Chapter 2: Arashi's Dilemma
Arashi finally woke when a small droplet smacked into his forehead for the fifth time. He adjusted his head to the left and looked up at the small hole in the orphanage's ceiling. The caretaker had already been told about the whole two weeks ago, but as usual, she had done nothing about it. He'd have to fix it himself. The Fishmongers' shop had more singles than it needed. He would just take one from there and place it over the hole.
A small snore caught his attention to his right. With a smile, he regarded the offender. Despite being small, Amaya sure took up a lot of room on their shared bed. The black-haired girl was in her typical starfish position. Arms and legs spread, taking up most of their shared bunk.
When Amaya had first started being his little shadow, he had never expected her to demand his previous bunkmate to move to a new bunk. The little girl, four at the time, glared down the boy twice her age and three times her size until he gave in and moved. Arashi also didn't think it would last this long. But it looked like he was stuck with her. But that was Amaya, small and persistent. Like a little kitten swatting at your heels for treats.
Arashi quietly inched his way out of the cot and swung his legs over the edge, taking a moment to look around the room at the other kids. Ten of them in this tiny room. All doubled up in their cots. The orphanage was packed as always, with no signs of decreasing.
With one last yawn, Arashi pushed himself off the cot and started walking to the bathroom to get ready. He looked into the mirror and giggled at his bed head. Arashi's spikey navy-blue hair was always messy, usually overhanging his light blue eyes, but when waking up, it always seemed to have a mind of its own. He did the best he could, pushing down his unruly hair, and then moved to go to the common area to grab breakfast.
It had been a long day yesterday. Saving Amaya from those two bullies, splitting Amaya's stolen bread between the two of them, and then running over to the tavern near the docks to listen to the sailor's stories. Of course, they didn't let two kids into the tavern, but that's alright. Arashi and Amaya had found a small crawl space under the tavern's floorboards long ago where they could listen to the sailor's fables.
The sailors often told stories of sea monsters, beautiful women luring men to their demise, and famous ninja they had encountered on their journeys. Arashi and Amaya hung on every word. She sat wide-eyed, engrossed in the stories of adventure and danger. Arashi was more focused on the locations. Every single place sounded exciting. From the endless sand dunes of the land of wind to the intense storms in the land of lighting. All sounded better than here. Arashi was sure anyplace was better than here. The thought of heroes spitting out fireballs and wielding enormous swords also sounded exciting. It certainly sounded more exciting than stealing food and sharing a room with ten other kids.
This was their daily routine. Wake up, eat whatever small amount of food the orphanage could scrounge up. Spend the day stealing the rest and getting into trouble. Then end the day at the tavern listening to stories.
Arashi hopped up and grabbed one of the apples placed on the counter by the caretaker for the kids. Arashi eyed the other apples. He was fine stealing from merchants, homes, and kids from other orphanages, but never from his own. There weren't many rules in the slums the orphans abided by, but stealing from your own orphanage was sure to leave you sleeping on the floor with bruises from the others.
Arashi slipped out the front door and into the morning mist. The mist was like clockwork. It always wove its way into the slums from the sea and then burned off by the time the market bells rang for mourning service at 9 o'clock. Arashi worked his way through the tight streets and twisting alleyways. To a noble or middler, the slums were a never-ending maze, but to him, they were all he knew. Arashi was sure he could make it from the orphanage to the docks blindfolded if he had to. He could follow the smells of the various food stalls and woodworking shops until he smelled the alcohol and sweaty stench coming from the tavern.
Soon Arashi reached his destination. The fishmonger's shop was a two-story building about a block from the docks. A store, on the first level, fed a good portion of the slums with fish every day. The second story where the fishmonger himself resided seemed to slightly droop to the left, almost like it was leaning on the shoulder of the building next to it. Arashi slipped around back and to where he knew yesterday's fish crates would be stacked high and climbed them until he could reach the makeshift gutter that helped collect water from the tilted roof.
With a small grunt, Arashi pulled himself up onto the roof and set about looking for a loose shingle. It wasn't long before he found a suitable candidate and began working on removing the last nail holding it in place.
Ahem.
Arashi jumped at the noise behind him and quickly turned around, where he saw a man standing.
From what Arashi could tell, the man was about 20 years old and completely unexceptional looking, except for two things. He had pupilless white eyes and a ninja headband on his forehead. Arashi had seen men and women jumping around the rooftops with the same headband before, but nothing up close, and he had certainly never talked to one before.
The man was calmly leaning up against the chimney, arms crossed, with a small smile on his face.
"You know, stealing property is against the law. I could bring you in for this."
Arashi eyed the man warily. From what he knew, ninja rarely got involved with the common folk. They typically left common transgressions up to the city guardsmen. So why..
"But I won't. Do you know why?"
Arashi straightened from his crouched position and turned to face the man. Already planning his exit.
"No sir, I don't. I will just leave the shingle here and be on my way."
Arashi turned and started moving towards the edge, where he initially climbed up. Then suddenly the man was there. Five inches in front of him. Arashi could barely stop in time to avoid bumping into the man. How?
He looked up and met the man's blank eyes.
"It's because you have potential."
Arashi backed away from the ninja. He did not like where this was going. He could go weeks without a grownup talking to him. Orphans were a common sight on the street, mostly ignored even when steeling. But this man, no, not just a man but a ninja, had singled him out.
"Listen sir, I don't know what I did or who you are, but I want nothing to do with you. If it's about the shingle, I'll leave it in place. In fact, I'll go grab a nail to fix it right now."
