Misae looked worried. "Then will war break out?"
"We're still not sure." Hiroshi shook his head. "Lord Hokage is still discussing it with the elders."
"Then... could you be sent to the front lines?" Misae's voice trembled slightly.
Hiroshi fell silent.
He looked at Misae's worried face. After a long while, he gently nodded. "If a large-scale war really breaks out, then..."
The atmosphere in the dining room suddenly became heavy.
Hima put down her bowl and lowered her voice. "My classmates said war is the fate of all ninja."
"They're already teaching you things like that at school?" Hiroshi frowned.
"They said we need to understand the truth of the ninja world." Hima paused. "They also said that a truly outstanding ninja should always be prepared to sacrifice themselves for the village."
"You're only seven years old." Misae frowned as well. "It's far too early to talk about sacrificing yourselves."
"But..."
"No buts." Misae placed her chopsticks across her bowl.
Hima pursed her lips and stopped speaking.
For once, Shin-chan did not interrupt. He merely reached his chopsticks toward the last piece of fried chicken.
"That's mine." Hima reached out to block him, moving faster than Shin-chan's chopsticks.
"This is called striking first to gain the advantage." Refusing to back down, Shin-chan launched a surprise attack from another angle.
"This is called bullying someone younger than you." Hima blocked him nimbly.
The two pairs of chopsticks clattered against each other several times above the dining table.
"The Battle for the Fried Chicken begins!" Shin-chan loudly announced.
"Don't shout nonsense inside the house." Misae reached out, swiftly picked up the fried chicken, and placed it in her own bowl. "Also, the fried chicken is mine."
The siblings let out wails of protest at the same time.
Watching the scene, Hiroshi suddenly felt much more relaxed. "Don't worry. With Lord Hokage here, Konoha will be fine."
"But if the other villages start fighting..." Hima still looked uneasy. "Can we really avoid getting involved forever?"
"War is complicated." Hiroshi leaned against the back of his chair. "It doesn't start just because someone wants to fight, and it isn't something you can avoid just because you want to. But no matter what happens, protecting your family is a ninja's most important job."
"Even more important than protecting the village?" Hima asked.
"Isn't the purpose of protecting the village to protect the people who live in it?" Hiroshi smiled. "Don't get the order backward."
After dinner, Misae washed the dishes in the kitchen while Hiroshi helped wipe the table.
Hima was reading through her ninjutsu textbook.
Shin-chan found a jump rope from somewhere and began bouncing around the living room.
"What are you doing?" Hima asked without raising her head.
"Practicing jumping," Shin-chan replied while skipping. "Ninja have to learn how to jump. Otherwise, how can they fly around between trees?"
Hima corrected him. "That isn't ordinary jumping. It also involves chakra control."
"You practice ordinary jumping first, then chakra jumping. It's called progressing step by step."
"You're just trying to avoid actual training."
"I'm balancing work and rest."
"You've been resting all day."
"That's why I need to do a little work now."
Hima couldn't be bothered with him and lowered her head to continue reading.
A moment later, Shin-chan suddenly stopped skipping. "Hima."
"Mm?"
"Where do you think the Kazekage went?"
Hima raised her head and looked at her brother's unusually serious profile.
"I don't know," she answered honestly. "But Teacher said that no matter what happens, we just need to do what we're supposed to do."
"That's good." Shin-chan started skipping again. "Anyway, what I'm supposed to do is eat and sleep."
"That isn't what you're supposed to do."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Become a proper ninja."
"And then?"
"Then protect the village."
"And then?"
"And then..." Hima paused. "Then complete more difficult and impressive missions."
"And then?"
"Why do you have so many 'and thens'?!"
Shin-chan chuckled twice. The jump rope suddenly smacked against his shin, and he cried out before crouching down.
Misae's voice came from the kitchen. "Shin-chan, stop making so much noise!"
"The jump rope hit me," Shin-chan shouted aggrievedly.
"Then stop jumping rope."
"But I'm practicing jumping."
"No jumping rope at night!"
Shin-chan threw the jump rope onto the floor and lay flat on his back on the tatami.
Hima closed her textbook and stood up. When she passed him, she stopped for a moment.
"Does your leg hurt?"
"It hurts."
"Serves you right."
Despite what she said, she still bent down and picked up the jump rope.
"Hima."
"What now?"
"The Kazekage disappeared, right? Do you think the children in Sunagakure are eating dinner tonight just like usual?"
Hima did not answer.
A long silence followed.
"They probably... are just like us," she finally said softly. "No matter how the adults fight, children still have to eat."
Shin-chan rolled over and lay on his stomach. "Maybe."
Hima turned and walked toward her room.
After taking two steps, she looked back at her brother lying on the floor.
He was always saying strange and confusing things. Sometimes, she couldn't tell whether her idiot brother was pretending to be stupid or genuinely was.
But occasionally, he would ask a question that made everyone pause.
Just like now.
The clinking of bowls and chopsticks came from the kitchen, mixed with Hiroshi and Misae's quiet conversation.
Shin-chan climbed up from the floor and ran into the kitchen.
"Mom, I'm hungry."
"You just ate dinner!"
"That was the main meal. Now it's snack time."
"There are no snacks!"
"How could you do this..." Shin-chan clung to the kitchen doorframe. "Ninja need snacks to restore their chakra too."
"I think you used all your chakra fighting Hima for the fried chicken." Hiroshi walked over with a smile, took a piece of chocolate from his pocket, and secretly slipped it into Shin-chan's hand.
"Dad, you're the best dad in the whole world!"
"What are you two doing?" Misae suddenly turned around.
Hiroshi immediately withdrew his hand and pretended to wipe the table. "Nothing. I was teaching Shin-chan that he shouldn't eat too many snacks at night."
Shin-chan quieted down for a while.
"Mom, I discovered a shocking secret."
Misae was folding clothes and did not even look up. "Tell me."
"The soles of my feet can talk."
"...What did they say?"
"They said they want to drink cold milk."
The shirt in Misae's hands flew straight at him.
Shin-chan skillfully tilted his head and dodged. The shirt smacked directly into Hima's face as she happened to walk past.
"Nohara Shinnosuke!" Hima yanked the shirt off her face, her fist already clenched.
"Hima wasn't watching where she was going."
"You dodged randomly!"
"If I didn't dodge, the shirt would've hit me. That was self-defense."
"Does self-defense mean transferring the danger to someone else?"
"Of course. Redirecting danger is one of the most basic ninja tactics."
Hima took a deep breath and silently repeated, Don't lower yourself to his level, three times before carrying her textbook over to the table and sitting down.
"Today, Teacher Ibuki introduced us to some Wind Style ninjutsu."
Hiroshi nodded. "Wind Style is very difficult."
"What's difficult about it?" Shin-chan sat cross-legged on the floor and picked at his foot. "A fart is Wind Style too."
Hima slammed her textbook shut. "Can't you be serious for once?"
~~~
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