At a modest, and humble ramen stand in Konoha, a group of children gathered as they leaned forward on their mismatched stool, wide eyed, grinning and yelling over each other. This group of mischief is none other than Ashira, and his goons.
=Ashira POV=
"Go faster Choza!!! I bet three months of my allowance on this, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna lose it to Ashira of all people." Pleaded Inoichi, his scream like music in my ear
Ah sweet victory, It's so close I can almost taste it. It tastes oddly like pork, and miso soup though… Actually that might have been the ramen I'm eating, but I digress.
Inoichi might not have known this, but only a buffon would bet against Kushina in any form of competition involving ramen. A foreknowledge that I took full advantage of. "Oh how I pity you Inoichi, and I pity your wallet for having such a foolish owner too."
Looking over at me with tears in his eyes, Inoichi questioned with a betrayed undertone. "You knew, didn't you… you, and Shika you both knew, and swindled me for it."
A tired voice came out of my cousin as he sluggishly slurped on his ramen "Tch, don't drag me into this. You should know by now that one should never bet against Ashira. The dude is crazy."
Rude, but true… I've done worse to win some of our bets.
"This is so silly, why would anyone enjoy betting their hard earned money on something out of their control." Tsume asked from our side, her hand gently caressing a small black puppy with patches of white fur while it fed itself on the bony ramen broth. Kuromaru, a new addition to our group of gremlins after Tsume was old enough to receive her ninken
Man it looked so soft, not as perfect as Mr Buttercup, and Katsuko of course, but few are. Too bad the fuckers bite anyone who's not Tsume…
Shaking my head and tutting at her, I lectured condescendingly. "Oh sweet summer child, It's all for the thrill of course. Humans are irrational beings. We love the excitement of not knowing. Think of it this way, why bother playing a game you know you are going to win?"
"Yeah he's off his rocker again… ignore him Tsume." Shikaku scoffed, rolling his eyes at my very valuable life lesson.
A thud interrupted our conversation as Kushina slammed her now empty bowl on the wooden stall
"Bah that's so good, dattebane!!! Neh Nii-san you make the best ramen in the world."
The stall's owner, a young man with narrow eyes, and generic features grinned at her, face flushed clearly flattered at her compliment. "Hahahaha, I'm happy to hear that young Kushina, would you like another serving? It's free after all since you just beat the last record."
Kushina shook her head as she crossed her arms in an X, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, before patting her slightly inflated stomach. "No it's ok nii-san, I'm on a diet right now."
B*tch you just downed your one hundred and tenth bowl, what do you mean you're on a diet. Also how is your stomach still so small? Where did all that ramen go?
Sweatdropping at this, I was about to speak out before being interrupted by a loud thump sound as Choza himself fell out of his wooden stool, a half finished ramen bowl still remained on the stall.
"Ra-ramen… so much ramen."
The ramen guy turned toward Inoichi, before giving him a wry smile. "That's an impressive count of 92 bowls. Sadly young Choza did not beat the record set by young Kushina here so it won't be free. You're paying for him right?"
Inoichi nodded tearfully as he reached his hand into his pocket, pulling out a wallet, and with great reluctance, handing him a stack of ryo. Turning toward me with pleading eyes, Inoichi did a full on dogeza. "Ashira dono—no, Ashira sama, please have mercy on this poor soul, and let me default on this debt just for a mont- no a week is enough. I'll work extra hard at my mother's flower shop just to pay you back."
Ok even I'm starting to feel bad at this point… Sighing in resignation and pity, I placed my hand on Inoichi's shoulder
"It's all good buddy, You've already paid for it enough with how much money you lost from Choza…"
Well that was a mistake, I thought, as Inoichi launched himself toward me, rubbing all his tears, and snot over my shirt.
"Damn it, Teme!! Mom just bought me this shirt, get away from me you dolt."
On the side, my friends all watched our spectacle with snickers on their faces, offering no help whatsoever. Traitors the whole lot of them, except for Choza of course, dude is deep in that food coma.
The ramen guy muttered with a nostalgic smile. "Ah youth."
After some great efforts to extract myself from the crybaby, I sat down on the stool to finish my ramen, completely oblivious to the ragged, and beaten figure of Inoichi on the street. Good riddance, Konoha is so dangerous, even a clan heir is not spared from getting mugged anymore… What a shame.
Tutting and shaking my head, I felt a poke to my side, as I turned to face an excited Kushina "Neh Ashira, are you joining me later for Mito sama lesson?"
Ah, lady Mito fuinjutsu lessons, those are always fun, and relaxing.
"Sure, why not, Although I have something in like half an so I'll see you there at around 6?"
Kushina nodded her head as conversation flowed from there, and before long I was bidding goodbye to my friends and walking toward Elder Hanabei's home.
__________________________
"You know, when I agreed to this whole hobby thing, I certainly did not expect us to be painting…" I said, looking at the breathtaking view of the sunset against the backdrop of the Nara forest.
