Aisuru koto de tsuyoku naru koto, shinjiru koto de norikireru koto.
I become strong by loving, I make it through by believing.


When Miku was finished at the bath houses, she had to rush back home to get changed into her ninja attire before her mission.
Her ninja attire consisted of a short white kimono, that just covered her thighs, with black shorts underneath. Her obi was very short, to avoid getting caught on something, and was a beautiful red colour. Her kimono sleeves were short as well, to avoid getting in the way during training, but they were also detachable and Miku wore it without sleeves when she was out with her squad.
Miku was surprised her obi's bright red colour didn't clash with her hair's blue colour, but somehow they worked well together. Unsure of what she should do with her hair, the fear of getting caught on something or by someone got the best of her and she decided on typing it up in a high ponytail.
She wasn't sure what she should do with her hitai-ate, she didn't like the feeling of it on her forehead, and she couldn't find anywhere else to tie it, so she just decided to use it as a head-band for now, until she found a more creative spot to put it.
The fear of dangling sleeves, obi's or loose hair getting tangled up in something = eliminated.

Miku had to run as fast as her legs could take her, because she had overslept by 20 minutes and was terrified of being late. When she arrived at the gates of Konoha, she wasn't overly surprised to see just Sasuke there waiting for her. Miku preoccupied herself by playing with a ladybug she found on a nearby tree, while Sasuke stood there with his eyes closed, hands in his pockets. Even though they only had to wait an hour for Kakashi-sensei to finally arrive, it was a very awkward hour because neither genin spoke a word to one another. They wouldn't even look in each other's direction.
"Sorry I'm late. Gai tied me to my bed while I was sleeping as a desperate act at keeping my squad from completing the mission that he had originally wanted for his squad.. anyways, let's get moving, don't wanna be late." He explained, walking passed them and through the gates.
Sasuke and Miku looked at one another with a look that read "Can you believe this guy?"

About midway through the forest, Sasuke turned to begin a conversation with Miku."Are you busy later?" He asked, barely any emotion in his voice.
Miku looked up at Sasuke. "What.. what do you mean? No, no I'm not busy. Why?" She stuttered a bit trying to get her sentence out. He never used to intimidate her like this, it was just a result from what happened lastnight. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Why must you ask so many questions?" He asked irritated. Miku lowered her eyes to the ground, trying not to look so pathetic in front of Sasuke. He realized he was being rude to her again and after letting out a deep sigh he apologized.
"Sorry. I was just wondering, if you'd like to train with me when we get back."He suggested, not taking his eyes off the road ahead.
"Train.. with me?" Miku repeated. Then she remembered how mad Sasuke had gotten the last time she answered a question with a question. "I mean.. yeah, that would be great. But, why me?"
She wasn't trying to be annoying, she really was curious. He had his pick of any genin in Konoha to train with, and he chose her? She was quite possibly the weakest of all the 9 rookies.
"Well, we're on the same team. I don't know the other genin well enough to approach them, if I had to train with Naruto I would sooner kill him than train with him and you can use fire jutsu just like I can. I wanted to test my skills on you." He explained, giving Miku a handsome smirk. It was probably only meant to be a simple, friendly smirk, but it ended up looking like something more.
Miku had never been attracted to Sasuke before. I mean, sure she thought he was attractive, because he obviously was, but she never had any sort of romantic feelings towards him. She thought of him as only a friend, if she could even call them friends.
However, when he had shot her that smirk, for a split second, she felt just like one of his fangirls must feel whenever he looks at them. She had to avert her gaze from his to hide the blush that was creeping onto her face.
'What are you doing?' She mentally scolded herself. 'He is handsome.. I don't think he would like another addition to the Sasuke Fan Club so I should avoid liking him at all costs..'
Sasuke was staring at Miku, trying to figure out why she looked so nervous, and so scared around him all the time. She always looked nervous, like she expected someone to jump out with a knife and murder her at any moment, but when she was around Sasuke it was almost like she expected him to be the one to jump out and stab her.
Was he really that intimidating? Or was it simply because he was so cold to everyone, including her, that she was uncomfortable around him?
When Miku realized Sasuke was still staring at her, she assumed it was because he had seen her blush and now thought she was a total nut-case. She decided it was best to just smile and act as if nothing happened.
And that's what she did, she looked up at Sasuke and shot him a smile before tripping and stumbling on a rock.
He had never seen Miku smile before. She was usually always frowning, and if she did smile it was hardly noticable. This smile seemed almost genuine, and even the great, emotionless Sasuke Uchiha had to admit she looked better when she smiled.
He thought it was funny when she tripped, and managed to catch her before she did a face-plant.

