No matter how many days are spent waiting in silence, and no matter how much it feels like the nights drag on, time moves fast. Years pass, and before she knows it Ringo is no longer a child. Young? Sure. But she's already the age of graduating genin.

Time's done enough for the young girl, at the very least enough to get her this far. It's taken a lot of work, and a lot of blood and theft, but Ringo is managing well. She's claimed a second sword, longer than her first tanto. More finely made as well. And this time, looted from her own kill.

One thing she's discovered in the time since she first held a blade is that she has quite the aptitude for them. The swords have always stuck by her; a valuable trait in a village where no one else will. They sing in her hands. They're part of her. To quote the (damn preachy) opponent she got her second weapon from, the swords were "an extension to oneself, that become part of you on every level." Yeah...it was kinda like that? He was an oddball, but maybe he had the right idea. She kept her swords tied to her, one to each hip, tucked securely into her sash, quite literally never leaving her side. And she's good with them. Good enough to put her own sword through preachy guy's gut and steal his. Who is she not to roll with it?

And as strange as it was, as much as her life has been on the line with every battle, fighting with her weaponry was...fun, to a degree. Especially when she knew she was going to win! Slowly hunting them down, cut by cut, provoking them, until they knew, they just knew that they couldn't get away...hah! It let her know that she was finally moving past "an urchin" or "one of those dirty kids". Now, if someone had the wise idea to attack her, for food, for money, or just for the hell of it, she could cut them up and come out all the better for it.

It was a rush. That's what fighting was. And when somebody tries to cause her harm? Harming them right back is just about the most damn fun thing you can do in Kiri. And having fun in Kiri is by no means an easy thing to do. But the knowledge that she can't be knocked around, can't just be killed off without one hell of a fight...that was good. Encouraging even, to keep getting better.

And Mist itself...well. Mist isn't...terrible. It's not good, not by any means, and she'd be damned if she didn't see the rest of the world before kicking the bucket. But it was home. People lived, people starved, people died choking on blood. You get used to it.

And it was getting used to it that let her get to where she is now. It was what would let her go even further. She wasn't stupid; she was still weak in the grand scheme of things. You don't survive a career as a shinobi in Kiri without either being messed up in the head, strong enough to kick the ass of anyone you come across, or by having a severe lack of morals. Maybe more than one of those things. Maybe all three. Most grown ninja in this village could still knock her senseless. As much as she could hold her own, she wasn't great. Not yet.

But she would be! A reputation is a powerful thing, and power is safety in a place like this. Power means you can do whatever the hell you want, have whatever fun you deem worth having...That's something to take interest in. And Ringo was very, very interested.

Now, if she's gonna have some fun with her life, she needed to be strong. To be a legend. The thing was, that was easier said than done. Many people strive for such a thing, and most get cut down in the process. It was actually quite a dilemma. To be strong, to be safe, to be killed and swatted aside like you're nothing... They're all potential outcomes of the path she was choosing. But at the same time, sitting around dirty streets stealing food? As safe as it was for where she was at, it wasn't appealing. And there was always the chance, the off chance, that someone would find her. Someone beyond her level, someone that wouldn't have any mercy for her. Mist was full of bloodthirsty nutjobs.

So she made the choice to break through the standard. Besides, what good even is living if it's spent covered in mud and garbage? No, she'd much rather put the work in now and have a life where she could be free. Free of worry. Free of the damn paranoia that something too tough for her could come out of the fog and end her right there. Free to do what she pleases.

That drive is what pushed her to the doors of a small bar frequented by some of the higher ranking shinobi to spy on ninja way beyond her level. It was dangerous to do, she'd been well aware ever since she started going there, but when you're in a room with people convinced they're better than you, they don't tend to pay you much mind. She'd learned. Anyone in this bar could end her in a heartbeat, but Ringo knew how to look small, and older nin were surprisingly loose with some of their basics, proudly showing off different weapons and skills, even if they kept their better stuff safely tucked away.

Just show up, order a drink, sip slowly, and keep to herself. An easy enough plan, and more than worth it if it had the potential to turn up something good.

Truth be told, it wasn't very hard anymore. Nobody except the bartender even looked to the door when she walked in, and she took in the place as she silently moved towards the server. It was dark. Go figure. The tables were all along the walls, nobody wants to sit in the middle of a whole group of shifty looking killers. Musty, hot, and generally unpleasant...

Just the kind've place people wanna come to forget their lives are just as awful as the village they live in.

Ringo kept her face plain. She quickly reached the bartender, and he looked down at her expectantly, waiting for her order.

"Sake?"

He blew out a soft breath, and wordlessly turned to get her drink. Taking the opportunity to look around once more, Ringo's eyes quickly passed over the tables around the bar. People here looked dangerous, from head to toe. That's to be expected, but it's always an unnerving thought just how strong every one of these people could be. Official shinobi...a couple kunoichi...people likely off the books...And genin. Looking at it like this, it's hard not to see the results of what she was striving for. The bar had two main groups of clients; fresh kids straight out of Kiri's academy, and Jonin. Career shinobi. People who don't live that long without cutting down half the competition. The middle ground between the two groups is nonexistent in a place like this. They either die or kill enough of each other to get promoted.

