Shisui POV
Noa had been mostly locked in his room for nearly a full week now. He ate, drank, exercised lightly, and even went on daily walks with either Sena or , so I was not worried about his ntal health. Even so, he was constantly occupied, his mind rarely fully focused on what his body was doing at the mont.
I was unfortunately familiar with seal masters being like that. ANBU had a few of them over the years, and they all acted the sa way. However, Noa was unique. He was not only like that, but also a powerful chunin in everything but rank. His potential was honestly incredible given what I knew about his true strength, and that brought a smile to my face. Konoha had yet another powerful shinobi developing, just like Itachi and Kakashi.
My thoughts were interrupted by a weak knock at the door. I narrowed my eyes as Kaen exploded out of his room and asked, “Is Sena coming?” I rolled my eyes, wishing him the best of luck with that impossible endeavor, though I had seen people succeed with worse odds, so who knew.
I approached the door slowly, Kaen almost vibrating behind , and opened it. “Hi se…” I stopped, montarily confused when I found nothing at Sena’s height. Another thing she had Kaen beat at, before I realized the one knocking was much shorter.
A small boy stood there, barely reaching my waist, his posture stiff and unnatural for soone so young. His red hair was a tangled ss, dusty and uneven, framing a pale face marked by dark circles that no child should have. His eyes were filled with sadness and lined with exhaustion.
However, there was sothing else wrong about that kid, enough to make my instincts kick in imdiately. My legs tensed, ready to move in a fraction of a second, and my Sharingan almost burst into life right then and there. The unsettling part was his chakra. It pressed outward from him, filled with hatred and anger that a child of that age should never have carried, to the point that I questioned my own instincts and wondered if he was even the true source of that hatred and rage. Was it soone, or sothing else?
He looked hesitant and a little scared as he asked, “Is Noa here?” He fidgeted while waiting for my answer, snapping out of my thoughts as I nodded and said, “Let … let go call him.” I was not sure what was going on, but that kid was not normal. Only then did my mind finally catch up, thinking, “Isn’t that kid Gaara, the Kazekage’s son?”
I opened Noa’s door and found him sitting on the ground, grinning like a madman while staring at the wall. Multiple scrolls were unrolled in front of him in a chaotic yet unnaturally organized ss.
I looked at the wall he was focused on and froze. I was no seal master, but as ANBU we had a decent knowledge of fuinjutsu. We had to, since we relied on it heavily during missions. What I was seeing on that wall, however, was sothing else entirely. That seal was more advanced and more powerful than anything I had ever seen. I could not even comprehend what it was for, given how complicated and layered it was.
I shook my head and said, “Noa, you have a visitor.” I waited a couple of seconds, but he was still grinning like an idiot and not reacting at all. I sighed, stepped forward, and shook him while shouting, “NOA!”
He scread in a very unmanly way and jumped back, eyes wide as he looked around like a frightened animal. When he saw , he imdiately fixed his posture, coughed once, and stood tall, bravery radiating from him as if nothing had happened.
I shook my head and said, “You have a visitor. Co et them.” He narrowed his eyes and asked, “Who might it be?” I turned away and replied, “Stop wasting ti and co see for yourself.”
Noa POV
After my manly scream, I was surprised to learn that I actually had a visitor, which did not make any sense. I had no friends in the Hidden Sand. Most people here were scared of and thought of as so ancient, remorseless demon. I shrugged and walked after Shisui to find out who it was.
At the door was Gaara. The Gaara. The jinchuriki of the One-Tail. Not to ntion the Kazekage’s son. Oh, and look at that, he had brought his dead mother with him too. How nice.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from . If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Gaara was moving nervously, shifting his balance between his legs, before he finally noticed and smiled. That almost lted my heart. He still looked tired and sad, but for a mont it was like he forgot those problems, before his eyes grew heavy once more.
I sighed and approached him with a smile, which he returned. He waved at and said, “Noa, I wanted to co after your first fight, but they did not let . I wanted to see if you were okay.”
I went down to his level and winked. “Don’t worry. I won’t go down that easily. Matter of fact, you can be sure I will win this thing.” I gave him a thumbs up with a huge grin. He found it interesting and tried to imitate , giving the sa thumbs up. He also tried to grin, but it looked terrifying, so I ignored that part.
