p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"strongDisclaimer: Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto./strong/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"In the South-West corner of the village, buildings crumbled under the assault of a large reptile. The attack had come without warning. The villagers did what they usually do, and for the most past had stood frozen in the street since the attack had started. It was a considerable time later, after more enormous reptiles arrived on the scene and the destruction of the central business area, that anything resembling a counterattack was mounted. Green clad ninjas rushed toward the giants knocking down many at the civilians, heedless of the damage they caused along the way./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""RAAWWRRR" The original and largest of the reptiles gave a thunderous bellow as it headed towards the Hokage tower. However, the roar quickly turned to an eep of surprise and pain as its tail became pinned underneath large rocks, pushed by ninja. Taking advantage of this weakness, the much smaller ninja began to attack the beast with pointy objects with even more gusto than before. Soon the reptilian began dramatic death throws, too weakened to withstand the assault any longer./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I sighed. He had always been a natural at this. I looked on in one part mourning, one part frustration and one part amusement as Sasuke and his plush dinosaurs continued to demolish the model of the village I'd made this morning to help form defense strategies should the village or rather when the village would one day come under attack. When he was younger, I'd had the same problem with my brother when it came to sandcastles. Given most of the model village was now demolished beyond repair I considered helping him out with his destruction until I felt a ninja approach./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I automatically tensed and then made a point to uncurl my fists. Could he give us no peace?/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Sasuke, enough. You should be inside completing your studies, not distracting Itachi from his training."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I watched Sasuke wilt under Fugaku's stern voice. He headed towards the house only to glance back, unsure whether it was more important to pick up his toys or to hurry inside. His hesitance left as he looked back at Tou-san's face and hescampered back inside./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I met his eyes. "You're too hard on him," I accused./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""There's another meeting on tonight at 21:00," he continued as though I hadn't spoken at all. "Don't miss it. Now I need you to go into town and pick up some tomatoes for tonight's dinner. It appears there weren't as many in the fridge as your mother thought. Daichi and Chikako are coming for dinner. Don't be late."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I squashed the impulse to look up at him in disgust. Neither of our parents even liked Daichi and Chikako Uchiha. Fugaku had arranged the dinner with the sole purpose of pandering to them to gain their support on new agendas he was trying to push on the clan. It may have had a chance with Daichi but Chikako was no one's fool, tonight's dinner would likely only make her even more alarmed and suspicious. Although she was one of the few adults in the clan I liked, I detested having to put up with these politics at dinner as well as clan meetings./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I headed towards the real marketplace, cutting through the park. Ninja and civilians alike gave me a wider berth than common practice as my chakra had a more malevolent edge than usual. The muscles around my eyes tightened and villagers began moving out of my way even quicker. Liking the results of my unconscious action, I decided to put an effort into portraying a lot of scary expression into my eyes in the hopes that this distasteful task would be accomplished sooner./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I finally reached our preferred tomato vendor and began to calm down as I began to pick through the produce. I suspected Sasuke had been sneaking tomatoes again when he thought no one was looking. I was then startled as I felt a sharp tug on my pants. Alarmed, I started to reach for my kunai, I certainly hadn't sensed anyone come up to me. I turned, my eyes landing on a small child tugging at my pants and relaxed. Well that somewhat explained why I hadn't sensed her coming. Like most children, especially civilian children, she had a small chakra signature. While most ninja overlooked the small signatures out of habit, I still felt disappointed in myself./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I paused as I gave myself a moment to take in the child. She had wide green eyes and a pink mop of hair. She appeared to be around the same age as Sasuke. I suddenly hoped the hand that had been tugging my pants wasn't sticky; Sasuke always seemed to get sticky hands and I hoped that the she would be different given that she was a girl. Her other hand clutched a teddy that looked like it had just come back from an S-class mission. A leg was missing and it seemed someone had glued a stick to its hand to use as a cane. And were those… teeth marks?.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Are you a leaf ninja?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Yes," I replied wondering where this was going./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Leaf ninja are our friends, right?" she asked./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I thought the concept was debatable but I guess the statement was good enough given it came from a young child who was taught that at elementary school. I nodded./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"She looked relieved. "I need help."