Fu grunted as she pulled another weed out of the ground and piled it on top of a nearby stack. She used her armlet to wipe the sweat off her forehead before she squinted at the huge garden around.

It had been a long week but her D-Rank had finally come to a close. Once she was sure there were no more weeds, she stood up, dusted the dirt off, and walked to the nearby cottage.

A middle-aged lady watched from an open window. "Thanks, Fu. I'll be sure to tell Lord Shibuki what a great job you've done helping me out."

Fu smiled and shot her a thumbs-up. "Maybe if I do enough of these chores, he'll let me go on a real mission!"

It had been a year since Suien had invaded their village and Fu protected the villagers. While she was in a week-long coma, villagers came and left flowers at her bedside. The girl she saved had even drawn a picture of them together.

After Fu flew to the roof of the Head's Residence, she hung her head upside-down at the entrance to look inside. Shibuki sat on a floor mat and overlooked a scroll, but glimpsed up to see Fu's head at top of the doorway.

"Fu, you don't need to spy on me," he said.

She pursed her lips before she let herself fall to the ground and walk in. "I pulled all the weeds, chief."

"Good. Her crops may be vital this upcoming season."

She sat on the floor mat in front of him. "Vital?"

"Have you seen one rice field here, Fu?"

"Uhhhh.."

"We have such limited area in our secured sanctuary, but almost no flatlands. Not enough for all the people, that's for sure. We get produce from a Land of Sound trader, but it's been months since we've heard from him."

"Why don't we find another trader?"

"I thought about that, but we've known this man for a long time, I know he's trustworthy. Who's to say the next trader won't sell our whereabouts?"

Fu's light frown disappeared as she gasped and smile. "This could be my first big mission! Let me go find this trader!"

"Don't be so hasty! Hey!"

She picked up the scroll from his hands and held it up the air, "Yes! I can see it now! A C-Rank mission, maybe even B! Not only do I get to see the outside world, but then everyone will be so proud of me! Maybe I will even get promoted to chunin?!"

Shibuki stood up and took the scroll from her. "You need to take the chunin exams to be promoted to chunin! And you will not be assigned to such mission! It will go to my most trusted Jonin!"

"Eh?" Fu crooked smile faded. "What are you saying? Isn't it time to let me out?"

Shibuki shook his head. "No. Go tell Yoro and Kegon to come here."

Fu dropped to her knees and prayed to Shibuki. "Come on, please? Please?! I can do it! His village shouldn't be too far away, right?! Let me tag along!"

Shibuki looked at her with a curious look as she brought her hands up. Her eyes twinkled and shook as she observed the leftover dirt on them.

"If I pull one more single weed without a better mission, I'm gonna go insane."

"Take a stay-at-home vacation then, but you're not leaving this village. What if someone found out you were a jinchuruki?"

Fu made a crooked smile. "Then I'll fly away, duh!"

"You're staying here, and that's an order."

She pouted. "You're being really unfair."

"I'm being a leader."

"By keeping me stuffed in this cramped place? I've got wings, I need to let them spread someday."

He sighed. "I'm doing this for your own safety."

"And what of that time you had me fly up and crawled up that cave? I wasn't even a ninja!"

"Enough!"

Fu straightened out at his stern voice.

"You need to stop acting up. If you were more respectable and stayed out of trouble then I, just might, someday, let you have a mission that left the village!" He shut his eyes as he pinched the temple between them. "Must I keep being reminded of that mistake that almost costed your life?"

With her head tilted downward, she stood and rotated to walk out. "I understand. Sorry, Lord Shibuki."

"Wait," he said, but Fu ignored his empathetic call and left.

Fu walked to the ninja-center. It was a small, two-story building close to the Head Residence, a place for the ninjas to stay organized. Inside was a janky filing cabinet, wooden chairs littered with splinters, and a metal table, who was occupied by Kegon.

"Fu, something bugging you?" He asked.

She squinted at him. "Bugging me? Really?"

"You know it can't be helped. What's got you so tensed up?"

"Shibuki still won't let me go on a real mission. I spent the last week digging dirt and I don't even get a shot."

"We're not like other villages, Fu. Yoro had tried to persuade Lord Shibuki into letting you come with us before but it was met with a firm no."

Fu got close and cupped his ear to whisper, "You could always just let me secretly tag along."

"Now it's my turn to give a firm no. It's treason to go against Lord Shibuki's wishes."

She rolled her eyes and waved her hand around. "Yes, yes, I know. Where's Yoro?"

"Training."

"Chief had sent for the both of you."

"Oh? Care to do another favor?"

"I'd rather not when I'm not going on the mission."

"Go get Yoro from his usual training spot."

"I just said I'd rather not!"

"If you do this, I'll try and persuade Shibuki into letting you come with us on this mission."

