The new team was waiting out in the training grounds for their Jonin captain. Under a break of tradition, their immediate conference the day after the test was pushed back a week and Ritsu knew who was to blame.

It was dark in the early morning and Suzume was sleeping as she stood upright, teetering on her feet. Her teammates were staring at her bedhead masterpiece.

"Lettuce," Ritsu deadpanned.

Akira's snort broke the tepid atmosphere and he laughed until tears came out of his eyes. Ritsu grinned, bolstered at his reaction. "Right, right? That's what she looks like right?"

Akira shoved him playfully. "You don't need to say it out loud!"

It was then when Baki arrived and Suzume was stirred from her sleep to see the boys hunched over in laughter while Baki tried really hard not to stare at her hair.

They settled themselves under a tarp setup for shade over the picnic table they sat around, the three Genin sitting across from Baki who stayed on his feet.

Baki gestured to his most experienced student. "Ritsu, how about you give us the usual spiel."

"Yes, sir." Ritsu popped up to his feet to look down on his teammates. "As a shinobi, we're giving up our lives for the village and considered adults and are unrestricted unlike normal kids our age. So, you're given certain rights, such as drinking, gambling, and the right to attend parlors. But there's unwritten rules to this. If you do drink, you can never be caught drunk in public. That's why shinobi usually drink at home or in private. Participation in gambling can only be done within our fellow shinobi. And parlors. Just don't. It's in name only. Violation of any rules will result in the termination of your title and license and prohibit you from ever becoming a shinobi again in your lifetime. These entitlements differ from each village so don't assume you have a right to them when you're in a foreign land."

"Very well said." Baki took over as Ritsu returned to his spot. "There are certain roles select teams are placed in. Special Operations, Tracking and Locating, Infiltration, etc. These teams often work with each other and while you're in training you'll learn to work with every combination. But just because you'll be specialized in one area doesn't mean you shouldn't be proficient in others. You are a Special Operations team. "

Out of the corner of her eye, Suzume saw Ritsu mouthing out Baki's words.

"In the beginning of your training, we will work from D-rank missions up to B-rank. Once we reach B-rank, we will start cooperating with other teams until A-rank.

"There will be some missions where we will work alone and-- if I approve or by a Council member's request- one of you will be assigned a solo mission, but that's extremely rare.

"The money you earn is yours to spend and starting now you will receive pension. You and your family have educational benefits as well as free health and dental care and they will continue receiving such benefits as well as fiscal compensation if you are to die in action.

"You have a select number of paid vacation days as well as paid sick days which you'll probably use when you're recuperating in the hospital after a difficult mission. It's generally looked down upon when a Genin takes vacation unless they have a good reason, therefore, do not take vacation days.

"Once you're ready, you will work with foreign shinobi. When that moment comes, be respectful, if you can't be respectful don't say anything. Failure on these missions will create a stain on your reputation and the village's. And above all else, do not be the reason a war breaks out. If such a thing happens, the village has every right to cast you aside if they deem it necessary. At this point, who has questions?"

Nobody did. Baki continued. He pulled out an envelope of papers.

"We are civil servants to the people of this village. We work to protect them and their future. This is not a job for the faint of heart nor for the arrogant. We have to set the example and we are the strength of our home. It is a position to be proud of." He handed out the documents. "You still have the chance to turn away, but once you sign this paper, you are signing your life away and if you do decide to quit, that will be after you've changed with no way to return."

Calligraphy brush pen caps were popped open and inkstones were grinded. In Ritsu's case, being a two stripe Genin (one of the few), pulled out a seal with its seal paste as well and stamped its engravement at the bottom of his name.

Suzume was the only one who hesitated and everybody noticed but refrained from commenting on it. This was the weight her family lived with constantly. It was admirable... and terrifying. She didn't know if it was right for her to sign.

"There's no shame in it."

Suzume regarded Ritsu with wide eyes. He was adamantly staring forward while cleaning and drying both his and Akira's brush. He was letting the water diluted ink fall in fat, dark drops onto the sand until it sunk into and dyed the grains.

Suzume returned to her contract and after a few more seconds of thought, she signed her name.

Baki sorted through the documents then replaced them back in the envelope and sealed it shut. He then proceeded to pull out a list from his pocket.

"We'll be diving right into it then." He also brought out a tiny, bright yellow bouncy ball with a smiley face printed on. "I have five missions lined up for you three today and you must complete them all while," he placed the ball between his pointer finger and thumb, "keeping this ball moving between all three of you."

