Pia, Dino, and Koga spent the rest of the day at their workplace. Zero easily forgave them for leaving suddenly, though Pia's mind wasn't on a subject that was herbology.  Pia was now dumping out some water outside of the building.

"You seem busy," a voice asked, Pia jumped, she looked up to see Mitsuki.

"Mitsuki," Pia greeted. "Mr. Komame is allowing you three to deliver mail again? Even after what happened?"

"Tayori begged him," Mitsuki answered. "I got mail for you, I thought I would deliver it to you, personally."

"Thanks," Pia breathed as she took the letter, it was from the sand village.

"Did you hear?" someone whispered. "There was another attack." Mitsuki and Pia looked at each other.

"I'm going back to the station," Mitsuki stated.

"Keep me updated, Zero will kill me if I just left out of the blue," Pia stated, Mitsuki nodded at her before leaving. The night, Pia was out late training, as Mitsuki gave her the updates.

"Has your mom said anything?" Mitsuki asked.

"No," Pia frowned. "With all these attacks, she barely gets to come home anymore, she's been stuck at the hospital, and dad doesn't want us to bother her." She threw a shuriken, it landed in the center of her target.

"Should I confront your suspect?" Mitsuki asked.

"Not yet," Pia answered. "Let her recover a bit more at the hospital."

"I can't promise," Mitsuki stated. "See ya." He disappeared. The next day, there was another attack. Back at the herbologist's place, Pia had finished curing a plant.

"Well done, " Zero congratulated. 

"Thanks," Pia smiled. The door opened, they looked over to see Shikadai. "Cousin." 

"Cousin?" Koga asked.

"Technically second cousins, and not by blood," Shikadai stated. "Can I borrow them? I need their help at the post station."

"Oh, sure," Zero gave in. "We were just finishing up anyways." 

"Meet me there in ten minutes," Shikadai ordered as he left, Koga, Pia, and Dino looked at each other and shrugged. They did as they were told, and met up with more at the place, they got explained everything in more detail. They walked into the place to see Boruto, Mitsuki, and Shikadai staring at a map.

"Damnit," Boruto hissed. "If only I were able to make shadow clones the way my dad does."

"I figured," Shikadai stated. "So I called for a little help." They turned to face the others. 

"The help you say?" Dino asked.

"I prefer awesome champion of righteous justice," Iwabee declared. 

"It seems like you guys are going to be sneaking around having fun," Inojin stated. 

"Let us join in," Pia smiled.

"Yeah," Metal pumped his fist. "After the class rep got hurt in that incident, we could not just sit idly by anymore." Mitsuki and Pia glanced at each other. 

"That's great, but you guys, what about your workplace assignments?" Boruto asked. 

"Not a problem," Denki stated as he held up a stack of papers. "We already finished our reports."

"We're not slackers like you, Inojin added.

"I just wanted to have another day at the plant place," Dino stated. 

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Cho-Cho asked. "What do you want us to do?"

"Yes!" Metal encouraged getting close to Boruto. "Share your plan with us."

"Well, in that case," Boruto smiled. He put his hand on the map. "All of you split up and you'll cover every postage route throughout the whole village. Then if you see anything strange happen, let us know immediately."

"How are we supposed to notify you?" Koga asked. 

"Iwabee, did you bring all the gear?" Shikadai asked. "The things I asked for."

"Yeah," Iwabee answered as he opened a bag full of explosives. "I got them from the fireworks factory. This good?"

"They'll be perfect," Shikadai smiled as he stood up with two hands full of fireworks. "If anything happen, fire one of these into the air. 

"Hey! This feels like a real mission!" Boruto cheered. Everyone was given a mail armband, a bag of mail, and an explosive. "Guys, I'm counting on you!" He punched out a fist. 

"Just leave it to us," Denki assured. 

"Right," Boruto nodded. "Move out!" Everyone cheered back at him. They all ran out to go deliver the mail and keep an eye out for the ghost. They quickly came back to find someone in a mask, along with Komame being possessed. 

"We finally found you," Boruto stated with a smile.

"But how did you know?" Komame asked, looking up at Boruto. 

"It was simple," Boruto answered. "Once we figured out our moves were being monitored. We knew it had to be a person manipulating the ghost."

"At that point, we just had to make them believe that all of our friends, were going to be positioned on every route," Shikadai added. "Meaning the entire village, would be under observation."

