Mitsuki had a new goal. Now that it seemed like they would be stuck in this village for a while, she would like to find herself some money. "Money is important," she thought. With it she can buy foods, clothes, and finally rid the two party of their eyecatching get up during their undercover time. With determination in her eyes, Mitsuki explored aimlessly through the secluded village.

A girl, who appeared to be around Mitsuki's age, hurriedly walked down a slope carrying what looked like a food container. In her rush, she overlooked a muddy spot on her path and spectacularly slipped, causing the container to fly from her grasp. Effortlessly, Mitsuki jumped over and caught the container on her hand.

"Ouch ouch," the girl winced as she rubbed her ankle. Seeing that the girl was unable to stand on her own, Mitsuki approached her.

"Are you ok? Do you need a hand?" asked Mitsuki calmly as she extended her hand towards the girl.

"Thank you," The girl smiled shyly as she extended her hand in return. As she pulled herself up to stand, the girl winced again in pain and fell back down, this time dragging Mitsuki with her. As the two of them fall butt first onto the ground, Mitsuki extended her hand out, making sure to catch the once-again-flown container box.

"Pfft, Hahahaha," unexpectedly, Mitsuki laughed.

"Sorry, I think I sprained my ankle." The girl smiled apologetically.

"No, my bad, I guess I'm still not strong enough to anticipate that," Mitsuki giggled as she waved the girl's concern away. Once again, Mitsuki tried to help the girl stand, this time by lending her shoulder.

"So, where are you going in such a hurry?" Mitsuki asked.

"Haha, I'm sorry to ask you this, but can you help me reach that house over there? I have business there," said the girl as she pointed towards an old house, several tenth meter away from where they were.

"Un, it's fine, I'm in no rush," Mitsuki smiled as she continued to prop the girl up to help her walk. "I wonder if there will be time when I'm strong enough to carry someone in cradle carry," Mitsuki thought shyly as she remembered the embarrassing moment when Itachi had to carry her across the water. Seems impossible, she thought, laughing at her own thoughts.

Itachi waited patiently at a bar counter. The underground informant that he had been in contact with was supposed to meet him there on that day. Not long after, a figure approached and sat in the other end of the counter. Subtly, the female threw over a paper shuriken origami towards Itachi as she ordered a drink. Without even turning his head, Itachi caught unto the origami. As he left his seat soon after, leaving some money on the counter, the female spoke to him.

" I don't know why would you want something as boring as that, but let me know if you need anything else."

Without replying, Itachi walked away and left the bar behind.

"Hrgh," Mitsuki lowered the girl's body to help her sit on the old house's porch. Somewhere in her mind, she swore she would try to increase her muscle strength more after that day.

"Thank you again for your help, and sorry," The girl said apologetically.

"It's fine, just.. I think I'll rest a while here first," said Mitsuki as she dropped her body flat on the porch.

"I've never seen you around before, are you visiting?" The girl opened a conversation as she saw Mitsuki laying down in an exhausted pose. In respond to her question, Mitsuki returned her gaze with a questioning look.

"Ah, am I being bothersome? It's just that there's not much girl my age around in this small village," the girl added in panic.

"Eh, no. I was just wondering if I looked odd to you or something, haha," Mitsuki laughed awkwardly, slightly relieved. For a second she thought that she had sparked some suspicion about her, but thankfully, it was unfounded.

"Ah, no no no! I didn't mean it that way," the girl waved her hand between her face and Mitsuki's in panic. "It's just.. I… I'm Yuuki Aida, nice to meet you!" the girl named Aida smiled shyly as she introduced herself.

"I'm Mitsuki, I'll probably be here for a while, so nice to know you too!" Mitsuki responded with a smile as she sat up on the porch.

Suddenly, a weak voice came calling from inside the house. "Aida-chan, is that you?"

"Yes, granpa Shinji! In a while!" Aida answered promptly as she climbed her way up to the porch.

