Mia woke up the next morning in bed. She couldn't even remember getting there yet there she was wrapped up in a soft warm cocoon of blanket. The last thing she could recall was showing Kiko her progress. Maybe, she thought, that was who had brought her up. She was the only one strong enough to carry her. Her thoughts never strayed as Mia climbed out of bed to get dressed. She still wore the same outfit as when she started the academy all those years ago. Plain and boring just how she liked it. Fully dressed and now awake Mia adventured down stairs.
She walked into the room full with all the children screaming. Breakfast was not her favourite time of the day. But she still went every morning to please Kiko. She was the only person who cared for her no matter what. Not following her normal routine of sitting with Naruto, she walked towards the kitchen window to locate Kiko. Mia needed to thank her. If she hadn't of brought her in she probably would have slept on the floor outside. Now that was not something she enjoyed. It wasn't long until she came to the window. Without hesitation, Mia bowed to the waist. No words were exchanged instead she just turned to join her only friend.
Breakfast had taken longer than expected as she had to run straight to the training ground. Just as she stepped foot next to her team the clocks hit nine. Her speed training was paying off. When she was in the academy the run would of taken a good ten minutes longer. However, she was stopped from thinking when her sensei appeared. He was already talking when he showed up. Always the eager one. He was talking about the fight he had guaranteed yesterday.
"You'll have fifteen minutes to have a three way fight. The winner will be the last one standing." His announcement was enough to scare Fumio but excite Takeo. Mia, like normal, was indifferent to the whole ordeal. Well that's what she wanted people to think. She was slightly scared to fight against both boys. They were both older and a lot stronger. Graduating early didn't make Mia invincible to other. She just reached a similar level as the other two. Secretly she wished she had been rookie of the year but a few students managed to beat Mia.
Hyuga-sensei had already jumped back to avoid dirtying his white garment. His hand dropping down as he did so. The fight had begun. Without hesitation Takeo rushed towards Fumio leaving Mia to stand behind him. His fists were flying out repeatedly at his head. To some miracle Fumio managed to dodge every single blow. His head moving side to side, occasionally ducking under. With no plan of relenting Mia charged, flying through the air. Her foot hitting the side of his head sending him air born. She landed gracefully onto the grass; her eyes on both boys. However, a grunt pulled her full attention to Takeo. Fumio took his chance. His leg connected to the back of Mia's knee until she was flat on the floor. A silent cry crossed Mia's face from shock.
"I'm sorry Mia!" He chanted over and over again. The loud noise woke Takeo who was now running to punch Mia. His whole being pumped by anger. His arm outstretched only inches away from her face before it bent. Fumio had kicked his elbow, bending his arm. His chanting increased as his foot came up to hit the back of his neck, knocking him out cold. Now it was just Mia and Fumio.
The two stood there watching each other. Both were slightly panting but Mia was leaning towards the left from the last hit. She charged. Fumio was still, almost hesitant to move. That falter allowed Mia to land a hit to his shoulder. Knocking him back a few steps. That was enough to snapped him back. With only seconds to move, he ducked under the right hook Mia had aimed at his head. The punch had left her completely open from his position. He took it. With all his strength he punched up catching her chin. Mia flew through the air until landing in a pile a couple metres away. Fumio had knocked them both out whilst chanting sorry the whole time.
Mia wasn't out for long. She came to when their sensei declared Fumio as the winner. It was surprising that he was so strong but Mia knew he was hiding something yesterday. He purposely held himself back. She climbed to her feet intending to congratulate him as well when her sensei's eyes darted straight to her. She froze mid step. Anticipation surrounded her.
"Hurry up we need to start training!" He snapped. Still frozen, it took Mia a few seconds to understand what happened. But when her sensei's eyes moved to look at her again, she was up and moving towards them.
"Now that someone decided to join us, you'll be going through some kata until Takeo wakes up. When he's up we'll move on to ninjutsu." He received a nod from the two present genin. Yet they didn't move to begin their kata until he raised his eyebrow.
For two hours Mia and Fumio practised their kata. Mia's fluency growing even better, her speed only slightly increasing. She was covered in sweat and panting heavily. Compared to Fumio she was in much better shape as he looked ready to collapse. He was strong and fast but lacked any form of stamina. They were both finishing a set when Takeo alerted them. They knew it was him due to the screams of outrage.
"I demand a re-match! There is no way that those weaklings beat me! It was just a fluke!" He marched over. No one was pleased with his behaviour but only their sensei voiced it.
"No you are to train with your teammates. You should be glad that they are strong, no one wants weak people watching their back." Takeo was silent at that. He made a point that stuck with him. With that said Takeo went to join his teammates in trained. However, he didn't have to do any sets like his teammates as they moved straight ninjutsu. They had expected to of been taught the basics of at least one. That was not the case as they were forced to demonstrate every single one that they knew. Fumio only knew the academy three. Whilst Mia knew one more she only showed the basics. She wouldn't use the body flicker until she had fully mastered it. Takeo on the other hand just had to show off. He did all three of the basics and a D-ranked earth jutsu. The look of pleasure on his face disgusted Mia.
