Shadows Beneath the Moonlight

"Seriously, hurry up. It's freezing!" Naruto complained despite himself as he listened to Samu Kokaze.

"Didn't you just say you weren't cold?" Samu Kokaze teased as he pushed open the door and looked back.

"I was worried you'd be cold!" Naruto argued loudly, his face red.

Samu Kokaze was speechless. "Fine, I won't argue with you. Ino and the others are probably getting impatient waiting!"

The two of them carried the box into the room.

Under the moonlit night sky, a middle-aged man dressed in black ninja attire abruptly appeared on a rooftop across the street. His dark face showed no emotion as he stared at the house whose door had just closed.

"That brat's senses are sharp, huh?" the figure standing on the roof murmured.

Suddenly, the middle-aged ninja on the roof closed his eyes and pressed one hand to the ground. A mental ripple so faint it was nearly impossible to detect spread outward.

After a while.

"Two guards at nine o'clock and twelve o'clock, three hundred meters away. Chunin-level chakra."

"Two high-energy chakra signatures inside!"

As he spoke, he slowly opened his tightly shut eyes, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Guards?"

"Looks like one of the brats in there is important. Forget it, I'll wait. There's still plenty of time."

As his mosquito-soft muttering faded, Konoha's darkened streets held no sound besides the howling wind.

"Is this the gift you got for Ino?" Shikamaru walked over, looking at the two who had entered carrying the chill with them. His gaze settled on the chest-high box they had brought inside as he asked Samu Kokaze.

"Hehe! Wind specially prepared a super, super... uh... Anyway, it's Ino's birthday gift!" Naruto said, pointing at the box as if he wanted to explain. But judging from how he stumbled halfway through, he clearly had not seen it either.

Shikamaru gave Naruto a contemptuous look, then stepped back as Ino approached, leaving the space to the two of them.

Seeing Ino jog over with anticipation in her eyes, Samu Kokaze said softly, "Happy birthday, Ino." He patted the box beside him and smiled. "You really gave me a hard problem. To make sure you'd be satisfied, I used every bit of my skill to make this. Open it and see if you like it!"

"Mm!" Ino nodded shyly, her face flushing as she reached expectantly for the cardboard box.

Muzi, who was chatting with the Yamanaka couple in another room, could not help saying when she saw the large cardboard box brought in, "Guess what that brat got little Ino for her birthday!"

"Who knows what that brat brought?" Yamanaka Ichi felt a surge of irritation when he saw Ino run over with flushed cheeks.

"Look at how he chased girls when he was young, then look at you when you were young. Tsk, tsk!"

Seeing Ichi's displeased expression, Muzi clicked her tongue in amazement and looked teasingly at the Yamanaka couple.

"No matter what, I was still much better than an old Konoha spinster like you!" Ichi snapped back, his temper flaring from Muzi's teasing.

"You...!" Muzi's eyes widened. Her alluring yet intellectual face looked thoroughly annoyed; she clearly had not expected Ichi to say such a thing. She snorted coldly and ignored him.

"Why are you two still acting like children?" Ino's mother covered her mouth and laughed softly as she watched them bicker.

"Big sister, he went too far!" Muzi said sulkily. Hearing Ino's mother, her eyes darted around before she ran over, grabbed Ino's mother's arm, and acted cute.

"Fine, fine. I'll deal with him tonight!" Ino's mother said helplessly as she looked at Muzi putting on the manner of a young girl.

"Hmph!" Muzi huffed smugly, shooting a triumphant glance at Yamanaka Ichi, whose eye was twitching nonstop.

Riiip...

"So pretty!"

Sakura, who had somehow run over, cried out when Ino tore open the cardboard box and revealed a life-sized statue of herself.

"Let me see! Let me see!"

Naruto, standing nearby, heard the cry and forcefully squeezed his way in.

"This guy!!!" Sakura gritted her teeth, a vein popping on her forehead. Her small fist clenched tightly as she felt the body behind her continue pressing forward without restraint. She suddenly spun around and punched Naruto squarely in the head.

"You bastard, stop squeezing against me!"

Sakura's shout rang out.

Bang! The sound of someone hitting the floor followed.

Naruto lay on the ground with a fist mark on his face and blood spurting from his nostrils, while Sakura held her punching pose.

Shikamaru, who had been listless all this time, gaped. Even Choji dropped the potato chips in his hand to the floor and stared across at them in disbelief.

"So violent!" Shikamaru opened his mouth as if to say more, but in the end, only those three words came out. Choji stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth and nodded in wholehearted agreement.

Samu Kokaze looked at Naruto lying on the floor, sympathy flashing through his eyes. Sakura, whom countless Hokage fans in his previous life had called Lady Sakura, was not someone a kid like you could take advantage of. See? You got beaten up.

Still holding her fist out, Sakura looked at Naruto on the floor, and her face instantly turned red. She abruptly straightened and looked around anxiously, panic written all over her little face.

"That's not it..."

Before Sakura could explain, Samu Kokaze cleared his throat. "Well, we didn't see anything. Really! Right, Shikamaru, Choji?"

As he spoke, Samu Kokaze turned his gaze toward the two stunned boys nearby.

Hearing that and seeing Sakura's gaze turn toward them, the two nodded wildly, as if motors had been installed in their heads.

"It really wasn't..." Sakura was about to explain again, but she was interrupted once more. Ino looked at her in surprise. "I really didn't expect you to have such a bad temper, Sakura!"

"Forget it! Believe whatever you want!" Seeing that they had already decided she had violent tendencies, Sakura grew irritated when she looked at Naruto, who was lying on the ground with his eyes open and staring at her. She kicked him unhappily.

"If you're awake, stop pretending to be injured on the floor!"

At Sakura's shout, Naruto sprang to his feet and gave a foolish chuckle.

Sakura shot Naruto a resentful glare, snorted, and turned away from him.

Samu Kokaze smiled at the two bickering, then stopped paying attention to them. He completely removed the cardboard box, and as the life-sized wooden statue carved from Violet Goldwood was fully revealed in the room, sharp intakes of breath rose from all around.

"Well? Do you like it? I searched the warehouse for ages before I found this wood to carve it from."

Choji, standing nearby, slowly took a chip from his bag and put it into his mouth. Looking at the violet-gold life-sized statue before him and smelling the familiar scent in the air, he uncertainly asked Shikamaru beside him, "Is this that material we just saw sell for fifty thousand ryo?"

"Probably," Shikamaru said, equally uncertain as he looked at the carving.

Then he sighed. "He really went all out."