"Can you walk? Be careful!" Mitsuki quickly stood up to help Aida.

"Ah, the bento!" Aida remarked quickly.

"Got it," Mitsuki responded promptly as she extended a vine from her pouch and grabbed the container, surprising Aida.

"Are you a shinobi?" she exclaimed as she saw the vine handed the bento over to Mitsuki's free hand.

"Eh, something like that?" Mitsuki answered with a complicated smile and uncertainty in her voice.

"That's amazing!" Mitsuki can practically heard a twinkle in her voice. Laughing awkwardly, Mitsuki proceeded towards what Aida pointed as the bedroom.

"Shin-jii*, I'm here! I brought your favourite as usual!" Aida exclaimed as Mitsuki helped opened the door for both of them.

"Oh, Aida-chan, thank you as always." A weak voice replied from under the bed's blanket.

Mitsuki shifted her gaze towards the source of the voice. Under the blanket, laid an old, wrinkled old man. As Mitsuki gazed into his soul, she could feel her heart skip. The soul was weak, brittle, seemingly about to go out anytime. And on top of the soul, there it was. "The black, spear shaped mark," Mitsuki noted to herself as uneasiness overcame her. "Why does this old man have the mark too?" she asked herself, knowing that she will receive no answer.

Mitsuki put Aida down, and the bento beside her. As Aida tended to the old man, Mitsuki drift further and further into her thought as Aida's voice slowly become muffled in her ears.

"…-san? Mitsuki-san?"

"Yes!?" Mitsuki snapped back into the present.

"Sorry to trouble you too, Mitsuki-chan," said the grandpa weakly with a smile plastered on his face.

"Ah.. it's.. nothing." Mitsuki forced a smile to her face. Slowly, Aida fed the old man some small, bite-sized onigiri. Sadness rose up in Mitsuki's heart upon witnessing the seemingly fleeting scene.

In the middle of the forest, Itachi sat down under the big tree once more, this time on his own. On his hand were the paper origami thrown by the female informant. As he unfolded the paper, a blank paper was revealed. However, he didn't look the slightest bit surprised. Instead, focusing on his finger, Itachi injected his chakra slowly unto the paper. Slowly, markings and letters started to surface unto the paper.

"Konohagakure:
Rock Lee
Ten Ten
Hyuuga Neji

Haruno Sakura
Uzumaki Naruto,"

Itachi blinked as he saw the name. He recognised that name. "Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki? He will be attending too?" Itachi noted in his mind as he lowered his gaze once more and continued.

"….
Uchiha Sasuke,"

Itachi felt his heart skipped as he read the name on the paper. Mixture of indescribable feeling filled his heart. Pride.. happiness.. sadness.. regret.. and strongest of all, guilt.. Suppressing his emotion, Itachi's face contorted into a pained smile. Determined, he continued to read the rest of the content.

"Yakushi Kabuto?" Another name caught Itachi's attention. "If I remember correctly, this name…"

A feeling of unrest filled Itachi's heart as Itachi wished wholeheartedly that his worries would be unfounded.

"Was that your grandpa?" Mitsuki asked as she walked slowly while propping Aida on her shoulder.

Aida shook her head in response, "No, He's not." Confused with the answer, Mitsuki tilted her head as she faced Aida with an enquiring gaze.

"Shin-jii is our fellow villager. He had no more family left, so me and my Mom is taking care of him. After all, Mom knows him since she were young."

"Hooo," Mitsuki turned her head back towards the road. To be honest, the state of the old-man made Mitsuki worry. Instinctively, she knew that the old man didn't have much time left in him. Silently, Mitsuki recalled her conversation with Itachi before they went back the other day:

"Mitsuki," Itachi had remarked, adding, "during your journey, I'd like you to think hard about humans, and life. Whether it will help you with what you seek or not, I don't know. But I think it will be something valuable to you in your journey."

In response to Itachi's request, Mitsuki nodded, wondering.

