Ⅰ
On the way to the site, Kakashi-sensei explained that we'd be helping with the bridge's construction for the whole day. This meant that the tree-climbing exercise would be put on hold for now.
The reason? Some of Tazuna-san's crew had stopped showing up for work, further delaying the process. Our Jounins had discovered this during their recon last night. Through their investigation, they had learned that those workers were being bought off with Gato's moneyーwhich was likely the main reason for the delay.
With the progress falling behind, Team 10 and Team 7 were called in to lend a hand. As soon as we arrived, Tazuna-san quickly gave us the assignment. We would be handling a much simpler taskーsuch as carrying out a bag of cement, while our Jounins would be taking on the heavier responsibilities like managing the safety of the workers. We quickly got to work as soon as we knew what we had to do.
Ⅱ
An hour had passed since we started helping with the construction. By the time Shikamaru brought another bag of cement over, he was already complaining.
"What a drag..." Shikamaru groaned, dropping the heavy bag of cement in front of Chouji. My portly friend soon opened the bag and poured the cement into a mixing tray. Once it was filled, I slowly poured a bucket of water into the tray and began mixing it with a shovel.
Our job was to prepare enough cement for Tazuna-san and his remaining workers to keep the construction going.
There were only six of them left. When Sakura and I first arrived at the site to keep an eye on Tazuna-san, there were eighteen of them. The situation had gotten worse. Much worse.
"Why do we have to do this? We're shinobis, not builders," Shikamaru continued, stretching his arms high over his head.
"Well, Asuma-sensei said we had to do whatever pleases the client. We are like handymen, Shikamaru." Chouji chimed in as he helped me with the mixing.
"Still… this is a lot of work. I should've just become a shogi player." Shikamaru muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
"A shogi player, eh?" I said with a bit of a tease. "I can already picture the headlines for this."
I then raised my hand dramatically. "Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The heir of the Nara clan had abandoned his Shinobi path to become a professional shogi player! Extra! Extra! Witness the scandalous career change as heー"
Smack! A gentle jab on my left shoulder interrupted me.
"Would you cut it out?" Shikamaru said with a heavy sigh.
"Okay, okay. If you say so." I chuckled. Chouji joined in the laughter, covering his mouth.
"You know, Darou." Shikamaru continued, giving me a long pointed look. "I am starting to worry about you."
"About me?" I pointed to myself.
"Yeah." Shikamaru nodded, his eyes narrowed a bit. "You started to sound a lot more like her."
"Her?" I raised my brow.
He flicked his eyes to my right, showing me the direction.
Following his gaze, I saw Sakura and Ino standing in front of the site office, checking the construction tools. Their task was to make sure that everything was organized in order.
"Ino?" I turned back to him.
"You used to be more chill, Darou. You were never this… pushy." Shikamaru replied.
"Pushy?" I crossed my arms.
"He is right, you know." Chouji chimed in. "When you pulled Sasuke into playing a game of cards last night, that's exactly what she did to us when we were kids."
Shikamaru nodded. "Before Chouji and I met you, Ino would always drag us to do whatever she wanted to do. For instance, our parents always celebrated New Year's together, and we'd spend it at my compound. The moment she walked through the door, the first thing she'd do was to make sure that we would play the games that she wanted to play."
"Oh? She was already that commanding, huh?" I said.
"Yeah." Chouji chuckled. "Our parents had mentioned that the Yamanakas can be a bit persuasive, so… Shikamaru and I had learned that there was no way to argue with her."
"So, please Darou." Shikamaru started to beg. "Don't end up like her. I liked the way you were. It would be a disaster if you became another Ino." Shikamaru shook his head, sighing.
"What's wrong with being like her?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips. "I am just trying to be a thoughtful friend. And besides, there is much to learn from her assertiveness."
"There isn't." Shikamaru denied quickly. "I swear to kami that you will be as annoying as her one day."