About 15 minutes later, Sasuke and Miku had fallen into conversation with one another, comparing jutsu and fighting styles. Kakashi was walking leisurely ahead of them, his face buried in his book.
'Oh this is getting good, hehe.' Kakashi thought. 'I can't wait to hear about what he will do to her nex-' His thoughts were interrupted by a tree.
It was close to 9am by now, and because of the cool weather all the trees had orange, gold, yellow, or brown leaves and were all covered in a light frost. This one tree, had bright luscious green leaves and stood proudly as if the cold weather had never affected it.
"Hmm.. something seems off." He said out loud, barely out of ear-shot of his two genin. When they had asked him what he said he claimed he actually said "Pine smell aloft." which caused their faces to contort in confusion.
'I can't risk worrying them now. Besides, it's rare that you see Sasuke Uchiha so deep in a conversation with another person, especially with a female.' He thought, pointing his eyes down at his book to make it seem like he was reading. In reality, he was scanning his surroundings.
By now, Sasuke was officially convinced that his sensei was insane.
Literally.
He's always late for no reason and had the worlds worst excuses. Today's excuse, was by-far the worst one yet. On top of that he's been grinning to himself like a fool for the past hour, talking about pine smells while engaging in numerous conversations with himself. He reminded Sasuke of an older, lazier version of Naruto.
Miku was having a lovely conversation with Sasuke. She actually managed to drop her hands to her sides and walk comfortable, instead of clutching them at her chest. She was very surprised at how human he was treating her, and even though it made her happy to have a conversation with somebody without making herself look crazy, she was also worried that he was only putting on an act or simply trying to pull a fast one on her.
It was a strange thought, him suddenly wanting to talk to Miku like this, especially when he paid her no more attention than a bee does to a butterfly when they pass one another in a field. Was he up to something cruel?
She wanted to ask him about it, but she was scared he would see her as crazy and stop talking to her altogether.
Even if he was only faking kind-ness, Miku liked having somebody to talk to.

The tree, as it turned out, was actually Naruto in disguise. He had snuck away from the hospital, leaving a note of course so they wouldn't freak out over his absence, and then silently followed his sensei and team mates into the forest. His plan was to jump in and aid them during battle, to act like a hero and to totally show Sasuke up, but after hours of walking Naruto got bored and decided to mess with their heads, turning into tree's that didn't belong, or animals that shouldn't be there.
This time, he was a giant snake.
He was lurking nearby, getting ready to lash out and scare Sasuke but Miku noticed him first and let out a piercing shriek so loud, it wouldn't be surprising if she destroyed Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei's hearing completely,
As it turns out, Miku is terribly afraid of snakes. When she was no older than 4, some of her older cousins had gotten together and played a cruel trick on her, by pretending they wanted to play but really they were leading her to a giant pit of snakes they had found some time ago.
One of them pushed Miku into the pit of snakes. They were only about the length a kitchen knife, and even though they weren't poisonous in any way, they still became startled and started biting her all over.
They had wanted to scare her so bad she wet herself, and had even made a bet about it, but instead of wetting herself like they had hoped, Miku had a seizure.
Once Sasuke had caught sight of the snake, he went into angry-Uchiha mode and leaped into the forest, and after using a fireball jutsu had burned the snake a good deal. However, instead of bursting into flames and dying, the snake vanished in a 'poof' of smoke only to re-appear as a crispy Naruto.
"Hey Sasuke! What's the big idea?!" He yelled, flailing his arms all over. "You could have killed me!"
"Me?! Are you an idiot? Were you trying to kill us?" Sasuke yelled, grabbing Naruto harshly by the collar of his shirt and shaking him violently. "You, are a total idot."
Nobody was paying any attention to Miku. Sasuke and Naruto were screaming in each other's faces while Kakashi-sensei stood in the background and watched incased things got too physical.
She was standing there stunned, skin as white as a ghost, her heartbeat racing far too fast to be considered normal by anyone, and she was breathing as if she just ran from Konoha to Suna and back without stopping.
'It was just Naruto.' she tried to assure herself, urging her heart to settle down. 'No cause for alarm.'
But her blood felt as if it had been turned to ice and she couldn't seem to calm down.
By now Sasuke and Naruto were ready to fight each other to the death, and this is when Kakashi-sensei stepped in to break the two apart.
"You're no good to us if you're both dead." He said, holding Naruto back with one hand and Sasuke with his foot.
"Hn, loser." Sasuke scoffed, turning away from his team mate. Naruto started yelling more threats and insults in Sasuke's direction, but he wasn't paying him any attention. He had caught sight of Miku, standing in her frozen form and grew concerned for his team mate.
"Hey. It was just Naruto." He said. He probably should have at least tried to sound comforting, or at least cheerful, but because he was Sasuke he just sounded bored and emotionless. Miku interpreted that as him scolding her for being such a coward.
She still felt pretty spooked from the whole encounter, but to make a good impression she smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, okay."


