Scene opens with soft sounds of running water, wind and insects ---- a peaceful riverside.
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The water whispered softly over smooth stones, catching flecks of early sunlight like shards of glass floating downstream. A breeze rolled off hills behind Konoha, gently and cool, nudging the long reeds along the bank into a slow , sleepy away.
Aki dangled his feet just above the river's edge, bare toes flexing occasionally as dragonfly hovered nearby, indecisive about where to land. His fishing rod leaned against his shoulder, held loosely in his small hand like an afterthought. He wasn't really focused on it. Not today.
The rock beneath him was flat and sun-warmed , moss-lined in places with little dips where rainwater had settled during last night's drizzle. His hair - long, soft and wavy - clung damply to back of his neck from the morning fog. He hadn't bothered tying up. The mist always made everything feel heavier, like the world still half-asleep.
Across him father- Hiroshi - crouched silently at the water's edge, a length of fishing line looped around his calloused fingers, a kunai gripped delicately between his teeth while he tied a complicated knot. Aki watched the way his fingers moved - precise, fast, but calm. That calmness Aki couldn't copy , even if he mimicked the motion.
Hiroshi was one of those adults who didn't talk unless meant it. And when he did, his words had this quiet rumble behind them - like distant thunder you didn't realize you'd been hearing until it stopped.
The air smelled like wet earth and wild mint. Somewhere deeper in the woods, a woodpecker tapped rhythmically against a dying tree. Closer frogs croaked from under the thick water reeds, lazy and unbothered.
Aki yawned and rested his cheeks on his shoulder, eyes half-lidded, still watching the dragonfly. It buzzed near his face, darted, hovered again. He reached for it slowly - not to catch it, just to see if it would land.
It didn't.
Instead, his fishing line jerked once .
He blinked.
"Oh", he murmured "I thinkI got a fish".
The rod wobbled. The dragonfly vanished.
Tjen nothing.
The line came up clean , the bait gone.
Aki signed.
"I was just being polite, " he muttered, settling the rod back down.
"He didn't have to steal it".
Hiroshi snorted - just once - and went back to tying the knot.