A Lifetime Lost to One Encounter with Sasuke

"Ah!..."

After a piercing scream, the woman fainted, rigid as a board.

When Sasuke returned and saw that something was wrong, he immediately used Star Treading and killed the two Genin who had broken into the house.

The woman's reaction was perfectly normal.

But Inari's response surprised Sasuke.

Not only did he see no fear in her eyes, he even noticed a glimmer of hope.

What was going on?...

Sasuke found it strange, but then he remembered that Gato had already gone after Tazuna's family.

Team 7 was probably being held up as well.

So, without wasting any more time, Sasuke turned to Inari and asked:

"Did your big brother Naruto and the others go to the River Bridge?..."

Brief and to the point.

"Mm!"

Inari nodded.

At that, Sasuke turned to leave, but just as he reached the door, Inari called after him.

"Brother Sasuke, thank you!..."

Hm?...

Sasuke had no idea what she meant.

He stopped and turned around.

Inari's eyes were shining with even more hope.

Like a spark that might set the whole world ablaze!

Puzzled, he asked:

"What are you thanking me for?..."

He didn't think Inari, so young as she was, would be grateful to him for killing someone.

Just as he was wondering about it, Inari spoke excitedly in a clear, bright voice:

"Thank you, Brother Sasuke. You made me believe again in what Big Brother Naruto told me in private. Thank you so much..."

That only made Sasuke more confused.

"Did Naruto talk to you in private before?"

"What did he say to you?..."

Inari answered excitedly:

"Big Brother Naruto told me to work hard, and that all the good things I wanted would come true."

"I never believed him before. Even when those two bad men held Mom just now, I completely gave in to despair."

"But when I saw Brother Sasuke kill those two bad men with one move, I believed! If you work hard, you really can do it!"

"I'll work hard! When I grow up, I'll become as strong as you!..."

Her little fists clenched tight, flames seeming to flicker endlessly in her starry eyes.

She had thought Sasuke would agree with her and come over to affectionately pat her on the head.

Just like her father had when he was alive.

But Sasuke remained standing in the doorway. He sighed and shook his head.

"I know this will sound cruel to a child like you."

"But I still want to tell you what I really think."

"I don't agree with Naruto's way of the ninja. Working hard doesn't mean you'll get what you want. It depends on the person."

"Naruto can do it, but other people might not..."

Inari froze.

She had never expected Sasuke to say something like that.

A moment later, the bewildered look returned to her face.

Seeing this, Sasuke sighed and continued:

"I think your choices matter more than how hard you work."

"Only when you know what you want and work toward it can you gradually take your fate into your own hands."

"Otherwise, saying that hard work will make your dreams come true is just a way to deceive yourself."

"If a sheep works hard at eating grass, will it escape being eaten by a wolf?"

"Obviously not. But if a sheep grows sharp fangs and dares to fight, then given enough time, the day will come when it can change its fate of being eaten."

"Do you understand what I mean?..."

The reason Sasuke had suddenly said so much was that he felt sorry for Inari, a child who was trying so hard to improve.

She was like a lost lamb.

She wanted to find a way forward, but ran into obstacles at every turn. Her fragile heart was on the verge of breaking.

As for Naruto's talk-no-jutsu, he could keep it to himself!

For Naruto, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

After all, if things went the way they had in the original story, he would become the Seventh and achieve his original dream.

But what about ordinary people?

Inari wanted to stop being bullied, live a good life, and give Tazuna's family something to look forward to.

Was she supposed to let Naruto's talk-no-jutsu string her along for the rest of her life?

Or should she make her child spend their whole life fishing, hoping that someone like Gato wouldn't bully them?...

That would be like blindfolding Inari and making her wait like a donkey, day after day, until her whole life had passed her by.

Naruto meant no harm.

But wouldn't the result be that he was indirectly helping Gato?

"Choices matter more than hard work?..."

Inari stood where she was, repeating Sasuke's words over and over.

It was as though she had suddenly grasped something.

But it was like a dream butterfly, now near, now far, just out of reach.

Sasuke watched her and pondered for a while. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to leave her like that. He was afraid that, at such a young age, she might go astray.

So he waved his right hand, and a scroll flew over to Inari.

"This is a beginner's scroll on chakra control."

"If you want your family to live a good life, the first step is to take your fate into your own hands."

The scroll had come from the time he bought his ninja tools.

The shopkeeper had secretly slipped it into the sealing scroll to curry favor with him.

It wasn't much use to someone at Sasuke's level, so it had sat gathering dust in his sealing scroll.

Now, it was just right for Inari.

It was a chance to make a good connection. He expected nothing in return and only wished her well.

Holding the scroll, Inari stared down at it in astonishment.

After a long while, she seemed to come back to herself.

She looked up, but the handsome figure in the doorway had already disappeared.

Panicked, she felt as though she had lost something. She hurried to the doorway, cupped her small hands around her mouth, and anxiously called out toward the distant fog:

"Brother Sasuke, when I grow up, can I still come to Konoha to find you?..."

The moment her words faded, a young boy's still-childish voice drifted back from the fog.

"Little girl, the road ahead is long. I might not even be in Konoha by then..."

His voice lingered in the distance.

A tear slid from the corner of Inari's eye.

Though she was still so young, an inexplicable sense of loss welled up inside her.

Naruto's image vanished from her mind in an instant.

But Sasuke's face and voice stayed with her, impossible to forget.

"Brother Sasuke, when I grow up, I'll definitely come find you."

"Wait for me, Inari. I'll catch up with you, and someday I'll always be by your side..."

One sentence at a moment of confusion; one encounter with Sasuke, and she had lost her heart for life.

She could only regret that he had been born before her.

Lost in the fog, she thought of him.

Inari took off the straw hat on her head.

As two streams of tears ran down her cheeks, her long hair fluttered in the wind.

At that moment, she had grown up.

Everything seemed unchanged, yet in little Inari's eyes, it had all taken the shape of that boy.

Elsewhere.

"Your battle instincts really aren't bad, are they?"

Looking down, she saw Naruto clinging tightly to her legs, grinning foolishly. Who knew what he was thinking about?

Then Haku, behind his mask, wore a dark expression and shook his head in disappointment.

"I take back what I said earlier..."

She suddenly thought of Sasuke and wondered how two people could be so different.

One was a peerless genius, steady and composed, as if he had been tempered for decades.

The other was all smiles and laughter, acting like a foolish chuunibyou...

And that wasn't all. The two of them had even been placed in the same team by Konoha?

Just how many strings had that silly boy pulled behind the scenes?

With that thought, she came back to herself. Haku raised a delicate hand, sending several more Ice Needles flying toward the vital points all over Naruto's body.

This would most likely leave Naruto seriously injured.

But she knew he definitely wouldn't die.

And in order to finish the mission quickly and ease the pressure on Zabuza, she had no choice but to resort to this.

After all, by not killing Naruto beneath her feet, she had already shown Sasuke plenty of respect.