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Chapter 2.13 [23]

There was one disguise—one transformation—that I could use flawlessly. It was so flawless that I reckoned only true masters of disguise could recognise it.

Over the years, the disguise ended up becoming my go-to, changing a little from its original form to fit the new circumstance I'd found myself in a decade ago now. I even had a dedicated outfit for it: a black long-sleeve and dark blue cargo pants. The shoes were simple trainers, flat-footed, and had no particular logo—though I did find myself missing the old Nike tick sometimes.

August was rolling in and the overwhelmingly blistering heat had eased off these last few weeks. I looked out of my bedroom window, sticking a hand out of it to decide whether I needed to put something over my shirt.

"I guess not," I muttered, walking over to the tall mirror attached to the left door of my wardrobe.

The person looking back at me was noticeably taller than I normally was, standing at five-foot-eleven. My skin was slightly tanned—the kind of tan you'd get from long years out in the sun—and I was sporting black hair and brown eyes, though my hairstyle was the same as my real form.

Initially, I decided to grow my hair out to screw with the villagers. Have them make the connection between me and my father and then seethe at the idea I could look anything like the Fourth—the man whose death I was supposedly responsible for. At some point though, I decided to tie the back of my admittedly wild hair into a small ponytail.

Mostly because I hated how it felt when I got sweaty and it stuck to my nape, but I couldn't cut it because I enjoyed annoying the villagers too much. And so a compromise had to be made. The hairstyle was a part of me now, and when I thought of myself, it was the first thing that came to mind.

My whiskers were completely gone and on the whole, my face looked a little boyish. Precise age details were finicky to get down and I didn't trust my skills enough to age myself up too much so I was hovering in that weird range between 16 and 20.

Iruka-sensei had finally seen fit to teach us the Transformation Jutsu's voice modulation component a few months ago and I'd been using the transformation ever since to do everything. And I do mean everything because if nothing else, it was a useful exercise in chakra manipulation.

"Good to see you again, old chap," I snorted, speaking English for the first time in a while.

Learning (or was it re-learning?) to speak English was a lot harder than I thought and getting down my once-native southern accent was even more difficult. I'd learned Japanese first, so I had to spend months teaching my tongue to speak differently than it had been doing for years. The writing and reading were the easy parts.

I'd decided to do those the minute I could but put speaking off because I thought I'd be able to slip back into it instantly.

To this day, I wondered what the hell I was thinking. Moments like those reminded me I was still a child in both body and mind. My life experience might've been the grand sum of twenty-two, but the brain was as much a part of the body as anything else—and said body was ten years old.

That said, my disguise wasn't a one-to-one version of who I was before my rebirth. I'd been Naruto for over a decade and felt as much like him as I did myself and it showed in the disguise. Everything above the face was still the same shape, though my nose, jaw, and lips were all from my past life. Ultimately, it was a useless thing, but I wanted to make my disguise the perfect blend of who I was and who I used to be.

Cracking a grin, I left my apartment and pulled out my palm-sized notepad where I'd scribbled down a list of things I needed to buy for next week. I had my training with Asuma in four hours. His change to Sunday was unexpected, but thankfully my shift at Ichiraku's was a morning one on Sundays, leaving me with the rest of the day free.

All in all, shopping would take around an hour and a half—maybe two—giving me time to heat my lunch and another two hours to digest it before training.

My shopping list would take me from the southern side of the village to the east—to the merchants' gate, where all the merchants and businesses entered. It was also where the high-end shops and restaurants were, like Yakiniku-Q and a few others. Like the famous chain supermarket brand in all the main hidden villages: Ninja-Mart.

There were two other gates, the north and the west. The former was for visitors—anywhere from foreign ninja to people coming on day trips from neighbouring towns. All of them passed through the northern gate. It was the second biggest gate out of the three, the first being the merchants' one on the east side.

The western gate was shinobi-only. It was frequented by people going and returning from missions and was right next to one of the T&I offices dedicated to receiving prisoners. When I became a genin, it was the gate I'd be using to go on missions with my team, and it was active 24/7.

