Was just playing Red Dead 2 when this idea came to mind. So as you can guess this will be a heavily influenced Red Dead story. First Story. Rated M for swear words
Muhōmono
" Haru you hear Konoha went to shit with the tailed beast attacking." The man sitting around the campfire said poking his food that he was eating. The man had hazelnut brown hair braided together to form a ponytail going down his back. He had sharp features with long eyes brown to match his hair. With a sharp nose and defined cheekbones. With some scruffle slowly forming on his jawline. The man was very attractive and could have passed as an actor.
"No, who you've been thinking of getting us all the food you so gladly been eating and not leaving the rest of the stew for." A boy in his teens bit back as he saw the man taking big spoonfuls of stew. The boy had messy platinum hair that looked like a rat nest. He had green eyes with thin eyebrows framing the eyes. Dressed in a small travel cloak to protect himself against the colder weather.
"Whoah what got you so upset. It must be that ankle injury, you must be suffering from Chakra withdrawal." The man joked smiling as he displayed his pearly white teeth. "But in all seriousness, you hear that the yondaime hit the hay. Bastard deserved it for what he did to the stone."
"Yeah and I was thinking that we could take advantage of that weakness and make some more ryo." Their boss interrupted, as he made his way to get some of the leftover stew. "With their defenses weakened, the museum will be wide open. We infiltrate the village, steal some Konoha artifacts, then leave." Their boss a tall man with dark blue hair with blue eyes to match his hair. He was clean-shaven with a scar crossing his lips and scar stating on his neck and disappearing under a black travel cloak.
"Yes, and getting the attention of Konoha is just what we need. Another village chasing us. Is the Mist not enough for us." Akio argued back looking Kana straight in the eyes. "We'll be tracked down and killed in months if we do that."
"I know but it is a risk we must take. Our Kunai have become dull, our clothes are battered and ripped. We won't survive another winter like this." Kana defended bringing up some reasonable points. Both men have long abandoned each their stews fully focusing on the argument and both men not backing down.
"Well, I think I'm going to go to Asa to get for him to mark me as fully healthy. I'll let you two come up with a solution to our money crisis." Haru announced interrupting the argument.
Before either of the two people could respond Haru was walking away from the fire. Taking the long way he walked over to the wooded area of the camp. Haru loved nature and everything in it. The various colors you could find, the life you could find, and how everything depended on each other. The beautiful flowers blooming during the summer and the different leaf colors during the fall. Everything was peaceful and he loved peace. Too bad the shinobi world would never achieve peace. Coming out of his thoughts he looked up and saw a deteriorated door and a seemingly abandoned shack. Giving the door a couple of hard knocks and hearing the door groan on each knock
"Be right there," a low voice from the inside answered. The sound of glass trinkets being stashed away and the scrawl of a pen, soon followed by light footsteps until they stopped at the door. The door was opened and a man bald with no hair peaked his hair out. Silver glasses resting on a long nose and a small beard framing his hollow cheeks. When he looked down and saw Haru his eyes light up and a small smile formed on his face.
"Oh, Haru it's good to see you." The doctor greeted looking up and scanning through the woods behind him. An old habit Haru thought before quickly inviting himself in. "Quite eager you are to see." The man laughed seeing the way the boy invited himself
"Well, the less time we waste, the more time we have to do something productive." The boy responded making his way over to one of the chairs sitting against the wall.
"Some wise words, I know two people who could use some of that advice. Asa responded gesturing outside to the two grown men having a drinking contest down in the camp. "Benjiro and Denji do know how to waste their time." The man chuckling to himself before moving to Haru to evaluate the ankle.
"Any soreness or stiffness in the ankle area." The doctor questioned as he moved Haru's ankle from side to side watching for a reaction.
"No"
"Any trouble walking." This time rotating the foot clockwise and counterclockwise trying to hear a click. Hearing no click the doctor moved on and headed back to his desk to jot down some notes. "Well, then that ankle should be all nice and healed. Just go easy on it tonight and don't try to overwork it. Well, that's everything you're fully healed and you're cleared for battle."
