Sumire's POV

I woke up earlier than expected today since I received a couple of chakra pulses from the silver-haired guy so early in the morning. It's such a shame that I still haven't been able to figure out what his name is and referring to him by his description after all these years of having feelings for him seemed so wrong.

Recently, I have visions of him traveling with a bunch of people I do not recognize in a barren and sandy landscape. Then there's also that rocky and desolate looking village with rounded architecture all over the place, it's probably Sunagakure since I've read that it's situated in the middle of a vast desert.

I wonder why he was awake so early in the morning.

The world still sleeps at three o'clock as it is too dark out for anybody, but since I wouldn't be able to really know what's up with him at the moment, I settled for sending back pulses to him to greet him good morning before I started my day.

Rei and I had been traveling since yesterday.

We left home and set out before dawn the previous day. Our estimated time of arrival to our destination would be at eight o'clock this morning, but only if we resume traveling by sunrise at around five o'clock.

Today would be the official start of the festival where the art show would be held so I was kind of excited since it's another opportunity for me to showcase my creations to the public.

WIth that in mind, I swiftly pack-up my sleeping bag and tent before I did my training exercises.

After completing all of my morning routines, I proceeded to wake up my companion so we could have breakfast before resuming our journey.

"I had a terrible sleep," my blue-eyed friend greeted me with a frown in her face as she crawled out of her camping tent. "There's bugs all over the place and the ground is too hard for my poor back. If only you agreed to stay at that inn we passed by last night, then I would've gotten my beauty rest."

"You can't expect me to rent an inn every time we're on the road. I don't waste money like that," I answered her complaints with a smirk.

"You're too frugal with your money. You have already so much saved up because you only use your income to pay for rent and buy art materials or books." She was pouting as she started putting away her sleeping bag and tent.

The brunette sat next to me, so I gave her bread and poured some tea for breakfast.

"I also buy groceries once every two weeks so your claims are false." I responded to her statement before sticking my tongue out to her.

"Maybe you do. But I know you always hunt or forage for food on the outskirts of our city more times than you buy groceries," she retorted before taking a bite of the bread.

"I'll bring you along with me one time. Maybe I'll teach you how to fish since I already showed you how to hunt on our last trip." I offered to her, although I knew she would decline.

"Ew, no thanks." Her face is all scrunched up in annoyance as she declined my offer. I only laughed at her reaction, which irked the brunette even more.

"You're a strange girl, Sumi-chan." She sipped some tea while glancing my way, observing my reaction to the comment she just made.

"I am not," I replied.

"You are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, you are!"

"Alright, maybe I am." I finally agreed just to shut her up.

The way I act and live will always be strange to a civilian girl like her so there's some truth to her words.

"You definitely need to come shopping with me once we arrive at our destination. I hope there's a good selection of shops in that place." She commented while eyeing the comfortable tracksuit I was wearing, "Because your wardrobe definitely needs an upgrade"

This girl always commented about my lack of taste in fashion since I do not keep up with the trends.

"Why are we suddenly talking about my clothes?" I gave the brunette a side-eye and glared at her. She definitely won't be able to convince me to buy something from those overly-priced clothing boutiques that she likes to shop at.

It's not that I dislike buying clothes. I'm just too mindful about how I spend my savings since I worked hard to earn every dime I have with me right now. Living independently by myself and deciding to settle down in an unfamiliar city was not easy. I'd like to always have something I could fall back on in case I needed money for emergency situations. That's why I save so much of my earnings because I have no one to rely on but myself.

She looked excited as he stared at me while waiting for me to agree, "Come on, it'll be like our little girl-bonding moment."

"Fine.." I finally agreed to conclude our discussion since we're about to leave and resume our journey.

I said yes but it didn't necessarily mean I have to spend all out like how she does if I went with her. Besides, it's still around five in the morning, too early to have a silly argument with her over our contrasting shopping habits.

Only a couple more hours of walking and we'd finally arrive at our destination, then maybe Rei would finally stop nagging me about every little thing she finds annoying or strange.

My companion and I finally found ourselves in Hanaoka, a small but beautiful town situated in the Fire country, and it's about a day's travel at a civilian pace from Shizukamachi.

