Chapter 4 - Thoughts in Motion: A Stranger Finds Help

“The soups are ready,” Akai called to his mother, as he gently replaced the lid on the last pot. It was the day of the Chunin Exam finals, and Akai’s entire family had risen early to set up for the breakfast rush. Since the finals would be starting at promptly 10:00 AM, many people were going to be grabbing breakfast in town while on their way to meet up with friends and get good seats, and Mina and Toramaru were not going to miss that chance for some extra revenue. The plan was that the family would all work the café until about 8:30, at which time Akai, Izumi, and Mikon would leave to find good seats at the stadium while Mina and Toramaru would remain at the café until about 9:30. The two parents would then go join their kids for the big event.
“Good,” said his mom, as she came running to check the pots herself, “it’s about 5:30 now, so we have a good three hours before you all leave for the stadium. Customers should start arriving soon, so be ready when they do.” With that she leaned over to check the soups and Akai knew he was dismissed, so he made his way through the surrounding tables to where his siblings were waiting.
“So, Akai, ready for the big event?” asked Mikon, as his little brother approached. He, like Akai and Izumi, wasn’t wearing his usual working clothes. Since, it was a special occasion, Mina and Toramaru had agreed that they could wear normal street clothes, and he had opted for a t-shirt, jacket, and jeans.
“I sure am,” Akai responded, as he looked over his own clothes. He had selected a pair of loose denim trousers and a black v-neck shirt. Along with them he had a sage colored over shirt, which he left unbuttoned, and his brown leather satchel. “I have my satchel, my info cards, my scrolls and writing utensils, and a water flask. I think I am set.”
“Likewise,” added Izumi. Being the most traditional of the siblings, she had chosen a simple green kimono with the red lotus of the Kajihana Clan pictured on the shoulders and back. It suited her very well.
“Well, now we just have to wait a few hours, then we can go down to the arena,” said Mikon, who was obviously the most excited. He could hardly keep his hands still.
“Excuse me,” said a rather gruff voice behind Mikon. The three siblings turned around, surprised to see a young woman, probably twenty-six or so, who had come up to them unnoticed. “Is this the Kajihana Soup Café?” she asked. Izumi was the quickest to respond.
“Yes ma’am, it is indeed.” The woman looked about for a moment then nodded her head, as if approving of the simple café.
“A friend of mine told me this would be a good place to get a bite to eat before the finals,” she said, running a hand through her shoulder length blond hair to remove a bit from her face, “I wanna know what you have.” Akai beat his sister to the punch this time.
“We serve three soups all the time, though the selection changes from day to day,” he told her politely. “This morning we are serving two kinds of ramen, Tonkotsu and Mango-Habanero, as well as Egg-Drop Soup. The available sizes are Snack, Meal, Couple, and Family Size.”
“I’m rather fond of the Tonkotsu Ramen, myself,” the woman decided as she slid onto a seat at the nearest table, “and I think a snack size will do for now. And a bottle of sake if you have any.”
“One snack-size Tonkotsu and one Sake, coming right up,” said Izumi happily as she turned to go and give the order to their mother. When she left, the two brothers remained silent, so it was this customer that started to try and make friendly conversation.
“So,” she said slowly, eyeing the two of them, “are you all going to see the exam finals today?” At this open invitation to converse, Mikon jumped for the chance, having never been one for sitting around doing nothing.
“Indeed we are,” he said, the excitement in his voice clearly noticeable, “it looks like there will be some good matches too, so I can hardly wait.”
“Yeah,” added Akai, now that his brother had blazed a trail for the conversation to follow, “there are some pretty tough shinobi that are competing too. I would not be surprised if several of them make chunin.”
“You two sound like you know a lot,” the woman noted, interested, “do you think you could help me out with a little problem I’ve got.” Surprised, the two boys looked at each other and nodded.
“What kind of problem?” asked Akai as he slid into the seat opposite her.
“A friend of mine has challenged me to a bet,” she said, “claiming that certain Genin will be promoted and others wont. My problem is that I know next to nothing about any of the Genin other than the ones from Konoha, so I’m not sure if I should take the bet or not.”
“Well if you want to know anything about today’s competitors,” interrupted Izumi as she returned with a small bowl and a bottle of liquor, “Akai, here, is the one to ask.” She set the bowl and bottle down on the table and motioned toward Akai.
