Shadow (book 3)

Old man Jin

         Even after leaving Zee and her hard training I still kept up the training. She had given me a list of things I could train over the years, for example preparing my body to work again poisons, she even gave me some small jars of different kinds.
        I'm now 9 years old and currently training with a traveling old ninja man. He's very talkative and doesn't like when I don't talk, so I've gotten used to cracking jokes, sadly he doesn't like pranks. So I've adapted and started doing pranks on random people we come across, which the old man seems to enjoy. Another sad thing is he's so old he could drop dead any day now, which in some cases would be great, like damn he gets so grumpy.
      "Hey, old man!" He jumps as I step out of the shadows, "are we going to practice some new jutsu."
      "Gosh kid, when I was little we respected are cared for the elders, not scare them half to death."
      "If I scared you half to death you'd be dead already." I grin, "so are we training or not."
       He shakes his head with grunt, "no, you can go explore the town or stay here in the hotel." I respond with a 'cool' and then head out the door. I was no longer in the land of forest, instead I was standing in a small town not that far from the land of Fire. I have no clue of what the name of this place could be since the old man hasn't told me the name of the town yet. I walk down the dusty streets, passing by shops set up and colorful signs.
     "Excuse me?" I stand behind a girl around my age, she turns to face me, her short pigtails whips into her face, "do you know where the weapon store is?"
     "Oh we don't have one. You'll have to go to the town south of here to get the good weapons." Her blue eyes sparkle.
     "No weapon store? Aren't any of you ninja?"
     "Nope," she places a hand on her hip, "we don't have a need for them here, since we're so close to places with lots of ninja." She pops her gum.
     "Ok, is there a dumpling place?"
    "Duh, what place doesn't have dumplings. Go down that road and turn left, you'll find it." She points and then goes back to looking at jewelry. I follow her directions only to find the old man sitting there eating some dumplings.
      "Oh, hey kid. Wants some dumplings? I just ordered them."
      I grumble, "sure." My stomach growls and my mouth starts to fill with saliva, I swallow and take a bit.
      "Mmmm," it tastes so delicious, I wonder how they made them. I look to the side, expecting the old man to be ready to talk about the food and what we'll be doing, but instead he was silent. My eyebrows come together and I place my dumpling down.
      "Old man?" My voice was soft, this was unusual for him.
      "Yes boy?" He he didn't look at me, instead he just picked his dumpling into smaller pieces to eat.
      "Are you ok? You're a lot quieter this morning."
      His shoulders slump more, as if he's finally given up, "I think it's time for me to go back home."
     Realization shoots across my face, "it's time isn't it?" He nods looking at me, he smiles and the wrinkles deepen on his face.
      "It's my time. I need to get home to my family before it happens." I nod and place our dumplings into a bag for each of us and then help him back to the apartment.
       Judging from how close we were from his home I think he knew for awhile now and was leading us here before he told me.
      "You're a good boy Shadow." He says as we arrive at the village gates, "I'll make sure your always welcome into this village, I promise." Tilting my head in confusion I ask how, but he doesn't respond.
       "Father, you're home!" A young man immediately stands from his seat as we walk into a building. He pulls the old man into a hug before yelling for who I assume are his wife and kid.
       "Grandpa!" A small boy of about 6 jumps into his arms.
       "And you are?" The woman asks after hugging the old man.
       "Shadow." Confusion is written all over her face, "my name is Shadow, the old man has been training me." I clarify.
       "Oh! Well I'm that case, would you like a cup of tea?" Her smile was warm like the old mans. I nod, taking my shoes off before walking totally into the house.
       "My son-in-law here is the leader of this village." Old man says after awhile of talking.
       My eyes widen and a grin expands on my face, "really? But your so nice."  They all laugh, except for the boy, who was confused.
       "Why would papa be nice?" His big green eyes were too much and I look away. He's so cute!
        "All the leaders I've met so far weren't exactly nice."
        "Well, there's a lot of leaders out there. Of big villages like our friend who handles the Konoha and small villages like ours who only have a maximum of 100 people. Can't expect every village to be nice." The father tells his son, but I know he's also telling me it too.
      
***

      The following day I woke up to find that the old man had died in his sleep with a smile and a note to all of us. He really knew it was his time and he kept his promise. I helped his family bury him and put up his picture alongside his wife.
     "You're always welcome here, in thanks for taking care of my father while you were with him. I'll even set you up with a team if you ever want to become an official ninja." He was still stained with tears, but he seemed to also know it was his father's time.
      "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

***

        I stayed there for a week or so, getting to know them more, the woman and her son are a lot alike to the old man. They like to talk constantly and the boy had a dream of becoming a traveling ninja like his grandpa.
      "Why do you have to go?" Toto the little boy asks, "my birthday is next month." His face was buried into my shirt as he hugged me.
      "I'll come back in the future and I'll bring you a gift from my travels." He looks up, his green eyes sparkling with joy.
     "Really?!? You'll bring me something back?" I nod and he runs off to tell his mother.
      "Stay safe." Toto's father says, I nod and hug him. Turning with a smile, I wave and walk away. There are many good people among the bad.