Reborn as a Nara

five

C H A P T E R      5
— The Art of Pranking (ft. Uchiha Sasuke)

Shirayuki didn't sleep for the whole night, her head hurt too much for her to even take a break. Instead, she sat on the roof and stared up at the moon, wondering what was about to come and what she could do. Her eyes went down to her calloused fingers, watching as each of her fingers moved in precise detail.

At times, it was difficult to comprehend that she was in her second life. The idea that she had died and her consciousness, her soul, had been dragged across dimensions and placed into a newborn baby was so far-fetched that it was disbelieving even when it had happened to her.

It was close to four in the morning right now, Shirayuki thought. She jumped down from the roof, grimacing slightly as she felt water splash onto her feet. She moved away from the puddle, looking at the source which was a leaky pipe. Shirayuki got onto her knees, wondering if she could fix it up real quick.

"Shirayuki-chan?"

Her head turned at the sound of her name being called, greeting her was one of the elderly in the clan, Tsunshi Nara.

Shirayuki stood up and walked closer, bowing slightly, "Morning, Tsunshi-san."

"Why are you up here so early?" Tsunshi asked, patting her head slightly. Then, the head pat turned into warm stroking of her hair. "You didn't sleep, did you? It's not good for you to avoid sleep, Shirayuki-chan."

"Couldn't help it," Shirayuki shrugged.

Tsunshi smiled knowingly, extending a hand towards her. "Come with me for a bit. You're not expected anywhere yet, are you?"

"Not that soon," Shirayuki confirmed. She followed after the woman, walking closely behind. Tsunshi brought her into a room, covered and filled with books. It wasn't the clan library, Shirayuki knew what that looked like and for one, the clan library didn't have a huge goban sitting in the middle.

"Tsunshi-san?"

"Sit with me, Shirayuki-chan," Tsunshi requested. "Play a game with me."

Shirayuki sat down awkwardly, staring down at the empty goban with a blank look. Tsunshi grabbed a fan and placed it gently on her lap, gesturing towards the stones. "Shall we nigiri?"

"Right," Shirayuki nodded. She lifted a handful of stones before tossing them onto the board. They counted and exchanged stones, Tsunshi was white to her black. There were no Komi rules because those didn't exist in this world yet. Shirayuki placed her first move, the silence fading into the background as she began paying more attention to the game.

Then, Tsunshi broke the silence with a question.

"How is your team, Shirayuki-chan?"

"Hm?" Shirayuki hummed, "I wouldn't say we're a team just yet. We still need to pass the survival test."

Tsunshi enlarged her territory. "And you don't have faith in your team?"

Shirayuki scoffed, "Of course, I do." Her attacks turned aggressive, shredding a territory to pieces as time ticked by.

Tsunshi hummed, "Do you, truly? Or is that what you think you should believe?"

Shirayuki paused, "What do you mean?"

Tsunshi leaned back, "I think you know better than anything else what I mean. Your Go is cold, Shirayuki-chan. Why don't you tell me what I mean?"

After that, Tsunshi resigned and ceded the game to Shirayuki, losing by more than twenty stones. She stared at the board in confusion, her Go was cold. Shirayuki knew that some people could be so instinctive that they could practically tell a person's personality through a game of go, it tells about your personality. But cold?