Second Chance

Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Training and Meetings
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The next day at the bridge builder's house was a quiet one as the tension between the two jonin could be felt. Kurenai was still not pleased with the tongue lashing that she had received in front of the genin or the way that Kakashi had pretty much accused her of trying to kill her team. Kakashi on the other hand was trying to control his temper and not light into the woman again and in front of a lot of civilians this time. This was truly no time for them to be fighting and the last thing they needed was for anymore animosity to be seen between them and be used by the enemy later. As the genin walked downstairs they looked between the two jonin and groaned. Sitting down and thanking Tsunami for the meal Naruto waited a few minutes before speaking up.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei? What are we going to do now? We have no idea where Zabuza is or what condition he is in. Furthermore we still have to deal with Gato and whatever else he has in store plus there is the matter of not inconveniencing Tsunami any further as it is not easy to keep up with one growing shinobi let alone four and two fully grown. The last thing I want to do is leave them without after the mission is done because of our presence." His question caught the jonin off guard and knocked him out of his glaring match with the genjutsu mistress. Even Tsunami had been startled by the question and the amount of consideration that the blonde had put into it concerning her family.

"Well I intend to do a little training with all of you so that you are better prepared for what is coming. We could scout out the area and try to find Gato's location. From there we will be able to tell whether or not Zabuza is with him close by or not. If Zabuza is not close by to Gato and there seems to be little resistance in regards to other shinobi present then we could raid Gato's base and shut him down quickly. If there are other shinobi in the base or Zabuza is nearby then we will have to return and brainstorm some more." He replied. Tazuna and Tsunami were staring at the group as if they were insane. Storming Gato's base with or without shinobi there was suicide with the amount of guards and people he had working for him.

"I want to raid Gato's place anyway. I think that he is somewhat known as a collector of rare things that he may be able to tempt people to work with him for. Like jutsu scrolls, famous weapons, things like that. I want to know if he has anything that belongs to my family." Naruto replied piquing Kurenai's curiosity. Kakashi appeared to be in deep thought when Inari stood up abruptly catching the occupants of the room off guard.

"Why? You'll just die anyway! It's pointless!" He snapped. Naruto shook his head in sadness.

"I'm sure that you felt that way when you were learning to walk, talk or read. 'It is to hard, it's pointless. It'll never work' however you never gave up on those things but you would give up on living freely without fear of walking outside? Why? Those other things are trivial when compared to the value of human life." Naruto retorted making the boy glare before running off. Tsunami groaned and looked over at the ninja.

"Sorry about him he has been like this for awhile now and it is only getting worse."

"No need to apologize, he is grieving and depressed. As things are now I can see why as well. However, he is forgetting the things that he has that many other people in the world don't have. He has food, even if it is scarce at times. He has a roof over his head. A warm bed to sleep in and a loving family around him. He is merely overlooking the important things because he can't see past the grief of whomever he lost." Naruto said making her eyes widen. Sasuke nodded in agreement and looked out the window.

"It's true. He does have things that a lot of people would kill for. Both literally and metaphorically. People have killed over beds, homes and food before. People have killed families for things that they had no control over and they have killed for no reason just to spread the suffering. He is a very lucky person. However, he is letting that grief consume him and when that happens you can lose yourself and become someone that you will hate later when it is all said and done. The grief that a person feels can make them do things that they otherwise would not have been able to do or thought that they could bring themselves to do like murder or lash out and hurt loved ones in anger." He said sadly remembering how the old him hadn't even tried to comfort the boy despite knowing better than anyone how much it hurt to see your father die. He never did forgive himself for that after Naruto knocked some sense into him. Tsunami stared at the young boys before her and she could see that their eyes held wisdom far beyond their years. She couldn't even imagine what had happened to them to make them so insightful on the subject.