Returning my attention to the shopping list, I decided I'd work by proximity, so whatever neat order I was thinking when I wrote this went right out of the window. Luckily, the park Asuma and I trained at was also on the east side of the village.

Which meant I could splurge on some fancy food!

That alone was a mood booster, accelerating my stroll to a brisk walk as I made a stop at my first shop.

"Mr Totsugi, it's been too long!"

I smiled at the owner of the secondhand clothes store. It was mostly a family-run business where the community dumped unwanted clothes. The salvageable ones were repaired and everything else was dumped, meaning the quality was a steal—especially considering the price.

"How are you, Mr Sanada?" I said, walking over and shaking the man's hand.

I couldn't help it. Being in my body, using my first voice (or whatever I could remember of it) made me want to try and become the person I used to be in the little ways. Of course, that garnered weird looks from my unfortunate victims, but given that they hated the real me, I didn't care much.

The usuals had long since accepted it now and were actively reciprocating my weird and supposedly foreign habits. Maybe they were carrying them over to their own lives, spreading handshake greetings everywhere.

I chuckled at the mental image.

"How's your son?" asked the shopkeeper, his old face stretching into a smile. "I had no idea what I was doing when I was your age. My daughter ran circles around me and without my wife, she would've had me wrapped around my finger before she turned ten! I don't know how you do it alone."

I never had children in my last life—died too young—but people had children younger here. It wasn't rare to see twenty-year-old married couples with toddlers, especially since the village had been incentivising people to do so through various welfare policies.

"With lots of patience, sir. Lots of patience." We shared a hearty laugh. "It helps that he was already five when I adopted him. I don't suppose you have any everyday wear for ten-year-old boys, do you? Don't worry if they're out of style. He doesn't care much about fashion. I don't even mind if they're a bit oversized because he'll grow into them."

Mr Sanada pointed a finger at me and bounced on his feet. "In that case, I have just the thing for you. How many outfits will you need?"

I rubbed my chin. "Shorts are out since the weather will only get colder. Let me get… three short-sleeves, one long-sleeve—he has enough of those already—and two pairs of trousers."

"I have some jeans around 140 centimetres."

"Perfect. Two jeans then."

Mr Sanada slid his glasses up his face. "And the other two?"

"You know what?" I smiled. "Surprise me."

I walked out of the building with a couple more items than I'd intended to buy but was satisfied with all of them. Mr Sanada had even thrown in a free belt when I mentioned my supposed son's trousers size was 135 cm instead of 140 cm.

It was kind of sad, really.

No matter how many times I did it, I'd never stop feeling the jarring shock of… not being Naruto Uzumaki. Mr Sanada, who I'd learned was an insanely kind man, had run me out of his shop a few years ago—did that still make him a good man?

Hell, the way people looked at me was different, let alone how they treated me. It was the same with all the other shops. Hideo the butcher tossed in an extra chicken breast because he knew I had a growing son. Instead of refusing to serve me, the carpenter's family brought me a cup of tea while I sorted out an order after realising the table and chairs my place had come with had run their course.

None of this was new to me, having been going about in this disguise for a few months now, but it was always sobering to see. An hour later, I was down to the last place on my list, mildly hungry, and eager to have lunch.

I looked up at the massive red sign. A shuriken separated the two words, acting as the shop's logo. "Ninja-Mart, here I come."

Adjusting my grip over the shop trolley, I slotted in a coin and steered it away.

"U-Um… excuse me, sir?"

A relatively young woman stood behind me. The first thing I noticed were her clothes—a rough patchwork kimono and wooden sandals. She was carrying a backpack, but it only had one shoulder strap that was digging painfully into her shoulder.

She had straight, dark brown hair and almond-shaped eyes. Her skin was incredibly pale—so much so that, if I looked carefully, I could see her greenish veins standing out against her skin. Either she was a really youthful-looking adult or a teenager, standing at around five feet tall.

I was a little surprised because people from the poorer north-west of the village didn't come to the Leaf's east side often.

"Can I help you?" I gave her a disarming smile but it only seemed to make her more nervous. "Why'd you call me, sir? I'm not that old am I?"

