s hot, very sunny and bright out, but that was to be expected as it is July out. It was a summer heat which made everybody reek, however, that was covered by the smell of newly fresh Dango and marinated meat.
I scrunched my nose as an old man lifted his arm to walk past me, his stench attacking my nose. It's been six years since I landed, or just reborn, in this mysterious place. Nothing was the same as from back home, there were no phones, and there was no fresh water tap for the poor.
My eyes wandered around the stalls. Specifically, there was no gigantic inside market where I live in this world. Clenching the list my mother gave me, I ducked under a couple of people and continued running to where they sold pork.
Once I reach there, I peer over the counter at all the meats available. The option of buying some beef and steaks were tempting, but unlike the old world I lived in, money was short. Even though I'm careful now before I learned the hard way after being beat by my parents because of spending over fifty dollars.
"Hello, missy! Running errands for your mother again?" Placing my attention on the familiar old man who is short and has eyebags that reached far down, I point over towards the uncut bacon. There's not a reason to talk when just buying meat.
He reaches over and grabs the usual amount of what my family gets every two weeks, four pounds of fresh and inexpensive, but delicious pork belly. As he was wrapping it up in a package, I grab the coupons my mom handed me before I came here. Back in my old life, coupons were something I'd create for my company. It was strange having to go out and use them now, instead of just having it in my kitchen automatically, calculated by somebody else.
'10% off of any meat of your choice! Expires July 21st!' I glanced down at that one a little bit longer, the civilian elders must've ordered for those to be sent out.
'.05 cents off of pork belly at Isogiri's meat stall!'
'Isogiri's meat stall sale! Get 5% off of pork belly by the end of Summer!'
None were expired, sighing a little bit in relief. My family couldn't afford to spend a lot of money, especially with the drought that hit us this Summer. Our plants and vegetables weren't growing and the water source is only available at all times for the famously known clans, well off families, and ninjas.
Pulling out a few of our only carrots that grew nice this summer, I placed it on the countertops along with the coupons and waited till Rajuro finished wrapping up the meat.
All of a sudden, a giant heatwave absolutely swarmed me. The sudden invasion of smoke in my mouth and up my nose made me choke a little bit, and mostly everybody around me too. Once the smoke cleared, a shadow in the distance starts juggling with fire blowing out of his mouth.
I am tempted to yell out, "Hey you fucking dick, there are other people around here," but at the same time, everybody like me is trying to survive. Life is hard here and you have to make money any way you can. Although it doesn't matter what I think as another guy sprays him with cooled off grease.
Should've been more careful anyways, as the saying goes, "Assholes get irritable bowel syndrome." It's extremely superstitious, but it happened to my sister once after she ate my candies.
Rolling my eyes, I turned back to thank Rajuro, but he was already tending to other customers. My mouth waters at the thought of the cooked meat when I picked up my newly wrapped package, however, I was sent out to get and do other things too.
Placing the meat with the other food I previously bought, I start towards the Hokage's tower. As I slightly jogged there with the mosquitos constantly biting me, many ninjas passed me on roofs and even on the ground.
It is strange, it honestly is. This place had magic which is called chakra that allowed them to stick to walls and run on roofs. Everything I thought I knew about physics and science, I didn't. The science here is solely based on two energy parts, spiritual energy, and physical energy, which is called charka. Physical energy is increased by physically training and running with chakra, while spiritual energy is increased by mentally solving hard things and meditating down to the core of the chakra.
It wasn't unusual to have a lot more than the other, especially when you belong to a clan. Nara's breathe spiritual energy, while Inuzuka has way more physical energy because they lack brains, I'm generating things though but most Inuzuka you meet mostly consist of dog breath from running. Some clans do have balances though, like the Uchiha. Mainly most of them are incredibly talented and well-rounded.
Because of the reasoning behind the energy imbalances though, I'm guessing I'll have more spiritual energy since I'm literally an old soul and almost thirty in theory. I was never meant to belong here, but somehow I am here with chakra. Weirdly enough, it feels natural since it has taken a toll on me, probably for the worse.
No more stress of running a company and having others breathe on the side of your neck, waiting till you step down to steal your position but now angrily thinking back to who could've taken it. Instead of having a nice, warm bed waiting for me, it's multiple crushed boxes that I take turns sleeping on with my sister and parents.
We couldn't afford nice things, I think as I pull open the main door to turn in taxes. The money I make by myself, I'll have to share with my family so we will all have the bare living minimum. I look around for the counter that says 'government pay.' And to do that, I have to go to the academy.
Hastily walking over there, I wait behind the long-haired, classy looking male. His hair is extremely memorizing, signaling he definitely is rich. Getting lost in his shadow as he turns around, the only thing I can do is stare off at him.
"Oh, little Rin! Have you ever come to hand in your mother's bills?" Facing my head towards the counter again, my grubby hands place the envelope onto the counter.
The tax lady looks slightly off at me not speaking, but she continues. "So," she starts going through them to see if everything is there, "Are you thinking about joining the academy?"
"Yes, I gotta." My voice rings out in the air. The middle-aged woman glances up for split second before going through the packet with the money.
"Are you? Well, nothing is better than protecting your village! I wish you the best of luck, Rin." She sets the envelope in the pile behind her. Her friendly and jolly gaze rests at me again and she lets out a big smile. "You're set to go, and make sure you tell your mother hi for me!"
Not acknowledging what she said, I turn and continue out the door towards the park, my errands, and chores done for today.
The two-minute stroll was nice, the green of Kohona standing out brightly with constant sounds of chattering. It made me a little bit happier since not everybody is suffering miserably like me.
I head towards the swings, the only thing to do besides playing on the playground. Luckily, a lot of people seem to be enjoying eating popsicles with the prices lowered for summer today at the market, rather than staying in the hot heat at the playground.
As a sigh falls from my lips, I dig through my grocery bag for a treat I secretly bought myself. It was only 10 cents too! A pretty good deal for some okayish bananas that you could cut the bad parts out.
I throw the peel to the ground and start biting out the brown parts.
My eyes glaze over the clearing, enjoying the last part of my errand day before I go and return to home sweet, Nohara home. Life was kinda decent here, at least I'm not dying before I'm thirty-two and I'm the oldest child this time around. The noise started to dwindle down from afar, signaling lunch break for the majority of people was ending, including mine because if I came home late again I'd surely be staying face first in a corner for two hours.
