The trio of Murakami, Hideki and Sora walked through the streets of Konoha in periodic silence with Hideki and Sora making comments at things every now and then, but Murakami remained unresponsive as he led the way.
Anyone would think he was being snobbish, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.
His deep and detached gaze gave him that disposition but he was currently wondering how best to appear in front of his closest peers.
He knew the importance of making friends and first impressions.
Although the war could cut their lives short, Murakami decided to believe that they would return and he could build a circle that could be of use within Konoha.
"We're here." Murakami paused at a junction and turned sharply to his left. Hideki and Sora, initially startled by his sudden words immediately recovered and followed along and was met with the view of a a building.
"Whoa. Murakami-kun, I thought you were an orphan!?" Hideki marvelled and said in his excitement only to catch himself and turn to Murakami. "S-sorry Murakami-kun, I-"
"It's alright," Murakami waved his hand. "No offence taken, and yes, I am indeed an orphan." He continued as they came to the balcony of the house.
"This is my sister's house," He said as he placed his hand on the wall and an imperceptible shimmer flashed across his palms and the door clicked open. "Welcome to my home. Make yourself comfortable."
Saying that, he walked into the house and it immediately lighted up in quick succession as soft hums rang out across the house.
Hideki and Sora looked a bit taken back for a moment but didn't think much of it and entered the house, but as soon as they did, they felt the air change.
"Huh?"
"Hmm."
Hideki and Sora felt it simultaneously then turned to eachother and saw the curiosity in the other's eyes before turning to Murakami who had already disappeared somewhere.
"You felt it too didn't you ?" Hideki asked in a deep voice which sounded funny considering his age.
Sora gave him a look then snorted and turned away. "If you want to act foolishly, don't pull me into your nonsense."
Hideki's expression shifted, then he snorted even louder. "You have no sense of theatrics, something is weird and I'm sure you definitely felt it."
"Then why ask me if you already know that I felt it?" Sora shot back.
"Huh? So-"
Knock Knock knock.
Three rhythmic sounds interrupted their short exchange causing them to pause and look at the door, then look back at each other, and just as they were about to comment on it, Murakami silently appeared.
"Don't worry, they're my guests." Murakami said as he walked past them heading for the door.
The two boys stood transfixed on the spot as Murakami opened the door.
"He-yo, Mu-chan." Aiko excitedly greeted with a peace sign as soon as she saw Murakami. Her gaze swept past Murakami seeing the two boys behind, "Oh? If it isn't the Hideki-kun and Sora."
Murakami didn't even get to return her greeting as she walked past him as she thought she owned the house.
"Sorry for her rash behaviour." One of the girls that came with Aiko hurriedly apologised but Murakami quickly waved her off.
" Think nothing of it. Aiko is like a sister to me." He said and bowed slightly. "I'm the one who should apologise to you and thank you as you take care of her."
"Humph, at least you know."
Murakami's gaze followed the sound and locked eyes with Kenji.
"Oh-ya? If it isn't Kenji." Murakami's expression lighted in genuine surprise. "I must say, I didn't notice you at all."
"You bastard!" Kenji's expression twisted slightly. "How dare you mock me?"
"Mock you?" Murakami asked with a genuinely curious face, "Why would I do such a foolish thing? If you truly hadn't spoken, I wouldn't have known you were there? There is no falsity in my words, yes?"
One of the girls chuckled at this point, diffusing the slightly tense atmosphere. "You two are funny, how long have you two been friends?"
"Friends!?" Kenji shouted, "With this fucker?"
"Kenji-kun, watch you language." The girl who apologised earlier rebuked Kenji with a stern expression which only made her appear cute.
"And you too, Murakami-kun, stop insulting Kenji-kun indirectly."
"And you are?" Instead of acknowledging her words, he asked a question.
"Yoshida Riko, she bowed in courtesy. "I'm currently in the same team as Aiko-chan and Kenji, who you're making fun of."
Murakami locked gaze with her for a while before he nodded.
He was trying to make an impression and to do that, he had to dumb himself to the level of reasoning kids his age reasoned.
He concluded that while he had indirectly insulted Kenji, it was a spat between boys and girls that shouldn't barge in to disrupt their rhythm.
That is why he wasn't going to acknowledge he was making fun of Kenji.
