They ventured out to the Houchou bridge the next morning, Tomoya telling Nishida that they had found something in the woods last night, but wanted to check it out in the daylight. Sayuri was dubious that the excuse would hold, but Tomoya was rather nonchalant about the matter, and Nishida didn't seem to have noticed anything amiss.

"I still think this is a bad idea," said Masuo as they headed through the trees, "What if this gang is too much for us?"

"Oh I'm sure you'll be able to take them down, Masuo-kun," said Sayuri. There was no reason for him to doubt his competence as a ninja, unlike her. She needed to train much more.

Masuo rolled his eyes. "You really have no idea do you?"

Sayuri pouted. What did he mean she had no idea? Was there something she had missed in training sessions with Tomoya-sensei? She had tried to pay attention, she really did. She looked to her teacher and Ezume for assistance.

"What I think Masuo is saying, is if on the off-chance we don't succeed in eliminating this gang, we would fail our mission, and cause problems back home," said Tomoya.

"We… we don't get punished for failing a mission, do we?!" Sayuri almost slipped off a branch in her sudden worry.

"Not punished as such…" Tomoya's tone grew serious, "But on paper, this mission is classified as a D rank. If we as shinobi from Amegakure can't even complete such a low-ranking mission, it will reflect poorly on the village, and questions will be asked about training and leadership, and long story short, it wouldn't be that good."

"So...the whole village will be in trouble? Sorry, I didn't know," she stopped, "Maybe we should go back…"

"Relax we can take on this gang, no problem. I mean, you got me! I'm awesome."

Sayuri smiled. They could do this. It would be fine.

Sayuri could count five men on the bridge, leaning against the railings, chatting idly. She had thought that she and her teammates would hide in wait for an attack, but Tomoya had prompted them to walk out in the open, and strolled along ahead himself in a nonchalant manner.

"Well hello there gentleman," said Tomoya brightly through the light rain shower, "What fine weather we are having today."

They looked up at this greeting. From what Sayuri could sense of their chakra, the men didn't seem to be much of a threat if they were shinobi – they wore no headband, slashed or otherwise – but they looked menacing all the same, their faces worn and hard.

"Oi, it costs 500 ryo to cross the bridge," said one, stepping forward, and drawing a knife out of his pocket, "pay up." He made a beckoning gesture with his hand.

"Nah, I'm fine thank you," said Tomoya and sauntered forward, leaving Sayuri and her teammates to follow cautiously behind him, "I'm just going to walk with my friends okay?"

"Oi, don't try anything clever," said the man, stepping closer towards Tomoya, making a stabbing motion in the air with the knife.

Tomoya side stepped him.

"500 ryo? That seems a bit steep! Can't I get a group save? Buy one, get one half off? Kids go free? No?"

"Hey," said a second man, stepping in from Tomoya's left, "give us the money."

"Alright, let's see," said Tomoya, patting his pockets and taking out random items, "I've got an old receipt for toilet paper – there's a voucher for a 5 ryo off coupon at the bottom if anyone wants it, no? –, a bookmark, a bus ticket, which is a feat itself since there are no buses in Amegakure, funny how that–"

"Are you going to give us the money or not? If not, get lost!" The men were now all standing in front of the group, blocking them from progressing any further. Sayuri readied herself for the attack.

"Alright, keep your hair on! Aha! No, wait, that's monopoly money. I could have sworn… nope, definitely not that, not giving that away...You got me, all out of ryo. But you'll let us pass, won't you? Stop harassing people who just want to get on with their lives?"

"No money, no crossing," said the man who had first spoke, and lunged at Tomoya with his knife.

Tomoya dodged it and somehow tripped the man with his scarf, letting him fall face down on the ground.

There was a pause, when the men stood looking at the body of their friend, then a roar as they leapt into an attack.

One of them launched himself straight at Sayuri, hands closed in fists.

She must be strong. She couldn't hesitate. If not, she couldn't call herself a shinobi.

Sayuri released a jet of water, hitting them in the stomach and knocking them to the ground. She then ducked away from the arm of another person, leaving them to Masuo, who used his clan's jutsu to send them to sleep.

She sensed the first man come up behind her, so she turned and thrust a kunai into his leg to incapacitate them, and a punch to his head to knock him out. He fell to the ground and Sayuri stood and stared at his unconscious body.