"So the last blind spot would be right here, inside the post office," Pia added.

"Yeah, there you have it," Iwabee smirked as he crossed his arms. 

"And you showed up exactly like all of us expected you to," Boruto stated. The masked man moved his arms, Komame screamed as mail rose up. 

"Komame!" Tayori gasped. 

"I don't know what's going on, but we can attack right?" Iwabee asked. " Numb him, Pia!"

"Yeah!" Shikadai confirmed. "Capture him and it'll be clear."

"We're going to end this thing right now!" Boruto declared as Pia held up needles. Komame let out a roar, everyone shielded themselves the best they could from the mail as Boruto jumped down. 

***

Out on the route, Metal, Dino, Koga, Cho-Cho, Mitsuki, and Inojin cornered a masked man.

"We've been waiting for you," Inojin stated. Everyone got ready to fight, Metal gestured for the man to bring it. 

***

Back at the postal place, everyone hid behind a pillar, trying to figure out a plan.

"Why haven't you thrown a needle?" Iwabee demanded.

" I can't see through all the mail, I don't want to end up accidentally striking any of you," Pia explained. "Plus if I cause any damaged to mail, it will just make him angrier." Iwabee frowned. 

"This is bad," Boruto stated. 

"Yeah, and being forced to use that jutsu is hurting him," Shikadai added.

"Let's move in!" Boruto declared as he got into the open, he made shadow clones. Komame took out his clones.

"Boruto!" Shikadai exclaimed as he got in front.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall," Iwabee stated as he landed in front of everyone, a wall of mud formed, protecting them from the mail a bit.

"Thanks, Iwabee," Boruto stated.

"If we can't get close we can't stop it," Pia said. They watched as the mail and packages got scattered all over the place, Tayori gasped.

"Hey, what about the spirit of organization and neatness?" Shikadai demanded. 

"A worthless job like this doesn't deserve my attention," Komame stated. "Who cares if I mess up everything!" Tayori gasped, even more, he frowned with an angry grunt. He went out to protect a package.

"Tayori! No!" Denki shouted.

"It's too dangerous!" Boruto shouted. "Just come back!"

"It's not worthless!" Tayori shouted. "For every letter we have, there's someone anxiously waiting to receive it.  And that is the reason, we must never cut corners!" Komame stopped screaming, his jutsu was letting up.

"Now!" Boruto shouted as he, Pia and Iwabee ran around the mud wall as Denki shot up, he shot out a shuriken, he sliced through a letter as Pia's needles went around the letters, striking the man in the sides, he went into shock, as Boruto and Iwabee hit him, the man flew back., slamming into the wall.

"We pulled it off," Shikadai smiled, Denki laughed giving him a high-five.

"Where did the masked man, go?" Pia asked glancing around.

"Your brothers and the others probably took care of them," Iwabee stated as they looked over at Tayori. The letters flew up, in a circle.

"Stay alert!" Boruto ordered. "We're not finished!"

"You see anything?" Iwabee asked. 

"No," Pia answered.

"Me either, nothing," Denki stated. 

"You're not getting away!" Boruto declared as he threw an explosive tag, it disappeared, but not before it let off an explosion. 

"What's that?" Iwabee demanded as they shielded themselves from the smoke. 

"Was that thing, what you guys were trying to track down, Boruto?" Denki asked. 

***

Outside the others were chasing the masked figure, the person was fast.

"This guy is way too fast!" Inojin stated.

"I can't do it!" Cho-Cho panted. The masked guy ran into the opening, Metal went after him. The man jumped over the rail.

"You will not escape!" Metal declared as he went over the rail with a kick, he then let out a panic, falling into the water before. 

"Metal!" Dino shouted as he looked over the edge. "Where did he go?"

"I do not know," Metal answered as Dino threw down a rope. "I thought I had caught up to him, but--" 

"Guess we must have lost him," Inojin stated as Cho-Cho finally caught up. Metal grabbed onto the rope and Dino began to pull him up. Metal wasn't the strongest swimmer, he was a lot like dad when it came to the water. "To be bad we can't walk on water yet."

***

Over at the hospital, Koga stared into an empty bedroom window.

"Curse Mitsuki for dragging me into this," Koga huffed, "I'm missing all the action."

***

Back at the post station, shinobi carried Mr. Komame out on a stretcher.

