Stone Fruits

"Stone fruits are typically quite sweet. But don't bite too far - the pits contain cyanide."

"Why would something so unassuming be so deceptive?"

The day before school's summer break (a two week long break starting from the beginning of August), an official announcement was made to the citizens of Iwagakure. Proprietorships and small businesses were to be now administered by the central government. Management required the use of the civilian labor force.

"What for?" Momoka questioned at the dinner table. A few curious freckles sprinkled her nose and cheeks from the rare (but strong) bit of sunshine the city had been soaking up for the past few weeks.

Father scratched at his scruffy cheek and sighed. "You're a bright girl, Momo, but you're too young to understand right now."

She tried again, determined to understand. "Can you explain it to me now so I can think about it when I get older?"

Mother reached her arm across the low set table to ruffle her fluff of dark hair. "Well then, Momo-chan, it's just that our economy is in the middle of a... changing period. So Tsuchikage-sama is providing all the citizens to get used to the new rules."

As much as Momoka loved her parents, she hated how babied she was. Yes, she was a child, but that did not mean she didn't understand certain things. Things that revolved around businesses, markets, and governmental sciences. Her previous major in that Before life.

"That sounds weird," she instead commented, then scrunched her face at the mushrooms in the miso soup. Ew, fungi.

...

"So what's going on?" Deidara practically commanded. "A bunch of the shops of the Underground are closing, yeah. And a bunch of grey ninja are going around and setting up new signs! Ye - What about all the - the - the, uhh, the jobs for the civilians? Yeah, y'know?"

She did wonder how long it took for him to realize that.

His friend slouched up from the geography book she had all but slammed her face into. "Well," Momo started, "We used to be a market economy, or something like that. The Tsuchikage is changing it into a command economy plus more, so now a bunch of policies have changed."

Grey ninja? Did he mean the grey-garbed outfits denoting a ninja who worked in the central government office? The tsuchikage's office?

"What does that hafta do with your dad?"

Momo looked mournfully down at her book. "The vast majority of small business owners and others were laid off - even though I don't think that's supposed to be possible, since there's not really supposed to be a third party interfering with the owner's decisions. But that's why I said a command economy plus more."

Deidara's azure eyes went a bit glassy for a second while absorbing her words. And so went on another round of questions.

"So where is he gonna work now, yeah?"

That... Momo had been trying to get that out of her parents for the past few days. Her mother still had a job at the bakery because food and clothing stores hadn't been touched. Only businesses that provided services that weren't technically necessary for day to day life. So she was free game as soon as she got home, but her mother had been strangely tight lipped about it ever since the male Hirai left for "government" reasons a week ago. Now that her summer vacation and free time was ending soon, she was desperate for answers. Family finances in danger? Maybe? Possibly?

"Do you think that it hasta do with the mining thing?"

What.

"What mining thing?"

The blond jerked his head surreptitiously around, looking for eavesdroppers that weren't there since they were in the living room of a very normal apartment in an unsuspicious neighborhood. "You can't tell anyone this, yeah, but, uhh... I heard from Genji, whose older brother's a Genin, that on Kyoshu mountain there's lotsa something special like a really cool mining thing or something!"

Okay, interesting but that also gave rise to so many more questions. "That would mean..." I drafted in my head, "It has got to be very special and totally worth the village's time if they created a new labor force just for this."

Deidara bounded over his animal glossary (he was a studious kid, compared to what Momoka had thought, based on her thoughts on the Before series) and grabbed her hands. "D'ya think it could be gold? Or silver? Maybe it's LAVA!"

With an amused expression, she dropped her back against the floor and made a noise of nonchalance. "Eh, whatever. Doesn't concern our future quite yet. I'll just go into some other field, if privately owned smaller businesses are being dying."

The minute that left her mouth, she tensed up in regret. Now Deidara had that perfect opportunity to add in his two cents.

"Then you could just become a ninja, Momoka, yeah. Sounds cool, yeah? Huh?"

"Yeah, well, I don't have that innate ability you do with your chakra. Hell, I can't even sense any kind of energy in my core."

The boy huffed, blowing a chunk of hair to the side. "You shouldn't be cursing. Junko-sensei says it's not proper. And the ninja are coming in class on Monday! They'll tell you how cool it'll be for sure. Yeah, mhm."

Why on earth was she still fucking five. Even though Deidara was eloquent for his age, there were days when everyone ticked her off. Or maybe that was always, just passively.

"No means no," she reminded, recalling the phrase from a lifetime ago. A bit of an inappropriate comparison, since a pestering child should never be in the same field of disapproval as sexual harassment. Anyway.

The blond pouted, but resumed his reading.

...

Summer break went by way too fast, and soon enough, Momoka found herself back in the classroom, disinterested in all the dumbed down lessons. However, at ten o clock sharp, there was a sharp rattle to thick classrooms door, then two gruff looking men strutted in. The first one to enter was bald and of rather stocky build. The second one was of a leaner frame and had salt and pepper hair. They wore the standard dark red turtle neck kimono tunic and an on duty brown vest. She wasn't sure why the bald one only had one sleeve for his uniform, thinking the half and half design to have no real use in the battle field.

Aesthetics maybe, she mused.

To her right, Deidara was practically bouncing up and down from unbridled energy and excitement. The entire class quieted down, pencils dropping and textbooks set down.

Junko-sensei stepped out from the front, giving menacing glares to students who were on the verge of creating commotions.

The bald shinobi adjusted the Iwa hitae-ate, the shiny metal flashing into Momo's eyes. "Hello Class 1-C," he spoke with a raspy yet strong voice. "My name is Saito Daisuke. My comrade over there is Kamizuru Kozuki."

Kamizuru? She remembered a little bit from Before about bees and a conflict with the Aburame... or something.

"We are here today to talk with our future generation about the Will of Stone. Every single citizen of our country has it, but there are ways to improve of all of your desires to improve and innovate for Iwa. Useful jobs for our economy, bringing in trade, building relationships with our allies, but most of all..."

An ominous silence filled the room. Momoka looked uneasily at the rest of the captivated childrens' faces.

"Our line of protection and combat to protect our country from our enemies! That is to be a ninja! Ninja are the most respected and honored of our village. And to become a ninja... the Iwagakure Shinobi Academy is located in Sector 1. Emerald Academy will be completing a field trip to visit the Shinobi Academy to better your understanding of the facilities. We wish the best for all of you."

And the two ninja disappeared from the children's eyes with a puff of smoke.

Cue the excited squeals and screams. Momoka slammed her head against the desk, ignoring Deidara's palms slamming against her back and loud "did you see that!"s in her ear.

...

Short chapter, yeah, but at least there's an update. Of four years later. Anyway, I've been struggling with my chronic illness as of late, soo... Can't blame me, really. Bye!