"Well, that's because you need to be more active, mon ami," I smirked. "Being a lazy poke the whole time will make you un ti' vieux."
"Un… what? What's that supposed to mean?" He tilted his head.
"It means an old man, cher. An old man." I teased.
He groaned again, rubbing his temple.
Chouji burst out laughing, holding his stomach.
"Hey, you three." We turned to the voice.
It was Ino. She walked over, clipboard in hand.
"Are you guys working?" she asked. "I noticed you were all talking a lot, so I came to check if you were doing your job."
"We are working, Ino," I replied. "I was trying to motivate this fainénat to stop complaining."
"Is that so?" she raised her brow, turning to Shikamaru. "For once, Shikamaru. Could you just focus? FOR ONCE?"
Shikamaru sighed. "If I focus right now, how am I supposed to use my brain when we are attacked? I don't want anything bad to happen."
"Really? That's your argument?" Ino shook her head. "We have Kakashi and Asuma-sensei protecting us. We will be fine."
"Fine, you say? What happens if they were beaten up? You remember what Asuma said about Zabuza."
Ino groaned, rubbing her temple. "Sometimes I wonder how your mom handles you and your excuses. You're impossible, Shikamaru. Like really impossible."
Chuckling at the sight, I slowly shook my head. "Don't you worry, Ino. I'll keep a watchful eye on him. It's not the first time I've had to babysit."
"Hey!" Shikamaru shot back.
This made Ino giggle, covering her mouth. "You sure you can handle it?"
"Oui, mademoiselle." I slightly winked. "I've taken care of Naruto and my little brother Konohamaru before. Compared to them, this will be a piece of cake."
"If you say so," she smiled. She then looked back at Shikamaru and slightly flicked her finger on his forehead.
"Ow," he rubbed his forehead.
She then turned her heel and walked back to Sakura's. After she was gone, Shikamaru glared at me with his sidelong glance.
"Why did you side with her? Why…?" he asked.
"Well, a wise man said it's important never to make a young lady mad."
"Who said that? Asuma-sensei?" Chouji asked.
"Nope." I shook my head. "My grandpa."
Ⅲ
After spending three hours helping with the construction, it was finally time for lunch. Tsunami-san had kindly prepared our bento to eat at the site: two rice balls with a side of pickled vegetables.
We gathered at the side of the office, where there was a space to sit on the ground. Once we had settled down, Naruto immediately took a big bite of his rice balls. "Mmmmm~~~! So good! This rice ball is tasty!" he said, his face radiating pure happiness.
Chouji also took a big bite of his rice ball, and wore the same expression as my dear friend.
"It sure is, Naruto!" he nodded, "Nothing can beat a good meal after doing some hard work!"
Naruto smiled at him, and Chouji returned the smile, mirroring his expression perfectly.
"Slow down, you two," Sakura warned. "You're going to choke if you keep eating like that."
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Naruto replied, his words muffled by the food. "I'm not gonna choke thaー" his face suddenly turned blue as he began to clutch his chest.
Sakura rolled her eyes and quickly handed him some water to help him swallow the food.
He took a quick gulp of the water, slowly managing to swallow it down. "Phew… that was a close one."
Sakura sighed, shaking her head.
Naruto scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Oh, Naruto." I chuckled, taking a bite of my rice ball. It's just like what Shikamaru and Ino saidーsomething never changes.
"You're lucky Sakura's here, Naruto," Ino said, a teasing smile spreading across her face. "I can imagine you choking or spilling your food every time you are in a rush."
"I don't!" Naruto rebutted. "I'm being careful with my food, Ino! This is the only time I was being careless! Believe it!"
"Oh really? What about that time when you, Chouji, and Sasuke-kun had that little accident?" She raised her brow, her smirk grew wider.
He opened his mouth, trying to say it back. But he quickly shut it. His cheek got red as the memory of that accident came back to his mind vividly.
