As his sunglasses began slightly slipping down his face, Sakumo extended his index and middle fingers on his right hand to push them back up as his pinky latched onto his golden pen effortlessly, as he brought his hand back down, he thrust the pen back down onto the page of his journal, that rested comfortably on the palm and forearm of his left arm as his fingers grasped the top. The teenager was crouching perfectly and had been doing so for the last forty-five minutes without much movement, besides the occassional stratching of his pen to paper. It would seem that the Genin led quite the boring life if you were to have observed him today, but this was as exciting as life could get for the latter, for he had spent the last four hours walking around the villages park observing various insects. Right now he was concentrating on a butterfly, a beautifully coloured one that had vibrant shades of blue all over its wings. The creature was inches away from Sakumo as the Genin stayed crouched, stratching down notes about the butterflies colours and its behaviour.

It wasn't long after that when Sakumo heard distant crunching and rustling, it was clearly somebody approaching his location, he took in an unethuastic sigh as he kept crouching, he knew what was about to happen as the noises got closer. Sakumo watched until the butterfly he was observing fluttered away in a hurry as two figures pushed through the bush it was perched on. Sakumo didn't acknowledge the two for a moment as he watched the butterfly disappear through the thick trees that surrounded the area. Sakumo finally turned his head back to the bush, where his company had remained as he looked up since he had refused to stand as of yet. Book and pen still in hand, folded his left forearm over his right one as he placed them on his right knee, all while still crouching. The two figures hadn't spoke yet, Sakumo looked at them through his sunglasses, one of them was a large male with a very stern build, in a Jounin attire of course, his face was recognizable but no name could be put to the face, it wasn't until he looked at what stood in front of this man. A petite kunoichi, surely older than Sakumo but she didn't look a day over eighteen. The girls face, Sakumo knew. Though like her collegue, Sakumo could not think of a name off the top of his head, he knew exactly who they were though, just by the kunoichi's face. They were two of the Hokage's guards. She had quite a few and Sakumo knew the faces of them all, they were said to be the strongest of the strong, but Sakumo wasn't impressed, not yet.

“Can I help you?” The Genin asked curiously, his voice was smooth, yet plain. No emotion slipped from his lips. The kunoichi would return the favour as her cute little voice would do its best to hold its colour. “Sakumo Aburame?” She questioned. “Perhaps.” Sakumo replied without hesitation. “A yes or no answer please sir.” Sakumo titled his head at this response, trying to work out where this conversation was heading. With a quick flick of his wrists, Sakumo's book had opened back up as he brought pen to paper, stratching down some more notes, this time about the kunoichi and her gorilla. As he continued the conversation flowing, barely. “How did you find me?” Sakumo asked. Once again without hesistation the kunoichi would reply, she was very direct and Sakumo would make note of it in his journal. “Yimiko told us that if you weren't at either one of your residences, we would most likely find you here.” Sakumo paused for a moment, his pen coming to a hault mid-sentence. Yumiko? The Hokage's Assistant?” “Yes sir.” “What business does she want with me?” Sakumo asked as he finished off his sentence, closed his book and finally stood up, awaiting another swift answer from the girl.

“Yumiko wanted us to inform you that you have been invited to visit the Hokage's Residence tonight for dinner and now that we know we can leave you to your business, good day.” The kunoichi finished before disappearing back into the bushes with along with the speechless shinobi that accompanied her. Sakumo was curious to why he had been invited, in fact he hadn't even met the Second Hokage yet and suddenly he was invited to a dinner? None the less this wasn't the kind of invitation one could refuse. Sakumo sighed heavily yet again as he stuffed his pen and journal into his back pocket before heading North, towards his home. He headed to his mansion which happened to be just a street away from the Hokage's Residence. It was there he would shower and change his clothes, dressing in a completely black robe with gold trimmings, he considered this event to be semi-formal and thought it would be nice to look the part considering this would be the first time he met the new leader of his beloved village. It wasn't long before dawn struck, putting his pen and journal into the inner pocket of his robe before leaving his home, it didn't take him too long to walk down the now quiet streets of his village before reaching the Hokage's residence. The place was massive, he had been inside it before back when it was the First's, now it was the Second's and he wondered what kind of changes that had occurred to the inside, considering the Second was a female.

