Kapitel 48: Blindness and Attentiveness
"So…'Confessions of a Lady of the Court'," I started. "Go ahead. I've got nothing."
"Oh, I love that one!" Ayame said from across the counter with a smile on her face.
"Me too," Hisako replied with a nod. "I think it's annoying the book ended without telling us who she picked."
"I know, right?" Ino replied with a smile. "I was so set to see Kimiko-chan's wedding to Shigeru-san…"
"You mean to Ietsuna," Hisako's eye's narrowed as she gave her rebuttal. "They were star crossed lovers."
To my credit, I actually did see this coming. Never actually seen one of these unfold out in real life before, I don't think, but I did see this coming. A shipping war. I was hoping that they'd both be shipping the girl, Kimiko, with the same guy. I didn't particularly care if it was Ietsuna, the farmer's son or Shigeru her arranged betrothal, just would've liked to have this been a relatively calm meeting.
No such luck, I'm afraid.
"But Kimiko's too high station for a farmer," Ino frowned. "Either she'd move down, which would mean a drastic change in lifestyle for her, or she'd bring him up and he has no business moving up given how little understands court politics."
"He can learn," Hisako glared. "Besides, those court politics are why the whole story happened in the first place, if you had forgotten."
The 'events' of the book, such as they were, happened because the man Kimiko had previously been engaged too, as a result of mutual love or whatever, was assassinated. She was moved out to the Country with a noble Shigeru who she had been hastily arranged to be married too and there she met Ietsuna. What's interesting is that she grew to love both men. In my old world, growing to love the guy you were arranged to be married too was a huge no-no because it was a strike against female independence. Goes to show how different our two worlds are.
"So bringing an innocent farmer into an environment where he could be assassinated is okay?" Ino asked, her eyebrow arched.
"Hire a shinobi to figure out the assassination and protect them," Hisako sniffed dismissively. "Compared to what they had they could afford one or two with pocket change."
From what I saw in the book, that is true. I mean, I don't know how expensive things get but this royal family had stuff. Needless, pointlessly extravagant stuff, but stuff nonetheless. They could probably afford the Hokage himself, actually.
Why do I get the feeling I just failed a skill check?
…do not get your notebook out and turn on alerts. This day is meant for relaxing and being told how many ways I suck and should kill myself is not conducive to relaxing. Alerts are for missions, not civilian life.
"Well, actually it depends," Ayame said, coming back around from serving another customer that walked in, an Inuzuka that sat next to Nichiren, there not being any more room in the stand. "All that stuff has upkeep and depending on how much that upkeep is, they might not be able to afford a new pair of sandals after all of that, less a Ninja."
"Upkeeps never that bad, right?" Hisako asked with a frown.
Why was Nichiren glaring at Ayame?
"Oh, upkeep can get really bad," Teuchi had evidently been eavesdropping, as he replied as he hefted a huge, bubbling cauldron of ramen onto the burners they had behind the counter. "But only if the person in charge of the money is an idiot. Or if he's beholden to an idiot."
"Right, but if you have to hire a Ninja to protect a bumkin farmer getting used to the life of a royal, you have to hire a Ninja to protect the ingratiated noble's son who has been in the life of a noble for his whole life," I explained, my intelligence proving useful for once. I looked up at Teuchi, not sure how much of the conversation he had caught. "Sorry, we were just discussing a book."
"I know," Teuchi nodded with a smile. "I've been listening."
"Cool," I replied.
"But my point is, Shigeru's been in that environment all his life, he knows what to expect," Ino continued almost too smoothly but I noticed a quick glance past Nichiren for some reason. At the Nara and Inuzuka? Why? "Bringing someone who doesn't understand that he's painting a target on his back onto the scene feels like, I don't know, entrapment?"
It was around this point that I started to turn the two out. They were arguing about a book that I, personally, did not care about and so I found it hard to actually follow what they were saying. Bottom-line, Hisako supported the farmer, Ino supported the noble and I just wanted to take the main character back behind the shed and shoot her.
Well, a shed. I don't have a shed. Maybe I should get one? Make an area of the vault, dress it up like it's outside, give it a farm-house exterior, large yard and a wooden shed that doesn't actually have anything in it and an 'x' painted behind it with a sigh pointed toward it says 'to kill something, place it on 'x' and prepare shotgun'.