"Just because you can do an element jutsu doesn't mean you're better than us."
"Oh I think it does shrimp." He remarked back.
"At least I wasn't the first knocked out in the spar." Mia stuck her tongue out and turned her back.
They were stopped by the clapping of hands. It was in no way a congratulating kind more of a demanding one. All attention turned to the noise. Hyuga-sensei was stood a few feet away from his students clapping his hands in slow constant beat.
"Now that I have your attention it's time for us to collect a mission scroll." Even in their half dead state all three of them perked up at the chance of running missions. Each one had different thoughts on what they could be doing. Fumio thought of passing off lifesaving messages, Takeo thought of all the ninja he would get to fight, Mia thought of travelling the world. They never stopped dreaming about their mission until they actually received it.
"Team fourteen will be babysitting Matsuoka-san one year old. She needs to get to work in two hours so be there in an hour to get all needed information. NEXT!" That was it. No secret to share, no fighting of evil bandits or even leaving the village. Baby-sitting was not a ninja's job. Their sensei didn't look happy with it but shuffled them all out of the briefing room.
Once outside they were told the full details from the scroll their sensei held.
"We are to look after a sixteen month old baby for five hours whilst Matsuoka-san attends to some business. They are located on the east side of the village around a thirty minute walk from here. I suggest that you all start running if you want to make it in time." With that he was gone. With no other option all three began to run east. They hadn't been given the proper address so they needed to get there as fast as possible to find their teacher. The run would have been simple if it weren't through a marketplace. Mia thought that was why he told them to start running. People blocked the path making dodging the only safe way through. In a strange sense it was a form of training, more than just stamina.
The run took them longer then the thirty minutes they had been told. A full hour had been wasted trying to locate the house, which Takeo found. It added to his ego until a woman opened the door. She was dressed in a formal blue kimono. The flowers that covered the bottom half snaked up under the obi. When she moved it was like they were dancing amongst themselves. The top was plain blue save for the odd few flowers on the long sleeves. Mia just couldn't take her eyes off it. Apparently neither could the boys as the woman started to tap her foot.
"Well are you coming in or what? Unless you aren't Hyuga-san students, then apologies for my rudeness." She did a slight bow at the end. It wasn't too deep as they were only young children and she was a fully grown adult. The surprised and shocked look was probably what made her think they weren't the ninja she hired. Unfortunately, it was Takeo who answered as well.
"Lady do we look rich to you? Of course we're here for you there's no other reason to be here. Our lousy sensei never told us where to find you jeez." At some point during his speech his pinky finger had found a place in his left ear. No one appreciated seeing it especially the woman who made a disgusted face.
"Hmmmm you can never be too careful these days. If you're here for me you might as well come in." She stepped back and allowed them to walk in. Hesitant at first Mia pushed Takeo through the door. He turned back to snap at him but Mia just kept pushing him forward until they were in the living room.
In the living room was a sight none ever thought they would see. A Hyuga sat with a baby on their knee speaking in a ridiculously high voice. He stopped as soon as he saw the trio stood there holding back their laughter. It was enough for them to forget about the long hunt they had just done. With no way to save his dignity, he moved on to explaining.
"This is Jun-kun. He is the baby you will be babysitting." At that point the woman came into the room. A small chuckle left her mouth at seeing her child's new seat.
"Before I leave I should tell you a few things. His food is in the top cupboard closest to the door with the bottle, his toys are in his room where they need to stay and there is some food for you guys to eat as well. If there is anything else refer to the scroll on the side it has all the minor details." She waved goodbye before leaving the house completely. Mia wandered into the kitchen to find the said objects ignoring her sensei who started talking again once she had left. She just couldn't take him seriously with a baby on his knee. She'd deal with the punishment in the morning.
With food prepared she attempted to find the scroll. However, it was placed on a shelf just above her height. Sighing in annoyance she travelled back to the living room. The house was much bigger inside than it looked outside. So in the five minutes it took her to get there all she heard were giggles. As she rounded the corner she saw both her teammates playing with the baby toys together whilst the baby watched from the side. That was not what she expected to see two twelve year olds do. Shrugging she sat next to the baby watching as neither boys had noticed her enter. After not too long Jun started to get bored with not having anything to do. It was then the boys saw Mia as she snatched the rattle from their hands to give to the baby. They blushed at being caught but did nothing more. In those few minutes they had gotten along just fine.
With only ten minutes left before Matsuoka-san was meant to arrive did they actually head to Jun's room to play. They had broken her rule by bring them all down but if they didn't tell how would she know? They could tell a small white lie, it's not like it's hard. So when she came in through the bedroom door she found three young ninja playing a game, she smiled. Then the kid started to do his childish babble only a mother would understand. Jun crawled from the group on the floor towards his mother whilst pointing downstairs. A perfect eyebrow as she continued to listen.
"So you took the toys downstairs huh." A three had the decency to look guilty, Mia less so as she hadn't brought any down per say.
"He had more room to play down there so it seemed like a good idea." Fumio said whilst hiding behind Takeo. He didn't seem to like being used as a human shield again but couldn't really say anything.