Haru making a noise of acknowledgment before getting up and making his way to the door. Turning around Haru asked, "Why couldn't you just heal me with the mystic palm technique."
"A good question my boy, when you use the mystic palm to speed up the process of healing. The bones or any affected tissue come back weaker than before because they are not healing the right and full way. Our bodies aren't meant to heal that fast but with Chakra, it can heal that fast. So to make up for the time the bones grow weaker or the tissue grows weaker because the body can't keep up with the healing. So our bodies basically do the bare minimum to keep up with this extended healing factor. The doctor answers smiling at the young boy's question. Returning back to his work when he saw the boy turn back around and open the door.
"Thanks, Asa," Haru replied opening the door and making his way out of the little shack. Following the trail leading to the main campfire where Kana and Akio both still deciding on what the gang should do next. Their hit on mist 2 months ago went extremely successful only Haru got hurt with a broken ankle. The money they made from stealing the gold heist was running out and soon they would have nothing left. With winter fast approaching they needed a new job to last them through the entirety of winter. The best opportunity for money was stealing the artifacts from Konoha and would if successful would be the biggest heist yet. Haru guessed they were going to go after the Sword of the Thunder God created by Tobirama Senju and some of the artifacts in the museum. Stealing the Scroll of Seals would be suicide because of all the protection it has surrounding it. While the Sword was in an easier location and had less protection surrounding it. But it was just all a guessing no confirmation had been made yet.
Haru making his way to his cabin passing Benjiro and Denji having an arm-wrestling match to see who was the stronger man. Both over their fifth bottle of whatever alcohol they could get their hands on. Benjiro winning after a 1-minute stalemate making the score 51-50 Benjiro in the lead. Passing the two men and soon finding his door he opened hearing a loud creak and looking inside. This location was the best spot they ever found in his time with the gang. Hearing the sound of crickets as he would fall asleep on the hilltop. Making his way to the nightstand to grab his journal and a pencil to bring out and sketch the night sky. After grabbing them he found his way out the door and following the trail up to Asa's house. Passing Asa's house hearing muttering and pencil writing on paper. Soon followed by the clink of glass as he put it on his desk. Making his way to the top of the hill and finding the spot where he usually lies down on.
"I wish I could be one of you guys shining in the sky. No problems to worry about, just standing in one place looking down on me. Oh, what a peaceful life you guys must-have." He mutters as he pulls out his little notebook and starts sketching the night sky trying to capture the beauty of the moon. The mystery of the moon. Where did it come from? What is it made of? All questions that couldn't be answered because the moon was untouchable. The twinkling stars numbering in the thousands in the sky looking down on the Elemental Nations. How could one thing be so small yet but shine so bright? All questions forming in the young boy's mind that will never be answered in his lifetime. He finally finished his sketch calling it "The beautiful night sky" and setting his journal down and putting his hands behind his neck. Setting his eyes to the sky and gazing up at the wonders of the galaxy.
"Did you take my goddamn pants Benjiro? If you did you'll never be able to use those goddamn legs." One man yelled down from one of the cabins in the camp.
"No, I didn't take no goddamn pants of yours. You probably lost it because youse was drunk and probably buried them knowing your dumbass." The now identified Benjiro yelled back. You probably lost your pants after having a little temper tantrum after losing that arm-wrestling match." Their yelling match waking up everyone in the camp and alerting any nearby walkers of their presence.
"I've had it with you two. All you two are argue and shut up." Kanna yelled storming out of his cabin and heading into each cabin. Each cabin giving out a scream followed by a whimper as Kanna stormed out of each house and making his way back to his cabin.
Haru would never miss the aftermath of a drunken match between the two men. Always yelling at each other and Kana always there to give out his divine punishment. He would always love the gang. Each gang member would always have their fellow member protecting their back in tough situations. And having that trust in each other makes them the strongest gang in the Elemental Nation. Better than any other ninja village could hope to achieve sending fellow ninja to death. A Kage sending a squad of ninja on a suicide mission just to make some extra money. No ninja caring about each other and only caring about being powerful to fill their own greedy desires. Such a despicable world. Groaning as he got up making sure to stretch and hearing the bones in his back pop and crack from sleeping on the hard ground. Then slowly making his way down the hill and getting breakfast that was cooking.