Nestled in a picturesque setting, the charming hilltop village has a breathtaking sight of the lush greenery of Hi no Kuni from a high ground and the town's surroundings were adorned with different varieties of flowers.

We're here to attend the three-day festival that Hanaoka is celebrating to commemorate the founding of their town, specifically the art exhibition that The Nightshade had been invited to participate in.

"Hurry up, we'll be late." The brunette next to me gently pulled my arm and quickly led me through the main plaza of the village. It was a bit too crowded for my taste since there's an ongoing festival but I had to endure the discomfort I felt upon finding myself in the midst of a big crowd.

I was the one participating in the exhibit but the blue-eyed woman with me was more stressed than I was.

Rei was a very well-organized person, always planned ahead, and liked to be on schedule for everything she had lined up for the day. On the other hand, I am entirely the opposite of her since I like living in the moment and always do spontaneous things. My life had been like this ever since I could remember, just going with the flow of how things would be was how I managed to survive so far.

With that being said, she had been pissed at me since this morning because I caused a bit of delay in our arrival.

We had been here at the village by eight, exactly as I had predicted, but I had to stop over multiple times to do my thing.

Currently, it's one hour and forty-five minutes past noon and the event would begin by two o'clock.

We only have fifteen minutes to spare and Rei was so pissed at me since we now have no time for lunch and had to rush just to be at the event before it began.

We're behind schedule because I had been distracted by the view and opted to stop for a while since I wanted to paint the mesmerizing sights I saw before me. It's been a habit of mine to sketch or paint the view I see upon arriving at a new destination, enabling me to capture the beauty of each place on canvas or paper, similar to creating a postcard to every place I've been to.

I just had to draw and paint how the hilltop town looked from afar when I first landed my eyes on it, illustrate the panorama from one of the viewing decks situated on a cliffside in the village, and then sketch the town square I found to be very charming upon our arrival at the village center earlier.

I'm glad to say that I managed to finish three beautiful artworks depicting Hanaoka in all its beauty.

If I were to decide about how I spend the rest of the day, I'd probably just paint and sketch everything around me because Hanaoka is a very picturesque town and its charm had somehow captured my heart. However, I know I needed to sort out my priorities and managed to prevent Rei from going ballistic on me since we're here for the exhibition and not just to enjoy the sights.

There's still a few minutes left before the actual start of the show so I wasn't too worried about being late, "We're on time Rei, you can relax."

I have multiple entries for today's art show- they were charcoal portraits of every Hokage that Konoha had in the past and at the moment.

It's kind of different from my usual work since I mostly prefer to use vibrant colors in my art, but the monochromatic art pieces I created still looked very realistic and almost looked like photographs instead of drawings.

It's a tribute to Konohagakure no Sato since Hanaoka is particularly closely tied with the leaf village. I've read in a book that the hidden leaf aided in its founding decades ago and it's only fitting to somehow connect the subjects of my art for this exhibition in relation to what the festival is all about.

"Wow," Rei commented in awe after all the portraits were hung properly on display along with the other artworks in the event. I'm glad her mood has improved compared to how it was earlier, so I guess art really affects her in a positive way. She continued praising my creations, "I have no idea you got four artworks ready for today. Your pieces always stand out no matter what you create."

"It's kind of different from my usual work but I hope people will like it," I replied then tapped her back to turn her attention towards me, "Let's look around at the other artworks before I leave."

The art exhibition starts today but it's a three-day event and I couldn't hang around here all the time during the entirety of the show because I have so much work left unfinished.

I have multiple commissions by the end of the week that I need to complete and I haven't been able to dedicate time to work on those yet, as I needed to prioritize the completion of these four portraits first. This event has placed me in a time crunch, requiring my immediate focus as I only have a short time to prepare for it. Consequently, my other paintings and commissions had to be temporarily put on hold until today.

I'll probably be holed up in the inn we rented, facing a canvas with a brush in hand, just to lessen my workload that had been piling up recently.

Rei gave me a kind smile while reassuring me, "Don't worry, I'll handle things at the exhibition on your behalf."

The brunette helped me as much as she could because those paintings I needed to finish were commissioned through her art gallery. She'll get a percentage from my earnings so she's been very supportive.

