Hello and thank you to everyone who liked, reviewed and followed this story! I was trying for regular updates but uni life got in-between and my inspiration for it also seemed to have a long time coming. But anyway, this chapter focuses more on Juno's preconceptions towards ninja and the differences from the samurai values she grew up with. She's in a very black-and-white phase right now, which I'm thinking it's appropriate for her age, so keep that in mind while reading. This contradiction between what she considers as right and what she will be asked to do in the future is going to be a recurring theme in the story, but the discrepancy will grow smaller as time passes and she gets older.

Now on to the story ! :)


'Lights up and they know who you are' -Harry Styles, Lights up


Next time I woke up, it was already daytime. Itachi-san was gone, Genma having take his place on the chair at my bedside. Were they on orders to keep watch over me?

Sensing my gaze on him, he looked up from the book he had been reading and gave me a crooked smile.

'Decided to join us in the land of living?' he drawled. His shoulder-length brown hair was pulled into a greasy bun and he was sporting a slight five o'clock shadow on his face.

I wondered whether that white-haired guy I attacked last had survived, considering Genma started tending to him the moment they got there.

'You'll be happy to hear Mitsuki is alive, and as of now still being interrogated in our TI Department' he replied my unasked question. 'He was a chunin here for years, loyal as far as we know, but some of his more recent missions had brought him to areas where Intel confirms Orochimaru may have been active. That's most likely how he became a spy for him. We' re still trying to figure out who tipped them off about you, but it seems likely a genjutsu was involved to conceal their identity'.

His senbon stopped bobbing for a second, as he fixed me with a sharp look through his half-lidded eyes' As for the other two, both low level chunin, no family, no friends who would seek retribution. They were just underdogs Mizuki recruited with white lies and promises of a fat check.'

I swallowed remembering those two. Even though, logically, I had killed both of them, I couldn't stop the uneasiness remembering their actions.

'Kid' I looked up and Genma was watching me carefully 'I'm going to hug you now, don't skewer me.' With that he got up and put his hands around me, pulling me into a light embrace. It felt safe. I'd forgotten when was the last time I'd felt that.

I was the first to pull away and spoke for the first time that day. 'I'm not sorry I killed them'.

Genma assessed me for a long moment and nodded, something like grim satisfaction flickering in his eyes. 'I had a feeling you wouldn't, and in this situation it was completely justified. Still, be careful in the future, killing a fellow Konoha ninja if he hasn't shown clear proof of deserting, could land you in a mess' then he smirked at me, eyes hard as steel 'But good job, kid, took down three enemy chunin by yourself, provided useful information about a missing-nin and you're not even in the Academy yet.' he jokingly added 'Keep going like that and you might just snatch the prodigy title from Kakashi and Itachi-kun'.

I perked up at that. 'Itachi-san said he would train me from now on' I blurted without thinking, then my eyes widened hearing just how eager my voice sounded.

That didn't go unnoticed judging by the smirk Genma was giving me 'He might have mentioned something along those lines when we gave our reports' then he added teasingly at my excited expression 'This could turn cute in a couple of years'.

I stared confused at him, cocking my head to the side questioningly at his weird remark, but decided there were other questions I wanted answered.

'Why would Orochimaru want the Wood Release?'

Genma sighed wearily and slumped in his chair 'For many reasons. As you probably already know it was something unique to the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and it's what he used to create this village. Where before there were only uninhabitable woods, he used the Deep Forest Emergence to build the founding infrastructure for Konoha. Arable lands, compounds for the clans, roads leading in and out the forest, parks and training grounds; when one possesses the vitality and skill to combine water and earth and create life like he did, the possibilities are infinite. That's what makes this ability so addictive to others, Orochimaru included."

I pondered that, knotting the blanket between my unsteady hands. What Genma was telling me seemed like a fairy tale, to be able to manipulate nature like that and give birth to an entire village... And they thought I could be trained to do that as well, the Hokage, Orochimaru and whoever tipped him about me. That's what it boiled down to after all.

'You brought me here because you want me to be like the First.' I said in the end, pinning Genma with a hard look and at such didn't miss the apology written on his face. 'That's the price for offering me shelter, isn't it?' it felt cruel to expect something like that from me, but this cold logic I could understand, I had been raised by it. It made more sense than giving me refuge because of my family's mistreatment.

Still the goal seemed insurmountable. ' What happens if I can't rise up to that? You take me back to Iron ?'

