Deforestation (Again)

Spoiler:

Kira made no rush to get to the village gets for this job. When he had intially taken on the mission, he was quite enthusiastic to be able to have a day where he would just get to swing an axe at trees all day. Not only would this pay a bit better than some of his previous work, but he looked at it as a form of training to improve his skill before he got around to buying a sword. He got up early in the morning and told his sister, and she had just looked at him slightly aghast. When he asked what was up, it was then that she reminded him about why they avoided there: zombies.

That took all the spring out of his step as he approached the village gates. It was about eight o'clock in the morning when he got there, and he noticed there was a man already waiting. What was surprising though was that there wasn't a shinobi headband or anything signifying he was a ninja - it was just a regular civilian. He looked to be maybe in his early forties with rough and tanned skin, a receding hairline, and a worn brown sleeveless shirt with shorts and straw sandals that looked ready to break.

The man took notice of him approaching and he had a look in his eyes that was distrustful. "I suppose you must be the shinobi that got sent" he called out with a clear lack of interest in his voice.

"Yeah, that's me" Kira replied back with just as much or less enthusiasm. "Kira Ishikawa, at your service."

The man gave him a puzzled look. "That's weird" he said. Kira looked confused. "Considering how you shinobi strut around all the time with your noses in the air, it's weird hearing you say the words 'at your service' like that." They both didn't say anything for a moment, and then the man scoffed and waved Kira over.

Just outside the gates around the corner, there was an axe leaning against it and there was a chestnut horse of about medium size but stocky with large hooves and a shaggy coat of hair. "In the past, they use to hire another recent graduate or two for this job" he said. "But it seems they wizened up and only hired one to cut while they pay for me and the horse to drag the fallen trees over to the lumber yard." Kira paused for a second as he registered that comment and realized that they were probably paying this man dirt cheap in comparison to himself to make it more economical. "Well, come on" he said with a beckoning wave of his arm. Kira grabbed the axe and followed behind him as they walked a short distance away from the gate.

The first tree in question wasn't very old but still big enough that it would be a noticable chore in order to cut it down. With a nod of approval from the man, Kira took up the axe and started to hack away at the tree. He tried to have a little bit of gusto in his work, but there was little to no joy possible. He could hear the sounds of the zombies not too far off in the distance, and there was an aura of irritation that the man gave off which made him uncomfortable and seemed to be more than just about the task at hand. Judging from his comment earlier, it seemed very easy to deduce that the man didn't like ninjas at all.

Minutes turned into an hour, one hour into two, two into three, and finally three into four. Bit by bit and piece by piece, he hacked off chunks of wood from the tree trunk until finally the tree was ready to star leaning over and snap, falling down to the ground. He took a quick look to make sure he hadn't gotten the attention of any of the zombies off in the distance while the old man brought his harnessed horse over and started to tie knots around the trunk and then attach them to the saddle. Just before he headed off to the lumber yard, he pointed about twenty feet away to another tree of similar size for Kira to get started on again.

Normally Kira would have taken the opportunity to grab lunch, but he wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible and be gone. It still didn't stop his stomach from growling, and his hands were sore and getting callussed from the strikes over and over again. His shoulders were sore too, but he took solace that he was getting a decent workout at the very least. It wasn't long before the old man was back over again by himself, having left his horse near the gate until it was needed again.
A few hours later and Kira was almost through the second tree. The whole time though, he could feel the gaze of the man resting on him but also looking off in the distance to where the zombies were. Finally getting tired of the awkwardness, Kira blurted, "I can tell you're not exactly a fan of ninja."

There was no surprise or astonishment from the man - not a discernable reaction from him. "Why would you expect me to be?" he asked. "You ninja are constantly fighting one another, which you may say is for the sake of everyone else, but is really just about fighting for your own power. Sometimes it's for your own personal power, and sometimes its for political power. At the end of the day though, we normal people are left to just try and scrape by while hoping we don't get caught in the crossfire."

While this may have shocked some shinobi who had been raised in households where it was the family trade for everyone, it wasn't like that at all for Kira. These were similar sentiments that he had grown up with learned from his sister. Their parents may have been shinobi, but after they died she learned what it was like to be powerless in a system that was based on power. He was almost through the tree and this was the point he needed to be careful for it toppling over, but his mind was almost completely gone as he remembered the times as a child when he had angered ninja at various times and almost gotten beat because they thought they could get away with it.

His mind was brought back to reality as he heard the loud snapping from the tree falling from its own weight and he jumped back just in time to miss it. The man once again started to set the ropes around the tree and then the saddle of the horse he brought over, but this time when they started off towards the lumber yard, Kira walked with them.

It was quiet at first, but then Kira finally spoke. "I know it probably doesn't mean much," he said with melancholy, "but I hate the system just as much as you. I feel like this village, as well as the world beyond it, has been at war so long that it's killed the soul of those who fight in and maintain it. I've seen the way that those with power abuse those who do not, and it fills me with anger and sadness at the same time. However, the only way that I see changing such a system is to become strong and rise to the top. That's why someday I'm going to become the Raikage and not just change this village, but this world too."

The old man looked at him with interest, but still didn't say anything as they finally got to the woodyard. He untied the ropes and coiled them up again to hang off the saddle as they made their way towards the gate again. Finally, when they were about fifteen feet from the gate, he stopped. "I can't say I believe that you're ever going to achieve what you just said" he commented. "However, it still makes me feel a little better that there's a shinobi in the village who feels that way."

It hurt a little not getting as much of a vote of confidence as he would have liked, but Kira would take what he could get. He put the axe down against the wall, and started to head back through the gate. He stopped himself and turned around to face the man one more time. "What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

The old man seemed hesitant at first, but finally answered: "Goemon."

Kira looked at Goemon with sullen but serious eyes. "I promise I won't forget you or today" he swore. "And I promise that I won't ever lose faith in what I said until the day I die." With that he gave a wave before he started to head back to the office again, the sun slowly dipping down towards dusk and throwing red across the sky.

Spoiler:

Approved.