Sand

Sanyō held meat in her left hand and flowers in her right, her mind feeling fuzzy.

What did we do all morning? We went to chat with Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, and he gave my brother two Ninjutsu.

We bought five pounds of grilled meat.

We looked at several vacant shops and inquired about rent.

Then we got a bunch of free flowers from the Yamanaka Clan.

This initiative is incredible!

"Are we going home?" Sanyō asked softly. "Or is there something else we're doing?"

"My hands are gone, what else are we doing? Let's go back!" Kamiya Keiyun said.

He was also holding a bunch of flowers.

"Uh, but I don't understand, why did we buy so many flowers?" Sanyō asked.

"It's a trade secret, we can't discuss it on the street!" Kamiya Keiyun said.

"Okay!" Sanyō nodded. A desire for knowledge inexplicably surged within her!

I can't remain ignorant like this anymore. If I continue to not understand anything, I'll grow further and further away from my brother, let alone help him!

But she remembered her social engagements and feared gossip if she skipped them.

Konohagakure's public opinion was terrifying, especially recently. One Jonin was so criticized he didn't dare go out on the street; she was genuinely a little scared.

Just like now, the two of them walked down the street holding flowers, and villagers kept looking at them. As soon as they passed, people immediately started whispering.

It was annoying!

"Brother, aren't you scared?" Sanyō asked.

"Scared of what?"

"It's strange, us walking down the street holding flowers!" Sanyō said. "Look around."

"Why should we care about them? They'll have very little intersection with our lives in this lifetime, so why bother with their opinions?" Kamiya Keiyun said.

"But, they'll gossip."

"That's not because they care about you, it's just because they're bored!" Kamiya Keiyun said. "So you don't need to take their gossip to heart, unless you're also bored!"

"Uh, is that so?" Sanyō blinked, she didn't quite understand.

But is this how my brother sees other people?

No wonder he often doesn't care about friends or other people's opinions...

If that's the case, can I also reduce some unnecessary social activities in the future?

Back home, Kamiya Keiyun put down the flowers and picked up the wooden bucket, preparing to go out.

Sanyō consciously followed.

"You don't need to follow this time, I'm just going to the river to dig up some sand!" Kamiya Keiyun said.

He had Sanyō follow him in the morning mainly because he didn't know Snake Uncle's way.

"Ah, oh, then be careful!" Sanyō said.

"I will!" Kamiya Keiyun waved his hand and left with the small bucket.

Konohagakure had three rivers, two vertical and one horizontal, forming an 'A' shape.

Two of the vertical rivers originated from a river called Ga. Near the Konoha wall, this river split into two, one north and one south, hence they were called Naka River and Hokuga River.

The parts of these two rivers within Konoha were not wide, only about 5 meters.

The horizontal river was quite wide, named Yi River. Its widest part was nearly 40 meters, and its narrowest was 12 meters.

The place with plenty of sand was naturally along the banks of the Yi River.

Kamiya Keiyun followed the main road to the bank of the Yi River and saw quite a few people there.

Adults were fishing, children were playing in the sand, and some were swimming.

There were people swimming in the river, could fish even be caught?

Kamiya Keiyun didn't understand the minds of fishermen. He went to the riverbank, felt the sand and soil from place to place, and finally found a decent spot. He put down the bucket and prepared to dig.

"Hey, what are you doing? This spot is ours, did you ask me? You're playing here!" A group of children saw Kamiya Keiyun's actions and immediately rushed over.

"Huh?" Kamiya Keiyun looked up and saw these four children. Their clothes were uniform in style, and they had a clan crest on their shoulders, like the character 'Tai', or like two crossed fish hooks.

It looked more like a person with their hands raised and very long phantom limbs.

The Sarutobi Clan!

Can't afford to offend, can't afford to offend. After all, the Third Hokage's surname is Sarutobi.

"Okay, then I'll find another place!" Kamiya Keiyun picked up his bucket and was about to leave.

"Eh?" The leading child was a little stunned. He's leaving already?

This patch of sand wasn't the Sarutobi family's. He came here for the thrill of bullying others. Usually, other children would argue with him, and then they would be beaten up by the four of them through righteous mob violence.

But he had never seen Kamiya Keiyun back down so directly.

Should he chase after him?

Wouldn't that be bullying someone?

"Hey, what's your name? Why haven't I seen you before?" the leader, Sarutobi, shouted.

"Ah, my name is Passerby A!" Kamiya Keiyun replied, "Because I haven't been here before."

"I see, Passerby A, my name is Sarutobi Asuma. Since you're so obedient, I'll allow you to play here!" the child shouted. "You don't have to leave!"

"Sigh," Life is hard, Keiyun sighed.

He didn't like going out because of this. Little brats were difficult to deal with. If you played with them, they were childish and wasted your time.

If you didn't play with them, they would pester you.

Snake Uncle was better.

Kamiya Keiyun suddenly discovered another advantage of Snake Uncle.

Although he was a child, Snake Uncle had never treated him like one. From the moment he entered, their communication was equal, and he could feel Snake Uncle's respect for him.

But others, whether adults or children, only treated him as a small child. No one ever took what they said or did seriously.

Chakra was channeled into his hands, and Kamiya Keiyun quickly filled a bucket with sand. Then he said to Sarutobi Asuma, "How about we play a game!"

"What game?" Asuma asked curiously.

He was very curious about this child he had never seen before, mainly because this child's attitude towards him was a bit different from his usual playmates.

"Hide-and-seek!" Kamiya Keiyun asked, "Have you played before?"

"Of course, I've played! I'm super good at it, there's no one I can't find!" Asuma said proudly.

"Is that so? Then how about you hide and I'll find? You're so good at finding people, I wonder how good your hiding skills are!" Kamiya Keiyun asked.

"I'll definitely make sure you can't find me!!" Sarutobi Asuma said seriously. "Shall we start?"

"Then I'll count. I'll count to one hundred, and after one hundred, I'll start looking!" Kamiya Keiyun said.

"Okay!" Sarutobi Asuma watched Kamiya Keiyun walk to a tree and start counting. He immediately beckoned his companions to leave and then they scattered to hide.

"Hmm, they've gone far!" Kamiya Keiyun channeled Chakra into his ears. His Listen to Sound, Perceive Reason ability wasn't strong yet, but he could still tell how far away things were!

Since they had already gone far, what was the point of counting?

He slipped away.

Picking up the bucket, Kamiya Keiyun quickly ran off.