Kakashi
I was awake rather early that day. As a matter of fact, I was up earlier than usual. But it was the only way I could meet up with a certain friend of mine. I walked through the forest, looking left and right as the sun rose behind me, burning the sky with a pink hue. As I neared my destination, I started to hear the sound of an object striking a tree with great force.
"Good job, Lee!" I heard a voice I said. "Now show me a roundhouse!"
"Yosh!"
I chuckled to myself. As the training area came into view, I saw the person who I was trying to meet: Maito Gai.
He was a fellow jonin who specialized in taijutsu. He's slightly taller than me and wore a dark green full body suit under a slightly lighter green flak vest. On top of his head was the shiniest bowl cut I have ever seen. Around his lower legs were orange weights he used to help him train. Other than his unusual appearance, he was also known for his ridiculously rigorous training practices. He put in more work into perfecting a simple punch than most shinobi put into perfecting a lethal technique. The whole focus of his physical training was to find the limits his body could reach and surpassing it. If he ran 400 laps straight one day, he'll reach for 600 the next day. If he can smash 40 rocks with his fists one day, he'll aim for 80 the next day. And no, I'm not exaggerating. But that's mostly because of the taijutsu he uses: Goken, The Strong Fist Style.
The aim of Strong Fist is to inflict external and skeletal damage on an opponent, perfect for a heavy hitter like Naruto.
At the time, Maito was, as usual, watching over his favorite student, Rock Lee. The large-eyed genin with the large eyebrows dressed exactly like his master, with the exception of the flak vest (and that was only because the flak vests were reserved for shinobi with the rank of chunin or higher). Lee, like Naruto, was dead last of his class through no fault his own. He had a defective chakra network, which made it impossible for him to perform even the most basic of techniques that require chakra. Bent on being a ninja, he took to taijutsu like a bear to honey. He became a testament to Gai's teaching abilities, becoming the only person in Konoha, and possibly the world, that became a shinobi without learning an ounce of ninjutsu, genjutsu, or any technique involving chakra.
Lee was striking a training log, leaving deep grooves in the log. He sent one more roundhouse kick, causing the log to crack.
"Impressive," I said. Lee's eyes widened as the both of them turned towards me.
"Greetings, Kakashi-sensei!" he said, bowing towards me. I returned the bow. I then faced Gai, who gave me his trademark smile, which was literally so shiny that it made a "ping" sound.
"Kakashi-kun! I see you're here to witness power of youth!" he exclaimed. I merely nodded.
"Your student has developed quite nicely," I told him as I walked over to the two of them. I stopped in front of them and placed my hand on top if Lee's head and ruffled his hair. "There's something I need to talk to you about, though. It's… actually a favor. A huge favor." Gai nodded before he turned towards Lee.
"Lee, go run a few-"
"He can stay," I said suddenly. Lee looked up at me with a questioning look. "Gai, I need you to take two of my students under your wing for a while. Just for a few hours a day. Their taijutsu could use some work. One of them could definitely benefit from learning the Strong Fist style." Gai raised his eyebrows in interest.
"A genin made for Goken?" he said. "Such youthful students are hard to come by these days. Who is this young one? Tell me about him."
"Well," I said, scratching the side of my head. "I take it that you know about Naruto Uzumaki?" Gai slowly nodded. "He wants to be the Hokage. As such, he wants to be strong as possible, as soon as possible. From what I can tell, he hits pretty hard. As hard as… well, you Lee." Lee eyes widened, which was a feat in and of itself since his eyes were already abnormally large at its normal size. I may have laid it on thick, but "Problem is, however, his taijutsu is very sloppy. During a sparring session, he was handled by someone whose taijutsu was basic, albeit solid."
"A student with high ambition and immense strength…" Gai rubbed his chin. "How youthful…"
"Gai-sensei!" Lee started to say. "You should train Naruto! I would like to train with someone who contains the Fire of Youth like we do!"
"Indeed." Gai then looked back at me. "What about the other?"
"The other one is Kureiga Kazama. He was the one who sparred with Naruto. His taijutsu isn't so bad. But I think he can benefit from learning… a certain variant of the Strong Fist." It was Gai's turn for his eyes widen.