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I then remembered that her earlier statement was taught to children in case they were in trouble. I frowned. She didn't seem incredibly upset. But then again I didn't even notice her presence earlier. Perhaps there had been a disturbance nearby that I also hadn't noticed. I cast out my senses, searching for anyone wishing ill intent. I didn't find anyone but perhaps she had seen something. After all, I knew from experience just how much adults could underestimate children. In fact sometimes some of the most important intelligence people got was straight from the mouths of children./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""What do you need help with?" I said, realizing I may not get the whole day off work after all./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"She put her foot forward and looked at me expectantly. "… Can you tie my shoelace?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I blinked… Shoelace? She wanted me to tie her shoelace? That's it? Clearly all the stress I was under was giving me an overactive imagination. Was I really acting like one of those paranoid war veterans who saw threats from every corner? I bent down and tied it for her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"She beamed at me. "Thank you ninja-san!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"It felt nice. It had been a long while since I had gotten such sincere thanks. Not from my father for the grueling hours of training I put in, not from the Hokage who asked things of me no one my age should do and certainly not from the opponents I met on missions who I helped give a swift, if painful shove into death's embrace. I smiled. Some may have thought this simple task was far beneath me given my skill level, but this is why I'd wanted to be a ninja in the first place, to help the villagers of Konoha, particularly the civilians./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Sakura it's time to go!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"The child turned as though it was her name being called. She scampered off after a tall, pale-haired woman. Turning around half-way there she called out, "Thanks again ninja-san," before disappearing into the crowd./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I turned back to the vegetable stall and finished paying for my groceries. As I headed home there was more of a bounce in my step than usual and I was far more prepared to endure dinner and the clan meeting than earlier that morning. As I sat at the table at dinner, watching Sasuke wolf down his tomatoe, Kaa-san commented that I seemed to be in a good mood. I simply nodded and wondered if I would run into Sakura again./p
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p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"Author's note: I'll end this here as a one-shot unless I can think of something suitable to follow. If there's interest in me making something more out of this let me know./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"P.S. Happy New Year Everyone!/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"In the South-West corner of the village, buildings crumbled under the assault of a large reptile. The attack had come without warning. The villagers did what they usually do, and for the most past had stood frozen in the street since the attack had started. It was a considerable time later, after more enormous reptiles arrived on the scene and the destruction of the central business area, that anything resembling a counterattack was mounted. Green clad ninjas rushed toward the giants knocking down many at the civilians, heedless of the damage they caused along the way./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""RAAWWRRR" The original and largest of the reptiles gave a thunderous bellow as it headed towards the Hokage tower. However, the roar quickly turned to an eep of surprise and pain as its tail became pinned underneath large rocks, pushed by ninja. Taking advantage of this weakness, the much smaller ninja began to attack the beast with pointy objects with even more gusto than before. Soon the reptilian began dramatic death throws, too weakened to withstand the assault any longer./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I sighed. He had always been a natural at this. I looked on in one part mourning, one part frustration and one part amusement as Sasuke and his plush dinosaurs continued to demolish the model of the village I'd made this morning to help form defense strategies should the village or rather when the village would one day come under attack. When he was younger, I'd had the same problem with my brother when it came to sandcastles. Given most of the model village was now demolished beyond repair I considered helping him out with his destruction until I felt a ninja approach./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I automatically tensed and then made a point to uncurl my fists. Could he give us no peace?/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Sasuke, enough. You should be inside completing your studies, not distracting Itachi from his training."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I watched Sasuke wilt under Fugaku's stern voice. He headed towards the house only to glance back, unsure whether it was more important to pick up his toys or to hurry inside. His hesitance left as he looked back at Tou-san's face and hescampered back inside./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I met his eyes. "You're too hard on him," I accused./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""There's another meeting on tonight at 21:00," he continued as though I hadn't spoken at all. "Don't miss it. Now I need you to go into town and pick up some tomatoes for tonight's dinner. It appears there weren't as many in the fridge as your mother thought. Daichi and Chikako are coming for dinner. Don't be late."