9 A Drop Off

More than a couple of weeks pass by after the mission request. I never had a notification to say "Hey someone's gonna finish soon", so I just went about my day.

Nothing changed from the norm with my physical and shurikenjutsu training improving. This would also include imprinting the spear style into my mind and making money.

Speaking of making money I realised due to Pain that expanding and opening more restaurants up was just a waste and there were better ideas. So I'm probably gonna make loads of money as a kid before I get taxed and live comfortably.

Spending a lot of that money on buying some of the land where the Kyubi killed people would help as well.

Especially knowing that it's literally in the middle of the village.

Seeing how that place still isn't stable for some reason, it's reasonable to assume no one would want to buy that plot of land. But that will change in the near future which I can take advantage of.

"That's way different than normally moving my chakra."

Looking at the falling leaf hitting my bed sheets, I sigh realising how this exercise works.

For this chakra control, I needed to put a specific amount of chakra to my temple. It kind of works like how tree walking was explained in the anime by Kakashi.

You need to put a certain amount of chakra, but not too much or too little. It's annoying but I'll get the hang of it eventually.

By doing this for a couple of weeks, I could feel my little chakra blob increase a little. So there is progress happening.

"20 seconds is better than it instantly falling at least," I mumble feeling a little defeated. After getting my initial exercise to a minute I moved on to the leaf thingy the academy teaches.

Too much chakra would blow the leaf away.

Too little chakra would let it slide right off.

Feeling a little tired after all of that I get off my bed and head towards my trusty desk. On that desk was an extra BLT I made for a midnight snack.

'I remember a mate who was a doctor saying it's unhealthy to eat at night. Bad habits or somethin'?'.

While my thoughts were going off to a whole other topic, a few knocks could be heard on the door.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Who's that? It's 11 pm bruh." I sigh turning around. Reluctantly leaving my meal there, my body dragged itself to the door.

*Creak*

Opening the door a gush of cold air greets my skin as there was two people there. A little girl and a man wearing a Chunin vest. Seeing this I realised that I should probably go get the check for the other half of the mission.

"I'll be back, give me a second," I whisper seeing the sleeping girl. The Chunin hearing this just nods at me with a patient look.

Couldn't he technically just run away with the money? Well, it doesn't matter, I can still pay it a second time over anyways. But it's just a thought as there isn't really a way for me to confirm it unless I pay personally.

Running over to my desk I grab a piece of paper and head back to the door.

Handing it to the man he just dips as I'm now left with a lone girl.

'This totally feels like human trafficking.'

While I'm not sure if slavery is legal in Konoha itself. I know for a fact that it exists as it was a reoccurring thing in the anime a few times. But I would assume that the "good" village wouldn't allow that.

Carefully picking her up I look at her light blue hair which surprised me.

If she didn't have black hair…

Then they would have failed the mission if there weren't other descriptions given to them of her holy shit. I almost totally fvcked myself over.

Sweating bullets at the thought I just sigh in relief.

"Welp that was close. I suppose my memories aren't perfect unfortunately." I murmur as I lay her down on my bed.

She was extremely light to the point where even I could carry her easily. It didn't feel like lifting a feather but it was still relatively easy.

Looking at her malnourished body my fists started to tighten. Milk is probably the priority thing I'll need to buy for her, this also included fresh food.

A lot of it.

Fatten her up and stuff.

Okay maybe now it sounds like I'm a pedo…

Nudging her with one of my hands. Her eyelids started to tremble and after a few seconds opened up.

Staring into each other's eyes she suddenly got up and backed herself into the corner of my room. Seeing this I thanked my lucky stars that my bed was still under her.

'The fall with her body would not be pleasant if she fell that's for sure.'

"I'm here to help you, don't fret. You're gonna be living with me from now on."

The little girl with weary eyes just stared into my eyes as she trembled feeling up the cold walls of my room. Giving her some space I walk over to my midnight snack and give it to her.

"Here eat this. This is called a BLT and I made it." I say moving the plate near her. The girl who was practically starving when seeing the food, couldn't keep herself away from it and started to messily chow down on the food.

Watching this from the side of my bed. I couldn't help but silently cry seeing the crumbs and extra bits of food drop onto the beef sheets and floor.

'I just cleaned that yesterday man.' I thought to myself. A visit to the laundry shop would be needed again.

"Thank u…" The little girl bashfully said after eating the food. At least she hasn't forgotten her manners even after everything she's been through.

Orochimaru should have gone to her old town in a few years or months. So she won't need to ever remember that place and leave it as is.

"It's alright. Say what's your name?" I question trying to keep my mind off the crumbs on my bed.