"O-Oh, no!" She waved her hands in front of her face. "I didn't mean to offend you."

I chuckled. "It's my fault. I went for a joke that didn't land. What can I help you with?"

"I'm Rukia. Just Rukia—I have no last name, you see." She bowed proper and deep, her long hair hovering over the ground. "I arrived just today from a small village. My father sent me here to restock." Rukia pulled out a withered scrap of paper from her kimono. "The tools we use are beyond repair. Do you know where… this shop is?"

I leaned over her shoulder, staring at the hastily scribbled name of a smithy on the west side of the village. I knew of it because it was where I bought and maintained all of my weapons. Asuma recommended it to me after our training one day because the wares were cheaper for their quality compared to some other shops. They weren't limited to just shinobi weapons and did all-purpose tools like axes, hoes, sickles, and whatnot.

"I do," I replied. "But you're going to have to wait for me to do my shopping. I'm Totsugi, by the way—no last name either."

"It's nice to meet you, Totsugi." She bowed again. "And that's fine. I'll accompany you if needed."

I raised an eyebrow. "You sure? Just wait out here."

"Since you agreed to help me, it's only fair I help you as well."

Seeing that I wouldn't be able to convince her to stay, I let her come with me. To my surprise, she could read—which wasn't a given for people who lived in the village's poorer areas; school cost money here unless your child entered the Ninja Academy. I supposed I was being too judgemental—being poor didn't instantly eliminate someone's literacy chances.

Because of Rukia, we were in and out in no time. She immediately sussed out aisles with just a glance and found the items I needed faster than me—and yet, since she was from a small village, she probably hadn't ever stepped foot in a Ninja-Mart before. Once I'd paid for my groceries, I shrugged off the mostly empty backpack I'd been carrying around and started filling it up.

"Right!" I grunted and slung the back across my back. "I dunno about you, but I'm starving. You were a huge help today so how about I treat you to your first taste of Leaf Village cuisine?"

Rukia frowned up at me with her lips slightly downturned like she couldn't quite make up her mind. "...Are you sure?"

"I am the one offering. Besides, I'm starving and I've only been running errands for a few hours. You've probably been out and about longer than I have. Aren't you hungry?"

"That's very kind of you, but I think I'm alright—" She was cut off by a low gurgle, flushing down to her neck. I raised my eyebrow and she looked away. "...Thank you, Totsugi—some food would be nice."

And so that's how I ended up trying Yakiniku-Q for the first time.

It was heavy on the wallet, but Lord Third's stipend saved the day. The old man probably wouldn't like me blowing a decent amount on fine dining, but Mr Teuchi would make up the loss at the end of the month. If things got bad—which I didn't think they would—I'd just eat Ichiraku Ramen all the time.

It wasn't exactly healthy, but I wasn't going to run out of food options any time soon.

I popped a beef slice into my mouth, smiling at how it numbed my tongue. "This is worth the price."

"...How much did you pay for all this?" asked Rukia while she fried the cuts.

Every time I'd try to help out, she'd slap my hand away and glare so I simply gave up after the third go.

I stuck another slice into my mouth, skillfully dodging the question for a little while.

Rukia flipped over the slices and frowned. "Totsugi."

"...9,500 ryo." Her frown deepened, making me wince. "Before you say anything, I intended to eat something expensive today regardless. I'm not in the east side often so I thought I'd splurge a little."

"Even then, did you have to invite me?" Rukia huffed. "It was kind, but I don't want you to suffer later on because of me."

"Eh, I won't suffer." I picked up the tongs she'd discarded a few minutes ago and placed new cuts on the grill. "I get paid in a few weeks and have quite a bit of money saved up. If I didn't, I wouldn't have offered, so no more complaining."

She looked like she wanted to contest that but sighed in the end. "If you say so."

I learned a bit more about Rukia as the meal went on. She was adopted by a widower who found her abandoned at the site of a robbery gone wrong. A bandit crew had slaughtered her parents, who were travelling through the Land of Fire as merchants. Her adoptive father found her hours later, and seeing the tragedy she was born into, took her in to give her a better life.

I shared a little bit about myself so that it wasn't one-sided. After she revealed something as heavy as that, I felt like I'd pried a little.