As approached the mansion he saw Yumiko standing out the front, gesturing the Aburame boy in with a warming smile. “Hello Yumiko, nice of you to invite me.” Sakumo said, expressing a happy emotion in the tone of his voice. “Oh Sakumo, the Second Hokage has been eager to meet you for quite a while and I couldn't think of a better way then tonight, I'll join you shortly, I just have to greet the other guests.” She said with a smile. Sakumo assumed correctly though, he wasn't the only one coming to see the Hokage tonight, as he walked up the large steps that lead up from the property to the building itself, he thought of how many people might be attending tonight but he didn't linger on the thought for very long for he had reached the front doors. Pushing them open took quite a large push since these doors weren't small or light, quite the opposite actually. Entering the lobby first he basked in the warmth of the mansions first room, noticing a new addition to his right it was a life sized statue of the First Hokage, clearly a sign of respect form the Second, he approached the statue and appreciated it for a few moments before proceeding down the famous golden hallways, following his ears since he could hear noises in the distance he observed all the marvelous paintings down the hallway, all new additions. It seemed the Second Hokage was quite interested in artistic treasures. Finally the Genin reached the kitchen, he didn't bother looking at his surroundings just yet, his eyes fixated on the beautiful and young Second Hokage. He had seen photos of her, he'd been in her presence but standing this close to her was breathtaking. He cleared his throat for a moment which got the Hokage's attention. He was about to get even closer to her as he approached moving closer to her location across the large open kitchen.

“Lady Hokage. Sakumo Aburame, a pleasure to meet you.” he said with a warm smile and a perfectly timed bow. He had left it at this and this only, not uttering another word until the Hokage would decide to speak back to him, since he didn't want to enter her manor and bombard her with small talk, he would appreciate the night and its longivity for meeting this amazing kunoichi was something the Genin wished to do for some time now.

With a back pack stuck to his back and several shopping bags tied on to his hands, Shazamaru quickly went to the shop, next door to the one he previously was in. He was looking for some kind of special dessert which the Nara eat for every festival. It seemed to be a very hard one to find as, he had been in several shops with no luck, even though he did buy other stuff for the big festival which consisted of decorations, which was just for his bedroom, and also he was able to pick up his new clothes which he had the Nara symbol stitched on the torso of it. Upon coming out of the store, Shazamaru turned his head slightly so he could see the shop owner "Thank you" he actually said this because they had the dessert that he had been looking for.

When turning his head back to the front, two large shadows was in his way. The shadows were blocking their face's so it was quite hard to identify them, "Nara, Shazamaru?" one muttered, this was quite weird for him, is he in trouble? "Indeed" "Good, you have been invited by the Hokage to attend her mansion for dinner" before Shazamaru could say anything more, the two men where already disappearing into the excited crowd. After that the young Nara made his way through the crowd, and began to set off back home. 'This would be a perfect time to use my new clothes' he thought with a very big simple smile on his face. Arriving at his own house, he walked in and placed all of the bags he had collected on the table. No one was home so he left a simple note by the bags, which would say about him going to the Hokage's mansion. Hopefully his parents wont make a big deal about it, but then again he will be wishing for a miracle that would never come true. His dad would make the biggest fuss, as he always talked to Shazamaru about his first time seeing the Hokage face to face, quite frankly it got boring after a while.

Now that he was ready, Shazamaru was wearing a dark grey, short sleeved t-shirt with the Nara symbol on the front. Then for the first time ever he was wearing black trousers with his normal ninja sandals but they were also black this time. Now heading North towards the mansion, he was quite eager to see the Hokage face to face for the first time, many children were running around, excited about the festival, as any one should, it is always a good festival with many activities going on. One activity he will be playing with his family, will be shongi in the dark and also one including shadows, the shadows one is new to him as he is now old enough and can use shadow manipulation. Arriving at the mansion, Yumiko was stading at the entrance to welcome him in "Ahh Yumiko, thank you for the invite" "Hello Shazamaru, it is good that you could attend" "I couldn't let the Hokage down" "Thats good and if you could go to the kitchen now please". She faced her hand towards the stairs which lead to the Hokage, not wanting to question anything he simply started to ascend the stairs. Now he was at the top, he looked behind him and saw Yumiko no where. 'Looks like im not going to be alone'.

