7 The stupidity of a determined fish swimming upstream.

I woke up with an unstably confused start from my afternoon nap as soft arms nudged me awake.

"Kaa-san!!"

"Wakey wakey!!"

"KAAaaeaeoooeaoaa-san" I spoke rubbing my face and eyed, distorting my mouth and the sound that it made.

"Hehe, stop $#!@ funny sounds!"

"Hehe, what happened Kaa-san!?"

"Come here!"

Mum said as she stretched out her hands and lifted me up out of my crib tickling me a little and making me giggle like a baby.

"Hehehehe!"

"We're going outside today!"

"YAAAIIEIEEEEE!!!!"

I quickly slipped around her arms and hung out around her back with my tiny arms wrapped around her neck.

I was quite excited at the prospect of going outside the house since it had been a few months since mum had allowed me to go outside, in fact I rarely ever heard the laughter of children echoing in the background throughout the day anymore. It was like the whole village was on a lockdown with only the adults being allowed to go anywhere outside.

She picked out a good clean fragrant cloth to wrap around me and herself so I wouldn't fall and then began to venture outside into the village that was being rebuilt from the heavy damage done to it during the Kyuubi attack.

In areas where the construction had not started yet I could spot Genin teams scrubbing away the blood the was spilled on the walls of the various buildings that were destroyed but still had its foundations standing so they could be used after some repairs.

It seemed surprising to me that there were still places being cleaned after all this time. What was going on during the lock down period? Did something happen that caused all ninja to have to focus outside the village while the civilian stayed inside?

As we entered the main area of the village, its center, it got crowded with a lot of people working on the construction of the buildings the only ninjas I could see were Genin and what I assumed were a few Chunin since they were quite a bit older helping in doing the manual labor, or maybe they were just Genin that never got promoted as they grew older?

I wouldn't be surprised if there were people like that after all the good ones must be doing missions handed out by the daimyo and the fire nation.

As we got closer to the center of the village I spotted a lot of civilians in the crowd which had grown quite dense making me confused, since I couldn't understand why there where a lot of people gathering at the center of the village near the Hokage building.

'Perhaps the markets were moved to the center because of the damage to the rest of the village? But that doesn't make much sense now, does it?'

Soon mum and I were standing in the crowd of people under the Hokage building while a few Uchiha stayed around the borders of the crowd to keep it in control and prevent any harmful commotion from breaking out.

Seeing the Uchiha many people instantly put on a dissatisfied expression because of their actions of not helping the people of the village during the Kyuubi attack which manifested in loud whispers mocking the Uchiha for the incompetence and selfishness in spite of the arrogance and pride of their strength that they like to boast about.

The Uchiha definitely didn't like being mocked to their faces but they held themselves back since none of the people here were informed of their conditions and were actually just civilians.

Attacking them wouldn't help their cause and would only be detrimental instead.

Just as the whispering was getting a little louder and people had begun to get irritated of having been pulled out of their daily routine and made to stand under the hot afternoon sun the soft, dominating, rhythmic steps of the heel of a wooden sandal reverberated and echoed out of the Hokage building.

After a few more steps a lean figure became visible at the balcony of the building wearing the Hokage coat that swayed in the wind along with the Konaha head band that gleamed under the sun underneath the trapezoidal hat with a white cloth swaying in the wind.

It was the Fourth Hokage who was standing on the balcony.

"$#@! Konoha!!"

He said breaking the silence, which lead to a resounding shout and applause from the people of the village welcoming him.

I was just shocked that Minato was alive.

I thought he died like the original after sacrificing himself to the Kyuubi using the death reaper seal to seal part of the Kyuubi into baby Naruto along with his wife Kushina sacrificing herself to protect baby Naruto and using the Admantite sealing chains of the Uzumaki clan to hold down the Kyuubi while Minato did the sealing.

"#$!@ Third Hokage #$! $^#@ sacrifice…"

I stared in shock as Minato spoke to the crowd that was in high spirits to see their Hokage the strongest person in the village who they could depend on reliably during crisis.

I just couldn't believe he was still alive.

"... Uchiha…$^#@...."

As I recovered from my impromptu shock that reduced my ability to comprehend what was happening, my mind assaulted itself with an unending barrage of questions like, was Kushina alive? What happened to Naruto is he alive? What happened to the Third Hokage and Danzo did they die? Who sealed or at least defeated the Kyuubi? What happened to Obito? 

But in spite of the incessant barrage of questions that assaulted my mind, there was a sense of relief and giddiness spreading through out my body.

I had changed something.

I had changed something in the world, something that only people who were a part of the world would be able to do.

And since it was something I was able to do, then it meant that I was a part of the world too.

Just like the other people around me right now, people who were cheering the Fourth Hokage as he was giving his speech, people like my mum and dad who worked day and night to take care of me and the family.

I was just as real as them and was a part of the world just like they were.

The unexpected relief brought about little tears in my big eyes but I managed to hold them back since it would be pretty weird for a child to suddenly start crying while listening to the Fourth Hokage while laughing giddily in happiness.

I spent the rest of the time trying to keep an ear out trying to understand the Hokage's speech with the few Japanese words I learnt from both anime and my time in this world.

But soon I realized trying to understand what he was speaking was akin to trying to translate what a dragon shout means in Skyrim without understanding the words.

I mean everyone knows "Fus Roh Dah" but how many actually remember what it means?