The image of her parents flashed against her mind.

She saw the glint of a blade in her periphery, but found herself frozen on the spot. She couldn't hurt anymore people. She couldn't do anything.

Then her would-be assailant was punched aside.

She was aware of someone standing in front of her, the figure out of focus.

A hand was clasped to her shoulder. Sayuri found herself flinch involuntarily.

"Hey, you alright?" Ezume.

She blinked and shook her head, bringing her teammate into focus. It was him who had delivered the punch, she realised.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you. Sorry."

He shrugged. "No problem."

The fight was already over. To the left, Tomoya and Masuo were tying two of the gang to the railing, the bodies of the men in a sitting position, their heads slumped in sleep.

Tomoya made a final tug on the rope and stood up. "Masuo-kun, when you've finished that can you and Ezume get the others secure please? Just tie them against the railing, remember the knot I showed you, Ezume-kun?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

Sayuri bit her lip, feeling the kunai she had used to stab the man in her hand. She supposed they only needed two of them for the job, she'd probably muck it up. She moved the kunai to her other hand, and looked at where it had left white indents in her palm from where she had been gripping it so hard.

"You alright?"

Sayuri jumped for a second time. She hadn't seen her teacher come up to her.

"I'm fine."

There was a pause and Sayuri realised she hadn't meant to be quite so short with him.

"Sorry, I just…" She fiddled with the kunai, using the ring at the end to swing it around her middle finger. The flat of the blade caught her palm, leaving a wet stain of blood upon it.

"Do you want to take a break?"

Sayuri shook her head. Taking a break would mean she was weak. She was a shinobi now. She had to be strong.

"No thank you, it's okay." She took a deep breath and managed a smile.

"So, what do we do now?"

Tomoya's eyebrows raised for a second before his features relaxed.

"Well, after we've finished here, we'll have to run to the next village over and and send a message to the authorities, get someone to pick these people up. That's Nishikawa, about an hour away. Then, we'll get back to the hut and make sure everyone is okay. Sound alright?"

"Un," Sayuri nodded, "But shouldn't we go back to the farm first? Nishida might wonder where we've got to."

"Nah, he'll be fine."

When they entered the hut, Sayuri was surprised to see Nishida sitting at the wooden table, playing with spinning tops alongside the younger girl.

"Thought as much," said Tomoya, "You staged this didn't you, Nishida-san? Us spotting Daisuke stealing, then following him. Finding this place. The bridge was a bit of a gamble though, couldn't be quite sure we're up to the job."

Nishida gave an awkward laugh. "You got me. Sorry we had to be deceitful, we couldn't afford the higher level mission. Them on the bridge have been plaguing us a while. I need to get to Nishikawa to go to market, you see. Food we're okay on, but clothes and that, and the children start school soon. You've already met them, of course."

"Papa, they were awesome! I saw them beat them up!" said Daisuke, bounding up to the table with a big grin on his face.

Nishida gave him a questioning look. "You didn't tell me you watched."

"He's a liar, he came straight home," said Irori from across the room.

Daisuke blew a raspberry at her, but was quickly scolded by his father.

Sayuri smiled at the scene, but her face fell when Masuo spoke up.

"You shouldn't have done that. Don't you know the problems you could have made?"

Nishida looked a little flustered. "I'm sorry young man, I didn't mean to cause you any trouble. We will give you the extra money if you need, just, please let me get the funds together first."

Tomoya waved his hands. "There's no need."

"Masuo, are you okay?" said Sayuri afterwards, "They didn't mean anything by it."

"What do you know? You weren't there when the war happened. You'll never understand."

Maybe she didn't. Maybe she would never be a proper shinobi of Amegakure.

It was quiet when she got in, yawning out "I'm home" to the dark hallway as she kicked her shoes off in the entryway, then bent down to line them up properly.

She smiled at the familiar chakra signature. Hide and seek again? She was hardly a child anymore.

She found him, along with Pain, Konan, and Zetsu, in the meeting room, the yellow light seeping through the cracks of the closed door. Ever since Tobi had told her his plans to make a world of dreams, she had been hungering for details, wanting to hear of his grand plan but he didn't divulge, nor did he let her sit in on any of the meetings, saying she would find out when she was older. She felt that she already was old enough, why couldn't she know now? She figured that if she knew what they needed, then she could help out, and everyone would be happy.