"You have a son?" Rukia's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. "But… aren't you my age?"

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

I laughed, using the little time I had to figure out a believable explanation. "I'm nineteen and yes, I have a son—legally speaking, anyway. I ended up adopting him when I was fifteen."

"...I see."

"We also look nothing alike. He's got blond hair and blue eyes."

"I wonder how you explain your relationship to people," she smiled. "What's his name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's Naruto."

She laughed. "As in the ramen topping?"

"As in maelstrom." I shook my head at her laughter. "Though he is a huge ramen fan."

We kept ordering beef until we'd had our fill. Yakiniku-Q charged a flat amount and let you eat as much as you wanted, within reason anyway. I had to explain that to my new friend because she set down her chopsticks after four beef slices and told me she was full. Even then, I needed the expertise of one of the waiters to set her mind at peace before she could really cut loose.

For someone so small, she ate a disturbing amount and I found myself thanking God it was an all-you-can-eat place.

"You know," said Rukia, as we walked out of the restaurant, "you're a good person, Totsugi."

"Thank you, but I'm selfish too. Buying you a meal was convenient for me as well." I explained. "If I didn't, I'd have to take you all the way to the blacksmith's only to cross the village after that to eat my lunch."

"...And now you've ruined the moment."

I snorted and continued to walk. We could've taken a carriage, but I'd eaten a little too much beef. If I took a carriage, I'd either end up in a food coma… or throw it all up later. Asuma was a fan of making me do egregiously active warm-ups so it was a real possibility. When we arrived, I was significantly less full.

"There's your blacksmith," I said, pointing at a building on the high street. "Your dad has a good eye for quality. They're pretty cheap with prices, so you'll be getting your money's worth."

"Thank you, Totsugi." Rukia bowed and walked away.

I raised a hand in farewell when she turned around before making my way back home. I only had an hour left before my training so I had to hurry.

Making sure there was no one in sight, I dived into an alleyway and climbed to the roof, taking off.

It was touch and go for a few moments and I had to force down the premium beef a couple of times, but I got home with over half an hour to spare. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I was off, no longer under disguise, and raced across the rooftops back to the east side of the village.

I looked at my wrist and frowned. "Damn. I might end up being late."

After making sure there was no one nearby, I mixed my chakra and made a few hand signs, bracing myself. The world wrenched behind me and my eyes flooded with so many tears that I couldn't see anything. It slammed to a stop, lurching me forward. My arms flailed about in search of any objects to stop myself from falling, grasping only air, so I tipped forward until I caught myself using my palms.

I twisted my neck to look back and grinned—and why wouldn't I? With one jutsu, I cleared roughly 15 metres in a single step.

That said, the Body Flicker Jutsu wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely a speed enhancement, but in my opinion, it wasn't a good one. The jutsu was static; it didn't let you change directions while moving, so if an opponent caught onto where you were going, it was curtains because of the jutsu's second flaw.

Well, it wasn't a universal flaw, and could be fixed relatively easily—I just couldn't do it yet.

The Body Flicker Jutsu was a standard D-rank speed technique; one so fast that the human eye couldn't keep up with it—and that included its user. For people lucky enough to have dojutsu or weird bloodline limits, this was a non-issue since their sight was better in general. For the rest of us, the prerequisite to overcoming the second flaw was enhancing your sight using chakra and in the middle of battle, this wasn't exactly ideal.

It was listed as an escape technique, so its focus was never on battle in the first place. If there was a way to overcome the issue by slightly lowering its speed, I didn't know how to do that either. The Body Flicker Jutsu was one we were going to learn closer to the end of the year, but Iruka-sensei taught it to Sasuke and me a little earlier because we were further ahead than he thought.

To be fair, all of my conclusions had come from about a week's worth of experimentation, so maybe there was something I hadn't figured out yet.

I arrived at the clearing just barely on time. Asuma was wandering about as usual and finished smoking before he came over.

"You're going to have to teach me that trick sometime," I said.

He grinned. "You sure you want to start smoking, kid? I doubt you have any hair on your chest."