The same thing could be said for the other two. Chouji let out an awkward, embarrassed chuckle while scratching his cheek. As for Sasuke, he kept his expression cool, but the faint tint of red on his ears gave him away. It was rare to see Sasuke react like that. I am guessing that his lone-wolf attitude started to soften a bit, becoming a bit more open to us.
"Yeah… we got carried away," Chouji admitted sheepishly.
Shikamaru shook his head, sighed. "Let's try not to make a mess here, alright? We don't want to cause any trouble."
"He is right." I chimed in. "Make one little mistake and our reputation is gonna go down like a bad storm, mon ami." Quickly finishing my rice ball, I grabbed another one. As I took a bite, I brought a deck of cards from my back pocket.
"Wait, you brought your cards here?" Naruto said, pointing at my left hand.
"Well, I figured I could use a bit of exercise on my hands," I replied. "Gotta make sure I stay sharp." I shuffled my cards with one while eating my rice ball. After finishing my food, I used my two hands to perform the card spring.
From my right dominant hand, each card snapped forward to my left hand, one by one, in a perfectly controlled arc. It moved gracefully between my hands like a waterfall. You could hear a perfect rhythm of pap-pap-pap when the cards danced in the air.
I did it again to my right hand, once the cards landed on my left palm. After a brief shuffle, I ended with a trick by flicking my finger to send a card from the top of the deck to fly across the air before landing in my left hand.
Chouji whistled. "That was a neat trick."
"How did you do that?! And with one hand, too?!" Naruto asked, his eyes sparkling in curiosity.
"Years of practice, cher. Once you get the hang of it, you can do many kinds of tricks." I replied with a grin.
"What made you learn it?" Sakura asked.
"Well, it all started when I met Konohamaru," I began, a fond smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "He was the first Sarutobi member I met when I arrived at the compound. He was a little kid back then, trying to learn how to walk. I remember him wobbling to get his ball when it rolled towards me. As soon as he got it, he looked up and…"
"He cried?" Shikamaru guessed.
"Yeah." I nodded. "His nanny quickly came to scoop him up, cradling him in her arms to calm him down. But since then, whenever he looked at me, he'd start crying."
"Woof…" Naruto winced. "That's rough…"
"It was…" I scratched my neck. "My grandpa encouraged me that everything would be fine, but… if I was going to be his brother, I needed to do something. So, I started to read some books on how to get through to small kids. And that's when I found out about doing a card trick."
"How long did it take for you to learn?" Chouji asked.
"Two weeks," I replied. "But only the easy ones. When I saw him again, playing with his toy in the playroom, I called out to himーreal gentle, just to get his attention. Before he started to cry, I brought out the cards to play this trick." I then began to perform an easy disappearing trick. Picking the card from the top of the deck, I held it up so they could all see. Then, slowly closed my hands around it with a little flick of my wrist and a soft breath over my fingersーthe card vanished when I opened my palms.
As they were surprised to see it gone, I slowly reached out towards my dear friend's ear to "find" the missing card with a playful grin.
"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed.
"That's a pretty cool trick," Shikamaru remarked amusingly. "So… did it work?"
"Well… at first he just stared at meーeyes wide open and confused. I thought I'd blown it. But slowly, he started to giggle and… I was relieved to see him smile."
"Aww, that's cute." Ino's eyes soften, smiling.
"Yeah." I agreed with a nod. "After that, he stopped crying whenever he saw me. And as he started to learn how to walk, he'd always waddle up to me and say, 'Big bro! Could you show me a trick?' " I chuckled mid-sentence, "And well… I ended up learning more tricks for him. It has become a habit, you knowーalways shuffle my cards whenever I'm ready."
"Hmm…" Naruto started to think after hearing my story.
"Got something in your mind, Naruto?" Chouji asked, his curious expression turned to him.
"Well… I remembered how good his aim was when he threw the card at my forehead." He replied, pointing out his finger when he recalled the scene. "So…"
We raised our brows, wondering what he was going to say next.
