Little Ghost

The group kept training until the sun sank toward the horizon. Golden afterglow spilled over the cliffs and the sea, tinting everything with a layer of warmth.

Duanmu finally managed to carve a complete, stable Flying Thunder God formula mark into the rock. Though the light was faint and lasted only a very short time, it was undoubtedly a huge step forward.

He let out a long breath. Stinging pain throbbed through his fingertips, and his mind felt a little drained, but excitement shone in his eyes.

Naruto and Sasuke finally made breakthrough progress too.

After countless failures and attempts, Naruto, relying on that stubborn refusal to give up and the potential that occasionally erupted from him, somehow stumbled into the trick of chakra control. Though his movements were still clumsy, he could finally steady himself on the tree trunk and inch upward one step at a time.

His face was smeared with dirt, and sweat slid down his cheeks, dripping onto his collar and leaving dark stains, but he grinned, flashing a brilliant smile as he lifted his chin smugly at Sasuke above him on the tree trunk. "See that, Sasuke?! I climbed up too!"

Sasuke had already climbed to a height close to Sakura's. Hearing Naruto's shout, he only snorted coldly, but his gaze still flicked involuntarily toward Naruto's position, secretly surprised by the guy's perseverance.

His chakra control was clearly a complete mess, yet he could always burst out with astonishing potential at critical moments.

Sasuke took a deep breath and refocused his attention beneath his feet, carefully continuing to climb upward. What he had to do was not just climb up, but climb faster and higher than everyone else.

When they returned to Tazuna's house, the group was still excitedly discussing their training. It was then that a child walked out.

This was Tazuna's grandson—Inari.

"It's useless. No matter how much you train, you can't beat Gato." Inari's childish voice carried a heaviness that did not match his age, like a pebble dropped into a still lake, instantly freezing the noisy atmosphere.

He stood at the doorway of the wooden house with his arms crossed. The sunset's afterglow stretched a long shadow behind him, and his small face was full of stubbornness and distrust. Yet in those clear eyes, there hid the same worry as Tazuna's, even with a bit more of a young boy's directness and resentment than the old man had.

The smile on Naruto's face stiffened. He had just snapped out of the sense of accomplishment from training, and this sudden bucket of cold water left him a little dazed.

He strode up to Inari and frowned slightly. "Hey! Brat, what are you talking about? We're Konoha ninja. Protecting Mr. Tazuna is our mission!"

"And we've already gotten really strong!" Naruto stuck his neck out, trying to hide the slight wavering in his heart by raising his voice. "That Zabuza or whatever—we already fought him before!"

But Inari met Naruto's gaze without backing down, his little face full of contempt. "Fought him? You obviously got beaten so badly. If you hadn't been lucky..."

"What did you say?!" Naruto flared up at once. What he hated most was having his strength questioned, especially by a kid who looked even younger than him. He stepped forward and clenched his fist. "What do you know?! Fighting is—"

"Naruto!" Kakashi's voice rang out at just the right time, carrying a trace of seriousness that was hard to detect. He walked forward and gently pressed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, stopping the anger that was about to erupt.

After saying that, Inari ran off without looking back.

"What's with that kid?" Naruto stomped his foot angrily, staring at Inari's retreating back, his face full of grievance and confusion. "What right does he have to say that about us? We've obviously been training so hard!"

Sasuke's brows also furrowed slightly. Inari's words were like a thorn, stabbing into his heart.

He understood that sense of powerlessness, and he also understood that the worry in the other party's words was not entirely unreasonable. They had indeed been at a disadvantage in their first clash with Zabuza. If not for Teacher Kakashi stepping in on time, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Tazuna sighed. Duanmu knew he was about to tell them about Inari's adoptive father, just like in the original story, but Duanmu did not want to listen, so he found an excuse and went out.

Duanmu came to the seaside, and from afar, he saw Inari standing on the shore in the wind.

"Yo, kid." Duanmu greeted him as he walked over.

