A few miles before they arrived at the gates of Konoha, Ryohei had stripped out of his weathered robe into that of a green flak jacket and dark, breathable pants. Tying the Konoha forehead protector to his head, he hitched his backpack further up his shoulder and grabbed a hold of Shizue's hand. A mile before reaching their destination, Ryohei drilled her on stranger-danger questions.

"What do you say when someone asks where your parents are?"

"I'm not with my parents. I'm with my sensei."

"And if they ask where your sensei is?"

"Around the area."

"What about if they ask what village you're from?"

"I don't know the name."

The plan was to always redirect questions to her sensei. Ambiguity was the best when one was traveling incognito or on espionage missions. The Mizukage was clever to assign this child to Ryohei; it was extremely dangerous to travel through a war zone, and to bring a child along with him would be very irresponsible. At least having the Kage think Ryohei's hands were tied with the child would leave less room for suspicion that he was actually continuously crossing the border into the Land of Fire, acting as a double agent for Konohagakure. What he was expected to do was to only stay near the border, sending in reports on what was occurring on the peninsula and to act as back up in necessary. Had he firmly refused to care for Shizue, his loyalty would most definitely be called into questioned and a thorough investigation would have gone underway.

Upon entering the village walls, Shizue could only ogle at the sight. Konohagakure was large, bright, and there were more children than Shizue had ever seen at one time. They scampered about with joyful smiles and boisterous laughter as they raced toward a large white building with the character "shinobi" painted in bold. In Kirigakure, there were never as many children on the streets since most were either learning indoors, at the training fields, away at war, or dead. Unconsciously, the girl tugged on Ryo-sensei's hand, wanting to follow the rest of the kids. He pulled her back.

"We can't go there, Shizue-chan. I have some important business to attend to first."

Approaching a large red building under the watchful eyes of the monument, they climbed a spiral staircase before entering the office of a man with spiky brown hair, markings dragging from his eyes, and a wart on his nose. Shizue recognized him as one of the stone-faced men.

"Hokage-sama," Ryo-sensei greeted with a bow.

"Tsukemono Ryohei, I've been expecting you. And who might this be?" His eyes shifted to Shizue who moved to hide behind her sensei. She felt the power radiating off of his figure. Although it was fierier compared to the Mizukage's cold aura, it was just as intimidating.

"Tsukemono Shizue. Due to certain events happening back in Kirigakure, I have now become her legal guardian."

"Your niece?"

"Something like that. My second cousin's daughter. Not sure what you call it."

"It is quite the risk to bring a child across such a war-stricken border. I trust that events had occurred in such a way that this situation became unavoidable?"

"Hai. It was per the Mizukage's request that I take care of and train her after her parents' passing. Had I refused they would have grown suspicious. But rest assured, I have taught Shizue-chan the dangers of the shinobi world as well as the conditions of my work. All of the secrets remain with me. She has no alliance with Kirigakure. When the Mizukage summoned me to take custody of her, it appeared he had no idea that she even existed before that day."

"Her father was Daichi of the shukketsu no ken? That's unfortunate. You two were the only survivors of your clan. I'm sorry for your loss."

Ryo-sensei bowed.

"Shizue-chan." The Hokage was speaking to the four-year-old now. "Do you mind playing outside for a moment? Your uncle and I have some important business to discuss."

Shizue glanced between the man sitting behind her desk, and her sensei who was still holding her hand. His grip loosened as he gave her a reassuring smile. "Hai... Hokage-sama."

"Good. I'll call someone to be your chaperone. You can wait for them downstairs."

Ryo-sensei unfastened one of his pockets and handed over some bills to the little girl. He told him to buy herself breakfast and to listen to the chaperone well. Try to stay out of trouble. The child nodded once before scampering out.

The warm morning breeze felt nice on her face as she ran her hand up and down the cloth of her shinai. Although the padding was to lessen the risk of injury, Shizue still got bruises here and there. But the weight of the weapon in her hands put her at ease. She sliced through the air with a sharp swing. Ryo-sensei said that he had a new technique to show her once the meeting was over. This time, it had something to do with her kekkei genkai, although she still wasn't sure what that was. Whatever it was, she was humming with excitement.