"What up squirt, woke up from that beauty sleep of yours," Denji jibed gazing around the area looking for Benjiro, who he knew was hiding from him. Nervous from the beat down Denji was about to give him he quietly snickered to himself.
"And I see that you lost that little contest of yours," Haru remarked while grabbing a bowl and the scooper to scope some leftover stew from yesterday. Glancing at the man currently scanning his surroundings quietly snickering to himself.
"Huh, I didn't lose. I just took pity on Benjiro because he lost all of the previous nights we played." Denji shot back, stopping his snickering and looking Haru straight in the eyes. "I shouldn't hear you talking Mr. Broken Ankle, owie Kana my ankle's broken can carry me back." Denji fired back smiling dangerously at Haru before suddenly digging into the stew.
"What did I just hear? Did I hear that you let me win? Benjiro interrupted walking over to the fire they had from his little cabin." I didn't think that you let me win after how hard you bawled your eyes out after that lose." Benjiro mocked grabbing his stew and sitting next to Denji while slipping some of his stew on Denjis hair.
"I did not cry after I lost," Denji growled while getting the stew out of his hair and flicking it to Benjiro who simply ignored the gesture and continued his mocking.
"Oh you totally did, right when you lost you got up and flipped the table spewing some curses. Then you turned around and fell flat on your face and started crying like a little baby." Benjiro whispered in Denji's ear moving in circles around the currently nonmoving man. But before Benjiro could react Denji's stew was in his face and was being tackled to the ground by Denji. Before any fighting started Kanna arrived on the scene picking them up and putting them back on their seats.
"Wasn't that just a lovely scene?" Asa exclaimed chucking to himself as he grabbed a bowl of stew and starting eating it. Kana and Akio soon followed grabbing a bowl of stew and sitting down on the remaining logs left around the campfire.
"Me and Akio finally decided on the plan last night." Kana paused eyeing everyone in the group making sure he had everyone's attention. Continuing, " We both think that the best option we have right now is attacking the leaf village and stealing the Sword of the Thunder God and some artifacts from the Konoha history museum. The Sword of the Thunder God is very valuable and not as well protected as it should be. Kana explained looking around for any complaints any of the men had.
"How are we going to break in and steal the things will all the Anbu guarding and protecting it." Haru argued.
"Well the plan, if everything goes right, is to set a bunch of oil jars all around the city with bomb seals under the constructs of the buildings and blow them up at night. Once they blow up we'll all combine our chakra together to make fire animals to go throughout the city causing terror."
"Well Shit, with that stunt right we're going become Konoha's most wanted." Denji whistled out interrupted Kana who glared at him.
"After we steal the goods we'll store them into the sealing scrolls and go into the Land of Iron to hide out in the mountains for a few months to let the attention wash over before someone else pisses off the leaf. The money from the artifacts and the sword will at least for a year and we're one step closer to those bounties being paid off.
"Damn I don't like the plan but with winter coming and our money getting low I guess this is our only chance of surviving." Benjiro proclaimed voicing everyone's thoughts on the matter.
The Yondiame is seen sitting at the desk of the Hokage. Few injuries are visible on the man only some bandages wrapped around his hand. Also in the room are six other people sitting in various seats of the room. The Hokage is having a meeting conversing about the problems in the village. The economy of the village is at an all-time low with the recent Kyubi attack. People sleeping in the parks, the streets, in alleyways anywhere there was space to stay. And the lead being on lockdown to stop any other foreign villages from exposing the now weak Konoha. The only thing that is stopping other countries from attack is the Uchiha clan and the status of the Yondaime. The Hokage hasn't been seen in public since the Kyuubi attacked. And people are starting to spread rumors of the Hokage being dead. Next week, the Hokage will give a public appearance to calm the anxious citizens. The devasting attack on the village will be marked down in history. To show what happens when a tailed beast escapes its prison. But that is not the center of discussion, the center of attention is the Hokage's son.