"I wonder if he could use those cards as a throwing weapon."
We were then kept quiet, processing his words.
"Really? A throwing weapon, Naruto?" Sakura was the first to respond.
"We all know how to deflect or dodge a shuriken and a kunai, right?" He replied. "But when it comes to cards… it could catch the enemies off guard. It would be a surprise attack."
"A card won't do much damage, you know." She countered.
"Yeah, but what if we add some explosives to them? Like the explosive seal?"
"Still, that could harm Darou," Ino added. "And not to mention that it has a limited range and requires a long time of preparation."
Naruto became quiet, scratching his head.
Then unexpectedly, Sasuke spoke up. "It's not a bad idea, though."
We turned to him, surprised that he agreed with Naruto's idea. "Infusing the cards with explosives would make it very effective. But like what Ino said, it's still dangerous. If only there were a way to make it safe…"
"Hmm…" I slowly looked at my cards and began to think about the possibilities.
"Hey, you all." We raised our heads. It was Tazuna-san, wiping his sweat from his forehead. "I appreciate you all helping out with the construction. Sorry for dragging you into this."
"That's okay, Tazuna-san," Sakura replied. "We'll do anything to help finish the bridge."
"As long as it's not too tiring andー"
"Shikamaru!" Ino cuts him off, covering his mouth.
Shikamaru mumbled his words under her hands, looking annoyed as he glanced at her.
Tazuna-san laughed, understanding his feelings. "I know, I know. But really, thanks to all of you, the bridge should be done in just a few more days. That said," his expression grew thoughtful, "I need to make sure we have all the materials in stock. I'm heading downtown to check the warehouse where I keep the cement and the rest of the supplies."
"In that case, let us come with you." I offered.
"Nah, no need." He shook his head. "I'll be fine on my own."
"With all due respect, Tazuna-san." Kakashi-sensei's voice cut in smoothly. He and my uncle approached from behind, finishing their lookout within the perimeter. "Zabuza and Gato's men might attack you while you are on your way. It's better to be safe."
"If there is one thing we know about the Kiri Shinobis," my uncle added, "it's that they are experts at luring their targets and killing them off unseen. When it comes to that… Zabuza is the best there is. So precautions are needed."
"Oh… I see." Tazuna-san slowly nodded, clearly understanding their points.
"Sakura, Darou." Kakashi-sensei called us, his tone was calm but firm, "You two will go with him. Don't ever lose sight of Tazuna-san."
"Roger."
"Understood."
Ⅳ
We stuck close to Tazuna-san as we walked downtown. Keeping our eyes wide, we looked left and right while heading towards the warehouse. According to Tazuna-san, the warehouse was located in the former residential area of the Iberiansーwhere the colonisers once lived. There was a large building standing in the center of the area. It was the governor-general's office of Nami no Kuni, a relic of the colonial ageーa time when the people suffered under the oppression of the Iberians.
Nobody seems to live there anymore. The houses and buildings stood there in various states of decay, showing the years of neglect. There were cracks all over the walls, and the windows were shattered into pieces.
"Wow… it looked so deserted," Sakura said, looking around the area.
Tazuna-san turned to her. "Gato would never expect me to keep my materials here. After all, we might as well make use of what… they left behind." There was a somber and bitter tone in his voice. Recalling the news when his son-in-law was executed, his steps looked heavier.
Noticing it, Sakura and I kept following him behind in silence.
As we reached the warehouse, Tazuna-san went in alone. We waited outside, standing near the entrance, keeping our eyes open.
Finding ourselves in this abandoned district gave us an eerie feeling. It felt like there was something or someone lurking behind the abandoned buildings.
"Hmm…" Activating my Eagle Vision quietly, the entire area turned into vibrant blue. With one swift look, I quickly turned my ability off and grabbed my katana.
"Darou…?" Sakura turned to me.