When Inari heard Duanmu's voice, he hurriedly wiped his eyes. "I'm not some kid. I have a name."

"Yeah, yeah, Inari." Duanmu went along with him and sat down on a reef beside him, looking toward the surging waves in the distance. "Actually, you were right. We really aren't strong enough right now."

Inari abruptly raised his head, as if he had not expected Duanmu to say something like that. He had already braced himself to be refuted and scolded, just like he had been with Naruto earlier.

"That man called Zabuza is far stronger than us." Duanmu continued calmly, his voice made a little hazy by the sea breeze. "Teacher Kakashi can suppress him, but the rest of us are indeed still lacking. That previous fight involved a lot of luck."

He did not defend himself or his companions. He simply stated an objective fact. Instead, that made Inari's tense body relax slightly. He lowered his head and unconsciously kicked the sand beneath his feet with his toes.

"Gato... he's a demon." Inari's voice was a little hoarse, carrying a heaviness too much for a child to bear. "He has lots of bad people like Zabuza under him. My dad... my dad died because he refused to bow to Gato. They killed him."

By the last few words, his voice could not help choking up, and his small shoulders trembled slightly. The gentle sunset light fell over him, but it could not drive away the gloom between his brows.

Duanmu watched him silently without speaking. He knew that at this moment, any words of comfort would seem pale and powerless. Some pain did not need sympathy, but to be understood, to be seen.

"The adults in the village all say Gato's forces are too powerful, and that resisting him only means death." Inari sniffed, trying hard to make himself look stronger. "Grandpa hired you, and I'm really happy, but... I'm even more scared. Scared that you'll end up like Dad too..."

He did not finish, but Duanmu already understood what he meant.

That heavy worry was like a boulder pressing down on the young child's heart, making it impossible for him to easily believe hope existed. He armed himself with coldness and doubt perhaps only so that, when he truly lost something, it would hurt a little less.

"Inari." Duanmu turned his head and looked seriously into his eyes. Those clear eyes were brimming with tears at this moment, yet stubbornly refused to let them fall. "I can't guarantee that we'll definitely defeat Gato, and I can't say we won't encounter danger. In the world of ninja, there's no such thing as absolute safety."

Inari's gaze dimmed, as if even the last faint glimmer of light had gone out.

"But," Duanmu changed tack, his tone carrying a firmness that brooked no doubt, "we are Konoha ninja. Since we accepted Mr. Tazuna's commission, we will do everything in our power to complete it. We will become stronger—strong enough to protect you, strong enough to make Gato pay. Not by relying on luck, but with our own hands and our own will."

He reached out and gently patted Inari's back, his movement carrying a steadiness that did not quite fit his age. "Your grandfather is a brave man. Even though he's always putting on that shameless act, his heart carries the future of the entire Land of Waves. And we will help him protect that courage."

Inari stared blankly at Duanmu. The sunset light outlined the young ninja's profile clearly, and there was not the slightest wavering in those calm eyes, only a certainty that put people at ease.

The sea breeze brushed Duanmu's hair and also blew away the gloom that had gathered in Inari's heart. The tears he had been forcefully holding back finally slid down. This time, however, they were no longer made entirely of sorrow and despair.

"Can you... really?" he sniffed, his voice thickly nasal, but with a faint thread of hope that had not been there before.

Duanmu did not answer directly. He only raised a hand and pointed at the sun in the distance, about to sink beneath the sea's horizon. "Look. The sun sets every day, but the next day, it always rises as usual. Darkness may cover the night, but light will always come. What we're doing now is making that light arrive a little sooner."

He stood up and patted the sand from his clothes. "Let's go back. Your grandfather will be worried. And tomorrow morning, you'll see us stronger than we were today."

With that, Duanmu turned and walked toward the wooden house. Inari stood where he was, watching his back, then looked at the brilliant sunset clouds on the horizon. His small fists quietly clenched at his sides. Perhaps this ninja from Konoha was right. Perhaps there really would be hope.