"Minato I hope you now know that Naruto's life now is not going to be an easy one. He is going to face many challenges and trials now that he is a jinchuruki. Don't get me started on if he doesn't want to be a ninja." The Grandfatherly Hokage voiced out looking out at the hospital still standing after the attack. Before turning his attention to Minato his predecessor.
" I know but it was my only choice. If I didn't do that more of the village would be destroyed and the casualties increase even more." Minato replied, looking up at the ceiling of the office. The lack of sleep causing eye bags under his eyes. "It was my only choice," Minato whispers turning his gaze to the Sandaime. "That or even more of the village being destroyed while I looked for a suitable child." Everyone in the room knew the sacrifice Minato made. "Danzo I don't agree with what you did. Ordering one of your men to sacrifice his life to save mine, but I must say my thanks. I don't think I would ever forgive myself for leaving Naruto in this world. Minato looking up and staring Danzo.
"No need to thank me. I did what was right by keeping the guardian of the leaf alive," Danzo replied holding Minato's gaze and giving him a soft smile. "But for the safety and well-being of your son, we should keep the sealing a secret. Only telling high officials of the sealing and when you deem him ready you tell him. Let him grow up and experience a normal childhood before becoming a ninja."
"It seems that grandchild of yours made you soft Danzo." Hiruzen joked lightly trying to ease the tension in the group.
"Perhaps," Danzo letting a small smile form on his face turning his eyes over to the Uchiha section of the section.
"Well, onto our next topic, Obito Uchiha, what should we do with him." Minato interrupted catching Kakashi's attention from his daydreaming. Kakashi was anxious he knew Obito was not in the right mind when he committed the atrocities. But he still committed them, killing shinobi and innocent civilians and almost killing his sensei. Kakashi knew that Obito could be saved with time. So when the time finally came in the meeting to talk about Obito he knew what he had to do.
"Sensai we should keep him, you said he was docile and you removed his seal." Kakashi defending his old teammate. " He's a good person you just said the seal Madara put on him was making him do stuff he didn't want to do." Kakashi's eyes sweeping over the reactions of the people gathered in the room: Danzo Shimura, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shikaku Nara, Fugaku Uchiha, and Minato Namikaze. Gauging their reactions.
"If this is true and Obito wasn't acting on free will then he will be a good and powerful ally to the village," Hiruzen stated, stroking his beard appearing deep in thought."But he must serve at least some punishment for the crimes he committed." Hiruzen looking Kakashi in the eyes "No matter who is sticking up for him,"
"For the punishment, Obito will be banned from any shinobi activity for 2 years. In those two years, under full Anbu watch, he will work from eight in the morning to eight at night repeating the process until the two years are up." Fugaku Uchiha spoke up for the first time in the meeting gaining multiple nods of agreement. "I think Kakashi since he is defending a boy who killed thousands in one night and to also repair a broken friendship." Finishing looking straight at Kakashi, sporting a slight smirk going unnoticed by all except Kakashi.
"What you can't do this! I don't deserve this. I'm only defending a fellow shinobi, what about the will of fire." Kakashi pleading to the group, eyes frantically moving between Minato and Fuguku.
"A fellow shinobi who killed thousands of civilians from their own village." Shikuku coughed out earning an annoyed glare from Kakashi still trying to get out of the punishment. Kakashi still trying to plead his case to the group hoping to be excluded from the punishment he doesn't deserve.
"Enough Kakashi, you will be doing it. You are the only one that was close to Obito and your job is to keep him stable." Minato interrupted ending the argument.
Kakashi stops pleading and gives his sensei a betrayed look and becoming quiet letting the meeting continue again.
"But Obito, if he is on our side will be a very good ally for the leaf to have." Shikuku pointed out.
"Well that's everything," Minato announced clapping his hands together and watching everyone leave the room first the elders then Shikuku, and both Fuguku and Kakashi leaving at the same time.