"Wait," Ritsu gawked. "That's-"

"Each time it comes to a stop you'll do one thousand laps around the village walls."

"Baki-sensei!" Akira said, horrified.

"These are your missions," Baki continued, unperturbed, "Honda-san's water tank needs replacing."

"You kids sure work hard," Honda-san said as Suzume and Ritsu were trying to get a rusted tank three times their size down the stairs of the department store.

"Thank you very much," Akira said, bowing.

"Pivot, pivot, PIVOT!" Ritsu bellowed as the water tank smushed against his face.

Suzume was trying really hard to comply to Ritsu's instructions, but every which way she turned wasn't the right way and she was getting increasingly anxious. At the last shout, she jumped and the tank slipped.

Akira was happily chatting up the old man to the side and the conversation was immediately dropped when the tank was too and becoming uncomfortably close to crushing the two of them.

Akira tackled the old man and they rolled out of the way as Ritsu flashed forward to end up below the tank, holding up its back tendering weight.

"Good one, Ri-chan," Akira said with an annoyingly unconcerned voice, standing safe to the side alongside the dazed Honda-san. "Real macho."

Ritsu sent a strained growl his way.

The ball knocked against the side of Akira's head and pattered away. He flopped onto the floor as Honda-san gawped at the sight of Ritsu holding up the tank. "A thousand..."

Honda-san all gave them lollipops for saving his life.

"Investigate an illegal gambling house."

Suzume kicked down a door and sunlight flooded into the dim room. Patrons jumped from their seat in fear as Ritsu stormed in.

"What's going on?" the owner demanded of Suzume.

"We're searching and seizing this property," Akira said while passing by to help Ritsu. The bouncy ball came at Suzume for her to slap toward Akira's direction and he sent it at Ritsu without a thought.

"Do you have a search warrant?!" the owner called after Akira.

"In situations like these," Ritsu was saying as he studied the area and Suzume presented their search warrant to the sweaty owner, "they're usually..." He caught sight of a cabinet and sauntered over with Akira. He pushed the cabinet aside to reveal a doorway. He smirked. "Always so cliche."

A pathetic battle cry caught his attention and Ritsu backed away from the swing of a frying pan. "You should be careful with that, sir. You could get hurt."

"I've got nothing to lose." The owner's face split into a mad smile and he raised the frying pan higher in a stiff grip. "Get out of my business!"

He charged again and Ritsu backhanded the frying pan out of the man's hands and caught it again as the owner clutched at his abused wrist. Ritsu flipped the pan in the air once and caught it by the handle again. "We'll escort you to the hospital before writing up your fine."

"Ri-chan! The ball!"

Ritsu's eyes grew intense and he placed both hands on the pan's handle, bent his knees, winded the pan back, then swung with all his might. The bouncy ball smashed through the roof and flew away in an impressive home run.

There was a moment of shock as all the people in the room stared at the hole in the roof.

Ritsu fell onto his knees and messed up his hair in regret. "I'm sorry! It was instinctual!"

Suzume went to fetch the ball.

"Catch a civilian who has been reported pretending to be a shinobi."

A shifty man wearing a fake forehead protector inched into a grocery store. From his perch on the opposite building's rooftop, Ritsu was peering down at him.

"There he is." He pushed a button on his radio. "He's in."

"Got it, Ri-chan," responded Akira. Akira, standing casually in the cereal aisle, located the man and he gestured for Suzume to stay where she was.

He walked up to the man and bumped into him so the impersonator dropped his groceries in a scramble. Ritsu entered the supermarket and floated over to the side in case he's needed for backup.

"Oops!" Akira bent down to help. "My bad."

"N-no problems, kid." The impersonator gathered his food up quickly and made a move to leave.

"Sir, you forgot this." Akira was holding out a packet of cigarettes. "But you know, it's against the rules to smoke."

"Oh, uh, this is for my Pops." The impersonator snatched the pack out of his hands and tried to exit the situation, but Akira stuck to him like glue.

The ball was whizzing around as the teammates hit it back and forth and the impersonator didn't even notice it since his eyes weren't trained like theirs.

"What rank are you, mister?" Akira asked.

"I-I'm Chunin."

"Really? Why aren't you wearing your vest then?"

"V-Vest? Uh..."

"Hurry it up, Akira," Ritsu's voice said from his earpiece. "Stop stalling."