"Oi, are you Shizue-san?"

The small girl jumped at the sudden interruption. Snapping her head in the direction of the voice, she was met face to face with coal eyes and a mask covering the lower half of his face. The boy standing before her was clad in dark attire and only appeared a foot taller due to the spiky gray hair held up by the Leaf hitai-ate. She hadn't even noticed his presence.

"Well, are you Shizue-san or not?"

This was the first time a boy her age spoke to her. Slowly, Shizue could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. Unable to find the words to respond, her mouth opened and closed like a fish. The boy crossed his arms and shifted his weight to the side as he sized her up. Her face felt like it was sizzling.

"Oi."

And then Shizue did the only thing that she could think of when met with danger: run. Pivoting on her foot, she lunged forward, daring to make an escape. However, she only managed to get away by a few steps before she was yanked by the back of her collar and went tumbling to the ground.

"Why are you running away."

"I-I don't know!"

The boy sighed and muttered, "Hokage-sama called saying this was an important mission, but it seems all I'll be doing is babysitting."

Shizue bristled at this and glared up at the boy, forgetting all about her previous embarrassment. "What do you mean babysitting? You're a kid just like me!"

He gave her a deadpanned expression.

At a loss for words, Shizue jumped to her feet and held the shinai in front of her, stepping into a defensive stance. "I don't need some kid bossing me around."

"Do you even know how to use that?"

"O-Of course I do!"

"Then prove it."

She wanted to fight. She really did. The boy was probably smirking underneath that mask and the girl just wanted so badly to smack that expression right off of his face. But Shizue knew that if she caused trouble here, not only would she face the consequences, but her sensei would as well. Her decision was not her own. Ryo-sensei always spoke of how delicate his position was in this village. He was no ordinary ninja and thus Shizue could not act however she pleased.

With furrowed brows, Shizue swallowed her pride and shoved the shinai into its casing, which she then swung by its strap onto her back.

"That's disappointing," the boy said, nonchalantly putting his hands behind his head. "You're more mature than I thought."

Ignoring the comment, Shizue said, "Let's go eat. I'm hungry."

"What is this?"

Laden before her in a wooden box was an assortment of foods she had never seen before. Balls of rice as big as her fist were aligned in a neat row. Sliced rolls of what appeared to be egg drizzled in a brown sauce were tucked in a corner. Fried orange and green bits with crusted pieces of something else adorned the sides.

"You've never had a bento before?"

Shizue shook her head. "Where do I start?"

The boy, who had previously introduced himself as Hatake Kakashi, shrugged. In amazement, she watched as Kakashi picked up one of the crusted morsels with his chopsticks before lifting it to his mouth and consuming it in the blink of an eye. She only caught a brief flash of the skin underneath his mask-not that she cared or even seemed to notice that she had seen the Hatake Kakashi maskless. She was too focused on the food.

"How does it taste?"

"Like shrimp... It's just tempura." Seeing that the word didn't register by the look on her face he explained, "Tempura is just food deep-fried in batter."

The girl took a tentative bite. When the crispy-coated delicacy touched her tongue, her expression gleamed with delight. "I've never had this before. It's good. All Ryo-sensei ever makes is soup."

"Soup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? That can't be healthy."

"Well, it's only because we're on the road all the time so we eat kind of boring stuff. But back home they make all sorts of interesting soups. Like this one restaurant my sensei always takes me to makes the really good soup you dip soba noodles in. Even dessert soups! My favorite is mitsumame."

"You're not from Konoha," Kakashi stated as he took a sip of tea. It wasn't a question.

"Uhh..."

"So what are you doing here?"

Shizue looked around for an excuse. When she came up with none, she could only respond with a vague, "Ryo-sensei said he has business here. So I just followed him."

"So are you his apprentice?"

"Sort of."

"Then that must mean you're training to be a shinobi as well. Do you fight any good?"

"I don't know about that. I never fought with anyone else besides my sensei."

