[Fuji Naoko]

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-  -  -  well, well, well -  -  -

---

It was Naoko’s first time away from Mizu no Kuni. The road itself had been something she couldn’t imagine doing so soon in her life. It took days but, finally, a large group of Krigakure shinobi and help from other places in Mizu no Kuni had arrived. On an international stage, the country was neutral and often served as home for negotiations so it was in everyone’s interests to maintain the place and their relations to it. If there was some personal sentiment involved in the aid missions, Naoko shared none of them.

The academy student would join a group of civilians upon arrival and later be escorted to one of the elemental zones. She and multiple others would be put on carriages as helpers from all countries rushed to salvage belongings, investigating the zones and, honestly, it was messy. Constant streams of people dispersing many ways and organisation was difficult. Arrival was slower than expected and multiple groups of guides would be stationed every kilometre sifting through victim, helper or just a curious soul.

After crouching in a wagon for a while and watching the new calamity with awe, Naoko would arrive at a flood zone. The ground beneath was muddy and all of them would quickly step into a shallow newly-formed lake that was the area around the flooded water zone. Some wooden pathways had been set up on stumps just above water level to help people not walk ankle deep or worse but they were plank-wide and slower to navigate so some people just trecked through the water.

The raven-haired student walked through the water over to a registration tent of sorts and was told to wait for the rest of her group – in this case just two people – to join an area and help distribute water.

*I wonder how Toru-sama is doing... maybe he’s already saved someone?* the girl would peer into space from behind her black bangs and wonder of her mentor. There was time to wait and she’d sway side to side lightly while fidgeting with her hands behind her back and clearly in her own little world.

---

TAG : Hyuuga Hinoe || WORDS : 000 || NOTES : 1/12

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Hyuuga Hinoe]

There was something to be had about a large scale disaster such as this bringing the nations together to work in unity, even if they hated it. Although Hinoe was not glad for the incredible devastation that had occurred in the Land of Hot Springs, she had been awestruck and quite a bit impressed with the way the shinobi villages had put aside differences, albeit sadly temporarily, to bring relief to the disaster area. It was encouraging to see that peace was a possibility even in this day and age when everyone regarded one another with a lot of suspicion.

As Hinoe hurried through the flooded area, she tried to guess the nationalities of those around, based on their attire alone, if they didn't have forehead protectors. Still, she could not dawdle around too long; there was likely someone waiting for her to show up. While she hoped the person would be from an allied village, Hinoe decided to try to be as open-minded as possible with whomever she was paired with. She did hope that, whatever their nationality, they would be amenable to cooperation.

Having discovered the registration tent, the Hyuuga strode in, and gave a slight bow in greeting. "Hyuuga Hinoe of Konohagakure, reporting for duty." There was a pale girl standing by. Perhaps that was her partner. Most of the tasks Hinoe was allowed to perform were usually just assistant roles, fit for Academy students. While she was older than the norm, the pale girl seemed to fall into the right category.

Fuji Naoko

[Fuji Naoko]

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-  -  -  well, well, well -  -  -

---

Her ears perked as the older girl introduced herself. Konoha? Feeling her heart skip a beat, the student hesitantly looked over and did a double take. Konoha shinobi truly look intimidating* Naoko thought while fidgeting with her fingers in front of her and nervously stepping side to side.

The girl only knew a few things: Konoha shinobi could look nice but were evil; people from Konoha had tried to kidnap the previous Mizukage’s child; Konoha shinobi attempted to assassinate the previous Mizukage and her teacher’s mother. Already, the black haired girl felt the hair at the back of her neck stand and hid even more behind her bangs. Perhaps they weren’t in the same group?

”Fuji Naoko, Hyuuga Hinoe, to the water pit.” a voice announced in the room and the Kirigakure student almost jumped from her skin. She hesitated for a second but then turned and left the tent to trek through the water to her post.

She would come to a dark spot in the water. It looked deeper and was probably some industrial construction before because the water looked clear. There were countless buckets getting placed on wooden platforms surrounding the round dark spot and they were full of buckets. The full ones were gathered quickly and empty ones delivered. It looked like the girls were supposed to give a breather to the couple people already scooping up water for some time. They slowly climbed out and Naoko would pull the string from the bow tied around her collar to tie up her long skirt and made her way into the depths. She was taller for her age so the deepest part only came up to her waist. The water was cold but nothing she couldn’t get used to. It was strange that it was freshwater, too. Somehow Naoko was used to saltwater surrounding everything.