"You think he could learn… that style?" he asked. I nodded.
"I believe he can. I noticed that he likes to use certain parts of his body while attacking. Making him learn a style that would take advantage of his tendencies will make him deadlier in the long run. So, what do you say?"
Gai gave me his signature smile, complete with the "ping!".
"All right," he said. "By the time I am done with them, they will be spewing the flames of youth from every pore of their skin!"
Naruto
I sat at my dining table, sipping the broth from my cup of ramen. It wasn't as good as Ichiraku's, but it would do for breakfast. Normally I would have looked out of the window, it was boarded up. While I was gone, someone threw a brick at it. The brick was wrapped in a piece of paper with the word "MONSTER" written on it. It's been that way since I moved into this place. Every now and again, some villager would throw a random object through my window, calling me a monster through a written or verbal message. Iruka-sensei would usually apologize. When I was younger, I'd cry into his chest. However, I stopped crying a few years ago and retaliated with a smile on my face. As far as I was concerned, the villagers were doing me a favor. They were just making it easier for me to pick out my precious people when I become Hokage.
I looked over at the rest of my apartment towards my right. It wasn't exactly the largest place to live in. It was only two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. Half of one of the rooms was used as the dining area was eating in now. It was made up of small table with just enough room for four people. I only had two chairs for the table however. Not a lot of people come to visit me, let alone in groups. One the other half of the room was a perfectly intact black couch that was thrown out. (Honestly, who throws away a perfectly good couch?) Just down the short hall was my bedroom, which also had a bathroom in it. Iruka-sensei was nice enough to get me a mattress and bed frame, along with some sheets, and the Hokage was able to give me a brown dresser for my clothes. It wasn't the best place to live, but it was my home.
I looked over to my left as I heard a knock on the door. I laid my fork on the table and pulled a kunai from my holster as I stood up. I slowly made my towards the door, gripping my kunai as my prepared myself for a villager who was idiotic enough to try and attack me. I stopped in front of the door before placing my hand on knob. I twisted it and opened it, only to see Kakashi-sensei in front of me.
"Yo!" he greeted. Though I couldn't be sure, I was pretty sure he was smiling. I sighed in relief as I put away my kunai. He was carrying a basket of vegetables in one hand. "I hope I didn't startle you."
"No, Sensei," I said. "I don't get visitors often, dattebayo!" I smiled slightly. "What brings you here?" As I said that, I moved to the side, allowing him to come in. He stepped in and looked left and right.
"I like what you have done with the place," Kakashi commented. I sat back in my original spot, with Kakashi taking the remaining chair to my right before placing the bowl of vegetables on my table. "Well, remember what we talked about after your sparring session with Kureiga." I nodded. "Well, the arrangement has been made. You and Kureiga will be meeting with a… special friend of mine. He will discuss with you two your training schedules. He may be a weird person, but he's the best at his area of expertise. Your taijutsu will be topnotch." I frowned slightly.
"Is taijutsu really that important?" I asked.
"Taijutsu is extremely important. Taijutsu does not require chakra to be used. As such, a ninja with a solid foundation in taijutsu can still be able to defend himself when his chakra runs out." He then tilted his head. "Besides, you want to surpass Sasuke, don't you?" I was mid-sip when he said that. I coughed as some of the broth travelled down the wrong tube. I heard him chuckle. "Trust me Naruto, you'll be a better ninja for this." He then stood up. "Well, I have to go. Don't want to be late."
"When are you ever on time?" I said as he walked towards my door, scowl on my face. I then looked at the bowl of vegetables on my table. "You're forgetting your vegetables." He stopped and looked at me.
"They are for you," he said.
"But I hate vegetables, dattebayo!"
He sighed for a moment. "You can't go through life eating ramen alone. Ramen has almost no nutrition. Eating nothing but ramen can stunt your growth, as well as lead to other health problems. As a ninja, you'll need the proper nutrition. And with your new training, that's doubly important." He opened the door before taking one last look at me. "Be at Training Area 19 at twelve o'clock. Ja ne."