"Haruki Murakami is my name." He then gestured for them to come in.
Murakami closed the door behind them then followed them into the living and saw that as expected his sitting room wasn't going to hold 6 more individuals with it being congested.
Not to mention, he still had to come up with something that they all had to bond on, and the best place to do that was in his training ground.
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP
He clapped thrice in succession drawing all their attention to him. "How about we take this gathering to a more comfortable setting?"
"Oh! Now that you mention it, Mu-chan, I'm beginning to see how small your living room is." Aiko's voice came in response. "So where are we going? The training field out back?"
Murakami let out a small smile and nodded. "You're right Aiko-chan, why don't you show them the way while I take off what we'll eat for dinner."
"Sure thing." Aiko beamed happily and turned to the five others in the room, "Come on guys, I'm gonna show you the training ground of our class strongest."
"Tch, strongest? Murakami? Don't make me laugh." Kenji's voice rang out again but Aiko simply rolled her eyes at him and turned to leave.
"I don't have time for your nonsense now Kenji." She said, "Come on guys.
Everyone followed along, Kenji too although he did that with a pout.
As soon as he came out to the clearing, the sight that greeted was an inverted reality where everything was white, and just as he was still wondering where he was, he suddenly felt a heavy sensation on his chest and suddenly, he could feel the air grow thick.
'Wh-what is?' Kenji thought in growing horror that he couldn't do anything, but just as panic was about to set in, a soft hand tapped him on the shoulder.
"You okay, Kenji-kun?" Aiko's voice cut through but the only thing he could utter was.
"Huh."
He looked around and noticed that the others were in a similar but slightly better condition than his which means he was the last one to be brought back.
"Hmm, I'll take that as an affirmation then." Aiko replied with a relieved tone in her voice. "So? What do you all think? I bet you all felt it differently so what did you feel?"
…
…
Murakami was already hard at work in the kitchen methodically and elegantly preparing dishes over four burners at the same time.
Knock. Knock. Knock
Three rhythmic knocks broke his attention, but without even dwelling on it, adjusted the heat on all four burners and went to open the door.
As soon as he did, he was met with the view of Daichi and Katsuro, with a familiar blonde girl, a chubby fatty and four others he clearly recognised but didn't bother to actively interact with.
"I see you both made it," he greeted with a nod and smile as he saw them. Then addressing the group as a whole, he bowed and said. "Please, take care of them for me even if they get troublesome."
The chubby boy from the Akimichi clan laughed while patting Murakami on the shoulder. "What are you talking about, Murakami-kun. We are the ones who are to be happy to be taken care of by you tonight."
"Hmm?" Murakami tried to make sense of what he said but couldn't and just shook his head. The Akimichi and food…they are in an inseparable relationship.
"Please, do come in." Murakami smilingly welcomed them then said. "Daichi, why don't you pick up from where I left off in the kitchen while I get our friends here well accomodated."
"Yeah, of course. I'll take care of it, take your time." Daichi said seriously which caused Murakami to smile in appreciation.
Daichi was the only person he trusted to be in the kitchen with him. They had both worked in the kitchen with Hoshino for a good part of their childhood and Murakami knew that Daichi had a special talent in the kitchen.
"Don't be too serious Daichi, especially tonight." Murakami said calmly and Daichi nodded in understanding.
Whether he truly understood, Murakami didn't know nor did he bother to clarify.
Turning his attention back to the others, he smiled and said. "Follow me."
As soon as he reached the clearing at the, he noticed the familiar state of the Seal switch he had placed on the wall.
It was set to automatically activate once chakra was detected.
When a shinobi didn't actively control and suppress their chakra, any sensor type shinobi could identify you instantly by the 'hum' or 'wave' that surrounds them.
That was the property the seal took, as long as it sensed chakra, it automatically activated the technique program embedded within.
Murakami sighed and wondered how to go about explaining this to the first group that had just passed and then to the confused group that came with him?
He decided that since the first group had experienced it, this second batch should do so too.
This was the perfect opportunity to use this gathering for something interesting.
As soon as they crossed the threshold, Murakami observed a soft ripple emanating from the invisible seal into the mind of Katsuro and the others as they crossed the threshold.
He calmly passed but as soon as the others walked in, they didn't make it to five steps before they collapsed…or nearly collapsed.