So she put her ear to the crack in the door.

"Kakuzu is a problem. That's his third teammate he's got rid of in the span of six months." Konan's voice.

Sayuri stifled a yawn.

Who was Kakuzu, and why was he getting rid of teammates? He didn't sound very nice. If that was the case, then why was he in the organisation? Maybe he had bad teammates and they tried to do something mean.

"But his immortality is of great use to us." That was Tobi. No, Madara.

Ah immortal? She didn't know you could be an immortal, that was very useful actually. But wait, Tobi was immortal too! (A conclusion she had come to on the basis that he was very old and there was no other explanation for his advanced age, yet seemingly young condition. She still hadn't seen under his mask, no matter how much she asked, so she couldn't confirm if his face showed the usual signs of ageing, but he was definitely physically fit, and his hair was black, not grey, coming down in great swathes against his back. He could have dyed it though.) So, being immortal, would he get rid of her when she was partnered with him? Of course when she joined the Akatsuki she would be partnered with Tobi.

So wrapped up in her thoughts was Sayuri, that she missed part of the conversation, and all of a sudden the door swung open and she fell into Tobi who was looking down at her, mask tilted to the side.

She straightened up and took a couple of steps back, but was stopped by his grip on her wrist.

"Having fun are we?"

She opened her mouth to defend herself, this wasn't how it looked, when Pain spoke up.

"This is a classified meeting." And he looked at Tobi as if to say, "what are you going to do about it?"

"Yes, it would be a bother if this got into the wrong hands." His tone deep, authoritative, "You won't tell anyone will you Sayuri-chan?" He purred, and then his eye flashed red in an unspoken threat.

Sayuri swallowed. "No sir."

The grip was loosened and Sayuri went to make her way out of the door when Tobi's hands fell on her shoulders.

"Sit," he said, and guided her to a seat, pushing her down upon it, gently but firmly. She perched with her back straight, hands gripping the edge of the sofa.

Sayuri wondered why she had tried to listen in at all. It was all about boring missions, and who they should put forward for this job or that. Nothing to do with their world peace plans, as far as she could tell.

At one point, she caught Zetsu's eye, who grinned in that way of his, making her skin prickle. She couldn't quite hide the involuntary shudder, and at once she felt Tobi's fingers gently rake their way through the hair at the crown of her head.

The voices zoned out to a murmur, and her head dropped against Tobi, yawning.

She blinked, and then she felt the fabric of the sofa on her cheek. The room was horizontal.

"Was it that boring little one?"

She lifted her head up with a start, holding it steady as she felt the blood rushing to it. He stood leaning against the door, arms folded. The others were gone.

"Sorry, I – I fell asleep."

"I can see that."

"I'm ready now, did you want something? Are we going to train?" She asked, bouncing up, but she had stood up too quickly, and felt a wave of tiredness come over her as she fell back into the sofa.

"I think you're ready for bed. We'll train in the morning."

She tossed and turned that night, unable to fully suppress the small weight in her stomach that recalled the fight earlier that day. What would Tobi say? He'd be so disappointed.

Then again, he didn't have to know. If he asked, she could always leave out that part. All he would see is that she had completed an actual real life fight, and would be proud of her.

She moaned at the sudden sunlight coming into her room, and put her arm over her face to protect herself.

"Wakey-wakey Sayuri-chan," he sing-songed, and there was the sound of a spoon banging against a saucepan

"Noooo," she moaned, and lifted the cover over her head to protect herself from the noise, but he came close to her ear and banged the saucepan right by it, causing her to roll to get away, right off the bed and onto the floor.

He laughed at this. Sayuri smiled in spite of her loss of dignity. Then she picked herself up, duvet and all, and jumped back into bed.

"Hang on, that's not the way to go, it's wake-up time! Not sleep time."

She ignored him, and settled down to sleep.

"Come on Sayuri-chan!" There was the rattling of the pan and spoon. She grabbed a pillow to block out the noise.

After a few moments it cut out, and there was the feel of the end of her bed depressing under a weight. The pillow was taken away from her, but she didn't stop her plan of getting more shut-eye.

"Sayuri," He stroked her hair, "time to get up little one."

