi. "What happened?"
"Before I get to that, I first need to tell you about the man who was called the hero of Nami," Tazuna said.
"Hero?" asked Naruto, getting interested hearing more about someone who had done something amazing enough to be called a hero.
"It was about three years ago that Inari met that man," Tazuna said. "Some bullies were picking on him, trying to steal the dog that Tsunami and I had gotten for him. After arguing they threw the dog into the lake, and then they pushed Inari into the lake as well."
"That's horrible!" gasped Sakura.
"No more horrible than smashing your fist into someone's head for no reason," Naruto mumbled loud enough for only himself and Kakashi to hear.
Tazuna ran a hand through his hair as he gave a sigh, "And it was worse because Inari couldn't swim. However, right then as Inari was drowning, the pooch remembered he could dog paddle. Inari almost drowned that day, however, a wandering fisherman managed to save him. His name was Kaiza, he was a fisherman who came here to follow his dreams. After that Kaiza and Inari became very close. It may have been because Inari's real father had died before he could get to know him, but he and Kaiza were inseparable, like a father and son. It was only a matter of time before Kaiza became a part of the family. And Kaiza was also a man the city needed. There was one time that the damn was overrun with water, and was going to flood the city. Kaiza swum out to the damn by himself and closed it. Kaiza was called the hero of this city. And Inari could not have been prouder." Tazuna paused in his story as his face took a darker tone. "… But then Gato came to this city."
"Gato killed Kaiza didn't he?" Naruto said, causing the others to look over at him in surprise.
Tazuna nodded, "Yes, only it was much worse than that. Gato had Kaiza executed in front of everyone, including Inari." Gasps were heard from Naruto and Sakura, both surprised and appalled that Gato could do that. Kakashi just looked down, he already knew of the hardships of the world and he knew things like this happened more often than others would like to admit.
"From that day Inari changed, he stopped believing in heroes that day. The day the whole city lost hope…" Tazuna trailed off.
For a moment the Konoha ninja were silent as they digested what they had heard. It was definitely a sad story, hearing that a child saw his father figure murdered in front of him.
Naruto stood up and began making his way towards the door.
"Where are you going Naruto?" asked Sakura.
"If you're thinking of training, take the day off," Kakashi said. "If you use up too much chakra you could die."
"Don't worry sensei, I'm just going to have my Kage Bunshin do some work while I sleep," Naruto reassured his sensei. Kakashi nodded while Sakura and the others looked confused. "But I need to get some training in; otherwise I won't be able to prove to Inari that heroes still do exist."
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