Between ANBU shifts, I go back to Sayaka-Sensei with my tanto to see if she can help improve my Taijutsu. There are just some things you can do with the extendable, weightless shadow blades that you can't with a steel sword, and I need to adjust.

I'm instructed to go through the first kata I've learned. The three weeks I've had to adjust to my tanto really don't make much of a difference when Sayaka-Sensei makes me run through all of my single-sword katas five times with each hand. Repetition builds strength and all that. Also, being ambidextrous is helpful. And while I'll never be able to write well with my right hand, being able to wield weapons just as well with my off-hand as I am with my dominant hand will only be useful.

My uneventful week of Hokage guarding ends with my team getting a new mission. It's a sabotage job, and Jackal is excited to finally blow something up. Whispers say that Iwa is itching for a fight, but they can't start a war if they have no way to transport food, now can they?

Somehow, this mission turns out to be less eventful than the run of the mill assassination mission that was our last. Seriously, what the fuck? I'm beginning to think that my first missions are always going to be cursed.

The closest thing we got to a fight was when some bandits tried to rob our civilian disguises, which was easily taken care of with a simple genjutsu. Of course, blowing up bridges and roads does eventually get Iwa's attention, but between Hawk's "sensing" (cough, byakugan, cough) and my hearing, they never got close to finding us.

We arrive back in Konoha after a week and a half of wreaking havoc in Iwa with a stupidly successful mission under our belt. This is when I find out that to compensate members for incredibly long/boring/difficult/morally dubious missions, ANBU gets paid a fuck ton. No, seriously. I can afford an entire ass mortgage on an apartment with one monthly paycheck alone.

My fifthteenth birthday passes on one of my general force rotations while I'm on a simple courier mission with two career Chunin who I've never spoken to before this mission and names I don't remember. Though, to be fair, I was half asleep during introductions and I'm too embarrassed to admit the fact I really wasn't paying attention.

The mission goes off without a hitch, and I decide I'm literally just going to sleep the day away. Maybe I'll treat the Lynx trio to some fish, but that's a tomorrow me task. Sighing in bliss, I collapse into my nice, warm bed.

The next few months are uneventful. ANBU missions continue to be successful and pay ridiculously well, I get normal C and B ranks in general force rotations, and Itachi makes jounin. The most eventful thing that happens is that I finally figure out most of the kinks on my lightning shadow blades. They're still not perfect, but they are at least useable.

Of course with my luck, my life doesn't stay uneventful for long. It starts with an ANBU mission to Kiri. We're to extract a spy and get them back to Konoha alive with information intact. The whole situation rings disconcertingly familiar to the events leading up to my father's death. But this time, I'm not going to let anyone die. Kiri doesn't get to take anyone else from me.

Our trip is somber, the realization that most shinobi sent anywhere near the land of water don't come back alive, if at all, weighs heavily on Jackal, Rhino, and I. Hawk is just... like that. We're using Wave as our point of entry, as Kiri-nin have a stranglehold on every port in Water since the Water Daimyō "mysteriously" died. Wave is so used to people fleeing Water that no one will look twice at four more "civilians".

The real challenge is figuring out how to get from Wave to Water. "I guess we could just water walk," Jackal says in the comfort of an abandoned warehouse. Wave's economy isn't doing well, so there are a lot of those just laying around.

Hawk shakes his head. "Kiri will have precautions in place. We won't be able get through those."

Rhino nods and adds on, "going in that way would be the equivalent of Kiri ANBU tree walking to infiltrate Konoha. We don't want to use their training grounds to sneak in."

"Well," I start, "Water is an archipelago, so they have to have some sort of boat system to get supplies from island to island. Even then, Hidden Villages aren't self sustainable, so there is going to be an import system in place to get these supplies from the surrounding islands. Due to the sucky conditions of Water without a Daimyō, and Wave under the control of a single corporation, both of these countries will have to outsource to get enough resources to provide for their population. We're already in Wave, and no one is going to expect people to want to get back into Water, so that's half the battle right there."

"Kiri will be on the lookout for infiltrators, yes, but they won't look to close at the one person who benefits from their unrest because he's the one thing keeping them afloat." I smile victoriously. "Gato has so many shady trafficking rings that Kiri can't interfere with unless they want to lose his patronage. We should capitalize on that and become very inconspicuous stowaways into Water, or if we can manage it, directly into Kiri."

Hawk nods in agreement. "Lynx's idea is probably the best one in this situation."

The next day, we spend time eavesdropping and looking for a boat that Gato is sending directly to Kiri. With a fuck ton of luck, Rhino manages to come across a boat shipping food as a front for illicit drug trafficking straight to the hidden village. It sets sail in two day's time.

The mission is beginning to look alright.