Heck, an area like that would solve a lot of issues. Like the Sonic Franchise, what Legend of Korra did to Avatar the Last Airbender, that truck driver okay we can stop that line of thinking. Besides, maybe they dug The Last Airbender out of the hole that Korra sunk them into. Maybe. But I doubt it.
Though, as an avowed Nintendo fan, I hope Sonic stayed garbage after I died. Though most of my ire came from my younger brother who was an utter sonic fanboy and would never, ever shut up about his dumb gary-stu OC that was more powerful than anything else in any setting ever.
…I miss him so much. Kind of hurts, actually.
"What do you think Daisuke?" Sakura asked, stirring me from my thoughts.
"Hm? Oh, sorry," I shrugged sheepishly. "I zoned out. What was the question?"
"Do you think that Ietsuna could learn how to be a noble if he married up?" Sakura asked with an annoyed sigh.
Both Ino and Hisako looked put off. Hisako sighed and leaning against her hand like she was very, very tired. Ino turned to the counter with her fingers interlocked as she glared at her empty bowl.
"If he stuck with it, yeah," I answered with a shrug. "The question is if he wants too."
"Well he loves her so I'd say he wants too," Hisako piped up.
"Sure, he might want too initially," I allowed with a frown. "But as the realities of what he was being asked to learn, do and figure out set in, he might have second thoughts. It's a completely different lifestyle than what he's used too and people are terrified of change."
I looked up in thought. "At least I think people are scared of change. That's still a thing, right? I'm just going off the fact that I'm scared of change. Sort of."
"Besides," I shook my head and came back to reality. "Love isn't some all-consuming brain-replacer or something. He still has what he likes and what he doesn't like and by marrying up, he could wind up giving up the grand majority of what he likes. He didn't have much in the way of ambition, if I remember correctly."
That was part of the appeal, actually. He was 'humble', something that she didn't see very much in the courts.
"Right," Hisako looked a little downcast.
"Though that's really just conjecture," I explained. "In the book, if she gave up her engagement to Shigeru, she'd give up her station for that of a farmer. That was the big thing she had against Ietsuna, so I don't see why we're asking that question."
Hisako actually stopped short. "Uh…you know, I was just curious. You know, if she ended up keeping her place in the court, you know."
She said 'you know' three separate times. That's a little odd. Why did she do that?
…I just failed a charisma check. I did. I know it.
I hate you, game.
"So clearly Shigeru's the better choice," Ino replied seeming a little smug. "Matches her station, can maneuver politics already and can give her everything she needs."
"Not necessarily," I replied with a blink. "She bemoaned the fact that her first love was killed as a result of court politics and she was honestly considering ditching Shigeru just to get away from the danger. Remember?"
Ino blinked, turning pink and looking away. "Oh. Right, yeah."
These two liked the book but I'm the only one that remembers the exact specifics? Thank you, Ten Int? I guess?
"Basically, the biggest gripe the main character has is the choice between not getting what she wants and keeping what she has," I started to sum up with a sigh. "And getting what she wants and losing what she has."
Which I will say is a fantastic character arc. I mean, it was executed horribly here but it's an amazing idea…I can't wait until I've got the charisma to really start writing again.
"That's very insightful, Daisuke-kun," Ino said with a smile on her face.
"Yeah," Hisako said, looking down in her bowl with a frown.
What's up?
"You know, we've been here for an hour now," Nichiren said, looking at his watch. "I think maybe we should call it a day? Come back next week?"
"A different book too," I insisted, more than a little perplexed that they had forgotten key details of a book they liked enough to go to verbal war over.
"Which one, Senpai?" Ino asked with a frown.
"I don't know. Sakura, pick one," I said, gesturing to the pink-haired academy student.
"Uh…sure, how about 'Diaries of a Princess'?" Sakura asked. "Is that okay, Senpai?"
Another romance? Alright, fine. But only because there's no love triangle. "Sure, that works."
"I've read that one," Hisako said, pushing herself away from her half-finished ramen bowl. "I like it fine."