I looked back at the bowl. It had many of the usual vegetables, including carrots, broccoli, peppers, and even an eggplant. I narrowed my eyes before sighing. I hated vegetables, and I wanted to learn cool ninjutsu like Kakashi-sensei, leaving me with little interest in Taijutsu. But if eating vegetables and learning taijutsu will help surpass Sasuke, and, more importantly, become the Hokage, then so be it.
Later on that day, I made my way over to the training area. I've been there many times before. When I was younger, I went there many times before to collect kunai and shurikens when I needed some. For some reasons, whenever I visited there, the grounded was always littered with them. I even found a katana once, which I kept under my bed since that day.
I reached the area, finding Kureiga standing in the middle of it. Way off in front of him was a dummy mounted on a post. The ground was void of grass, leaving nothing but bare soil. Four unnlit torches, that were taller than me, circled the training ground. I figured they were used to light up the area at night.
"Oi, Kureiga!" I yelled out. He turned around and looked over at me before nodding. I walked over towards him. "Is he here yet?" Kureiga looked around the area before giving me a look.
"Does he look like he's here?" Kureiga replied. He then looked up at the sky. "I think we might be a little early."
"Ah, but being early gives you more time to fan the Fires of Youth!" I heard a booming voice exclaim. I looked around, trying to find the source of it. Then I saw two shadows streak from the trees. Kureiga and I both pulled out a kunai as the "shadows", which turned out to be two shinobi. One of them was rather tall, even taller than Kureiga. He gave off a smiled that was only rivaled by his bowl cut in shininess. I never saw someone with such an intense appearance.
The guy younger boy right next to him was giving him a run for his money, however. The boy was as tall as Kureiga, and seemed to be a little older than us.
"Welcome," the taller man said. "I'm Maito Gai. And this is my pupil, Rock Lee."
"Please to meet you both," the boy said, bowing towards the two of us.
"I will be training you two in Taijutsu from now on, with Lee helping out in my teachings." His smile disappeared, leaving a solemn expression on his face. "This training will not be easy. In all honesty, I will be pushing your bodies to their extreme limits. Once we find those limits, I'll push you even farther. By the time I am done with you two, you will be faster. You will be stronger. You will be more resilient. And you will be a better ninja. However, for this happen, I can't be the only one pushing you. You, as well, have to push yourselves. The styles I will teach you are not for everyone. Only those who burn with the Fire of Youth can learn what I have to teach. In short, you must really want it. Is that understood?"
"Hai!" Kureiga quickly said. I nodded fiercely.
"Is that so? Then state your name and ambitions, starting with you!" He pointed straight at me.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" I exclaimed. "And I want to… No. I'm going to be the best Hokage this village has ever seen!"
"And I'm Kureiga Kazama!" Kureiga declared. "I'm going to be the head of ANBU!"
Gai and Lee smiled at us.
"The Fire of Youth burns bright in you two!" Gai said approvingly, with Lee nodding in agreement. I raised my eyebrows in surprised. Normally, people would laugh at me when I tell them that. However, they didn't laugh. If anything, they were encouraging. "Now we shall begin. Kureiga, since I'm going to be teaching you something a little different, I want you to meet me here at nine o'clock."
Kureiga paused for a second. He then nodded before jumping into the trees. Gai then turned towards me.
"Starting tomorrow, your training will start at six A.M." My eyes widened. "It will be best. From six to nine, we put in three hours of training without you having to worry about it interfering with your team activities." I nodded slowly. "Now, I will be teaching you Goken: The Hard Fist Style. The focus of this style is to cause external damage on, and break the bones of, your opponents. As such, you must be able to hit as hard as possible, as fast as possible. I want to gauge where you are now. So you will be sparring with Lee. Lee, get ready!"
"Yosh!" Lee yelled out as he went into his stance. I looked over at him before dropping into my own stance, looking straight into his eyes.
"Begin," Gai said.
