Peaceful Farm and Home

While still thinking about what was going on with his body, sato, haku and their father came out of their cottage and started walking in the direction towards their farm.

When they first stepped out sato notice the yin energy which thrived in cold environments was abundant all around him. This was due to the Kirigakure being surrounded in mists. He further notice that under his father's feet that there was snow blanketing the area before them.

Sato wondered how his father and family survived in this weather and how was it possible that they could have a farm growing here.

Both father and his sons started walking around and taking in the sights to be seen. As they walked they noticed that opposite them their neighbour was also up and about.

Being hidden in the mists as Kirigakure was they could not see too far ahead of them but they were still able to spot villagers every now and then. So recognizing their neighbour was also not difficult.

His father brought both sato and haku to their neighbour for greetings and to let him see his newborn son.

When they arrived at their neighbour's farm sato notices how there were rice paddies in the field the length of a football field. The rice being planted was already huge and looked as though they were ready to be harvested. On the banks of the field laid snow that looks to be recently push to the side giving way to the rice fields.

In the rice fields were the rice plants and they were planted on top of water and dirt making it a mud like area. With the snow still coming down, it fell right in between the rice plants and the mud and proceeded to dissipate into water adding to the dirt creating more mud to enhance the growth of the rice.

While looking at this sato somehow got the reasoning of how farmers were able to bear a harvest from their farms even in this type of environment.

When the family got close to their neighbour, he also noticed them and stopped his work coming towards them to great them.

Even though the country was still in civil war the farmers weren't shinobi, they were normal people that bonded together because of the killings of shinobis towards the people who could not protect themselves. This caused hatred towards the shinobis because when the shinobis battled the fights would always have unwarranted casualties. This birthed hatred from the normal civilians and they would help each other and try to protect themselves.

Sometimes they would have no choice but to run because there were shinobis with fearsome kekkei genkai. These shinobis truly struck fear in the civilians minds and caused their antipathy to rise to another level.

So the camaraderie between civilians were high and were always supportive of each other.

"Morning Hashimoto-san is this your newborn son?" asked Ishikawa.

Ishikawa Nobu was the name of the neighbour living next to sato and his family. It was only when his neighbour called his father this morning that sato finally heard the name of his father. His gentle father was a good man and sato liked him because he was kind and gentle

"Yes, this is my newborn and his name is Sato" said hashimoto.

"Well isn't he a cute kid" said Ishikawa then he turns to look at haku and said,

"You have a cute younger brother now, you will have to be strong and protect him".

"Yes I will protect him at all costs! Ishikawa-san" said Haku with a calm gaze in his eyes showing his determination to keep his little brother safe.

"Hahaha, Ishikawa-san your rice fields are looking great here you have done a good job i'm sure that you will have an ample harvest".

"You are too polite" said Ishikawa. "Your harvest looks abundant as well".

"Ah... mines ... is a little bitter, I will have to work harder for it to be as successful as yours" said Hashimoto letting out a depressed sigh.

"That's to be understandable what with your wife giving birth and all I doubt you had the time to manage it" said Ishikawa trying to encourage the young man to keep high spirits.

The two then chatted further about the weather and how it affected the harvest and some inconsequential news not relating to anything special.

Meanwhile Haku was looking at sato wondering if he was bothered by the cold weather.

Sato saw Haku's worried face and giggled at him to show him that he was doing fine, "hehe hehe" and thought in his heart that Haku was a good older brother.

Seeing this Haku was assured that his little brother was fine and that he was even cheerful.

After finished saying their goodbyes the family made their way to their own farm to check on the harvest and what was profitable for them.

Sato saw his father's farm which was not at all lacking compared to Ishikawa's farm. Although the size could not compare to Ishikawa's it was still big. They also grew rice and other vegetables at least enough to sustain the family and some to make a profit selling to others in trade.

Haku started to smile as he looked at sato who was taking in what their farm looked like and he came to the front of Sato and started telling him what his father does and what he helps out doing.

Although sato was a baby who was only recently born Haku was sure that sato was able to understand what he was saying. This was just a feeling he had but who knew that the feeling was true.

His father was laughing at the side as he thought, "How could Sato understand your words?. He is still only a baby".

They then returned to their cottage and rejoined their mother while Haku began preparations for lunch.

Sato's mother was holding Sato in her arms. She just could not part with him for so long after all a mother's love was the strongest in the world.

After Hashimoto gave Sato to his mother to care for, he proceeded to the farm to salvage anything that would be deemed bountiful and store them for trade and their own needs. This was the daily routine that the family would keep until Sato's mother recovered.

This went on until the time Sato's mother recovered her strength and was to be able to do the household work. This relieved Haku to be able to play as a kid and help out his father in the farm. But haku spent most of his time playing with Sato and he was very happy.

Because Sato was still a baby who could not walk yet Haku could only play with him inside the cottage and the games they played weren't those that required movement but instead those of the mind.

As they were playing these games Haku discovered something incredible about Sato. What he discovered shocked Haku who was now wearing a stunned expression on his face.