As Mitsuki recalled Itachi's request, her mind wondered, why did she felt pain witnessing Aida's and the old man's interaction. Is it because of jealousy of the relationship she had never had? No, it was not that. It was the fleetingness of that situation, and the sense of how easy for everything in that beautiful moment could break. And when that happens, what about Aida?

Judging by the interaction between Aida and the grandpa alone, people will definitely mistook them as real family. The concern and gentleness that Aida had shown grandpa Shinji was definitely genuine. Mitsuki had noticed this, but she too, had a gentle, pure soul. She felt in her heart a sense of pain when she thought of how Aida would feel when Shin-jii passed away.

"Death, huh.." Mitsuki started to get why Itachi asked her to think about life. Loss of life created sadness. Then how about all the life that she had taken? Do they have someone like Aida who were waiting for them to come back? A pang of guilt hit Mitsuki's heart. She remembered the sadness Itachi felt as she put down the tracker girl. "Did Itachi-kun thought of it this way too?" Mitsuki wandered as she smiled bitterly. "You're really too kind, Itachi-kun.." she thought to herself with a fondness in her heart.

Noticing Mitsuki's change of expression, Aida asked in concern. "What's wrong Mitsuki?" said Aida in a gentle tone with a worried expression on her face. Noticing this, Mitsuki turned her head to meet her concerned gaze.

Smiling, Mitsuki giggled as she stated, "You're such a kind spirit, I've come to like you**!"

"Eeeh?" Aida exclaimed as she blushed. Her perplexed reaction caused Mitsuki to stare back at her in confusion. "L… like? That's.." Aida responded in low voice as she averted her gaze away with blushing face.

"Mmmhmm, like 'I want to be your friend' kind of feeling!" Mitsuki grinned, still unsure why would Aida react so strongly.

"I see, so that's it huh?" Aida breath out in relieve.

"? If not that then what else?" Mitsuki asked Aida, genuine curiosity in her face made Aida felt embarrassed for assuming.

"I… I thought you might swing that way," Aida responded with embarrassment, as her face turned redder and redder.

"Swing? That way?" Mitsuki scrunched her face in confusion.

"Uuuuh, I.. I'll explain to you next time! Here, we have arrived!" Aida interrupted hurriedly as the pair reached the village's bento shop. "Moooom!" Aida called as soon as she and Mitsuki walked pass the shop's threshold.

"Ara, Aida-chan? What happened?" said the shop owner in worry as she saw Aida and Mitsuki entered shoulder to shoulder.

"It's nothing much, Mom, I just fell down and sprained my ankle," Aida give the shop owner a bitter smile.

"That sounds bad, let me go get some first aid quickly. Thank you for helping her, uh…"

"Mitsuki," Mitsuki smiled gently as she helped Aida sat on the shop's bench.

"Nice to meet you, Mitsuki," Aida's mom smiled back before quickly going to the back of the shop.

Mitsuki and Aida giggled to each other as they both sat down side by side, suddenly followed by a loud growl from Mitsuki's stomach. Mitsuki's face reddens as Aida let out a suppressed chuckle.

"Go take some bento from here, my treat as a thank you!" Aida pointed out the store's shelf to Mitsuki, smiling.

"REALLY!? YIPPE!" Mitsuki's eye sparkled as she heard the offer. It didn't take long for Mitsuki to stand up and brought back a few bento boxes with her to the bench.

"Hahaha, you are going to finish all that?" Aida laughed as Mitsuki excitedly open a box of bento and split up the disposable chopstick.

"Hehe, I actually would like to bring some back to share with... uh, my squad?"

"Is shinobi team called a squad?" Mitsuki asked herself, unsure if she said the right thing. Mitsuki wasn't sure how else to explain to Aida without making her curious and worried like Hazuki did.

"Eeeh, so you're travelling with your squad, how nice!" Aida noted excitedly, prompting Mitsuki to let out a slightly awkward chuckle.