The few words I could catch were 'Third Hokage', 'Sacrifice', 'Will of the Fire' and 'Uchiha'

I was very interested in the stance the Fourth Hokage would take with the Uchiha but couldn't understand anything when he was speaking about it.

All I could see from the reactions of the people around me were that they were conflicted about what was being said.

'Was it because the Hokage said something to support them? But then why were the faces of the Uchiha police even more constipated than usual?'

A few minutes later the Hokage was done with his speech and I thought everyone was going back home or to do their work, but I soon found everyone walked over to the open ground that was nearby.

Looking over my mother's shoulders I could spot stalls lined up around the ground like a carnival and people along with their children going around the stalls, some purchasing food other playing the games to entertain themselves and brighten the atmosphere around the village with the smiles and laughter of kids and the joy of adults.

Looking at a small boy and his sister running around the ground from store to store jumping around in happiness I let myself be distracted by my thoughts.

'A single change can change a lot of lives. Does this mean I'm responsible for all the lives that would have died in the attack and those that survived?'

Mum had walked toward a stall owner that was sitting on the ground on a small wooden stool with a tub in front of him that held a few fish and adjusted her yukata and squatted down in front of the tub.

"Sakura-chan!!! Look!! Look!!! Fishe!!! Fishee!"

She excitedly pointed at the several medium sized fishes excitedly swimming around in the water in the tub.

I giggled as my mum teased the fishes with her finger, playing around with them and pushing them away from their paths.

*Ahem* *Ahem*

The stall owner coughed a little getting our attention.

Mum immediately apologized and took out a few notes from the pouch she keeps tied around her neck under the yukata as the stall owner handed her a few paper meshes held by a handle.

Looking at the familiar contraption I remembered the game that was present in every summer festival in every romance or slice of life anime that was set in japan, Goldfish scooping or Kingyo Sukui.

Mum picked up a bowl from the side and held it closely above the water tub as I watched her carefully lower the paper contraption right above the surface of the water as she patiently waited for the white royal looking koi fish to surface.

"PLOP"

With a quick scoop that barely made a sound she spooned the royal koi fish up from the water tub into the bowl she was holding.

"MAMA!!!!!" I squealed in excitement which she seemed to enjoy with a smug smile.

She quickly gave the flopping fish to the stall owner who looked unhappy that someone had picked out the biggest and brightest fish.

He poured a little water using a mug from the tub into the bowl and handed it back to my mum who picked it up in joy and proceeded to walk away with me on her back.

Soon we arrived at another stall that was open near by from which a sweet smell wafted through the air giving people a slight high which put them in a happier mood.

"Three Dango."

Mum paid money again and picked up what looked like a stick that had skewered three different coloured flour balls that seemed to smell quite sweet.

Mum pointed the skewer at me which I smelled a little to see if it had any meat in it. After confirming it didn't I took a small bite to taste the item.

A burst of sweetness in my mouth caught me off guard since I never expected to taste something like a candy in this era. My eyes widened as I went to take another big bite out of the item which was called Dango for the fear of missing out on it's taste.

But mum had other plans as she swiftly pulled back the skewer and eyed me funnily and then took a big bite of the Dango herself!!!

"MAMA!!!!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

I tried hitting her shoulder after struggling to free my hands from the tied cloth but I was so weak it made no difference!!

I watched in horror, aghast! As the first Dango vanished from in front of my eyes lost into an abyss that formed a demon's stomach!

Having fun eating, sharing and buying a few more items along with the fishe mum won we slowly moved along with the crowd towards a bigger crowd in the village.

After noticing how silent it was getting I looked around through the gaps in the crowd and recognized we were in the graveyard.

A procession with people dressed in a black kimono walked through the crowd of civilians towards the crowd of high level ninjas who were all dressed in black to pay respects to the body of the fallen third Hokage Hiruzen and his wife Biwako.

The fourth Hokage gave another short speech composed of a few sentences after which he remained silent a few minutes as everyone grieved for their leader.

The silence was soon broken as multiple processions walked in slowly and walked towards their respective graves where they lowered their caskets.

The families of those fallen sniffled and sobbed but not a single one was loud enough to break the stuffy and oppressive atmosphere that lingered in everyone's minds bringing them to question their existential roots, actions and theories, but left them hanging their without answers since they couldn't raise the dead.

The weights of the deaths of these people weighed down on me.

'Perhaps if I had been more active I could've saved more people? After all I don't really know if they would've died or lived. Surely their deaths are on my hands? Maybe I was wrong to assume that the Hokage would've just sent me to the interrogation department? After all the third did sacrifice himself for the people, so was he so bad really?'

My ears started to ring as my blood cooled down with my vision feeling like it was swimming making me dizzy as the world around me vanished and my heart thumped louder and louder until it was the only other sound I heard slowly chipping away at my insanity and driving me insane.

"SPLASH* *SPLASH*

The glassy sound of water splashing along with a few droplets of water bouncing into my eyes causing it to rapidly cool down and cause irritation and discomfort caught my attention as I spotted the koi fish started swimming in circles chasing its own tail stupidly.

'Let's just see and do what I can do while maintaining my stupidity, or else I might get caught up in everything that everyone else is doing and forget how to smile.'

I hugged my mum tighter and buried myself in the back of her neck, rubbing my face in her fragrant hair and fell asleep in it's homely warmth while mum soothed my hands and broke the oppressive atmosphere by humming a lullaby.

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