Genma looked startled by my question. 'What? That's not even...' he sighed and combed a hand through his hair frustrated muttering something about 'bastards who made her so paranoid'. ' Listen, kid, I'm not very good at this bonding thing and I'm not saying that the Hokage doesn't have high expectations from you, but the main reason we, our team, brought you in was because you weren't fitting there, and they were destroying you for it' he said, pointing at arms, where the numerous scars from training or punishment or the uncontrollable mokuton outbursts were visible against my pale skin.

I startled at that. There was a definite underlying edge of worry in his voice, that matched the one he used when he hugged me earlier, or while snapping back to Kakashi the previous day, or while healing me in Iron. There was worry on his face as well, frustration and anger and a few other things I couldn't decipher swirling in his eyes. Could that be that he cared for me more than as a weapon or a means towards an end ?

'Itachi-san said ninjas lie and cheat' how could I trust that they weren't manipulating me, getting me to trust them so they could use me later?

Reading my mistrustful gaze right, he sighed again, something like self-deprecation twisting his mouth ''That we do and I don't have a way to prove my sincerity to you, aside from my words.' he met my searching look head on. 'But even shinobi, wicked as we are, slowly move forward as we try to atone for the past. There' still a lot of room left for us to grow. But in this village we believe in the Will of fire, a conviction inherited from the First, which dictates that everyone living here be treated and cherished like family. That's why we don't leave teammates behind and try to help those in need, while getting payed for our missions at the same time' his face lighted up as he talked about his philosophy and his hand reached out to hold my smaller one.'You are one of us now and there are people that care about you here. I can't speak for the Hokage and his political reasons behind offering you special treatment in the beginning, but we would still count you as one of us, with or without the mokuton, kid' he gave me a tentative smile, for once no trace of sarcasm.

A place where everybody is treated like family, huh. It explained the cheerful atmosphere and liveliness all-present in the streets. I knew the civilians here were different from Iron, I never realised that might be the case for the military forces as well. So even while doing such despicable deeds, they were still capable to nurture noble goals ? But weren't Genma and his team proof enough of that ? They were considered some of the top soldiers here, meaning they excelled at everything a ninja embodied, and still had shown me so much compassion till now. And he said they cared. Maybe their reasons for helping me weren't so selfish. Maybe, there was a way to live by both ways here, samurai's and ninja's.

It still didn't lift the heavy burden of expectations or the uncertainty of my future here. But Genma was offering me a middle way to navigate in this world on a sword's edge, do my duties to the village while maintaining a semblance of morality. My lips quirked upwards, and with a burst of uncharacteristic emotion suddenly feeling so relieved, because for the first time since forever, I was feeling like somebody was fighting in my corner for me. First Kakashi-san giving me shelter in the name of his kage, then Genma providing me all those books and teaching me how to cook, Tenzo's scrolls and invaluable pointers, Namiashi-san's weapon throwing lessons, Itachi-san's mentorship offer and now this. So many people had supported me these past two months, it seemed silly to doubt them now.

'Then I will follow the Will of fire as well' I said and, after a pause, gave his hand a squeeze.'I will protect this village and the First's legacy, and I will do so my way'

I looked intently at him, hardening my resolve, and sensing the weight behind my words, he straightened as well. 'That I promise to you' I vowed, bringing a fist over my heart. I won't let you and the others down.


After two days were spent recuperating in the hospital, I was discharged with orders to take it easy for a while. While being bedridden I'd gotten to asking Genma about the damage I'd taken and how the medics had stopped the pain and healed my ribs in such a short time. Back in Iron that kind of blunt trauma I'd received would had left me unable to move for weeks, here, after a few hours spent under the green-glowing hands of my doctors, I was feeling right as rain. So I asked him how it was possible.

And now here I was, a few days later, lounging on the insanely comfortable couch in his apartment with a scroll on basic anatomy, while he and Namiashi-san were cooking in the kitchen.

I was once again surprised by how cozy his place looked. Maybe it was silly of me, but somewhere in my subconscious I had expected weaponry on the walls and corpses in the closet. Thinking about it, I should dial down on the civilian preconceptions about ninja, since I was planning on being one of them.

Still, if Genma had any weapons and traps there, they were hidden behind the tastefully arranged but utilitarian furniture. What really drew my eye were the dozens of bookshelves lining the wall, filled neatly with scrolls on any possible subject.

Namiashi-san burst out laughing when I tripped on my half-unclasped sandals in my rush to get to the library, which turned to wheezing at my mortified expression over such an ungraceful blunder.

I turned towards Genma for help, but he was giving the other man this strange gooey-eyed look I've seen nurses give Itachi-san, so I dropped it and began perusing the titles.