She would start with the first empty bucket she could take from a platform, fill it and bring it back. Then on to the second…

---

TAG : Hyuuga Hinoe || WORDS : 000 || NOTES : 3/12

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Hyuuga Hinoe]

Hinoe tried to smile at the other girl, but the girl seemed nervous. Why? Was she shy, like Itagaki Mitsumi of Kumogakure? Or was this reticence borne more from hostility? It could be possible, because, after all, the relief missions in the Land of Hot Springs were being attended to by people from all the ninja villages that had any level of prestige. It was possible she was from a hostile nation. If that was the case, Hinoe would have to be careful how she interacted with this one. Even though she was still an Academy student, Hinoe understood that this was a case in which diplomacy was required.

The voice that called the two girls to their task came suddenly, but as Hinoe wasn't feeling particularly nervous, she was able to hide any startled responses on her end. Moving out silently with the girl whose name she now knew to be Fuji Naoko, Hinoe observed the water pit, and the task before them. It seemed relatively simple: fill empty buckets of water and place them on the platforms. Looked like there would be a lot of getting wet.

Hinoe got into the water pit and shivered involuntarily. That was colder than she had expected. But it was manageable. She filled the first bucket she laid her hands on and placed it on the platform from which she had gotten it, and took a second. "Fuji Naoko, yes? Pleased to meet you. Where are you from, might I ask?" the Hyuuga said, as she filled her second bucket. Hopefully, Naoko would be cordial.

Fuji Naoko

[Fuji Naoko]

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-  -  -  well, well, well -  -  -

---

The task at hand was simple. Fill a bucket, leave a bucket, and repeat the process until someone tells them to stop. The dark haired girl did just that. Her long hair was getting wet in the process and it was a little chilly but she would get used to it. Swooping a bucket in hand through the water in one smooth motion, she would lift it and prop it on a platform. Whenever a couple minutes passed, someone would come by on the wooden platforms and remove the full buckets to replace with a stack of empty ones. There was quite a lot of commotion further away but in the water pit were just the two students.

Naoko’s body froze when Hinoe spoke to her. She stopped mid movement and her shoulders hunched up. Already. Already the Konoha person was asking where she was from. Did the older girl somehow know Naoko was from a conflicting nation? ’What would Toru-sama do…’ she quickly thought of her mentor the Mizukage and a vision of an expressionless teenager barely acknowledging the situation came to mind.

The girl calmed her fast beating heart and relaxed her shoulders. If only for a moment, she would pretend to be like Toru (who was somewhere in the zones, too). Naoko turned her head to the side and just stated calmly: ”Kirigakure village.” she said in a lower matter-of-fact tone. It was nonchalant how she said it - like it was of no big consequence. On the inside, however, she was wondering if this meant they had to fight now, how could she escape being drowned by the other girl and how that might affect the mission.

---

TAG : Hyuuga Hinoe || WORDS : 000 || NOTES : 5/12

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Hyuuga Hinoe]

Hinoe noted the abrupt pause when she spoke to the girl known as Fuji Naoko. Her shoulders were hunched, almost as though expecting a blow; was she perhaps anticipating hostility? Thy Hyuuga began to suspect that her own suppositions about the girl were correct, that she was from a hostile nation. Navigating this would be tricky. While Hinoe was aware of the animosity between Konoha and some of the other ninja villages, she personally preferred it if there could be some level of cordiality between the villages.

The Hyuuga proceeded to continue working, even as she waited for an answer from the younger girl. Finally, the girl answered: she was from the Village Hidden in Mist. Hinoe had heard all sorts of things about Kirigakure, but the most common thing she had heard was that it was a village full of bloodthirsty sadists. On the one hand, she was slightly minded to defer to the things she had heard about the village. However, Hinoe was the type of person who would not treat people based merely on the rumors she had heard about them. Besides, what if the girl was reacting to her this way because unflattering things had been said about Konohagakure as well?

"Kirigakure, huh?" the Hyuuga said, making sure to keep her voice cheerful and a bit curious. "I personally would love it if I could visit there one day. You're the first person from Kirigakure whom I've met. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Naoko-chan." However the girl wanted to react to her was in Naoko's court, but Hinoe was hopeful that what she had heard about Kirigakure was merely false rumor.

