The Sleeping God

Canceling plans is like Heroin.

"Safe harbor from waves." The man mused. "Let's see. I feel like an Amahiko right now. Keeping with the sea theme and all."  

"You feel like?" Minato asked. 

"Well sometimes I feel like a Haruto, or sometimes Takashi or for a rather fun evening with a Suna courtesan,  I was called Ichiro. The people of Himashika, however, know me as Amahiko so it's probably best I use that one." 

The man was strange, but his chakra was just above civilian level, even if he could use iryo ninjutsu. He had saved him and healed him, and hidden him from the Iwa nin so Minato decided to trust him, at least, until they had passed the border. 

"So you're a merchant?" Minato asked. 

Amahiko shrugged. "Sometimes. Right now I'm a merchant. Other times I'm a sailor. Last week I was a doctor."  

"Just like right now you're Amahiko?" 

Amahiko grinned widely. "Now you get it." 

Minato wasn't sure if he was crazy or not but as long as Amahiko didn't remind him of Orochimaru, Minato counted it as a win.

Slowly, fields began to replace the forest, the road growing wider, more deeply rutted from the multiple wagons that had passed through over the years. 

Minato noted that the fields were sparse for this time of year. Was there a drought?

"Amahiko-sama!" A voice called. 

Amahiko slowed the horses as a kid ran up, around 9 or so, feet bare and dirty and the beginnings of hunger affecting his face. 

"Little Gin. How are you?" 

"Do you have anything to eat?" Gin asked, pulling himself into the cart on the other side of Amahiko. "Hi, Kuro! Hi, Shiro!" 

The horses nickered as if in greeting. 
"I do." Amahiko said, reaching into the back and somehow pulling a steaming bowl of noodles from a box. 

Minato sat up, looking the box over for fuinjutsu but finding none. A genjutsu maybe? 

Gin's face lit up and he scarfed it down, Amahiko flicking the reins and cautioning him to slow down in the same breath.

Amahiko turned to Minato and winked as he waited for Gin to finish. "So, Gin. Have the shinobi come through yet?" 

Gin nodded. "They took most of the harvest." 

Amahiko's eyes narrowed. "I see. What about the fields?" 

"Some shinobi in weird masks burned them." Gin said. "Kaa-chan says they didn't want us feeding our ninja. And that's when our ninja took what was left of last year and the stuff you brought." 

Amahiko took a deep breath and Minato got the feeling that he was beyond angry but hiding it for Gin's sake. "I see. Why don't you run ahead and let your Jiji know I'm coming." 
Gin nodded, handing the bowl of noodles, it was still full, even though he had barely stopped eating long enough to talk. "Okay." 

He jumped off the cart and ran ahead, the horses not startling, instead nickering as if to say bye. 

"Himashika isn't the only village to suffer at the hands of the war." Amahiko said, watching the fields go by. "It's the same story, the peasants starving to feed the soldiers that wouldn't need their food if not for the war or starving because the other side didn't want them to feed the soldiers." 

"But without the war, they would fall under the rule of horrible people." 

Amahiko laughed. "People are only beholden to one thing, Minato. Do you know what it is?" Amahiko looked pointedly at the fields. 

"Food." Minato said. 

"As long as they are fed, they are content." Amahiko agreed. "They will go where they can have food. Only those who have enough food, can worry about events, and people, beyond that." 

They reached the edge of the village where a crowd had gathered, around 50 or so adults and 10 kids of various ages, most wearing straw hats to stave off the sun. 

An older man, gripping a wooden cane, stood in the front. 

"Takane!." Amahiko said, pulling the horses to a stop. "It's been a while." 

"That it has." Takane agreed. 

"I brought cloth as well as extra foodstuffs and books and paper this time." Amahiko said, unhooking the tarp and pulling it back to reveal crates made from a reddish brown wood, the writing on it one Minato had never seen before. 

"Who's your companion?" 

"My son." Amahiko replied, the lie falling smoothly from his lips. 

"Made another, have you?" Takane asked, a note of humor in his voice. "What's this one guarding?" 

Amahiko grinned. "Nah. Just a hitchhiker." 

Takane laughed. "I see." 

The villagers started rummaging through the cart, more of those never empty ramen bowls handed to the children and then the elderly and Minato noticed that they weren't paying Amahiko a single Ryo. 

"I thought you were a merchant." He said.  

Amahiko chuckled. "Who said I wanted their Ryo?" 

Minato was confused. "What do you want then?" 

Amahiko laughed. "I want their smiles." 

Takane walked up, a scroll in his hands. "I thank you, Amahiko-Sama. You've saved us." 

Amahiko sighed. "But how long will these supplies last? I'm begging you, Takane. Let me take you and the rest of your village elsewhere. I will fill your new home with riches, and surround it by waves so that none can burn your fields again. " 

Takane sighed. "It's not that simple. We love this piece of the world. It has been our home for many generations. The blood of my wife and children have been here since you first came to this corner of the world." 

Amahiko groaned. "Then not forever! Just until the war has settled." 

"And what happens when it breaks out again? Will you move us again and again? Can you promise you will protect this village when my name has been forgotten by its people, or will standing my ground here promise a better future for my grandchildren's grandchildren." 

Thunder rumbled, the villagers looking up at the sky as clouds gathered and lightning flashed. 

Amahiko sighed and the skies seemed to settle. "I can see I will not convince you, you stubborn old man." 

Takane chuckled. "I learned it from you." 

Amahiko pouted. 

Takane laughed again, deep in his gut. "Let us house you and your companion for the night." Takane said. "You can tell us about your travels." 

"Running out of stories?" Amahiko asked. 

"You tell them better." Takane argued.