The man let loose a short laugh and reached into his pocket, pulling something out. He opened his palm and revealed a smooth stone. Very similar to the stones Arashi always carried in his pocket.
Uh oh.
"You have good aim kid. The way you hit those two shits in the alleyway yesterday was almost professional. Although with a bit of training you could hit them from twice the distance and double the force."
With one smooth motion, the man whipped his arm out and threw the stone. It whizzed by Arashi's head and impacted the chimney behind him. Arashi flinched and then turned to look behind him.
The stone was embedded 3 inches deep into the solid brick chimney, a faint blue glow emanating from it.
If that had hit him, he would have been…
The man knelt to be eye level with Arashi.
"I watched you yesterday go to the tavern and listen to stories of adventure, danger, and exploration. I have a feeling you do that a lot. What if I told you some of it was true? Well, at least the Ninja parts."
Arashi backed up against the chimney to get some breathing room.
"Judging by what you just did, I'm guessing it is true what they say about ninja. But I still don't know what it has to do with me," Arashi said.
The man sighed.
"You know there's more to the world than this hellhole of a slum. Most orphans will be swallowed up here. Never leaving, never making a name for themselves. Just another rat crawling through the streets."
"You want more. I saw it in your eyes when you were listening to the stories last night. Most of the time in this world, what you want doesn't matter. The world will continue moving forward and leave you behind. But in your case, I think you may just have the potential to reach out and grasp it. To take something meaningful for yourself and carve your name into history. Your place isn't here. It's out there." The man pointed to the mountains surrounding the city.
Arashi stayed quiet, back pressed against the wall, staring at the man.
"I am a leaf ninja. I'm here in Tekan looking for people like you. People that have potential and drive to make something of themselves. And I believe you have what it takes to be a ninja. I'm offering you a chance to leave this slum and train to be a ninja of the leaf."
Arashi looked at the man skeptically, "You could tell all that from me hitting two bullies with rocks?"
The man laughed, "well, that and I've got good eyes."
Arashi looked at the man's eyes. He wasn't too sure about that. The old netter by the docks had milky eyes kinda like his and he was blind.
"What about my friend? Can she come?"
The man frowned. "The kid you saved yesterday? Ayame was her name, right?"
Arashi nodded.
The man shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. She is not cut out for the ninja life. While feisty, she does not have the potential. She would be safer here."
Arashi frowned. The man was defiantly right about one thing. He wanted out of the slums. But what about Ayame? If he's saying she can't come, then what is he supposed to do, just leave her here? They have known each other for the past two years and have done everything together.
No.
He would not leave her here alone.
Resolute in his answer, Arashi looked up to the man with the headband.
"No, I won't leave her."
The man's shoulders slumped, and he let out a long sigh.
"Listen kid, I'll be on this roof every mourning for the next 5 days. If you change your mind, let me know."
And with that, the man was gone. Suddenly disappearing from right in front of Arashi like the stories he heard so many times from the sailors.
Arashi didn't move for a good 5 minutes, leaning up against the chimney. He turned and looked again at the stone. The man had barely wound back his arm and yet had embedded the stone deep into the wall. He had a single thought before he pushed himself off the chimney and went to grab the shingle. Ninja are scary.
Tokuma watched the boy ponder his words on the roof. Had he pushed too hard? Had he been too abrupt? He had watched the boy yesterday eat up every word from the stories in the Tavern. Tokuma had even disguised himself as a traveler and started conversations and stories about ninjas. All to plant the seed in the young boy's head that becoming a ninja was the way out of the slums.
He had not expected the girl to come into play and to be an opposing force, keeping the boy here. But maybe that was a good sign. An indicator that the boy had the good nature to protect what he cared about. What did the Third Hokage say during his little brothers graduation ceremony?
"The will of fire burns bright in all leaf Ninja. It drives us to protect what is precious to us."
Tokuma let a snort out. The Hokage certainly mentioned nothing about manipulating kids into choosing the ninja life as a career choice.
He had sold the boy adventure, fame, glory, and yet Tokuma had experienced none of those. His own experience of being a ninja had led him here, to this decrepit city, looking for non-clan orphans who would most likely die before seeing the age of 16.
He watched the boy climb down the back of the building with his prized shingle in hand. And despite all the negative thoughts and guilt Tokuma had just experienced, he was already thinking about his next move. What's the next angle? How does he get this kid to choose to leave the slums and train to become a ninja?
Tokuma smiled. He'd play the girl next. He was sure Arashi would share their discussion with the girl. They looked to be quite close, always talking. He'd have to be delicate though. Promising her a reward or payment wouldn't work. They cared about each other and despite her being a child; he didn't think she would take payment. No, Tokuma had to plant an idea in her head as he did to the boy. He had planted the idea of escape in Arashi. That there was nothing for him here and that becoming a ninja was the way out. But with the girl, he'd have to try something different.
Tokuma smiled. An idea was forming in his head. He'd play on the girl's guilt. He had seen glimpses yesterday. The look she hid from Arashi when he only took a small piece of the bread and had left the rest to her. The way she looked at him when they listened to the stories about far of lands. Tokuma had an inkling that the girl already knew Arashi differed from the rest. That's why she had gravitated to him in the first place. Yes, this was the best path forward. Tokuma would feed the seed of guilt already growing in her mind with one simple push. That she was holding Arashi back.
And with a quick leap, Tokuma was gone.