Minato putting his head down resting them on his arms and closing his eyes to get a little nap. Only to open them once more when his door opened again and his wife Kushina walked in. Kushina with her tomato hair clipped to the side with a braid and her red hair flowing down her back. She had a sickly appearance with her skin pale and her hair losing some of its shine but otherwise as healthy as a horse. She approached him and put her arms around her husband laying her head on his shoulder.
"Do you want to go see our little boy Naruto?" She whispered into his ear, still hugging her husband from behind.
"Yes I would love to see our little boy," Minato whispered back slowly, getting up from his seat and turning to his wife. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and the married couple soon made their way down to the infirmary to see their little boy.
Further down the hall, Kakashi is following Fuguku through the halls trailing closely behind the man.
Turning around, "Kid you deserved that for what you made me put up with. Arguing with the clan elders and some of the clan members because they wanted your head on a spike because they thought you killed Obito. Fuguku explained rubbing the bridge of his nose while looking down at Kakashi. "So no hard feeling." Fuguku turned around before disappearing in a tornado of leaves.
"So no hard feeling." Kakashi mocked walking down the halls itching to grab his book that he so wanted to reread again to quell his dangerous thoughts.
Danzo loved his family and loved having one. He knew that if his younger self would have never wanted this. His only goal used to be wanting to be Hokage until he met his wife Akina Uchiha. The moment he laid eyes on her, he fell in love with her. She was perfect, a strong kunoichi, and beautiful. Apparently, it wasn't the same because she declined every date but one day agreed, probably out of annoyance. But after that date, everything blossomed and soon they found love in each other. Hokage was replaced by love and Danzo soon became a family man. After that Danzo told Hiruzen about Root and Hiruzen allowed them to join Anbu. So instead of Root having only loyalty for Danzo they now had loyalty for the village. Root was later abandoned, so now the village has only one elite group now.
Shortly After the abandonment of Root, his wife became pregnant with their baby. The baby was soon revealed to be a boy and watched as his wife's belly grew and became bloated. When the time came and her water broke, he never knew he could be so nervous. But when the baby finally came out and he was able to hold it. He started crying tears of joy looking down at the black hair and the mix of features the baby shared between him and his wife.
Danzo never knew he could be as proud as he was when seeing his boy grow up. This was different than raising a genin squad or training a new anbu member and seeing them flourish, This was the proudness that stemmed from love. As he grew up and enrolled in the academy to become a ninja he met the young Araken Sarutobi. They soon became best friends and rivals just like their parents were.
Soon his boy graduated from the academy and joined a genin squad. Soon unlocking his Sharingan on his first C-rank mission.
His reflection was interrupted as his friend Hiruzen was waving to him to join him. When he walked over to the restaurant Hiruzen was waiting for him by the door. Inside both families were talking over lunch and soon were joined by the two grandparents. Danzo could never be prouder of his boy.
Kakashi always wondered what a good shinobi was like; he always thought that good shinobi followed orders. Until Obito came along and changed his perspective on what a good shinobi is. Kakashi dearly missed Rin and Obito and wished both of them to come back to him. Until one of them finally did come back and he was right next to Kakashi. He would always protect Obito no matter the cost. For the first time in a while, Kakashi was finally happy. His sensei and his wife survived fighting one of the most dangerous tailed beasts in the elemental nations but giving birth to their kid Naruto. His former friend seemingly rising up from the dead is sleeping next to him.
Whoever rescued him did a good job healing all of Obito's side when he was crushed, the crushed side being replaced by some kind of skin that looked exactly like human skin but scars looking like wrinkles covering his whole face and body. The ninja must have also been very strong to train Obito to be able to control a tailed beast and match up against the Hokage. Only having 4 years to train him and the amount of control he has over his Sharingan leads him to believe that it might be a former rogue Uchiha.
But Kakashi would wait until Obito got up and be able to answer his questions. In the meantime, Kakashi will watch over his slumbering friend waiting until the day when he wakes up. It shouldn't be that long before he wakes up because the doctors are healing him from the damage he took when Minato forcefully removed the seal influencing his thoughts during the battle. But the hospital in Konoha is the best in the Elemental Nations with the best doctors in the world working here too.
