"Ayayaya, w-what do we have here…?"
Like many others who lived in Gensokyo, she too had a reputation to uphold. It wasn't easy, especially in her line of work where people thought of you as either nosy or dangerous. She poured blood, sweat and tears writing those papers; it just saddened her that people were using them to wipe their own blood, sweat, and tears. Still, it didn't stop her from committing to the grind. Being one of the older ones in Gensokyo, she'd lived through countless phases of boring day-to-day life. Sure, there were things that she thought of interesting – like that short period of time when the Youkai of Gensokyo was at 'war' with each other – but they're far too bloody for her to enjoy.
With the ushering of a new age and a new shrine maiden in charge of keeping the peace in this here place, came along the introduction of a certain Spell Card System. After that, life had never been more interesting for her. That girl… Aya had never seen a prodigy like her in ages.
But back to her, like many other creative thinkers out there, she ought to be careful not to deprive herself of her muse and the only thing that had kept her going after all this time: scoops. Headlines. Whatever you want to call them. Unfortunately, the content well was getting drier and drier with each passing day. It's a good thing for the humans who lived here since it meant that the peacekeepers were doing their job properly. It's not so good of a thing for her, seeing as she's deprived of one of the few driving forces that kept her going.
So, imagine her surprise when the rumor mill leaked the presence of not one, but two new faces having settled here in Gensokyo. After hearing that, how could she not rush all the way across Gensokyo – it didn't take long to do that – and begin investigating? If there's one thing a journalist must have – alongside the other qualities the profession needed – it's speed; and let her be the first one to tell you that there's no one faster than her in Gensokyo. That vampire might be able to circle the moon in a short amount of time, but she could do that in more than half the time it took that very same vampire to do it.
Her search led her all the way to the Human Village, which made sense now that she thought about it. Human society was the largest in Gensokyo; even larger than the Tengu's in the mountain and the Oni's underneath the earth. It made sense that the rumor would originate from there. Getting into the village to do her investigation was a hard job nowadays seeing as there's some sort of Youkai paranoia, again. That meant she had to put on a disguise and be extra careful when asking around. It sucked, especially when she had to bind her wings to keep them from showing.
But, her efforts were not without rewards, as she managed to get a good tip that led her elsewhere.
And, speaking of tips…
It seemed that… err… she'd found herself with a blade pointed at her jugular.
Sasuke was no stranger to being sneaked upon. He was a good – but not as good as the dobe – sensor and anyone who thought it was smart to sneak up on him would find themselves regretting the decision to do so in the first place.
He was able to sense the presence of something – someone in this case – flying through the sky. What caught his attention was the fact that the presence never really left the airspace above Mokou's home or at least the area it was a part of. When the presence he'd been feeling touched the ground, he immediately set out to investigate. Mokou had warned them about the attention Outsiders like them were fond of attracting, it's one of the reasons why she was so reluctant to house them in the first place. It made sense, Sasuke thought.
He shared the white-haired woman's aversion to unnecessary attention, preferring to be alone on his lonesome and out of people's wandering eyes and ears. It's why he found the idea of moving to Gensokyo appealing in the first place. From what little snippets that gap Youkai had told them in the past, society had not progressed to the way they were outside. Technology the likes of which could be found outside was pretty much sparse from what Mokou had told them, but the natives here weren't complete cavemen either.
"…put down the camera."
'Ayaya… he snuck up on me…' If her co-workers – Kanako-sama forbid Hatate – heard that she got snuck up on, they wouldn't let her live it down. "Ahaha… it seems that there's been a misunderstanding, here…" The Crow Tengu managed to say, sweat forming on her brows.
Perhaps, Sasuke mused. He didn't lower his blade, however. "Who are you? And why have you been spying this location for the past ten minutes?"
"Y-You could tell, huh?" She didn't intend for the words to come out of her mouth. "I'm a reporter and I've heard that there're a couple of new faces who'd just arrived in Gensokyo. Do you happen to be one of them, swordsman-san?"
A reporter, huh? Sasuke let several seconds of silence pass, increasing his captive's discomfort. Eventually, he lowered his sword and released the winged woman from the range of his blade. He took a step back to properly register the person that had been spying around the area. She was a woman wearing a blouse, a black short skirt, and a red tokin as her headwear of choice. Her hair was short and black while her eyes were unmistakably red. She also wore a pair of unique geta sandals, having only one wooden 'teeth' rather than the usual two; it's also designed to be tall, elevating her height. However, what stuck out the most was the pair of black feathered wings on her back.
"…a Tengu?"
"Ayaya? So you've heard of us?" The woman then pulled out a flip note and a pencil seemingly out of thin air, as she began to jot down words that Sasuke could easily make out from the sound of her pencil strokes.
"…you're here to interview me?"
The woman's eyes blinked several times, confused. "How did you know?" she asked, her voice conveying the genuine surprise she felt at Sasuke's accurate guess.
The scion of the Uchiha clan was apprehensive of sharing the fact that he'd managed to guess her intent from the sound her pencil strokes made when she was writing, so he compromised. "You said you're a reporter."
