The first day
They went to a house that reminded Dumbledore of a room in the leaky cauldron. Much cleaner. Obviously, but it definitely did not remind him of a home that a family lived in. He felt like it was built overnight, even though he thought that it would be impossible. The other thing that picked his interest was the fact that it was entirely built out of wood.
Shikamaru showed them their rooms. Even their beds were made of wood, and it seemed like it was the same type of wood too. This seemed to arouse even more suspicion in Dumbledore.
'Are all the houses in these areas built entirely out of wood? Even the beds?' asked Dumbledore, with a look that he thought would go as curiosity.
'Not always ', Shikamaru said without explaining much about it, ' here is the washroom. Refresh yourselves and come down for lunch '.
Dumbledore felt like he was cautious when he answered the question, and it seemed like a very short answer, as if to change the subject.
The lunch was wonderful. A massive hotpot had been prepared by Yoshina and had been kept on the boil, before they had left. After lunch, everybody got together to help with the cleaning.
' Mother, I have to go to work now. It might be late when I come home ', said Shikamaru.
' Okay, around what time will you be back? '' asked Yoshina.
' Not sure. There is a chance that I might have to stay the night. You sleep, do not wait for me. I might even have to stay with Choji’s or Naruto’s tonight ', he answered Yoshina, with a knowing look.
' Okay, here is a bento box that I packed for you ', said Yoshina, giving him a box wrapped in a yellow cloth with the same symbol as the one on Shikamaru's back.
' Thank you ', he said and left.
' Yoshina, how old is Shikamaru? ' asked Dumbledore.
' 16 years old. He will be 17 in a month ', answered Yoshina.
' He is already working? Where is he working? '' asked Minerva, surprised.
' Oh yes, he is training to be a councillor to the village leader ', she said proudly, ' reminds me of his father actually '. The last part was spoken so softly, that made Dumbledore question how he died.
'Now might not be the time to ask about the father. But I might be able to ask Shikamaru, when he comes back', thought Dumbledore.
After dinner that night, Dumbledore asked, ' Ms. Yoshina, would you like me to stay up until Shikamaru comes? '
' Dumbledore-san, there is no need for that at all. He probably will not come home until tomorrow morning. That is quite frequent, ever since he was 12 years old, when he graduated from the academy ', said Yoshina with a smile. Dumbledore could have sworn that she grimaced before answering.
' 12? ' asked Dumbledore, ' did he start training at such a young age? '
' No, no, he started his first job at that age ’.
‘ What? Why would he start a job of all things at that age? ’ asked Minerva.
‘ In this part of the world, students graduate as soon as they learn the necessary skills, which is usually at the age of 12/13. However, there are records of students graduating as young as 5 years old. Since then they start to work and earn for themselves. The way things work in these parts are quite different, from the wizard’s way. The shinobi start their training when they are extremely small, at about 3 or 4 years, or sometimes even younger, if their parents are starting their training. So the civilians also usually start their education at that age, in order to be competent with them '.
‘ But Yoshina-san, does that not destroy their childhood? ’ asked Minerva.
‘ Well, they do their education with people of similar ages. It is quite similar to yours, except for the fact that we start our education quite early and finish early. Just because they start education early does not mean that they do not have time to play. They are given plenty. Even after they start jobs, they have plenty of free time. It is simply just that, in these parts of the world, people are taught to take responsibility at a much earlier age than that of a normal wizarding lifestyle. That does not mean that they are deprived of childhood ’.
‘ But Yoshina-chan, you said, that Shikamaru is used to staying away from home until late into the night, and sometimes, there are times where he does not come home at all ’, questioned Minerva.
‘ Well, yeah, but they always tell me, when they stay the night away, beforehand. The jobs here involve a lot of travelling. So it is quite natural that they come home late, or stay away at night ’, explained Yoshina.
‘ That seems very messed up, if you ask me ’, said Minerva.
‘ That has always been the culture of these parts, from even before I came here . There is no point in criticising it, other than accepting it for what they are’.
Yoshina continued, ‘ now the reason, I explained all this, is because you might see kids doing what would seem to you as ‘inappropriate’ work for their age. During these instances, you cannot judge them nor criticise them. The people would likely be extremely offended by such things. ’
Dumbledore throughout the conversation, was carefully analysing certain things. It was now even more confirmed that Yoshina was more acquainted with shinobi than she had initially revealed. Furthermore, Dumbledore now had an added suspicion of either Yoshina’s husband was a shinobi or that Shikamaru is, was or is training to be shinobi. The facts that Yoshina had told seemed to be honest. Carefully constructed half-truths. Surprisingly though, it did not feel like she nor Shikamaru was lying throughout the day. Thus, the fact that he is training to be a shinobi seems to be false, as Yoshina said that he was training to be a councillor. He did not believe that Shikamaru, at that age, would be a shinobi already. Furthermore, the more Dumbledore thought about it, the husband had to have been a shinobi.
However, before Dumbledore could voice any of his theories, ‘ ahh, yes, before I forget, both of you please remember, that this village is under the shinobi alliance. Thus, shinobi can be roaming around the village randomly. You might recognize them, but there is a higher chance that you might not. So be careful not to offend anyone. Most importantly, adding on to the fact that you are foreign, you are the only two from the wizarding world after 3 years, you will be under constant watch. That has always been the case every time someone outside entered the village, no matter who they are, shinobi, civilian or wizard ’, warned Yoshina.
‘ Now let us go to sleep ’, said Yoshina.
Dumbledore knew that the conversation was over, and therefore went to bed with Minerva.