"What, no?" I made a face. "But manipulating wind chakra like that seems useful. You blew away all the cigarette smoke on and around you without a single hand sign."

"Huh. Be clearer next time." Asuma ruffled my hair—he knew I hated it, but that was exactly why he did it in the first place. "Sure, I'll teach you, but only when you're good enough for it. Right now, all you know is one D-rank wind-release jutsu and a few things you learned in the Academy and you haven't even learned everything they've got to offer—have some patience."

I swatted him away and fixed my hair. "So, what are we doing today?"

His easygoing smile turned slightly bloodthirsty and I felt the usual pressure of his killing intent on my skin. Instead of shutting down like I did the first time we fought, I grinned and sprung back from him, pulling out both my kunai and brandishing them. Asuma drew his trench knives and did the same, our stances mirroring one another's.

These last few months with the man had let me pick up a lot of useful skills—and his bukijutsu style was one of them. It was just better than the basic weapon forms I learned in the Academy, which made sense. As childish as he could be, the guy was an A-ranked jonin for a reason.

He tilted his head sideways. "For a kid who hasn't even seen first blood, you've got a decent presence. I can't call it killing intent because… well, you haven't killed anyone."

The "yet" went unsaid between us.

"At this level, you'll at least throw off the other brats you're sparring with."

I shrugged. "There's no reason to use it against them."

"Oh, really?" Asuma grinned. "So, you beat the Uchiha kid and think you're hot shit, do you? Don't think you'll be able to win the same way. Not when he knows you can use wind-release jutsu."

He stared pointedly at me as the rest of his intended meaning went unsaid. Sasuke was adept at fire-release ninjutsu, and fire countered wind. However, it wasn't anything I wasn't aware of. I knew I needed to up my skills rather than get my hands on new jutsu, otherwise, Sasuke would beat me pretty handily in our next encounter.

He didn't need to hear me say it, though. "Are we gonna talk, or are we gonna fight?"

I blinked and Asuma was gone.

"Kids these days. Suit yourself." He sighed, the hot air from the exhale tickling my right ear.

I pivoted so fast the world was a blur, going for a slashing hook aimed at his belly. He skipped out of the way but I chased after him, stabbing and slashing with increasing ferocity. He blocked each attack easily, all with the usual smile on his face. I planted my feet, sliding the rings of each kunai around the index and ring fingers of my right hand, freeing my left to gather chakra via the Confrontation Seal.

The majority of it went right down, allowing me to spring ahead and quickly close the gap before it even had the chance to widen. I stretched out my left hand while spreading whatever moulded chakra I had left across my palm. It made contact with Asuma's flak jacket and the momentum from my sprint and Asuma's combined, dragging me along with him.

He looked down and I twirled my fingers, spinning both kunai around until I had them layered atop each other and pointed straight at him. I clenched tightly and lunged, dragging him towards me at the same time.

Asuma grinned, breaking the link between us and making one hand seal. " How about… no."

The next thing I knew, something had slammed into me—and it slammed into me hard, ripping both kunai out of my hands.

It was like I'd been thrown into a tumble dryer; I felt myself crash through several branches, twigs nicked every inch of exposed skin, and I took several mouthfuls of leaves. I spat them out and cracked my eyes open, seeing the world hurtling away. In no time, I burst out of the canopy and, as I started to slow down, looked around the clearing.

For a moment, everything stopped, and I was weightless… and then gravity kicked in to drag me right back down to reality. My eyes darted about and I pulled out another two kunai aiming my descent at a particularly big tree. I plunged the blades into the bark but the whiplash was so bad I almost lost my grip.

It didn't hurt, though—after years of training, most parts of my hands were rough and calloused; the worst I felt was an uncomfortable tugging in my shoulders. Readjusting, I stretched them about before yanking one out of the tree and sending it straight down to Asuma.

He caught it easily and looked up, his voice oozing betrayal. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You're asking me that after blasting me away!"

He folded his arms and squinted, nodding several times. "Yep. As expected, you're throwing a temper tantrum over it. Typical."

I snorted, returning my focus to the only kunai I had left.