She pursed her lip trying to hide her smile. "Okay, fine."

Fu ran out of the building and flew up into the sky. As her wings on her back, she soared just underneath the leaves of the Holy Tree peering at the smaller trees below. As she lowered herself to glide over a huge clearing, she saw Yoro on top of the waterfall.

Yoro had excellent chakra control and was her instructor on the subject. With the water-walking technique, he sat on the flowing water before it fell to the giant pond.

He balanced a small ball on his nose. Another technique to enhance one's chakra control was to flow their chakra into a focal point. No doubt Yoro was doing that right now.

He was so caught up in his training, he had no idea Fu landed behind him. As she reached for his armpits, she bit her lip to keep herself from snickering. Caught so off guard by her tickle, he tried to close off his armpits from the ferocious attack.

"Fu!?" He called out.

She bursted with laughter. "Why're you so ticklish?! So much for acting like you're the most serious person ever!"

"Get-" He leaned forward to get her off, but to no luck. He had to cuff his mouth before a peal of laughter escaped. With that, he lost his chakra control and slipped out of her hands as he fell into the water.

She smiled at the water ripples. When he didn't pop out of the water, her eyebrows became knitted.

"Yoro? Where are you? Yoroooo~?"

Worry lines grew on her forehead as she buzzed up and looked down the waterfall. In the giant lake, his jacket was on the water surface. No sign of him. She hid her mouth with her fingers.

"Oh... oh, no. Yoro?!"

Above the surface of the water, she grabbed the jacket and looked through the water repels in the giant pond.

Two arms shot up from the water and grabbed her ankles. She tried to fly away, but he was too strong and pulled her all the way under the water. From the huge splash the impact made, her head popped out. Yoro as he climbed out of the water, jacket in his hand, she squinted at him.

As he wrung out the water in his jacket, he glared at her. "What have I said about tickling me?"

She glared back for another moment before she slowly flew out of the water and landed by him.

"Hey, don't-"

She shut her eyes, clapped her hands together, and buzzed her wings. Water sprinkled in every direction, including Yoru.

"-do that…"

"Shibuki has a mission for you and Kegon, you better hurry!"

"Idiot! Why couldn't you just say that!"

She grinned. "If I don't do it now, who knows when I can mess with you next?"

Yoru and Fu arrived at the doorstep of the Head's Residence. Kegon stood outside, awaiting both of them.

"Well? Can I tag along?" She asked

Kegon shook his head sideways. "Sorry, Fu. He asked for you to talk to him after we leave."

She frowned and tilted her head down. "Okay. I'll wait out here…"

Kegon and Yoro walked in, which gave Fu the opportunity to eavesdrop, not like it was hard. All she had to do was focus on listening.

"As I've already told Kegon, I have a very important mission for the two of you," Shibuki said as he handed them a scroll. "You need to leave your headbands here for this mission. I'm not sure of the circumstance, but our trader has fallen out of touch with us."

"You want us to find out what happened?" Kegon asked.

"If you can. Your main objective is to find a trustworthy trader. They must not know about your village loyalty. We can arrange for a place to meet to trade and keep our village hidden. Maybe after some time, after we know we can trust this trader, he can replace Hugo. Your secondary objective is to look for clues on what happened to Hugo."

"Understood."

They both took off their headbands and gave them to Shibuki. "I will keep them safe. Leave as soon as you can."

"We'll leave immediately," they both said.

As they walked out, they turned to Fu.

"Be good, brat," Yoro said.

Fu rolled her eyes. "I'll try, depends how bored I get without either of you here."

Kegon smiled. "We won't be gone for long, try not to get sprayed by bug repellant."

As he chuckled, she growled at him.

"Fu?" Shibuki called.

The two jonin waved her off before she stumbled inside.

"Hey, chief. I'm sorry about earlier."

"No, really, I was out of line to have yelled at you. Ever since that day that I almost lost everyone in the village due to my own cowardice, I've been afraid of coming to such circumstance again. I even hated sending our regular shinobi on missions."

"I understand, chief. I really do."

"I'm glad... And soon, I'll be comfortable with letting you out. In fact, I have a mission for you right now."

"Really?!" She was delighted.

He held a humble hand up before he handed her a slip with a seal on it. "It's still within our territory, but nonetheless, away from the village."

"What is it?! What is it?!"

"To the West, away from the Holy Tree and on the ridge, there's a long route that leads to a hut. It should be overgrown with vines, but protected by a barrier. Place this seal on the door to get in. Inside it, there is a red, cylinder bag. Don't look in it. Bring it straight here."

"Got it! I will get it done, chief! You can count on me!"

"Hey - wait!"

She already stormed out, without hearing another word from Shibuki. The village was surrounded by huge ridges, then covered up by the leaves and roots of the trees, most of which is from the Holy Tree.

