When The Tough Get Going

Missions:

She had gotten a bit of a break from her parents' strict watch after having taken care of the meat delivery for the animals and so Fushon enjoyed a bit of freedom in the world. She liked to people watch when she was free, so that is what she chose to do. She would go from roof to roof, looking over all the activities of the world that people enjoyed engaging in. From delivering messages for others to handling families and raising them to live well. She would take notes every now and then which amounted to: X person with two kids likes to be in charge. Might make a good teacher. Might be annoying or Mr. Y seems very busy with his baking business. Perhaps he would enjoy someone stopping in to try his samples... 

The hours would pass quickly for her, as if the more fun she had, the faster the sun would move across the sky. She had just been silently tracking one of her neighbors, who was moving rather strangely with a package hidden under their arm, when a messenger bird nearly took off her head. Fuse grabbed the bird out of the air and looked it in the eye as she said, "Stoy, I do not care if you are my mother's favorite bird. If you try to tackle me one more time..." The bird looked at her in a slight panic and flailed its leg. A paper message was wrapped around its claw. Fuse took a deep breath and released it slowly as she pulled the rather large message paper off the bird. As she began to read, she wondered if she could pretend Stoy had simply gotten lost to avoid the grocery list of things in the message.

The message was from her mother and read: 


Hi Honey! 
I hope you are out having fun as you always do! Please make sure to not chase and catch the village cats or release the pet ocelots again. The last time, Mr. Carsit said he wouldn't let you near his house anymore. Anyways, I got to talking with some of the other shinobi family friends and it looks like there is a good bit of work to do lately. I volunteered our services to help and figured I would send a few your way to help make up for some of the damage that was caused by your... acts of freedom. Please check in with the individuals listed below for what you will need to do:
1. The Akimichi clan needs you to assist with clean up from the feast they are throwing today and have even put aside a plate for you to enjoy.
2. The forest soil that the gardening club members and the nature preservation team ordered has arrived and needs to be delivered.
3. Since you love getting out so much, there is another individual with a passionate spirit as well who has been putting graffiti all over town. Make sure to bring him home safe and teach him not to make messes.
4. One of our neighbors needs a bit of help constructing a shed for their tools and an area to put up a garden nearby. They also let me know that there is a tree on the edge of their property which needs to be taken down. He is willing to let you use his saw, as long as it is not used on anything other than the tree.
5. The school is a bit short-handed at the moment and needs another person to come in and teach the kids for the day. I figured you would enjoy teaching the kids how to do those flips you enjoyed. Just no teaching them curse words!
6. Lastly, I will need you to prepare some food for the orphans at the orphanage down the street from our home. They seem to have been rather strapped for money lately, so one of the shops nearby offered to have us cook up some meals for them. You can even stay and attend if you want, if you haven't already had enough of kids by then.
Make sure to stay out of trouble and don't cause too much of a mess huney!
Love,
Momma Inuzuka


Fushon rested the palm of her hand over her eyes as she had been through this so many times before. Her mother loved to try to keep an eye on her by having her 'help around the village' while they would report back whether or not she completed her work. She threw Stoy back into the air in a sudden bout of anger. The bird took to the sky and flew off chirping happily. It irritated her that the bird loved to be thrown, but she had no other way to get out her anger that wouldn't come back to bite her in the rear afterwards. She simply sighed and figured out where she was in the village before hopping along towards the Akimichi home.

Hell... no. Was all that came to mind as she looked down to find more than dozen tables worth of plates, glasses, and leftover food scraps. She gritted her teeth and let out an aggravated growl before dropping down to the grass below. Several of the Akimichi clan members seemed to be in a food coma towards their home in large, cushioned couches. A young man with quite the belly strutted over to her and pointed at the dishes before saying, "your mom said that you would be able to help clean all this up. All you need to do is clean off a table or two and you are free to go." Fuse gripped her hands behind her back firmly and said as nicely as she could, "sure! Who will handle the rest of the mess?" The man shrugged his shoulders and waved a hand at it before saying, "someone in the clan will probably handle it with a jutsu or two of their own. It is usually too much for a normal person to handle, so don't stress yourself out trying."

