Naruto Alternate

Vol 4 Chapter 27 A Temporary Madness

     While Konohagakure was larger than the imperial Capital it had a completely different feel to it. To Yukiko, the Capital always had a feel of politics to it as people from various villages and towns around the Land of Fire and outside vied for the attention of the Daimyō. There always had been someone or another attempting to curry favor with a member of the royal family.

     She could argue that wasn't happening here because they were unaware of her connections. She could have wondered if the same would happen here, but she remembered how they treated her double. Even before Ino took over her role, and the danger for her, the village people were polite to her. In her own mind, she wondered why she kept thinking of them as village people and not city people. Despite the size of Konohagakure the people seemed to know each other better than she was used to. It was one of the reasons why she couldn't just swap places with Ino, or her sister.

     Getting to know the people of Konohagakure was very interesting and it kept her mind off all the danger she had been in, and that her double and maid would still be in. She felt guilty after Ino had left. This only increased when she kept seeing Ino's mother while walking around with Neji and his team. She hadn't felt this way before and it stunned her. Many guards had given their lives to protect Yukiko and her father but it shocked her to realize just how little she had known about them.

     It had been the first time she had seen it, combat. She had never seen a battle before and had never actually hoped to see one again. Her cousin enjoyed the talk of battle but to Yukiko, it seemed disturbing how anyone would want to put themselves in that kind of situation. The Hokage had summed it up perfectly when she asked him, to protect the people most important to them. This too puzzled her since she hadn't known the guards personally. Keeping the Daimyō and also his family safe by extension kept them safer. That she could understand.

     She could tell that same duty was weighing on the Hokage each of the times she met with him. Over the time of her stay, she began to notice similar looks she had seen in her own father's eyes. The pressure to keep a village safe and a nation safe hadn't occurred to her until then and she wondered why. Her father depended on Konohagakure to help keep the nation safe when his own armies were stretched thin, or not equipped for a particular mission at hand. Where they armies in question were a hammer, the ninja operated much like a scalpel, with precision and discretion.

     If she hadn't seen the Hokage out one early morning visiting his wife's grave she might not have started questioning more about the world and her role in it. Questioning about the people who gave everything to protect her. She had left early that morning out of spite, something she still regretted. She had thrown a fit, tired of being cooped up in the town, tired of Neji not responding to her like she expected him to. She left early when she realized she could not properly vent her frustrations in the way she was used to. She needed some type of outlet and escaping her guards seemed the only thing she could pull off.

     Sneaking across the village proved a bit too difficult as she kept running into people, many of which asking if she was okay and she was finding everything she needed. She took a wrong turn just to avoid one more person asking her when she found herself at the gates to a memorial. She noticed a few people wandering here and there among the gravestones, cleaning and tending to them with extreme care. She hadn't thought about it until then that they were caring for family and loved ones lost. It was very different than the family shrine they had kept and in its way far more peaceful. walked around finally having a moment of peace to herself as her mind began to wander in directions it had never been, up until this trip.

     Even now the memory she saw that day gave her chills. She watched as an older woman walked by her towards a large wall with so many names on it. She found out later a memorial for the ninja who in duty to the village. She carried a basket with her with some flowers and she spread out a blanket in front of the memorial. Yukiko was sure the woman had done this numerous times with how the movements all seemed so practiced. She found herself at the time lingering and guiltily listening.