5 Five

I peek out from Mother's skirts, narrowing my eyes at Hatsuga. There is a painful bump on my head where he hit me. Mother just sighs, shrugging her shoulders as she continues mixing the cracked eggs with a pair of chopsticks. It seems like we're going to have tamagoyaki for breakfast today. Moe gurgles and coos at me from above, swathed snugly around one of her spare kimonos and secured on Mother's back. She lets out a little bubbling cough, like earlier in the morning.

"I did say I was gonna hit you." Hatsuga crosses his arms in a huff.

He sits by the pull-out table next to our kitchen. Mother has already tidied up the futons and put them away so we have enough space to eat. Kaika is by the dresser at the far corner of the room, brushing her hair and tidying it up into a neat bun. She's already wearing her white work frock over her kimono.

Our house is a little small compared to the other houses in the village but we have a really big plot of land for our animals and crops. We can't eat the crops we grow though, we send them to the daimyo instead. I asked Mother about it and she told me that it was part of our rent, we only moved here when I was born.

I frown back at him, clutching the fabric of Mother's kimono tightly. I can feel the sting of tears behind my eyes but I won't cry. I am finally a man of the household, after all.

"Toru-chan," Mother says in the same tone she uses when she scolds Hatsuga when he's being too rowdy. She doesn't sound angry or anything. It's gentle but firm with a hint of disappointment, "Toru-chan, you need to let go when I'm cooking. You could get very hurt. I have to fry the tamagoyaki now. Let go so Kaika can get to work on time. Oh yeah, Kaika! Remember to take your lunch bento. You forgot it yesterday."

"Yes, kaa-san," Kaika says in a sing songy way. She's still tidying up the flyaway hairs on the top of her bun.

I slowly release the fabric of her kimono from my fingers.

"Good boy," Mother says kindly, gesturing at the steaming bucket of rice that she'd set down in a corner, "Why don't you help your kaa-chan with setting the table, then we can begin the day with a delicious, hearty breakfast?"

"Okay." I say, sucking all my tears back into my tear ducts and proceed to scoop the fluffy, white rice into a bowl (that's all my small hands can carry carefully without dropping it on the ground. It's really hot). I grab the bundle of dry chopsticks by the sink and toddle over to the table where Hatsuga (still looking angry) and Kaika (who gives me a smile) are. I serve Kaika first, setting the bowl and a pair of chopsticks in front of her. Hatsuga makes another face.

"You're growing up so fast, Toru," Kaika places a gentle hand on my head, then moving to stand up, "C'mon I'll do it with you. We can finish it faster together."

"Yeah!" I say.

Kaika follows me back to the kitchen (it's only about 10 steps away. Small house, like I said) to help me with setting the table. Hatsuga just huffs, unmoving from his seat. He can be very unhelpful when it comes to chores and such in the house. I'm a man, he says, housework is a woman's job. But isn't it a man's job to help their family, even if they're women? Whatever. I like helping Mother and Kaika. Their smiles of gratitude is reward enough for me.

We have a glass of milk each and tamagoyaki with a side of egg on rice topped by a drizzle of soy sauce for breakfast. And a piping hot bowl of miso soup.

After breakfast. Kaika goes off to her work place and Mother tends to the farm with Moe on her back. Looking at her thin body shakes my heart a little. Mother is a little smaller than the other older women in the village. The aunty from next door is much, much more rounder. If they stood side by side, she'd make Mother look like a matchstick in comparison. I can't wait to be older so I can help her out with the crops. I'm not allowed to now because I'm not old enough.

Hatsuga usually goes into the forest with the bigger kids to forage for stuff to bring home to eat or to sell. As usual, I'm not allowed to follow because I'm too young. He's only three years older than me dammnit- Ah, I'm also not allowed to use bad words. Oops.

What I can do is hang out with the other kids my age nearby the village. Daiki and Hisao and me makes up the usual trio. There aren't many boys my age and the rest of them are girls. Girls don't really like playing with us since we get dirty and we play rough. So it's only just us three.

"Hey, do you think they have jungle gyms in the bigger villages? In Konoha?" I say, kicking a stray pebble as I walk down the dirt path leading to the Village Centre- a communal building where housewives go to gossip and where the old people go to drink tea in peace. Basically where everyone goes to hang out because that's the only building with electric-powered fans to keep cool in the mornings and afternoons. Electricity is expensive and we can't afford it like the other people in the village can.

