[Hokage] Terukawa

The flowing water is rumbling, there are thousands of trees, the blue sky is like washing, the sea... no, the river is wide and the sky is high.

...Finally, I was able to temporarily leave the maelstrom of Konoha.

In the small boat that was too narrow to accommodate a third person, I crossed my knees obediently, and sat motionless on one side of the ship as if it was the first time I was on a boat. Bibo cast eyes mixed with curiosity, love and fear.

The sloppy baggage that hides all my "truth" is firmly wrapped between my waist and thighs, as if this is the last bit of meaning to support "I", who has no owner, to continue to stay in the world.

The hem of the slightly long coat hangs down, and the last little corner of the coat is wet by a few splashes of water that accidentally splashed up.I lowered my eyes to take a look, moved my body, and ignored it.

Leaving Konoha made me feel the long-lost relaxation to a certain extent—the psychological kind, but when walking outside on missions, I still have to put on a full set of camouflage after all. Hiding my identity to save my life is the first layer, and anti-tracking is the first layer. is the most fundamental purpose.It is true that neither of the two missions this time has any high-risk components, but considering the threat of "dough"... it is not my style to take risks without preparing for anything. ?

"Brother Jun, where are you going?"

The boatman standing at the bow was a middle-aged man with a rough voice, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, he turned around and smiled at me with a grin, showing his fine yellow and dark teeth.

"Old man, I can't do anything else. It's like walking this river into my own backyard! As long as it's in this river, I can deliver it to you no matter where you go!"

"Old man, you don't have to be so polite... Just put me at the second ferry in the country of rivers."

I showed a somewhat cramped smile, and in a blink of an eye, Kakashi's often mocking face suddenly and inexplicably appeared in my mind.

Kakashi... well, Kakashi.Thinking about it, I tried to imitate Kakashi's smile - isn't the most prominent feature of Kakashi's smile is the pair of crescent eyes?Once the pair of curved crescent moons appear, Kakashi's affinity will increase by more than ten times in an instant - of course, this is just an exaggeration, but I know that people's eyes can truly reflect emotions, if I want to If you want to act like a little more, it is best not to neglect the emotional changes in the eyes.

"Oh, the second ferry, it sounds like the ferry at San'an Mountain, is it south or north?"

The boatman muttered casually, and he seemed to be thinking about it. However, although his seemingly stiff and clumsy fingers had thick knuckles and calluses, the movement of holding and shaking the boat pole was extremely dexterous and skillful.The long boat pole was swaying, propping, pointing or dialing in his hands, and the boat under his control was as light as a stream of water blending into the river, or a small boat going down the river. fish.

...and I can row the boat like that too.

I think.

Well, it shouldn't be too much difference, but after all, I haven't rowed for a long time, so it's meaningless to compare, and the world doesn't have time to hold any rowing competitions.

"I don't know about the south and the north. This is my first time to go to the country of rivers." I said awkwardly, looking a little embarrassed.

"Let's go to the north. The north is close to the city. I heard from other old guys that there has been banditry there for a while. If you can enter the city quickly, don't hesitate to avoid any accidents."

"Okay...okay." I responded obediently.

After a few minutes of silence, I couldn't bear the loneliness and spoke again: "Old man, have the gangsters in San'an Mountain been rampant?"

"How can that be? The country of the river has always been quite peaceful, and there is nothing bad about it. Old man, I lived there when I was young... um."

The old boatman made a nasal sound, clicked his lips and let out a loud click of tongue.Only then did I realize that the cigarette he was holding in his mouth had never been lit, it was just a cigarette.

"The country of the river is actually my old man's hometown. In the words of you guys, it's called my hometown." He said.

"Then...?" I cautiously probed.

The boatman was silent for a moment, and finally sighed, with a tired and numb tone: "Then the war broke out, and the hearts of the people there were broken... No, the hearts of the people there were broken. Life gradually became difficult, and the current situation Exactly the same."

He manipulated the pole to adjust the direction of the bow, and I just happened to notice a small eddy ahead. According to this adjusted angle, our boat just couldn't even touch its edge.

"It's refugees, and a large number of homeless refugees will cause banditry." I suddenly realized.

The boatman shook his head, with some unknown sighs in his eyes: "He is a refugee, but he is not completely a refugee. At that time, there were people in the village who could eat and drink well one day, but their heads were beheaded and thrown in the house the next day. There was blood everywhere, people were thrown like rubbish, and they were found naked because all the clothes had been taken, and so had the food. In fact, if it weren't for the blood coming out of the door, it would have been true. I don't know when they will be discovered. After this incident, those poor ghosts who don't fart at ordinary times, they knew how to be afraid and restrained at first, but then they began to gloat and talk nonsense blatantly. You rich people kill' nonsense, and even praised the murderer's 'foresight'... a bunch of scumbags!"

Having said this, the boatman paused.His breathing was a little short, and the muscles in his face were tense. I could fully imagine how his damaged and yellowed teeth were biting together behind the layer of flesh on the jaw.

"Don't worry," I put the burden by my feet, stood up unsteadily and patted him on the back, "speak slowly."

