Аннотация: Shisui goes hunting with Naruto and the girls dig herbs.
Shisui sighed and looked at the line of kids, who were all looking at him expectantly.
"Sasuke and Naruto are coming with me. Mina, you stay in charge. Don't do anything that we might be asked to do by the guests until spring. Itachi is currently on an important mission, so I hope for your discretion. Well, as a last resort, try not to get caught, you're a Shinobi, after all. Is everything clear to everyone?"
The children began to chatter discordantly, and Shisui sighed again. And at first he was worried why everyone was so quiet. I have not forgotten how once, a couple of years ago, when he was a Chuunin, he got the mission to protect the junior class of the Shinobi Academy.
They gathered for their annual hike around Konoha. There were five of them in the security team, twenty children. It seemed like there were four children for each, and even three teachers went with them, but it was a tough mission. The children were constantly disappearing, getting stuck somewhere, trying to fall off cliffs, drown in the river, or fall from trees. At night, running to the toilet, they fell into traps, in general, for three days of hiking, he practically did not close his eyes.
Basically, his and Itachi's charges were smarter and quieter, and most of their time was occupied by Rakurei-san's training, but the boys are still boys. And his crazy sister can give any kid a head start, it's okay that Kazuki somehow balanced her and dissuaded her from most risky enterprises in the territory of the nyako ninja. Yumiko was terribly jealous of Uzumaki's ability to "nya-speak," and she and her second cousin learned the language. Shisui was afraid that the smallest one, Natsumi, who, according to Mina, had just started talking, would only communicate in a "nya-speak" in the future, because listening to Yumiko, she was busy twisting the words like a cat. And she took off the headband with the ears only at night, and then after much persuasion, because "she also wants to be a kitty."
Naruto and Sasuke spent a week exploring the entire castle in search of its owner. They really wanted to see Nekomata-sama. Even if you ask him to scare the kids.
It is possible that this will benefit some of them. The Sharingan will erupt out of fear, for example, in the same Sen. Shisui didn't really want to put the boy through the same "ordeal" that their fathers had done to him and Itachi. But his heart ached because most of his children were completely helpless and couldn't even handle a genin in a crowd yet. Unless Sasuke can hold out a little longer. But Naruto, with the nine-tailed demon sealed in him, still couldn't concentrate his chakra due to the fact that it took almost all of it to maintain the seal, even though he was the oldest of the future Shinobi after his younger cousin.
Naruto turned eight the other day, and Shisui, on the advice of his "other self," decided to celebrate this holiday somehow in order to distract the children from bitter thoughts.
Everyone was busy during the day: training, learning the language and some academic subjects that Shisui taught the older guys, household chores.
But in the evenings and nights...
I could hear them sighing heavily, having nightmares, sometimes calling their parents, crying into their pillows. Several times, Yui came to Shisui and lay down next to her, clutching at her clothes and sobbing, saying that he had a terrible dream.
"Oyabun, should I take nekote with me?" Naruto asked, distracting Shisui from thinking about the past week.
"It is unlikely that you will have close combat with a boar or a deer", He said doubtfully. "I need you to help me herd and then skin the carcass. Perhaps you will dig up some roots or find bamboo shoots so that there is something to eat with a wild animal. So you'd better take a kunai and a rope with a piece of cloth where you can put the plants."
"And I... don't know almost any edible plants", Naruto scratched the back of his head. Sasuke also looked a little confused.
"I know, Shisui-onii-sama," Mina said. "Can I come with you too? The boys will help me."
"Okay," Shisui agreed, assessing the girl's usefulness. "Sen, Kazuki, you're in charge. Keep an eye on Taro, Renzo, Yui and Natsumi. Yumiko, then you're coming with us too. Didn't your mother teach you how to get edible mushrooms and plants?"
"Yes, nii-san!" His sister beamed. Even the memories of their mother did not destroy her good mood, but Shisui almost bit his tongue, forgetting himself behind the general burden of various problems.
"We won't be back until evening," he estimated. "Go to a workout, and then do something useful. Is that clear?"
"Yes, onii-san!" Kazuki and Sen replied in unison.
