"Morning Sensei!" Ami called, hauling herself over the watchtower wall into a heap on the floor. The walls of Konoha seemed to be getting easier to climb every day, and Ami had gradually progressed from a tentative crawl, to a stumbling vertical walk, and that morning had practically sprinted up the sheer stone surface.
"Ah, hi Ami-chan," Tsuzumi waved. He was standing in his usual spot beside Okei, staring out at the canopy surrounding Konoha.
"I got my reward sensei," Ami chuckled, holding up a stack of notes and waving them at Tsuzumi, gripping the bundle tightly.
"And you didn't spend it all yet? That's very responsible," Tsuzumi said. He was smiling, but Ami thought he seemed more subdued than usual.
"I gave half to kaa-chan, but I don't know what to spend the rest on. Manju? Or dango? Anpan?" Ami was concentrating deeply on the stack of bills as she listed her options.
"The first thing you should always do is replenish your ninja supplies," Tsuzumi instructed.
"Oh, I should get some new kunai," Ami said brightly. The memory of having too few weapons on the mission of the previous day was still fresh in her mind.
"Hm, and replace your shuriken," Tsuzumi agreed.
"Ah, n-no. I don't think I'll get new shuriken," Ami said hesitantly, looking down at her hands. No longer painful, but still marred by lines.
Tsuzumi's smile became tight, but he stayed silent.
Tsuzumi's idea of training that morning was to have Ami practice her academy taijutsu katas. At times he'd ask Okei to cover for him on watch while he engaged her in brief taijutsu spars, but within the cramped space of the watchtower nest it did little but exercise her blocks. She picked up a few pointers, but Tsuzumi didn't really have a specialised style of his own to instruct her with. Like many career chunin, he had made his way using his own simple academy forms, never branching out or experimenting.
"Hmm, I'm more of a ninjutsu specialist," he admitted in response to Ami's complaints about his taijutsu credentials.
"Oh, sensei! You had to teach me a new jutsu!" Ami said, remembering the stumbling extortion she'd tried on the night of her genin test.
"That's right. I'm going to teach you three new jutsu," Tsuzumi said with a smile. Okei shot the man a concerned glance, then turned his attention back to the forest.
"Teach me sensei!" Ami said, sliding to the ground and crossing her legs.
"Not here," Tsuzumi said, shaking his head and folding his arms. "We need to be outside the village to demonstrate them properly."
"Because... they're too powerful?" Ami asked sceptically.
"Say Ami-chan, how would you like to go on a C-rank mission?" Tsuzumi asked, changing the subject.
Ami bit her lip thoughtfully, remembering the dangers she'd faced on a merely 'D-rank' mission, the previous day. She wanted to challenge her sensei's apparent diversion, but the prospect of a new mission was more interesting.
"What's the reward?" she asked at last.
"Hah! She's a shinobi," Okei chuckled. "Wait, Tsuzumi, you're bringing her with us?"
"Your reward can't be counted in petty material goods, Ami-chan," Tsuzumi said, ignoring Okei's question. He smiled reassuringly, and the expression creased the corners of his eyes. "The benefit will be measured in knowledge, and experience!"
"Umm, so, no money?" Ami guessed.
"And I'll give you three hundred Ryo if you're well behaved," Tsuzumi added.
Ami shrugged. "Okay."
"Tsuzumi, did you clear this with the captain?" Okei asked, more insistently.
"Ah-ha, it'll be fine," Tsuzumi said, waving dismissively.
"Yeah, it's fine-fine," Ami added, lifting her hand to help wave the chunin's concerns away.
Okei pointed at the girl, spluttering. "You can't say it's fine when you're the problem!"
"I'll just name-drop Homura-sama. He's the reason I'm saddled with... my cute student, so it's his problem," Tsuzumi said. "Plus, there'll be plenty of civilians anyway. Officially she can be on the labour team."
Ami looked between the two chunin, confused. "What's the mission?"
Tsuzumi turned to Ami, smiling. "Some of the duty-nin are being sent on an escort mission to Numa-Ku - Swamp Ward Village. We'll be guarding a trade caravan, and some labourers who'll help fix up the road. There'll be eight guards, so it's very safe."
"Huh. That's where my mission was," Ami said, remembering the weed-strewn disused road to Numa-Ku.
