The Shopping District
The result from the afternoon rain dripped from the Shopping Districts thatched roofs, and down its eaves. Water trickled down the eaves and made its journey through the street, and into rain ducts. The air was crisp with the lingering dewy smell of wet dirt. Little puddles sat along the street, reflecting the afternoon sun. It was a heavy Spring shower, but that was a wonderful sign. It's going to be a cool Summer. During the Spring and Summer months in Konoha, the Shopping District was a sight to see.
The Shopping District was a hub for artists, merchants, travelers and customers. After the Third Shinobi War, the Shopping District underwent a massive reconstruction. The Shinobi Art and Local Business Counsel insisted that the Shopping District should be transformed into an improved version of its prior self, where community, nature and art lived harmoniously. It would become a space where business could grow, along with supporting local artists and cherish the natural world. Its multilevel architecture was inspired by the surrounding mountains and hills, while its streets and alleyways represented the countries rivers and streams.
Cobblestone streets weave in and around each other. They took people down condensed allies, under monuments, through shops and food markets. The smell of pastries, burning wood and flowers wafted through these small streets until it poured out onto the Main Street. If you walk through the Main Street and look towards the skyline colorful banners whipped through the air, while the sun cast the shadows of tree leaves and vibrant flowers. Sky bridges stretched overhead, providing shade and beautiful murals of nature, animals and poems. These skybridges were but one form of walkway connecting the terraced buildings. Built alongside the buildings were ramps and stairs, so carts of merchandise could be easily transported, but one of the most notable sky bridges was stationed near Konoha's oldest scroll shops.
Nearly encompassed by tree roots, a small scroll shop sits comfortably. It's an old building, but its wood wasn't worn, or splintered, it was quite the opposite. The shop's wood was dark, smooth and kept clean. The rice paper on the shoji looked new. It has a traditional black thatched roof and exposed wooden columns. Securely mounted above the door is the sculpture of a Maneki-neko, or beckoning cat, who lazily sits atop of sculpted scrolls. Its gold eyes look out towards potential customers, beckoning them to enter the shop.
Beside the shop stood a gargantuan oak tree. It was called Sekai no Tsurī, or World Tree. Its massive roots borrowed into the soil as its thick trunk continues to expand across the ground. Carpets of soft moss grew on its beautiful dark bark, while its enormous branches rested on the ground and its smaller branches reached for the sky. During the Summer, the trees branches produced bright green leaves. When the sun shined on the tree, its leaves look as if they were glowing. One of these branches is so big it stretches up towards the second story building opposite of it.
In order to keep the branch from breaking, and to create a safe walkway, large iron beams are cemented into the ground, while large iron supports cradle the branch in place. A metal railing was installed, so that people could safely trek across the branch. In order to not harm the tree, the railing is connected to the iron beams and supports, not the tree itself. Thankfully, when Orochimaru attacked the village, the Shopping District wasn't totally destroyed. The tree didn't suffer any damages. Only the outer parts of the District are experiencing reconstruction.
In parts of the Shopping District the sound of reconstruction could be heard, along with the daily hustle and bustle of life. Women were shopping while groups of children played in puddles. Merchants selling their wares as artists publicly crafted their pieces. In the marketplace the smell of cooking sugar, meats and fresh seafood drifted through the air. There was an auction being held and workers unloading crates of fresh produce. Across from the market entrance was a small ceramic shop. The old wooden structure sat peacefully beside a oak sapling. It looked more like a shack then a building. On a table outside of the shops entrance were handmade dishware. A middle aged woman holding a basket of food strolls down the pathway, enjoying the market scenery. She notices a the display table, and the bowls that sat on to of it. Stopping s to admire them, she picks one up, and examines it. She quickly decides to purchase it. Beside the display table the shopkeeper sat on a little wooden stool, while he worked on his potter's wheel. He was wearing an apron that was dirty with potter's clay and dist. His hands were working with the wet clay to shape a sake cup.
"Excuse me, how much as these bowls?" Asked the woman.
Stopping the potter's wheel from turning, the shopkeeper took a wet cloth from a bucket and cleaned his hands. He looked over at her, smiles and places his glasses over her eyes, observing the bowl.
"How does 200 Ryo each sound?" He says.
"That sounds reasonable. They are very pretty bowls. And they are handmade. I would like to buy that one, and the other three." She says as she points to the other bowls, and pulls out 800 Ryo from her purse. "They are so beautiful. I have to send a set to my niece. She just got her own apartment, and she doesn't have any dishes! Poor girl, she's been eating out of prepackaged dishes."