Fuji Naoko

[Fuji Naoko]

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-  -  -  well, well, well -  -  -

---

They hadn’t started fighting yet. It felt like she didn’t even take a breath while waiting for the Konoha shinobi to respond. The anticipation of some grim outcome was making her heart race but she kept her nonchalant facade of Toru’s impersonation.

To her surprise, however, the girl - Hyuuga Hinoe - just said she’d like to visit. ”Eh?” Naoko’s character broke and she let go of the worry. The girl even called her Naoko-chan which no one ever did. Honestly, Naoko had expected some pejorative comment about Kirigakure a sentence in.

”There’s a lot of mist surrounding the area so we don’t get too much direct sunlight. So everyone’s kind of pale but it’s nice. There are more exciting cities in Mizu no Kuni, I think. Most people prefer Gengetsu” she explained like a young Mizu no Kuni encyclopedia and got back to filling up buckets. While unlikely that they would drain the area ever it was still nice to see the water help something else. Almost felt like Naoko was involved in something bigger that she could be proud of for the rest of her life.

”Umm…. What’s Konoha like?” she mumbled shyly and hid behind her bucket as she asked. Was it too forward to ask? What if her village was right and all Konoha people had fake smiles? Was this person even genuine? Who knew?

---

TAG : Hyuuga Hinoe || WORDS : 000 || NOTES : 7/12

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Hyuuga Hinoe]

Hinoe heard the surprised interjection by Naoko, as though the girl was not expecting her to express a desire to visit Mizu no Kuni. Perhaps it was simply rumors that Naoko had heard about Konoha, just as Hinoe had heard about Kiri. To Hinoe's own surprise, the previously silent girl suddenly reeled off a little info tidbit about the Land of Water. She had expected a gruff response, silence, or at the very worst, a veiled or overt insult. A smile played on the Hyuuga's features, though she continued to bail water and place full buckets on the platforms.

"Wow, you mean you have mist around for the entire year?" Hinoe asked in mild disbelief. Hi no Kuni certainly had mists as well, but they were often gone before mid-morning, thanks to the sun's prevalence over the aptly named Land of Fire. "It does sound dreamy and mysterious." The shy question about what Konoha was like was another surprising turn of events. Despite Naoko's initial reticence, it seemed the girl was also curious about other people and places, something which Hinoe took for a good sign. Those who showed no interest in other people and places tended to have, at best, social issues.

"Ah, Konoha is fun," the Hyuuga said honestly, with a hint of nostalgia in her voice. "Unlike your description of Kirigakure, the sun shines strongly, as expected of somewhere in Hi no Kuni. Since we are in a forest, it can be a little humid at times, but it's never really too stifling nor too hot, because of the amount of tree cover we have. There's enough sun to get you a good tan, though."

Fuji Naoko

[Fuji Naoko]

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-  -  -  well, well, well -  -  -

---

Naoko placed another bucket down and took a stack of them, this time, she flipped a sixth one into the tower of five she was already holding under her other arm and sat the stack bottom down in the water. While it wobbled, she would divide the six buckets into three stacks of two and leave them bottom down in the water to float around her. It took away the effort of getting a new bucket each time and, the girls had been at it for a little while now so her arms were getting a little tired.

Maybe the next half an hour or hour passed in silence as people would come up for buckets, thank them for their work and leave again. The girls must have gotten placed at a calm time and, while there might have been more interesting parts of the flood zone to take part in, someone had to do the boring bits as well.

The girl sighed and climbed on the platform to this time gather a stack of twenty buckets before slipping back into the pond and dividing them in couples to float around her once more.

”Hyuuga-san, does it snow in Konoha, too?” she’d ask after a long while of preparing and calming herself down. It was just so interesting. Naoko had never left the village yet so hearing about far away places was fascinating.

”What kind of animals are common there?”

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TAG : Hyuuga Hinoe || WORDS : 000 || NOTES : 9/12

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Hyuuga Hinoe]

The whole bucket filling endeavor was nothing short of a full body workout, as far as Hinoe was concerned. But it was, in a way, interesting, as she had someone to talk to, even though Naoko did not seem all too interested in speaking much. Hinoe suspected it was likely because she was shy, and also very probably because they were from nations which were not on the best of diplomatic terms with each other. But Naoko, despite her reservations, had still seemed willing to engage in discussion from time to time, and that was something Hinoe was grateful for.

