And I'm back with another chapter! Thank you again to everyone who gave this story a try! This one took a while to crawl into existence, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with some sequences. Here we see a bit more about her training both as ninja and a samurai beforehand.Warning: towards the end of the chapter there are scenes with some sensitive content and slight mentions of sexual abuse.


The next couple of weeks passed relatively quickly, once I figured a routine for myself. I would study during the mornings and practice and train in the afternoon. In the evenings I would stroll around Konoha to familiarise myself more with the village, then go home, cook something for myself, and study some more before going to sleep.

Chakra theory, control, weapon throwing, ninja history, those were all new subjects for me, and I just didn't seem to have enough time to grasp everything. That made me thankful for the education I'd received back in Iron Country, which had included topics far more accessible to civilians like reading, writing, maths and the general history and geography of the Elemental Nations. Without those I wouldn't have been able to understand the complicated diagrams describing the throwing angle of a kunai, or the strategical positioning of, say, Kanabi Bridge during the Third Shinobi War. And like everything the samurai did, my education had been methodically ingrained in my mind with brutal thoroughness from a young age.

Still, I had to admit some things required a great deal of practice, regardless of how much sense they made in my mind. With that thought in mind, it was still hard not to lose my patience one of those afternoons, as I was trying, rather unsuccessfully, to hit the bull's eye with kunai in the training ground. I had littered the practice targets multiple times with the six kunai acquired the previous day, the marks slowly making their way towards the center with each new try. Still, I was barely at the edge of the circular target, sweaty from the exertion and frustrated.

As such, it took me way longer than it should had to notice someone else at the edge of the treeline.

A tall, brown-haired guy, probably in his middle twenties, wearing the standard Konoha chunin uniform. The most striking though, was the ugly scar pulling at the skin from his right ear, across the entire cheek and over the bridge of his nose.

'Can I help you with anything, shinobi-san ?' I asked, trying to hide my confusion.

'You're the new kid Genma's team brought from Iron' I nodded, even though it wasn't phrased like a question. 'My name is Raidou Namiashi, he asked me to check on you from time to time.'

O-kay, that was oddly thoughtful from him. But...ah, yes, it's more likely he's there to keep an eye on me, in case I'd become a threat.

I frowned, staring at him in silence.

Instead of being phased by my animosity, he just gave a hearty laugh and made his way in the clearing. 'Don't give me that terrifying look, I just want to help you, honest!'

Honest?! What kind of ninja would say that. What was the deal with this guy?

My scowl morphed into a blank look as he came to a stop next to me.

'Man, Genma was right, you have a killer poker-face. I guess those samurais really know a thing or two about discipline, huh?'

That only made me tense more. So he had been told about my past.

He looked at the kunai-peppered target.

'Want some help with that? It looks like you made it halfway through, which is good progress for someone not even in the academy yet, but there are some tricks to aiming closer to the center'

I gave him a considering look. Even if he was lying, I wouldn't be able to tell; and I didn't think that if he were there to shadow me, he would have offered his help.

I nodded.


As it turned out, I wasn't able to make it to the bull's eye that afternoon, but with Raidou's pointers I got considerably closer to the center, even though I was very slow to aim. He told me that from then on it would only be a matter of practice, but I would have plenty of time to get better in the academy as well.

He had to leave after an hour and I decided to call it a day as well, since it was starting to get dark. On the way back, he regaled me with some funny stories about him and Genma and judging from the warmth in his voice when talking about the other man, the two must have been very close. Huh.

Once we reached my floor, I turned towards him to say goodbye. 'Thank you for your help today.' And surprisingly enough, I meant every word. Only now was I realizing how lonely I'd been since coming to the village, majority of the time spent with my head burried in some book.

On my way back I had convinced myself that his help had been offered genuinely. Even if he would have wanted to earn my favors, to take advantage of my abilities later, it hardly seemed logical to befriend me now, when I was so young and useless to him, right?! That also made me feel better about Genma telling him of my origins.

'No problem, it was my pleasure. You pick up stuff very quick and seem to have a strong foundation' he said, giving me a quick smile that pulled even more at his scar. 'Still, I'd recommend that you work on your overall speed. When Genma's back, drop for some lunch if you want.' With that he made his way to his own apartment.

You wouldn't have guessed with his appearance, but he was a pretty warm guy.