Fuse could feel the heat rising in her mind as she looked at the receding back of the man. She was focused and knew that she was not going to let a man who could barely throw around his own weight, both literally and figuratively, look down on her. She reached over and grabbed up a pair of plastic gloves and slipped them over her hands before picking up the garden hose. With lightning agility, she shifted all the plates down and against the wall, carefully balancing them to have all of them facing the front. She laid out tarps to dump the food scraps down into and collected them before wrapping them up and tossing them off to one side. With the majority of food debris out of the way, she pulled out the hose and began to blast the dishes full strength. 

The young man came back over at this point and stared as she pounded water into the dishware. Many of the dishes were rapidly getting cleaned, while some seemed to be barely holding under the strain. The young man tried to yell to Fuse and get her attention, but she ignored him as she pummeled the plates back to a clean silver. As she completed another pass over the dishes, she flipped off the water to admire her work. The man's voice suddenly broke through the silence, but she simply tuned him out as she grabbed up a small towel and began to do her last checks. she balanced several plates on her shoulders as she walked and would place them together along the wall in stacks.

The man seemed to have given up trying to get her attention and had gone off to pester his family to deal with her, but most were still dealing with food comas. She glanced at them and gave a shrug to herself as she began to power wash the tables down with the hose, letting the grime and disgust slowly wash down one end of each table. She then blasted it down towards the drain at the center of the yard, which seemed to be installed for situations just like this one. Fuse wondered for a moment how much it would cost for a family to get an entire drainage system installed under their home, then decided that she would rather just finish her work and leave. 

As she finished the last table, she stretched and chuckled to herself at the work she had finished. It had taken a couple of hours, but at least she could say that this was a job well done. As she turned to leave, a deep husky voice called out to her, "wait! Wait!" She turned back to see a large man, probably the father to the earlier guy, march waddling up to her. "What did you do here Fuse?!" He asked, confusion mixed with frustration. Fushon tilted her head at him and counted off on her fingers while speaking in a sweet voice, "Well first, I tossed all the scraps into those tarp bags over there to avoid rot. Then, I soaked down the dishes and washed off the grime. Finally, I washed down the tables and let it all go down the drain in the middle." 

The man was somewhat shocked at how much work she had accomplished in a short time and looked her over for a moment before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "Well... thank you for the hard work. Next time, though, save the scraps, clean the dishes just by hand, and be gentler with the tables, ok?" He asked, somewhat hoping that she would listen to him. Her kind demeanor turned into a firm one as she looked at him. "Sure, and next time, come tell me to do the job rather than letting my mother decide for me. Deal?" She turned and stomped out of his yard, the man unhappily scratching his head as he watched her leave.

Now that she had gotten out some of her frustration, she figured the following jobs would be a bit easier to handle. Dirt. So simple, so messy, yet it is a true sign of a free world she thought to herself as she skipped down the road towards the delivery point. The gardening club members were pretty nice people to her. She got free fruit from them every now and then, so they couldn't be all bad. Some people seemed to think they were very a bit oddly private and conservative, but they were just protective of their plants. Some people prefer plants over people, and Fushon understood that feeling. Maybe if she got a garden of her own, she could use that as a reason for her parents not to push her into doing chores.

She let the thought go and turned the corner towards the building she was looking for. A large truck sat out front with the back door up, exposing the large bags of soil she was meant to deliver. The driver was leaning against the back of the truck and spotted her as she skipped up. "Just in time, little lady. We were about to head for lunch if you didn't show up soon," he said to her. Fushon gave him a smile and said, "well lucky me then. Do you have anything I need to sign or look at for this stuff?" The man shook his head and pulled out a paper as he said, "no, that's all been taken care of. All you will need is this list of addresses to drop off the shipments and the names of the people to get them to. Will you need help getting the bags out of the truck?" 

She shook her head as she pushed a mechanical dolly over and started to lift and dump them into the dolly's carrying bed. "No, I should be able to get these around. As long as it isn't a crate of meat, I am more than happy to get these babies moving," She responded to him. He gave her a confused look, then said, "Ok then. Best of luck to you," before heading into the building. Fushon moved the majority of the bags down off the truck, leaving them under a shaded overhang on the side of the building, before loading up a half dozen into the dolly. The shipment was roughly about 30 bags, with most going to the gardening club building and the rest going to two separate homes along the main street.