For close to thirty minutes, though, nothing was said, as the two did their work of filling buckets from the water hole and placing them on the platforms where others would retrieve them. Hinoe had decided that she would not be doing the extra work of climbing out of the water hole to get empty buckets, and so she had taken to placing her full buckets on the rim of the platform, so that those who came with empty buckets would have to drop their buckets close to the rim, where Hinoe could reach them. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the Kirigakure girl climb out to retrieve buckets, then return, while wondering what she was thinking.

Then came the questions, which Hinoe was quite glad to answer. "Oh, it does, but Konoha, like much of the Land of Fire, has rather mild winters, so snowfalls are not common, but we have enough to not wonder when they come. Northward of Konoha, the winters can get colder, but I guess it's simply because it gets colder when one moves further north. As for animals, we mostly have forest creatures: deer, wild boar, foxes, wolves, many kinds of birds, oh and even more insects. I guess since Kirigakure is cold, it snows much in the winter, yes? And what kinds of creatures do you have there as well? Also, if you don't mind me asking, I was once told that Mizu no Kuni is a group of islands. Does Kirigakure have its own island?"

Fuji Naoko

[Fuji Naoko]

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-  -  -  well, well, well -  -  -

---

It was really interesting to listen about a new land. Naoko always thought they had tigers and pandas walking around in Hi no Kuni because of how much warmer it was but the country was big so maybe only parts of it were more exotic. ”It sounds like we have the same animals. A lot of sea lions, too. It snows quite heavily in wintertime so it's easy to get lost outside of the village. There are islands around a main landmass. Kind of like an octopus but the tentacles are the islands and the head is the main land. Kirigakure is on the mainland together with the capital of the country and many other places. We have a talking marshland, too, which is kind of cool. And a magical boar running around…” she kind of thought out loud more than anything else. ”I guess, Mizu no Kuni is a group of islands. But there is a really big island in the middle.” she said.

"It would be nice to visit Konoha one day, I guess..." a bittersweet sentence because it would probably never happen.

It had been two hours of nonstop refilling of buckets and Naoko was wet, heavy, and getting tired. The good part of being in a pond meant that most of her sweat got rinsed off, at least.

”Group S, Hyuuga and Fuji, get ready to swap out for your break.” one of the coordinators would tell them while passing by. Soon the girls would be relieved of duty and could notice the actual state of tired they were in. The camp provided a symbolic lunch of rice and two types of curry with some black tea and water.

It looked like they would be assigned to different parts of the area after their lunch break so, when done eating (Naoko only had some tea), the raven haired and pale ghostly girl would turn to bow towards Hinoe: ”Thank you for your hard work!” she said politely and would nervously scurry off to the next post which was, in her case, bottling the filtered water to deliver to the other zones.

-exit

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TAG : Hyuuga Hinoe || WORDS : 000 || NOTES : 9/12

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Hyuuga Hinoe]

It was interesting to hear that despite the differences in climes, Hi no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni weren't too different in terms of animals. Hinoe was sure that sea lions would be a rarity in the Land of Fire, though. The description of Mizu no Kuni as a big land mass surrounded by an archipelago of smaller islands was interesting. It made for an advantageous natural barrier, as the ocean would make approaching the mainland more difficult than if all was earth, and the smaller islands being positions on which Kirigakure could build watchtowers and observation posts.

"It would be nice if you could visit Konoha," Hinoe echoed, although, like Naoko, she wondered whether that would ever be a possibility. In any case, there was still much work to be done, and Hinoe kept scooping water until her entire body ached. Just as she was beginning to wonder if the exercise would ever end, one of the supervisors called on her and Naoko to prepare for break time. Gratefully, Hinoe climbed out of the water hole and dried herself. The meal of rice and curry was happily accepted, as the Hyuuga realized just how hungry she really was.

Eventually, break time came to an end, and Hinoe was assigned to a different spot. Returning Naoko's bow, the Hyuuga replied, "Thank you for yours, Naoko-chan! I hope we run into each other in the future." And then went Hinoe to her next task, which involved helping to load packs of bottled water onto carts for transportation to other places that needed them.

Fuji Naoko

MISSION COMPLETE