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I squashed the impulse to look up at him in disgust. Neither of our parents even liked Daichi and Chikako Uchiha. Fugaku had arranged the dinner with the sole purpose of pandering to them to gain their support on new agendas he was trying to push on the clan. It may have had a chance with Daichi but Chikako was no one's fool, tonight's dinner would likely only make her even more alarmed and suspicious. Although she was one of the few adults in the clan I liked, I detested having to put up with these politics at dinner as well as clan meetings./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I headed towards the real marketplace, cutting through the park. Ninja and civilians alike gave me a wider berth than common practice as my chakra had a more malevolent edge than usual. The muscles around my eyes tightened and villagers began moving out of my way even quicker. Liking the results of my unconscious action, I decided to put an effort into portraying a lot of scary expression into my eyes in the hopes that this distasteful task would be accomplished sooner./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I finally reached our preferred tomato vendor and began to calm down as I began to pick through the produce. I suspected Sasuke had been sneaking tomatoes again when he thought no one was looking. I was then startled as I felt a sharp tug on my pants. Alarmed, I started to reach for my kunai, I certainly hadn't sensed anyone come up to me. I turned, my eyes landing on a small child tugging at my pants and relaxed. Well that somewhat explained why I hadn't sensed her coming. Like most children, especially civilian children, she had a small chakra signature. While most ninja overlooked the small signatures out of habit, I still felt disappointed in myself./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I paused as I gave myself a moment to take in the child. She had wide green eyes and a pink mop of hair. She appeared to be around the same age as Sasuke. I suddenly hoped the hand that had been tugging my pants wasn't sticky; Sasuke always seemed to get sticky hands and I hoped that the she would be different given that she was a girl. Her other hand clutched a teddy that looked like it had just come back from an S-class mission. A leg was missing and it seemed someone had glued a stick to its hand to use as a cane. And were those… teeth marks?.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Are you a leaf ninja?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Yes," I replied wondering where this was going./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Leaf ninja are our friends, right?" she asked./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I thought the concept was debatable but I guess the statement was good enough given it came from a young child who was taught that at elementary school. I nodded./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"She looked relieved. "I need help."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I then remembered that her earlier statement was taught to children in case they were in trouble. I frowned. She didn't seem incredibly upset. But then again I didn't even notice her presence earlier. Perhaps there had been a disturbance nearby that I also hadn't noticed. I cast out my senses, searching for anyone wishing ill intent. I didn't find anyone but perhaps she had seen something. After all, I knew from experience just how much adults could underestimate children. In fact sometimes some of the most important intelligence people got was straight from the mouths of children./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""What do you need help with?" I said, realizing I may not get the whole day off work after all./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"She put her foot forward and looked at me expectantly. "… Can you tie my shoelace?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I blinked… Shoelace? She wanted me to tie her shoelace? That's it? Clearly all the stress I was under was giving me an overactive imagination. Was I really acting like one of those paranoid war veterans who saw threats from every corner? I bent down and tied it for her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"She beamed at me. "Thank you ninja-san!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"It felt nice. It had been a long while since I had gotten such sincere thanks. Not from my father for the grueling hours of training I put in, not from the Hokage who asked things of me no one my age should do and certainly not from the opponents I met on missions who I helped give a swift, if painful shove into death's embrace. I smiled. Some may have thought this simple task was far beneath me given my skill level, but this is why I'd wanted to be a ninja in the first place, to help the villagers of Konoha, particularly the civilians./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;""Sakura it's time to go!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"The child turned as though it was her name being called. She scampered off after a tall, pale-haired woman. Turning around half-way there she called out, "Thanks again ninja-san," before disappearing into the crowd./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"I turned back to the vegetable stall and finished paying for my groceries. As I headed home there was more of a bounce in my step than usual and I was far more prepared to endure dinner and the clan meeting than earlier that morning. As I sat at the table at dinner, watching Sasuke wolf down his tomatoe, Kaa-san commented that I seemed to be in a good mood. I simply nodded and wondered if I would run into Sakura again./p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"Author's note: I'll end this here as a one-shot unless I can think of something suitable to follow. If there's interest in me making something more out of this let me know./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.1999998092651px;"P.S. Happy New Year Everyone!/p