Lining up my thumb against the already setting giant ball of flame, I closed one of my eyes to get a better view for my painting. Dipping my bristle into the ink, I brushed gently against the paper canvas, moving, and adjusting as I went before nodding in satisfaction at the finished product.
"Decent, your stroke is a little too strong on some lines, but other than that, it's an adequate painting." An elderly raspy voice came from behind.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence old man.
I said, rolling my eyes, as I turned to see the perpetually stern and stoic elder Hanabei. His lone eye gazes back at me, seemingly searching for something before dropping it.
"If you are going to do something, do it right—"
"Else don't do it at all." I finished his sentence, my voice mimicking his as I stroked my non-existent beard. "I know old man, You've told me that Sage-knows how many times already."
"Yet you refuse to listen—" Hanabei whispered out before he shook his head, and started walking away. "No matter, let me ask you this, child. Why do you think I've asked you to take up a hobby alongside your shinobi's training?"
Now that's an interesting question, one I've been asking myself many times before. Say whatever you will of Hanabei, but the guy's not the type to do things for no reason. Plus the old man hates inefficiency like a cat hates water.
Dropping my stuffs into my shadow, I trotted behind the old man in contemplation before replying, uncertainty tinting my tone. "So that I have something to do to relax? Why would I know?"
Hanabei hummed to himself before looking up at the sky, the last strands of sunlight catching the edge of his gray hair and long sleeve.
"That's partly true." He said at last. "But not the whole reason."
I waited, hands in my pockets as I stared curiously at his back before Hanabei spoke.
"Tell me, Ashira," turning back to me, he looked, really looked this time, as he stopped, his lone eye gazing into my soul. "How many veteran shinobi do you think break mentally after every battle?"
I frowned not getting where he's going with this. "Not a lot? They are veterans for a reason…"
"Mm, one would think so. " He hummed, then slowly shook his head. "But no, for you see, it's not the pressure that breaks a man, not the battles, not the killings. No it's the silence that came after that truly does it. Even a seasoned ninja of a hundred battles could break on his one hundred and first."
Hanabei paused, his lone eye drifting toward the gravel path ahead.
"People think a shinobi's strength is in their chakra, or their bloodline, or the numbers of jutsu they have learned. But strength, true strength is up here—" he tapped against his temple. "And it is more fragile than most want to admit."
I saw it then, his lone eye, it spoke a thousand words without needing to say one. It pinned against me like I was a naive child, ignorance of the wicked way of the world.
"A hobby keeps your hands busy when your thoughts try to bury you," he went on. "It doesn't matter if it's painting, gardening, writing stupid poetry—something, anything, find that one thing that reminds you you're a person first, and a shinobi second."
He turned, and started walking.
"So paint, Ashira. Even if you're bad at it."
I scoffed as I followed.
"I thought I was decent."
He snorted. "Don't push your luck."
__________________________
Walking down the empty stone path cutting through a thick forest toward the Senju clan compound, hands hanged loosely on the side, I stared up at the darkened starless heaven above. My mind, still preoccupied with what the old man said.
I suppose he's right, a blade sharpened too quickly can also be too brittle, and a shinobi without anything to keep him grounded can be as easily broken as a glass vase.
Just take the future Sannin for example, Tsunade had her gamblings, and Jiraiya had his questionable conducts, and novels. It was only Orochimaru who's without his own vices that fell to the darkside in his obsession in chasing immortality.
It would be foolish of me to think myself any different. Kekkei genkai or not, incomplete foreknowledge or not, I would still die when my heart stops beating. Besides, I enjoyed painting. Everytime I held a paintbrush, I felt it pulled me in like a person high on drugs.
Familiar faces flashed through my mind as I thought about all those I love, and wondered. How would I turn out if all of it was burned to the ground?
A chill crawled down my spine at that thought before I stopped abruptly underneath an ordinary oak tree. There, on one of its branches layed a bundle of thin bright red hair. The kind that could be mistaken for wild roses at first glance.
Shunshinning onto the branch, I held the thin lock of hair closer, as I examined it. Only two people I know in Konoha have this kind of hair, and it's not father's since it's too long, and soft to be his. Bringing the small bundle closer to my nose, I took a light sniff.
Hmm, lavender, and a hint of inky earthy smell. Yup it's Kushina's alright, the question now is what is this doing here?
Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I peered deeper in the forest. There, three dozen feets away at the end of another branch, on another tree, layed the same batch of long thin red hair fluttering lightly in the wind.
Taking a step forward, I dropped down the tree's branch before sinking myself into the shadow, unaware of an insignificant bug perching itself on a small leaf.
Darkness colored my view, before bright light returned as I rose out of another shadow onto the second branch that held Kushina's hair. From here, I saw another batch of red amongst a sea of green, this time five dozen feets away from where I'm standing.
Yup this confirms it, I thought as an event came to mind. It was blurry now, the memories of my past life. I wrote down as much as I could of course, but considering how I stopped watching Naruto as soon as the war arc began, and all that I know after that were from hearsay, and spoilers, my canon knowledge might not be perfect, but it's close enough. Plus I did remember a kidnapping involving Kushina. Not the exact time of course, but I know it happened, and that it involved Kumo-nin.
