Chapter 14 – Ramen-sensei
Kurenai didn’t expect Sango’s actions, it wasn’t like he didn’t do that before, but she wasn’t still used to it.
They returned to the living room and sat on the sofa as Sango inspected his new weapon and Kurenai placed a small box on the table, even that didn’t attract Sango’s attention as he was engrossed in the metallic lustre of the black knife.
Kurenai had to call him several times before he refocused his attention on her “Hmm?”, Looking at Kurenai he finally saw the small box on the table over. The box was neatly wrapped, there was a sweet scent emanating from it.
“What is that?” Asked Sango, ”I said I brought some gifts with me, didn’t I?” Smiled Kurenai as she spoke. She began to unwrap the gift, displaying multicoloured dumplings, or better called “Dango” (a Japanese dumping and sweet made from rice flour).
Sango admired the strange food, he has never eaten it, but he has read about it. He was a very curious about the unfamiliar food and his expression showed it, something Kurenai didn’t fail to catch on. Taking a wooden stick from inside the box, she pierced one of the spherical dumplings, a green coloured one and presented it to Sango. He looked at it for a second then took it from her, “Thank you”. Under Kurenai’s watching gaze, he bit into it and his face lightened, not because of the taste but more because of the texture, the springy, not too soft, not too firm texture was what made taking a bite so wonderful.
“This is wonderful!” Shouted Sango, Kurenai smiled seeing his genuine smile, she felt it was worth it going out of her way to buy these special Dango.
They ate happily while making light conversation, there was a warm atmosphere around the duo. “So, how is the book coming out?” Enquired Kurenai, she was aware of the book Sango was writing, he didn’t hide anything from her, well, less than he hid from most people. Sango stood up and walked to his desk and opened a drawer from where he removed a stack of papers, then he walked back to Kurenai while still munching on the dango. He sat back at his spot and passed the stock of papers to her.
She took the papers from his hands and admired the neat an orderly calligraphy, but even more praiseworthy was the content, she had no doubt it will be a great success.
“Is it completed?” Asked Kurenai while skimming through the stack of papers, Sango nodded with a smile, “But why is it signed as Ramen-sensei?” She didn’t understand that. Sango himself wasn’t sure about that, he needed an alias and he had a bad naming sense, so this was the outcome. He shrugged at her, having no good answer for her. She wanted to laugh but abstained herself from doing that.
“I will take this to the Hokage tomorrow, is that all right?” They spoke about this before so there was no problem at all, “I will be counting on you, Kurenai Big Sister.” She extended her arm and ruffled his turquoise hair.
The next day, Kurenai knocked on the Hokage’s office door with a thick envelope in her arms.
“Come in.” Right after the first knock a voice invited her in, without losing time she opened the door and enter the office.
The Hokage sat behind his desk, looking over some documents, when he saw who entered the office he placed the documents on the desk and looked at her with a smile.
“It is very unusual for you to come here on your own, to what I owe this pleasure?” He said to her, she wasn’t the type to come to him just to make conversation, so he was very curious about her reason for being here.
“I have to show you something.” She said while walking closer to the Hokage.
“Oh?” He looked at the thick envelope she had in her embrace.
“Has it anything to do with Sango?” He asked, suspecting Sango to have something to do with what Kurenai wanted to show him.
She placed the thick envelope on the Hokage’s desk and said, “This was written by Sango.”
“This was?” The Hokage took the envelope and opened it, then he removed the stock of papers from inside, he was already aware of his systematic writing style and of his unusual, or better called “monstrous” IQ, more so now after Iruka’s report, so he had a very serious expression while reading the pages, even so, his expression began to change to one of excitement, more so with every page he turned.
The content, while it had to be verified and tested, from what he had already read it would revolutionize the entire foundation of the basics of close quarters combat, and not only that, but it also introduces new training methods. No one looks down upon the basics, it is what determinates the future accomplishments of the person, that is why the children are taught the basics for many years before graduating from the Academy, excluding special cases where people graduated earlier than normal but even then they had to have mastered the basics, no one could skip them. With what was written on those pages, a new major change would sweep over the way they teach many things.
Seeing the awed expression on the Hokage’s face, Kurenai felt proud as if it was her who wrote the book, she herself had read the book several times while Sango wrote it, and those time she had the same expression as the Hokage right now, the book helped even her to improve her close quarters combat and basics despite her many years of experience.
Sango wanted to publish the book in Konohagakure in the beginning, then expand to the whole Konoha with time.
The next hours, Kurenai and the Hokage discussed what Sango wanted to do with the book, when he heard that Sango wanted to publish it in Konohagakure, he was surprised then worried of putting him in danger once he was known to be so talented by the other countries, but once Kurenai told him that he would publish under an alias and that Sango requested the Hokage’s help to maintain anonymity and in exchange the Hokage could distribute the book to his forces and schools while only covering the cost of production, he was very happy, his face looking years younger.
Sango knew he would lose some income on the short term, but this move would be much more beneficial on the long run. Now he can increase the influence and prominence of Ramen-sensei.