9 A Man Of Culture
Xander was sitting In front of his laptop with his eyes closed. He needed an idea for an animated scene that would make the company beg him to direct the anime.
The problem isn't that he doesn't have an idea, the problem is that he has too many.
Even if you take only the Naruto manga, he can animate the first Naruto Vs Sasuke, or Lee Vs Gara or even the first time Naruto used harem jutsu...
The point is there are too many scenes to choose from "what do you think scarlet?"
[After going through the logs, may I suggest using Lee's fight scene against Kimimaro]
"Oh, you mean drunk Lee right?"
[That's the one]
"It would be fun" Xander mumbled to himself. After a bit of time Xander looked up with a determined look "Let's do it"
---
*Weekend*
Xander decided to go to the publishing company himself as he wanted to make it clear that the anime will go his way, or no way.
'I'll be damned if I let so many fillers into the anime' Xander swore to himself
"Kenichi-sensei, welcome back" Yutake greeted the thirteen year old genius
To Yutake, Shirahama Kenichi is a pure genius. The manga Kenichi-sensei made was the pinnacle of both art and storytelling. Needless to say, He was a fan.
"Yo, Yutake-San" Xander greeted back, Yutake Hanmoto, his… handler… of sorts.
"They're waiting inside. Please follow me" Yutake gestured politely to Kenichi to follow him
Kenichi nodded and followed Yutake inside, carrying with him a bag with his laptop inside of it.
---
It didn't take long before Xander was in a meeting room with several men and women sitting in it. When Xander entered the room, they all got up and greeted him. After returning the greetings, Xander sat at the seat provided for him at the head of the table.
"Now that all the greetings are out of the way, should we get into it?" a somewhat gruff man on the side spoke with an equally gruff voice "we heard you can animate" he said looking Xander in the eye
Xander turned to Yutake "Do you have somewhere I can connect my laptop?"
Yutake nodded hurriedly and moved to the projector to set it up. Xander followed him and also started setting up his laptop.
As everything was ready, Xander began "the following is a three minute fight scene between, Rock Lee and Kimimaro. I was busy, so I only had one day to work on it. I apologise if it is… lacking" Xander technically didn't lie. He did animate this scene in one day, or two hours.
Xander ignored the ensemble's reaction, and sat down to watch the scene with the rest. It should be pointed out that the Naruto vs Sasuke fight is already over and published, now Xander is working on the training ark. He won't be skipping over it like the original Manga did… Damn Bastards.
The entire room of about a dozen or so people all watched the fight with silence. Though with his enhanced senses, Xander can hear a few gasps and snorts here and there.
When the show was over, Xander turned to the people with him in the room.
He was not disappointed.
Several people were looking at him with stars in their eyes and he could've sworn he saw yen symbols in one of them. He decided to ignore that and get to business.
Xander's conditions were simple:
1 – No trying to extend the story for no reason.
2 – He is responsible for the directing of the Anime.
3 – NO FILLER EPISODES
4 – Its ok to have a few laid back episodes between arks
5- He is directly involved in any alteration to the story.
6 – Just in case the first and third points weren't enough, there will be minimum episodes about the events, before the Kyuubi attack.
---
The collection of people gathered looked at Xander like he was wearing a clown costume. Why would he want to kill his own (and their) gold laying goose?
"Then what happens when it's over?" a middle aged woman asked "What are you going to do then?"
Xander looked at her like she was an idiot "Then I'll release another story" Xander spoke like it's the most obvious thing
Several in the group chuckled while shaking their head. The woman, However, was not amused "You think lightning strikes the same place twice?"
Before Xander can answer she continued "Naruto is one of a kind, if it ends, it will leave a large gap in the market, ready to be taken by any number of Naruto inspired Mangas"
Xander looked at the woman dead in the eyes; causing her to ever so slightly flinch "I don't like your tone" he spoke in a calm but cold voice
"Respect your elders, kid" the gruff man responded
"I show respect to those that show me respect" Xander spoke with the same tone "at the moment, you are not dealing with a KID; you are dealing with an artist that wants to protect his art, make sure to remember that" throughout his speech Xander didn't remove his eyes from the middle aged woman, who was sweeting by now
The gruff man wanted to respond "You…"
"Enough" but was interrupted by the man sitting on the opposite end of the table from Kenichi. The man looked old, like really, really old. He turned to Xander and ever so slightly bowed his head "I am sorry for my daughter's antics, she can be difficult to handle"
The people sitting at the table started to panic as 'the elder' bowed his head to a child.
Xander got up from his seat and bowed back to the elder "I apologise for losing my temper, I simply hate when people that know not about what they speak, speak like they are experts"
The old man looked at Xander with inquisitive eyes "in what way is my daughter's knowledge lacking, Kenichi-sensei?"
Xander smiled at the old man for his show of respect then answered "Culture"
The woman, who was red faced by then, became even more infuriated 'did he just called me uncultured?'
Noticing his daughter's anger, the old man hurriedly asked Kenichi to explain further, to which Xander was happy to oblige.
"Culture is the name given to the behaviour and general knowledge in a specific community" Xander began
"It is basically the cumulative thought of that community. This is also true for manga readers; they have their own community and culture as well" Xander explained and then turned to the woman "when was the last time you complained to your friends about a manga?" he asked
The woman paused for a moment. When was the last time she did that? In fact when was the last time she just read a manga?
Seeing she wasn't going to answer, Xander asked another question "when was the last time you spoke to a friend about your business?"
Seeing recognition in her eyes, Xander continued "you are fitting to manage a company as you are part of the business culture, but you have no right to argue about the creative rights of my creation as everyone in the culture knows that greed is the leading cause for turning great stories average"
"…"
Everyone was quiet. It was a hard to swallow pill for anyone to accept being lectured by a kid that barely started his teens.
"HAHAHAHA" the old man was laughing loudly "to think, I would get a lecture about culture, in my age and from a kid too. This is too funny"
After a couple minutes, the old man calmed down and wiped a tear from his eyes "I haven't laughed this much in thirty years" he then looked at Xander with amused eyes "you can do whatever you want, just draw good manga"
Xander smiled and reached into his laptop bag "I understand old man" he pulled a set of papers "this is a special edition of Naruto to be released individually" he then presented the papers to the old man himself "these are just for you" he spoke with mirth
The old man had his senses tingling. He looked at the first page and in it was blank with one thing written on it
[Naruto Beach Special]
The old man showed no reaction. He simply stood up and offered his hand "it's a pleasure Kenichi-sensei"
Xander grinned "as a man of culture, I welcome you to the culture old man"
It was then, that a new trend appeared in the business world. The people in the meeting didn't know what they were unleashing until it was too late. The internet took it and made it into an international sensation.
Culture
By Shirahama Kenichi
