Having completed the 3 missions, the group returned to Konoha on the evening of the following day.

Mieko asked, "Will we be going on a mission tomorrow?"

Teru said, "I think it'll be better if we take a day's break. Otherwise, the constant travel might wear us down."

Fujin agreed, "Yeah. Let's have a day's break between missions. We can have a longer break if the mission is tiring or if someone gets injured."

Hoka agreed with Fujin.

Mieko said, "Alright. Let's meet at noon…"

As she spoke, her eyes landed on Fujin. She corrected herself, "No! Let's meet 30 minutes before noon on the day after tomorrow outside the Mission center."

Fujin's left eye twitched on seeing how she changed the time after looking at him. He thought, 'Well, it doesn't really make a difference to me. It'll be the same if you show up 15-20 minutes before the decided time.'

The group left. Fujin was flickering to his home when he noticed, 'Hmm? Someone's following me.'

He immediately began sensing and saw who was following, 'Why is she chasing after me?'

He stopped moving. A few seconds later Mieko appeared.

Fujin asked, "What's up?"

Mieko asked while breathing slightly heavily, "Do you have to run at this speed to your home?"

Fujin replied, "Not really. Just saves some time. Anyways, why did you follow me?"

Mieko began a bit fidgety. She said, "Well, I never thanked you properly for saving my life. I thought about how I should thank you properly but couldn't think of anything. So I…"

Fujin interrupted her saying, "I already said that you don't need to thank me. We are teammates. I got your back and you got mine."

Mieko was about to nod in agreement but suddenly stopped as she realized, 'Wait, did I ever have to save him? No, I have never seen his life ever be at stake!'

She said, "That's all good, but I still want to thank you. I asked my mother how I should thank you and she suggested that I treat you to dinner."

Fujin was surprised. He asked, "What did she say?"

Mieko replied, "That I treat you for dinner."

Fujin's left eye twitched once again. He thought, 'Is her mother trying to set us up? Did she find out about dango and wanted to get revenge on me or something?'

Seeing that Fujin wasn't speaking, Mieko got upset and asked, "What's the issue? I'm treating you to a free dinner. Just come."

Fujin was about to say no, but hearing what Mieko said, he thought, 'Well, if she puts it that way, then how do I logically say no?'

Fujin said, "I am not a fan of eating dango for dinner."

Mieko complained, "Hey, who said I eat dango for dinner? I wanted to go to that Sushi restaurant."

Fujin sighed in his mind, 'Leave it, I'll agree. It will be annoying if she tries to find more ways to thank me if I keep refusing.'

He said, "Alright. Let's go."

Mieko cheered upon hearing him agree. She said, "Great, follow me."

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She walked in front of Fujin. Though Fujin couldn't see, a blush appeared on her face.

Fujin followed thinking, 'Never thought I'd go on a date at 11 in this world. Though to be honest, I never thought I'd go on any date at all. Oh well, since I am on one, I might as well enjoy it.'

En route, Mieko tried making small talk with Fujin. Fujin replied, but there wasn't much to talk about. After all, Fujin's life in this world was very monotonous. He didn't have a life outside of being a ninja.

After many failed attempts of finding a common topic to talk about, the duo reached the restaurant. While ordering, they finally found a common topic to talk about. The topic was 'Food'.

While eating, the two talked about all the delicious foods they came across outside Konoha when they were on rank B missions. Fujin mainly talked about the noodles from the Land of Noodles while Mieko talked about an array of sweets! The two chatted for over an hour while enjoying sushi.

By the time they left, it was very dark. Fujin said, "I'll drop you home."

Mieko asked, "Alright."

The two walked to the Uchiha clan compound. Fujin walked with her to the entrance before saying goodbyes. As he watched her leave, Fujin sighed, 'She has a crush on me. I guess it happened when I saved her life.'

Fujin turned around and began walking home. He sighed again, 'Why does life have to keep getting complicated?'

Over the next month, their team completed 19 rank B missions! They chose every mission very carefully. As a result, all the missions were completed with extreme ease. Fujin, Mieko and Hoka already had very strong teamwork. Teru blended in with ease resulting in even more combination jutsus. Due to completing missions together, their bond also got stronger.

On one of the rest days, while Fujin was training his body to get used to stronger electric shocks, he heard the bell ring. He stopped training and sensed who rang the bell. Fujin thought, 'Oof, so much stuff happened that I completely forgot about them.'

He sweatdropped a bit thinking, 'For some reason, I'm a bit worried about my future subordinates now.'

He created a Shadow Clone and continued training. The clone went out and greeted the visitors. He opened the door and saw Daisuke and the other 4 orphans standing with him.

Daisuke immediately greeted Fujin, "Hey Fujin. How have you been?"

Fujin's clone replied, "Good. It's good to see you guys again."

Daisuke replied, "We tried visiting you 2 days ago, but it looks like you were on a mission."

Fujin's clone nodded, "Yeah, I returned last night. Anyways, have you completed the Leaf training exercise?"

Daisuke replied, "Yup. That's why we wanted to visit you."

Fujin's clone thought for a bit, 'It's just over a month and a half since I asked them to do it. Isn't it a bit too fast?'

However, he soon realized, 'No, they have been using chakra for a lot longer than we were back in 1st and 2nd years in the academy. So their speed makes sense.'

Fujin's clone exited the home while asking, "All 5 of you can keep the leaf on for over an hour?"

Suddenly, he noticed them getting a bit nervous. Daisuke said, "Well, 4 of us can. Buncho is still a bit short. He can stick the leaf for 48 minutes. But exams are coming close. We only have around 3 months left. So we couldn't wait any longer."

Fujin's clone said, "It's fine. 48 is decent as well. Your next task is to learn how to climb trees with only your feet."

His words confused them. Tatsuya asked, "What do you mean by just our feet?"

Fujin's clone walked towards a tree and said, "Like this."

He began walking on the tree. All 5 students were surprised at his action and got excited to do it themselves. After all, this was infinitely more fun than meditating with a leaf stuck on your head.

Fujin's clone said, "To be able to do this, you have to concentrate chakra on your feet. And your chakra has to be the right amount. If it's low, then your foot won't stick to the tree. If it is high, then you will damage the tree and be pushed away."

Fujin's clone got off the tree and said, "Now you guys try it."

Immediately, all 5 tried climbing the tree. 2 seconds later, all 5 fell down. Fujin's clone chuckled at that sight. He said, "This isn't as easy as it looks. So keep practicing until you can climb properly. Once you do, you won't have any issues in mastering those 3 jutsus needed for the graduation exam."

Fujin's words surprised them again. Bunjiro asked, "Will we be able to do all 3 jutsus easily?"

Fujin's clone replied, "Well, you will still need to train. But learning it will become very easy."

Daisuke excitedly said, "Alright! Thank You Fujin!"

Fujin's clone replied, "No worries. You guys can continue training in the tree climbing exercise. Once you can do it flawlessly, you can come back to me. Also, unlike the leaf concentration exercise, you can't leave this one halfway."

Everyone said, "Don't worry, we will climb to the top of the tree!"

Fujin's clone nodded and said, "Good. See you guys later."

They said their goodbyes and left. Fujin continued his training feeling better about his capabilities to teach his future subordinates.

Fujin's squad continued missions as usual for another week. When they returned from their last mission, Mieko received shocking news after she went home.

She went home in a cheerful mood. However, on entering her home, she saw that her parents were dejected and serious.

She asked, "Mom, why are you sad?"

Her mother looked at her. She wondered how she should deliver the news. After a minute of silence, she sighed and said, "Shisui is dead. He committed suicide."

Mieko was shocked.