When Minato was to clean up the failing hospital by retrieving Tsunade and returning her to the village. Under Tsunade's guidance, the hospital bouncing back just after a few months of Tsunade working as the head doctor. Tsunade quickly whipping all the doctors and nurses back into shape and having more people join to have the opportunity to train under Tsunade. With improved funding from the Hokage the hospital could expand however it wanted and quickly turning into a hospital with the most up-to-date technology and resources. Soon getting sick patients all around the world coming to Konoha to treated. With more people coming to get treated the Hokage decided to have people start paying for their treatment. A small fee of 500 ryo to get a check-in and heal a broken bone or damaged tissue. But if the issue was big, Konoha would charge you for how long you stayed in and the treatments you received. Making the hospital a business that would further expand Konoha's booming economy.
Kakashi deciding to take a little break from watching Obito and stroll around the hospital to stretch his tight legs. Making his way through the white sterile hospital hallway wondering when Jiraiya was going to be releasing his next book. He loved the man's books wondering how he got some of his ideas. Always getting a bloody nose imagining some of the more explicit scenes he describes. Pulling out his favorite orange book and quickly skimming through any pages that interested him. But sadly no page popped out at him. So thinking of something else to do he figured that maybe little Naruto could use a visit.
So Kakashi made his way down the very exciting hospital walls that will somehow always give him the creeps. Eventually finding a map of the hopsital and directions to the NICU. Following the directions of the NICU, he quickly found his way into the hallway. Walking down the hallway until he found Naruto's name on one of the doors on the last door of the hallway where no one visits. Opening the door and walking inside finding both his sensei and his wife Kushina looking down at their baby through the door. Turning around when they hear the door close behind Kakashi both of them walking up and greeting him.
"Kakashi, so nice to see you, I've been so busy with everything I didn't have the time to come around to pay you a visit." Kushina beamed while making a grab for Kakashi's cheeks before being quickly swatted away. Giving a pout Kushina gave up and only went to ruffle his hair.
"You know I hate it when you do that." Kakashi exclaimed still trying to swat away the hands that kept trying to grab his cheeks.
"That's why I keep doing it. One day you will miss the hair ruffling or the squeezed cheeks." Kushina giggled before dropping her hands and returning to the wall to stare at her son."You know, soon I'll be able to take him home and feed him and play with him and." Kushina breaking into tears as Minato quickly moves over to Kushina comforting her. "I'm just so happy we're having a family a real family the three of us."
"I'm happy too but we only just have to wait a little longer. The doctors just have to finish up the tests to make sure everything's fine. Minato comforted whispering into her and holding her while she cried into his shoulder.
Kakashi respectfully keeping his distance from the couple letting them comfort each other. Peering over their shoulder finding Naruto sleeping peacefully in the little crib they have him sleeping in. The hair just like his sensei's but at the tips of the hair was the color red. Kakashi didn't know that possible to have two opposite hair color combine like that. But there is always a first time for everything. Moving his gaze down towards Naruto's face, his face was mixed with both of his parents. Each contributing one of their features to his face.
"Earth to Kakashi, Hello anyone in there?" Kushina asks waving a hand in front of Kakashi's eyes up and down. Before finally giving up and knocking on his head earning a small chuckle watching the scene with great amusement.
" Ow lady, what the hell was that for." Kakashi moans rubbing his hand on his forehead.
"Get over here before I beat you for using such foul language," Kushina reprimands. "Come quick while Naruto has his eyes open."
Kakashi quickly making his way to the glass window peering in before Kushina could get any madder. You never ever want a mad Uzumaki. Looking down into the eyes of Naruto and meeting a sapphire blue. Just like his sensei's eyes a beautiful blue. The baby of two of the strongest ninja in the village with other family friends ready to help the young boy with anything. Before the boy was even born he was destined for greatness.