"Get ready," I replied. "We are surrounded."
"Surrounded? Byー"
"ATAQUE!" We were immediately surrounded by a group of figures emerging from the shadows of the crumbling buildings. They were all looking raggedーtheir clothes were torn and stained. Some of their attire was patched together from whatever cloth they could find. They wore their hood to cover their faces, while others had their hair tangled, as if they hadn't been bathed in years.
They were all equipped with whatever tools they could find hereーKnives, oars, frying pans, and even old rusted pipes. They all looked very hostile as they came closer to us.
One thing I noticed was that some of them had shared some similarities with the locals of this nationーdark, curly short hair and sun-kissed skin. The others, however, were fairer, with messy, blonde hair that looked unkempt and dirty.
But the most surprising thing of all... they were all kids. Younger than us but slightly older than Inari.
"Hold it!" Sakura shouted, grabbing her kunai in her hand. "Who are you?! Are you all with Gato?!"
"Gato?" One of them replied. There was an accent in his voice when he said the name. The 'a' is elongated by adding a subtle 'r' sound, making it come out as "Gah-too?" His voice was crisp and harsh, carrying the weight of the rough years he'd lived in this area. "We don't know who Gato is. You 'ave trespassed our home!"
"Your home…?" I raised my brow.
"We had been living 'ere for years," the girl said, her dress was worn with patches covering the holes. "After our father left us an' our mothers died from sickness, we 'ad to look after each other."
"We kept our voices down," a boy added, wearing a dirty, dark-blue overalls. "Not wantin' the others to know we were 'ere."
"But den, he came." Another girl said, her dark long hair looked messy. "He just came in an' stored the things in dat place, like he owned it!"
"'adn't we suffered enough?!" Another girl shouted. "Every time we go out to get some food, we are always chased down! They say all those mean things, sayin' we deserve not to exist!"
"We 'ad been waitin' for him to show up," a boy said, stepping out of the group. He had tanned skin and short, curly, dark hair, standing tall. He was the tallest among the others, making me think that he was the leader of the group. "an' now he is 'ere, we will make him pay for using our place!"
They were all looking ready to fight, their numbers larger than ours. Sakura and I glanced at each other, unsure how to handle this. We didn't want to harm the kids, but talking to them wasn't an option anymore—their minds were set, and they weren't backing down.
Then, without a warning, a cloaked figure appeared right between us. Raising their hands, they brought a momentary halt to the conflict. They stood there silently as they slowly gazed between us.
I quickly recognized who this cloaked figure was. It was the very same one who had saved the innkeeper's daughter from those thugs and left behind some money to help repair the damage.
"Stand down," the figure said, their voice firm yet calm. It was a man's voice, carrying a quiet commanding voice.
"Why?!" the leader shouted, his frustration breaking the silence. "You told us to be ready for it! You trained us to fight back!"
The figure turned toward the boy. "These are not your enemies. They're here to help—just like the old man in the warehouse."
The kids glanced at each other, confused, while keeping their weapons tight.
Then the cloaked figure turned to us, his gaze resting upon us.
"My apologies, you two. I am glad I just came here in time," he calmly said.
"Who are you?" I asked, still holding my katana up.
The figure slowly turned to m,e and I saw a warm smile on his lips. "It's good to see you, kid. I'm glad that you have survived the shipwreck."
My breath caught. "H-how did you…"
Before I could finish, the figure reached up and slowly pulled back his brown cloak. As the hood fell away, his face came into view. Short blonde hair in a neat crew cut. He had a smile on his faceーsassy yet warm. It was one of those smiles you often see when you were a kid, the kind that made your world a safer place.
It immediately sent a shock through my body when I saw his familiar face. For so long, I had believed I was all alone — a boy with no past and no answers where I was from. But now, seeing him standing before me… it was like the pieces of my buried past were starting to fall into place. And slowly… I uttered his name. A name that was dear to me.
"C-clint…?"
