2 Dango

"Tou-san, are you going out again?" Ren asked her father who was fastening his shinobi sandals. The amount of times Hiroto was sent out was becoming more frequent and her father would almost always come home with varying degrees of injuries. Hiroto no longer had the energy or time to supervise Ren's training.

She was mostly trained by Emi, who was on her maternity leave. However, even that was going to end soon. Soon, she would be deployed to the battlefield where manpower was needed. This is especially true as Emi was an Uchiha jōnin who possessed the Sharingan.

Ren was probably going to be left to the care of some sort of caretaker while her parents go out to kill some shinobis from another village.

This had become a disconcerting matter for the family. This was more true for Emi who was worried for her husband. Meanwhile, Ren was just concerned about the time left until the Third Shinobi War would erupt and all hell would break loose. Young genin fresh from the Ninja Academy would be deployed in the future when the number of shinobis decreased to replenish the army.

She did not mind her own death, but she did not want her incompetence to be the downfall of others who would be in her future team. She used to be an adult as well, even if her past surroundings were of the opinion that she was a worthless one. The least she could do was not to become a burden to anybody. She was an Uchiha as well and certain standards must be achieved.

A small hope that her future effort and achievements would finally be appreciated was quickly squashed. Who was she kidding? She did not belong in the Before and she definitely did not belong in this fictional-world-turned-reality. She lost sight of her own worth for a moment there; her self-disgust could not be more evident in her thoughts.

She wallowed in her thoughts before she cut them off and walked towards Hiroto. She tugged on her father's sleeve gently and looked at him with her eyes that betrayed no emotions. "Be safe, Tou-san."

Emi walked briskly but elegantly from the kitchen to hug her husband. As they share an intimate moment, Ren tried to retreat back into the living room to get back to her book but her attempt failed as Emi pulled her into the hug.

The warmth of her new parents was a new experience for her but she did not dislike it. It felt oddly comforting.

After bidding her father farewell, Emi turned and crouched in front of Ren to look her in the eyes. "What do you want to do today, Ren-kun?"

Ren blinked her eyes. "Study."

Emi smiled wrily. "Is that all?"

Ren blinked her eyes again in confusion. What else was there to do? She tilted her head to the side as she said in her usual emotionless voice, "Shinobi training."

Her heart stopped for a second as she heard a small sigh escaping from Emi's lips. Her mother reached out a hand towards her head and she flinched minutely.

"Kaa-san is not angry." She patted Ren's head softly. Ren's instinctive fear slowly ebbed away at the gentle touch. "Don't you want to go outside? You have not seen the entirety of the Uchiha compound and the village yet, so I was planning today to be a day where we can take a break for once.

"Kaa-san is too worried for your tou-san that I don't think I will be able to teach you properly today. We will head to the playground and you will be able to make some wonderful friends, Ren."

How was she going to be able to make friends with kids, that she did not know. Since that was what her mother had in plan, she just nodded her head.

"We will be heading out in a bit. While Kaa-san is getting ready, Ren-kun can wait in the living room first." Emi then got up and went to her room.

Ren picked up her studybooks and notebooks from her room. She stuffed them into a small backpack along with her writing materials. She wore the backpack and dutifully waited in the living room.

She went over the hand signs she learned, able to smoothly transition from one sign to another. Her speed of forming them was still slow, but she was making progress as she was no longer clumsy with them.

While concentrating on the hand signs, Emi's voice came from the entrance, beckoning her to come.

Upon seeing the backpack Ren carried, her mother sent her an almost exasperated look. "We are going out to relax Ren-kun, not study."

"An Uchiha must always strive to better oneself no matter where it is." While she did not think she was at all like an Uchiha, in truth, her beliefs were quite similar to the clan's, even if she did not realize that herself.

"Unlike what many others think, Ren-kun, we of the Uchiha do have some time to ourselves that is not delegated into studying or training. But since you insist, you can bring your backpack along then."

Emi then held out her hand to Ren, which she accepted and they walked out of the house.

The Uchiha Clan's compound was indisputably big, teeming with raven-haired or brown-haired people. Most of them had stern expressions when around others, but her mother told her that this was a normal occurrence. In fact, according to Emi, their stiff expressions were more relaxed than usual in the compound than when they were outside.

There were a few people here and there that were not an Uchiha based on their looks. However, Ren noticed that these people, without a doubt, had an Uchiha by their side to accompany them. While the clan did not restrict the entrance of non-Uchiha, the Uchiha was not exactly known for their friendliness. One usually needed an Uchiha companion in order to not feel completely uncomfortable and somewhat unsettled when inside the clan grounds.

It just proved to her that the Uchihas kept a good lid over their emotions. A person like Kakashi would have settled in such a lifestyle easily given his adamance in that shinobis should not show their emotions. On the flip side, Obito definitely did not fit in with such a somber society.

Ren walked hand-in-hand with her mother as Emi subtly pointed out the various shops. She even saw the famous Uchiha Senbei which her mother praised for their delicious goods.

Taking in the sight of the compound, Ren asked Emi, "Which playground are we heading to?"

"Mm, Kaa-san is of the opinion that it's better for Ren-kun to mingle with the other children from the village and not just from the clan. That way, you can reach out and make connections better.

"Of course, Kaa-san is not restricting who you will be befriending with, but please don't associate yourself with the bad kids. However, the most important thing for me is that you're happy and healthy." Emi patted Ren's head lovingly.

Such words from her mother had planted a small seed of warmth within Ren's heart. She almost let a smile slip before she caught herself.