The shopkeeper pulls out several pieces of packing paper to individually wrap the bowls. "I remember doing that. Before I could make my own dishes I was saving my ramen noodle bowls," he says as he remembers being a struggling young adult. Placing the bowls in a box, he hands the woman the packages bowls in exchange for the Ryo.
Happily holding her bowls, the woman thanks the shopkeeper for her purchase, but her happiness came to an end when two animals swept her feet from under her. Screaming, the woman lost her balance and her grip on the bowls. The bowls flew into the air as she fell to the ground. The bowls came crashing down, shattering on the cobblestone, while Pakkun and Sumi run up the colossal tree and out of sight. Before the shopkeeper and woman could comprehend what was going on, a Kunoichi hurtles over the confused woman and steps on one of the less broken bowls. Sadly, the force of her foot crushed the bowl and smeared it into the street.
"I'm sorry, ma'am! I'll pay you later!" The Kunoichi shouted over her shoulder as she ran up the tree.
The inaudible shouts of a frustrated woman could be heard, but broken bowls where the lease of the Kunoichi's problems. She had to catch two small, quick ninja animals who were tearing up the village.
Pakkun and Sumi barged through people's legs, knocking over children. They ran through the second story of the Shopping District. In front of Sumi was a spice shop. The spices were laid out in baskets on the pathway, giving them no room to run through. Sumi picked up speed and leaped over the baskets of spices. She landed on people's laps as she used them as jumping pads, attempting to keep clear from the spices. She successfully pushed through the obstacle without any casualties. Hopefully this will slow the dog down. Sadly, Pakkun, filled with blind rage, decided to bulldoze through the spices.
Baskets flipped into the air, their contents spilling out. The air was thick with sansho, chinpi, curry powder, ground ginger, nori, yuzu and shiso to name a few. It was chaotic. People coughing, swatting at the air as they fought to breath. On the first story you could see a thick cloud of spices drift in the air, along with the sounds of confused shoppers and an angry dog.
Covering her nose, the Kunoichi leaps onto the ledge to avoid the catastrophe. She notices Sumi on the ledge as well, but the cat's movements look predictable. Beside the cat was a flag that was attached to the ground level of the shopping center. The Kunoichi had her suspicions what Sumi might do.
"Wait, no, Sumi! Don't! Don't jump!" Yelled the Kunoichi.
Before the Kunoichi could catch Sumi the cat is forced to leap onto the flag as Pakkun snaps at her tail. The fabric is thin enough that Sumi's claws dig into it, successfully slides down the flag, landing on the street and running further into the Shopping District. Pakkun takes the less graceful approach and jumps from the second story. He lands directly on top of a rice cart. His claws are so sharp and the force is so great that when he jumps off one of the bags of rice, he rips into the 150 kilo (330 lbs) bag. The bag splits and rice pours out onto the street. The man hauling the cart panics as the bag drains of its rice. He tries to cover the hole, but it splits wider and wider, draining the bag faster. Jumping down from the ledge the Kunoichi sprints past the man, following Pakkun and Sumi, screaming at the top of her lungs: "I'm sorry!"
Not too far from the Kunoichi, Kakashi arrives at the aftermath. The angered man runs to Kakashi and points towards the direction the Kunoichi sprinted off too. "She took off that way! Her dog destroyed my rice!" He screams directly into Kakashi's ear, "do something about it!"
Unamused by the man's frustration and lack of understanding personal space, Kakashi looks at the man and smiles politely. "Thank you, sir. My colleague and I are doing our best to contain the situation. Now, please make sure to clean this up. It's considered a hazard and an endangerment to wildlife." Before the man could catch onto Kakashi's snarky comment, Kakashi was already sprinting down the street after the Kunoichi and the animals.
In the center of the Shopping District was a fountain. On the lower tier of the fountain, Koi and other fish elegantly moved through the water as water poured from the top. Lily pads floated on the water's surface. Sitting around the fountain were a group of girls, and a group of boys. They flirtatiously giggled and splashed water at each other. One boy decided to splash a little harder than the other boys, causing some of the girls to get a little more wet then they would have liked. The girls scream, scowling at the more aggressive boy.
The aggressive boy continued his escapades at teasing the girls. Calling them names and teasing them about their wet clothes. Darting into the center of the Shopping District, Sumi attempts to avoid the fountain by running around the boys. Sadly, the boy scooped up a palm full of water and threw it on the poor cat. This spooks Sumi even more causing her to skidder along the street and run under a cart, trying to avoid the oncoming attack.
"Hey, leave that cat alone, you bully!" Shouted one of the girls.
"You butt out of this, cry baby!" He splashed her again as he looks around for the cat.
The girl stands defensively amongst her friends. "Stop splashing us, you jerk!"
