But A Memory
.
.
At five years old, Hatake Sakumo's day started when he woke in the morn alongside the rising sun and scrambled from under his covers to stand on his bed and peek at how the morning sun drew shadows across the land as it chased the night away. He saw the neighbors rousing themselves slowly, bedroom lights winking on steadily, and heard his father already moving about beneath him in the kitchen.
Then the first rooster woke, beyond the gated borough that Sakumo's house sat, and cried it's awakening to the world- others joining in even as a few of the younger dogs barked and howled at them in reply. And suddenly the neighbors were getting up quicker.
Sakumo scrambled off his bed to shuck off his pajamas and tug on his clothes before barreling from his room, down the stairs and into the bathroom- relieving himself, washing his hands, brushing his teeth and cleaning his face- before going into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Breakfast was a small affair that consisted of a poached egg sandwiched between two slices of toast along with a glass of milk and consumed in silence. Once finished, Father journeyed upstairs to get dressed and Sakumo made quick work of the dishes then went out back to feed the dogs.
Father's ninken, now retired old dogs with various injuries to show their worth, were merely three in number as opposed to the original ten; Suki the chinook with a front right leg that would never handle her weight enough to walk properly, Isamu the male dingo who was now blind with the left ear now in tatters and Mamoru the tamaskan who was missing an eye, ear, leg and the majority of his tail.
Toshiro, the Kuvasz pup given to him on his fourth birthday as is customary, rushed over to him with an excited yip, "A'umo!"
"Shiro-chan!" Sakumo greeted cheerfully, picking up the pup via a hug around the stomach and earning a tongue bathing on his face.
Suki gave an annoyed growl, "Play o'yer own time whelp, ya got work to do!"
"Yes, Suki-san. I apologize." he told the bitch whom laid down with an irritated huff. "Shiro-chan can you hold the door open for me?"
Toshiro bobbed in agreement, squirming from his arms to scramble toward the shed door while Sakumo gave the food trough- carved from the trunk of a fallen tree and low enough for pups to reach- a glance to make certain it was empty before jogging to the shed. Opening the door, absently noting that the screws needed tightening, Sakumo went in as Toshiro used his body as a door stopper- grabbing a bag of dog food that he had to use chakra just to hold and his feet just to make sure he didn't fall. The journey to the trough was a slow one, littered with Toshiro's encouragements of 'Go A'umo!', and he was relieved to lighten his burden when he tipped food into the trough.
The bag was taken from him and Sakumo beamed as Father carried it back into the shed, "Thanks, Father!"
"Don' ya know not to yell durin' breakfast, whelp?" Suki snapped.
Mamoru let out a bark, "Enough Suki! I recall you being much worse at that age, let the boy be."
"It is time to go, Koinu-chan." Isamu rumbled, scarfing down one last mouthful before stalking off.
Sakumo followed with Toshiro bounding behind him, absently wondering at how the dingo could maneuver so well without his sight but those thoughts were shoved away as they reached the gate. Father stood there along with various cousins of Sakumo's, Kōunki-ojisan holding Kōgu-chan on his shoulders- recalling that Kōgu-chan had turned four two weeks previously, the giant schnauzer pup Kiki was evidence, Sakumo knew that Kōgu-chan was finally allowed to accompany them past the borough gates to the farmland beyond. As was customary, each member (male or female) of the Hatake clan had a dog with them- each at various ages and in varying states- this dog being the one that they had gotten at age four.
Toshiro stood straight, chest puffing up in pride when Kiki let out an awed whuff when Father opened the gates- Sakumo also felt a surge of pride when Kōgu-chan let loose his own awed sound.
"Kōunki and Mugiaki's groups will be the first and third quarters." Father announced as we walked through the gates. "Suika's will be the second quarter and mine will be the fourth."
Sakumo knew from experience that the farmland, affectionately dubbed Little Garden, where plants were grown were divided into quarters of 250 acres of land with the first and third being the closest to the borough gates while the second and fourth were farther- bordering the ranch's gates. The first quarter grew medical plants, the second saw to fruits, the third tended to grains- divided further into cereal and legume- with the fourth focusing on vegetables. Three canals (Sakura-sama told him that Hashirama-dono had molded the canals with his Mokuton while Kagami-dono organized his clansmen to use Doton and Suiton to redirect rivers through the canals so that they would remain full of water as per agreement of the Hatake Clan's settlement in Konohagakure) cut into the 'quarters', two cutting the quarters in half while the third separated the even and odd quarters- multiple wooden bridges (Sakura-sama said that Hashirama-dono kindly added them even though they were not part of the agreement) running over the canals.
