From branch to branch. They were flying through the thick greenery of trees.
Shino and Kiba, and Akamaru, were heading out of the village as one team to retrieve Hinata’s wedding gift. Soon enough, they’d already put the distance of one mountain between them and Konoha.
Kiba was wearing a jacket over the slightly improved Konoha vest. It was a crudely designed jacket, with fur on the inside. Shino wore his favourite long coat over his own vest, and had raised the hood attached to it over his head.
This was their usual attire for missions.
In other words, they were clothes that perfectly suited Team Eight’s Last Mission.
The improved Konoha vests no longer had the double pouches for scrolls that used to be on both sides of the chest, favouring ease of movement over anything else.
What was surprising was that they were lighter than the old vests, but more durable. Such a thing would’ve been unthinkable during the old days. It was an amazing sign of progress in technology. It really made you feel aware that time was passing. The village and people and things as well, they were all changing one by one.
Thinking that he’d reached an age where he could feel that times were changing made Shino feel a little sad. And then he thought about the next generation of Konoha, which made him think of Mirai. Which made him think of what Mirai said.
“Do I…really look that old…?” Shino spoke without thinking.
Kiba looked over his shoulder at him in mid-air. Akamaru had gone ahead of them, so it was only them two leaping across the trees. In a way, they almost looked like they were flying in mid-air. They chose this method of transport over running on the ground because it was faster. With every leap, their surroundings blurred and were quickly left behind. For a while, they’d moved in silence, until Kiba noticed what Shino had said.