Chapter 3 - Of A New People and a Forest
Birds chirped here and there, adding to the lively but peaceful atmosphere that reigned throughout the bright green clearing. Today, for most people was going to be just the same as yesterday: beasts were going out to gather food, some stocking up for the upcoming winter, others just out of daily necessity. People were carrying out the tasks they did everyday, going to work, and coming back. Nothing much was out of place, excepting the occasional lost car-keys, or the misplaced quill a person just couldn't seem to find. That however, was a natural occurrence that happened to everyone all of the time.
What was out of place that lively summers morn', was the thing that disturbed one sole robin's meticulous food search. A small from lay, curled up in the gnarled roots of an ancient oak, seemingly sleeping in the brightly lit forest clearing, full of greenery and all sorts of animals and insects. Curious, the tiny beast fluttered downwards, landed on the grass, and hopped towards the prone form of the creature, (the robin having no knowledge of what the sleeping being was,) and cheeped, tilting its brown feathered head as if to hear something extra quiet, before whipping up and looking around frantically for a sign of danger.
A sudden "Crack" sounded, and the dry splintering of tree branches was heard, startling the tiny robin into flight, it's wings beating frantically, straining to reach the sky above the green treetops. A blur of tawny brown shot through the forests trees, zigzagging across a small patch of tall grass, and then squirming under a low laying mossy log, the little animal barely fitting through, it's tawny paws scrabbling in the dirt. The whites of the brown hare's eyes could be seen, and, to other beasts with more sensitive noses its acrid fear could clearly be smelt on the breeze.
The heavy panting of a larger animal was heard soon after, and the hunt was on. Dashing between skinny birches and wide oaks, heavy, black-furred paws pounded the leafy ground, particles of dirt kicked up behind. A pause in the beat as an obstacle was jumped, before the telltale thump of a heavy landing, and the rhythmic patter of running continued at the same furious pace. A stray rock was dislodged and kicked up, striking a tall pine producing a low thump, not startling the predator in the least. The prey could hear its pursuer's pants as it gasped for air, still determinately straining forward at a breakneck pace.
The hare bounded spasmodically through trees with a speed seldom matched by it's many predators. The black canine's pace hastened as it went for the kill, it's ice blue eyes shining with excitement. Tensing, the great black creature put on a burst of speed and leapt onto the rabbit, swiftly breaking its spinal cord as it burst into the otherwise tranquil clearing, spraying dead leaves and dirt everywhere. The brown rabbit grasped firmly in between the large black mutt's chops, the dog slowed its pace as it tried to catch its breath. Dropping the rabbit in front of it, the dog sat down on its haunches and looked around, sniffing suspiciously. There was something else here, and that something smelt pretty human to the dog's nose.
Picking its catch up, the blue-eyed dog trotted across the small clearing, still tracking the scent. Not long after, the dog came across a small, curled up body of a child. One that had black hair, and that looked faintly familiar..
Harry!
Not so far away from the coniferous forest, in a rather large "village," amidst the bustling activity of various merchants and shop owners setting up their stands and stores for the day, one particular boy was sitting up in bed, in his tiny two-room-and-a-toilet, third storey flat, and muttering darkly about having to wake up so early to train. For what, you ask?
Well, the kid, as much as his looks, age, and attire would dissuade you, had a job. He worked in a cell of three members, with his sensei, and was, to put it plainly; a ninja.
One, that wasn't very well awake, in any case...
The kid untangled himself from his cheap, dirty-white blankets, and with a look of a extreme intelligence, proceeded in ineffectively trying to get out of bed. Finally managing to stand up, he yawned, scratched an itch, and listening to the call of his hungered stomach, walked into the only other room of the house, crossed the "living room" area, and bee-lined straight towards the cupboard where he stashed his loot -ahem- instant ramen.
The boy opened the creaking cupboard and reminded himself that he should've gotten it fixed years ago. Eyeing his dwindling stack of instant ramen cups, the blonde also made a metal note to go out and buy some more instant ramen cups soon. They were important. Grabbing a random green coloured cup, the blonde set it on his small kitchen counter, grabbed his dented kettle and turned the tap on. Tapping his foot to an unsung beat, he listened to the water splash and swirl around the inside of the metal container, slowly filling it up and weighing it down. He turned the tap off and looked inside. Satisfied, the boy plugged the kettle in, and clicked the round, metal-and-plastic top into place. He opened the ramen and it's flavouring packets, -pouring them in- pulled out a clean-looking pair of chopsticks from a not-so-clean, wooden pot by the cheap metal sink, set them down besides the ramen, found an uncluttered, cleanish spot on the floor, knelt, and began to do pushups.
By the time the lad had finished his one hundred and ninety-third push up, the kettle was whistling a merry one-note tune, indicating that the boy's hot water was at a ready temperature. Standing up, he took a few breaths to slow his slightly rapid breathing back down to normal.
Muttering his usual "Itadakimasu." to himself, the short blonde pulled one of the two chairs in the household out from under the kitchen table, sat down heavily, hearing the cheap wooden joints whine at his weight. He tore the rest of the plastic flap covering the top of his ramen cup off, and started eating. He hoped that today would go better than the day before last, when he and his team had had to rescue Mrs Shijimi's cat, Tiger again from the woods surrounding Konohagakure. Somehow, the undersized animal had managed to slip out of the village. Again.
It really was a miracle that the "little shit" as the boy liked to call the evasive cat, hadn't gotten eaten by a big, wild dog or something of the sort. Finishing the last of his ramen, the youth stood up, tossed his cup into the bin bag that lay overflowing next to the door, and ambled back to his room in search of some clean clothes.