He also knew that the fourth quarter were to tend to the animals in the ranch area, bring them out to feed, then at the four hour mark they would switch off with the second quarter and tend to their quarter as the second cared for the animals. Four hours after that, second quarter would switch with third and third with first the next four while the rest were free to go- provided that third quarter decided to work from the start as sometimes third quarter decided to get extra sleep and work later.
It was a long, tedious job that generally went thankless when there were shinobi clans like the Uchiha and Hyūga within the village with them being looked down upon by other clans- as the Hatake Clan almost exclusively used their chakra to either grow things or protect themselves. A fact that they had gotten away with despite the war thanks to Sakura-sama.
The Hatake Clan once had a population of nearing six hundred, well off despite the chaos of the warring states due to a combination of protection from the Daimyō (whom they provided for) and their firm neutrality in squabbles as they sold provisions to anyone whom could pay or work for it (a great many of their number whom married into the family- or were adopted in- had come to them in the hopes of working for food). Then the Uchiha and Senju created Konohagakure with Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure and dozens of smaller shinobi villages popping into existence- which was fine as the Hatake Clan secured contracts to ship food to many of them and their numbers swelled to nearly nine hundred.
Then the squabbling started up once more, only concentrated and organized enough to be called the First Shinobi World War. With war came a perverted possessiveness where each village saw it as a betrayal that the Hatake indiscriminately provided for them and their enemy thus, like children whom wish not to share a toy, they attacked the clan to prevent them from helping the enemy- raid after raid, killing any they came across and burning the lands they found.
And so eight hundred ninety-four dwindled down to one hundred seventeen.
Sakura-sama, having lost her husband and daughter along with countless friends and family members, gathered the remaining Hatake together, salvage all that they could and leaving their land in a large caravan where their number dropped to seventy-six before they stumbled across Tobirama-dono and his team heading back from the front lines. Sakura-sama promptly demanded, despite being little more powerful then a genin at the time and partially starved from giving the majority of her food to her growing sons, that Tobirama-dono escort their caravan to Konohagakure and take her to the Hokage for settlement negotiations.
(Kōunki-ojisan always stated that Tobirama-dono only obeyed out of pity when he saw the state of the children as Sakura-sama, despite having wolfhounds that were more then half her size flanking her, wasn't an intimidating figure at the time seeing as she was emaciated, filthy and cradling a child when this occurred.)
Hashirama-dono granted her an audience, providing provisions for the caravan despite the village already rationing supplies due to the war, where Sakura-sama stated that the Hatake could provide food for the village if they were allowed to settle a plot of land to their choosing and that no member of the clan were to be drafted into the war before the clan has settled and recovered from their journey.
And Hashirama-dono agreed, personally seeing to their settlement along with the Uchiha Clan Head, Kagami-dono.
"Sakumo." Father said, calling his attention to where the man stood with the ranch gate open. "Come."
The ranch gate was tall enough to keep the animals inside though low enough for ninken to jump over should they have need to- the gate was also lined with flowerbeds on the side where the quarters stood as the ranch's side housed beehives, gated to keep the animals from them and two per acre to keep them from competing too much.
Sakumo recalled setting out small bowls of sugar syrup for a hive (his hive for the year as he learned) near mid-February, uncovering the hive when it was warm enough, partially isolating the queen so that she wouldn't lay eggs in the honey stores, destroying a queen cell in order to prevent overcrowding and checking them weekly as they made honey- Father, though, said that he would only be allowed to harvest honey in autumn and, should the bees survive winter, he would be able to help with the other hives next year.
At the moment, Sakumo follows Father to the barn while Senzai-san takes two to the rabbit hutches and Yūkaku-san leaves with three to the coop- roosters crying out in a disorderly symphony.
The barn isn't a tall one, around a one-story house's height with a loft tucked away like an attic, but it was a large one- big enough that a row of four houses would fit inside with room left over to walk about. It was wooden (Hashirama-dono built it according to Sakura-sama's specifications) and painted sporadically with bits of mossy-green, had three large doors which divided the areas of the 'types' of animals kept- though all had the same bedding of wood shavings that they got for free due to a trade agreement with the Senju for them to get free dairy products.
The first area housed dairy cows, goats and the yak that Mugiaki-san won off a man from Iwagakure, the second area was where the sheep and alpacas were with cattle and pigs in the third. The fourth had horses that, aside from being rented out to civilians, were kept as sentimental value as they were descendants of the horses that traveled with the caravan as plowing was done with the dogs instead.
He went to a cow first, accepting the bucket his father handed him and grabbing the small step stool he used as a seat before entering the cow's stall while his father held the gate open for him. The cow, named Shi-chan, ignored him as he set down his stool and bucket, only letting out a drawn-out 'moo' when he started milking.
Because I wanted a Hatake Clan and Young!Sakumo (or Puppy!Sakumo)