While I was slightly annoyed that he'd done all that, there was more to my behaviour than childishness or irritation. I needed to buy myself some time, and buy it I did. The world shifted as I let go of the kunai, standing on my feet. I bent over, pulled it out of the tree, and walked to the ground.

"Here." Asuma tossed me the kunai and sprung away, on guard. "Let's go again."

I caught it, taking up the same stance, and nodded.

This time, he was the one going on the offensive. His attacks were twofold: punches using his trench knives' knuckleduster-like ridges and swinging cuts with the weapon's edge. He threw in weird mixups every so often, like uppercuts that turned into sideways-aiming stabs, but so long as I stayed calm, I could react accordingly.

Switching my lead hand into a forward grip, I exploited the gaps between his attacks to slip past his guard and stab him. I leaned forward, driving the point forward. Asuma leaned to the side and brought his elbow over the kunai, trapping my wrist between his torso and arm. I had maybe a few seconds before he'd win so I let go of the kunai, relaxing my wrist enough that I could wriggle free, and immediately jumped out of range.

Asuma raised his guard with a smirk. "Okay then. How are you going to deal with this?"

Chakra danced across his blades, blue energy trailing their length and width. They buzzed to life, lengthening into two serrated chakra swords. He held them vertically in a different stance—one I'd seen only once before.

"Last time, you dislocated your shoulder."

"Well, that's not happening today."

He snorted. "We'll see about that."

After flying through my hand seals, I dragged in a deep lungful and jumped into the air.

Wind-Release: Breakthrough was the weaker, D-rank cousin of Wind-Release: Great Breakthrough, a C-rank wind jutsu. It required less hand signs, less chakra control, and less chakra. Unfortunately, that meant it also had less power, but I could always overload its activation requirement to make up for that loss.

Overloading jutsu had a limit, though. Too much and it would self-destruct, making it more likely to blow up in your face than harm your opponent.

So to be safe, I overloaded it within reason—even if part of me wanted to see how far I could push it. Asuma could definitely take it, but it was an overall stupid thing to do when I could just experiment with him later.

I opened my mouth and aimed, releasing a violent gust. Asuma sliced upwards, cutting right through my jutsu with a wind blade so powerful I could make out its shape. I twisted in mid-air and fell into a crouch in the grass, immediately turning around to watch the wind blade cut through the top half of two trees, sending them crashing to the ground.

I looked back with my jaw hanging open in shock. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Asuma blinked, as if he only realised what he'd done, and sheathed his knives immediately. "I…got a bit too fired up… my bad."

"I accidentally shish kebabed you, but my bad!"

"What's shish kebab?"

I swallowed my heart back down and looked around for my kunai from earlier. "Goddamn. You're a lunatic, Asuma."

"In your defence, you did a lot better than when I last used my chakra sabres."

I fixed him with a withering stare.

"Right." He coughed. "Seriously, well done."

"Thanks," I replied, calming down as the adrenaline started to fade. "What now?"

Asuma sighed. "Now, I make an announcement: our training's going to go on a brief hiatus."

I sprung to my feet. "What, why?"

"...One question at a time please."

I took a breath. "Okay, why are we stopping?"

"Because I've finally got a mission."

"Really?" I grinned. "That's amazing! You've been wanting to get on one for months now, right?"

"Yeah. I was digging into my savings to get by." He muttered something under his breath that I didn't catch. "I can't tell you much about it, but it's long-term. The estimated mission period is two months, but it could take longer."

"That's basically all of the summer!" I spluttered. "What am I meant to do for that long? I thought you were going to teach me more wind jutsu."

Asuma sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Didn't I tell you that you'll need more than ninjutsu to beat little Uchiha."

"Forget Sasuke! I need to diversify my skill set. Right now, everything I have is offensive: Breakthrough, enhanced blows, and your bukijutsu. I need something different to at least make me harder to catch."

"...I was hoping you'd say that." The exasperation melted off his face, replaced by a bright grin as he pulled out a small scroll from his flak jacket. I reached out to take it but he pulled back. "Not yet."

I furrowed my brow. "Is there some kind of challenge I've got to complete first?"