When I sparred with Kureiga, I figured out that he was a lot faster than me. However, as I was about to figure out, he dead slow compared to Lee. In a blink of the eye, he was already right in front of me. In instant, I staggered backwards after receiving a hard fist across my face. I sent out a punch, but he merely ducked it before thrusting two palms into my stomach. I bent over, holding my stomach. That was a mistake. Lee crouched down with his right shoulder facing me. He put all of his weight on his left leg before using that leg to push himself upward. As he did so, he brought his right leg up and planted his foot against my face. The force of his kick forced me on back. I held my face in pain before removing my hands. I then rolled to my right, feeling air rushing pass my left cheek as I narrowly dodged the heel of his foot. I quickly jumped to my feet, and he sent jumping roundhouse kick towards my head. I ducked under it, but he merely dropped down on his left foot and sent another spinning kick, with this one hitting my left knee.
It would continue like this for thirty minutes straight. No matter what I did, he had a fast answer for it. There was nothing I could do. What made it even more annoying was the fact that he smiled throughout the whole fight. He was having fun with this. I knew that for a fact. During the whole spar, I only landed one hit, and that was because he barely missed with a straight left. I ducked under it, feeling his fist ruffling my hair before ramming my left elbow into his stomach. He slid backward, holding his stomach with his for a moment. He looked down at himself for a moment before he looked back at me, smiling and nodding.
"That's enough!" Gai called out. I stood my ground, breathing deeply as I tried to catch my breath. "Impressive."
"Impressive?" I repeated in disbelief, looking over at Gai with a scowl on my face. "Lee wiped the floor with, dattebayo!" I looked down in disappointment. "Sakura-chan is right. My taijutsu is horrible." I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at my shoulder, then looked up to see Gai, who down at me with a solemn expression.
"I'm going to be frank with you, Naruto. You do need a lot of work. However, you shouldn't let the fires of youth burn out so quickly. I, myself, have seen worse, and you have a lot for me to work with. Your strength is admirable, and you're the first person I have ever seen keep up with Lee for that long."
"Hai!" Lee said in agreement. "Please don't give up, Naruto-kun!" I blinked a few times. Only two other people called me Naruto-kun before. "I would like have another fellow Genius of Hard Work."
"Genius of Hard Work?" I said. Gai nodded.
"In quite a few cases, students in the academy would have an advantage. They could be a part of a strong clan and have knowledge of secret techniques and blood limits. Others just have a gift for certain areas. However, there are people who possess none of them. Take Lee, for example." I looked over at Lee. "He is unable to use ninjutsu and genjutsu because he can't properly mold his chakra. He was written off as a dead last. However, he's one of the best there is in taijutsu. But it wasn't something he was made for. He put in his heart and soul into learning Strong Fist and perfecting it. And that's what a genius of hard work is: someone who puts their heart and soul into becoming the best they can be to achieve their goals."
Even to this day, I remembered that day. Not only because of those words which will stick with me to death, but also because I realized that there were people who wanted me to succeed. Gai and Lee wanted me to become a better ninja. Kakashi-sensei sent me to Gai for that same reason.
I nodded in understanding. "Alright! I'll make sure that you'll have a genius of hard work as Hokage. And that Hokage will be me, dattebayo!"
"YOSH!!!" I heard Lee yelled, his eyes burning up. "Such resolve! It fires me up!"
"Indeed!" Gai said. "Now, let's work on the basics. Let's start with your stance. Drop into your stance for me."
Kureiga
I felt my back hit the trunk of a tree after I was sent flying. I then brushed the side of my fist against the corner of my mouth before lowering it and looking at it. Sure enough, there was blood on it. I slowly stood up before looking over at Gai. I was right back where I met him earlier, with the training area illuminated by four torches, starting my training session with him.
Earlier, when I met the team for a mission, Naruto looked like he was put through hell and back. He told me about Lee. I didn't feel sorry for Lee. On the contrary, I gained a new respect for him. A lot of people would have quit under his circumstances. But he didn't let lack of proper chakra control, or any kind of chakra control, stop him one bit. Naruto was evidence of that. As he admitted, Lee wiped the floor with him twice, though he fared better the second time. Apparently, he had his stance fixed, and was shown the proper way to strike and what not. Still, he was roughed up, and I felt sorry for him. That was until I met Gai for training session.
As far as I was concerned, Naruto got off lucky.