As she began to push the dolly down the street from the building, Fushon knew that she would be exhausted by the end of it if she did not pace herself. Every ten minutes or so, she would give herself a short two-minute break to catch her breath and look around at the town. Most of it was familiar to her by now, but every now and then, she noticed strange writing or art on the walls and buildings. She looked a bit closer and realized that this must have been the graffiti her mother had mentioned the little troublemaker was spreading. Some of it looked kind of nice, adding a bit of color to the buildings. Other pieces seemed to simply insult the people nearby or were childish attempts at lewd illustrations. 

Mom, do you really think this is a level I ever stooped to? she thought to herself. I mean, when I made Aunt Ralia get chased by the new tiger cubs or Nephew Calro think that fish could read his mind, it wasn't my best moments. Still, I never stooped so low as to draw terrible pictures of undressed people on walls... Fushon took a moment to weigh the difference between her acts and this graffiti, and decided she was right. She continued on her trek up the street towards the gardening club building and knocked firmly on the door as she arrived.

The door swung open to reveal a rather dirtied up older woman with her hair in disarray staring at Fushon. "Yeeees?" the woman asked slowly, taking in the young girl before her. "Dirt delivery," Fushon said sweetly, sweeping an arm towards the dolly of soil bags. The woman looked from the bags back to Fushon, before settling back on the bags. She stepped out from the building and took sweeping strides over to the dolly before promptly opening the top, sticking one finger in and twisting it about. She then pulled her hand out and placed her finger into her mouth.

Maybe there is something off about the gardening club Fushon thought to herself as she watched the woman, a little sick at the thought of eating dirt. The woman nodded her head to herself and said, "yes, this is indeed good fire country soil. A little tightly packed, but it will do. Alright! You may leave the bags at the side door and stack them however you wish. Just make sure that you do. not. spill." The woman stared at Fushon as she stated these words, making sure to get her point across. "Understood," Fushon said slowly, taking a step back. The woman gave another quick nod, turned on her heel, and headed back inside. Fushon let out a tense breath and pulled each bag from the back to lean against the wall beside the building. The trip back to the delivery building was quick with an empty load, but Fushon realized that she would need to run another three trips, as she had fourteen bags and barely fit six on the dolly at a time.

Her solution: strap one to her back and carry it up. She ended up needing additional breaks along the way due to the extra constant weight on her back, but she made it with time saved by the end of it. Fushon took a seat against the wall and was catching her breath when the woman peeked out the back door. "All done? That was much quicker than we are used to," She said to Fushon. Fushon smiled and spoke sarcastically, still out of breath, "always happy to serve." The woman simply regarded her with an eyebrow raised before checking one of the bags again. The woman nodded and simply said, "whatever you did to this bag, do it to the rest next time. It is far looser than the first" before the woman slipped back into the building. Fushon glanced over and realized that it was one of the bags she had strapped to her back. Next time, right. Scratch that possibility off Fushon thought to herself.

The other two deliveries went smoothly. One was to an older gentleman who needed to grow carrots and beetroots for his pigs and the second was a young woman who wanted to surprise her boyfriend. He was trying to start a farm and was struggling to grow anything that would last more than a few weeks. She was hoping that the soil would help improve his odds and maybe even create a good situation for him to thrive in. Fushon ended up with a couple of carrots from the gentleman and a big thank you hug from the woman for her efforts. 

She grabbed a seat on a nearby rooftop to nibble on one of the carrots as she let her mind wander to the thought of the art delinquent. He seemed to be putting up art all over town, yet there didn't seem to be one set pattern to follow as to where he was going to go next. She looked over the buildings and saw several pieces of 'art' that must belong to them, yet they all seemed random. If I was a kid trying to cause trouble, how would I do it? she thought to herself, finishing off the carrot. Well, since this kid seems to want to be known for doing it, maybe he likes to see it up as much as he likes being seen doing it? She tossed the thought around in her head. It made sense that it feels good to see work done well, when it matters. Where is the best place to admire all this 'art' from...? Standing up, she could see a few buildings that had decent views of the buildings that had been tagged, but several spots were still hidden from.

No... she thought to herself, a smirk crossing her lips as she started to make her way across the rooftops.