The next afternoon, after kunai throwing exercises and practicing my wood release control on some unsuspecting trees in the training ground, I decided to take Raidou's advice about speed the only way I could. By starting to run laps around the village. I would try to build up my stamina and then try to run faster every day. I was familiar enough with the village now to design a route around the few public clocks displayed, to help me mark my progress.

And as I was running my second lap around some training grounds at the edge of the village, thinking about ways to develop the roots I was now able to summon into the technique Tenzō described in his notes, my gut feeling kicked in.

And then the ambush happened.

An earth column sprung from the road ahead and smashed into my front, sending me flying backwards.

Dizzily, I climbed back to my feet, feeling like throwing up my intestines from the shock. Two tall figures had jumped into my field of view and next thing I knew, a punch was being delivered to my gut, making me double over.

I fell to the ground again, and drew my katana from my back out of instinct more than anything. I felt a kick connecting to my side not a second after and felt something cracking inside. I swiped with my blade blindly from the ground in the direction the hit had come from and felt it catch on my assailants leg.

'Fuckin' Senju bitch'

I didn't catch what he said after, when a sandaled foot slammed into my face and then everything went dark.


When I came back to my senses, first thing I noticed was the agonising pulsing of my ribs. I had to bite my tongue to the point of drawing blood to keep any sound from leaving my lips. Everything was aching.

I was sitting on a chair, my hands bound behind my back, the position putting even more stress on my side.

I risked opening my eyes a fraction to survey the room. The two men that had abducted me were talking in hushed tones a few meters away from me. A subtle glance around the room confirmed we were in an abandoned building, unlikely to be checked out by a patrol any time soon.

With dawning dread, I realised nobody would be coming to save me, I had to get out of there myself. I started fidgeting with my restraints, trying to untie the knot.

That seemed to draw the men's attention, one of them scowling before coming over and slapping me across the face. My head snapped to the side and I was made suddenly aware of the blood pooling in my mouth.

'Don't try something like that, sweetheart' he said. Brown haired, dark eyed, with a week's worth of stubble gathering unevenly on his face. Wearing Konoha standard uniform. Just like his taller partner, this one sprouting dark hair and a scar over his right cheek instead. Ah, there it is, a fresh bandage over his left ankle, where my sword had made contact.

'We wouldn't want to injure you further before you reach Orochimaru-sama, but you have to cooperate like a good girl' he leered at me.

My heart jumped in my throat. Orochimaru. The highest profile missing nin from Konoha. A criminal whose name was whispered in fear by ninjas, samurai and civilians alike.

And they planned to deliver me to him. Why, to what purpose, I was just a kid that had arrived here out of nowhere.

I schooled my features, trying to hide my emotions. I had to stall for time and gather more information.

'You are both shinobi of Konoha. Why would you be in contact with a traitor?' I asked, letting my disdain show in my voice. Powerful or not, that's what the guy was, a renegade who had abandoned his people and a traitor who had committed unspeakable crimes. Dishonorable, that's what he was.

The other one gritted his teeth furiously before pulling my head back by the hair till it hit the back of the chair. 'Careful of how you speak about Lord Orochimaru, girl! You wouldn't be able to understand that his reasons are justified and his goals noble' he spoke with worshipful fervor.

'You are a very special girl as you sure know, and you caught the attention of our lord' the brown-haired explained, coming closer to my face. 'And you're quite a pretty, little thing, aren't you sweetheart?' my stomach lurched as he put his rough hand on my cheek, before trailing it down my neck and chest, before resting it on my inner thigh. No.

' We're going to be rewarded nicely for bringing Lord Orochimaru a mokuton user, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun before his middle-man comes to pick you up' he smirked in a terrible manner as he began opening my pants. His partner went to check the windows as I started trashing against my restraints with everything I had. I knew where this was headed, and the thought made me sick to my very core. Nonono...

'You're losing your time with that, she's barely eight, according to her files, even if she's tall' a third, smoother voice interrupted. A third man had appeared by the door, also dressed in a green flak jacket, wearing navy clothing underneath, like most of the Konoha forces. Unlike most, he had shoulder-length gray hair, peeking from a bandana with the forehead protector. A massive shuriken was strapped to his back.

'Ah, we were wondering when you'd show up' the one near the window exclaimed.

The gray-haired one made his way in front of me and took in my rumpled appearance. 'Did you make sure you weren't followed here?' he asked, and they both shook their heads no.