Gai was teaching me a variant of Goken: The Art of Eight Limbs. Basically put, practitioner of this style treated their body as if it had eight limbs. Those eight limbs included the arms, the legs, the elbows, and knees. These eight "limbs" were used to leave the opponent broke. The difference between regular Goken and The art of Eight Limbs was that Goken was beautiful to look at. I remembered the few times I saw Gai in action. Despite the deadliness of Goken, it was mesmerizing to see him move.
On the other hand, there was nothing beautiful about The Art of Eight Limbs. It was a rather brutal looking style. There were no flips or acrobatic dodging, just pure, unadulterated, brutality, as I experienced firsthand.
Needless to say, I spent a good chunk of my training session getting manhandled by Gai. I quickly realized why so the elbows and knees were elevated to "limb" status when I felt Gai's knees and elbows against my face, ribs, and stomach. The only time I wasn't getting my behind handed to me was when Gai was teaching me the proper stance and showing me some of the strikes. And that was at the beginning of the session.
"That's enough for the night," Gai said. My body screamed relief. I felt pain all over my body from the many blows I taken. However, I shook my head fiercely.
"NO!" I yelled in protest. "I'm not done yet!" I dropped back into my stance. Or at least I tried to before my knees buckled, causing me to lose my balance and land on my butt. While I wanted to continue, my body just wouldn't let me. I then saw a hand in front of me. I looked at it before looking up at the person who it belonged to, who happened to be Gai. I took his hand, and he lifted me to my feet.
"While I'm glad the fires of your youth is burning strong, you should always know when enough is enough," he said. "This is not something you're going to master in one day. Remember that." I slowly nodded, admitting defeat on the issue. "Now take this." He held a scroll out to me. I took it and looked down at it.
"What's this?"
"It's a diet plan," he said with a smile. I immediately patted my stomach. "Not that kind of diet. It's to help you get the proper nutrition. Your training will be for nothing if your body isn't getting the proper nutrients to grow."
"I see…" I said as I opened up the scroll. As I scrolled through it, I saw that it contained a diet regimen, a list of suggested food items (which, to my dismay, included red tea), and many different recipes. It was a rather long scroll. I was about to ask if all of it was necessary. But then I realized who I was about to ask the question to. I never heard of him being in the hospital, despite going through training methods would leave a normal shinobi in the ER, if not in a coffin. "I guess I'm in this for the long haul." Gai have me a thumbs up with his right hand before giving me his signature "bling" smile. I would later find out that he was giving me his "nice guy" pose. I nodded at him before bowing as much as I could without setting off the pain receptors in my back. "Alright, Gai-sensei. I'll see you tomorrow night." I took a deep breath before jumping towards the trees.
I made my way towards city streets of Konoha, with the leaves passing by me in a blur. As I moved through the forest, I started to imagine myself when I finally mastered the Art of Eight Limbs. I started to see enemy ninjas look at my black eyes in fear and wonder what kind of beast lies under that mask of mine. I relished the thought as I clenched my fist. I was going to master this style.
Sasuke
I looked up at the night sky, looking back on the day. It was almost more of the same. We met a little later than usual before we carried out another pointless, so-called mission. This time, we were "privileged" enough to paint a house as I, and probably every other on the team I was assigned to, wonder how much rapport we must build before we actually do a real mission.
But a couple of things caught my interest that day. The first was the arrival of Naruto, who appeared more unkempt than he usually was. He had more tears in his uniform and a lot of dirty spots could be seen across the orange fabric of, especially about his forearms. I dismissed it at first. I really didn't care about the Dobe, let alone about what resulted in his appearance. But then I overheard a conversation he had with and Kureiga after the mission. The two of them were discussing some training that apparently resulted in Naruto's appearance. Not just any kind of training, but training with Konoha's number one taijutsu specialist.
It intrigued me a bit. Or, at least, a part of me was. I guess I wanted to see if Naruto could actually do something right.
I sighed as I pushed the thoughts of Naruto aside, thinking about my own goals. At that time, I knew I wasn't ready to attain my goal. And at the rate I was going, I knew I'd be dead before I was able to, which would inconvenient, consider that my death would end all hope of my clan ever being restored. I decided to be patient, for now. But I didn't know how much of these pseudo-missions I could take.
Sakura
"Alright, this is Scarecrow. I see the target. Is anyone in position to attack?"
"This is Steel Blossom. I'm ready to go."
