Naruto: Forgotten Prodigy

Chapter 17

(Scene change - Tazuna's house)

As tears started to fall from his eyes at the selflessness of his mother, Inari couldn't help but feel powerless as the two men shrugged and advanced on his mother.

Falling deeper into despair, Inari had flashbacks to his times spent with his mother, grandfather, and Kaiza. Then it flashed to the words that Naruto left him before he left the house that night.

Gritting his teeth and steeling his resolve, Inari stood up before he charged the two men that had his mother in their clutches, ignoring the taller of the two men unsheathing his sword.

"INARI!" Screamed Tsunami, seeing that her son was about to be cut down even after she bartered with her own life.

"Have fun in hell brat!" The man said as he swung at Inari, aiming to cleave him in two.

But the strike never came, the sound of flesh being cut didn't resound and instead the sound of metal against metal screeched violently throughout the house.

Everyone stopped, Tsunami and Inari tearing up at the sight of the newcomer while the men however, froze in fear. His Sword of Justice blocking the strike intended for Inari, Naruto stood firm, his eyes freezing the very soul of the man in front of him.

Before anyone could say anything, Naruto swung and sent the sword in the man's hand flying before slamming the flat of his blade against the back of his head, a sickening crack resulting from the blow.

Seeing his partner get beaten down so easily, the shorter man quickly brought his sword up to Tsunami's neck in a desperate attempt to seize control of the situation.

"Don't you fucking move! If you do, her neck gets cut open!" He screamed, his eyes wide in fear and anger. Seeing that Naruto had stopped, he smirked before barking out his demands.

"Good, now drop your sword and put your arm out to the side. Do anything else and she gets it." He said, edging the blade closer to Tsunami's neck to prove his point.

Naruto did as he was instructed but he confused the man when a small smirk appeared on his face.

"The fuck are you smiling about! I said that you do anything else an-GWAAAH!" He didn't get to finish his statement as Inari smashed his groin with a brick. While his attention was focused solely on Naruto, he never noticed that Inari was slowly inching his way towards him and his mother.

Letting go of Tsunami and instinctively reaching down to cover his groin, he didn't notice that Naruto had reached his side until his world went black when felt a sharp metal connected with the side of his head, then they heard a thump.

The thugs dispatched with, Inari and Tsunami embraced each other, tears streaming down their faces at the brush with death that both had experienced. Eventually, they stopped when Naruto approached the two, his face still blank.

But slowly, a small smile came to his face as he reached out and ruffled Inari's hair softly. "That was a very brave thing to do Inari. Ignoring your own safety to save your mother. That was a right thing to do, that action is what something can hero could do." Naruto said as Inari's eyes went wide as he looked at him.

"Re-Really...?" Inari timidly said, still in disbelief at what the teen had said.

With a smile filled with love and pride, Tsunami hugged Inari tighter. "He's right Inari, you did something that a hero would do."

Removing his hand from Inari's head, Naruto quickly told the two to find someplace safe to stay, telling them that a battle is definitely going to happen before he ran to the bridge.

Staring at the back of the teen, Inari gained a determined face before he nodded and ran towards the center of the village, his mother quickly chasing after him.

As Naruto was running he saw the village were on fire, he saw his clones already dealt the problem, now he rushed towards the meeting where he and Tazuna 'planned'.