The boy sees the girls defensive stance and takes the opportunity to stand himself, challenging her. "What are you going to do about it, huh?!" He yells back at her. He scoops his hands into the water flinging it at the girl. They tried to cover themselves from the water. He teases at them, calling them mean names and telling them to run away, but one girl stood her ground as she watched her friends run away.
Becoming enraged by this boys behavior the vocal girl thinks about lunging at the aggressive boy, but karma was on her side. Pakkun, unknowingly came to the girls aid, pushing the boy into the fountain as he continued his pursuit on Sumi. Flailing his arms to keep his balance, the boy failed and fell into the water.
A roar of laughter came from the girl. She couldn't contain her happiness that the boy was given what he deserved. Even the boy's friends were laughing at him, teasing him in return. Sitting in the fountain the boy glared at his friends, yelling at them to stop laughing at him, but karma wasn't finished. Behind the wet boy was his disappointed Father. Reaching into the fountain the Father grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt, hoisting him out of the water and onto the ground.
The Kunoichi rans into the center of the market place, quickly scanning the area. She lost the animals. Her attention was pulled to the center fountain where a parent was scolding his drenched son.
"I didn't start this! Those stupid animals started it!" Exclaims the boy.
"It was not the animals fault! You were the one splashing us! If it weren't for them you would continued being a jerk!" Interjected the girl.
It sounds like Sumi and that dog ran through here. They can't be to far. Thought the Kunoichi. Walking further into the center of the market she walked around the fountain in search of clues, but avoiding the family feud. Not to far from the fountain were wet paw prints. Without hesitation the Kunoichi follows the trail leaving the commotion behind her.
Running along the cobblestone streets she realizes that the paw prints are starting to dry out, becoming nonexistent. Not only where they drying up, but the street was so congested that people were walking over the trail, ruining it. Skidding to a stop, she looked around. There are multiple alleyways attached to this street, nor was there any evidence that Pakkun and Sumi continued in this direction. They could have turn anywhere, or merged into the crowd.
"You have got to be joking! Where are they?" She growls.
Frustrated with the situation the Kunoichi scales the building to the roof tops. Maybe this will give her a better vantage point. Standing on the highest building overlooking the street, the Kunoichi scans the street.
"You'll lose them if you stop moving."
The Kunoichi grabs her chest out of reflex. She was startled. Whipping around she faces the man she ran into at the Jonin Station. Kakashi appeared next to her unexpectedly, ending up scaring the Kunoichi, but that wasn't new. His quiet nature tend to startle people. Before the Kunoichi could reply to Kakashi, a loud crash caught their attention.
"This way," said Kakashi as he runs across the Shopping Districts rooftops towards the noise. Without question the Kunoichi follows Kakashi.
He was fast. He was already several meters in front of her and picking up speed. Picking up her pace she catches up to Kakashi. "We need to create a plan. Grabbing them might cause more harm than good. I don't know about your dog, but Sumi will tear into the both of us if we scare her even more." Says the Kunoichi.
"You have a point. I've never seen Pakkun react this way. As of right now he's unpredictable. I don't know what he'll do if he's caught. As of right now the best course of action is to separate, and put them in different locations in order to contain them."
"Why don't we lead them to a training ground? There's open space, and less people."
"The sounds good. I'll use a Transformation Jutsu to deture Pakkun. Lead Sumi into the training grounds, and I'll lead Pakkun in the other direction."
"Alright. Good luck." With a plan created Kakashi places his hands together for a Transformation Jutsu.
"Transformation Jutsu." A puff of smoke engulfed Kakashi as a black cat the size of Sumi emerged from it.
The only difference between the two cats is that Kakashi's cats left eye was closed. Below them was Pakkun and Sumi. Sumi was keeping a good distance away from Pakkun. Thinking to himself, Kakashi predicts that Sumi will turn down another street in order to throw Pakkun off her tail. If Kakashi waits for Sumi to turn down a street, or alleyway, he will be able to put himself between the two animals. The idea is that Pakkun will think Kakashi is Sumi and chase him, while the Kunoichi catches the cat.
Sumi leaps over a barrel and turns down an alleyway. Perfectly predicting the cats intentions Kakashi strikes. Noticing Sumi's change in direction Kakashi dives down to the street, separating the two animals. The Kunoichi takes action and turns with the alleyway, following Sumi by staying above her, she prepares a trap.
Kakashi hisses at Pakkun, intising him to follow. This grabs Pakkun's attention and falls for his trap. Pakkun barks, growls and attempts to bite Kakashi as he darts around Pakkun, thinking that its Sumi. Kakashi runs out of the alleyway, and back onto the street, but runs into another problem.
You have got to be kidding me. Thinks Kakashi.