"…This is Dark Phoenix. I have my eyes on the target."
"This is Orange Fox. I see the target as well, dattebayo."
"This is Thunderbird. Let's do this."
"Alright, move in!"
All four of us jumped out of the bushes, ready to strike. Naruto got to the target first, grabbing her by the legs. Sasuke, Kureiga, and I stopped next to him. I smothered a laugh as Naruto struggled with our target, which was a brown-furred cat with a red bow on its ear. The cat belonged to the wife of the Lord of the Fire Country.
"Bow on the ear," Kureiga noted. "We got her. Hey, Sakura, want to radio that in?" I nodded as I brought my hand to my earpiece.
"This is Steel Blossom," I said over the radio. "Target is acquired."
"This is Scarecrow. I'll rendezvous with you in a minute. Good job."
I dropped my hand from my earpiece as Naruto managed to subdue the cat. Sasuke sat down at on a fallen log, with his elbows on his lap and his hands intertwined in front of his face. Kureiga looked up at the sky before looking at me.
"How much longer?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows.
"How much longer until what?" I asked.
"How much longer until we stop doing manual labor and actually perform ninja duties?" I furrowed up my eyebrows.
"Must you always be this impatient?" I said. "Remember what Kakashi-sensei said?"
"I do." Kureiga leaned against a tree. "But this is getting ridiculous. How much rapport do we have to build until the Hokage think we're ready to take on ACTUAL ninja tasks? And you can't tell me you're not getting tired of these so-called missions." I tilted my head at him.
"Well, maybe we wouldn't have to do so many missions if you haven't trashed the restaurant a few days ago!" I replied. "We'd be doing C-Rank missions right now if it wasn't for your short temper." Kureiga scoffed.
"You lose your temper one time, and everyone thinks you have anger issues." He rolled his eyes, looking upward at the sky. "Look, what the chef did was wrong. As far as I'm concerned, he needed to be decked one." He shook his head. "I don't even know why we're even having this conversation."
"You gave us bad name!"
"All I did was stick up for a teammate!"
"That's enough, you two!" I looked up to see Kakashi crouched on a branch of a tree. I looked back at Kureiga, who glared right back at me. "Let's go. We need to return the cat back to its owner." Kureiga shrugged.
"The sooner the better."
Kakashi
As we stood in the Hokage's office, I couldn't help but notice the looks of annoyance on their faces. This was their fifteenth D-Rank mission they underwent. While they passed every single one of them, the missions were getting to them. It wasn't because the missions were particularly taxing. But I could tell they were getting tired of being, as Kureiga called it one time, "cheap labor". I couldn't really blame them for getting agitated. Back when I was a genin, I remembered myself getting agitated when I began doing missions with my team. And just like me, they were annoyed by the manual labor they were doing (though Naruto, of all people, didn't complain one bit about doing the missions involving gardening). I knew that I was going to have to get the Hokage to assign us a C-Rank mission.
"Oi, can I go?" I heard Naruto ask as I just completed the debriefing. I looked at him. "I start my job today." I raised my eyebrows briefly. I nodded nonetheless.
"Okay," I said. "You all did a great job today. You are dismissed." All four of them nodded as they made their way out of the office. I then turned and looked at the Hokage as he sat behind the lone desk that occupied the relatively large room. Behind was a large window, granting those who look through it the view of the entire village. The Sandaime looked over at me, a faint smile on his face.
"You look like you have something to tell me," he said in an observational tone. Under my mask, my lips curled in a slight smile.
"Always observant," I said. I then frowned. "They are not going to last any longer."
"Really?" the Sandaime said. "They seem to be doing well with their missions." I shook my head.
"That's not what I meant. They are getting agitated with performing these D-Rank missions." The Sandaime nodded.
"That is to be expected," he said. "No ninja fresh from the academy expect their missions to be making deliveries across town, or doing housework." He paused for a moment. "You did tell them the reason for D-Rank missions, I assume." I nodded.
"I did. And they agreed with the reasoning. However, we're dealing with a team of shinobi with high ambitions. Naruto wants your job, Sasuke wants to revive his clan, Kureiga wants to be the head of ANBU, and Sakura…" I paused, trying to think of what she wanted to be, besides Sasuke's wife. Nothing came up.
