Kisame Hoshigaki, for example, was known for his enormous chakra reserves. His bloodlust, sword skills, and Samehada were all mentioned even if full details of each were simply distilled down to basic data.
That he was very fond of breaded shrimp dipped in spicy barbeque sauce? Not in there. That he was a bit self-conscious about his appearance and the fact that most women were immediately afraid of him and not likely to flirt? Yeah, that might be obvious to some but not all.
Itachi Uchiha, publicly known for being a cold-blooded mass murderer who had slaughtered his entire clan, was NOT well known as a devourer of Pocky. For meals, a stuffed cabbage dish was one of his favorites - but he truly enjoyed the little chocolate dipped cookie stick as an every-so-often snack. And when he was in the mood for it, you did NOT want to get in the way of his Pocky.
(There was, in fact, a bet in ANBU that the entire Uchiha Massacre had been the result of an overstressed Itachi and his father forbidding the treat as something beneath the dignity of an Uchiha.)
"What do you mean, you have no Pocky?" asked Itachi behind his clever disguise - a pair of cheap sunglasses. Kisame was also wearing a pair and occasionally bumping into stationary objects. Mainly because Kisame liked dramatic reveals and he could whip the glasses off with one of several Combat Quips(tm) he'd prepared ahead of time.
They were ninja. Secrets and drama were always involved.
The storekeeper shrugged and spread his hands. "It's hard getting anything into or out of Wave with Gato seizing control of the area and using mercenaries. Sorry. His men seized the last batch on the shelves and destroyed it."
"This Gato ordered all the Pocky to be destroyed?" asked Itachi in an emotionless voice.
"Yeah, he says that Pocky is disgusting and is promoting something of his own make," said the shopkeeper, pointing to a display that was very nearly full. In fact, Itachi could tell only a single box had been removed from the display.
"What the hell?" asked Kisame as soon as he examined one of the boxes.
"What is it?" asked Itachi.
"Dried shiokara wrapped in artificial chocolate," said Kisame. "Gee. How yummy-sounding."
"This Gato might be hoarding the Pocky, but I doubt it," said the storekeeper. "I heard the man ranting about it. Ecologically unfriendly and all that. Meh. Instead he seizes all the snacks that actually sell and lets us have this stuff instead. Which, as you can tell, doesn't sell. Not that anyone has any money anyway."
"I see," said Itachi. "Thank you for your time."
"No problem," said the storekeeper. "Oh. You might be able to buy some from that girl."
"What girl?" asked Itachi, stopping in his exit from the small store.
"A Haruno, she was wearing the swords and had the clan's crest on her armor," said the storekeeper. "She offered me one when she was in here looking for first aid supplies."
"A Haruno?" asked Kisame. "Young one?"
"Yeah, couldn't have been more than twelve or so, pink hair - you can't miss her," said the storekeeper.
"I see," said Itachi, nodding once at the storekeeper before leaving.
"We gonna get going?" asked Kisame as he caught up.
"Why was the girl being a Haruno of interest to you?" asked Itachi.
"A young Haruno? She's gonna challenge me to single combat as soon as she sees the sword," said Kisame. "And frankly if she's young there ain't any challenge. I'd shred her before she could even get into the first stanza of her challenge. So she's no challenge but annoying. Let her get older and learn to fight and maybe she'd be interesting. What about you?"
"What about me?" asked Itachi.
"You reacted too." Kisame shrugged. "You came from Konoha, so were the Haruno allies of your clan or something?"
"No, not really," answered Itachi. "Just something I heard about a member of the Haruno clan."
"What, that a Haruno is hunting you with a vow of vengeance?" asked Kisame.
"No. One is trying to marry my brother and obtain a harem for him," said Itachi.
"I can never tell when you're kidding," confessed Kisame.
"Good," replied Itachi.
There was silence for a brief time before Kisame spoke again. "You have a brother who is alive, and a Haruno is planning to get him a harem?"
"So the rumor goes," said Itachi.
"I'm not sure whether I should envy or pity him," confessed Kisame. "So where are we going?"
"I will find this Gato and inform him of my displeasure," said Itachi. "If he has any bodyguards - you may feed Samehada as many as you like."
"Oh, that DOES sound like an enjoyable afternoon," said a much more cheerful Kisame.
"Chie Satonaka," said the teacher. "Is she in trouble?"
"No," said the Hokage. "I am merely curious about her due to some minor matter. I heard that a all-kunoichi team is being considered for the team sorting."
"Ah, yes," said the teacher, relaxing a bit now that there was a reason on the table. "She gets along with two friends and their abilities are complimentary. Chie is poor at genjutsu, decent with the Academy three ninjutsu, but easily in the top three of her class in taijutsu."
"I see," said Hiruzen Sarutobi. "And the other two are friends then?"
"Yukiko Amagi, who has managed to learn some Fire Release techniques at her age," said the teacher, adjusting her glasses. "Close personal friend of Chie. Rise Kujikawa is a sensor and shows signs of being good at genjutsu. So a team of all three would have a suitable set of skills."
"I see," said the Hokage. "If all three pass, it will be interesting to see how they fare."
There had been boxes of Pocky. Regular. Dark Chocolate. Even the Premium variety. Soggy boxes of Pocky which had been dumped in the waters surrounding Wave Country.
"Must be nice to have the money to do stuff like that," said Kisame as they approached the compound.
Itachi made no comment as two mercenaries sought to bar their way.
Sasuke was exhausted but triumphant, having mastered the tree-climbing exercise.
Naruto apparently still had enough chakra that he was taking chunks of wood and practicing the making of small toys for the neighborhood kids.
The last had been Sakura's idea. There were trees, there were chunks of firewood, there was a need for fine control of Naruto's Wood Release and Ice Release. Making ice sculptures would do for the Ice Release. With lots of kids around, Sakura had thought about wooden toys.
Wooden toys had led to other things. Sasuke paused as he saw Naruto's latest effort. "Chest?"
"Yeah," said Naruto, concentrating on his work.
Sasuke watched decorative patterns appearing on the sides of the chest and then over at the lace garment Naruto was using for the design. "You know what that 'dress' is?"
"It's a dress. Kinda flimsy though," said Naruto, obviously concentrating on his work and not that it was something of Tsunami's hanging out to dry.
"Uh huh," said Sasuke, deciding he was too exhausted to say anything further. Maybe after a nap.
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(Posted Thu, 28 May 2015 11:55)
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