"I'll let you off this time but if you babysit for me again please stick to the rules I give you." With that she bent down to pick her baby up. Happy they weren't getting in trouble they left the house to report back to the mission station.
Their sensei had been doing something else as he had disappeared as soon as their client left. He only reappeared when they had just arrived at the Hokage tower to report. He nodded before leading the way inside. A small line was forming outside the door to the briefing room so they were forced to wait. It dwindled quickly as they were giving a briefing within minutes. Well Hyuga-sensei was. They had no idea how he knew what happened but he knew every small detail.
"Your D-rank mission will be documented as completed. You can collect your pay at the next station however, if we receive a complaint within a week of the mission completion you will be forced to come back and return a portion of your pay to compensate. The amount will vary depending on how serious the complaint is. You are free to go now team fourteen." The man made a waving motion to move them on. At the next station there were five people all talking to different ranked ninja. Fortunately one man became available as soon as they stood in line. Upon approaching you could already tell the man was ready to give up. Their sensei spoke as they had no idea what to do.
"Team fourteen returning from the D-rank mission of babysitting Matsuoka-san's child." The man hmmmed whilst he looked over some papers. He dropped his stack and began writing on a slip of paper. He shoved three different envelopes into their sensei's hand who was less than pleased about the treatment.
Once outside he handed each genin their own envelope. Takeo ripped it open out of curiosity. Inside was a sheet of paper with only a few words written on it.
"Payment for the D-rank mission of babysitting Matsuoka-san's baby totals one thousand six hundred and sixty-six ryo. Please take this slip to the bank to collect the owed amount." He blinked at the paper in front of him before laughing.
"If a stupid job like that pays this good then you don't hear me complaining." At that both Fumio and Mia looked at the sheet. Almost simultaneously they opened their own to find the exact same thing written. Then it dawned on them. If Matsuoka-san complained about them they could lose all the money. That stopped all the joy. It wasn't hard to tell, so in a pathetic attempt to cheer them up their sensei spoke up.
"They never take more than half from D-rank missions." That caused them all to deflate more. Losing half would have a big impact on them. With nothing else to do they all split to go their separate ways.
When Mia got home Kiko was there waiting. Confusion was clearly written on Mia's face as she got closer.
"Is everything ok Kiko-san?" She eyed around carefully as she spoke. Kiko just laughed.
"No nothing is wrong. I was just waiting for you." Mia eyes squinted at her in suspicion.
"We're going to be training today. Oh and just to let you know I won't be feeding you until you get the trick down." She chirped in a cheery voice. With a groan Mia followed, this wasn't new. Kiko had always been a strict teacher yet it was mostly only to Mia. They walked to the back garden towards the group of trees at the back. Kiko stopped just at the base of the tree whilst looking up to the very top.
"Mia can you climb to the top of this tree?" Confused but still wanting to get it done she attempted to climb the tree. She had just placed her hand on the tree when Kiko spoke a again.
"Without your hands." This completely set Mia off.
"No Kiko-san I can't. That shouldn't even be physically possible. It goes against all the rules set about gravity. Even if I did manage to get up my body would weigh me down since it's near impossible to hold your whole body mass by your feet." She was panting near the end of the rant. The one thing she didn't expect to hear was a laugh. Laughing the whole way Kiko put her foot on the tree and then the other one. Very slowly she began to climb the tree using just her feet. Mia could do nothing but stare in amazement.
"Chakra makes the impossible possible Mia never forget that. You can do virtually anything with it. Now I want you to the exact same thing." With that she dropped to the floor allowing Mia full access to the tree. Slightly worried she placed one foot on the bark only for it to break through. Shocked she looked for an explanation.
"You used too much chakra. The pressure caused the bark to explode." Thinking Mia turned.
"And if I use too little chakra?"
"Well you won't stick at all. You fall right off." She clapped at the end, she seemed happy about the advice she had given. Figuring that was all she would get, Mia turned back around to the tree to attempt again. The wood sprayed back hitting her in the face; still too much pressure. Her next attempt ended with her face planting the tree due to her foot slipping off unexpectedly. At least now Mia had a rough estimate on how much chakra to use. Yet after multiple attempts you could only get half way up the tree before she started to pant from exhaustion.
"Welp looks like it's getting late and we still need to eat. We can continue in the morning before you disappear. You do technically understand the concept." clearly not happy Mia followed Kiko back into the house to eat.
It took Mia a full week to learn how to climb the tree to a high enough standard to please Kiko. She was rewarded with a pat on the back and a small hard sweet. Then they were off onto the next task; walking on water. It took longer than the tree walking and many unplanned trips to the bottom of the lake. She was doing taijutsu training with her team and ninjutsu with Kiko. However, she wouldn't be able to learn her affinity due to the orphanage not being able to afford the paper. The special paper would cost almost three of her pay checks which didn't seem worth it. She was stuck learning universal jutsu. Mia would of asked her sensei for it but it would mean sharing her personal training which she had neglected to tell him. He had said that he was to be kept updated on all progress made but Mia didn't see the point. Every good ninja has a few secret techniques. She was just trying to expand on that early.