Freedom (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 13

"I'll leave you with them for now while alright? They'll take care of you. It's a good learning experience too." Minato whispered to young Aki, gently stroking her hair.

She nodded slightly, he smiled letting go. He turned his back to take to a tall man about his age. The man had his black hair tied in a pony tail and his face had two obvious scars. They kept walking as they talked, eventually sending Minato off.

"Be a good girl, I'll come back." Minato smiled, waving before he teleported off.

"You can call me Shikaku and yours?" The man spoke, kneeling down to Aki's height as soon as they entered the house.

"You can call me Aki." I spoke softly, eyes looking at the ground because she was shy.

He smiled, "I know, I was asking for your real name but never mind. Could you play a game of Shogi with me?"

"Sure." She replied almost immediately, following him to the outside of his house. The board was already set up and there were two cushions laid as if it was always there.

The game wasn't over but Aki had already realised something. The game is equivalent to the survival of the village. "Shikaku, who do you think would be the King in the village?"

Shikaku went into deep thoughts. It was awhile before he glanced back up at Aki. "The Hokage? Since they are the ones leading the rest, protecting them."

Aki thought awhile and nodded. "That's true, but I believe the next generation are the King. Without the next generation, there wouldn't be a future for the village."

"But I am not capable of protecting that King, you're more suitable." Young Aki let out a small laugh, moving the remaining moves for herself and Shikaku. The reason she said that was because he was supposed to win the game.

Seeing that, Shikaku was left with nothing to do but laugh. "Perhaps not now but I'm sure in the future, you will definitely be. You are the prodigy after all." The last sentence came out as a mumble, even with Aki's good hearing, she would've missed it if she wasn't paying attention.

"Prodigy...?" She mumbled to herself, unsure of Shikaku's meaning. Having a naturally shy personality, she didn't ask either.

After following Shikaku around for awhile while he did his work, he brought Aki to meet the elders of the Nara clan as part of his agreement with Minato to let Aki stay.

He gently knocked on the door, informing the elders of their arrival. "They might be a little... you know. I'll try to prevent that." He said with a crooked smile of reassurance.

The door creaked as they opened it, entering. Shikaku closed the door behind them, much to the elder's please. There was two of them, what seemed like an old couple. Despite the wrinkles and strings of white hair, Aki still thought they both looked rather handsome and beautiful, a perfect match.

Unknowingly, she had said her thoughts aloud. The elders laughed, "Aren't you a beauty yourself, sweetheart?" The lady spoke.

"This is Aki, the girl Minato mentioned." Shikaku introduced in a calm tone, taking a step back from Aki.

"Ah, so this sweetheart is the prodigy Minato was babbling about?" The lady spoke again, frowning at Aki. Seeing that made Aki panic slightly, though she didn't show.

"Now, now, dear, Minato was certainly not babbling." The man finally opened his mouth to speak. His voice was deep and rough but it was tender and wise. The lady glared at him, crossing her arms. "You always sugar coat things."

"Do you mind to take a test?" The man glanced over at Aki. Shikaku stepped up but Aki glanced at him, telling him she'll handle. "What kind of test?"

"An intelligence test." He said, handing her a set of papers. She looked through them before she realised. They hadn't given her any writing materials, the questions were all just decisions too.

She bit her lips, this was much to her disadvantage. She couldn't simply bit her finger, having blood cloth difficulty, it's putting her life on the line. Then, an idea emerged inside her head. She instantly started poking through the parts of the paper which had answers she didn't choose, leaving only her choices.

"Wonderful job sweetheart, but why didn't you just use your blood?" The lady glanced at Aki, her eyes filled with pure curiosity. The man on the other hand was looking through her answers, listening at the same time.

"I have was born with a blood clotting difficulty, so it'd put my life on the line even if it's just a small cut." Aki explained, attracting the man's attention.

"You're pretty smart, you know that right?" He said, placing the papers aside.

"Nothing Shikaku can't do." The lady protested, filling the room with laughter.

"We'll proceed with the plan then I suppose?" Shikaku brought up, receiving nods from the two. He gave a small bow if respect before they left the room.

"The plan?" Aki finally questioned, breaking the short silence. Shikaku looked at her with a smirk, "you'll find out."

It was all he said before he pushed her into a room and closed the door in her face. She wanted to question his decision but she knew it was probably for a cause. She sighed, wandering around the room, only to find a child almost her age sitting at a corner of the room.

She had a waist long hair let down, olive skin tone and long eyelashes. She was playing with her dolls before she noticed Aki. She glanced up at her, confused and scared. Slowly, Aki approached her. "Hello, my name is Aki. What's yours?"

"S-shima." She said shyly, her voice shaking. She was hesitant but she gathered up her courage and asked, "why are you here?"

"Shikaku threw me in here. Frankly, I don't know either." Aki replied truthfully with a slight chuckle.

"Want to play dolls with me?" Shima invited with a smile. Having nothing else she could do, Aki agreed to her invitation.