She heard his laughter before she leaned up over the lip of the roof to see the boy sitting and laughing as he pointed out at the town. He seemed fully immersed in his own little world as he spoke to himself, "they got what they deserved! Hahaha! I bet they are all sitting there wondering how that picture of that woman and those vegetables got there, but I sure won't tell 'em!" Fushon quietly walked over to where he was sitting and bent down, so she was right next to him before saying, "What do we have here?" The boy froze and then jumped to his feet, moving away from her suddenly. "wh-what are y-you doing here?!" The boy asked. He couldn't have been much older than ten years old and he seemed a bit small for his age.

"Oh, it seems there is a lot of art suddenly showing up around town and I got thrown into the job of figuring out why," she explained. Turning to him she finished, "As well as stopping all future presentations, sadly." The boy grimaced at her and stuck out his tongue and yelled, "you aren't the boss of me!" before making a pair of handseals. A sudden rush of wind came at Fushon, but she sidestepped it and let it go past. Wind jutsu. Small for his size, yet a quick learner it seems was all she thought as he jumped from the rooftop. She watched as his footsteps seemed far quicker and quieter than they should have been. He came down softly to land from a ten-meter drop and took off. Fushon stood on top of the old, abandoned watchtower which she realized the boy had been using as a base to overlook all of his artwork. With a shake of her head, she leaped down off the building and caught herself in a roll before launching after the boy.

The chase only took a few minutes, crossing multiple rooftops and upsetting several birds and napping cats. She toyed with him for part of it, wanting to see just how much skill he had built in his time practicing. After having to deal with birds, cats, dogs, leopards, seals, alligators, monkeys, and several other animals her mother took care of, dealing with a single child throwing minor jutsu was not a challenge. The boy was pushing himself hard compared to her, which this was just a casual pace that she liked to set when escaping her family. The chase ended on top of the village wall where the boy was sitting, catching his breath as Fushon landed beside him. Guards came running up and demanded an explanation to which Fushon simply said, "I was told to catch an graffiti artist. That is what I did." 

The guards looked from her back to the boy and asked, "this is one who has been putting up all the... inappropriate images in town? He couldn't be more than ten years old!" Fushon gave the guard a shrug. She noticed the boy looked sullen and she said, "he is a pretty smart kid, it seems. He has a bit of ninjutsu ability and can seriously get around." The boy's face had become neutral as he listened to her. She could tell he was listening as she continued, "One day, maybe, he will be one hell of a ninja that people can look up to. If he learned how to use those powers for the freedom of others, rather than trouble." The boy slowly looked up, tears starting to appear in the corners of his eyes. Fushon simply gave him a smile and a short nod before saying to the guards, "and now, the job is yours!" as she jumped off the wall onto a nearby rooftop and took off before they could respond.

Fushon was still a bit irritated with her mother, but she was happy that she could deal with these tasks in the way she wanted to. Whenever she had a family tagalong for a mission or task, they always tried to give advice or direct her on how to do it, but she enjoyed choosing for herself. She can imagine her mother telling her not to encourage a child into being too arrogant or to make sure the child was taken all the way back to the station for confirmation. At this point, Fushon would do things the way she wanted to and go from there.

It was a short trip across the town rooftops to arrive at her next destination where her neighbor was enjoying reading beside the pond in his back yard. He stood as she dropped in and walked over to her. "Ah yes, your mother let me know that you would be on your way. A bit later than I was expecting you, but the weather is so nice that I could just relax and enjoy in the meantime." Fuse frowned as it just made her think more on how her mother had given her day away to others to handle how she spent it. She gritted her teeth and looked away from her neighbor to look at anything else in the yard. He chuckled as he turned to look with her and gestured with one arm. Two empty spaces of dirt sat nearby, one a simple square with the other being a much larger rectangle that ran alongside it. 

"These are the spots for the shed and the garden I am hoping to build. The square plot will be for the shed and will require a bit of foundation work while the garden will simply need an outer wall and some sectioning for the crops," he described as he walked with her along the larger plot. He gave her general directions on how to set up the garden construction and pointed out the tools nearby. "And that-" he said as he pointed to a large tree that was reaching out from the edge of his yard towards both his house and the one next door, "is the tree we will need to deal with."

A large electric chainsaw sat towards the back which Fushon kept glancing back to. "So, that chainsaw. I take it that is what I am supposed to use for the... uh... tree?" she asked as she looked back to her neighbor. He raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly, "like I told your mother, it is just for the tree. It won't help build that shed or the garden and it is not leaving my premises. Nor is it to be used against my premises." 

