Second Chances

Chapter 8

On the last day of every month, the Land of Flowers held a festival; The festival of Helping Hands. This festival was created in honour of the first leader of the Land of Flowers. It was said that on the last day of a certain month the leader of the Land of Flowers found a beautiful maiden injured on the outskirts of the village and took her into the village whereby he nursed her back to health. When this maiden regained her strength, she went back to her home.

A few months after this, the Land of Flowers was attacked by an army of rogue shinobi. The Land of Flowers would have been lost that day if not for the help of their neighbours from the Land of Waves. It is said that the young maiden was the daughter of the leader of said village and to show his gratitude for helping his daughter, the leader of the Land of Waves helped the Land of Flowers fight against the rogue shinobi.

After the battle, the leader of the Land of Waves gave his daughter's hand in marriage to the leader of the Land of Flowers to strengthen the new alliance between both villages. Their wedding was turned into a celebration of not only their love but a celebration of the new alliance between the two villages as well. This led to a celebration being held at the end of every month, when the leader of the Land of Waves came to visit his daughter.

The celebration became a tradition that was later named the Festival of Helping Hands. This festival signified the close relationship between the two villages. During the festival, people from the Land of Waves came to celebrate in the Land of Flowers bringing with them delicacies from their home. To the people of both the Land of Waves and the Land of Flowers, this festival was a chance to strengthen the bond between their villages but to the members of the Umino household this festival was a big sale.

This was the only time the Umino family could go out and mingle with the people without the fear of being shunned. Everything from food to weaponry was on discount and for people on a tight budget such as the, this day was a blessing which they took full advantage of.

"Ah, the Festival of Helping Hands, my favourite day of the month," Naruto said as he eyed all the food stands he was going to visit during the festival.

"Remember everyone, we need to be in and out before nightfall so everyone, pair up," Iruka said.

"Akihiro and Aiko, uncle Kurama and uncle Shino, grandpa and mama then Akihiko and I. Remember, it does not matter what it is as long as it's useful and doesn't cost much," Ai said to which they all nodded in agreement then the Umino family split up.

When Dan announced the commencement of the festival, the Umino family decimated every store and stall in the festival. They hit every store they could find. With everything being sold at half the price, they bought anything and everything. By the time the festival ended, their summoning scrolls were filled to the brim. They met up at the Yamanaka family's flower shop. This was always their last stop at the end of the festival.

"Whose turn is it?" Iruka asked looking from his pups to his grandpups.

"Akihiko and I went in last time so...it's mama's and uncle's turn," Akihiro said.

"Alright. Shino you're the distraction this time," Kurama said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Shino said worriedly.

"Don't worry you'll be great. You just have to--"

Kurama was interrupted by the sound of a bell ringing.

"Done!" Naruto said as he walked out of the shop with a bouquet of red roses in his hands.

"How did you get them so easily?" Kurama asked as he gaped at Naruto.

"I walked in, picked a bouquet, paid for it and left," Naruto said trying to understand why everyone looked so shocked.

"That's impossible, that lady doesn't like us. She doesn't sell us anything even during the festival," Shino said perplexed.

"Really? She seemed nice to me. She even gave me a discount," Naruto said inspecting the bouquet.

"We can talk about this later. We need to get home, the sun is about to set," Iruka said as he looked in the direction of the setting sun.

"Right! Last one back home has to tell mama why that lady doesn't like us!" Aiko said as she ran towards the forest.

Upon hearing this, they all sprinted towards the forest leaving Naruto to figure out what they were hiding.

They made it to the forest but unfortunately the sun had already set. They stopped at the threshold of the forest and took out their weapons.

"Be ready for anything," Iruka said trying to pick up on any unfamiliar scents.

Seeing as Iruka couldn't smell anything, he transformed into his wolf form. Naruto, Kurama and Shino followed his lead while the quads stayed in their human forms. It was much safer for them that way because, as much as they hated to admit it, they were still kids. Their wolf forms were no match for a full grown feral wolf. Besides, this allowed them to protect their family, who were much more vulnerable in their wolf forms.

The forest protected them from the dangers outside but it couldn't protect them from the dangers inside the forest itself. The forest was not only home to the Umino family but it was also home to feral wolves. Feral wolves were humanoid creatures stuck between their human forms and their wolf forms. Their prime focus was to kill or mate with any living thing in sight. Their need to kill led to hundreds of deaths over the years and their need to mate led to their high population.

This meant that the forest was infested with them. They liked to hunt at night so the Umino family had to make sure that they always returned home before dark. Today, unfortunately, they didn't make it in time so they had to fight their way through. Staying in the village wasn't an option unless they wanted to deal with the elders and closed minded villagers. Fighting bloodthirsty creatures was much safer as it was much easier to reason with mindless creatures than to reason with closed minded ones.

'Just because we can't smell them, it doesn't mean that they aren't there. Though, it is unusual for them to be this quiet,' Iruka thought as he walked into the forest.

They expected to be attacked the second they crossed the forest's threshold but they were still standing. This had everyone on edge.

"Took you guys long enough," Dan said as he appeared from the shadows with a bloody sword in his hand.

"Come on we need to get going before they come back," the alpha said as he walked towards their house.