Lincoln, Luna, Luan, and Sakura were sitting on the sidelines while they watched Tazuna and his men work on the bridge. Sakura yawned along with Lincoln as they were playing shogi. They were in the middle of a game as Luna and Luan were doing the same "Checkmate," Luan started with a smirk while Luna frowned

"That's the 3rd time in the row, dude, how do you do it!?" Luna asked while Luna crossed her arms

"I'm not telling,"

"Aww, come on, sis,"

"No way,"

"Aren't you four supposed to be watching over us?" Tazuna asked as he walked past the four with a steel beam over his shoulder "Where's that weird blond kid and that one with the attitude?"

"Their training with Kakashi-sensei in climbing trees," Sakura answered, "AND COULD YOU TWO STOP ARGUING?"

"Jeez, sorry," Luna stated with some annoyance while rubbing her ears

"Come on, we were only playing," Luan whined

"Oh really, and what exactly are you doing? Is it too tough for you?" Tazuna said as he set down the beam he was carrying. Sakura smirked with a shrug as she said: "N~o, in fact, I'm the best. That's why the sensei sent me here to guard you,"

"You're joking, I trust these three more than you," Tazuna replied as Sakura grew a tick mark on her forehead. She was about to shout at him when Lincoln said: "Checkmate, I win,"

"HEY! YOU CAN'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME LIKE THAT!" Sakura shouted as Lincoln placed a hand over her mouth

"Would you please be quiet?" Lincoln asked with a sickly sweet voice while a dark aura surrounded him. Sakura was scared as she nodded, but out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a worker walk up to Tazuna "Tazuna! I need to have a word with ya," the worker said

"Eh? What about?" Tazuna replied to the man

"Uh, the thing is... I've been thinking a lot about the bridge and after everything that's going on,"

"And?"

And, I think I've pushed my luck far enough... I want out,"

"YOU'RE GOING TO QUIT ON ME JUST LIKE THAT? YOU'RE KIDDING!"

"You know... I've stayed on this project because of our friendship, but I'm putting my life on the line every day I stay here. Gato and his brutes will show up eventually," stated the man as he looked over the horizon to his right while Tazuna glared at him "when they do, they'll kill you and everyone on it and the bridge will never get finished anyway. We need to stop now, Tazuna, while we can still get out with our lives," he continued as Sakura looked at the two. Lincoln and his sisters also looked at them while they set back up their games. As they continued to look at the two, Tazuna suddenly spoke: "No. Way. In. Hell."

"Huh?"

"This is our bridge. Out island is poor and it'll stay that way until the bridge connects us to the mainland! Commerce, trade, and hope! That's what we're building here!" Tazuna stated with pride in every word

"There won't be much hope once we're gutted like pigs at the hands of Gato's thugs!" shouted the worker as Tazuna clinched his fists hard enough to make his knuckles go white. Tazuna started to walk past him as he said: "It's already past noon... let's break for lunch,"

"Tazuna, let's not end it like this," the worker said as he watched him leave

"Save it! Oh, and Giichi, don't even bother coming back after lunch," Tazuna replied as he continued to walk away. Sakura and the Loud siblings watched this as Lincoln sighed and put away the shogi board and pieces "Come, Sakura, let's get something to eat," Lincoln said

"Uh, yeah, coming!" Sakura said as she helped clean up.

Hours Later:

In the middle of Wave, Lincoln, Luna, Luan, and Sakura were following behind Tazuna as the sun was setting over the ocean. As they walked, Sakura was looking around as she said: "Um, where are we going?"

"You wanna eat tonight, don't cha? Well, I gotta pick up some things for dinner," Tazuna said as she spotted a man walking by them with a sign that said 'Will do any kind of work'. Lincoln, Luna, and Luan watched a kid run off with a stolen loaf of bread and some links of meat "STOP! THIEF!" shouted a man as the kid rushed behind an alleyway. Lincoln put his hands behind his head as he looked up at the crimson-pink sky and sighed "Man, this place is a hellhole," he whispered as they passed two kids who were begging. Luna walked past them as she 'accidently' dropped some money by them and they picked it up without hesitation. She smiled a little as she joined back up the group. Luan noticed that Sakura was looking at everybody in sorrow as they approached their destination "Here we are," Tazuna said as he walked into the building. As they walked in they noticed that the shelves were bare and there was, by the looks of things, 9 carrots, 2 heads of lettuce, a potato, a green bell pepper, some bok choy, 4 radishes, and two celery sticks. As Sakura looked at the bare shelves in confusion, a man walked behind her and smirked. He went to grab the bag at her side when Lincoln put a hand on his shoulder "Excuse me? Would you please kindly not try to steal from my student?" he said as the man turned his head to see Lincoln's smiling face. But the man saw something else entirely as the smile Lincoln was putting on had some killing intent behind it, causing him to shake in fear. Falling to the ground as he tried to escape, he ran out of the building with a scream as Lincoln stood there, his smile still on his face "Wow, how did you do that?" Sakura asked as Lincoln turned to her