"Third-sama made a trade agreement with the shicho of Swamp Ward," Okei said gruffly, not turning from his watch out over the surrounding forest. "This is the first shipment, and we'll help to clean up the road for future cart trains."
"I think the farm you cleaned up is going to be made into an inn," Tsuzumi added.
"It's like," Ami began thoughtfully, then paused, at a loss. "It's like we're all working on little bits of the same big thing."
"That feeling is called being part of a hidden village," Tsuzumi said, smiling. "You've done a small part, but your effort will be felt for a long time, by a lot of people. People are safer because you cleaned out those buildings."
Ami slowly clenched her fist, hardly feeling the dull ache of the well-healed scars.
After lunch, Tsuzumi switched Ami's training. Instead of taijutsu, her sensei had her carrying packs-full of rocks up the side of the wall, which she then had to run around on the ground catching as Tsuzumi threw them over the edge. Tsuzumi called it 'speed training', but Okei called it 'keeping the brat out of our hair', when he didn't think she could hear.
Both the effort of carrying the rocks up the sheer face, and then running frantically after them were exhausting, but as dusk approached and she went home to clean up before dinner, the soreness in her muscles felt somehow comfortable, and she was confident that by now she could beat Forehead, Blondie, or even Sasuke at wall-walking.
# # #
That night, Tsuzumi kept his promise of taking Ami out for a victory feast. Her mother was invited, and once she'd made her protests at being treated, even going as far as trying to sneak Tsuzumi some money, she enjoyed the food almost as much as her daughter.
After dinner, Tsuzumi and Ami said goodbye to Ami's mother, and as a further treat decided to take Ami to a shinobi supplies shop. There weren't many stores open so late at night, but in the hidden village it was always profitable to offer ninja weapons for sale at all hours, and Tsuzumi knew a place where he had a good relationship with the owner.
"Oh, Tsuzumi-san, is this your new student?" came a deep voice as Tsuzumi ushered Ami into the cramped store.
"Yes, this is Ami-chan," Tsuzumi said, approaching to clasp hands with the shopkeeper.
Ami looked around the store with something approaching wonder. Every wall was covered from corner to corner with kunai, packs of shuriken and senbon, paper tags, bags of food pills, blood pills, chakra pills, soldier pills, and individual weapons which became more and more exotic the closer they came to the ceiling.
"So, what can I get for a young shinobi in training?" the man behind the counter asked.
Ami turned to look at her sensei, but he just smiled.
"It's your reward. Get whatever you never want to be without."
Ami held up a scarred hand and began to count off her purchases. "Two kunai- no! Five kunai, senbon, smoke bombs, um, some ninja wire - that looks cool, and explosive tags."
"Ah-ha, Ami," Tsuzumi said, placing his hands on Ami's shoulders and looking up at the shopkeeper. "Everything but the explosive tags."
"But- Sensei!" Ami gasped desperately. "If I didn't have Guard-san's flare I'd be spider food! Wrapped in web and- eugh." Ami paused, for the first time considering the likely consequences of being overwhelmed by the farmhouse spiders.
Tsuzumi seemed to have been considering it as well, as he relented. "Three basic explosive tags," he allowed. "And Ami will promise only to use them when her life is in danger."
Ami nodded gravely, and the shopkeeper began pulling items down from the walls.
"And what about mission supplies?" Tsuzumi asked when Ami was clutching a small bag of her purchases. "We'll be out of Konoha for seven days, travelling a dirt road through dry forests, and later swamp forests. What might you need?"
Ami thought for a moment. "Bug nets?"
"One mosquito net," Tsuzumi confirmed to the shopkeeper. "And where will you sleep?"
"I need a tent," Ami realised. "And a- a soft roll."
"A bedroll," Tsuzumi confirmed.
"Can I really afford all that, sensei?" Ami asked.
"Hmm, I'll give you a loan."
Ami's first mission payment covered almost all of her camping supplies in the end, and there was so little left to pay off that the store owner let her take it for free, with the promise of repeat business later on. As well as ninja tools and camping equipment, Ami wisely added a pair of generic dark-coloured outfits to her pile to use as a change of clothes on the road.
She barely felt the weight as she carried her new equipment home escorted by her sensei, and she was almost buzzing with excitement as she slipped between her threadbare sheets. The following day she was going on a real mission. And she was going to learn new jutsu. And with a veritable army of ninja, there was no chance of anything going wrong.