Walking down the corridors, it seemed that the Hokage had something for art. Maybe it was just paintings or just all art, like models etc. The place was very nicely decorated, with many things through out the hall. Shazamaru arrived at the kitchen, but before entering he peeked his head through, left, right, standing there was the Hokage, with all of her beauty. Stepping in, he smiled "Hello Hokage-sama". He then noticed that another person was in the kitchen as well, he simply smiled at the other person, as he did not want to seem rude towards the Hokage. But before anything else happened, Shazamaru began to look around him to see how good the kitchen was, obviously it was going to be good but, this will be the only time he is going to be in here so he took every moment to see everything that he could.

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Sakumo's breaths deepened as the Hokage responded to his greeting, feeling like he was under a spell as her memorizing words reached his ears. It didn't take him long to realize why she said the pleasure was all hers. Not only would have the Nidaime heard of Sakumo's accomplishment during the war, she also knew Sakumo's father in their years rising through the ranks, even though Sakumo's father was a bit older than Lady Etsu her abilities were almost unmatched, which is why she was placed in a unit with Sakumo's dad. With this past relationship in mind, surely the Hokage knew not only of Sakumo's glory during the war, but his everlasting pain. As Hokage, it was her duty to know of all the casualities, but Sakumo began to ponder on what the Hokage had felt when hearing about the passing of Sakumo's family, since she knew Sakumo's parents and even his older brother. The Aburame studied her face through his sunglasses to see if he could pick up any emotions just by looking at Sakumo, but there was nothing negative, which Sakumo had expected. Even if she did feel something, she wouldn't allow it to be shown, especially when more guests were on their way.


The third Genin's footsteps approached almost mere seconds after the Nara's entry, almost as if each person was scheduled to arrive just after the last one had greeted the Hokage. These footsteps were approached by a second set, which broke Sakumo's train of thought? Was it two more guests arriving at once? As the figures emerged, a shorter blue haired boy stood in the kitchens entrance, soon followed by Yumiko. The blue haired lad awkwardly made his way into the center of the kitchen without a word as Yumiko informed the Hokage that all the guests had arrived. Surely the Hokage had known this but the gesture was a polite one none the less, although it may have been manditory, Sakumo did not know. But he now knew one thing for sure, there were only two others guests, tallying the total to three, excluding Yumiko as it wasn't made clear whether she was here for dinner too.


But it seemed the answer to that question would soon follow. Sakumo who was standing the furthest away, since he had distanced himself as each person entered, giving them all substanstial personal space despite the kitchens already overwhelming size. The Aburame found himself closer to the large dining room behind him as opposed to the kitchen. Having a clear view of everything, Sakumo was well aware of the signaling nod the Nidaime had directed towards her assistant, which resulted in a split second exit from her collegue. It seemed like the two Genin hadn't completely acknowledged that Yumiko's presence was no more, but Sakumo certainly had he had been examing everything in the room from the moment he entered, especially the people who inhabited it. He questions if the Nara had actually realized though, since most of them were usually very perceptive, the latter seemed more fixated on the actual kitchen than the people, and as for the blue haired kid, he hadn't even come to a stop from his entry into the room to realize the kunoichi who had accompanied him had disappeared, or did he? Sakumo had no idea.


Finally, Etsu spoke, greeting her guests as a whole this time as her humbling tone echoed lightly off the kitchens walls. Mentioning festival cooking, Sakumo realized why they were here immediately, they practically volunteered to cater the event, without even knowing about it. How clever. Despite smiling and chuckling on the inside, Sakumo's face remained expressionless as the Hokage quickly debriefed the three about the kitchen, its tools and where to find them; as if they were preparing for a mission. In a certain light, I guess thats exactly what they were doing. Surely there would be no payment at this end of this night though, besides praise from the villages leader, a full belly and maybe even some new friendships. The Hokage finally directed the boys to wash their hands and take a seat at each one of the stations. Knowing he was about to get his hands dirty, after washing them of course he would ensure his jacket would not suffer the same consequences, so he decided to remove it revealing his black business shirt in all its glory. With the jacket now in his hands he began folding it with making it perfectly symmetrical as he journeyed back a few more steps into the dining room, placing it over the back of one of the Hokage's exquisite wooden chairs as he came back into the kitchen and walked all the way over to the tap, applying a fair portion of soap before scrubbing them thoroughly under the luke warm water, bringing them up to his face to examine their cleaniness before ripping off some paper towel, drying his hands before placing it in the almost empty bin besides the tap.


