"We have word of a potential threat in the forest," Naruto said. "It sounds like a petty thief so you all should be able to handle it."
Team 7 nodded. Konohamaru clapped his hands and led the teenagers out the door. "Let's get this done, team!"
They separated to scour the forest quicker. Konohamaru began heading towards the thick depths of the forest, betting that anyone hiding from them would want to be in the most difficult area to get to. He found the tallest tree he could and perched, taking a look around the forest.
Minka had been in the forest near Konoha for a few days, slipping food from sleeping travelers only as needed. She had three children in tow who needed enough to eat to stay quiet and as healthy as she could keep them. Minka was feeling out the area to determine the best time to approach without being apprehended. She had the kids bundled up in a cave in a rocky overhang, covered in ivy and hanging plants for better coverage.
She was alerted to someone being in close proximity to their camp and Minka jumped into the brush to begin investigating. Some travelers must have noticed the missing food. Enough people reporting it would mean they'd send someone out to find who was behind it, she thought to herself. After carefully scouting the area, she finally spotted the intruder.
He was up in a tree searching for them. He was wearing most of the common shinobi garb the Hidden Leaf was known for, and had short brown hair, blue-gray eyes, and a blue scarf. Minka considered what she should do - ignore him and hide out, or go ahead and attack, then run to the next land. Maybe some genjutsu could lead him away, she hoped.
Frozen thoughts jutsu! She focused her chakra towards the man, implementing a jutsu that should make his current thoughts pause and float away, leading to a confusion that leads people to return to the last noteworthy task they'd had that day. Hopefully he'll go back to town.
He jerked, then shook his head and looked around more rapidly. "Who's there!" he called.
Shit. He deflected it. Now she was in a pinch - he knew she was close enough to use genjutsu, so running was not an option. It was either hide or fight. Fight it is then, she decided.
"Ice style, frozen spot jutsu!" Minka called out, reaching to the tree the man was on. Ice quickly spread upwards towards the man's feet.
He was quick and jumped before the ice could get a good hold. He landed in some of the brush and was quite hidden. Minka followed this same tactic, holding very skill and focusing on her environment. Earth style, shaking earth jutsu! She punched the ground, feeling where the nearest vibrations were, and the earth began to shake and crack. This caused the man to jump back out of the brush.
While he was in the air she ran through the brush and aimed for him. "Wind style, air darts jutsu!" She shot sharp jets of air from her hands, aiming for non vital parts of the man. She managed to rib at his pants and his scarf above his shoulders, but he continued moving to another spot. Damn, he's quick.
She sat in her new spot and waited. She thought she knew approximately where he was, but a few sources of movement were in the area. A rustling sound began and the man popped out of the brush again. She poked out enough to see him, getting ready to send another round of darts his way, but someone jumped down from the tree behind her and hit her on her back, knocking her down.
Minka immediately let herself go limp and as the body moved to grab her, she swung her legs around to knock him off balance, taking the opportunity to grab a kunai and go after him. As she lunged forward to grab and pin him, he continued the rolling motion she'd sent him into and grabbed her, throwing backwards.
She hit the ground and rolled, finally getting enough traction to halt herself. She met his gaze as they analyzed the situation. I think… I feel something somewhere else? Another source of movement was behind her and to her right. Shadow clones!
She decided to fight this figure with the intent to kill, betting it was a clone. "Ice style, frozen spot jutsu!" She touched the ground and they were close enough that it did catch one foot of the clone. Minka ran forward with her kunai, stabbing it in the stomach. She breathed a sigh of relief when it poofed into a stump.
"Come out, I know where you are!" she called.
"Rasengan!" a dense ball of air flew out of the forest, hitting her in the side and knocking her into a tree. It wasn't powerful enough to kill, but she was winded. She decided to lay still and wait for him to approach before attacking again.
"You'll just have to come with me," he said as he walked over. "If you don't fight any more there will be a lot fewer problems." He leaned down and grabbed her wrist, and as he did so, she grabbed his arm firmly and pulled. He fell down on her and she was able to roll over, pinning him.
"Ice style, ice shard jutsu!" She had a kunai and it became shrouded in sharp ice and held it to his throat. "If you don't fight any more, there will be a lot fewer problems," she growled, throwing his words back at him.
He frowned, staring her in the eyes. "Why are you attacking me?" he asked.
"I'm not attacking you. I'm protecting something," she spat back. She paused. "You're from the Hidden Leaf, right?"
Konohamaru made a face. "Yes, I am. You're not far away from there after all."
