Lost in His World (A Sasuke Fanfic)

⇜Chapter 28.1⇝

          One of the guards at the huge gate yawned. It is almost sundown but their relief isn’t due to arrive in an hour so he opted to take a few sip of hard liquor instead. He then offered it to his comrade who took it without saying a word. He then focused his attention on a group of cattle being herded back in to the village by an old woman. He watched her walk closer ever so slowly with her animals. When she finally reached the gate, she stopped and wiped her forehead of sweat.

          “What a good day it has been right, son?”, she said then gave him a smile, whatever yellowing teeth she has left showing. The guard quickly examines the old woman. She’s small and thin and looks weak as he expected an elderly her age to be. Her long thinning gray hair is neatly tied up. Her dark, wrinkled skin is sagging which made it seem like there’s nothing underneath it but bones. She’s wearing a rug with patches here and there and an old pair of slippers. He’s never seen her before but he figured it’s because he’s new to this job. He used to be stationed at the outside vicinity of the village as a look out. 

           “Ahm, yes. It’s been a pleasant day.”

         The old woman then continued her walk in to the village, her herd of cattle tagging along with her. She turned left and vanished from the guard’s sight, leading the beasts further in. She observes the surroundings with subtlety while walking. When she found a small alley between old houses, she led her animals there. Once she is sure that no one can see them, she let out a sigh of relief. Several puff of smoke appeared then and the group of cattle turned back to their true form: Naruto and his friends. The old woman turned back to Ino.

         “I’ve never thought that I’d become a cattle or any dirty, smelly animal for that matter”, complains Misuko. “I’m a princess damn it!”

             “I’m sorry, princess. But it was necessary.”

           Misuko chose to keep her mouth shut but her forehead remained wrinkled. Kana on the other hand didn’t seem to mind it at all. She seems more preoccupied by Sasuke’s presence.

           “Let’s find a place to stay while we wait. Ino, we’ll leave the scouting to you”, Sasuke said.

          “Un. Leave it to me”, she answered then changed back to an old woman. “I’ll get something for all of us to eat later.”

         Ino then left the group, which Sasuke led further in to the alley full of old boxes and broken crates. Ino, disguising as an old woman, walked around the heart of the village where it was the busiest. Most stores, which are tiny, and the only wet market in the village can be found here. She kept her eyes opened the whole time she was walking. When she had seen the whole market, which only took more less 20 minutes, she decided to go to an open eatery and pick a vacant table close to other customers. Her objective was to listen to people chatting to get information. Almost an hour had passed and she’s getting bored listening to people talking about senseless things when a tall, skinny man came. He ordered some takoyaki, okonomiyaki and ramen but he remained standing by the eatery’s entrance. When the lady who took his order left, he half-heartedly quickly scanned the place with his eyes, until they unpurposely met those of Ino’s. They both stared at each other for a second until Ino motioned to her okonomiyaki, offering it to him with a smile.

            “Ugh!” Damn old woman. Flirting at her age. He turned to face the people walking from either direction in front of the eatery although he’s not really paying attention to any of them. He harshly stroked his fiery hair out of annoyance. But the truth is, he’s more embarrassed than annoyed, which annoys him even more.

            Meanwhile, Ino felt relieved as soon as the skinny man showed his back to her. She actually felt nervous as she didn’t expect him to notice her.

           Did he notice that I’m not from here?, she nervously asked herself as she secretly examines the man. He doesn’t look that much older than her and he is skinny as a girl, but there’s something about him that tells her that he’s stronger than he looks. He’s definitely a ninja. His identity was given away by the leather holster that surely holds kunai knives and shurikens, and the head protector on his forehead with the village’s symbol: mountains.

          Ino quickly faced her food when the old lady came back to hand him his orders, which he quickly accepted. He gave her money then left quietly.