"Clink, clink, clink!"
"Clang, clang, clang!"
"Bang, bang, bang!"
The sounds of construction, which had ceased throughout the village, rang out on this winter day of the New Year from the old Uzumaki Clan residence, located near the village's prosperous district yet somewhat remote and long devoid of human presence.
"Pfft!"
Somewhere within the Uzumaki Clan's old residence, a basketful of weeds landed lightly in a container resembling a bamboo basket.
"Grrr..."
Then came the sound of an empty stomach.
"Hah... Didn't she say she'd bring me breakfast? Why is there not even a shadow of her now?"
Beneath the somewhat dilapidated inner house, Chiba straightened up, wiped the sweat from his face, rubbed the stomach sending him certain signals, and looked in the direction Kushina had left, letting out a long sigh.
"Clack!"
Just then, a small object bounced down from the roof and, with a pop, struck the ground beside Chiba's feet.
Instinctively, Chiba lowered his head to look and found a nail with a metallic gleam.
"Hey, Hirohiko! Focus!"
Then, almost instinctively, he called toward the roof of the shabby but largely repaired inner house behind him.
"Sorry!"
Very quickly, Hirohiko's head poked out from the roof as he hurriedly apologized.
"Take a break!"
Chiba did not say much more. He tossed the water bottle at hand up to him, then glanced at the sky. After confirming that he had no way of telling how long it had been since Kushina left, he spoke.
To be honest, after clearing all the wild vegetables from around this weed-choked inner house and hauling away two basketfuls of weeds, on top of skipping breakfast, Chiba was so hungry that he was beginning to feel dizzy. He really could not keep going.
"Smack!"
The bottle flew up and struck Hirohiko's hand