"I know. That's the point," she responded.
"Are you planning on attacking?" he gasped.
"No, I promise," she sighed. "I need help."
He raised an eyebrow. "So.. you won't kill me?"
"Oh goodness no," she said. "That's rarely on the table for me. If I let go of you, do you promise to not attack me?"
"Yeah, I promise," he nodded.
She leaned off of him and stepped back, crouching down. He sat up and sat cross-legged, rubbing his neck. "You know ice style. What land are you from to know that?" he asked.
Minka looked down at the ground. "I am from the Land of Snow. I'm Minka," she added.
"Konohamaru," he returned. "So what do you need help with?"
"I have some people with me who need refuge. We've been turned away every so far, and are hopeful that Lord Seventh will live up to his reputation as being hospitable and maybe grant them refuge," she said. She wanted to leave out the fact that they were children for now, in case he thought it'd be easy to take them as hostages.
"Why would you need refuge?" he questioned. The Land of Snow and the Land of Fire weren't exactly friends, but they weren't on bad terms. He had a hard time believing anything could have happened there to cause such a stir without other nations hearing about it.
"Some people were doing illegal things to these refugees but the justice system failed. They can't stay in the Land of Snow," she said.
"And what about you?"
Minka shrugged. "I can take care of myself. If I stay or have to go somewhere else, that's fine, but I won't return to an unjust land."
Konohamaru nodded. "I think Lord Seventh would hear you out. But… are you the person who was stealing things from travelers?"
She blushed. "I hate to admit it, but yes. To be fair I took only what we needed and left some money… But I'll take whatever punishment I must."
He stood and stretched. "Well, we should get to the village then so we can get you settled." When Minka hesitated, Konohamaru frowned. "Is that a problem?"
Minka sighed and finally stood. "No, I just am in a vulnerable spot now. The refugees are three children," she said, meeting his gaze.
"Oh," Konohamaru said. "I see. That makes it even more likely we can take them in though."
"I figured, but… if you decided to try anything, it's me versus you and I'm at a 3-child disadvantage," she pointed out.
"That's understandable! Here, I can make things more even," he said. He began unbuckling his vest and some of his weapons belts. He bundled it into a bag and tied it up, throwing it over his shoulder. "This makes it at least a bit harder to attack, right?"
Minka laughed. "Yes, that makes me feel better. Okay, Konohamaru… I'm trusting you." She looked uneasy as she led him to the cave where they were hidden.
Konohamaru wasn't worried about her attacking. He didn't need weapons - he knew his jutsu was formidable. But does she think she's stronger than me, to still show me to them like this? he wondered.
They arrived at a small, well-hidden cave. "Kids? I'm here, with a friend," she called, pulling aside the curtain of greenery. Three small people walked out, smiling. They looked to be between the ages of 5 and 10, with the two older girls sure-footed and the third, a young boy, a little wobbly on his feet from time to time. Minka picked up the boy when he approached with his arms outstretched.
"Kya, Lin, Amuri, this is a new friend of ours, Konohamaru. He's taking us to see the Seventh Hokage," she told them.
The boy, Lin, played with some of Minka's long black hair, not caring, but the girls looked relieved. "He's going to help us, right?" the eldest one, Amuri, asked.
"He should," Minka said. "But to be honest, I can't guarantee anything. What I can guarantee is that you will all be safe."
Konohamaru watched this exchange solemnly. Minka looked tired and was dirty, some of her clothes starting to rip and her hair pulled back but starting to get knotted. The kids, in contrast, were very clean. The clothes had some stains but also had patches, and they all looked to be happy and bright. She obviously means what she says, he thought, feeling in his heart he could trust her.
"I can guarantee he'll help," Konohamaru stated. "He's practically my older brother!" he grinned, pointing to himself.
"Whoa, really?" the younger of the two girls - Kya - said. "I think he's so cool!"
"Oh, you know about him? Well, whenever you're ready, we can go and meet him!" Konohamaru smiled. The younger girl ran at him, Konohamaru prepared and picking her up. She got situated on his back, piggyback style, and Konohamaru began walking back to the village.
Minka followed, Lin on her hip. She also carried a small bag of supplies and Amuri carried a backpack. The walk back to the village was long but they made it with no issues and were greeted at the gate by the three teenagers of Team 7.
"Konohamaru sensei, who did you find?" Sarada asked.
"Some new friends!" he grinned. "Sarada, Boruto, Mitsuki, meet Minka, Lin, Kya, and Amuri," he introduced.
Minka nodded her head their way and Amuri bowed. "Thank you for welcoming us."