He stayed silent, unsure what to say next, so I asked, “Where is the person who follows you?” He tangled his hands and looked down before saying, “I lost him. It is too hot outside, and sotis he does other things when it is hot.” That kid had no breaks in life. Even the one whose duty was to watch him ignored and forgot about him to go do who knows what.
He looked like he wanted to ask sothing else but was too nervous, so I did it for him. “Want to co in? I am about to cook so lunch.” His eyes lit up with excitent, probably the first ti soone had invited him inside to eat. That broke my heart as he nodded enthusiastically and walked in.
Shisui stayed away from him, keeping a safe distance, clearly following his instincts. As for Kaen, once he knew it was not Sena, he lost interest and sat on a chair, digging for petroleum inside his nose. Gaara found that funny and chuckled.
Kaen looked irritated after losing so cool points in front of a kid and tried to recover quickly. “You know, I am a semifinalist in the chunin exams.” Gaara nodded excitedly and said, “I know. I watched your match. It was amazing.” Kaen’s ego expanded three tis in size as he nodded. “You have good eyes, kid. I like you.” Gaara’s face lit up even more as Kaen added, “Want to see sothing cool?”
Gaara nodded eagerly as Kaen pulled out a wooden kunai and started doing intricate tricks with it, using Uchiha wire work. Gaara’s eyes were fixed on the skill being displayed, which boosted Kaen’s morale even further and made him increase the complexity.
All that while, Shisui was standing so stiff he looked like he was next to a nuke that might explode at any mont. To be fair, that was true, but Gaara felt more stable than expected. At that mont, he looked happier than I had ever seen him, welcod into soone else’s ho and entertained with admittedly cool skills that I would never tell Kaen I approved of.
I walked into the kitchen and started cooking. I pulled a fish from a storage seal and decided to use it, mostly because I doubted fish was easy to co by here. I cleaned it, salted it, and set it over the fla. The skin crackled as it cooked, the sll spreading through the flat while rice simred beside it. I flipped the fish once, took it off when the flesh was done and the skin had crisped properly, then seasoned it lightly with a bit of black pepper, garlic, lemon zest, and herbs.
I walked back out with the prepared food to find Kaen already setting the table as they waited. Gaara looked very happy, all smiles, as he eyed the dishes with interest. When I placed the plates down, Gaara hesitated for a mont, and my thoughts went dark as I wondered if he was afraid it might be poisonous. Before I could do anything, Kaen stole a huge piece and gulped it down in one go, which Gaara found very funny as he laughed before digging in as well.
His eyes widened and watered a little from how tasty the food was, which I took as a sign worthy of pride. Deep inside , I felt my shadow clones send a middle finger from the beyond. Gaara kept eating more and more, extrely interested in the taste and different spices used.
By the end, all the plates were empty. Shisui had not eaten anything, so Kaen generously sacrificed himself and annihilated Shisui’s share as well, even going as far as giving Gaara a small piece, which was unheard of for Kaen. Shisui’s guard was raised to the highest level, chakra clearly concentrated in his hands and legs. Even so, I appreciated that he did not refuse the kid or shut the whole thing down.
I took out my notebook while Gaara and Kaen enjoyed cold drinks and more tricks. By the ti I was done, the sun was almost setting.
Gaara’s eyes sank as sadness returned, the realization settling in that he had to leave before he caused panic and fear. He stood, looked at , and said, “Please take care, and win the matches.” I nodded, smiling. “I will. And oh, take this with you.” I tore the sketch from my notebook and handed it to him.
He looked down at the paper slowly, his hands pausing as his eyes focused on it. The drawing was simple, almost childish on purpose. It showed him in a small chibi form, round and soft, sitting on the ground while hugging his gourd tightly with both arms. The gourd looked almost bigger than he was, and above them floated a small heart, like a sun.
Gaara stared at it in silence for a long ti before suddenly running toward and hugging hard, almost squeezing the life out of my legs. I laughed and carefully went down, patting him slowly.
He finally let go, holding the sketch carefully, smiling wide as he looked at it and said, “Thank you.” I nodded back and said, “See you later.” He shook his head cutely before leaving the flat, never taking his eyes off the drawing.
User Comments
0 comments from readers