Genma had recommended anatomy for now, to build on what I already knew from the samurai. But instead of using that knowledge to cut somebody to ribbons, now I would learn to use it to heal.

And wasn't that such a novel notion? There were ninjas out there that dedicated their lives to studying the art of healing instead of killing, that performed surgeries in hospitals and mended back broken bones or limbs on the battlefield. Ninjas that were almost like scientists, using their powers to improve the life quality of others. Of course that's what the normal shinobi were aiming for as well, accepting missions to bring revenue and help Konoha prosper. But the ways they accomplished that through assassinations, trickery and falsehoods didn't sit well with me.

In comparison, medic-nins almost seemed like saints, with an admirable cause and a honorable course of action. This, this was a way for me to maintain my morality while serving my village in the shinobi ranks.

(Of course, I'd learn later on just through what gruesome means they came to know how to treat the human body, the sinister trial and error process that made so many suffer over decades before it started showing progress, the experiments conducted on war prisoners violating every concept of human decency, and the corruption in the medical system. But in the beginning, I was blissfully oblivious to all that)

'Lunch's ready' Genma announced near my ear, startling me from the scroll I had been devouring over the past two hours. He smirked at my indignant frown and I was glad that he seemed to have relaxed a bit, having fussed over me incessantly for the last few days. Still, it was nice to know somebody cared for me like that, not that I would be caught ever admitting to that.

Lunch was an interesting event, if a bit aggravating, Namiashi-san insisting to crack my stoicism with lame jokes and silly faces and Genma piping in from time to time with dry sarcasm.'Seriously, Genma, doesn't she remind you of Kakashi in his younger days? Definitely genius, sticker to the rules, could dress down adults trice her age, same insane hair and utter lack of fashion' Namiashi-san ranted, and okay, he wasn't completely wrong, but... 'My hair does not look like Kakashi-san's' I retorted, because even if it had its wild days, it didn't stick in all directions haphazardly like said jonins. I was brushing it everyday, dammit.

'But appearance-wise she takes more after Itachi-kun' Genma quipped, and I turned starry-eyed to him. It was true I was starting to develop a bit of hero-worship towards the older boy, which for some reason seemed to amuse the older man. 'Both have eye bags that could put Tenzō's to shame' he added and my head dropped in disappointment. He wasn't wrong about that. I'd never slept well and as such developed some remarkable panda eyes. Itachi-san's might come from overworking, but instead of making him look haggard like in my case, it only added to his looks. Still, it was unfortunate that was the only parallel he could draw between us.

The guy was good at everything, so far I've seen and heard, so of course appearance would be one of them. Meanwhile I just managed to look awkward, too tall for my age, too pale for Fire country, with tired brown eyes that didn't seem to fit on my face and dark hair with a life of its own on most days. I was really hoping all that would normalise once I finished my growth spurt, because right now I would need new clothes every few months.

After we finished eating, I was in the process of helping both men clean the table when we heard a knock on the door and the subject of our earlier conversation appeared in the kitchen door.

'Hello, Itachi-kun, you just missed lunch, would you like me to fix you something?' Genma greeted.

The older boy smiled a bit but shook his head 'Thank you, but I have also just partaken to lunch with Mother at the compound' then he turned to me and I snapped at attention, then cringed when somebody snorted in the background. 'I have no missions this afternoon. We should start your training if you you are available, considering the Academy shall start soon and you do not possess any knowledge in hand-to-hand combat' he stated calmly and I fought down the sudden embarrassment at his frank assessment.

Still, I turned my head eagerly to Genma and he made a shooing motion 'You run along, kid, me and Raido are perfectly capable of finishing up here'.

'Thank you for the meal' I said while bowing and followed Itachi-san in the hallway to put on my shoes. I barely avoides a hair ruffle from Namiashi-san but accepted gratefully a couple more books and scrolls on anatomy from Genma.

We said on our goodbyes then and Itachi-san showed me to the training ground I had used since coming here to practice.


In hindsight, I might have to reconsider the budding admiration I had developed for the older boy. Because after showing me the Academy based katas and making me run through them a couple of times, he proceeded to wipe the floor with my ass in taijutsu every day after that.


So, she finally reached her decision and now has a clearer(ish) plan for the future. She's also accepted that others care for her and won't be so suspicious from now on towards Genma's mother hen tendencies. Also. I've decided that Itachi is going to use the tough love approach for her training, imo that's the fastest way to to build up her reflexes and get her used to unarmed combat, since speed and strength she already has from wielding her sword.

Next chapter should wrap up her days in Academy. Till next time~~