A thunk from the bar's counter breaks Ringo from her thoughts, and her attention snaps back to the large man now holding tight to a small bottle of sake, with a cup right next to it. She takes out just enough to cover the drink and places it neatly near him. His attention drops off of her as he takes the money, and she collects her drink and makes her way to an empty table in front of some of the younger customers. They probably don't know as much as some of the others here, but she doesn't want to draw the attention of some of the harder customers just yet. She's not good enough to risk that, not when Jonin are known for being wackjobs that can fly off the handle at a moments notice. Besides, maybe she'd get lucky.

At this point, the bar was just another thing. She'd lamented the loss of money that had to be dropped on drinks when she started, but she still managed ok. She needed something to do between practice and profession anyways. Swords and stealing for a living could only take up so much time when you're more or less learning on your own, and when lives weren't being claimed, Kiri was pretty damn boring. Most people's time was spent sitting around, so why not sit somewhere interesting?

Unfortunately, the genin she sat in front of were as clueless as they were weak. That or they just came here to forget about how terrible things were. Who knows. The only things they said were about the academy and, interesting as some of the gossip was, it wasn't very helpful. It did at least let her in on a few funny stories, though. She'll call the experience worth it, and come back again in a few days.

It was a process that repeated for a decent amount of time, to the point that she became a regular. Just another teenage face that you could find there sometimes. Over time, she did end up hearing quite a few things. Some talk about merchant groups, gossip about foreign nations, what missing nin were doing what, and talk of what's going on with the higher ups in Kiri. Not a bad haul of information really, but the gold was always in the fighting. When older ninja fought, they fought hard. When they showed off, they showed their best, and it was always stuff worth emulating. In place of a teacher, it was the best she could ask for.

And lucky for her, today was turning out to be a good one in terms of 'overhearing' things. The moment she walked in she could tell it would be, because even though it was a quiet night, only a few patrons present, one thought was shot through her head the instant she arrived.

'Damn that guy's big!'

Followed immediately by another striking observation;

'Damn he looks a fish!'

It would be hard not to notice the giant man squeezed into a booth with another ninja (A friend? His student?), giant sword wrapped in bandages and tucked neatly across his back. Somehow his companion was...even more fishlike than him. And blue. Kiri's bizarre. The big man was giggling to himself over what looked like...three, four...five bottles of sake. She might assume he was sharing with his partner, but the other guy honestly didn't look interested in the drinks at all. He was just smirking to himself while the larger man chatted on. It wasn't hard to pick where to listen in on tonight.

Ringo sat two tables behind the big guy's companion, her back to him (she was getting more and more sure he's his student. They had a pretty obvious theme going on). Sure, the larger man himself might see her, but not only was he obviously drunk and getting drunker, he seemed the type to not care even if he did notice her listening in. He had his own world. And to be honest, she didn't want to think about what might happen if a giant drunk man with a giant sword got startled by someone behind him.

"Bahhh! I tell you boy, fools don't know...what they're missin'..."

The man is grumbling about something. His partner is...amused? He's chuckling.

"I'm sure they'll be claimed soon, shishou."

He is the guy's student. Ringo wondered how good he was.

"Better be! D'..on't they know what a… an honor it is!? People would kill for them! Bahaha! Bahahaha!" His laugh bellowed across the whole bar as he slapped at his stomach. The couple other patrons there distinctly uncomfortable, heads lowered and keeping to themselves.

Ringo was increasingly certain that the conversation would be perfectly within earshot even if she were outside the bar entirely. And the man's certainly lenient with what information he lets slip...It almost seems like, every time something new comes up, he just speaks louder. If he's trying to get information around...That's concerning. A big sign of a trap. But that doesn't seem all there is to it. He's being too forthcoming with this story, even for a drunkard, and his student doesn't notice anything wrong with this.

What follows in the next few minutes of his rambling is mostly the same rant of "Fools! The fools!", "Bahah!", and calls for more sake, but a few more keywords are picked up. 'Swords' is the first one to really grab her. She likes swords, and from her experience swords tend to like her too. Valuable. People would kill for the swords. 'Kiba'. That's what he just called them. She stiffens as she recognizes the name, and for a second she swears she feels the man's leer burning into the back of her head. And if she had any doubts, she can practically hear the grin in his voice when he speaks again.

"Any swordsmen worth his weight...would probably kill for the chance to join."

Join...the Kiba. The thunderblades. Those twin blades are famous in Kiri, and they're famous for a damn good reason. They're a pair of swords used by members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. The strongest group in all of the nation, each member a living legend, that serve the Mizukage directly.

'...Oh. The sword across his back.'

If she attended the academy, she had no doubt her teachers would hunt her down and kill her themselves for not recognizing him sooner. Fuguki Suikazan. A massive and dangerous man of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Fish face was a damn celebrity, renowned for his strength and service to the village.