"Thanks, you're the best!" I replied and then gave her a side hug.

"I bet we'll earn big here," Rei suddenly blurted out. She's very excited as she linked her arms with mine, then guided me around to look at the other artworks on display, "The smell of money is already filling my nostrils."

"You love money so much," I teased the brunette next to me.

"Not as much as I love you, you're my money maker after all." She's way too honest with her words and I like that about her. She was smirking as she said, "My bank account has doubled ever since your paintings graced the walls of my art gallery so I am putting all my faith in you on this exhibition too."

I only laughed at her words because what she said was true.

I guess the artwork I make sets me apart from the rest, making my art to be sought after because only The Nightshade was able to create that kind of art style I am being known for in this part of the world, enabling me to earn quite an amount of money even though I've only started pursuing this career a year ago. It also made Rei's business even more successful because clients flock to her art gallery in search of my unique paintings or drawings.

"I better head back to the inn to continue working on my unfinished canvases," she gave me two thumbs up before gently pushing me away to the direction of the inn.

I made my way towards our accommodation in a hurry. We reserved an inn that's a ten-minute walk away from the event venue.

The room had a balcony overlooking one of the town's beautiful parks. It's a good spot for me to work so I pulled out a chair and placed it there, before unsealing an easel and my art materials.

I'm probably going to be so busy these coming days and won't have any time to enjoy the festival. It's probably better this way since I feel uneasy, stressed and anxious whenever I attend those art shows because I still have a fear of being recognized by the people who were trying to capture or kill me a few years ago, who knows if they'll be a part of that crowd, right?

I guess that's the shinobi training ingrained in me. I can never be too careful so I am always mindful of my surroundings and never miss my daily training routines so my skills wouldn't fade even though I am currently living a civilian life. Besides, I still aspire to become the best shinobi I could possibly be.

I may have the dream to be recognized as an artist but I haven't forgotten about my other aspirations too.

There's just too many things I want to do and sometimes it feels like I am running out of time for everything I have in mind- my dreams to fulfill, goals to achieve, problems to face, truths to uncover, and the kind of life I've always wanted to live.

Kakashi's POV

"So why did you have to bring me here again?" I asked my companion who looked excited to spend his free time outside the village today.

I just returned from Suna the other day and was granted a few days off, but I am kind of annoyed that I'm spending my free days like this.

"There's an ongoing festival here." Genma replied while fiddling with the senbon on his mouth. "Our friends from the academy freed their schedules just so we could all take a short vacation together for a few days."

"You meant your friends," I corrected my ANBU team mate.

"They're your friends too. Need I remind you that you used to hang around with all of us before you became the famous copy-nin." He clicked his tongue in annoyance and nudged me using his elbow, "Be nicer to everyone later!"

I ignored Genma since he was acting like a mother hen again and just continued walking along the streets of this unfamiliar village, lazily dragging my feet across the pavement while looking around the place.

It was a beautiful town and I've actually never been here before despite the place being only one and a half hours away from Konoha.

It's quarter to eleven in the morning right now and we have just arrived at our destination. Genma told me that the others arrived an hour earlier than us. We were supposed to travel with them, but guess who didn't show up at eight in the morning in our discussed meet-up point.

Me -.-

Everyone knew I'd be late so Genma volunteered to stay behind and waited for me, but I never showed up.

He had to go over to my place, continuously pounded my door to oblivion until I let him in, threatened to take away my Icha-icha book, and drag my ass out of my apartment.

He knew my weakness really well. The guy was holding onto my favorite book and would only give it back once we returned to Konoha.

As soon as we entered the town proper, Guy's voice rang in my ears and I wanted to run away as far as possible upon hearing him yell my name so loudly, "Kakashi, my eternal rival! You've finally arrived."

"Yeah. Can I leave now?" I looked at Genma and was about to walk off.

"Say goodbye to your orange book. I heard it was sold-out in bookstores so you'll probably have a hard time finding a replacement," he whispered that threat in my ear.

If I didn't consider him as my friend, I'd probably have strangled him by now.

I only sighed in defeat before following the group of people as they checked out the stalls and booths around the town that were set-up for the festival.