"We're going to meet with Lord Seventh," Konohamaru told them. "You all are dismissed for the day."
"What? But what about our mission?" Boruto asked.
"Don't worry about that, I resolved it out in the forest," Konohamaru assured him. "I just have to finish some things at the office so you can go home."
After some protests from the teens, Konohamaru finally got them to leave and he led Minka and the kids to the Hokage's office. Upon entering, he insisted on a meeting with Naruto as soon as possible, and thankfully Shikamaru was in and ensured that happened once he heard the situation.
The three kids and Minka were lined up in the office in front of Naruto and Shikamaru. Minka and Amuri bowed deeply, Lin and Kya bowing to the best of their abilities. "Lord Seventh Hokage, I cannot express how important this meeting is for us, and how much I appreciate your mercy," Minka said, voice wavering. They stood up again. "In my town in the Land of Snow, these kids were violently abused by their family. The justice system failed, even when I got involved in it from the national level, and they insisted on returning the kids to their abusers. After no success I made the decision to leave with them and seek refuge."
"So you kidnapped them and are needing refuge," Shikamaru summarized.
To their surprise, Minka said, "Yes. I don't care what legal repercussions I face, but these kids cannot return to their abusers."
"Well, per our laws, we will need to notify the Land of Snow of this situation… But you're all welcome to stay for the time being until we know where the kids will end up. Minka, you will need to be jailed," Shikamaru said.
Minka bowed her head. "I understand, but I need to know where the children will stay," she begged.
"Wait a second Shikamaru," Naruto waved. "We will of course contact the Land of Snow, but I think Minka could be sentenced to house arrest with the children in a secure facility."
"You want to house a kidnapper with the children she kidnapped?" Shikamaru asked, sighing.
"Um… They'll just be in the same facility, but under guard," Naruto said, scratching his head.
Shikamaru scratched his chin. "Well, I guess if you put it that way…"
"I can guard them," Konohamaru piped in.
Minka turned to him. "Yes, I think that would be best right now," she supported. She turned back to the Hokage. "I trust him."
"Alright, then house arrest with Konohamaru and the Sarutobi Clan it is!" Naruto laughed.
After assigning two guards to help Konohamaru escort the small group to his clan's dwellings, they headed to the Sarutobi Clan's housing complex. Konohamaru had Minka housed in the dwelling next to his and the kids would be staying with Konohamaru's aunt and uncle. Minka was able to meet them so she could get the kids settled in and determined they seemed like gentle people. And if Konohamaru trusts them, then I feel much better.
"It's been so long since we've had children in the house!" his aunt swooned. They told Minka that they'd raised their own children and had continued running the daycare facility that serviced nearby clans. The kids would stay with the couple during daycare's off hours but would be at the daycare during the day, at least one guard standing post at all times.
"Okay, are you all comfortable?" Minka asked the three kids. Konohamaru's aunt and uncle insisted on feeding them all some stew, so the kids were sleepy and warm. Minka had tucked them all into their cozy beds and was saying her goodnites.
"Yes, and sleepy," Kya yawned. "Goodnight Big Sis Minka," she smiled.
Minka smiled back. "Goodnight, kids." She gave each of them a kiss on the forehead and made sure their blankets covered them before heading out the door.
Konohamaru and the other guard escorted her to her quarters. "I'm right there," Konohamaru said, pointing to the small house down the way next to hers.
"Thanks," Minka smiled. "Really. I can't thank you enough for everything you're doing to help the kids."
He returned her smile. "It's the right thing to do. And don't worry, we'll try to help you too," he assured her.
Minka said goodnight, stepping into the small home that would technically be her jail for an undetermined amount of time. It was a cozy studio-style apartment with a bedroll already situated for her. There was a bag of some hand-me-down clothes of a variety of sizes for her to find some items to change into, and a small note card on the dining room table with some important phone numbers. The guard reminded her that he'd be outside and someone would be monitoring her at all times, and she let him know she understood.
"First things first… a warm shower," she groaned happily. It took a long time for her to untangle her hair, but she managed, and scrubbed thoroughly at her body under the hot water. She stood under it for a long time, just enjoying the luxury that was warm water and indoor plumbing. They'd been on the road for weeks at that point and had to use rivers and springs to clean up. If they were in a safe enough spot she was able to heat some water up for bathing, but that wasn't very often. Food was also sporadic although they'd done pretty well, all things considered.
Minka found an oversized shirt to change into and curled up in bed, ready to sleep. She fell asleep almost immediately.