"Bureau Chief!" Tayori shouted as he ran up to the stretcher. The man opened his eyes weakly, he looked at Tayori.

"You know, your hat is crooked," Komame stated.

"I'm sorry sir," Tayori laughed as he adjusted his hat. 

"Looks like we don't have to worry about him anymore," Boruto smiled. 

"Boruto," Mitsuki said. They looked to see the others have returned, from Metal's face, it was not a good result. "Sorry, but we have lost the masked figure. 

"I am sorry too," Metal apologized. 

"It's okay, forget about it," Shikadai stated. 

"At least we got some data," Dino stated as he tried to lighten up the mood, mainly Metal's mood. 

"Yeah, turns out there's been something manipulating the ghost," Boruto stated. 

"I don't even want to consider this, but that masked guy could be someone close to us," Shikadai brought up. 

"Someone close to us," Boruto whispered as Koga returned, he whispered to Mitsuki. "Come on now!" he rolled up his sleeves. "We still got to finish up our work!"

"Our work?" Shikadai repeated. 

"Just take a look around this place," Boruto stated as he began to clean up. "If we don't do something to fix this, we'll probably get yelled at again."

"All right then," Shikadai laughed as he and Mitsuki joined Boruto. 

"Well come on, don't just stand there doing nothing," Boruto ordered the others. "Hurry up! Or we'll never get it done!"

"Why do we have to help out?" Iwabee complained the loudest. 

"Come on! Let us join in!" Metal encouraged as he pushed Pia forward.

"Alright, alright," Pia gave in. 

"We can have a competition of who can clean the fastest," Metal declared.

That night Pia was in clearing the table with dad as Metal was out training, and Dino was changing Ren.

"Is mom coming home tonight?" Pia asked.

"It's hard to say," Lee answered. "Based on how many attacks there have been, two yesterday, and one today... it's a good no."

"Do they at least let her get any rest?" Pia asked. 

"I'm pretty sure they've offered, but she probably refused,"  Lee smiled. "In situations like this, she isn't one to rest."

"I just wish she would come home," Pia sighed as she went over to the sink. 

"She won't be gone forever," Lee laughed more as he put a hand on her head. "You can always visit her,  she'll love to see you." Pia nodded. "When I was about fifteen, your mother was about thirteen, Lady Fifth sent away from the village for two years."

"Really?" Pia asked as her eyes went wide. "How did you cope?"

"By getting stronger," Lee answered. "Plus we were just friends then."

*****

The next day at school, they were all running through an obstacle course. They were now all just waiting for Boruto and his group to finish, Pia was able to finish with her group, she was paired with her brothers. And due to training with each other so much, the obstacle was easy. 

"You guys did well," Pia stated.

"We didn't make it," Denki sighed lowering his head.

"It was a tough break," Gen said touching Boruto's shoulder. "You can join with us next time. You are never going to pass if you got Denki on your team."

"That isn't true at all, " Dino denied.

"Yeah, you just don't know about the amazing things that Denki can do," Boruto added. 

"Quiet everyone," Shino-sensei ordered. They looked forward. "For this practice assignment, everyone, besides the Lee siblings has failed." Everyone gasped.

"We finished within the time limit."

"Unless all three members of your team finished together, you fail." Everyone remained silent. "That's because genin always work in groups of three. Which means your missions will be done in three-man teams. For success in a mission, teamwork is essential. Abandoning a comrade is simply out of the question." Mostly everyone groaned. 

"When you graduate from the academy, you'll all fall under my command," Konohamaru informed. "Before then, we'll come observe you periodically. That way we can put together the best teams."

"But there's no point obsessing about it," Moegi added. "Just try out different combinations and see how they work."

"All right then, class dismissed," Shino ordered. 

"Thank you, sensei," everyone stated. Everyone split up into separate groups.

"You are so lucky you passed," Enko stated walking up to Pia.

"Hm?" Pia asked looking at her.

"Your teamwork with your siblings is so natural, I'm jealous," Wasabi stated.

"Oh," Pia breathed. "At home when we are training, dad and mom always stress teamwork along with honing our skills." She saw Dino walk past with Boruto and Denki.

"No ghost incident since the post office right?" Denki asked. 

"Oh, you're right," Dino realized.

"We must have really scared that guy away," Boruto smiled.

