Ichiban gripped his fist by his side and grinned, his usual scowl nowhere to be seen.

Kuroda nodded with a determined smile, for the first time in a while, the emotions of both the boys were in sync.

"Since this is your first C-Rank mission, proceed with caution. Listen to your sensei's word and take care of each other, understood?" Hiruzen said, with a tired smile as he looked at Team Guy.

"""Yes!""" All three genin, including Aoki, voiced their agreement with a shout.

"Good." Hiruzen said, looking at Guy and nodding, communicating something to the Jonin that the Genin weren't able to pick up on.

Once the details of the mission were hashed out, the four exited the Hokage's room and split up, agreeing to meet an hour later at the village's gates once everything was prepared.

*****

"KURO! DID YOU PACK YOUR SHURIKEN?"

Kuroda was stuffing his bag with a knotted-together piece of rope when a shrill scream made him jump, almost knocking over the bag in the process.

"I GOT IT, MA!" He screamed from upstairs, hoping his mother would get the hint and stop screeching.

"EH? WHAT DID YOU SAY?" A voice shouted back.

"..."

Kuroda pretended not to have heard and continued packing his bags, ensuring that everything was in its place before he trudged downstairs, greeted with the visage of a large woman holding a spatula.

"Kuro, did you pack your Kunai? Lunch? Senbon?" His mother started rattling off checklist which only served to make the boy more nervous. He quickly calmed his mom down and assured her that everything was in order, however, he had to prove his claims by opening his bag up for the woman to check.

Only after she scoured through its contents was he free to leave, Kuroda broke free from his mom's worried goodbyes and teary farewell with a small smile.

*****

"Ichiban." A gruff voice called out to the boy.

Ichiban looked at his grandfather and nodded, the boarded windows of the room only allowed fragments of light to shine through, the two within were barely illuminated.

"Make your clan proud." His grandfather said in a croaky voice, reclining against an armchair while casting a small glance at Ichiban.

"I will grandfather," Ichiban promised, standing straight while bowing lightly at his grandfather's words.

The old man grunted in acknowledgement of Ichiban's claim and closed his eyes, sinking back into the chair and releasing a tired sigh. The young boy had nothing more to say, and exited the room, his heart full of complex emotions.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

As Ichiban exited his clan compound, he sent a short look to the largest building within its walls, it served to empower the clan, but to the boy, it was simply a testament to his troubles.

'Soon.' Ichiban promised himself.

*****

[AOKI POV]

"So we'll have to leave it for later, the day after tomorrow, same time?" I asked.

Yakumi nodded with a slightly annoyed face, we had promised to meet on the weekend for another spar but with the mission having sprung up on me, I couldn't follow through with my promise.

"So... what's the mission about?" Yakumi asked, staring off into the distance as he avoided my eyes. Our relationship had grown closer over time, my visits and helpful advice had warmed him up enough to ask me questions, a good thing too, as I was getting tired of being the only one trying to build a bridge between us.

"There's a merchant's son who got sick, my team has been tasked with transporting him to a nearby location where his group can pick him up." I said, careful to only give an outline of the mission with no details present, Hiruzen had stated the importance of secrecy sternly, even when in regards to a mission as "simple" as this one.

Yakumi hummed in response, walking by my side as we walked outside his garden and onto the streets of the Uchiha. The clan has all but recovered from its grief and, according to Yakumi, was functioning as normal.

'Right... of course it is.'

Almost every villager that walked past had their eye trained on me for a second too long. The clan's relationship with the village was fracturing by the second and as an outsider, I wasn't welcomed as warmly as I would've been in the past.

Once we reached the gate he bid me an awkward goodbye before hightailing it home, the boy's lack of friends and social competency had made it relatively easy to wear down the walls he had put up around him, it was more tiresome than difficult.

I made my way back home and packed everything needed for the mission, Hiruzen said it shouldn't take longer than three days to reach our destination and come back, but I prepared a week's worth of equipment just in case.

I couldn't help it... I was nervous.

Through the week of simple D-rank missions and training with Yakumi, I had almost settled into a relaxed flow while my plans began to work out one after the other, in fact, with the knowledge that Sasuke's staying back from school tomorrow I had painstakingly prepared a plan that would let me meet him again while getting closer to Yakumi. Unfortunately, this threw a wrench in the works.

'Things were bound to get fucked up soon, just be glad that it's only a mission' I reminded myself, using that thought to cope with having lost over an hour of planning.

Stepping out into the hot sun, I couldn't help but feel a small pressure on my heart. The moment I left these walls, I'd be exposing myself to people who would essentially be gods back on Earth. My Taijutsu is steadily getting better, but other than intense training, Guy hasn't taught me anything new. I need to do something and speed that process up.

Rasengan training has also been progressing smoothly, I woke up last night with a wet patch on my blanket as the balloon exploded, I seriously hope Hiruzen wasn't watching through his crystal ball when I stepped outta bed that day...

"Aoki! Over here!" A boisterous voice shouted from a while away.

Guy motioned over with a winning smile, the rest of my team were already waiting. I noticed that my genin-peers were much more fidgety than usual. Kuroda was checking the contents of his bag while Ichiban anxiously twirled a kunai around his finger, looking around a little as he did so.

"Today marks the beginning of your first mission outside the Leaf Village!" Guy said with an ear-splitting grin. The Jonin's excitement seemed to rub off on the other two as Kuroda and Ichiban both looked at him with a small smile, relaxing subconsciously.

Guy began to recount the mission details the Hokage had already given us, and although we had just listened to the briefing, all of us gave him our undivided attention.

"The first mission objective is to meet with the merchant's son who's now stationed at a small village nearby, once we meet up with him, our journey to the Land of Hotsprings should run smoothly" Guy said, taking out a map and tapping at a circled location with his index finger.

A flurry of excitement and worry coursed through me as I nodded along to the briefing.

"Alright. Everyone ready?" Guy said giving us all a once over.

"""YES!"""