Every time the gang traveled to fire country, Haru loved it. He loved all the green that surrounded him, the endless forests, the temperature, and loved the sound of all the birds. Fire country was the best country out of all of the other countries but fire country had the most powerful hidden village. If the yondaime was still alive then they had the most powerful man alive sitting in their village If he was still alive then this robbery is going to be a lot harder and will probably even fail. All of the Uchiha clan walking around seeing through any genjutsu, making it impossible to do a chakra-enhanced disguise. All the other hard hitters like the Sannin and the Sandaime Hokage. But nothing ever came easy in this world, you either take or die.
The group was walking along one of the main dirt paths leading to the village to avoid suspicion and to try to keep low profile. The group just crossed the border of fire country after walking for 3 days and was in one of the four major forests in fire country.
"Hey Kana, can we take a break, my feet are killing me," Benjiro complained to his boss grabbing his feet and trying to soothe them the best he could while waking. It was not a pretty sight to see.
"Yeah, we've been walking for 12 hours straight with these backpacks on our backs. Why do we even need to carry backpacks we're shinobi." Denji chimed in trying to get a little breather.
"We carry the backpacks to make it seem like we're not shinobi and we have to make it out of this forest before we can take a break. If we camp up in this forest then we're going to look like Shinobi." Akio explained looking back at the two men complaining ." Besides you need this to lose all the weight you two gained from pigging out at the last camp."
"Not my fault that we didn't take any missions and sat around all day," Denji growled out under his breath.
"Well, that was to keep a low profile to help the mist anbu off of our trail." Asa explained looking back at both Denji and Benjiro trying to soothe their calming feetl Cracking a small smile.
"The next inn we come across we will take a rest before we start on our trail again," Kana spoke up for the first time not even bothering to look back at the two. "Look at Haru, I don't see him complaining even though he is half of both your ages."
"Well, that's just because he's probably getting off by the thought of plants." Benjiro snickered looking at Haru who was studying the plant in his hand.
"Look at him, he looks like he's about to cream his pants because of that plant." Denji mocked before both men burst out laughing.
"Laugh it up, this plant is rare. A rare plant means money. More money means better equipment. So laugh it up all you want, I'll be making more money than the both of you at the end of the day.
"Oh, little man defending his plant. What a brave act," Denji teased.
"Help me Haru my beloved I've been captured by another human. He brought me to his castle where he plans to marry me because he loves me so much." Both men continued to make fun of Haru, while Haru just ignored their teasing.
After the group left the forest they eventually found a village called Taiyo village. The village was known to have a big marketplace located in the middle of the village. The village had some shinobi posted around the perimeters of the village. But those ninjas were probably only chunin rank because this village does not make its money from missions they make it from the huge marketplace in the middle of the village. When the group entered the village they were greeted by the smell of food and loud chatter from the people walking around. The main road led down into the marketplace where dozens of vendors set up shop selling a variety of things to nearby tourists walking by.
The other roads that led down were where some shops and restaurants were located. In Front of the main road was a map of the village and a directory of where to go. Soon the group was going their different ways, Haru exploring the village, Denji and Benjiro looking for women, Kana and Akio both heading towards the inn in the village.
As Haru made his way down the main marketplace where he was looking for a vendor to sell his plant to. He could see Benjiro and Denji heading into one of the roads on the left and hear them yelling boisterously.
"Bunch of idiots, we're not supposed to be attracting attention to ourselves. We're supposed to lie low." Haru muttered to himself, continuing to walk down the street. Buying things that caught his eye like this fish covered in crumbs and fried. It wasn't that good. It was too salty. He liked just plain fish with no sweetings. Caught straight from the stream, and cooking fresh over the campfire.
After sorting his way through all the people and checking out all the vendors. He eventually found his destination, a doctor's office. The plant he captured was a rare one that is used as painkiller medicine and there is a high demand for it right now. When he opened the door a little bell went off alerting the secretary sitting at the desk of his arrival. The secretary with green curly hair and green glasses to match her hair. She had a narrow facial structure with an upturned nose and brown eyes.
"What can I do for you honey." the woman said her eyes crinkling as she gave out a warm smile.
"Yeah, I was wondering if I could sell this lavender plant to you," Haru replied to the woman and seeing her smile wide even more and seeing her eyes twinkle.