"I'm well aware of every one of their goals," the Hokage replied, standing up. He turned and walked over to the window before coming to a stop. He brought his hands behind his back, right hand in his left. "I met with all four of them before, and they have made their intentions clear." He sighed slightly. "Do you think they are ready for a C-Rank mission?" I shrugged my shoulders.
"I highly doubt they could be any more prepared." I saw his head move vertically, apparently from him nodding.
"Alright," he said. He then turned around and looked towards me. "In two weeks, I try to have something for them. Nothing too hard, but something that will placate their appetite."
Tazuna
"This is the third time this week."
I groaned before I lifted my head from the table. Today wasn't exactly my best day. Then again, it had been a long time before since I actually had a good day. What was so bad about my day? Well, I'll have to start from the beginning.
I'm from a country known as the Land of Waves. It's an island nation off the coast of the Land of Fire. The Land of Waves is one of the smaller nations of the world. We didn't have a hidden village, and we weren't blessed with a Daimyo like other villages. Heck, we weren't even among richest countries. But we were pretty well off. With a lot of villages coming to us whenever they needed supplies, we made a lot of money off of exportation. It was very easy for someone to make comfortable living in the Land of Waves. It was a relaxing place to be. Or, at least, it used to be, until Gato came along.
Gato was a head of a powerful and lucrative company. As such, he had a lot of influence and very deep pockets. He had set his eyes on our island, setting foot on it and offering to buy up the ports of the island for a hefty amount, stating, in a loquacious way, that it would help the economy of the island. A lot of us bit on it, believing what he said. It seemed like a good idea. After all, it wasn't every day that the head of a multimillion ryo company comes to us and requests to open up shop on our island. So we said yes, not even bothering to find out more about Gato, like his background and whatnot. This turned out to be a mistake.
He bought out all of the ports on the island and took over all of our shipping routes. Because of this, he was able make a monopoly on the island. He controlled the entire shipping operations of the island. When we tried to confront him about it, he merely sent out his army of hired thugs to take control of the island itself. For a few years, we were under oppression until I decided to do something about it. Specifically, I decided to build a bridge connecting the island to the Fire Country. By doing that, it would greatly reduce our need on our ports by getting our supplies by land.
Thing is, news travels fast. It always has, and it always will. And when you inhabit a relatively small nation, it travels even faster. Ever since my crew of workers and starting building the bridge, Gato has sent many men after us. At first, he just targeted my crew. This ranged from the vandalism of their homes to outright murder. However, that did little to deter my crew, as only a few of my men quit on the job, since my men longed for the way things were before. Realizing this, he decided to go another route: he went after me instead. Since I was the only bridge builder and designer in the group, it would effectively. This lead to many attempts on my life and well being, which, most recently, a glancing blow to my head via club.
"I just hope this bridge gets done soon." That was my daughter, Tsunami, who said that. I shared a home with her, mostly to help support the family ever since she lost her second husband. I saw her black hair part slightly as she ran her hands through it before grabbed a steaming kettle off of the stove. I sighed as she came over.
"At this rate, I'd be celebrating my seventieth birthday before I'm done with that bridge," I said irritably. That'll be eleven years from now." I sighed as Tsunami poured some tea into a cup that was in front of me. "This whole situation is stressing me out." Tsunami's black eyes looked over at me for a moment.
"Sometimes I wished you didn't push yourself so hard," she said. I merely shrugged.
"What do you expect me to do? It's the only chance we got to break Gato's hold on this town. But with all these attacks… it's really slowing down our progress." I sighed once more before looking at Tsunami once again. "I have to do something."
"Do what?" she asked. I grabbed the cup in front of me before taking a sip from it. I then sighed.
"I'm going to Konoha."
"Konoha?"
"Yes. I'm going to try and see if I can seek help from the Hokage himself. Maybe offer me protection while the bridge is built, like ninja or -"
"Ninja?" she said. "Isn't that expensive? We don't have much money…"
"I know," I said. "But it must be done." I looked over at her. "I'll be leaving sometime tomorrow, and should be back later that day. You just hold down the forth until I come back."