Fushon put up her hands and waved them with what she hoped look like a blush, "what do you take me for? Some kind of irresponsible child? Of course a chainsaw is not for anything other than cutting specific things. Like trees or stumps." or escape routes she thought to herself. The neighbor nodded with a smile smiled as he handed her a hammer and said, "then let's get to work. The shed is the first thing we will need built and then the garden can take shape." She loved the dirt and building things, it was just more fun when they were her ideas. Maybe she could take on a mission or two to help people choose what they want to build, then build that for them. That could be fun...

The process was pretty straightforward at least. She helped to dig about a foot of dirt out and drove pilot boards down into each corner and the center to help create a base frame. From there, they attached two layers of wood flooring, one to hold the dirt out and the second to be walked on. An hour or so of hammering also had the sheet metal walls up to provide a bit of shade as the sun was on its way down towards the horizon at that point. The roof was a bit more of a challenge but using a ladder and working as a two-person team, they were able to screw in the supports for the roof and carefully settled them against one another. The door settled neatly into the front wall and could be easily opened with just a bit of pressure to the handle. 

Fushon wiped off her sweat and turned towards the other plot, ready to start work on the garden, when her neighbor held up a paint can and paint brush with a renewed smile. Fushon hid her frown and gave a somewhat strained smile as she picked up the brush and began coating the shed. By the end of their work, the shed had a white roof with green walls and showed the neighbor's family crest on both the sides and roof of the shed. The neighbor brought out some lemonade for them to share and rest for a short time before picking up their hammers and trowels and beginning work on the garden space.

Fushon started by digging a wide line through the dirt along the outline of the rectangle for where the walls would be placed. This gave the general shape and allowed them to begin sectioning within the rectangle. The neighbor gave guidance on how he wanted each section to be sized and shaped and Fushon gritted her teeth and began to cut the lines using her trowel to dig lines, including using her hammer for the tougher spaces. Her neighbor introduced her to some tool called a cultivator which loosened the soil and made it easier to plant seeds. She began beating the ground with it like a backscratcher on an itchy spot until her neighbor stopped her and showed her the proper use for it. She found far less resistance as she wove the cultivator through the dirt and slowly spread the soil out until it was loose and welcoming. They placed the short wooden walls into each dug line and found that they would need to cut a few pieces shorter to fit. Fushon offered to use the chainsaw, to which her neighbor simply pulled out a sander. 

Once the garden was squared away and her neighbor was pulling out seeds to plant, Fushon realized that the sun was almost about to set. "This was some good work for the day. I will probably just start planting some seeds for now, but you should head on home so your family is not worried," her neighbor said. Fushon stretched, surprised at how much energy she still had and shook her head. "I came here to build and to deconstruct. I want at that tree." was all she said to him as she headed for the chainsaw, "It might be better if you came back tomorrow when there will be more light-" he began, but she held up a hand. "No time like the present! Besides, I do not want to have to wake up tomorrow knowing the first thing I need to do is deal with a tree. That is an end-of-the-day activity to me." she explained. 

Her neighbor watched her nervously as she picked up the chainsaw and weighed it in her hands. He scurried into his home and quickly came out with a few lanterns and large flashlights that he turned on and began to point towards the tree. "Well, another good saying is that it is better to be safe than sorry. Just, go slow, ok?" he asked of her. Fuse glanced back at him and tried to give him a winning smile, which only worried him more, as she said, "I will go as slow as I can." He watched her for another minute, before quickly slipping off down the side of his home. As she figured out how to turn the chainsaw on and how to add more fuel if she needed, she thought she spotted her neighbor heading into the yard next door that also had the tree reaching over their wall. She shrugged and pulled the cord of the chainsaw and it roared to life.

Now that's how to come to life. I wonder how effective this would be for dealing with bandits... probably too loud. Would probably be too messy as well. Maybe useful for a forced escape. She stood, balancing the tip of the chainsaw back and forth as she bounced from thought to thought. Eh, too much thinking, not enough sawing. She picked up the chainsaw and brought it against the bulk of the tree and felt it begin to melt away. The tree was rather old and so the saw seemed to break away chunks and pieces from the outer layers as it cut its way to the core. Halfway through the base, the tree began to tip and Fushon looked up to see the neighbors waving their arms about wildly at her. From their hand signals, they seemed to be telling her to stop. 