"Eh, Toru. Is it another one of your strange words again?" Hisao has his hands behind his head as he walks beside me. His hair is shaved very close to his head. I asked him why once and he said that it was a family thing. His dad and older brothers all have shaved heads. His dad is a potter and his house is very close to the edge of the village where the mountains are.

Daiki purses his lips, "I don't think they even exist." Daiki has messy, shaggy hair and sharp eyes. He doesn't really talk about his family so I don't know much about him, but if I had to choose between Hisao and Daiki as my best friend. It'd be Daiki, "But how do they look like again? Draw it for me?" Thats why I like him better. Even if he doesn't understand what I'm talking about he always tries his best to entertain me.

I stop by the side, grabbing a branch and scratch shapes on the dirt. The two of them stop as well, crouching down to look at my drawing.

"Isn't that just an upside down bowl with a lot of lines?" Hisao says, pressing his fingers to his chin.

"No, no. It's a jungle gym." Daiki corrects him.

My cheeks turn hot. I'm not really good at drawing so it turned out a little bit bad compared to the image I have in my head. It does indeed look like an upside bowl made up of lines with a very tall chimney on top. I quickly rub the drawing away with my zori and fold my arms across my chest in embarrassment, "C'mon let's just go. We're going to be late for the ninja broadcast!"

"O-oh yeah!" Hisao jumps and makes a mad dash towards the building, "Come on!"

Daiki dusts the bottom of his kimono, "Let's go after him."

"Yeah! I don't wanna miss it too!" I say breaking into a slow jog behind Hisao.

The ninja broadcast starts at eleven a.m in the morning on the only channel that the public radio can tune in. The broadcast talks about the grandeur and strength of ninjas, followed by a short and detailed accounts of noteworthy shinobi from the second war. This entire week they were talking about the strength and feats of the three legendary sannin and how they defeated Hanzo the Salamander in the previous war. Today's focus is on Tsunade and her work with revolutionizing (I don't really understand what this word means but I'm guessing it's a very good word) medicine and healing jutsu for the other shinobi in Konoha. A pioneer (another word I don't understand) in her line of study. She's the reason why most of the casualties from the war survived their injuries.

Three of us sit super close to the radio, keeping our ears cupped so we don't miss a single word. The other adults just chuckle at our antics as they continue their conversations as quiet as they can.

"Ah, Tsunade-hime is a goddess." One of the older men say, "Our village was built in her name, you know? The only reason why the war hasn't touched our part of the country is because of her."

"Sshh," Another older lady presses her fingers to her mouth, "Keep it down. Let the kids listen to the radio."

I didn't know this fact about our village, about Tsunade. Pride bubbles in my chest. I'm happy to be living in the village that's made in honor of one of the legendary Sannin.

The tone of the announcer changes from upbeat and happy to something sad, "We all have heard of the losses that occurred in our main forces. Let us take a short moment of silence to honor their service to our great country of Fire before we continue."

Three of us scramble to stand up in respect. Everyone else in the room turns quiet and solemn. The only thing I could hear besides the soft music from the radio is the clinking of the cup against the table. Hisao looks like he's about to cry but he's putting on a brave face. His older brother is a shinobi in service. He hasn't sent a letter back in ages so Hisao is very worried. Shinobi are very busy people, they must be preoccupied with saving other villagers so I always tell him not to worry. He can't help but to worry.

Daiki just has a solemn look on his face. His shoulders are sloped, hands behind his back as he drops his eyes to the floor. I give him a pat on the back to cheer him up. He gives me a small smile in return.

The music stops and the male announcer continues the broadcast, "We're going to open the gates of the Konoha Academy for enrollment to everyone this year. Everyone between the ages of 4 to 6 are welcome to apply. Everyone who does join will get a monthly stipend for supplies and all fees will be subsidized by the government. In about three months, recruitment drives will be held in every village listed here." He proceeds to say the names of all the other villages.

"Huh, again?" Someone says behind me, "The last country-wide recruitment drive was only two years ago at the start of the war. Are they really that short hande-?"

"Don't talk about that when the kids are here!" Another elderly woman hisses from beside him, "We're all loyal citizens of the great country of Fire so we should do our part."

My heart almost overflows in happiness when the announcer says the name of our village.