"Yes, Sweetie you can but those aren't that much, probably only 250 ryo because they aren't that useful." The woman explained looking down at the child with a sad smile still having the twinkle in her eyes.
"Please we both know that is a lie. The lavender plant shortage has plummeted and is very rare now because of the third shinobi world war. So I'm going to decline and offer a fair offer of 10,000 ryo for this plant." Haru bit back seeing through the secretary's lie and knowing that she was trying to scam him.
The secretary bursts into laughter" Honey these plants are very common, the best we can is 350 ryo. So that will at least let you buy some toys that you can bang together."
"My offer still stands at 10,000 ryo, if you don't take it then I can surely take it to another doctor's office and sell it there for probably even more." Haru bluffs getting up and making his way to the door. But before he can leave the secretary stops him.
"Hold on wait, you got me there. I'll buy it from you, just let me talk to my boss about the purchase." The secretary yells out before going to the backroom to confer with her boss about the purchase.
Haru starts making his way over to the seat with a grin on his face and sits down. The secretary shortly comes back to her desk bringing some money with her.
"How much ryo you want." The secretary bites out bitter that she could not get her way.
"12,000 just for making it harder than it should have been." Haru grins even more seeing the way the secretary gets even madder with the more counting she has to do.
"Whatever, here's your money now scram." She jeers throwing the money on the table before disappearing in one of the back rooms to put the money back where it was hidden.
Haru quickly checks the stack of bills to make sure it's the right amount before quickly making his way out of the office. He goes around the village looking for a forested area, finally finding one he makes his way over to the area. Once in the forest, he goes around looking for unique plants and animals to document in his journal. This forest stretches on for what seems like miles. With trees reaching up to the sky and vines slowly crawling their way up the bark of the tree. All different plant life littered around the forest floor each trying to survive. Squirrels scurrying across the forest floor. Birds singing their songs and flying through the branches of the trees. A perfect forest.
Haru wants to have his journal filled with all his amazing plants and animals he discovered while walking around. He hopes one day he can have a job where he can just study animals and plants. He dreams of one day moving into a gigantic unexplored forest where he can document and study all the plants and animals in the forest. . Taking the gang members there too and living a peaceful life. No killing, no stealing, and not having any worries of keeping hunter ninja off our backs. But all of that is just a dream, a dream that may never come true.
The punishment of abandoning your hidden village is the worst punishment out there. The punishment of never being safe. Always looking over your shoulder for hunter ninja or watching out for rogue ninja trying to take a bounty. All this punishment for abandoning a village that does not care about you, a village that only cares about land and money. All the greed and wrongness of this world comes from ninja and their villages. Children losing their parents, husbands losing their wives, and wives losing their husbands.
No one in the gang can now live a peaceful life, everyone has a bounty on their head. Some for abandoning villages and some for wronging a village. Everyone has a bounty and it's all about paying the bounty off. Kana has one hell of a bounty on his head, the same as Akio. But those are going to take forever to pay off. Denji and Benjiro have bounties too but not as much. So to live a peaceful life we need to pay those bounties.
The yellow in the sky slowly turned into a calming orange marking the end of the day. Signaling to Haru that he must return to the hotel. Slowly making his way down out of the forest enjoying the view and basking in the cool temperature and slight breeze. Listening to the birds chirping as they sang their daily song and the squirrels sitting up in trees. Eventually making it out of the forest and back into the marketplace. The now calmer streets allow Haru to more easily walk and navigate his way to the inn. Once in the inn, he spots Kana and Akio sitting at one of the tables in the lobby discussing their plan. The two-wave him off signaling that he can go to his room and sleep and they will discuss the plan in the morning.
Once he makes it up to his room checked out by Kana he sets all the stuff he was carrying on the bed and makes his way to the bathroom. He quickly takes a shower and then moves his bed towards the window. Once the bed is in place by the window he opens it to feel the breeze and to gaze up towards the stars. Sketching the stars and sketching the moon until sleep finally takes over.
The first chapter is done let me know if you guys liked it. Grammar might be a little shaky. This is my first story so beware it might not be that good.