"So where is this bandit hideout?" Naruto asked, munching on some uncooked ramen he brought along for the ride.
"Somewheres," Kakashi-sensei said, turning the page of his book.
Naruto glared at his sensei before turning around and striking up a conversation with himself.
They had decided to rest up for the night. Nobody knew where they were going, only Kakashi-sensei did. Naruto wasn't even sure there were any bandits in the area, Sasuke couldn't care less as long as he got to punch somebody, and Miku was secretly hoping there were no bandits. She wanted to avoid conflict as much as possible.
Kakashi-sensei was stretched out on a tree branch, right above where his genin were sitting. Not only did he have a perfect view of his squad from above, he could also see the surrounding area clearly. The moonlight also fell perfectly on this branch lighting up the pages of his book, making it eaiser for him to read.
Naruto was now in the middle of a full-blown argument with himself over which types of ramen he prefers, while Sasuke had made a fire and sat down beside it, trying his hardest to tone out the world.
"-I keep telling you, tonkotsu ramen is better than miso ramen. It is not you idiot! Pork ramen beats all. I don't know, beef ramen is pretty good too..."
Sasuke wanted to face-palm right then and there. Not face-palm himself mind you, but rather face-palm Naruto to get him to shut his mouth.
He looked over at Miku, who was sitting a distance away from them against a rock. She was hidden by the shadows, but Sasuke knew it was her from the blue glow of her hair.
Even though Miku was freezing cold, and had wanted nothing more than to sit by the nice warm fire with her team mates, she convinced herself that it was better if she sat away from them. She had grown accustomed to being alone. Naruto and Sasuke had also grown up with Sakura, while Miku was always there, just never really noticed.
Part of her felt guilty, having passed while Sakura did not. She had a feeling that Sasuke and Naruto would rather have Sakura as a team-mate than Miku.
"You can come sit by us you know." Kakashi-sensei said, suddenly appearing beside Miku.
"Kakashi-sensei!" She squeaked, clutching her chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack..."
Kakashi-sensei let out some sort of a mix between a laugh and a chuckle and then turned a page in his book. "We're not going to hurt you."
She developed a sudden interest in her feet. "I feel out-of-place, sensei."
"Why is that?" He asked, not lifting his eyes from the page.
"I don't know.. I grew up with these two boys but yet, at the same time I didn't. Neither one of them even knew I was alive until just a few weeks ago. Sakura has known them forever, they would be happier with her on the team instead of me." She said, pulling her knees into her chest.
"I see now." Kakashi-sensei said, turning another page of his book. "You feel bad because you, a stranger, passed while Sakura, their friend, did not. You feel as though Naruto and Sasuke will grow up to become great friends while you'll always be that awkward girl standing in the background..."
He had hit the nail on the head. He was smarter than he appeared to be.
"Don't worry about it too much. "He said, ruffling her hair with his free hand. "You three have more in common than you think."