Finally making it to the large red marble counter and sitting at the last available station which was to the far right, furthest from the Hokage. Of course, Sakumo was the last to take his seat, which let both the other Genin jump at the opportunity to sit next to the Hokage, but who would blame them, this kind of thing didn't happen often. Before even glancing at the recipe sheet, merely by seeing all the ingredients on display it became apparent to Sakumo exactly what they were going to be making today, something almost everybody loved: rice balls. Sakumo would finally begin to read the recipe, although he already had it down pat knowing the method to rice balls before the night had begun, since he made them at home a lot, his mother taught him how to make the most delightful and delicious rice balls. Sakumo would wait for the Hokage's instructions before handling any of the foods or utensils, and it seemed the other Genin had the same idea in mind.

After a few seconds of Shazamaru and the others being in the presence of the Hokage, it seemed that the third and final set of footsteps were coming down the hall right now. The Nara could not wait to see the other genin who will be joining himself and the other genin who was right next to him. It seemed to Shazamaru that the genin next to him was actually part of the Aburame clan, his reason were that the genin seemed to be wearing the signature of all Aburame and that was blocking their eyes from sight by using glasses or goggles. Also he dressed in a very weird manner, this was nothing to do from which clan the boy was from, but it did say something about his personality.

After analyzing the Aburame, he turned his attention to the Hokage. It seemed that she was very kind to others but she would not be a push over. Slowly looking up and down her, it was quite hard to see her physical appearance due to her outfit. According to Shazamaru's knowledge, the Hokage did not have anything to do with his family nor did it seem like that she knew who his family was, it would seem that Shazamaru would have to make bonds to bring them nearer, hopefully making a friendship maybe, it would be a weird one but hopefully work. However Shazamaru did not need to analyze her as much as any other person as many people knew about the Hokage, also everyone knew she was strong or she would not be the top ninja.

This only took a minute of the Nara's time as he could analyze very quickly without having a head ache. Turning to face the second genin coming in, his blue hair lightened the room some how, it was kind of weird but it made sense. Behind the boy, Yimiko came in. Looking back and forth to the Hokage and Yimiko, Shazamaru could see that they were talking, but not out loud by signalling some how. Probably because they have been together for a very long time. By this time Yimiko disappeared and left all three genin. Once Yimiko was gone, the Hokage came back and began to talk about what we will be making, it was rice balls. She then required everyone to wash their hands, Shazamaru walked over to the taps and washed his hands. He then dried his hands with a few paper towels, which he then threw in the bin.

He now turned around, seeing that the Aburame put his robe on a chair and the blue haired kid was waiting to use the taps. Shazamaru began to walk towards the seating area, Shazamaru settled for going in the middle as he always liked sitting in between two people, even if they were boys. Looking down at the piece of paper with the recipe on, this was going to be hard for himself as he had never cooked before. Rolling up his sleeves, he gently scooped his hair to one side, he did not want to get it messy or get food in it. 'Hopefully she will be giving out some sort of protection against the food.

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Once all the boys were seated the Hokage began as she spoke with a warm and inviting tone. Sakumo knew what to do and although he listened to his superior talk, he wasted no time in getting started. He hadn't wasted time in watching what his associates were doing, he immediately got to work placing a large quantity of rice into his saucespan as the water began to boil, stirring it occassionally to ensure that all the rice was absorbing the water and getting cooked to perfection. Finally the Genin would reduce the heat which would allow the rice to simmer. Knowing he had some time to do what he pleased during this process, he decided to move back to his desk as the Hokage had mentioned somebodys name, Shazamaru. Turning his head to see who the Hokage was addressing, Sakumo watched the Nara move to the Nidaime. Sakumo had a full name now, and from what he witnessed next he could tell that the latter was a Suiton user much like the Hokage herself.