"Nothing like that." He tucked the scroll back into the jacket and turned around. "We've got to do something first—come on."

Without waiting for my answer, Asuma jumped into the canopy, giving me little choice but to follow. He led me deeper into the park in silence, not uttering a single joke the entire way— that's how I knew something was wrong—but I followed him without question.

He'd earned that much trust and more.

We stopped tree hopping after a short while. It was clear we were well out of park territory a good ten minutes ago. Thick, overgrown bushes knotted and intertwined across the tree trunks below and the canopy grew progressively thicker as we continued until the leaves completely blotted out the sky above. But the forest was cast in a light glow as the sun shone through the countless leaves encircling us.

Asuma dropped to the ground abruptly and again, I followed, staying within a metre of him. My ears caught the faint tinkling of a river, the sound only becoming clearer as we travelled. I exited the forest and squeezed my eyes shut at the change in brightness.

"Okay, we're here," said Asuma and, after a moment, followed with, "...Oh. D'you need a moment?"

I wiped my eyes and blinked rapidly. "No, I'm good. Why are we here?"

"See for yourself."

I looked at the barbed fence stretching across as far as I could see. Countless wooden signposts adorned it in a neat line and they all said the same thing.

"...Fishing permit required, no trespassing. If you are caught, you could be fined a minimum of 20,000 ryo—wait." I looked back at Asuma. "We're going fishing?"

He gave me a double thumbs up.

"...I guess I could eat," I muttered to myself. "Do you have a permit, then?"

"Nope. Mine expired years ago and they're a hassle to get your hands on so we're going to jump the fence."

I raised an eyebrow. "That's illegal."

"So?" He shrugged. "Just don't get caught—and before you give me a speech about the law and social order or something, it's fucking fish, kid. We'll grab a few, cook them, and then be on our way, okay?"

"Hey, I wasn't going to give you a speech on social order."

Asuma stared at me dispassionately. "Yeah, somehow, I don't believe you."

I smirked. "I was going to give you a speech on how you should know better—you're the son of the esteemed Hokage, for crying out loud. Have some shame!"

"Don't you start," Asuma groaned, clearing the fence in one leap. "And get over here!"

I did and—after finding a calmer part of the river—we spent an hour wading about, barehanded, taking off everything except our trousers, which we rolled up to our knees. Fishing as a chakra user was surprisingly fun. All we needed to was guide chakra to our palms and then overload it, blasting the water and sending the fish sky-high.

So, why did it take an hour then? Because we made a game out of seeing if we could catch the fish as they fell back down. I learned very quickly that fish were slippery little bastards so I figured out how to catch them before Asuma did—and the answer was chakra adhesion.

I'd caught three fish in a row when he started to realise I'd figured something out.

"Hey," He looked back, wet from head to toe, and frowned, "how'd you catch them?"

I looked back at my row of prone pisces with a satisfied smirk and then directed it back to him. "Not telling—you're the jonin, aren't you? Go figure it out."

And just to be annoying, I blasted a surge of water, drenching him from head to toe. He tumbled into the river, and when he managed to get up, I doubled over.

"What the hell!" I laughed. "You look like a drowned ra—"

I swallowed a mouthful of river water and then some, huffing and puffing as I trudged onto the pebbled bank.

"Okay." I nodded once, locking eyes with Asuma. "If that's how you want to play it, I'm game."

The ensuing water fight went on for twenty minutes until I looked back to see that all my fish were gone.

"...Asuma."

He stopped mid-palm thrust.

"Look at the fish." I pointed back at the bank. "We lost them."

The manic grin slowly faded from his face. "...I really think you should give me your secret fishing technique now, kid."

Given that I didn't have my fish anymore, I did. Another hour later, we were dry and in clothes again, sitting on the bank eating roasted fish on skewers and watching the sunset. The sky was a deep crimson and long orange clouds dragged along towards the horizon.

"Unseasoned fish aside, this was nice," I said. "Thanks for bringing me here."

Asuma grinned across from me. "I thought it'd be a fun farewell. We fight, we fish, and then we eat. I'm glad it was."

I raised a finger. "Bring some paprika next time or something. I'll take anything over unseasoned fish."

