Watching the clouds above me drifting peacefully in the backdrop of the blue sky has always been a soothing feeling that empties my mind from all the world's problems. Sometimes I wish that the world could stop forever, that way I could remain in this blissful state of relaxation.
"Jin!" screams my aunt, "This is no time for you to be sleeping in the middle of the day. Get your lazy butt here this moment before I drag you here."
I sigh. Three days we have been travelling on foot and still the hidden Leaf Village is nowhere to be seen. My legs are giving in but I need to carry on, otherwise I will probably get another earful scolding.
I get up and pick up my luggage. It appears that we still have a long way until we reach the hidden leaf village. To make matters worse, I have to carry the bags of my cousin Aiko too. One day, I dream of leaving this miserable life and live a life of luxury and opulence. That is how the main character of one of my favourite novels (the novel is quite old, very few people must have read it), a girl named Emi who is born in a life of misery but by sheer luck stumble across a magical wishing well that grants her most deepest desires.
The novel is of course much deeper than that but that's the basic summary. Now thinking about, I could amass my wealth from selling my painting to the highest bidder since there is no way I could ever come across a wishing well to begin with. Who am I kidding, my whole being belongs to my aunt. I am practically bound to her for life.
"Jin, stop daydreaming. You are slowing us down. If we keep up this pace we will turn into fossils by the time we reach the leaf village." Aiko says while giving me her glare of death.
"Sorry, but I am carrying so much stuff! If you could just take your fair share of the bags, it will help a lot." I snap back, regretting the words once they got out.
"You selfish brat!" she says, "You seem to have forgotten that you not part of my family, you little wrench. My family feeds you, clothes you and provides a roof on top of your head and this is the thank you we get? You know full well my bones are weak, so I cannot lift heavy stuff."
I roll my eye, the same excuse again. Aiko always says she has weak bones when she is too lazy to do any chores that are laborious. And my aunt buys into it. It's not like I wanted to live with aunt's family but my mother and father were killed so I had no one else to go to.
My aunt's family consists of Aiko (her daughter), Hideki (her son), and her husband who insists I call him Uncle.
Hours go by as we walk this endless road and there, from a distance, I can see signs of civilisation. The Hidden Leaf Village, we made it. A guard greets us as we make our way past the gate. The first thing I notice is how big the village is. Shops are seen everywhere and there seems to be large number of people. I heard from travellers coming from the Hidden Leaf village that the ramen is to die for. Unfortunately, I am broke. I better get a job soon because I know my aunt will never give me an allowance.
We arrive to our new apartment, a three bedroom. While it is not large and not furnished, we can do best from what we have.
"You kids go and explore the village, I am sure you can't wait to see around" says Uncle smiling.
Aiko and Hideki run outside and just as I am my foot is about to touch the outside, "Jin stay!" says my aunt.
Apparently I have to unpack the stuff and clean up before I leave. If only I could find a wishing well, all my problems will be gone. Sigh. By the time I finish, I only have two hours left before sunset then I must make sure I back at home.
Since I am not in the mood of exploring the village now, after all I spent hours travelling here and on top of that I had to help out with chores while those two lazy cousins of mine were outside. I just hope I do not bump into them.
I take out a book from my bag to read and it's titled 'The Journey to The Eastern Lands', the scholar who I bought the book from said it was good. The forest should be a nice quiet place to read a relaxing book. I hope I do not get lost. I quickly get settled down under a tree and open the book.
"This has got be the right tree, Sasuke!" a loud voice breaks my focus on the book and swings to where the noise originated from. "Look, the map has marked it here precisely."
A blond haired boy, seemingly around my age, jumps up and down to express his sense of accomplishment. I wonder why he is so excited about finding one tree in a forest.
"Naruto! You made us come all this way for just a tree. You going to pay!" screams a pink haired girl at him, seemingly furious you could swear that steam will come out of her ears soon.
"But…this tree is special. An old man sold me this map for quite a bargain and told me that this tree can grant a wish." Naruto says, seemingly unfazed at the rage of the pink haired girl.
"This is a waste of time." Say Sasuke
"No it's not, Sasuke." Naruto retorts to the other boy who is with him.
A tree that grants wishes? I am afraid that Naruto must have been conned by the old man. I feel bad for him so I guess at least let me have fun with this idea. This is great time to use my genjutsu just one my time. I remember my previous sensai telling only to use it when necessary. You see, I have some basic knowledge about the arts of ninjas but I am still an amateur. My aunt and her family do not know about this and I intend for it to stay that way.
But what I excel in is genjutsu for some reason. I'm certain I can play a little prank on this guys. Just for giggles. Now let's have some fun.
Out of nowhere, the tree forms a face. The trio looks stunned.
"What the…?" says Naruto, his mouth wide open. "Oh, powerful tree, please grant me my wish. My I have the most delicious bowel of ramen you can make?"
Ramen? Well that seems like a strange request but by using genjutsu I could pry into his subconscious where I am sure it knows what Naruto loves in ramen and just amplify that in this dish.
"Very well" the tree says.
A large bowl of ramen appears before their eyes. They all instantly get taken into this mouth-watering dish, the ramen smell so delicious. Just as Naruto is about to dig in, a dagger hits the tree. Wrapped around the dagger is a seal that breaks my genjutsu. It sends a shock to my head. Ouch, that hurts. The bowel of ramen vanishes in front of their eyes and the face on the tree to.
"A genjutsu, but how? I should have detected it." says Sasuke, seemingly puzzled.
I guess this my queue to leave.
"You there!" am man appears in front of me. What is most notable about him is his white hair and that headband of his covering is one eye. I cannot afford to get in trouble. My aunt is going to kill me for this.
"Sorry about this, I was just fooling around. I had no intention for harming you guys." I plea, it was just an innocent joke.
"A genjutsu that even I did not detect? You must be highly trained, and since you not from here I think you a spy." Sasuke looks dead straight at me.
"Espionage is a punishable offence you know. So be honest, who sent you." Asks the white haired guy. Gosh, espionage, that is pretty steep for just fooling around. "I better take you to the Fifth Hokage."
Great, now I am totally screwed.