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By the time he was eleven he knew shougi enough to play with Shikamaru from time to time. He had never said anything to anyone about the lady, it seemed wrong to talk about her. It was like a silent agreement, that he would not mention her to anyone.

He had realized that she use to know the Hokage when he was a child, and she had known him until he was a ninja. So when he became genin, and to chuunin, anyone could have figured out that he was much to busy to visit her, though he came time to time.

Naruto wondered that when he became a ninja, would that mean that he could not visit her anymore too?

He had one day asked her this question but the lady said nothing and made the first move on the game board. He had after a while stopped asking that question too. It was obvious that she was not thinking about that at the moment, so he had decided not to think about it either. That was the end of that.

He did not know if the lady knew that though he came all the time to play shougi with her, he did not like to play shougi. He did not know why he came all the time to play but he did anyways.

Naruto just didn't see what was so interesting about shougi, and thought that he probably never would. So he stopped trying to figure it out, but every time he got close to figuring it out, he couldn't help but go all the way but he always ended up in a dead end.

In all the years he's known the shougi lady, he knows she not one to start a conversation or to continue one, but she does know how to end one.

She had never asked Naruto if he wanted to play, if he liked to play or if he would always play. She had never asked him why he came all the time, how he's doing in school, if he has any friends or what he wants to be when he grows up.

She had never asked him anything except 'do you like shougi?' and 'would you like to learn hot to play?'.

So when he was leaving one day, it was surprise to hear her ask him anything or to start a conversation.

"Why do you like to play shougi?" She asked him.

He turned towards her and just shrugged. "I don't know."

She had started cleaning up the pieces of the game board then. "I like to play…because it makes me feel like I have control over something." She asked something else before she stopped talking again. "Do you know why you come here?"

Naruto had not really understood what she had said that day and had not understood for quite sometime. He didn't know why he came there all the time, at least it seemed like he came there all the time.

He couldn't remember anymore, every time he played shougi he lost track of time, but it didn't matter. When he played, it felt like he knew what he was doing even if he lost every game. Every time he played, it felt like he was getting better and it made him feel better, it gave him confidence.

So when he turned twelve and became a ninja, he had stopped coming to the shougi lady's house. When he came back from the wave country he had forgotten to visit here. When the chuunin exams began, he became too occupied with training and passing the exams. When he met Orochimaru, he was too busy fighting to remember shougi.

When Sasuke betrayed the village and he was to retrieve him. Everything seemed to keep going out of control and he felt like had no control, felt insecure, didn't have a clue what he was doing.

Naruto sat down on the polished wood, he could here the waterfall, and he could smell her rainwater scent. "Hmmm? ...Have you come then?"

Can you guess what he did before he left for the retrieval mission?

Naruto took a deep breath and made the first move. She picked up a piece and made her move. "Just one more game I suppose, just to make sure you've still got it."

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I called it "this old lady" because it seemed to fit and it's about an old lady that eaches him how to play shougi.