"We almost had them," Denki added. "We came really close to catching him that last time."

"Well, it's doesn't help that they escaped," Koga said from behind.

"And I bet he's going to be a lot more cautious now," Shikadai added. 

"That's true," Inojin agreed. "And even if Boruto can see the ghost we still don't know who's behind it."

"He knew we were looking," Dino pointed out. "And he still caused an incident, so he's bound to start up again."

"That must mean that enemy must have a plan," Denki stated.

"Some of the grown-ups are starting to get involved, maybe we shouldn't look into this thing too hard," Inojin stated.

"We've come too far to just give up now," Boruto stated. "I won't let them treat us like little kids." Boruto's stomach rumbled loudly. "But never mind that now, we've got a hurry up. "Or else, those tasty Yakisoba buns are going to be all sold out."

"Hey!" Denki shouted running after Boruto. "Wait Boruto!"

"Yeah!" Inojin lit up as he followed. "I'm coming along too!"

"Boruto," Shikadai smiled. "Boruto always messes me up."

"About that training," Mitsuki began.

"Hm?" Dino asked looking back at Mitsuki. 

"I understand sensei's words, but success of a mission, wouldn't it make sense if I just went ahead on my own? Mitsuki asked. 

"Yeah, but it also mean you'll have to abandon your teammates," Dino stated. " I could never abandon my sister or brother."

"Oh, so do you know why I acted the way I did?" Mitsuki asked. 

"Huh?" Shikadai asked. He started laughing. " I don't know. Maybe Boruto got to you too." They looked to see the others running towards the café. "That guy is such a drag." Shikadai followed. 

"Mitsuki," Koga stated. Mitsuki got out of his trance, they looked at Koga. "Tell little red that her suspicions are correct."

"Thank you, I'm sure she'll be happy with it," Mitsuki stated. "I feel bad for not including her."

"It was her plan," Koga reminded him.

At lunch when everyone got food, Dino and Boruto watched Iwabee pace with a book in his hands. 

"Iwabee, what's going on buddy?" Boruto asked. 

"Oh, Boruto, don't bother me now, I'm busy," Iwabee said. 

"He probably has to stay after school again," Inojin stated.

"Shut up!" Iwabee hissed at him as Dino looked at the book. 

"What part don't you get?" Boruto asked. 

"Damnit," Iwabee groaned as Boruto looked over his shoulder. "This one."

"Huh, for problems like that, you have to separate them into groups, by object first," Boruto explained, he took a bit of his food. "You see and then you just drop them into the formula."

"Oh, I get it," Iwabee stated. "But hold on, show me again."

"You're hopeless," Boruto laughed. "Okay."

"And if you don't get it after his explanations, you can always ask my sister,"  Dino informed.

"I feel like she's going to end up skewering me with her needles," Iwabee stated as he sweated a little. Soon they went back to class. Class soon came to an end, it was getting late as well.

"Hey, Pia!" Iwabee shouted as he ran up to her.

"Iwabee," Pia stated as she stopped walking, she looked at him.

"Dino told me that you might be able to help me with arithmetic," Iwabee brought up.

"Later," Pia stated. "I'm going to go visit the class rep." She started to leave.

"And I'm going with," Mitsuki stated as stood at the door, blocking her path. 

"But you can help?" Iwabee asked. Pia stared up at him. "Come on! I really need to pass this next exam!"

"Meet me at Ichiraku tonight," Pia stated. "Meet me there at eight, bring everything you need, and don't be late."

"She'll definitely skewer you if you are late," Metal informed as he popped up. 

"I'll be there!" Iwabee assured her before running off.

"See you then," Pia stated before leaving with Mitsuki.

"Since when did Mitsuki and my cousin get close?" Boruto asked.

"I'm curious as well," Shikadai stated as they watched them leave. 

"From my observations, they've been getting close since Sumire's stalker incident," Koga stated. Dino frowned. Over at the hospital, they saw Sumire staring out the window, at the sun. 

"You seem to be doing much better, class rep," Pia smiled.

"Pia, Mitsuki," Sumire greeted as she looked at them. "Hey." Pia walked over. "Just you two, huh?"

"Are your injuries healing?" Pia asked as Mitsuki followed. " Has my mom said anything?"

"Yeah," Sumire answered. "Your mom said I would be discharged soon, I'm very thankful towards her."