"G-Guren…"

"Hello Guren my name is Shin… Shin Tokura"

As I'm saying this a light stink reaches my nose which made me cringe. Looking at the direction this coming from I see Guren's dishevelled hair.

Realising it was probably her, my mind immediately thought to get her to take a shower.

'Dear lord have mercy on my nose.'

After my silent prayer, I chatted with Guren for a little bit more to get her to open up. This wasn't too hard at all as I took care of my nieces and nephews growing up.

So I'm decent at talking to children and not making a complete fool of myself. I even taught my Nephew to make my sister's favourite dish, Carbonara, for her birthday.

I wonder how they're doing…

"We'll need to get you cleaned up okay? You smell right now which is bad." I softly say not wanting to scare her. Guren who at this point didn't refute my words just went into the bathroom.

But to my surprise she didn't know how to clean herself, which I should have probably expected from a child her age.

I'm not even sure what age I was able to clean myself as a kid to be honest.

"I dun know how to." She mumbles out with tears starting to form in her eyes. Seeing this I swiftly calm her down and reassure her that it's fine.

…

'That made my body shiver.' I thought to myself remembering what I saw in the shower. Nothing like touching bones to make your skin crawl.

Her body somewhat resembled those people in those pictures of being in concent****** camps but not as bad. I guess she was hanging on for dear life.

Not wanting her to smell and have an unhealthy body, I actually helped Guren clean herself. A lot of things like gunk and other weird stuff left her body.

While I'm sure that she's fully clean due to how long I spent teaching and cleaning her. My water bill is about to double maybe even triple which is not cool. On top of that, I'll need to find something for her to do while she recovers.

'Learning how to cook is a start, and maybe a book of how to serve a lord.' I thought looking at the pros and cons.

Having her learn manners and be more reserved compared to her counterpart would be better but I won't force it. I'm probably gonna let her enjoy life as a kid because, of course, she won't have that luxury when she's older.

Imagine a sadistic Guren is not too pleasant.

While Guren "could" join the academy there are too many variables that would fvck me up. Not only is she not from this village but they probably won't accept her and put a lot of unnecessary attention on me. But enrolling into the academy to be manipulated in front of me is just even worse.

So my thought process was to just teach her what I learn instead. This makes my life easier while also being able to personalise her education.

There are other ways to become a shinobi other than the academy, fortunately. Things like signing up to be a medical ninja can be done separately at a higher age.

Like doing a test and meeting the requirements could qualify you to become/train to be a medic shinobi. So there's nothing bad about her not going to the academy.

"Thank you!" Guren says wearing an oversized shirt. Looking at the cute scene in front of me as she stared at the floor with an uncertain look. I first remove the crumbs and bits of food from the bedsheets.

"It's okay, let's sleep for now. I'm tired." I mumble picking Guren up in a princess carry.

"Eeek!"

Plopping her down back on the bed just without the smell and now a fresh look, I swiftly tuck her in bed as well as myself.

Guren looking into my eyes, not with her original reserved gaze but a shiny glint, reached her hand out.

"Y-You won't leave me like mommy r-right." She stutters out starting to shake a little. Her dark eyes started to light up with the reflection in the moonlight imprinted on them, threatening to tear up any moment now.

"I'll never leave you. We're only gonna trust each other from now on" I assure her giving the girl a much-deserved and needed hug.

This technically wasn't true as in a few more months I would go to the academy, but she will understand. But I do intend on making her my closest person and be my right-hand woman?

Guren who got a warm feeling in her chest started to silently cry while hugging me with all her strength. Tanking the squeeze like a teddy bear, this lasted for a couple of minutes.

"Shin Tokura! Tokura… Tokura, hehe!" She started to recite my name with a giggle liking how it rolled off the tongue. Giving her a few head pats, it didn't take too long before she dozed off.

Feeling my eyes start to close themselves. I let my subconscious fade as my vision darkened.

…

"Does that look good?" I ask. Guren looking at the mirror timidly nodded with a blush seeing her hair. Seeing this I continue to braid her hair which was a skill I learned from my sister.

Guren's hair was surprisingly soft for someone who for the first time took a few showers. With the light blue hair, she looked very cute and huggable. But right now I need to buy her simple items like clothing, slippers and other necessities.

After finishing up her braids I gave her an extra pair of my slippers and we headed off into the marketplace.

"Just stay close to me, never let go of my hand," I instruct with a serious face. Guren hearing this got a determined look and nodded replicating my face.

Unable to hold myself, I pat her head to which she just leaned into my touch.

"Mmm!"

'Where do you buy milk here?' I thought looking back at the hundreds of shops down the street.

(A/N: Re-edited every chapter for grammar mistakes so there still might be some, but it's decreased a lot. Also I changed the MCs name that's why some chapters lost all or most of their comments.)