"Cool, let's go," Nichiren said, and everyone stood up. Well, everyone except me. I just ported away to the Vault.
As I sat at the bar I had constructed, the empty serving trays in front of me, I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. In retrospect, perhaps I should've seen the argument coming. Maybe. I hadn't considered that the two girls had identified with the opposite ship but how was I supposed to know that that would happen?
…I'm so glad the game can't answer for me right now. Screw you, game.
You know, I need to figure out how to staff this place. Just so it feels alive. I mean, as alive as a representation of a post-Nuclear Armageddon shelter can be. I'm thinking maybe I can make a Mister Handy? Okay, I'd have to grow all the parts then figure out how to program the thing. Obviously, it'd be fashioned after sands puppets but self-operating. Modify a clone jutsu as the basis for the operating system and bind it to the robot using seals.
Think it's safe to go back? Yeah, I think it's safe to go back.
I appeared right in front of the ramen stand and entered quickly.
"Well, that got heated," Teuchi was the one at the counter. He started to chuckle as I took a seat. "Those girls have it bad for you, you know?"
"I know," I replied with a groan. "I'm confused as to how that got into the book discussion, though."
"Well, you zoned out when they really got started," Teuchi replied with a grin. "But the argument went from talking about the characters in the book to arguing about why they were the better pick for you. Still using the character names, of course."
I tried to make sound with my mouth. I really tried. But it just died like a gurgle in the back of my throat.
He patted me on the shoulder with a kind smile. "You have my sympathy. And my envy, but don't let Ayame know that last part, alright? If I had two beautiful girls chasing me when I was your age…hoo."
"You got it," I finally said, letting my shoulders sink. "I won't say anything. I just wanted to talk about books. I love books. Did they have to turn it into that?"
"Well, they were probably hoping you wouldn't notice," Teuchi shrugged, turning a burner down. "But it got really obvious. You want my advice, though?"
"Sure," I said, gesturing flippantly. Maybe he had the solution.
"Pick the one you trust," Teuchi said with a nod. "Infatuation and love come and go, but trust? Trust will last a lifetime."
"That…makes a lot of sense," I replied with a sigh. "I don't trust either of them."
"Then neither of them are the right choice," Teuchi said with a shrug. "Easy as that. So, don't worry about it."
"But one of them is my teammate," I explained with a frown. "I feel like I'm supposed to trust her."
"Eh," Teuchi shrugged. "Trusting someone with your back is different to trusting someone with your heart."
"It is?" I asked with a little bit of shock.
"Yeah," Teuchi nodded. "I trust my daughter, for instance. To support the ramen stand, to cheer me up when I'm feeling sad and to make the right choice when it finally comes time for her to marry. But I don't trust her to be able to defend the village should it come to that. Do you understand?"
"Makes sense," I nodded. "I hadn't thought about it like that before."
"Good," Teuchi said. "And don't let my daughter try to convince you one way or the other. Who knows, you may find you can trust one of them like that after all. But only when you're able to do so."
The last thing I expected to see here were Inuzuka dogs. But here they were. Three of them. Good looking dogs, but dogs nonetheless. And they were growling at me. Good to see that little trend from my old life hasn't gone away.
"Hey, hush," Hana Inuzuka stepped into the stand, glaring at the trio who immediately backed down. Then she turned to me and gave me a friendly smile. I hadn't met her since the party that the Akimichi threw after I skipped the last one. "Shimoda-kun. A pleasure to see you."
"Inuzuka-san," I nodded in response. "Good to see you too, I guess."
"I'm sorry about the Haimaru," Hana said sheepishly. "Normally, they're really friendly."
Every dog owner claims that. Usually right before they bit one of my siblings. "It's okay. Dog's don't like me and the feeling's mutual."
"You don't like dogs?" Hana seemed concerned.
"Not for the most part, no," I can count on one hand the number of dogs I learned to like. "No offense, sorry. I know your clan is all about dogs but I've never grown fond of them."
"It's alright," Hana shrugged and frowned, taking a seat. "Do you come to this stand often?"
"Not until recently," I explained. "My friend Naruto loves to hang around here so whenever I want to see him, I'd come here. But now that we've got a book club, I come every Thursday."