"I'm back, Aida-chan, lift up your feet please," said Aida's mom as she sat near Aida's leg, first aid kit in her hand. Efficiently, she bandaged Aida's feet tightly and took care of her scratches as well.

"Erm, Excuse me?" Suddenly a customer entered the shop.

"Yes! Wait a minute! Aida-chan, you rest for a while, OK? Don't push yourself," Aida's mom exclaimed as she stood up to tend to the customer.

"But the shop.. Mom?" Aida responded in worry. However, it didn't seem like her Mom heard it.

Looking at Aida's worried face, an idea popped inside Mitsuki's head as cunning smile surfaced on her face.

"Well, I'll need to check with Itachi and Kisame first I guess," Mitsuki noted silently. Seeing Mitsuki's change in expression, Aida inquired worriedly. "Erm, Mitsuki?"

"Ah, sorry Aida-chan, I think I'll have to go back for now! I'll come again tomorrow!" Mitsuki stood up in hurry with the unopened bento box in her embrace. Surprisingly, she seemed to have finished her meal already in the short time they were sitting together.

"Un! Thanks for everything, Mitsuki-san!" Aida said as she put on a bitter smile, blushing.

"Hahaha, no worries! Thank you for the foods!" Mitsuki said as she left Aida sitting on her bench and waved Aida's mom goodbye.

"I'm back!" Mitsuki entered the inn's room with a skip in her footstep. Inside the room, as usual, Itachi seemed to be busying himself with a book, while Kisame seemed to be taking a short break.

"Welcome back, Itachi-san brought back some food for you." Kisame responded in a laid-back manner. Mitsuki quickly browsed the room with her eyes and saw some leftover opened boxes along with her unopened one.

"Eeeeh, don't tell me you guys ate first?" Mitsuki scowled. "And here I am bringing you guys some food!" she added in disappointment.

Surprised, Itachi and Kisame lifted their gaze and looked directly at the girl, bento boxes in her hand.

"Did you s…"

"OF COURSE NOT, KUSO-SAME***!" Mitsuki replied with an angry hiss towards the annoying shark-featured man.

"Hhhh, where did you even learn to speak so foully? Look Itachi-san, she has become a delinquent now," Kisame protested jokingly.

"…." Itachi kept his silence, not to get dragged to Kisame and Mitsuki's usual banter.

"So, how do you get those?" Kisame continued.

"Heheheh, amazing isn't it! It's payment for my services!" said Mitsuki proudly, rubbing her chin with a smug face. Itachi and Kisame glanced at each other.

"By the way how long are we staying here?" Mitsuki added as she distributed the bento on her hand forcefully to both of the guys.

"Hmm, as long as there's no incident it will probably be a while," Kisame replied. "We are still waiting for Leader's summon after all."

"Hmm, I see, then it's a good timing, I think I have something to do here," she answered.

Itachi gave Mitsuki a questioning look. Hinting that she remembered her promise, Mitsuki replied loosely.

"It's just that something has caught my attention here," Mitsuki grinned.

"Heh, you always seemed so busy. Are you planning to scam more people?" Kisame teased. A pillow flew towards his face in response to his remark, but he easily deflected it with his hand.

"Hahaha, it's 100 years too fast to land an attack on me, kid," Kisame mocked playfully.

"Technically, the pillow hit you.." Mitsuki jeered. "Oh well, I'll wash up first,"she continued as she grabbed her stuff and leave the room once more, leaving Kisame to chuckle as he saw Mitsuki's annoyed face.

Omake:

"Usually how do we even arrange who brought food for that day?" Mitsuki asked as she devoured the food that Itachi bought him. "Wouldn't it be inconvenient if we ended up overlapping?"

"Huh? Well usually we don't really arrange, sometimes we don't even eat together." Kisame answered.

"Hmmm, but it's so much more fun eating together," Mitsuki grumbled.

"Well, we are not here to have fun, mostly," Kisame scoffed at Mitsuki's remark as he opened the bento that Mitsuki brought back for him.