"By the way, if you're a Chunin, you must've gotten the badge they passed out recently! It must look so cool! Can I see it?"

"I... left that home with the vest."

"Aw... really? Too bad there's no such thing."

"H-huh...?"

Akira presented a scroll of arrest to the man. "You've been charged with impersonating a shinobi for deceptive purposes."

The man dropped everything and bolted. On the second stride, he suddenly froze in his place, his leg stiff in the air, stuck before it could take the next stride. "Why... can't I move?"

"I'm sorry, sir." Chakra strings were held taut between the man's body and Akira's fingertips. He smiled politely. "You need to fill out some paperwork first."

Ritsu saw Akira hit the ball toward where Suzume should be. It zoomed past the empty spot. She'd been lured away by a sale on toilet paper.

"Oi."

The ding of a cash register.

And after helping a woman with what revealed to be a family problem--

"Listen, lady." Ritsu removed the weeping woman's hands from his now rumpled shirt. "Shinobi don't have any authority to interfere in civil matters. We'll direct you to some social services."

-- the team ended up at the border of the village to make another boulder to prevent sand erosion along the walls

Baki showed up only briefly to deliver their sentence. He watched them as they ran.

Every week the team traveled to a different area to fulfill Baki's orders. The 'missions' weren't missions at all, but excuses to send them to the most remote places in the nation and have their lives hanging by a thread as they were forced to climb the tallest peak, collect scorpion poison, and climb dune after dune almost as tall as a mountain.

The kids were wondering whether Baki had diplomatic immunity in all of Wind Country's territories; because they were pretty sure if the higher ups of the places they treaded knew they even much as stepped a centimeter into the border— never mind train deep in their province— they would've sent down heaven's fire.

They were back at the tallest peak near the Land of Earth border and the wind was buffeting around them, trying furiously to pluck them off the surface of the mountain and send them plummeting to the ground below.

Akira was sending worried glances back at Suzume who had fallen behind. Ritsu was above the pair of them and after deciding Suzume wouldn't last much longer, clucked his tongue in exasperation, and monkeyed back down to where the girl was struggling. He thrusted out a hand for her to grab. They battled silently before Suzume looked up at the fog covered monolith of a mountain.

Instead of accepting his help, she forced open Ritsu's pouch where she knew he stashed the food pills. His shout of complaint was stolen by the gale and before he could stop her, she shoved the handful of pills into her mouth and swallowed. Ritsu saw a bloodstained bandage zoom away and returned his attention onto Suzume to see her gone.

He panicked for a moment then he let out a strangled sound of protest when extra weight pulled down on his climbing gear. Realizing what happened, he sent out a tirade of insults down at the swinging Suzume who was evading death because of a hook and line attached to his person.

She wrapped her fingers up in new bandages before swinging back onto the surface of the super-sized pebble. She unhooked herself to Ritsu and without a word began climbing again, renewed by the medicine. Ritsu snarled and followed after her.

_ _ _

"Grandma!"

Konata jumped "my heavens" and Saya growled in disapproval as Ritsu barged out of the apartment just as they were approaching the building. He was now running down the stairs to assist her.

"I told you I'd pick you up at the hospital!" Ritsu bellowed as he seized the bags on Konata's lap. "You're not supposed to exert yourself!"

"I know, I know. I did something horribly wrong," Konata replied placatingly as she swatted at his arm. "Now stop yelling, dear."

Ritsu harrumphed and went around behind Konata to push her wheelchair forward. "You never listen to me."

"You're sounding more and more like your mother everyday," Konata said as Ritsu picked her up and walked up the stairs. "I was a Chunin before I was sixteen, and a decorated one at that and you all treat me like I couldn't even survive without someone taking care of me hand and foot."

"Yeah, yeah," Ritsu, who'd heard this a million times, rolled his eyes. He placed her down on the sofa in the living room. "I'll go get your wheelchair."

When Ritsu came back he found Konata in the kitchen. "Grandma!"

"Oh, shush, a little cooking won't kill me. I borrowed the hospital's counter." Konata poured the soup into a bowl and Ritsu picked it up before she could.

"I'm carrying the hot ass soup."

"Alright, alright. Let's go sit down then, you silly."

"I can't believe you were caught in a fire. This is why we told you to stop running that little store and live with us," Ritsu nagged. "What's the big deal about that? Well, now it's burned down so you don't have a choice."

