"Now, let us examine Konoha as an example of what can go wrong if traffic flow is not properly managed." Professor Ayame blathered on, one sleepy late summer morning.
Condensation pooled on the window from the morning dew and dreamy sunlight streamed in through the foliage with which Professor Ayame decorated his classroom. He often advised students who had a hard time staying awake to sit by the mint plants, as they would keep one alert despite the early hour.
Though, they never seemed to do the trick for Yasahashi.
"Take into account the basic function of a building like the Hokage tower, which is … … .. for missions, a meeting place for officials, and basic….. …. … ligence to and from troops…."
Yasahashi's eyelids drooped. The sound of Professor Ayame's chalk on the chalkboard was like hypnosis.
"It is a hub of interaction, and yet…. … . … the roads are quite confusing for the average visitor… .. The congestion becomes aggressive,...nd fights will break out."
A breeze blew in through the window and startled her awake. She looked up at her teacher who was droning on and attempted to find her place in her notes again. Two of her classmates were passing a note a few seats in front of her.
"...direct northern route to the Hokage tower from the village gates, which existed….no longer sufficient for this day….. Now how did this happen?"
Yasa pinched herself awake. She squinted up at the front of the class, trying to understand the diagram which was on the chalkboard.
"Koizuma, can you see okay from there?" asked her professor suddenly. She was startled, not realizing that he was looking at her. She shook her head. She was starting to struggle with her long distance vision. "Come up to this front seat here," he smiled and tapped the desk of an open seat at the second row, "This is an important lesson and you will be mad if you cannot have it noted properly."
The smell of mint was even stronger at this desk. Yasahashi felt her senses rejuvenate as she settled into the foliage.
As she switched spots, her professor shifted his attention back to the rest of the class. "Now, as you know, I have spent many years working in urban planning in Rain country. I have seen many layouts grown from roots up both from random like Konoha, and from the most ingenious designs."
He began drawing a diagram on the chalkboard, Yasahashi prayed to god she was understanding his accent.
"But even the most organized layout will come obsolete over time as functions and needs of the people changes. It is like a rock that falls into the bush," Suddenly, while she had her nose in her notes, Yasahashi heard a loud crash on her left and she jumped in shock.
The class developed a mild bout of laughter. Yasa looked in the bush and saw a rock there, her gaze darted up to look at Professor Ayame and she saw that he was smiling and looking at her as if there was some great joke she had missed out on. She got the feeling that maybe he threw the rock… She glared at her teacher in disbelief.
'"so, rock pushes the leaves down and creates big upset, but then what happens after is, more leaves grow around the rock, it is a new part of the forest floor. Now, who can tell me who is responsible for making sure the city's infrastructure suits the needs of the people who changes so fast."
Everyone in the classroom collectively shuffled as they struggled to comprehend what the professor had said, and that he had indeed asked a question. Professor Ayame began walking between the desks slowly as everyone mulled it over. He stopped in front of Takamaru's desk, "Ishiwaga?"
He jumped, "Is it.. Us?" the boy's voice cracked.
"Correct, Takamaru." He continued down the aisle back to the front of the classroom and began drawing on the blackboard. He drew what looked like a tic-tac-toe grid, but kept adding lines.
"Now, in Rain Country, most cities are made out in grid layout, which makes easy for navigation, very easy for future urban planners to change, very easy for life to adapt and flow through spaces, with only one downside which I will get to. Now, Konoha is…"
He took a wide step back from the chalkboard and drew a straight line, then another line that was kind of curved, then a bunch of random lines intersecting, until the resulting image was a flurry of intersecting and curvilinear lines. He finally drew a big circle around the lines and turned around to face the class.
"...A little more difficult." He grinned and bounced on his feet. He was a lot perkier teaching this class than he had been in Yasahashi's math and homeroom classes, "Since the village had very early beginnings, it grew around the rocks and in strange places. This makes it very hard on future generations to navigate and grow."
Feeling a little spiteful for what happened earlier with the rock in the bush, Yasahashi rose her hand. Her inner patriot didn't like this foreigner bad-mouthing Konoha.
"Koizuma, yes." Professor looked surprised as he called on her.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with the layout, I get around easily without getting lost,"
He nodded, straining his neck slightly, "Ah, I see. Does anyone else feel that way?"