She shook her head against the sheets, and made a sound of refusal.

The hand was pulled back.

"Sayuri, I won't ask again. Get up."

She quickly lifted her head, brushing the hair out of her face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, I'm up."

"Get ready. You have twenty minutes."

"Concentrate! It's not a game."

She had missed all her hits so far, her reactions sluggish. Over and over again, she couldn't get it out of her mind. Why couldn't she do it? Why was she a failure as a shinobi? Why did it have to hurt?

Dimly, she was aware of him coming at her, but she didn't bother to defend herself.

He sighed, coming to a stop in front of her.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, we can keep training, I'm ready, sorry, just a bit sleepy."

"No. Tell me what's wrong." His hand was at her chin, forcing her to look right at him.

And then the tears fell.

"Hey, hey, don't cry. What you so upset for little one?"

She shook her head, heaving great sobs against his chest. And then, even though she had vowed not to let him know, she found herself confessing everything that had transpired.

"I can't do it. I thought I would be able to, but I just can't do it. I don't like making people hurt."

He gently peeled her away from him, and held her by the shoulders.

"What did I say to you Sayuri? What did I say about the world I was going to create?"

"You said," she pouted, "you said no one would suffer."

"Exactly. And you want to help me, don't you?"

"Yes, of course." She nodded enthusiastically.

"So don't cry then, silly girl," a gloved thumb wiped away the moisture on her face, "You just do as I say and it will all be fine."

"Okay." She hoped so.

The next day, Tomoya had them perform a training exercise. He liked to hide random objects around a section of the village and have them go on a treasure hunt. Sayuri had to work closely with her teammates to retrieve them in the time limit, getting past the traps, false trails, and Tomoya's shadow clones. This time, the 'treasure' came in the form of brightly coloured plastic windmills.

Tomoya called a break for lunch, and they sat on the rooftop with their bento.

"You're quiet today Sayuri," said Tomoya.

She smiled over her box of rice. "Sorry, I'm just thinking too much about things I guess. I wonder if I'm not cut out for this."

"Sayuri, you're not a bad shinobi just because you're scared. On my first battle, I ran away. My superior was so mad."

Tomoya-sensei, with his relaxed, nothing-could-phase-him attitude, running away? She couldn't imagine it.

"Then...what did you do after that?"

"I kept on running. You could say I haven't stopped. Then I found a place. A people."

"You mean, Ame?"

"Yes, and no. But it's nice to have somewhere to call home for a while." He flicked a piece of sushi in the air, caught it in his mouth, and swallowed. "You did good on the mission. The people at the farm, think about how happy they were."

Sayuri did recall a sense of elation when seeing Nishida and his family and letting them know the Satsumaimo gang had been dealt with. But it was more than that. She had to do more. Tobi expected it.

"Sensei," she asked, heart thudding, "have you ever killed anyone?"

Tomoya chewed slowly before answering.

"I have." There was a faraway look in his eyes. Then he gave her a wry grin.

"Was it ever difficult?"

"Oh yes. But I think…," he paused, searching for the right word, "I think, Sayuri, what you need right now, is a nindo, a ninja way."

"A ninja way?" She had heard of it before, but hadn't thought much about it.

"A motto, a personal goal. Something that keeps you fighting. Masuo's is to protect Amegakure, and make life better for its citizens. Ezume, to prove himself as a shinobi, I think, even though he comes from a civilian family. Mine is, to get every possible type of wool into my scarf."

Sayuri smiled at that.

"And yours, Sayuri-chan?"

"Mine is…" It was to help Tobi with his dream, wasn't it? No, there was something else to it, something that had made her want to become a shinobi in the first place.

Tomoya mistook her silence.

"It's alright, you don't need to tell me, you can keep it to yourself if you want."

She remembered how she had admired the shinobi as a little girl, for the way they protected people, and fought for what was right. Her parents couldn't have been saved. But maybe, she could help more people, like those at the farm.

"It's…" she lifted her head. There was a brief respite in the rain, and the sun peeked through the grey clouds, reflecting off the puddles in the streets and on top of the buildings, and the droplets left on the pipes twinkled in the light.

Sayuri smiled. "It's to protect those who are precious to me."

Please ensure you have read the note in Chapter 1 before leaving your review.

Thank you for your continued support.