Kakashi polished off the rest of his meal. "So that means you aren't in the Academy yet. You should be entering soon though. You look about the right age."

"Ryo-sensei says I can enter the Academy when I'm ready. But- Ah! You already have a hitai-ate! I thought you could only get that after you graduate. You don't look much older than me."

"I took the graduation exam early. I got it two years ago," he said with a hint of pride as he adjusted his forehead protector.

"How old are you now?"

"Eight."

"Then are you a genin?"

"Hai. I'd much rather be a chunin but it seems I haven't found a suitable team to take the exam with yet. So Hokage-sama's been floating me around."

As an idea suddenly came to Shizue's mind, she immediately scarfed down her food and jumped from her seat. "Let's go to the Academy!"

"What."

"I want to see where all the kids are! C'mon, it'll be fun," she exclaimed as she slammed a wad of cash onto the table before grabbing Kakashi's hand and dashing off, without allowing any room for an ounce of complaint.

She stood behind the chain-linked fencing, staring at the kids in awe as they took turns sparring with one another under the teacher's supervision. Shizue recognized most of the moves they were using, as well as a couple variations such as their substitution jutsu which replaced the user with a log instead of a puddle of water. The weapons they used were slightly different too. As opposed to the curved kunais she was used to, theirs had a basic point.

A new class was heading out to the yard just as the class they had been watching for the past hour were now gathering to return indoors. This new group was taller and older than the last, which meant that their fights were probably more advanced. Leaning on the fence to get a closer look, the class commenced soon after.

Suddenly, one of the students exclaimed, "Look! Up in the tree! It's Kakashi!"

Gazing up as well, Shizue found Kakashi on the branch hovering above her head. When they had arrived there previously, the first thing he did was swing up into the tree and pull out a book, instructing Shizue to let him know when she got bored so they could move on to the next location. His face was of pure serenity as he read, so she decided to leave him alone as she watched the classes in silent amazement. But now his posture radiated complete annoyance as he tucked his book back into its pouch.

A boy sporting a pair of orange goggles came racing right towards Shizue on the other side of the fence. He then took a huge leap and kicked off of the metal frame before crashing right into the foliage. Slowly, his body slid down to the base of the tree where Kakashi was now waiting impatiently.

"This is why I didn't want to come here," Kakashi huffed.

"Oi! Obito! Get back over here! Class is still in session!" his sensei hollered after him, stomping his foot and waving a clipboard in the air.

With an imprint of the goggles pressed firmly into his face, the boy leaped to his feet and got into a fighting stance. Turning back towards the yard, he shouted, "Sensei! I want to fight with Kakashi!"

"Don't you need to ask the concerned party first."

"Shut up, Baka-kashi! It's about time you showed your face around here. You didn't come the last time Rin invited you to hang out."

"I wasn't interested."

"I want to fight Kakashi too," Shizue chimed in.

Golden eyes framed by ebony hair stared at him with conviction. This took Obito by surprise. He hadn't noticed her before. Glancing the pint-sized girl up and down, he noted her figure dressed in trousers and a robe of deep blue, with a long object strapped to her back making her appear smaller than she already was. How was she going to fight? She looked as if she could barely harm a fly.

"I'm not fighting anyone," Kakashi said tersely.

"Then let me fight this guy!" Shizue declared, pointing a finger at Obito. Now this really took him by surprise. "If an adult is supervising then I won't get in trouble, right?"

Any form of interaction with another child excited her. Even if this wasn't necessarily playing around in the park, it still got her adrenaline pumping just the same. She would take what she could get.

Kakashi huffed. "Obito, if you can beat Shizue, I'll let you fight me."

"Fine."

As Obito grumbled while he led Shizue and Kakashi back to his class, and as the Sensei greeted them and mistakenly thought Kakashi was showing a new student around the school, and as the older students cheered Shizue on as she entered the sparring circle, that was when the word came to her: lonely. That was what she must have felt, the little emptiness within her that she didn't notice until now, as she was surrounded by warmth within the heart of Konohagakure. Ah, so this is what the Mizukage meant by loneliness, she thought to herself.