"Shisui-nyaya-san!" Natsumi suddenly buried her face in his lap. "Nya go away! Natsumi-nyan is sad without you-nya!"
Shisui resisted the urge to use teleportation techniques to hide and wait for the children outside the gate, and crouched down, ruffling litle bristly hair.
"We'll come and play with you, Natsumi-chan. Later," A one-and-a-half-year-old girl hugged his neck.
"Come back soon-nya, nyaa-san."
"Let's move out," Shisui commanded his motley crew.
***
The forest in which they were allowed to hunt was full of different tracks. But among the boar, deer, and hare tracks, there were also prints of predators.
"Sasuke, be vigilant," he reminded Shisui of Shisui's safety as he removed the security band with the ears. The children followed his example and put their "passes" in their backpacks. As he recently found out from Rakurei, nyako-ninjas give out "disguises" so that everyone in their castle can understand the intentions of the people - to "play kittens", and do not think at all, thanks to these ears, that they are looking at a real cat. But as far as Shisui remembered from his childhood, the nyakoninja were very successful at pretending, probably giggling at such gullible people who were also future Shinobi. But a person without a "pass" can be asked with all rigor and without pity.
"You're the senior in the group," Shisui continued to instruct Sasuke. "And you have more experience in hunting. Guard the girls while they search for edible plants. If anything happens, immediately climb trees and shout."
"I see," his younger cousin pursed his lips. "I won't let you down."
"Naruto, are you coming with me", I decided to separate Shisui's bosom friends, and for some reason I remembered Uzumaki's luck shown in that anime from a dream. The plants will pick up anyway, but there may be problems with the game. I didn't want to starve or sit on the roots alone.
"Got it, oyabun!" Naruto almost jumped up, stretching his dazzling smile from ear to ear.
"Try not to go too far into the forest and get lost. Come on, Naruto."
Uzumaki trotted after him.
"Shisui-san, will you teach me how to untangle footprints?" As soon as he moved a couple hundred meters away, he raised his voice.
"First, you need to learn to notice them", Shisui patiently explained. "Do you see, there, on the tree, the bark has been stripped off and there are small tufts of wool hanging, which have not yet been blown away by the wind? And there's a clear hoof print near the puddle.... This means that deer have recently passed through here," He put his finger to his lips and listened.
There was a subtle crunching and snorting sound a couple dozen meters away.
Naruto's blue eyes widened, the boy nodded and silently fell to the ground, listening, and then pointed his finger to the northeast. Shisui nodded in agreement, the direction was right.
"Well done," he mouthed and made the familiar "wait here" sign.
Naruto seemed to understand and nodded. It was possible to train the young to hunt when the problem of food was not so acute, so Shisui continued hunting alone, climbing a tree and quickly reaching a clearing where a small deer family was grazing.
***
Shisui believed in Uzumaki's lucky star. He skinned a doe and whistled for Naruto to come to him. There should have been enough meat for several days. The two of them butchered the carcass, and Shisui, after covering several pieces of meat with grass, decided to seal it raw in scrolls to cook soup or use it later for another dish. They dragged the rest on a skin to the clearing where they had left the rest, and decided to bake it over a campfire to seal it cooked. Naruto took a thorough approach to the task assigned to him and, even though he was drooling from the mind-blowing aroma that spread in the area, he carefully made sure that everything was fried evenly. Naruto took a thorough approach to the task assigned to him and, even though he was drooling from the mind-blowing aroma that spread in the area, he carefully made sure that everything was fried evenly.
After a while, Shisui felt a familiar chakra, and Itachi, who had returned from a mission, jumped down from a tree to him.
"It smells delicious," the cousin squinted at the bonfire, swallowed, and sat down by it. "I decided to check who's cooking what here."
"We'll eat soon," Shisui promised. "Well, tell me. How did everything go? How's the mission?"
"There were no problems on the mission" Itachi reported. "We paid well. By the way, when I was paying off the Old Cat, she said that there was finally news from Konoha. I also learned something very interesting on the mission. A certain Akatsuki organization is looking for me to make some kind of offer....
"Shisu-u-i-i-i!" Yumiko suddenly screamed, and she and Itachi jumped up and ran towards their sister's screams.