Other students murmured in agreement.
"Maybe you're just not used to it like us."
"Maybe you just think it's weird because you're not from here."
Professor Ayame chuckled and leaned back against his chalkboard, his tone switching from lecture to a more casual demeanor. "I'll never forget when I first came here, I got so lost on my way to the immigrations office that I had to sleep on a park bench that night! Of course, there is downsides of having a city that is too organized and gridlike the ones of my home." His gaze shifted over to the plants on the windows. "Can anyone guess what would be the advantage to having a city that is not so easy to navigate for outsiders?"
There were whispers, but no one seemed to know the answer. Finally, Takamaru bravely rose his hand and spoke uncertainly, "Is it… to help prevent outside invaders from navigating the city?"
The professor pointed his piece of chalk at the boy and bowed his head, then turned back to the chalk board, "Yes. When an invasive comes to a city like Konoha, they are unfamiliar with the terrain and can be easily stopped by local ninja who are dominant in the habitat."
He started recording underneath each drawing a list of pros and cons. Pros for the Konoha grid were: "defense" while cons were "stunted growth."
He wrote pros under the gridlike drawing, "While for a grid city, it makes it easier during times of peace for civil growth, but during war, it allows the city to stay open to foreign ninja and in worse cases like now, becomes a battleground." His piece of chalk broke as he was drawing a crude ninja star under 'cons' for the gridlike city.
Professor Ayame set the chalk back down, lingering with his back to the class for a moment.
A student coughed and their professor turned around with a smile, "But, despite the defense that Konoha's current layout affords, having a little more structure would benefit us greatly. For example…" He went on to talk about the village's current struggle of discharging supplies to troupes efficiently, while using numerous plant metaphors, of course.
The class soon came to a close, with assignments given out and a call for the students to proceed to their next classes.
Yasahashi waited for Takamaru to finish packing up his stuff, which he had spilled everywhere today. This made them the last out of the classroom. They waved goodbye to their professor and as they left, she caught a glimpse of a distant look on her professor's face while he watered the hydrangeas on his windowsill.
She hadn't done this in quite some time. Tonight she was going to go practice throwing shuriken at the training grounds. Maybe it was watching Naruto steadily get better at ninja skills. Maybe it was just another symptom of her rising boredom with her routine. Or, maybe it had something to do with the academy teacher's bold suggestion that Yasahashi apply for a teacher position.
Who could say. All Yasahashi knew is that the ninja equipment that was gathering dust in the back of her closet was suddenly calling out to her.
Konoha had special training grounds meant for night training. She approached a fluorescent lit kiosk and knocked on the window with her knuckles, getting the attention of a portly, middle-aged ninja woman who had her feet propped up on the desk and was reading a perverted book which she looked away from for no more than a couple seconds.
"Haven't seen you in a long while, Koizuma-kun," she said, flipping the page in her book. "Thought you were done trying to be a ninja."
"Thought you were done reading that one."
The woman folded the book up against her chest with an annoyed look, "You going in or what?"
"Alright, alright."
Yasahashi walked for a bit until she came to the place where she used to train when she was a kid. She stood in the middle of a clearing, looking at a heavily abused tree stump that was covered in marks and carvings. She stood a few yards back from it and readied herself, taking out the kunai from her leg holster.
She stood there for what felt like only a few moments, but it was actually very much longer, hours probably. Her legs had begun to shake. She put the kunai away and turned back.
"Do you know what it's like to kill, Yasahashi?"
Something about the way he said it chilled her blood, even though the night was hot. She paused in the hallway with her glass of water and stared into the dark opening of the living room, where her older brother, Kimura had been sleeping. Ever since the end of the 3rd Shinobi war, he wasn't quite the same.
"Do you know what it's like," he repeated, "to chase a man through the woods, knowing that you're going to kill him. Smelling the fear wash off his festering wounds as he tries to flee… Then… When you finally best him… plunge a cold, blood-crusted kunai into his neck and feel the spray of hot pumping blood drench your face?"
Yasahashi stared into the darkness.
"Do you, yasa?"
She turned quickly and ran up to her room. Kimura's laughter was dark and pained.
Kakashi's Prius here, I gotta go in to the shop. I'll only be gone for a couple of hours, you can walk down the road and go sit in the Five Guys if you want, here's $10 get some lunch.