Murakami counted the time before dispelling the genjutsu. He didn't know how the first group fared, but since Aiko was with them, he could only hope they weren't too shaken.
Katsuro managed to collect himself but seemed pretty much awake…the most awake Murakami had ever seen him.
"What was that, Murakami?" Katsuro asked as he tried to gather himself.
Murakami looked at him and smiled. "A nifty technique I came up with, don't you think?"
"Nifty my ass!" Katsuro raised his voice in annoyance. "I thought I was going to sink into the shadows and not make it out. Do you know how scary that was!?
Murakami paused and took in Katsuro's expression. For the first time since he knew Katsuro, this was the first time he had seen the Nara raise his voice.
"That must've been horrifying, I apologise." Murakami acknowledged the genius of his technique and apologized with a bow and did the same to the others.
"Oi! Don't you think you also owe us an apology too?" Just then, an irritating voice rang out from the side.
'Kenji.' Murakami thought in mild frustration as he turned to the earlier group and then bowed. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience the effects of my training ground caused, I didn't think you would be so weak as to be unable to dispel it."
Murakami transmitted the last part to Kenji alone and snickered.
Kenji's eyes shot open in anger. "You!"
He cried and pointed at Murakami only to see Murakami wearing a solemn expression, different from what he had just heard.
"Heh, you think playing the fool is going to help you?" Kenji sneered and turned to the others. "You all heard what he said, right? He thinks we are all weak, I'm sure you all have a thing or two to say about that."
He wore an excited smile as he imagined the humiliation the ever composed Murakami was going to go through for what he just said.
But…
"What are you apologising for Mu-chan? They were just too weak and couldn't break out from such a common illusion, why should you be apologising?" Aiko came with the earlier group and asked."And Kenji, what are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about? Didn't you hear what he just said?" Kenji retorted. "He just called us weak after ambushing us with a genjutsu."
"Murakami never said that." Katsuro immediately chimed in. "And we all just heard what Aiko said but aren't offended, it's indeed because we are weak that we fell under the genjutsu."
"Yeah…I didn't even feel any chakra fluctuation." The blond girl that came with Katsuro added.
The girls amongst them just nodded then all eyes were turned to Kenji.
"You…all…" Kenji clenched his teeth. "This and that are different. He was already apologising and I asked him to apologise to us too, but he didn't have to be rude about it."
"What Rude? And even if he was, who would apologise when you're killed under such a common genjutsu on the battlefield? Weakling." Aiko said disdainfully and stuck out her tongue at him.
"Oi! What do you mean by that, this was definitely not some common genjutsu." Sora, who had been quiet most of the time, felt a bit annoyed at the way Aiko called this genjutsu common.
Unlike the other, he was able to break out of the illusion but was unable to withstand the next level, so he knew that this was no common genjutsu.
"Humph, says another weakling. You may have broken the illusion but you didn't even last a second under the gravity." Aiko's disdain grew deeper as she spoke that Murakami felt he should step in.
"Don't be like that Aiko-chan, telling the weak that they are weak like that would make you look like a bad person." Murakami said in his attempt to stop Aiko, but his choice of words had the opposite effect.
"So you're acknowledging that we are weak?" One of the boys that came with Daichi asked to which Murakami nodded.
"We are all weaklings, or do you think you are stronger than the Sensei you met today?" Murakami looked him squarely in the eye.
The boy shook his head. "I don't know… I don't even know if it's possible."
"Exactly, now imagine that many Shinobi at our Sensei's capability out there…you tell me…are you weak?" He asked him, but didn't wait for a response and walked towards Aiko.
"Let me settle you guys in to be comfortable." He said and made a series of hand seals and slapped his hand to the ground.
As chakra pulsed the earth beneath them rumbled and to their amazement, a wide table made of earth rose up from the ground and 14 chairs followed suit.
"Phew." Murakami let out a breath as he stood straight. "You all make yourself comfortable. I'll be with you in a short while with food and drinks."
Then turning to Aiko, he smiled even deeper and said. "Make sure to be a good host, will you?"
Aiko felt a chill as she saw his smile widen and quickly nodded, any ideas she had were immediately discarded. It was never a good thing to challenge that chill up her spine when it came to Murakami.
Murakami then bowed slightly and turned, swiftly walking back into the house.