"I see," Mitsuki stated. "That's great, we can't have you dying on us after all." She looked up in shock. "Actually, I'm dealing with things too. May I please ask you something? Can you tell me how you feel about Boruto?"

"What do you mean?" Sumire asked. 

"Inojin said that Boruto's behavior places a great deal of stress on you," Mitsuki stated. 

"That isn't true at all," Sumire denied. "Sure there a lot of times there could be some trouble in class, and I'm always a little stressed out about that. But it's kind of fun with Boruto around. Don't the two you think so too?"

"He's my cousin, he can be a pain, but I do like having him around," Pia nodded.

"And what about you?" Sumire asked, looking at Mitsuki.

"Me?" Mitsuki asked. " I don't really know yet."

"Do you have any family Mitsuki?" Sumire asked.

"Well kinda," Mitsuki answered. 

"Oh, I see," Sumire breathed, she looked back out the window. "I always thought you were like me."

"You mean? You don't have any family?" Mitsuki asked. 

"All of them have passed on now," Sumire answered. "When I was young, my father was a ninja too. But I'm not as skilled as he was. So that's why I worry and work so hard to do well. But then being in this class with everyone else, before I knew it, I was having so much fun. It got me wondering what I have been doing before all this? What have been doing with all that time?"

"How do you feel about the person that did this to you?" Pia asked. 

"I don't know," Sumire answered. "I just want all this to be over. So I can put it behind me. That's how I feel." After a long talk with Mitsuki, Pia made her way over to Ichiraku, when she arrived, she saw Iwabee in a booth waiting for her, and her brothers, and cousins in another booth in disguises. She let out a sigh and smiled. 

"Looks like I'm the one that ended up being late," Pia stated as she sat down across from him. "My apologies."

"No, you are only late by a minute," Iwabee stated as he showed the book to her. "I am getting stuck here." He pointed to a problem. For about an hour and a half, Pia helped out Iwabee.

The next day at school, everyone was setting up for class.

"Just how long do we have to keep this up?" Kuwa asked. 

"Who knows," Gen answered. 

" I see you didn't kill Iwabee," Sarada stated as she elbowed her. "He's hopeless isn't he?"

"He needs to find a method that works for him," Pia stated. 

"Did you kiss?" Cho-Cho asked.

"Why would we kiss?" Pia asked.

"It was a date after all," Cho-Cho pointed out.

"I was just helping him with his homework," Pia stated.

"Is that really all?" Cho-Cho asked. "He always seems to get nervous around you?"

"Because he thinks I'm going to numb him with my needles," Pia answered.

"Are you going be see him again tonight?" Cho-Cho asked. 

"As I said it was just a study help," Pia answered. "Plus, we are having guests tonight, my mom might be able to come home for tonight."

"Oh, that's right, your dad invited me and my mom over," Sarada recalled. 

****

Pia was now at home helping dad make dinner when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Metal shouted as he towards the door with Ren. 

"Everything is smelling great," Temari stated as she walked in with Shikadai.

"Where's Shikamaru?" Lee asked.

"Stuck at the office as usual," Temari answered as Sakura followed in with Sarada.

"Was my mom able to get off tonight?" Dino asked. "Will she be joining?"

"She was leaving with me when we were getting out of the hospital, then she got summoned," Sakura answered.

"I was with her when she asked to be taken off the list," Pia frowned.

"It must have been an emergency," Lee stated. "She'll be back soon." Pia seemed more down. After dinner Sarada, Metal and Dino got into a deep conversation about school while the adults had their own conversations. Pia sat on the front steps waiting for her mom to return.

"The girls suspect Iwabee, and so do your cousins and brothers, so what's up with Mitsuki?" Shikadai asked as he sat next to her.

"We just went to go visit the class rep," Pia stated. "And there's nothing between Iwabee and me same with Mitsuki."

"What did you and Mitsuki talk about?" Shikadai asked.

"The ghost incidents," Pia answered.

"So, he's included you on it a bit more," Shikadai sighed. Pia stared at her cousin. "How much has he told you?" Pia looked back inside, she saw her brothers play fighting, and dad was encouraging it. 

"I had my suspicions on who was behind the ghost incident," Pia stated looking at Shikadai. "And now my suspicion has been confirmed true." Shikadai's eyes went wide. "Mitsuki has been helping me out."