'The Seven Ninja Swordsmen...And the thunderblades...he said they weren't claimed?'

This was a risk. People don't just join the Seven. People got vetted. And even though there was a technical process for joining, most of the time people killed their way in. But From the sounds of it, whoever had the Kiba was killed by another of the Seven. So, vetting. Whatever the hell that would entail was enough to ward off most of the other wannabe's, but risk was something Ringo had accepted long, long ago. The Seven were vicious, to each other as well as to their enemies (more and more obvious by the minute), but was such a thing really new to her? Anticipation rose in her chest, light and airy. This was what she'd been waiting years for. If she could get her hands on the famed thunder blades...she was already skilled with swords. She took to them like a fish to...well, to swords, if Fuguki and his student were anything to judge by. She could do this. She could take whatever was thrown at her for daring to lay hands on them and fling it right back. She wasn't just another face. Not when it came to kenjutsu. Finally, she had a plan, not just a goal. It was a simple one, practically hand delivered and dangerous as hell, but worthwhile all the same. Nobody, absolutely nobody in their right mind would ever approach a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, much less want to fight them.

'...I could do this…'

That thought rung loud in her head as she took in all the information from Fuguki's story. The Kiba were lost. Unclaimed. There's an opening in the most famed group in Mist. She was talented. She was increasingly experienced. Swords were a part of her, and had been since she was a kid. She was good. She could do this.

She sat stiff, a quick pinch of pain shooting up in her chest, but she chalked it up to Fuguki's attention, which she now had absolutely no doubt was set directly on her as he chuckled deeply. What an asshole. He knew what he was doing. What a monumental asshole. She'd bet this wasn't even the first time he'd done something like this.

His student spoke up, still sounding just a little amused. He probably noticed her too. Her plan of being inconspicuous certainly hadn't panned out this time, but then, if these people were as good as rumors say, there wouldn't be much hope in hiding from them.

"Hey, shishou..." the man languidly asked, leaning his head on his hand. "Where did you think they were again?"

The man chuckled again, and let out a heavy sigh as he thought.

"Mmm...Probably still with that bastards body at the bottom of a river somewhere. That no good-"

Ringo tuned out the man's complaints about somebody who was apparently one hell of an asshole judging by the string of expletives that followed. With a body...river...that's a starting point.

'Jeez...is it just my destiny to take swords from river corpses?'

But, bottom of a river...that means sunk, which means it has a good bit of water in it. Not the muddy, sticky, shitty creeks that litter Mist everywhere you look. There were still a good number of large rivers in Mist country though, so it doesn't narrow it down enough.

'It wouldn't be somewhere right around here...no, not a river that's in the village. People would've noticed whatever the hell happened to the guy in possession of the Kiba. Finding them would take no time at all, vetting or no.'

Shit, they probably put it somewhere on purpose if this odd little scheme was anything to judge by.

So outside the village...It would have to be something with a lot of catches if the river was fast moving. Either that or he was literally stuck to the bottom of it through...some method. That or a river that was deep and slow. Most of the rivers in nearby Kirigakure were cleared of rocks; a lot of them were used for travel. So, a more still one. That gives her a good place to start searching. There were only a few rivers like that surrounding the center of Kiri, and fish fucker definitely wanted the swords to be found. If they weren't nearby, she'd fan out the search along the larger waterways of Mist country. But she had to hurry. Swords like that were valuable, if not for use then for selling. Not that she'd try to sell legendary blades under the Seven's eyes, but valuable attracts more people than she'd like to deal with.

And Ringo wasn't in this for the money, anyways. She was most definitely in this to use them. She needed those swords. So she had to start now!

She stood abruptly, sake forgotten. She had all the information needed to find the Kiba. As she passed by him, though she kept her head down and turned, it was more than clear that Fuguki, largest of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, was smiling at her like a maniac. She could practically see his eyes sparkling. Disconcerting, but pretty much what she'd expected. She wished he'd be less obvious about it.

She paid it as little mind as possible and carried on. This was her chance, and she was going to take it. She didn't think it was a trap meant to straight up kill her, even if she couldn't be sure. This was the opportunity of a lifetime, and damn her straight to hell if she passes it up.

Get the Kiba. Master the Kiba. Land a comfortable seat in the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and do whatever the hell she wanted for the rest of her life, job notwithstanding. She had a plan.

And as she walked out of the bar into the cool fog of night, she was displeased to note that the stinging in her chest had yet to go away.

AN: So y'all have a good week?
The first arc, The Early Years, is basically going to go through Ringo's life until she's an adult and end with the meat of the story really beginning.
This chapter also marks the end of the majority of the setup, so I'm honestly excited for part 2 of this. A lot of very fun to write moments in it, hope you can enjoy it too.
See ya next week, yo!

SakuraxHinata - I didn't say it before, but great name. Thanks again for the writing review, was great to read and helps improve the story. bless your heart n' all that jazz

icestar0 - Ameyuri definitely needs more love! Sorry this chapter didn't have too much action to it, but hey. You can look forward to a good bit of that next week ;D
Hope you like it.