He rolled his eyes, peering into the crackling flames of the fire we were using to cook the fish. I was about to pull out another skewer but the way Asuma called my name made me pause.

"What?" I frowned.

He took a breath. "It's time we talk about the elephant in the room—your friend situation."

"Oh," I smiled. "That. Don't worry, it's solved now. We talked and everything's good between us."

"Even then, I still think we should talk."

He looked serious about this so I adjusted my position and nodded. "Okay, let's talk."

"Your two friends—Choji and Hinata? They followed you to the clearing a few weeks ago."

"Wait, really?" I blinked. "I didn't notice anyone following me and I always use anti-tailing techniques—goddamn dojutsu, I swear, man."

"Tell me about it," Asuma sighed. "Anyway, when your training finished, they were going to follow you but I told them to stay."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to know what you had done that was so bad two other kids decided to follow you around instead of enjoying their weekend. You know what they told me?" He frowned. "They told me about your habit of prioritising training over the people in your life, Naruto."

I winced. "I know, it's not good but—"

"Do you, really?" Asuma wasn't shouting, but his words were charged with some indescribable emotion that I couldn't just shrug off. "I'd like to tell you a bit about myself, Naruto, if that's fine?"

I nodded and he closed his eyes, taking a deep, audible breath through his nose and adjusting himself so he was more comfortable.

"Four years ago, I left the Leaf to become a guardian shinobi in charge of the Fire Daimyo's protection. I left the village behind without looking back because I couldn't stand this place. How it demanded sacrifice from everyone. Not knowing any better, I lived by my father's example and dedicated myself to the village but after almost ten years I wanted… no, I needed to do something for myself."

"So I left." Asuma looked up from the fire, its flames still dancing in his brown eyes. "And to be honest, I was the happiest I'd been in years. I went on adventures, captured all kinds of criminals, stopped the Daimyo from being kidnapped, assassinated, you name it. I've done it all. But one day, I had to return. Guess what I came back to?"

"What?"

"A village that had moved on." He leaned back on his palms and sighed. "Everyone I know and love has moved on with their lives and it didn't take me long to realise that there was no space for me anymore." He shook his head with a wry smile. "You can't have your cake and eat it too. It's not fair to expect everyone else to put their lives on hold while you do one thing or the other, making time for them only when you decide it."

His words hit too close to home and the guilt and regret in his eyes were too familiar for me, so I looked away.

He sighed and cleared his throat. "Here. It's a C-rank support jutsu: Wind-Release: Frequency Disruption. I want you to have mastered it and Breakthrough by the time I get back. Jutsu above D-rank come attached with theory essays that I recommend you read and try to understand." But when I went to grab the scroll, he pulled away. "All I need in return is one thing. Can you do it?"

"I can't make any promises till I know what you want."

He held my gaze for a few uncomfortable. "Can you do it?"

"I… I'll do my best."

There was a searching look in his eyes before he spoke. "I need you to dedicate some time every week to the people you care about. It can be as many times a week as you're able to—but you need to do it, Naruto, do you understand? Don't let them move on or you'll regret it—trust me."

Only then did he give me the scroll and after everything Asuma had shared, it felt heavy to hold. Over the last few months, he'd taught me a lot of things I was grateful for, but above all else, this was the most thought-provoking lesson of all.

As the only one who knew what was coming, I had to sacrifice things for the future. The question wasn't if I had to sacrifice, but what I was willing to sacrifice, like spending time with friends and family.

Did more training today really mean I'd live a happy life tomorrow? The man right next to me was evidence enough to shake my belief in putting all of my time into training.

And yet the future and my foreknowledge remained. They were constant reminders of the threats and all of them were mind-bogglingly stronger than I was right now. But there was only so much that I could train each day.

Was that a valid excuse to neglect everyone who cared enough about me to worry? Nothing was ever that simple. I puzzled between bites of roasted fish, looking over at Asuma every so often. He was completely out of it, a strange melancholy twisting his face—and so I continued to think over his words in silence.

The flames crackled and hissed, slowly dwindling between us as the sky darkened and day turned into night.