“Really?” the woman asked, turning a curious eye toward the youngest sibling. Then, as if she had momentarily forgotten, she turned back to Izumi. “How much do I owe you?” She reached into a pocket in her green robe and removed a small money pouch as she asked.
“It will be 5 ryo for the soup and 10 for the Sake.”
“Wow,” the woman said as she handed a few bills to Izumi and put the pouch back into her pocket, “that’s actually a really good price.”
“Well, we do aim to please,” Izumi replied as she turned to bring the money back to the wagon. Before she left though, she nudged Akai in the shoulder. “I’ll tell Mom and Dad that you two are helping a customer so they don’t get angry.”
“Thanks, Izumi,” said Mikon, who hadn’t taken a seat yet for that very reason. As Izumi walked away, he slid into a seat next to Akai and turned to face their customer. “Now let’s see how we can help you, ma’am. Akai, pull out your cards.” Upon his brother’s request, Akai reached into his satchel and pulled out the deck of ninja info cards he had acquired for this Chunin Exam.
“Let us see,” Akai said to himself as he quickly thumbed through the cards to ensure they were in order. Then, to the woman he asked, “Are there any particular Genin you need to know about?”
“Well, the bet was that the Cloud Genin from Kumogakure would be more likely to be promoted than the Leaf Genin, so I guess I need to know about them.” She looked interested in hearing what Akai could tell her, and leaned in closer when he removed five of the cards from the deck.
“These are the Cloud and Leaf Genin that have made it here to the finals,” he said matter-of-factly as he laid the cards out on the table for the woman to see. “There are three from Konoha and two from Kumo, so at first glance it would seem like the Leaf Village has a better chance of having more be promoted.”
“Right,” the woman agreed, “they have an extra chance at getting a promotion because they have an extra person, I see that. But, I also can see from the stats shown here,” she indicated the stat grids in the lower right corner of each card, “that the Cloud genin are more versatile, and therefore more likely to have the qualities that the judges are looking for, right.”
“True, they are more versatile,” admitted Akai, “but since the judges are also looking at specialization and the specialist’s ability to adapt, versatility is not necessarily an advantage.”
“So are you saying that it would actually be smarter to go with Konoha just because of its numbers?” She seemed skeptical about that decision. “That doesn’t seem right.”
“Believe me or not,” Akai replied confidently, “but that is the smarter decision if you are only considering numbers and stats as factors.” This carefully worded comment caught the woman’s attention once again, and she set down the bottle which she had been about to take another swig from.
“What other factors would you consider, then?”
“The order of the matches,” Akai stated calmly, reaching into his satchel for something else.
“How so?”
“Well, if you look at these,” he said, laying out another three info cards and a printout of the match arrangements, “you can see that two of the Leaf genin will be facing considerably weaker opponents, statistically. That means that they will be less likely to get the chance to show their best, while both of the Cloud genin are relatively well matched to there opponents, meaning their fights will be good and they have a good chance to show what they are made of. This, when you consider that the Cloud and Leaf genin have statistically about the same chances of being promoted while they are at their best, means that the Cloud Village comes out ahead in the long run, since their genin have a better chance of showing their skills.” As Akai finished, the woman continued to stare at the data displayed on the table, as if she were tallying up everything the young man had said. After a few minutes of this, she looked up at him and smiled.
“You know, I never would have thought of that,” she said happily, “but it makes complete sense.”
“Yep, that’s Akai for you, ma’am,” said Mikon as he threw an arm around his brother, “he has a knack for seeing what others don’t.”
“I can tell. Thank you very much, young man,” she added, looking at Akai as she stood from the table. “Now I know how I can counter the Raikage’s bet.”
“Not a problem, ma’am,” said Mikon for Akai, when he didn’t respond immediately, “we were glad to help.” He then looked at his brother who had suddenly gasped as if in surprise. “You okay, Akai?” As soon as he finished asking, the three heard what they all recognized as Iruka’s voice.
“I thought I might find you here, Lady Tsunade.” Upon hearing those words, Akai immediately stood and bowed low, catching Mikon by surprise.
“Hey, what’s that about?” the older brother asked, not knowing why Akai had suddenly decided to bow to the woman he had just helped. What Akai said to the woman next caught him by complete surprise.
“Please forgive me for not recognizing you, Lady Hokage

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