"..." The boatman glanced ahead, then turned around and said to me, "You sit down first, and I will continue talking after you sit down."

I froze for a moment: "Ah...?"

"Brother, you can tell from your reaction that this is your first time on a boat. Our boat is too small. I'm afraid you'll fall off. It's... troublesome to find people."

I:"……"

It doesn't matter, I can understand this sentence as a compliment to my acting skills.

I strained the slightly embarrassed smile on my face, and sat down very simply.

"Go ahead." I raised my hand.

"Then there is nothing else. People's hearts are already rotten. Those who want to continue to be human must of course move away. Those who want to stay there are already ready to eat people or be eaten by others. There is no way, after all, it is to feed In the village of several generations, there are always people who don't want to leave their hometown like this, my family just has no choice, you don't want to move too, do you?"

said the boatman.

"You're right, during the war, it was very difficult for ordinary people to survive," I smiled, "But to be honest, old man, I don't plan to come back after I went to the River Country this time. "

The boatman snorted, apparently not believing my words: "When it comes to wars, normal people go from the small country to the five big ones, but you are better off doing it the other way around?"

He paused, and then said: "It's fine if you don't want to say it, and I don't want to do anything to you. After all, we will never meet again in the future."

"Old man, I didn't lie to you," I quickly picked up, "Our family split up back then, some stayed in the country of rivers, and some went to the country of fire. We originally planned to retreat for each other, but it didn't happen... "

"Didn't think so?"

"..."

I didn't answer immediately, so the air on the ship fell silent at this moment.Light white water vapor emerged from the tip of our noses, and the sound of running water crept up from the bottom and outside of the boat to the small cabin, then curled up, squeezing into the poor ear canals of me and the boatman bit by bit.This gave me faint goosebumps, and for a moment I felt that the sound of running water was as cold as this winter day.

At an unspecified moment, I suddenly felt a little dazed, bandits, missions, red fruits, leaves...all kinds of distracting thoughts were thrown away.Until the rumble of running water was caught in my brain, countless small water droplets formed a thin cold mist on the river surface, and also formed a hook of nothingness, pulling all my thoughts back into the cage.

"what……"

I slowed down my tone and lowered my eyelids. The smiles and body movements I used to socialize all disappeared at this moment. Only calmness and even numbness can probably become eternal here.

"I didn't realize it. Now the sky is big and the earth is big. I can go anywhere, but I no longer have two homes."

After saying this, I was silent for a short while, and changed into a relaxed tone when I spoke again.

"This sad story tells us that it may be right not to put eggs in the same basket, but remember to keep the distance between the eggs and the eggs, otherwise, if someone smashes two baskets of eggs with one foot, everything will change. Like a bad joke."

I heard the boatman start to mutter again, his voice was very low, but my hearing was good enough - he was saying "eggs or eggs, basket or basket, you rich people always have more choices than us".

"What?" I asked with a smile.

"No, it's nothing," said the boatman. "It's a sharp bend down a bit, with a slight slope, and the water is still fast. Brother Jun, hurry up and don't fall."

pay close attention?Where to catch?

I turned my head to look at the side of the boat, it was too flat and clean, there was nothing but the necessary planks to support the hull structure—no, there were a few dark green moss, but it was obviously not enough to arouse me Catch their desire.

...just play with it.

I gave up thinking.

What the boatman said was not groundless.

About 5 minutes later, I clearly felt the rise of the river bed slope, and at the same time, there was obviously much more turbulent water flow. I just sat in the boat obediently, and water droplets would splash on my face from time to time.

I raised my hand and wiped it, put a little chakra on the soles of my feet, and leaned back to lower the center of gravity. At the same time, the white foam and water patterns produced by the turbulence of the water had spread all over the entire river. It also gradually became extremely bumpy, and the sense of collision and weightlessness can come to several cycles in one breath.I bumped my head here and there, and was hit by a few waves stirred up by the bow of the ship at the corner. For a while, my breath was full of cold water vapor, and my ears were full of undercurrents. I couldn't hear or see the muffled sound of impacting the hull—it can only be said that I have been a ninja for a long time, and the experience of replaying as an ordinary person is extremely bad.

Just thinking like this, two more torrents collided head-on, and then a large spray of water exploded into the sky suddenly, like a water screen that suddenly opened.I just wanted to sit up to avoid soaking into the stagnant water in the boat, but the hull tilted again unexpectedly, and the icy water screen soaked by the winter chill came from behind me, drenching me thoroughly from head to toe, penetrating into every hole The cold air continuously invaded my body from the collar, from the bare skin, and from the wet clothes-again, the experience of re-playing ordinary people is extremely bad!

"Damn it!" I cursed while coughing, "Cough, the water is too cold...cough cough!"

However, I don’t know if it’s my illusion, in the overwhelming sound of torrents and coughing that greatly weakened my hearing, there seems to be a very light, shallow, almost non-existent laughter passing over my heart softly In the ear, it came and went even faster, and when I finally realized that I was trying to calm down and distinguish it, I couldn't distinguish the slightest movement.