"Then, how about we take turn from now on? Then we can eat dinner together and report anything we find out on that day? We can even assign each of us a task in the morning! It sounds more efficient for the team that way!" Mitsuki suggested excitedly.

"Team huh?" Kisame grinned at Mitsuki's remark, "Well, what do you think, Itachi-san?"

Mitsuki looked at Itachi expectantly as Kisame stared at Itachi, waiting for an answer.

Itachi kept his quiet for a while. To be honest he don't mind just keeping it the way it was before, since no matter who brought what food, Mitsuki will still end up finishing it anyway. However, seeing Mitsuki's expectant look, the idea started to sound reasonable for him as well. "… sounds ok," he responded briefly, not to disappoint the innocent eyes waiting for his answer, and prompted Mitsuki to make a small celebratory gesture in response.

"OK! Then I guess tomorrow's your turn, Kisame! Bring us a good one!" Mitsuki chuckled as she pointed towards Kisame.

"Why me? And why are you ordering me around?" Kisame's forehead creased as she heard Mitsuki's demand.

"Because today both me and Itachi-kun brought back food," Mitsuki replied smugly as Itachi ate his boxed food in silence. "And don't eat it before we come back!" she added with a scowl, reminded of the time when Kisame ate her food portion when he waited for her.

"Heh, we'll see.." silently, Kisame wondered if Mitsuki had any food she hated so he could use his turn to get back at her next.

Author's note:

Huehehe slowly we reached the time to progress the story along with the canon event! I've also done my rewatch on necessary parts, so rest assured I'll try to make it lore accurate as I added more scenes. Oh BTW I often give language notes, since when I imagine the character's conversing I tried to imagine them talking in Japanese to capture the vibe before finding a word closest to it in English. I think I prefer it that way so no subtlety/context is lost since sometimes I feel like English subtitle can often take away the intended image too much when they localize the language, both in games and foreign media, and because of that a lot of intention is not conveyed/feels odd if compared to the actual dialogue somehow (and yea, I spotted that when rewatching Akatsuki/Jiraiya's act today, especially their attempt to censor the adult business haha, it reminded me of Onigiri be translated as jelly filled donut in pokemon), and my personal view is that I wanted to respect the source's actual meaning as much as possible, and I'll try my best to explain the context when needed, because that what makes me fell in love with anime in the first place, the effort of the subtitler to put context and language explanation (which is very effective in introducing some very localized jokes like gintama's and also sparked my interest about their pop culture)! Those who read this and speak multiple language probably know too how hard it is to translate between language while keeping all the subtlety/context intact x'D especially with jokes, puns, or weird emotion that somehow have a specific word in one of your language but none in others!

Sorry I rambled, hahahaha, oh well here's the:

Extra notes:

*I feel writing granpa shinji is too troublesome, so I was thinking of adorable nicknames to shorten it, from Shinji Ojii-san(grandpa), to become Shin-Jii.

** The word that Mitsuki use in this situation is "Suki ni nachatta (for cutified version)" or "Suki ni natta (好き に なって)" Which can also be defined as lover's love/like in romance (Like how we usually hear "Suki desu (好き です)" in confession scenes), but our Mitsuki still haven't thought much about it yet as her idea of family and love is very vague since she only lived to survive and put food in her mouth previously. I think contrary to what people usually translate about love = Ai (愛), its actually not that commonly used in romance confession except to describe spouse/familial love (like Itachi's parting word to Sasuke), and that's what make the Noctis parting scene in FFXV Japanese Dub hits so much harder than the English counterpart!

*** It simply means kuso (shit/poo) and same (shark) from Kisame's name xD Btw Kisame is growing fine to his role as that one annoying older brother you have xD I actually based this on my friend and her relationship with her older brother. It gave me warm feeling on how close they are and their banters/joke, since I don't have any siblings that I'm that close with.

Darn I ended up rambling even more! Hope you guys enjoy learning about the context as well! See ya next chapter!