Once she was no longer able to fly, she dropped to the bottom of the ridge and looked for the path. After a long while of walking along the wall of the ridge, gliding over the river of waterfalls, she finally the pathway.

Through a door-sized crack, she saw the barely visible route of dirt molded from trees aligned in such a way for a clear, straight path. It was clearly visible to anyone who was aware of it.

She charged down the path, only to be caught by a net trap and thrown up. Dangling from the tree branch, she took a kunai from her leg pouch, sliced the net open, and landed on her feet. Nobody was around, must've been an old booby trap.

The rest of the way, she used her wings to glide over the grass. She didn't want to be stopped, again. Eventually, the trail ended at a huge grotto. Her village was beautiful, nothing matched up to what she was seeing.

In the middle of the pond was the hut, like a miniature version of the Head residence, overgrown with moss and vines. The water that led up to it was clear as air, her steps produced repels of thin lines.

Koi fish of various colors swam all around the bottom of her shoes, excited for a visitor. It was obvious no one had been here in a long time. She placed her hand in the water for the koi fish to observe and follow. Koi fish were the symbol of good luck, fortune, and prosperity, and if someone were to let the fish kiss their hand, the fishes good luck would be shared to them. She giggled as they did such a thing.

The grotto's walls were covered in moss and vines, cleaned by the water that fell from the top of the cave There were small holes between the top of the walls and the cavern roof.

Around the hut, on the island in the giant pond, the grass was the odd color of red, much like the trimmings of the hut. She took hold of the vertical bars of the double doors, but it didn't budge from her pull.

"Oh!" She took the slip Shibuki gave her, and placed it at the center of the doors, right in the middle of the circle they made.

A red glow surrounded the hut before it shattered and faded. She pulled again. It opened to a giant room, but despite her expectations, there wasn't a spot of dust. In the middle was a pedestal with the red, cylinder bag.

She placed a hand on it, the bag was made of some hard fabric. Not only that, it was imbued with a familiar, strong chakra. As she tried to look inside it, she realized there wasn't even an opening. Her best guess was that it contained a scroll. After all, it was the right size.

There was more to explore in the hut so she searched around. Takigakure formed over a hundred years ago, but how it came to be was a mystery. One thing was obvious, though. The Holy Tree came first.

This place was more like a shrine or storage for artifacts than it was a home. She came to an empty scroll holder. The history of Kakuzu rang through her mind, the man who humbled the village and whose tale remained a grave reminder the village felt guilt for.

At the formation of Takigakure, Kakuzu was assigned to kill the Hokage of Konohagakure, God of Shinobi, Harashima Senju, but failed. Once Kakuzu came back, even due to the unfair circumstance placed before him, the village arrested him. After he broke out, he took a kinjutsu, killed the elders, literally stole their hearts, and fled, never to be seen again.

Now, he's an urban legend used to scare children straight. "You best be good, or Kakuzu will come back and take your heart."

On the other side of the room, she saw a portrait. A man in front of the Holy Tree, but with fewer buildings than the present. Maybe he was the founder of the village.

She expected to have found some recorded history about the upbringing of the village, but aside from the portrait, there wasn't anything of the sort. Maybe Shibuki knew.

One the top of the bag was crossed straps that fitted around her arms. It was comfortable to wear, like a regular backpack. To much her surprise, it didn't stop her from using her wings.

She hurried back to the village. She needed to know what was in it.

It was already near dark by the same was almost back to the village. For most of her way back, she glided over the ground, but due to the dark, she flew straight into a branch. She rubbed her head. "Better not go into a coma, again."

She hopped to her feet and sprinted her way back. There shouldn't be too many traps the closer she got to the village. However, she thought wrong as tripped on a tripwire.

From every direction in front of her, shurikens spun right toward her. Unable to escape the barrage, she opted to duck and cover her head with her arms.

"Foolish," she thought. She should have just flown.

Like hail fall, the ground on both sides of her was met with several shurikens, like a shadow that just fallen and filled up the entire pathway behind her.

Yet, she remained unscathed. She moved her arms and lifted her head up to see someone had stood in front of her and took the shurikens meant for her.

"Shibuki?"

"Are you… alright?"

She nodded, unable to say anything as her chin trembled and her eyes twinkled.

"I forgot to tell you about the traps, some leader I am. I see you have the bag, though," he struggled to say. "Let's go back."

He fell forward, luckily Fu managed to hold him up.

Shibuki went to the nurse to take the shurikens out of his back. He told Fu to sit on one of the branches of the Holy Tree. So she did. With the cylinder bag stood up against the tree, she hugged her knees as she gazed down at the village below.

If she was more careful, Shibuki wouldn't have been hurt. Even though she had earned the trust of the village, she wouldn't think anyone would ever put themselves in harm's way for her. She wouldn't want them to, especially when it was her own carelessness that caused the harm.