She turned off the saw and made her way over to the group of neighbors and the woman from next door informed Fushon that the tree might fall and take out the house if it comes down all at once. Fushon nodded and gave her a tired smile while asking, "so what would you suggest?" She made sure to grind her teeth slowly enough that it wasn't noticeable, and the woman advised cutting down some of the branches and the upper part of the core, before handling the main body. Fuse felt her irritation returning and simply turned around, walked up to the base of the tree and planted one foot firmly against it, and walked up the base of the tree. She could feel her heart pumping louder in her ears as she made her way to the top of the tree and crouched. After taking one deep breath, she spun, holding the saw low, and severed the top branches off the tree.

Sticks and small branches peppered the ground as she took a few steps down the base and repeated the action, letting wave after wave of slowly growing branches drop. By the time she was halfway down, hearty thumps sounded after each swing of the saw. The gasps below slowly increased alongside the sounds until she was almost at the bottom and the neighbors were yelling up at her to be careful with the largest branches. Fuse simply shifted her shoulders and walked down the end of one large branch and cut it clean through two thirds down. She repeated it again halfway back, and then sliced the branch off at the base. With a few repeats of this along each lower branch, the chunks fell in smaller pieces, but still ended up flattening a good bit of the ground where it fell. As for the base, Fuse simply drove the saw down the middle of it from top to roughly halfway, then pushed the pieces off away from the houses. She repeated this a few more times down the base of the tree until only a stump remained with a circle of tree droppings surrounding her.

"Now that is how you handle nature," she said with a grin and turned to the small crowd of neighbors who had gathered. it had only taken her about an hour to handle, yet they looked exhausted with worry from the dropping branches and falling tree parts. Fushon looked to her trusty saw, to see that the blades were worn, and the chain was barely holding on to the base any longer. She let the engine sputter to a stop and placed it back down beside the shed before walking over to the neighbor who had asked for the favor. "So, your garden and shed are built and your tree is felled. Not sure what to do about the logs, but I think we could have a team come by and mulch it for you to feed to your crops?" she suggested. The neighbor quietly nodded before looking back to the mess of tree parts that were sitting around.

Fushon slipped away and back to her home, feeling sore from all the hard work she had done with the sun setting. She figured the remaining work could be handled tomorrow. Her mother caught her at the door and demanded and update on what she had done that day. Fushon outlined helping cleanup for the Akimichi, delivering the soil, and helping to bring the child into custody. She left out some of the main parts, like how she cleaned the dishes or that she just dropped the child off with the guards, but her mother seemed happy. Fushon tried to not seem too passionate about the story of how she handled the tree, but her mother probed her a bit and sighed heavily as she decided that a team would need to move all the pieces in the morning. With the last details about the garden and shed being built, Fushon headed up to bed and got a night of restful sleep and peace.

Until she was woken up early the next morning.

Her mother was handing her a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast as she came down with bleary eyes. "You better not be late to school honey. You are going to make a bad impression," her mother said as she nibbled through her toast. "School? What are you talking about? I graduated months ago," Fushon asked, still trying to shake the morning fog. "Not school for you to learn. You are subbing for the kids there today, remember? Now eat up and get dressed. You should be there in the next 20 minutes." Fushon slowly chewed through her bacon, the words catching up with her by the time she started to eat her eggs and spat a bit of them out as she turned to her mother. Before a word could come out, her mom raised a hand and said, "and no. You do not get to skip out on these tasks. You spend far too much time lazing about like a stray dog. Now eat, dress, and get going." Fuse sat grumbling down her eggs as she got up and went back to her room, hearing her mother yell after her, "and no teaching them how to escape the school! Kage knows we had too much trouble with you burrowing and melting your way through all kinds of walls and floors."

Fuse wasn't allowed to leave the home until she had put on her official ninja genin outfit, and even then, her mother frisked her and took away her alternate set of clothes she had hidden on her. She was lucky she was fast, as she made it to the school with only a minute to spare. Some quick directions from the front office helped her find her way back to where her class had settled in and she glanced through the window as she arrived. Most were almost half her age and seemed rather easily distracted. With a smirk, she slid the door open, stepped in, and slammed it shut behind her before walking to the front of the classroom. "I will be your teacher today!" she announced as she flipped up a piece of chalk into her hand. She wrote her name and her nickname (Fushon and Fuse) one over the other. She tapped the chalk against the board and said, "My name is Fushon. If I get angry, I go by Fuse. Any questions?" 

