better left unsaid

Chapter 11: Unbreakable

Despite all that had happened, the day was not yet over. As a matter of fact it had technically just begun. The sun had just finished fully coming up signifying that it was still rather early in the morning. Even though Naruto wanted to stay with his teammates after discovering that they were still alive and in one piece after the fight with Haku he couldn't, at least Asuma said he couldn't.

Gato never knew that Zabuza had tried tailing them back to Tazuna's home, therefore his men were still to attack the bridge. If it was needed, Naruto, even being spent both physically and emotionally had to be there to assist them if needed. Asuma could hold down things alone at the house, all it comprised was him securely restraining Haku, making sure Ino and Shikamaru were actually okay, and making sure Tsunami and Inari were safe from anymore attacks.

With that thought in mind, and with knowledge of his objective, Naruto kept himself on the path towards the bridge hoping that his current physical deficiency due to battle fatigue, damage from Haku, and a lack of speed that was slowly fixing itself faster than he thought it ever should have wouldn't keep him from being useful just in case.

'I've still got more than enough fight in me if it comes down to it.' Naruto thought to himself as his feet hit the path again and again in his rush to the bridge.

XxX

(With Asuma)

Asuma returned to the house to find the front door cut down and thought back to the two men that Naruto had killed, 'Idiots…' As he walked inside he saw Inari crying in the corner of the living room only to have his wails silenced when Tsunami ran in and grabbed the young boy up in a hug. He let the two have a moment to themselves while he saw to his two students that had just seemingly come back from the dead, 'You two were very lucky.' He thought as he looked at the still unconscious Haku, 'Your opponent wasn't bloodthirsty and actually went out of their way to make sure you two weren't killed.'

After setting Ino and Shikamaru down in a room on two separate futons he tied up Haku and took her downstairs with him, setting her on the couch. Naruto had actually messed her up pretty badly in the forest. Her injuries weren't life-threatening, but she wasn't going to be any kind of threat until she got some treatment.

'The kid has no idea of what he even did.' Asuma thought, looking at Haku, 'He knows he won, but he doesn't know where that power came from, or that there even was a power. He probably thinks that was anger-fueled adrenaline if he's even thinking about it which I doubt.' He let out a sigh, he knew how things were supposed to go, but this was so narrow-sighted, 'Damn it dad, you should have let me tell Naruto, either that or you yourself. Do you really think he can go much longer without finding out about the Kyuubi? By the time Jiraiya-sama gets here like you planned something bad could actually happen. I trust the kid, but not that thing.'

"Thank you."

Asuma turned his head towards the stairs to see Inari looking at him, his eyes still puffy from crying not too long ago. Asuma let out a grunt "For what? I wasn't the one that saved you mom kid. You should thank the little blonde guy when he comes back. He's the one that found her and beat the guys that took her. In one move too."

Inari thought of Naruto, the guy that he had pissed off and had gotten to berate him the other day. That was the guy that had saved his mom and beaten those two scary guys with the swords, in one move? "How?" Inari asked Asuma. Naruto couldn't have been that much older than him, "How did that guy fight against those thugs like that?"

Letting out a sigh, Asuma walked to the stairs to head up and see how his genin were doing, "Well Naruto has a few problems himself, pretty big ones. You lost your father, well Naruto never knew either of his parents. In fact, people in our village don't really like Naruto at all. A lot of people see him as useless, or something they'd like to just forget exists. How would you like that? For people to try and deny the fact that you're an actual person and you exist just like they do?" Inari shook his head, "You probably can't imagine that because you've always had people that are happy to see you and love you, people to protect you. So you see, Naruto has more of a reason than you do to cry."