Konata shoved a spoonful of food into his mouth and he chewed and swallowed. "You're not going to insist on living alone again are you?"

Another spoonful. "Cause it's stupid, grandma, it really is."

Another and this time Ritsu stopped, his eyes spread wide and dazzling. "This is really good!"

"Isn't it?" Konata smiled. "I made it just for you."

Ritsu now focused on his food, Konata called Saya over and the dog rested its head on her lap. Ritsu gazed absently at the dog. Rice spattered out of his mouth.

"My dear!" Konata was wide eyed. "You need to stop being so over the top!"

Ritsu ignored her. "When did you get a dog?!"

Konata patted Saya on the head. "She was a gift."

"From who?"

"From your new teammate."

Ritsu blinked and leaned forward. "Akira?"

Konata smiled pleasantly and said in a sing-song voice, "Wrong answer."

Calculations were running through his head. When he arrived at the only answer the whole building lurched from his shout.

"THE FREAK GAVE YOU A DOG?!"

Saya whimpered and hid under Konata's chair.

"Yes, she did," Konata said calmly.

"Wait," Ritsu's mouth was agape, "does that mean the girl you've been talking about is... her..."

"Please just call her by name, dear. Suzume-chan is a lovely girl and--"

"I can't believe you, grandma! You've been taking care of her. Why would you even... How could you..." Something occurred to him. "Then, the reason you were almost killed was because of her?"

Konata frowned. "Suzume-chan saved me--"

"But the fire was because of her, wasn't it?"

Konata couldn't answer and Ritsu's face filled with anger. "That little bit-ouch!"

His head had lurched forward as a woman in a doctor's coat smacked it.

"Hey, brat! Don't yell profanities at your grandmother!"

"Welcome back, Tomoe-chan," Konata greeted kindly.

"Good to see you out of my hospital, baa-san."

"But, Tomo-ne!" Ritsu rubbed at the pain. "Grandma is putting herself in danger again!"

Tomoe snorted and shed off her coat and pulled her hair out of its tail. "What's new?"

"It's the Freak! She's been taking care of the Freak!"

Tomoe, who had been digging through the refrigerator, popped up at that, eyes wide. "Sleeping Beauty? How's the little snot?"

"She's a member of Ritsu's team," Konata informed her.

"Oh, really," Tomoe unscrewed a milk carton. "How charming."

"You guys are missing the point!" Ritsu groaned as Tomoe chugged down the milk. "There's something off about her. She's always attracting animals. Did I tell you about how she let a snake hang around her neck like it couldn't kill her the next second? And she named it Ryu!"

"Cute and badass. I'm liking Sleeping Beauty more and more," Tomoe commented, but Ritsu didn't mind her.

"And she didn't used to have a chakra system, according to rumors it came out of nowhere. Her taijutsu skills are the same thing, she was a weak kid who had no business trying to be a shinobi and then bam! she's got a skill set of a two stripe Genin. And what is she intending to use Temari-senpai and the others for? She's probably just a golddigger. Of course she is! Now that she's the top student of the graduating class, the territory leaders will be sending letters trying to recruit her under their name! It's all about climbing the ladder!"

The two women stared at him indifferently.

Tomoe walked over to him while saying, "You know what I just heard? Blah-blah-blah ninja mumbo jumbo blah-blah something about ladders." She pinched Ritsu's cheek and pulled. "Now, Mr. Big Bad Shinobi-san, don't get too upset now that your position as Genin Top Dog is being threatened."

Ritsu slapped her hand away, "Oh shut up, civilian."

Tomoe scratched her head and yawned, shuffling to her room. "I'm gonna wash and go to bed. I'll see you later, baa-san."

"Have a good sleep," Konata said.

"Good work today!" Ritsu called after her sincerely.

Tomoe gave him a peace sign before disappearing into her room.

"Now, dear," Konata called back his attention and the subject of their conversation. "You don't honestly believe those things."

"You're just biased, grandma."

"And you're just believing what you want to believe," Konata replied playfully.

Ritsu couldn't deny it.

"If you're nice to her, she might let you meet Temari-san," she said mischievously.

Ritsu's face glowed red and he became defensive, muttering, "I've asked you to introduce me... but you won't..."

Konata chuckled and patted his hand, wheeling her chair out of the kitchen, Saya following. "Give her a chance, she might surprise you."

"Yeah, been there, done that," Ritsu said under his breath, sinking back into his creaky chair, waiting for the hotness in his cheeks to abate.