"I did, didn't I?" She asked, buying Sasuke's quick thinking. "So, it's safe for me to assume that you're an Outsider, then?"
"Yes." Oh, Sage preserve him, he hated these types…
"Great!" The woman exclaimed, then she slapped herself on the forehead. "Oh, how rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself." She flashed him a grin brighter than the flash her camera could make. "I am Shameimaru Aya, your Humble Tengu Newspaper Reporter, and I'm here in hopes of interviewing you." Aya then began looking around, as if she's searching for something. "So, I heard you came here with a friend?"
Sasuke sighed. He should've gone with the dobe and that woman
"…she's already here, huh?"
Mokou was not surprised at all when she saw the reporter standing at her front door. Honestly, she expected the Crow Tengu to be knocking at her front door the moment Keine left her house after dropping off her two guests a few days ago. It's been like, what, two-three days? She didn't want to say that the Tengu's late, but…
"Ooh! Ooh!" Aya wasted no time, leaving her current interviewee for a new one, much to the previous one's implicit delight. She stepped in front of the taller blonde who had just returned with Mokou, she then took not a second more as she was already flipping through a new page on her notebook for her to write on. "You must be Uchiha-san's friend!"
"Y-Yeah…" His job as the Seventh Hokage gave him experience in dealing with reporters and paparazzi, but it was a long time ago.
After their ascension as Sages, both he and the teme decided it was best to limit their interaction with the people in the village. That meant leaving behind their grandchildren, their children, and their children's children. It got to the point where their names were forgotten from the history books, leaving behind rumor-like stories of their contribution to the rapidly growing society. They, true to their newfound species, had to live in forests and mountains.
"So you are Uzumaki Naruto-san, right?" The tokin-wearing woman with a pair of black wings on her back asked the blonde.
"Yup, I am," Naruto replied, settling into the conversation with a smile.
"I'm Shameimaru Aya from the Bunbunmaru Newspaper," huh, so Gensokyo had its own news press, "and I'm hoping to interview you for my paper if you don't mind?" Aya asked, gesturing at his friend. "Your friend was kind enough to answer a few of my questions, but he… uh… insisted that I'll have a better chance at getting proper answers from you."
Naruto shot Sasuke a look that spelled 'are you serious right now', to which the former avenger merely shrugged his shoulders in return. Naruto felt his left eyebrow twitched, as well as his arm, having to resist the urge to smack his friend and fellow Sage over the head with his sandals. Even after all these years, the teme still had to leave all the talking to him. No, no, it all made sense, considering how long they lived in the mountains and far away from civilization.
It was… not easy, at least for the first few years. With the knowledge that they'll outlive pretty much everyone they knew, they set out to further elevate themselves so as to better fit their newfound statuses. Naruto returned to Mount Myoboku to further master his control over Senjutsu, while Sasuke had to start from the beginning by learning the basics of Senjutsu from the snakes at Ryūchi Cave. At some point after their departure to further master respective branch of Senjutsu, they met and continued living away from society.
A lot happened in five hundred years. Wars happened, disasters came, new government systems were upheld… before they knew it, the era of the Shinobi had been reduced to nothing more than legends. Ultimately, they decided it was better that way. It was a tough pill to swallow, but they endured. Then, Sasuke offered the idea of leaving the Elemental Nations for good. He'd mastered the use of his eyes to the point where he was able to pull moves Kaguya was capable of doing.
It was a Space-Time Ninjutsu he came up with. He got the inspiration from Kaguya's Yomotsu Hirasaka, a Kekkei Mōra technique unique to her and her clan. Since he wasn't keen on uncovering any Ōtsutsuki Clan secrets, he had to make do with what he had. He incorporated the use of Kamui and Amenotejikara, and a little bit of inspiration from the Fourth Hokage's Hiraishin. The result was the both of them suddenly finding themselves in twentieth-century Europe.
From that point onwards… well, it led them to Yukari, eventually.
"Hey," Sasuke was pulled from his inner thinking by Mokou, who already had one foot inside the door of her house, "looks like your friend and the Tengu are going to take a while. Why don't we go inside and prepare for supper?"
Sasuke responded with a nod, casting his blonde friend one last look, before entering his host's house. Mokou had been kind to them, kinder than he'd expect, and let them stay at her house. They had to help out with chores such as bringing firewood, sweeping, and warding off any stray Youkai who wandered near the house. The dobe and him had no problem with doing that, but he'd be speaking for all of them when he said that they would need to find a place of their own. Soon.
He had a few ideas, one involving going back to the village, but he's confident that a certain history teacher wouldn't mind helping them out.
"What?! No! NO! OH SAGE NO! WE'RE NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!"
"Ayayaya~! That reaction says otherwise, Naruto-san~!"
Sasuke quickly closed the front door before his head started aching. There's no way he was going to get involved with that; at all.
There's going to be a time skip in the next chapter. One that'll propel this circular story into whatever semblance of flow it can propel itself into.