"I heard about that, actually," Hana replied as Ayame came out.
Ayame looked at Hana with a glare for half of a second before switching to a neutral expression. "Inuzuka-sama. Can I take your order?"
Hana gave it and Ayame quickly dished her up a bowl before heading off to a corner to stir pots of ramen.
"So, how's the book club going?" Hana asked.
"Honestly, I'm wondering if it was worth the trouble," I replied with a shrug.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" She asked conversationally.
"Just…some arguments is all," I said with another shrug.
"Okay," Hana nodded, slurping down some noodles.
Ino and Sakura entered the stand and upon laying eyes on Hana, Ino froze with a shocked expression before adopting a polite smile and a bow. "Daisuke-kun, Inuzuka-san. Nice to see the both of you."
"Very nice to see you," Sakura mirrored her friend's movements.
"Hi," I gave a small bow from my spot on the bench. I guess it's time to be formal right now or something? Whatever.
"I must admit, I'm a little surprised to see you," Ino said, taking the next available spot next to me. "I haven't seen you here before."
"My brother said this place has the best ramen in Konoha," Hana shrugged non-committedly, taking a slurp of noodles before continuing. "I've been meaning to check this stand out for a while. I finally found time today and he was right. This stuff is good."
Right after that, Hisako and Nichiren walked in, both looking very concerned. This concern only doubled when they saw Hana sitting next to me.
"Inuzuka-san," Hisako and Nichiren both gave her a bow of greetings.
"Yamada-san, Nakamura-san," Hana said, then she drained the broth of her ramen and she was done. "Anyway, I need to be heading back to the office. Nice seeing you all."
She paid and left in a hurry.
"What was that?" Hisako asked, taking Hana's seat.
"I don't know," I shrugged. "She came, ordered a bowl of ramen, you guys freaked out about her being here and she left."
"We were just surprised," Ino replied quickly. "That's all."
"Anyway, we got a book to talk about, right?" Nichiren asked with a frown. "Another romance."
There was not an argument this time. Thank goodness. But everyone was on edge and the discussion only lasted ten minutes before nothing else could be said. It was…frankly a boring book. Standard, nothing thought raising or provoking. Made for a short, non-confrontational meeting which I was okay with.
"Can we pick a different book this time?" Sakura asked at the end. "Romance is great, but I think we could all use a break from having our hearts jerked around."
"There's the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi," Ayame suggested. "That one was written by one of the Sannin, it's got to be good, right?"
"I'd like that one," Nichiren nodded. "I've heard there's a lot of action."
"So, next Thursday?" I asked, checking for nods. "Great, see you then."
Where's Naruto usually?
Actually, he's usually at the training ground which made me proud. He was really trying to improve and become a better Shinobi, which was good because when the problems started to happen he'd be better prepared. I wonder if Wave is still going to happen. I mean, probably.
Off I go and…what is he doing?
There was Naruto, alright, but there was also a massive…plus-sign? Naruto-clones had clumped together, standing on their shoulders and grabbing hands to form themselves into a statue of a plus sign, an end sticking out of each side reminding me of a jack.
…wait, how did you play jacks? I never learned, I just knew it was a game that involved those things that spies used to pop the tires of cars chasing after them.
"Naruto!" I called with a wave.
He turned. "Hey, Daisuke! How's it going?"
"Oh, it's fine," I said, sliding up to him. "So…what's this?"
"This is training me to better use my clones to do more stuff!" Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head with a large grin. "Haha, yup! That's it!"
"Oh," I nodded. "…is it anything else?"
"I'm desperately trying to not be bored," Naruto sighed, letting his arms fall as he slumped forward. "Training is so…boring."
"That's one of the many reasons why I'm glad I can just skip it," I nodded sagely. "Being a social cripple has its perks."
"Did you just make a joke about your disability?" Naruto asked disbelievingly with a huge grin spreading across his face.
"I'm getting over it," I said, shrugging for the millionth time today. "So, how's your stance?"
Naruto groaned. "Daisuke! I told you I'm bored with training. I'm trying to stop my brains from leaking out of my ears, I'm so bored."
"Okay, but I still want to see your stance," I hadn't had the chance to actually work with Naruto and his Taijutsu for a while, he and the other members of Team 7 wanting to take a break and work on their own stuff for a while.