On, and on I went, shunshining from branches to branches to save chakra, as I followed the breadcrumbs left behind by my friend, worries marring my face.
This shouldn't even be possible. Not to mention her close relation with the Senju's matriarch, Kushina is Konoha's only jinchuuriki candidate, there should have been safeguards from both the Hokage, and the Senju sides. Hell I myself sensed at least half a dozen anbus hidden everytime we went out together. Yet the fact remained that she was kidnapped, and not even a single trace of battle, so far from what I've seen, was left behind.
Eyes widened in surprise, I stopped at the sight of the flickering orangish light from a campfire in the distance.
Breathing in, I tightened my hold on my chakra coil, suppressing my presence before dropping into the shadow, appearing behind a bush not too far away from the campfire itself to a sight of 4 dark skinned, blonde men, and 1 light skinned one, all wearing kumo nin uniform, laughing and cheering around a bonfire. On the side is a bound, and gagged Kushina, with tears marring her eyes, and a resigned expression on her face.
"Haha what did I tell you brothers. My intel is one hundred percent legit. Once we get out of here, we might be able to live like kings for a while." Barked one of the muscular blonde men, with a long scar running from his cheekbone to right under his eyes, as he looked quite satisfied with himself.
"I've never doubted you for a second, Toru. What do you think the Raikage will reward us for this?" The second kumo nin questioned, patting Toru's back.
"It doesn't matter to me. As long as I can have a taste of the girl, I'll be happy." The third one barked out looking lecherously at Kushina.
Fire filled my veins then as I felt myself holding against the rage that came just as fast as it went. Hanabei once said that a good shinobi should never be at the mercy of his emotions. If I let rage control myself now, I'll just unnecessarily risk Kushina's life further. So with every ounce of willpower that I have, I patiently waited, while slowly reaching toward my shadow.
"In your dream man!!! She'll be a broodmare alright, but only those with kekkei genkai, or are sufficiently powerful jonins will get their dicks wet. Second class chunin like us will probably only get some high rank jutsu as payment." The fourth kumo-nin sneered, biting down on his ration bar.
"What do you think Yoroi? Will the Raikage let us fuck her?" The third kumo nin asked, sneering at a scrawny feminine build man with bright blonde hair in stark contrast to the rest of muscular guys in the group.
"I do-don't presume to know Raikage sama's thoughts" Stuttered out Yoroi, looking quite cowed at the attention he's receiving from his teammates.
The rest of the kumo nin scoffed, disregarding the scrawny man entirely before their conversation flowed, as they ate, and shared drinks.
Meanwhile I patiently waited, and just as the last of them fell asleep barring the scrawny man to stand guard, I launched a bundle of 5 kunais, all wrapped in explosive tags into the shadow, before sinking myself down into the liquid shadow.
Not even a second passed, before the kunai that I threw launched out of another shadow at the center of the group of kumo nin, as I myself rose up from Kushina's own shadow startling her in the process.
I quickly grabbed her with both arms, as I sent about five percent of my chakra to my legs, and jumped. A deafening explosion rang out behind that sent dirt and debris flying, as I felt the heat searing my back, and burning my shirt lightly.
Landing on one of the sturdy tree branches, I studied the aftermath. The smoke slowly cleared as out limped the figure of the Kumo nin that was called Toru. half his flak vest gone, right eye melted to slag, flesh charred black from thigh to shin. But the man was not done.
Toru screamed with a primal roar, dragging his broken body through the dirt with nothing but hate and adrenaline fueling him. His eyes bloodshot red as he looked at me with murder on his mind.
Before I could finish the job with the senbon hidden in my teeth, a blade came out of Toru's heart, impaling the man, and draining the life out of his eyes.
"Well well well, We went looking for gold, not knowing it's a diamond underneath. How fortunate." A voice came out of the smoke, as the figure of Yoroi walked past his comrade's corpse, yanking his blade free, and swinging it sideways to flick off all the blood.
Except it wasn't Yoroi as his skin and clothes suddenly melted, as some kind of inky liquid dripped off him in oily streams, revealing a pale skin man with brown bowl cut hair beneath the disguise.
"Greeting young Ashira, I've heard a lot about you. My name is Dai, and there is someone who's just dying to meet you."
AN: Ello, long time no see huh? Well I had an actual reason this time. After my cousin left, I got hit by a sudden inspiration of sorts that left me busy for the whole week writing a new story. Then I took some antibiotics that one of the doctors gave for my gut health or smth I don't know. That knocked me out of commission for a like a whole another week… Anyway here's the chap, and I'll also be posting a refresher of sort to help y'all remember the story. Other than that, I just want to say thx for reading my stuffs.
Also shameless self promo, go read my other fic. https://questionablequesting.com/threads/a-song-of-dragons-and-chaos-asoiaf-and-the-witcher-isot-x-over.33222/#post-10741665
It's an Asoiaf isot into the witcher verse near Kovir and Poviss. Check it out if y'all are interested.