'What about you? Does anyone know you were out?' he asked me this time.

I stared resolutely into his eyes and didn't say anything. Hopefully that would make them more paranoid and uncertain, buying me more time to find a way to escape. Now that I knew why Orochimaru wanted me, it became imperative to avoid him. Everyone knew about the experiments...

However, my silence seemed to anger them further. That's why I wasn't really surprised by the punch to my side that followed, even though it didn't make it any less painful.

'Well? Stop wasting our time and spit it out already!' the white-haired man demanded.

Silence again.

Another blow to the other side this time.

And another to my face. My vision started to blur at that point, the ringing in my ears intensifying.

'Looks like you're a stubborn one. That just won't do in front of Lord Orochimaru. I think we'll have to discipline you a bit before we bring you to him' he sneered down at me.

I lifted my head to pin him with my glare, imagining all the ways I would cut them to pieces if only I could reach my katana near the wall. I resolved to be as quiet as a tomb, whatever they'd bring at me.

But it was hard to maintain that resolve when they started beating me in earnest. One, two, three, four, five, six... the punches kept coming. To my face, to my chest and stomach, my arms. Kicks to my legs. Air was wheezing in my lungs and something was rattling in my head and all the time I clenched my teeth and bit down my groans. Self-control.

There was a silver lining to all this though, I realised with the kind of detachment that should have warned me I was about to pass out. Somebody is bound to hear the punches. That was my only chance, since with my hands bound, I couldn't reach my sword or activate the feeble Wood jutsu I had been working on.

This was probably the worst beating down I'd taken so far, probably worse even than the night I'd killed my parents or that one time I'd lied to my father, ignoring makoto.

Another blow to my head.

And just like that night over a month ago, I started to feel something buzzing under my skin, as my mind became more and more foggy with pain. This was pathetic, this wasn't how I was supposed to go out, bound to a chair to be selled off to some asshole, unable to fight back. No, I refused to let anyone have that kind of control over me again. I felt it gathering in my body, boiling. My feet were burning. My chakra. My anger. I will kill you all.

And then the chakra in me snapped.

A spike of wood burst out of the floor and impailed the brown-haired creep in the chest, lifting him off the ground.

The other two jumped back with sounds of alarm as more roots spiked up around me.

I felt my bindings snap and sprung from my chair towards the wall and my katana. My vision tunneled again as I turned around and barely blocked the kunai the taller man was wielding. My head cleared for a second. I deflected the knife to the side with my blade. Tucked into a roll to get closer under his guard. Then exploded from the ground, my sword held in the yoko giri way, slashing sideways through his neck and landing behind him.

I heard him hit the ground, while my eyes bore on the last one, the white-haired guy with a bandana. I felt my anger flare up again, my vision darkening as I remembered how he lashed at me with his blows. All of them high and mighty, while I was bound down, defenseless. Cowards.

The ground beneath me trembled, as another spike drove towards him. He tried to block it by hurling his massive shuriken at it, but it got stuck in the wood, throwing splinters around.

I dropped my hands to the ground, pushing my chakra in it and willed another spear of wood to rise from the floor and stab him.

His terrified face as the spike was approaching blurred in front of me. I think I blacked out for a moment, satisfied at least that I'd take him down with me.

But the moment passed and I didn't hear the sound of flesh being ripped apart.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Itachi's Anbu mask on my right, hands on my shoulders. It was hard to hear what he was saying through the rushing in my ears.

'-no'

'Juno!'

'Juno, stop! You need to stop the technique!'

Stop what?

I turned towards the other side of the room. The wooden beam was puncturing through bandana guy's right shoulder. Tenzō was on one of his sides, hands clasped together, his own wood jutsu preventing the spear from drilling itself further. Genma was on the other side, hands glowing green on his impaled shoulder, pushing healing chakra in the wound.

Kakashi was making his way towards us, lightning covered hand carving its way through the overgrown spikes.

'Juno, calm down, you're not in danger anymore' Itachi reminded me again, his voice quieter this time.

I let out a gasp, feeling the energy drain out of me all at once. I slid down the wall and let my sword clatter to the floor.


Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Makoto means honesty and is one of the principles in Bushidō, the samurai code of honor.Yoko giri means the sidecut and its a traditional Japanese kenjutsu move.

Till next time ~~