Chapter 7: A Festive Occasion

"Mom! Hurry Up, we'll miss the market!" Shin yelled into the house while tying up his shoes. "Be right there." replied a woman as she hurried down the stairs and towards the entrance. The duo hurriedly put on their shoes before leaving the house. It was nearly noon now, The sun was high in the sky and the streets were filled with people going about their business, it would only get more lively as the time for lunch drew closer.

Today was the last day of August and they were on their way to the festival to browse the myriad of items brought to Konoha by traveling merchants. However they first had to make a stop somewhere else. As they walked they passed by the Konoha stadium. Shin had never been here before but according to Atsuki the next Chunin exam was going to be held here and Shin had offered to buy their tickets since they were rather expensive.

Near the stadium, surrounded by trees on all sides and littered by small green plants and blooming flowers, a place scented with incense. The duo walked among titled stone tablets, few full of offerings of rice and sake and a few coated with dust, their names faded and memory lost. The mother and son stopped before 3 such stone tablets, the duo dusted the place and cleaned the empty plates before putting in freshly made rice cakes and pouring some cold sake.

The two prayed silently with their eyes closed, Shin finished first. He looked upon the woman standing next to him, her hands clasped tightly together as if to halt their movements, her eyes shut close, her black head of hair now showing streaks of white and her flawless round face now showing slight wrinkles around her darkened eyes. He knew that the only reason she had not broken down was due to her son. Ever since Shin had opened his eyes upon this world, hers was the first face he ever saw, he had no memory of any past life, and from his first breath he had been showered with love from all that called him family. Now there was only one and he wanted to repay the favor.

As Shin was going through emotions and thoughts, his mother opened her eyes and looked at him. Her brown eyes quickly shifted into a smile, attempting to hide whatever emotion they previously held, as her lips parted "Shall we go, Shin?" "Yah." he quickly replied as he held her hand and they walked away.

The duo quickly arrived at the market, which was located in one of the training grounds inside Konoha. The whole place was littered with small and large tents, sporting goods and items ranging from stylised hand mirrors to golden ornate hairpins, there were some people selling chunks of rocks claiming them to hold jade or jewel while. As they went deeper into the market, they saw a man spewing fire and aweing some children and a man putting long needles up his nose which drew a disgusted look from many women but sounds of admiration from many men and children. There were even many exotic animals such as Rhinos and pink Ostriches. 

The duo simply wandered around as they pursued through the many items on display by the many hawking merchants. Ryouka stopped at one such simple tent, browsing the simple hairpins on display among other things. A red nosed man stepped up to her, smiling widely as he stroked the single feather atop his green hat and went on to praise the woman for having a discerning eye. "This piece is made of folded steel, simple yet durable! Popular among many beautiful young women like yourself in the land of iron! You have such grace, I could ask for no better owner for this pin." He proudly declared as Shin wondered what the penalty for manslaughter was in Konoha. The man moved closer to the woman and continued in a hush voice, "I'll give you a special discount, just 5000." He winked.

Shin looked at his mother and saw her eyes, he concluded that she was merely a few more moments away from breaking the man's jewels. He decided to ignore him and look around, he saw another child there, wearing a pink hat similar to that of the man and playing with a ferret with tan fur and a black head. Shin looked closely at the creature as it noticed Shin's gaze and turned to look at him. Shin stared into the ferret's bright red eyes as realization dawned on him. Shin looked back at the man trying to sell his mother an overpriced hairpin, 'The resemblance is uncanny, this is definitely Kahiko and that is the immortal ferret.'

Shin looked back at the ferret, who had gone back to playing with the girl, as he stroked Pineapple's head, who was simply laying on his shoulders, whispering to her as she raised her head to look at the mammal with a lazy gaze. The cat "Meow"ed and jumped off the boy.

What Shin was expecting, his mother to crush Kahiko's family heirloom, didn't happen and instead his mother simply and quite loudly accused the man of selling her an overpriced simple steel hairpin. The man got flustered and sold it at half the price just to get them out of there. Shin simply smirked, her mother was married to a weapons seller, how could she not know the difference between quality of metals.

The duo went on to purchase simple trinkets and try some exotic food and buy some rare herbs and spices before returning home at sun down. Since they were rather full form trying all sorts of foods, Shin simply went to his bedroom and Ryouka was dragged into a, what Shin expected to be 3 hour long, quick chat by the neighborhood wives squad that the duo happened to encounter near their home. Shin had to ignore his mother's pleading eyes as he left her alone.

Shin decided to get some workout done, he did some physical exercise, push-ups, sits-ups, squats, some shadowboxing, practicing hand signs and trying to walk up the walls of the room. Somewhere during that time, his mother had returned. She went to his room with a pout "Traitor!" she accused him. "What?" Shin asked innocently, "You don't want to hang out with your friends?" Ryouka went in and sat on the bed. "Oh please, half of them want to "introduce" me to someone and the other half want my "help" with some trouble they are having, in short, "Money". *sigh* that's why I don't like to hang out with them." Ryouka let out an exasperated sigh.

She looked at her son who lay on the floor while his feet touched the wall and raised her eyebrow in question, "Shin, what are you doing?" "Practicing to walk on walls." He replied, making her raise both her brows in surprise, "They are teaching that in the Academy now?" "Of Course not." he denied, "I'm just practicing on my own to get better control. Though my chakra is rather low so I can only stay for a couple of minutes."

"Oh…" Ryouka was rather impressed with her son, this was an advanced technique that even she barely mastered before retirement. "I'll get you and Pineapple some snacks." She got off the bed and looked around, "Speaking of… where is she?" she inquired the boy. "Oh, she's out hunting." The boy replied as he started to step up the wall, surprising his mother again, it was one thing to know it and another to see it herself. In the end she went to bed after washing up and leaving him some snacks.

Shin continued to go through his workout, stopping just before depleting his chakra entirely before washing up and seating himself by the open window while munching on snacks. Shin's room was simple, he had a simple bed on the far corner from the door, a low table set right next to the bed and under the window. There was no other furniture in the room, just a fan on the ceiling along with a few lights and an inwall cupboard next to the door.

*Munch* *Munch* Shin slowly ate up the sandwiches that were left by his mother, looking out he could see the entire street had closed up with only the house lights still on. The full moon was shining brilliantly, twinkling stars adorning the night sky with their splendid allure.*thk* a black shadow silently landed onto the window sill. "You sure took your sweet time huh." He scratched the furry black creature as it purred. "Did you get it?" he inquired the cat as it jumped onto the table, dropping a shiny blue-green stone from her mouth onto the table. Shin happily grabbed the small stone and observed it, he could sense energy inside it similar to chakra in nature but more raw. "You didn't kill the ferret did you?" he inquired of the cat as it devoured the cat treats left by Ryouka. "Meow ^_^" "Good, I still need them and you killing the ferret might sour the chance of future cooperation, not that it would matter anyways, there are many ways to ensure cooperation."

Shin studied stone for a while longer, even putting it in his mouth after thoroughly washing it, but decided to give it to Pineapple in the end. The small piece wasn't worth his attention when he could get the real thing, not to mention the real power of the stone only came from the vein itself and he had no chance or opportunity to get its location. 'I need enough strength in order to chase more strength.'

With many plans brewing in his head, Shin lay in his bed with Pineapple snuggling close. 'For now its new Academy year and hopefully my last term in the academy.'