The kids seemed a bit confused, and one raised their hand. She pointed at them before he spoke up, "Ms. Fushon, aren't you a bit young to be teaching?" Fushon tapped her foot and said, "I agree with you! I am here teaching at the decision of my mother. Either way, I am here to teach you. Any other questions?" A girl up front raised her hand and Fushon chose her to speak. "What will you be teaching us today Ms. Fushon?" Fushon was getting irritated at the Ms. part being added to her name and responded, "I..." and stopped. She hadn't thought this far ahead yet. She looked around the room of young faces watching her and asked, "well what do you want to learn? This can be an open period for questions!" 

Several kids raised their hands and started to rapidly ask questions. Some asked, "what is the best element for fighting?!" while others shouted out, "how many things have you broken before?!" One boy towards the back yelled down, "are you dating anyone!?" Fuse waved her hands to get their attention and, when that failed, she slammed her hand down on the desk, silencing the room. She looked from face to face as she scanned the room and let out an irritated sigh before saying, "I have broken far too many things to count, including entire trees. The best element for fighting depends on what you want to do in combat, and who I date is my business and especially not for a child to know!" 

With that last one, several of the students giggled or chuckled and Fuse simply shook her head. "Some of you have to have some real questions that need answers. If all you want to know about is the basics, those books you have will tell you far more than I ever cared to read." The children glanced at their books and the little girl who asked her what she would teach raised her hand. Fushon let the tension drain out of her before holding a hand up for the girl to speak. "What makes a good ninja?" Fushon paused as she thought on the question and walked around to the front of the desk before leaning back against it. "Now that is a tough question. I guess it depends on who you ask. A lot of people want to be strong and think that strength makes you a good ninja. Others think stealth is all that matters. For me, I think it all comes down to freedom. The ability to do what you want in the way you want to. That makes all the difference. My mom always says, 'it comes down to what you think you would do best. Some ninjas are fast, and others are smart. Some can be both, if you really work at it.'"

Some of the kids were listening curiously while others took a couple of notes. The little girl raised her hand again and spoke when chosen, "What do you do really well?" Fushon smiled and said, "well, I am really good at running, fist fighting, and handling people who overestimate themselves. Like this one guy I tackled at the beach a couple weeks ago who was a real jerk to this one girl..." The students listened with interest as she explained her story and would ask for another after she finished the first. The day passed rather quickly and by the time school was letting out, Fushon had told several of her tales and given them a lot to think about. Including how to use surface walking for rooftops and scaling buildings, how to outrun most animals, and alternative methods for using a chainsaw. She had left them a simple assignment for homework. Write down the kind of ninja they want to be and what they think would make them the best at it.

Feeling pretty good on the way back home, Fushon nearly walked into the owner of the orphanage in the middle of the street. The owner took Fushon's hand in both of hers and gave a bow as she quickly said, "thank you so much for volunteering your time. We all look forward to your help feeding the orphans." Fushon was thrown off guard by her words and quickly remembered the last task in the list as she responded, "oh, right! I... just can't help myself with wanting to help others. Sure." The owner nodded with a big smile and asked, "and what exactly will you be bringing for the meal today?" Fushon stuttered as she thought through her options as she spoke, "Ah... well, I thought about something fancy, but figured a simple meal would be best? I could maaaake..." she quickly grabbed onto one memory, "...sandwiches! I will make the kids some delicious sandwiches. With cheese, and lettuce, and meat, and some sauce." The owner nodded along to each as Fushon listed off the ingredients.

"Will there be anything else?" The owner asked hopefully. "I could make some pudding? Maybe put together some... cracker snacks? Does that sound good?" The owner nodded happily and said, "just make sure to bring enough for all of them. Also, make a few without meat and a couple without the cheese. Some of our kids have gentle stomachs and can't really eat food with dairy or meat in them. Just replace it with anything light and they will be happy. Oh, and mark the ones which have ketchup or mustard on them, two of the kids are allergic to mustard. Oh, and the bread should be visible so that we know which ones are wheat or white for the kids to choose. Also, don't forget to..." The owner went on for a few minutes more before finally finishing up. Fushon felt her head pounding a bit with all the things she needed to remember. Luckily, the owner saw her confusion and pulled out a pad and a pencil and wrote down the instructions while Fushon recovered. The sheet listed making enough food for roughly 26 children.