After a few more minutes of coaxing, Kakashi-sensei had finally convinced Miku to come join the rest of her squad over by the fire.
Kakashi-sensei resumed his original spot stretched out on the tree branch above them, while Miku took the spot between Sasuke and Naruto.
They all sat in silence for almost half an hour before Kakashi grew impatient.
'Bond damn you, bond...' He thought, hoping one of them would suddenly get the urge to bond with the other two. Naturally, nothing happened so Kakashi had decided to take matters into his own hands.
"You three should talk about your families." Kakashi-sensei called out from above them. "Bond I say, bond!"
All three of them suddenly grew nervous, nobody wanted to talk about their pasts.
The sadness weighed all three of them down so much, it was as if the earth herself were trying to pull them into the ground. They were perfectly fine talking about their likes, dislikes, hobbies, or dreams for the future, but their past? That was a depressing topic.
"Well." Naruto began, deciding to be the one to break the ice. "I never knew my family. My mother and father were both killed by the 9-tailed fox demon. So I guess I can't really say much about mine..."
Miku felt a sudden wave of sadness wash over her. She knew what it was like to have a family and lose them, but she couldn't imagine never knowing who your family was to begin with. She now had a whole new respect for Naruto.
As much as Sasuke had wanted to keep his past a secret from everybody, including his team mates, Naruto's story had made him feel obligated to share his as well.
"My family was murdered." He said, throwing some twigs into the fire. "My entire clan was assassinated by... someone. The one who killed them, said he did it for power, to make himself stronger.. he had left me alive so that I could become a strong ninja and then take him on in the future..."
His story was mostly true, but some parts he left out while others he added. He wasn't comfortable telling them that his older brother has been the one to murder his family, and he really didn't want to reveal that the only reason he was left alive was so that he could avenge everybody.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had brief, but painful stories about their families. Miku's story was a lot longer than that, but nowheres near as heart-breaking.
"What about you, Miku?" Naruto asked, staring up at her with bright blue eyes.
"My family was all assassinated or killed in action." She said, pulling her knees into her chest. "We were once a big clan, but after a while it was just the weaker members of my clan; my grandfather, my mother and my father, my three cousins, my aunt and myself. There was hope to restore and strengthen our clan, but my grandfather grew ill and passed away, while two of my cousins were killed in action. My surviving cousin ran away only to be tracked down and murdered by my father, as running away from the clan is thought to be dishonourable. My mother was murdered during a mission, leaving just me, my father and my aunt. Over time my father grew extremely depressed, due to the loss of my mother and threw himself on his own sword. This meant my aunt could leave and not have to worry about anybody, besides me, coming after her. I was only 12 when it happened, so I didn't really do much to stop her.."
Nobody wanted to talk after this. All three of them had shared their stories, and for the first time squad 7 felt like they had a connection to one another.
They had all lost their families.


The next morning, Miku woke with a sudden jolt as did the rest of her squad.
"Someone's here..." She whispered, slowly getting to her feet. She looked up only to find that Kakashi-sensei had vanished, leaving them behind to defend themselves. They all had their doubts that he was even a jonin, this just made them doubt him more than ever before.
Sasuke reached into his weapons pouch for a shuriken, preparing to defend himself while Naruto.. well..
"I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI! I'M GONNA BE THE NEXT HOKAGE, BELIEVE IT! HEY YOU, HIDING IN THE BUSHES, COME OUT AND FACE ME LIKE A NINJA!"
"Naruto, you idiot!" Sasuke yelled, smacking him in the head. Before Naruto could retaliate, a tall figure emerged from the bush.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here..." He said, shooting them a wicked grin. "Konoha genin, how cute."
The man was about 6ft tall, and was wearing only a pair of ripped slacks. He had steel-toe boots on, and a ripped up red bandana wrapped around one eye, like the way Kakashi-sensei wears his headband. He had two katana strapped to his back, forming an "X" shape.
"So you must be the bandit we're after." Sasuke smirked, activating his sharingan. Miku couldn't help but admire how beautiful his eyes were, a bright red colour with a single black swirl in the enter.
Sasuke had discovered his sharingan during training a few weeks ago. One of the jonin from Konoha had approached Sasuke and tried to take him out, because his son was assigned to spar against him for one of the genin assessments and had a better chance of passing if Sasuke were eliminated or too injured to fight. After a long, exhausting battle Sasuke managed to activate his sharingan and gave the jonin a beating he was sure to never forget.
He kept this story to himself however, to spare him and the jonin some dignity, and let people assume he was born with the sharingan.
"An Uchiha, how interesting. I'm the leader of the bandits you're looking for. If you can take me out, then the rest of my team will be as easy to fight as little children. Fail.. and well, you should know what happens." He said, un-sheathing one of his katana's from his back. "I don't like it when genin come sniffing around my forest."
"Don't worry Miku." Sasuke said, when he saw how scared she really did look. "I won't let anybody harm you."
Miku wasn't even aware that she was shaking until Sasuke said this. She didn't want to look weak in front of her squad, but this bandit looked like he might be too strong for her to even attempt to fight.
"Thank you Sasuke." She said, giving him a small smile. "I won't let anybody harm you either."
He must have thought what she said was funny because he let out a chuckle before focusing his attention back to the bandit.
"You're going to learn just how strong we Konoha genin are." He said, taking a fighting stance.
"YEAH YOU'RE ABOUT TO FEEL THE WRATH OF NARUTO UZUMAKI, BELIEVE IT!"
Naruto was being so quiet up until now, they had almost forgotten that he was even here.
The next thing they knew, two dozen Naruto's were running at top speed towards the bandit.