She needed to do something about Danzo. Now.
But she needed evidence to do it and bring it up to her father in a way that wouldn't make her suspicious in the first place. Plus the man covered his ass like no one else. The thing that would get Danzo the most was the kidnapping of orphaned children.
But only recently did the village start keeping records of their own. With the turmoil of war and the massive influx of children in between war times, then the destruction of orphanages had made it massively difficult to prove anything.
The only really started keeping hard records after the third war was over. Which was not too long ago.
The fact remained she was going to a ninja academy, with plenty of orphaned kids just waiting to be friends with her and tell her their life stories.
Orphans were the easiest to spot. They were the try-hards, the kids with something to prove. They also almost always cried when someone talked about their family too.
After the fifth kid (who was wearing a cat shirt from the Uchiha) she realized she needed to rethink her game. The kids in her grade were too young and dense to really notice a kid going missing. They were just one face among many of kids that nobody really cared about until the Uchiha came along and put clothes on their backs. Which was why they were so willing to talk to her probably.
The fact was, she needed a kid from an older grade level.
They had lunch with all the grades on the last day before the weekend.
This would be the best moment to speak with either Rock Lee or Tenten. Probably Tenten, no offense but she was a bit smarter.
Since it was Monday, she waved to her in the halls. She didn't get a wave back.
The next day she waved again and was delighted when Tenten lifted her fingers in return.
The day after she grined and Tenten grinned back.
The fourth day they did all that and said hello.
On Friday, Miko asked if they could play together at lunch. She said yes.
Miko skipped to class, said her routine good-mornings and hellos, and sat down. When the bell rang halfway through the school-day, she jumped up and bolted outside and waited by the thorn bushes. Kids streamed out like a broken dam, but no Tenten. Maybe she was just taking her time?
The fact was, after sitting her for awhile, lunch was almost halfway over. She had already rejected six kids from playing including her brother, who was pushing Sakura on the swings.
She thought Tenten was cool!
She brushed her butt off and decided to investigate. As she walked over to the entrance, stepping on a dropped cracker, she dipped into a conversation between some of the older kids.
"-Yeah, there was a lot of blood-"
"-You think she's okay-"
Hm. That sounded like it might be of importance. Instead of going to the older kids classrooms, she made a hard left to the nurses office. The halls were weird without kids grouped together or Sensei's standing in the corners. Her sandals thunked loudly on the wooden floors. At the first aid sign, she took a left.
A man with green chakra held Tenten's hand in his hands. There was a small but noticeable pool of blood on the floor underneath their clasped appendages. She remained quiet, not wanting to disturb the delicate process.
The nurse pulled back.
"Okay, it's all healed now. Stay here for a little bit and then i'll let you go."
"But my-"
"Five more minutes."
His tone left no room for arguments. She slumped over sadly, buns flopping.
"Hey." Miko stepped into the room quietly.
Tenten's head shot up. She gasped in surprise when she saw Miko standing in the door with an uncharacteristically somber look on her face.
"Miko! I-I thought-"
"Is your hand okay? I was worried when you didn't show up." Tenten flinched, grabbing her hand.
"Yeah, it's fine. We had kunai training today and well, it slipped."
"Happens to the best of us."
"Sorry about lunch today, Miko."
"Nah, it cool. I just wanted to ask you something though. Wanna come over to my house this weekend?"
Tenten gaped, and rightfully so. Almost nobody except Hinata and the rest of the future rookie nine got to go.
"I can't. I need to practice throwing."
"We have entire training grounds. And my brother is a really good ninja who can teach us. " A slow smile spread across Tenten's face at that, and the gleam of a dream was in the corner of her eyes.
"Okay. That would be nice."
Miko sensed Tenten wasn't done yet, so held off a bit longer. As was rewarded for her patience.
"...You know, no ones ever actually cared enough to check up on me and see if I was alright." Tenten murmured.
Miko was stunned into silence. She had not been expecting that twist.
The bell rang, and they both scrambled off to class.
"Meet me by the school entrance after school!" Miko shouted after her.