When he was dressed and freshened up, one glance at his beaten up alarm clock told the boy that it was already past time to leave his flat. Not bothering to clean up further after his meal, he unhooked his key-on-a-mangled-string from the hook next to the doorframe, stepped outside, and closed the door, making sure that he locked his flat properly. The last time he hadn't locked it, some asshole from the village had managed to slip a skunk inside: his house had smelt horrible for weeks after. He snorted, unamused. This was one experiment he wasn't going to redo for sure!
Deciding to take the quick way to the red, wooden bridge where he and his teammates met every morning, the blue-eyed blonde readied himself, and took a running start off the roof.
The boy stopped jumping from tree branch to tree branch, nearly skidding off of the one he was aimed for, his attention upon the a strangely dressed person that appeared to be unconscious, and a big black dog beneath his tree, watching at what they were doing.
Who on earth are they?
The blonde made sure that they wouldn't be able to see him if any one of the two randomly looked in his direction, settled down, and waited. Although he had debated leaving to get his sensei, he doubted that the two strangers would still be there when he got back. Of course, that was assuming that they were enemies to his village. It was his duty to protect Konohagakure, and of course, he had firmly sworn to do so.
Re-directing his attention back to the black mutt and the unconscious boy, the young ninja noted that the kid looked about the same age as himself. He shifted his position slightly, his sky-blue eyes never leaving the pair.
The black dog tossed a brown object that appeared to be a dead rabbit aside. Prob'ly a broken neck.. The boy hidden in the tree mused.
With a slight popping sound that nearly made the blonde fall out of his tree branch, the boy realized that the dog had turned into a man! The orange-clothed boys eyes widened and his jaw hung loose, reflecting his surprise. Never in his short life had he witnessed any type of henge no jutsu that didn't require any sort of hand seals or charka, and that didn't end with a lot of smoke around the user. When the dog-man had released the henge the confused ninja hadn't felt any of the person's chakra releasing and dissipating. Perhaps this was a more advanced version, or even a bloodline ability.
I'll look into that another day.
Frowning, the blonde watched as the dark haired dog-man searched through his pockets for something. He tensed, reaching towards his shuriken pouch, but relaxed almost immediately when he saw the stranger pull out a harmless looking stick of wood, almost snickering out loud at the irony of the situation. Here he was, spying on some supposedly "enemy shinobi," and the dog-turned-man whips out a dark, blunt, absolutely ridiculous twig made from a dark coloured wood.
What a weapon. He thought sarcastically. I mean sure, if the guy stabs someone hard enough it would be enough to hurt, but pah! So stupid-looking! Plain useless!
His smile faded from his face and he tilted his head, trying to hear what the strangely dressed, dirty old man was muttering under his breath. It definitely sounded like a weird, foreign code-language of somesorts. He frowned, wracking his head for an explanation to the stranger's actions, but nothing came to mind.
A swish and a flick of the stick-thing, a muttered word, and the blonde saw the boy lying opposite from the dog-man awake. And none too gently too..
The black-haired, vivid green eyed boy slowly sat up, and felt around the grassy ground for something, not really noticing the dog-man's presence, so immersed in the sleepy daze of being woken up too soon.
The dog-man sat in the same spot in front of the child, muscles tensed, as if he was anticipating something big. As it turned out, he was…
In the space of an instant, once the boy-who-had-just-woken-up had carefully placed on his nose -what the ninja in the tree recognized as- a pair of black glasses, he seemed to realize how foreign his surroundings were, and pulled out another of those strange stick-things too. A small noise from the dog-man made the kid jump, and whip around, still clutching his apparently precious stick. More words in that strange, garbled, guttural language were exchanged, this time at a louder volume: it appeared that the youngest of the pair below was threatening the dog-man with the stick-thing.
Meanwhile, the ninja up above in the tree was getting steadily more and more confused at the strangers bewildering behaviour, when, to top off all surprises, the boy froze, cried out something joyfully, and threw himself at the dog-man, hugging him and sobbing into his shoulders.
Now, the blonde ninja decided was as good a time as any to go and meet up with this teammates and sensei. Although the two below obviously weren't ninjas, (otherwise they would have noticed his presence,) they still could be dangerous. Whoever had heard of boys with such violent mood swings?
No sound was heard by the foreigners as the blonde leapt off his tree branch, hurrying away to find reinforcements.
Sensei - Teacher
Ramen - Japanese noodles. (Very good!)
Instant Ramen - Ramen, but in a pot. To eat, you tear of the top half way, add the flavouring packets to the dried noodles, pour in hot water, close the top, (usually putting your chopsticks on top of the flap) and leave the mixture to sit for three to five minutes. It is a lot cheaper than the real stuff.
Itadakimasu - Let's eat. (Japanese.)
Konohagakure no Sato - Village hidden within the leaves, a ninja village.
Henge no Jutsu - An illusion skill used to mislead enemy ninja by looking like another person, most likely an ally. Usually creates smoke around the one using or releasing it.
"-no jutsu" - Suffix to any ninja attack. E.g. Henge no jutsu. Literally translated as "skill of-"
Hand seals - Different hand shapes based on animals used to gather charka powered attacks.
Chakra - Literally translated as "Power." Is used in various forms of ninja attacks. (My thanks to AnkleBiter for the correction!)
Bloodline ability - A rare ninja ability carried through DNA, hence the name "bloodline." Different abilities exist between different ninja clans.
Shuriken - Ninja throwing stars, basic equipment commonly carried in the "Shuriken pouch," which most ninjas, advanced or not, possess.
Shinobi - Male ninja/ ninja in general. (Dictionary: stealing (into), spy, sneak thief.)