They waved goodbye, Fushon still unsure if she understood exactly what was needed, and she headed to the food shop next to her home. The store owner saw her walk in and noticed how ragged she looked from how she walked and asked if she was alright. Fushon gave them a quick update on what had happened with the tasks yesterday and all the directions today, and the store owner simply smiled and nodded. "I can handle a good bit of the work putting it together, I just want you to set up the ingredients and how you need the food." He led Fushon into the back and she put the instructions from the orphanage owner down at the edge of the preparation table. She asked about the ingredients she had promised and what alternatives they had for cheese and meats. Some egg whites could replace the meat for protein and cucumbers could be a good taste replacement for cheese. The pudding was already premade, and the man asked Fushon what she meant by 'cracker snacks.'

They ended up making several dozen sandwiches and organized them based on the main ingredients in each. They put a tiny drop of ketchup or mustard on the top of each sandwich to visibly mark them so the kids would know which had them inside. The ones without cheese or meat in them had their corners cut off carefully as an easy mark as well. She put aside a single pudding for each child, and then added a few spares, just in case she wanted one or someone got needy. For cracker snacks, they simply put together a large plate of crackers with an assortment of toppings to them. From fondue and cheese squares to thin cuts of sausage and cucumber. By the end of their work, the prep table was covered from end to end in meals for children. they wrapped up the sandwiches in clear plastic sheets and placed one large wax paper over the trays of pudding and cracker snacks. 

They grabbed up a rolling cart with shelves and a door to seal it in and rolled it over to the orphanage. It was heading into the afternoon as the owner let them through the front door where two tables had been set up for the occasion. The first was a long table with many chairs around it where the children would sit to eat. The second was where Fushon and the store owner placed the presentation of sandwiches and puddings and snacks. The store owner had also thought ahead and brought along a couple of large containers of juice and water for the children to drink with an easy release tab on the front. As the children ran over, the woman stepped in front of the table and organized them in two lines to go around the food table before heading back to eat. 

The children loved their sandwiches, especially under the careful eye of the owner making sure no one picked up the wrong food. The pudding gave them all a bit of energy which wore off a short time after. Fushon and the store owner enjoyed a sandwich and pudding each of their own and even got a chance to sample the crackers. As the sun was beginning to set, the woman sent the children back off into the orphanage and thanked Fushon and the store owner for all their kindess and help that day. Fushon smiled and shook her hand, saying that it was fun to make food for the kids. Once the supplies were packed back up and rolled off to the store after a final goodbye, Fushon headed home for the night.

After so many tasks and so much work done, Fushon felt like she needed a vacation. She slumped forward as she walked home, groaning softly. Her mother kept a firm eye on her as she came through the front door. Fushon stepped into the house and was greeted by her entire family. She was surprised at first as they explained that several had gone to collect the tree wood she had left behind and receive the pay for her tasks to deliver to her. They had all heard good things about her efforts, along with some of the complaints from the guards, and Akimichi, and the teacher who heard about chainsaw stories from the kids parents. Her mother stood with her arms crossed at the door as they recounted the tails and Fushon felt a bit nervous with some of the details that came to light.

Her mother crossed the room and simply patted Fushon on the head and said, "I can't ask much more than you do your best, and that is what you did. Thank you for not running off this time honey." Fushon gave her a genuine smile and hugged her mother before they headed into the kitchen. Her mother was a bit surprised and asked why she had followed her in and Fushon asked if she could help with some of the cooking tonight. Her mother was skeptical, but agreed with a soft smile.

{Exit}

WC - 8214 (rounded to 8200)(this excludes the words for the mission descriptions)
Total Mission Rewards:
14000 Ryo + 70 AP 
Event Reward: 70 Beachside Tickets

Stats Claim: 82 Stats (+42 speed, +30 vigor, +10 chakra) 

Elemental Learning: Fire (4000/4000)

E Rank - Genjutsu Release - 250 + Mastery (sealless) - 250 (500)
B Rank - Shadow Clone - 1500

Skill Learning: Four Harmonious Palms - 2200/3000

Approved