Sakumo quickly swivelled back in his chair so he was once again facing the marble bench, reaching to his back pocket he flicked his journal out of his pocket and moved it to his front, placing it down to the table as he pushed the end of his pen causing the tip to reveal itself as he pressed it upon a fresh page, he began writing down the boys name, Shazamaru Nara followed by what details he had collected so far, such as the fact that he was a water user and what vibe the Aburame had gotten about the Nara's personality. With pen still pushed up against paper, he looked over to the third Genin who hadn't really stood out as of yet, in fact he hadn't even opened his mouth. Tricky, Sakumo had nothing on this boy yet. The Aburame latter wasn't one to get physical for no reason but for some reason he wanted to see what this boy was capable of. Knowing Shazamaru was a Nara wasn't nearly as intriguing, he already had predicted how he would strategize himself in battle and what techniques he'd use. But this blue-haired boy that Sakumo knew nothing about as of it was going to be the real puzzle. As his sunglasses slipped from his nose once more, Sakumo readjusted them as he fixated himself back onto his writing, finishing up what notes he had for now before tucking it back into his back pocket. After this he'd get back up to check on his rice to ensure it was undergoing the correct processes and the water wasn't too hot, he had to make sure it would all be absorbed after all.

It didn't take long for the social banter to begin, even if it was just to break the ice. Of course the person to do so would be none other than the Hokage, her friendly tone however wasn't as apparent as it had been with previous words, her question seemed suspicious, but only because of the way she said it, almost with some form of lingering hostility. But that really make sense in Sakumo's mind. What Etsu wanted to know, was how each of the boys had helped rebuild Konohagakure no Sato so far. Only a few seconds transpired before the first latter went to speak, and it certainly wasn't Sakumo, nor was it Shazamaru. It was still the nameless blue-haired shinobi who was distant from Sakumo still. As the boy began to answer, Sakumo opened his ears to the boys words, absorbing every last one of them, since the Aburame was still checking and proceeding with the cooking methods of his rice, he quickly scurried back to his seat and flicked out his book just as the boy had finished his sentence. It took the boy a while to finish his sentence, since Sakumo hadn't looked at the boy as he spoke he could only listen and from what the shaded shinobi of the Aburame clan come to notice was some sort of slow stutter in the boys soft voice. Thinking the boy might have had some sort of speech impediment was of course Sakumo's first guess but once he made it to his seat and glanced at the boy once more, he could almost see the nerves dripping from the boys expression. He seemed to be quite socially awkward so perhaps he was just intimidated with the company, or perhaps Sakumo's first assumption was correct, he did not know. All he knew is what assessments, vibes and words he got from the latter was going straight into his journal, which Sakumo whipped back out effortlessly as he flicked back to his page and filled it with more information.

It would be made clear to those in the room that Sakumo wasn't willing to speak yet which allowed Shazamaru to make the assumption that he'd be free to talk next, which he took advantage of without wasting any time, though as Sakumo shot him a quick look from behind his sunglasses it seemed the Nara was still more interested in cooking than participating in the social side of this rare honour of being invited to the Hokage's residence. Much like what he had done with the boy beforehand, Sakumo wrote down what Shazamaru had said, though he didn't really specify on what he exactly helped with. Both the Genin had spoken however, which meant it only left Sakumo. Closing his page and leaving it on the desk as he folded his hands over the black leather cover, his pen still being firmly grasping in amongst the neat stack of the boys phalanges. Taking in everything he had heard, the boys accolades weren't all that great, though it was still great that they were working to rebuild the leaf village none the less, even in the short time they had to accomplish what they already had, Sakumo wasn't one to show boat. He considered answering the Hokage's question in full, but his instinct kicked in. "I'm not one to brag about my exploits or accomplishments." His voice showed no signs of emotion, it was as boring and mono-toned as it could possibly be. His head dropped as he looked down to his lap, waiting to hear what the Hokage had to say to Sakumo, or the boys as a whole; hoping he wouldn't be scolded for his lack of a genuine response.