"Can we be done now?" One particularly miserable sounding clone asked, sounding out of breath.
"Ah, sure," Naruto said, bringing his hands together in a seal and dispelling the army-statue-thing in a large puff of smoke.
"So…"
"Yeah, yeah, okay," Naruto said, assuming the stance. "You may fire when ready."
Eh?
"It's fine," I replied. It actually was. Wasn't supreme in its perfection or anything but it was passable. I was proud.
"Wait, are you still joking?" Naruto asked with a suspicious glare.
"No, it's really fine," I said with a nod. "Not perfect, obviously, but it's passable. Fine."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
"Yahoo!" Naruto jumped into the air, achieving impressive air for someone still in the academy. "I did it! I've got a good stance! Yes!"
"Yes, yes you do," You know, come to think of it, I may be a little overly judgmental about what a 'good' stance is given that I literally just maxed it out and have stupidly high standards about what is actually good Taijutsu. See, Hisako is someone I would say is good at Taijutsu. Sort of. Better than most. Kakashi-sensei is another one. Not the best he could be but whatever…
"Awesome," Naruto smiled. "So, what'd you come to see me for?"
"I just needed to see a friend," I replied, putting my hands in my pockets.
"Eh?" Naruto blinked, looking confused. "Alright, what's up?"
He sat on the grass, and gestured me to join him.
"Well," I began. "You know how I started doing that book club?"
"Yeah, with Hisako, Nichiren-senpai, Ino and Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with a nod. "Uh-huh. I heard. Why didn't you invite me?"
"Because books aren't your thing and you're miserable when you're bored," I replied swiftly and decisively. "I would've invited you if I thought you'd have a good time."
"Alright, good point. Alright," Naruto nodded repeatedly as he said this. "So, what's the problem?"
"Inuzuka Hana showed up," I answered. "And Hisako and Ino both flipped out. Trying to figure out why."
"Yeah Kiba was saying he told his sister about the…wait a minute," Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly. "How long has this club been going on?"
"A couple of weeks," I answered. "Why?"
He hummed. "You know, I think the clans might be wondering if Ino's trying to start something."
"Oh, you think?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I do think," Naruto nodded. "They think you're super awesome, so they all want to be the first to lay a claim on you, whatever that means."
"Who did you hear that from?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Eh, I heard the Old Man talking to someone, I don't remember who," Naruto shrugged.
Oh. Well, I think this club might actually be threatening people's lives. Maybe. I don't know how cutthroat politics get here in Konoha. Probably not that bad, now that I think about it but still pretty bad. "Oh. I think I'll cut the club off then next meeting. I don't want people getting…in trouble, because they're spending time with me."
"I don't think it's that bad," Naruto said with a frown. "It's just, you know, people are watching."
"I don't want people watching," I replied with a raised eyebrow. "I like my privacy."
Naruto shrugged. "Alright, whatever you want. But, uh…question."
"Shoot," I told him.
He opened his mouth, raised his finger to speak, but then he dropped it. "Never mind, it's okay."
"You sure?" I asked.
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "Just uh…try to remember who you're around, alright? Clan heirs are really full of themselves and tend to think they're better than everyone else."
"You're talking about Ino?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. I mean, she's been really cool since you helped save all of us," Naruto said with a frown. "But before, she…was not cool. Not cool at all. She called Sakura names all the time, had an ego the size of a mountain and worshipped Sasuke for literally no reason. I mean, Sasuke's…not as bad as I thought he was, but still."
"I think I get what you mean," I said. Wait, Naruto saying that Sasuke isn't that bad? Really?
"I mean, she could've changed," Naruto said, shrugging. "But, uh…be careful."
"I will."
That's weird. Well, I mean, Naruto and Sasuke did become best friends in canon. Well, I mean they became something like a violent version of Spongebob and Squidward where one wants to be the others friend and the other would like the first to die by any means necessary.
Can you call that friendship?
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Leylin_Farlier
Leylin_Farlier The Previous was a Fanbased Work of Fiction, written by Fulcon. Naruto is owned by Shueisha, Viz Entertainment and Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the Official Release.
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