Chapter 5 — Storm Blade Arashi
He finished his evening meal and took a letter to Mr Arashi from the box. His meal was simple — mainly dried meat, flat bread and some dried nuts. He washed it all down with some water. Though the taste was subpar, it was nutritious and filling, and the original Rasa never even thought about the taste being a problem. Most people in Suna would consider the meal he just had a luxury. With that sobering thought in mind, he ventured out into the dark.
The night in the village was fairly cold. It was a good break from the blistering heat of the daytime. Even though it was now past 8:30 in the evening, the streets were fairly empty. The public order in Suna may be in the top five of the entire Naruto world. And so he didn't have to fear a kidnapping scene happening. Also, he had the added points to kidnapping resistance by not being in any way related to Jinchuriki at least for now. That thought brought a smile of amusement to the corners of his mouth. Then he started to look around the village he had ended up in.The rounded houses with small, hole-like windows genuinely made him think he had been transported into a wasp nest. He even felt dizzy for a moment there.
The streets of Suna are arranged orderly with the Kazekage building as a center point. His home is in Section C. He has to get to Section B to meet his new mentor? maybe!. It is almost a 30 minute walk — so a good after-meal walk for digestion, if the thing with Arashi doesn't pan out well for him.
He reached the address in the area at almost 8:50. But he thinks it is really hard to tell time accurately at night because of all the shifting stars and the moon was not visible today.
Usually people use Hour glasses to tell time.They are still popular here despite the invention of mechanical clocks.Arriving at the street mentioned in the address he was quickly able to find Arashi's home.
The house was moderate in size with a fairly big yard. It was also painted in the general sandy color of Suna — there is no surprise there, if you dare to paint some other color to your home, you will find yourself with a hefty fine by the council. The urban management is kind of strict here.
He didn't enter the compound but waited quietly on the street.
The street which Arashi lived on was really desolate. There are not many houses in this area or even foot traffic for that matter.
There was also a drunkard lying a few meters beside him who was his only company now. He was lucky to find such an empty street to sleep on. If he had been lying on a busy street the patrolling Ninja would have already gotten to him.
He waited there for almost half an hour. But there was no sign of Arashi anywhere. Is he home already? He decided to enter the fence and knock on the door for confirmation. Before he could move though he heard a noise from behind.
It was the drunkard who was calling him with a sh…sh sound . He looked back and saw the drunkard's murky eyes looking back at him and he immediately felt a chill. He just smiled and said. "Hey kid, would you mind giving me a hand ?"
At that moment Rasa understood — this should be Mr. Arashi . It was kind of his intuition speaking at that moment but he believed it was true.
The tension from the unexpected encounter left him slightly at that moment.
From the nickname Stormblade he had some expectations for his image. He imagined a fierce fighter or an elegant dancer who took the enemies life with ease and grace, but seeing him lying in the dirt, face first with a sake bottle in hand, it was kind of shattered; he was thick and stout with long hair that started graying; it was sticking to his face with the dirt. And from the looks he is — less than five feet. So basically a dwarf. Still trusting his mother, he walked towards him and said —
"Hello Mr. Arashi, I'm Rasa, son of Rendo and Hikari. my mother has asked me to deliver a letter to you."
The old man got up from the ground and looked at him carefully this time for a moment. "You are no fun kid!. I had plans, you know …?"
Rasa kind of felt something change at that moment and looked at the old man again specifically towards his left arm which was hanging empty below the elbow unlike before.
"You have good eyes, kid. It was a simple application of transformation Jutsu. Now see how you have ruined my plans. Ha... ha." Then he started to laugh with his belly.
He was kind of amused but kept a straight face and waited. It feels like he was off his game — from the moment he met this man.
"So kid, where is Hikari?" Hearing this he paused and replied as naturally as he could. "She passed away three days ago and her funeral was the day before."
The air kind of shifted for a moment there. He could also feel an invisible pressure, but before he could tense up it was gone like the wind, like it never existed.
He heard a sigh and looked up it was Arashi
"Give me the letter and hold this bottle for me." like that he took the letter and then tossed the sake bottle to him. There was a label on the bottle which made him curious so he looked over; it read— Maya Iizakaya open from 8 a.m to 9 p.m The 9 p.m in Hikari's letter and 9 p.m in the sake bottle overlapped and he looked up at Arashi for a moment His mind was kind of blank.
Arashi took the envelope and with a flip of his hand the cover was cut into fine shreds, leaving just the letter — and then with another flip the letter became straight like a thin blade.
Rasa was not impressed by this display. His mind hadn't left the grip of the 9 p.m revelation yet and Arashi was a little disappointed from the lack of reaction — it was truly a complex application of wind Chakra nature and pure Chakra manipulation. Today's kids have no ability to appreciate good things. While lamenting the declining morality of today's generation, he started to read the letter.
It was the general spiel at the beginning. How unfortunate it was she had to go without saying and how she had failed to live up to the expectations of her generous Sensei. She also mentioned that she was grateful to the care he had shown to her and Rando. It kind of made his lip curl up slightly.
In the middle part she praised the kid in front of him to the high heavens. Like how talented he was, how intelligent he was and how cute he was, etc. etc.
This caused him to look at Rasa once more — he was looking at him oddly now.
"Is he doubting my abilities because of my arm? How utterly impudent. Today's children have no respect for the disabled." He lamented again and continued reading —
In the final paragraph his expression changed slightly. She simply wrote — If I don't accept her little Rasa as my student, how she will make sure to spread my good deeds across the entire Suna.
He does not care about his reputation but the last sentence truly killed him.
It ended with a simple note.
NB: Maya Izakaya, Proprietor ☺
She even drew a smiley face at the end. This f***ing woman! She truly will be the death of me!
With that he completely turned the letter to dirt with earth release — he wanted to turn it to ashes but his fire release was just average.
When he sensed another release of chakra, Rasa came back to his senses. He looked at Arashi and Arashi also looked at him. They looked at each other and stayed silent for a moment.