It hadn't been long since Shubiki went to the hospital. He was already climbing up to the branch Fu sat on. Still, she didn't sway her gaze from the village when he walked close to her.

"What's with that look?" He asked in a happy tone. "I said I'd be fine. Shurikens don't cut deep, after all."

They definitely can cut deep. He only said that to make her feel better.

"You say that, but yet you protected me."

He sat near her. "Wouldn't you protect those precious to you?"

As an unexpected result, her face sunk deeper into her knees. "Because I'm a jinchuuriki?"

"Not at all. Majority of the time, I don't even think about it. Since the Suien incident, even most of the villagers had forgotten."

"Now they just hate me because I'm annoying," Fu joked with the same blank stare.

"You laugh, but you really are annoying."

She lifted her head and gawked at him. "Hey!"

He chuckled as he sat near her.

"Yet, you would say it bonds you to them, right?"

As she thought about people she annoyed, her eyes swayed back to the village. "Well, yeah."

"And you would protect them?"

"With my life."

"Then why shouldn't I? I think everyone should be like that, forming bonds and protecting each other."

She let go of one leg to let it swing from the branch. "You sure have changed since Suien came back."

He chuckled. "I don't think my change had barely anything to do with Suien."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember that annoying guy that helped us defeat him?"

"Not really. That day was a blur."

"Right," Shibuki under his breath. He had obvious remorse for what happened between her and his old teacher.

"Well, like how you're annoying to us, I felt a bond with that annoying guy, too. Although he was up in my business and I just wanted him out of my face, he was the one to push me like no one else. His friends tried to stop him, but he kept on coming at me, and for that, I felt close to him. It was what I needed."

Fu smiled. "I hope I could meet him one day. We can be annoying together."

"If I ever need an escort one day, I'll be sure to pay his team to come to visit."

"So, are you going to tell me what that hut was? And what's in the bag?"

He rubbed his chin. "I suppose I could. That hut was the first building in Takigakure."

"I saw a portrait of a man in there. Was he the founder?"

"Indeed he was. The Holy Tree and its Hero's Water had already been around a long time before they made that hut. There had always been guardians of the tree, but a man showed up and not only killed them but dissected their bodies for secrets. He then took the hero's water, but for some reason, gave the founder the scroll that contained their ability."

Fu pointed to the red bag. "Is that what the bag is? The scroll?"

He shook his head for no. "Close, though."

She leaned close to whisper, "Is it what Kakuzu stole?"

"Yes, it was. The kinjutsu Earth Grudge Fear. No one was sure what it did, everyone was too afraid to find out, but whatever it was… led to Kakuzu taking the hearts of the elders."

"Wouldn't it be the same as the guardians? Or did no one bother to write that down, either?!"

Shibuki shrugged. "Whatever the kinjutsu was, it's lost. Kakuzu would have died a long time ago."

"Sounds like he needed a friend."

Shibuki ignored that comment. "Anyway, about the bag."

"Finally going to tell me?"

"It belonged to the first jinchuriki of the Seven-Tails."

"Whoa. And?!"

"And that's all I know!" He was way too delighted to say that.

For a long moment, Fu narrowed her eyes and parted her lips as she stared at him.

"You.. don't know what it is? Some anticipation! It doesn't even have an opening! It was like, a chakra barrier!"

He gave her a deadpan look. "You… tried opening it, even though I said not to?"

She froze a moment before she let out a light-hearted chuckled. "Uh, sorry? Technically, I didn't try because there wasn't an opening."

Although the mood was lighthearted, his face tensed up. "It wouldn't hurt to listen to me."

Fu tilted her head and smiled at his seriousness. "It's more fun when I don't, though. Plus, why even tell me not to open?"

Shibuki pursed his lips.

"Shibuki?"

He stood up to avoid the question. "Whatever it is, I know you will put it to good use someday."

"Gee, I know I should be thankful, but it's not like I have a clue on what to do with it."

"You can say thanks at that point, then."

Fu looked down at the lake, the shadow glossed it over and made it dark blue. As he left, she called out to him.

"Hey, Shibuki? Earlier, what did you say about the chunin exam?"

He stopped his descent of the tree and looked up at her.

"Oh, that? Every year, one of the Great Village hosts the Chunin Exams that a genin signs up for. It's usually a test of knowledge, survival, and abilities. After a few years, I'd like to see you take them."

Her entire face was delighted as she beamed. "Right! I won't let you down!'

She watched as the climbed down the tree and disappeared within the night.

"They sign up for it, huh?" She grinned as she stood up, fluttered her wings, and flew home.

Do I rewrite the New Chunin Exam Arc Filler or no? It'd be my own take on it. Personally, I'd rather just summarize the events.