Other than Guy and Genma, there were a few other faces present in here as well namely Raidou, Ebisu, Kurenai Yuhi, Anko Mitarashi, Iwashi Tatami, and Aoba Yamashiro. If Asuma wasn't serving as one of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi right now, he'd probably be here as well.

I wasn't really close with them except for Genma and Raidou since they're on my ANBU team. Guy too, because of the unusual rivalry he forced onto me ever since we were younger.

It was the last day of the three-day celebration so it is very crowded and the festivities are in full swing.

"Kakashi! How about we play that water balloon game?" Guy asked as he pointed to one of the booths. "Our score is tied at twenty-six so this would determine who's better between the two of us."

"How about an eating contest?" I suggested that since I haven't eaten yet.

"But I just had brunch with the rest of the group while we were waiting for you and Genma to arrive, " he answered very loudly.

"I guess you're not up for a challenge with me today." I shrugged and turned away from him.

"I would never back down from a challenge coming from my eternal rival!" He pumped his fist in the air, trailing behind me as I made my way towards a sushi place.

I saw Genma and the rest shaking their heads in disbelief at how easily I was able to manipulate my "rival" in doing a challenge that's clearly in favor of me.

They came along as well because I knew they wanted to watch how things would go in our eating contest. Our silly matches were always entertaining no matter what kind of challenge we did since Guy was involved in it.

I might be using underhanded tactics to sate Guy's excitement for a contest with me by challenging him like this, but I was hungry, so can you blame me?

I'd be hitting two birds with one stone so I think it's pretty smart of me to do this.

I won the challenge just as everyone had predicted, making my score one point higher than Guy.

"As expected of my eternal rival! But I shall win the next one so don't be too comfortable with the one-point lead." I was starving earlier so I had no regrets even though I manipulated him in choosing this challenge. However, I paid for our meal because I kind of felt bad about it.

"Good job trying though," I consoled the green beast of Konoha.

"I shall run fifty laps around the leaf village as soon as we get home since I lost our match!" He exclaimed with determination in his eyes.

We decided to continue exploring this quaint town and check out the events held during this festival until we stumbled upon an exhibition.

"I wonder how much one of these are worth," said Kurenai as our group stepped inside an event hall filled with various paintings and drawings.

"This one looked mediocre," I commented at the first artwork we looked at.

"Never knew you're an art critic," said Raidou sarcastically as we walked around the place.

"The one displayed in my apartment looked way better than the ones we've seen so far." I said bluntly, not minding the glares sent my way coming from people who heard me.

"Ah.. the one you picked up on one of the missions we had that was made by your girlfriend." Genma said that, then made some smoochy faces, trying to annoy me by acting silly in front of our companions and mentioning my 'girlfriend'.

Everyone looked at me with interest upon hearing that.

This group of people knew I was smitten by a certain purple-eyed girl back at the academy since we all had attended there at the same time at one point. There's also the recent interaction I had with Kurenai at the dango shop. Although her name hadn't been mentioned then, they probably realized that we were talking about her.

Since Sumire hasn't really been seen around Konoha yet, they're probably not sure if the girlfriend that Genma was referring to right now is her or not.

"Shut up, you idiot." I replied to Genma's teasing remark while giving him a glare. "Her painting is so much better than the ugly ones in here."

Am I simping too much? Probably. But, so what?

"It's rude to say that out loud," Aoba told me off, "People worked hard in creating all of these beautiful artworks."

"I suggest you remove your sunglasses to clear your eyes since you couldn't even tell apart what's good and what's not." I replied in that infamous lazy tone that I have which annoys people, especially if I'm saying something that they do not agree with.

I guess I'm on a roll in pissing people off today.

"You left your manners back at Konoha today. Didn't you, captain?" Genma hit my back a little harder than he usually does whenever we casually joked around.

"Be nicer, will you?" Raidou added as he gave me a side-eye.

"Alright, I'll be nicer." I replied to my two fellow ANBU operatives, but still voiced out my opinion as I pointed to a painting that looked like a blob of mud splattered on a canvas, "But that one is really ugly."

I heard the two of them sigh in defeat because of what I've said, while the rest of our companions just gave me a disapproving look.

"These look nice," Anko said out loud, catching our whole group's attention.