"It's nothing big, now what did you decide to buy, Tazuna?" Lincoln said as Tazuna already had purchased some items

"It's not much, but it'll do, now let's get back to the house," Tazuna said as the 5 left the building. It was a few minutes later on their way back when Sakura felt someone grab her pants. She made an angry blush as she turned around shouting: "HEY BUSTER W- huh?" as she did, she saw that it was a little girl wearing rags. Her hair was dirty and she was covered in dust and dirt. But the thing that caught her eye was her bright blue eyes. They were a shade lighter than Naruto's as she held out his hands "Please?" she asked in a hoarse voice as Sakura's features softened. She felt a hand on her shoulder as she turned back to see Lincoln with a soft smile on his face. Kneeling down, Lincoln grabbed the kids hands and placed a small bag of money and some food "Hide these in your clothes or else they'll get stolen," he whispered in the girl's ear

"Wow, thank you, mister," she said with a smile as she hid the bag and food in her clothes. Lincoln nodded as she ran back into the crowd of people. Standing back up, he turned around to see Tazuna had been watching "It's been like this since Gato came here, the children suffer and the adults are afraid to stand up to him," he said as Sakura was wiping a tear away "they've lost all hope... and that's why we need to finish the bridge. It'll bring commerce and trade, but most importantly the bridge is a symbol of courage! We must restore hope in our people! And when the bridge is finished people will start to believe again! They'll believe they can live with dignity and we can't let Gato stop us!" he spoke as each word resonated in their bodies

"No worries old man, you'll get the bridge done," Luna stated

"And live to tell the tale," Luan finished

"And that's a promise we intend to keep," Lincoln said as Sakura smiled

"You can count us in too," Sakura whispered as they continued their way back to the house.

That Night:

Everyone sat at the table as they dug into their food like wild animals "Hehehe! This is fabulous, it's been a long while since we've had so many guests at our table!" Tazuna said with a smile. As he said those words, at the same time, Sasuke and Naruto said: "I WANT SOME MORE!" as the two caught each other's eye and glared. But they couldn't for long as their faces turned green and they threw up "GAH! Oh man, you barfed on my cloak!" Luan said as she sneered at Sasuke

"HA HA! Sasuke's in trouble!" Naruto sang with happiness in his voice as a shadow loomed over him. He turned around to see Luna glaring at him as she cracked her knuckles "Don't think you're getting out of this alive, foxy," she said as Naruto cowered

"Urgh, guess I'll have to take this thing off," Luan said as she stepped back from the table. She took off her cloak to reveal black sweats and a dark yellow sweater. But what caught Sasuke's and Naruto's attention where how bouncy Luan's breasts were. As they stared, Lincoln grew a frown on his face as the two sensed killing intent "I would advise you two not getting any funny ideas, I would hate for Kakashi-san to have to report to the Hokage that two of his genin were killed in the middle of the night by a mysterious assailant," Lincoln threatened as the two whined like dogs. But what caught everyone else's attention... was the 6-pack on her stomach and her well-defined arms and legs "SHE'S RIPPED!" they shouted as Luan looked at them

"What?" she asked

"Y-you're stomach! It's a 6-pack!" Sakura pointed out as Luan looked down

"Huh, I guess it is... well, it's my body so who are you to criticize?" Luan asked

"T-that's not the point, Luan-san, h-how did you get that like?" Kakashi asked as Luan put her left arm on the table

"Oh you know," she started as she rolled up her sleeve to reveal more scars on her hands, each one tracing her fingers "I have my ways,"

"Whoa, what's up with that?" Naruto asked as Luan rolled up her sleeve

"An experiment that Orochi-teme did to me, let's just say I'm," Luan began as she placed her hands behind her head and flexed. Her muscles became more defined, but what caught the men's attention was the fact that her breasts bounced even more than last time "I'm piping hot!" she finished as Sasuke and Naruto were sent into the air with bleeding noses, while Kakashi and Tazuna were covering theirs up. Lincoln had an annoying look on his face while Luan could only smile while rubbing the bridge of her nose "Oh god, it's going to be a long night," she said as she walked away to change her clothes and wash Luan's cloak.

[Hope you enjoyed the chapter and sorry it took so long to make. But as for what's with the scars? Well, you're going to have to find out in the future, also go check out my new book 'Take Back Michigan'. It's only one chapter so far, but I'm working on it]