'Do not get your hopes up.' She inwardly reminded herself.

Together, they walked out of the compound and into the village. As Ren and Emi had the Uchiha Clan symbol emblazoned on the back of their clothes, they garnered looks of various kinds. There were awe, admiration, respect and the most evident one, fear.

Ren ignored the stares, as did Emi. In the Before, she was used to them; in fact, the emotions contained within these current stares were insignificant compared to what she had experienced.

Curious about the village more so than the clan, Ren looked around. The somewhat suffocating air that surrounded the clan compound was not present in the village. She could easily find people smiling without tension or constraints. There were, of course, a lot more shops to be had on the streets than there were in the clan.

It was fascinating to see the mix of concrete and wood that made up the buildings. The technology in the Naruto world and its advancement was, and still is, a bit of a mystery to Ren.

Seeing Ren looking around with her usual placid expression, Emi asked in amusement, "Do you want to buy anything Ren-kun?"

At that very moment, Ren laid her eyes on a certain food shop. The sign had a stick and three white circle. The circles had one hiragana character written on each one of them. It combined to form the word 'dango'. It was the famous Dango Shop in the series. Mitarashi Anko was a frequent customer of the shop, being the biggest sweet tooth of the village.

"I have read about that in a book before." Ren said mildly.

Her mother followed Ren's stare. "Dango? Though you never act like one, Ren-kun is really a kid still." Emi chuckled and pulled Ren towards the dango shop.

Ren wanted to argue that just because she wanted to eat dango, it did not necessarily mean that she was a kid. Nevertheless, she let herself be led by Emi in silence.

Entering the shop, she scrutinized the interior of it. The layout and design was rather simple. There were wooden tables accompanied by wooden benches and rectangular-shaped lights were attached onto the ceiling to help brighten the shop. There were menus hanged all over the walls for customers to look at.

For a modern person like Ren, there was not much to look at, but the simple design gave her a clean and comfortable feeling. Coupled with the sweet scent that constantly wafted in the air, she wanted that dango as soon as possible. Most women liked sweet things, and she was not an exception, though she did not get the chance to eat them all that much Before.

Even in this early morning, there were already customers sitting down and eating; it was a popular place for a get-together or just relaxing in general.

A middle-aged woman then came out from behind the counter and greeted Emi, "Uchiha-sama, how may I help you?"

Ren shifted a little at the honorifics.

"I don't really know much about dango, therefore I would appreciate it if you are able to give a recommendation." Emi gave a polite and graceful smile.

"Are you getting dango for your son?" The woman asked as she sent a warm look at Ren while still remaining professional about her business.

"Yes. It's not often that he takes a liking towards something." Emi patted Ren's head.

"Oh my! In that case, I recommend the Mitarashi Dango that we have in our shop. It's popular among women and children." The woman pointed at the balls of dumplings on skewers. They were in different colors, and the glazed sauce on them made them look all the more tantalizing to the eyes.

"Then, we'll take five of them."

After the middle-aged woman handed her mother a bag containing the dango, Emi took out some ryō from her embroidered pouch and paid for the sweets.

Exiting the shop, Emi said, "No eating the dango yet, Ren-kun. It's mannerless to eat while walking. We will head to the playground first and then we will eat them together."

Ren blinked; she had no plans on eating it while walking anyway so she just nodded her head.

Arriving at the playground, Ren saw children of different ages running around playing ninja or just building castles using the sand. Their cheerful shouts and the joyful looks on their faces felt foreign to her.

'I don't fit in here.'

Emi guided her to a bench and they sat there, eating the dango they had bought earlier.

The dessert was sweet and the glazed sauce turned out to be sweet soy sauce. It was sticky and chewy, which Ren recognized as its selling point.

"Mm, it's delicious but a bit too sweet for Kaa-san's taste. How about you, Ren-kun? Do you like it?"

"...." Ren nodded silently as she ate while watching the kids play around the playground. Her eyes were fixed on a single specific child.

Seeing her son spacing out, Emi asked, "Are you not going to go play, Ren-kun?"

"Kaa-san, may I take the rest of the dango?" Ren was quietly chewing on the dango and her eyes never left the kid that caught her attention.

Seeing her mother's indulgent but perplexed nod, she stood up from the bench. She took the bag of dango. "I'm going to go make a friend."

Emi smiled bitterly at the motonous voice of Ren and urged her, "You should at least leave your backpack here."

Ren blinked at her mother.

Emi sighed. "If you're going to go play and make friends, your backpack will get dirty in the process. Ren-kun doesn't want his precious books to be damaged or dirtied, right? You're Kaa-san's good child, aren't you?"

"...I need my books to make a friend." Ren held the bag of dango closer to her body.

"...Kaa-san can't say no if you act like that." Emi patted Ren's head. "Off you go then."

Ren nodded and walked towards a girl standing near a slide. The girl had brown hair and a rectangular purple marking on either sides of her cheeks. She was restlessly looking around and staring at the other kids in the playground as she fidgeted with her fingers.

Ren approached her from behind and called out to her, "What's your name?"

The girl jolted in surprise and turned to look at Ren. "Eh?" With a high-pitched voice befitting that of a child, she looked behind her and to the sides to find out if there were other kids there besides her.

"What's your name?" Ren repeated herself.

"I, um... I'm Nohara Rin." The girl with brown hair and purple markings looked at the ground as if there was something interesting there.

"My name is Uchiha Ren." Ren took out a stick of dango from the bag she held in her arms. She held out the colorful dango towards Rin.

"Do you want some dango?"