"It is very youthful!" Guy praised the recognizable portraits of four people that every resident of Konoha knew very well since we see their faces carved on the mountain whenever we're at the village.

I nodded at Guy and agreed with his words, "Finally found pieces that are worthy to look at."

"Were you just saying that to compensate for the rude things you said earlier?" Ebisu asked while pushing his rounded shades upwards.

"No. I really like these four more than the rest." I admitted it honestly.

"Hmmm.. maybe you're just trying to act all nice." Kurenai accused me while narrowing her eyes at me.

I tried to defend myself, "I am not."

"He's not very convincing…" Iwashi added to the conversation.

""I agree with you," said Raidou while glancing at Iwashi. Everyone else also nodded in agreement except for Guy.

They're clearly ganging up on me.

It is starting to get on my nerves but the passive tone I use while talking to them and my poker face give no clues about how irritated I was right now.

I'm the master of keeping it cool on the surface.

"I believe in my eternal rival! He just happens to like these artworks more than the rest." Guy tapped my shoulders a few times to show his confidence in me.

"Thanks, Guy." I replied gratefully to the green beast of Konoha.

I mumbled to myself as I made my way across the information desk, "I'll show you people that I really meant it when I said that I like it."

I lost my companions' whereabouts as the organizers led me to a meeting room. I've inquired about buying those portraits outright, but the personnels here told me I needed to discuss it first with the artist or whoever was managing the transaction for them.

After a while, a brunette came into the room and sat across from me. I asked, "Are you the artist who did the hokage portraits?"

"Sadly, I am not." She gave a smile as she explained, "The Nightshade was the one who did those amazing artworks. I only represent her in art shows like this and act as an agent for her art commissions and sales."

Her explanation sounded rehearsed. She probably said that line way too many times to count.

"I want to buy all of the portraits. Are they still up for sale?" I inquired impatiently.

"We got many offers for all of them. The highest price a buyer was willing to pay was two hundred thousand ryo for the Yondaime's portrait." Then she clasped her hand together and leaned in closer at the table, "But of course we'll sell to whoever would give the best offer out there before the end of the exhibition."

She's good at this. This woman seemed like a master of negotiation and her tactic is very effective.

"Just put in an offer then I'll review it. Be back here by six in the evening, we'll finalize our decision on who to sell it to by then." She handed me a piece of paper to write which one I'd buy and how much I'm willing to pay for it.

"I'll give you the best deal you'll probably receive here." I wanted this to be done with, so I hastily wrote down my offer and handed it back to her.

She looked shocked at the huge amount of money I was willing to spend. I was not an art collector nor have I ever purchased something this expensive before. But I wanted to prove a point here, I just didn't realize that doing so would cost me this much.

"The artworks are all yours." She extended her hand towards me for a handshake, so I shook it to seal our deal. "Sorry, but I didn't catch your name yet."

"Kakashi Hatake," I briefly introduced myself.

"My name's Rei. I'm sure The Nightshade would be happy to know that someone appreciates her artworks enough to purchase them at such a high value." She really looked enthusiastic in making this transaction with me.

I bet it's not everyday that someone was willing to drop a million ryo for four charcoal portraits of old dudes from the leaf village.

This probably cost me as much as a few S-rank missions.

However, I've been earning ever since I became a genin at six and have been doing high-classification mission assignments since I was fourteen, so I've accumulated my money in the bank since then. I can definitely spare some cash for expensive purchases like this once in a while.

"I'll be back before six to hand over the money in full." I told her after she gave me an invoice containing the amount I needed to pay by the end of the day.

I don't have a big amount of money with me right now since I didn't foresee buying something that cost that much so I needed to go back home to retrieve it.

It's only around one o'clock in the afternoon right now. I had plenty of time to return to Konoha and travel back to Hanaoka again since it's only about an hour and half trip one-way.

I dashed towards the leaf village while mentally scolding myself for acting on impulse.

There's got to be a good reason behind my sudden action as I've never been the type to act impulsively without thinking it thoroughly first. However, I couldn't resist the strong desire to purchase those artworks, regardless of the amount I spent to acquire them.

Perhaps the stars are aligning in my favor, steering me towards something good, without me realizing it yet.

It costs too damn much though. Literally.