[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | ### | notes

"I'm gonna go for a walk, Mom! I'll be back before dinner!"

"Okay, Ruru! Try not to be late or it'll be cold rice balls for you again!"

"Yes, mother!"

"That's my girl~"

The walk wasn't a short one. Dinner wasn't for hours, and Miroru had a long way to go. As she headed out of her family home, she headed off on foot at a job, eating up the road with stride after lanky stride. The day was gorgeous, the breeze was cool, and the sun was still high overhead as she vanished down one of the many little forest trails running through the village. There were lots of little forests and woods within the walls surrounding and protecting their home, and she had walked more of those paths, she thought, than most anybody else had reason to.

Granted, chances were realistically that plenty of those who patrolled the village regularly had experienced far more of Konoha's twists and turns than she had, but she'd explored a lot and took quiet pride in that. So she was going to just assume she had the right of it and hold the title all on her own.

Quietly.

Inside her own head, anyway!

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | ### | notes

There was a lot going on at school, and taking a walk on her own gave her time to think things through. It was something both her parents had picked up on- after all, almost all Uchiha had some sort of little coping mechanism they used to sort out their feelings so they could know what deserved ire and what was worth just blowing off instead. At least, she assumed so. She wasn't sure how she'd survive without taking time sometimes to just let herself feel things and figure out how they made her feel.

And she felt a lot of things these days, she reflected as she hopped the little retaining wall on the side of the path and headed down an overgrown trail.

The trees overhead got thicker and denser as she walked, much as her feelings seemed to. She had her friends, and gods, but they were the best. Ichi, Itsuki, Hiroro- whether they were working hard to overcome something together, or practicing jutsus in new silly ways, or pretending to water walk and tree climb, her friends were what made everything feel...

She looked up at the sun between the leaves. Livable? She didn't want to be melodramatic. She wouldn't keel over and die without her friends, but things would go from fun mostly and survivable at the worst to just...

Tolerable, she guessed.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | ### | notes

As she walked, she practiced her seals, reflecting on the time and effort that Hyuuga-sensei was taking to help her start to develop her own little niche. It wasn't an impressive one, she didn't think- even if she figured out how to do jutsus quick, she'd still be at the mercy of stronger, faster, smarter classmates. And opponents from other villages, too, at the exams. So she'd need to keep working, keep practicing, and think of other ways to win.

It stressed her out a lot, really. Knowing that everyone else was excelling at something. Dame- for all she hated how big of a bully he was- was definitely smarter than her, as he delighted in reminding her. Hiroro was faster, Ichi was stronger AND a little faster, and Itsuki - plus the rest of her friends- were all perfect scions of their clans, already practicing to learn how to use their clan techniques.

And her family... they didn't say anything, but she was sure she was a disappointment.

So many of her cousins had developed their Tomoe already. Even Kazui, and she had left the village. And then there was her, in a family of amazing, talented shinobi, sitting around and specializing in- what? Performing substandard techniques with somewhat impressive speed?

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | ### | notes

The redhead slowed to a stop and squatted where she stood, sitting on her heels with her arms wrapped around her shins, head tucked to her knees. It seemed so easy for everyone else to fall into their own niche. Like little pachinko balls finding their slots effortlessly. She felt like some poor ladybug stuck in the machine, trying to slowly crawl into someplace useful as they filled before she could even make a play for them.

She lifted her head a little, enough to stare gloomily past her knees, and grabbed a stick to poke at the dirt path in front of her. Hyuuga-sensei seemed to think she was doing well, but there was a difference between "acceptable" and "excels." She was good at being above average. She wasn't great at being great. Second place at everything meant you never won.

And everything she did was sure to be held up in comparison to Dame, who was so smart he was somehow stupid all over again. He didn't have to be mean all the time. She wanted to be friends, they were family, they SHOULD be friends. What even was his problem..?

She sighed. She didn't know. She guessed she probably never would. She stood with the sort of casual limberness that's wasted on the young before she started to walk again.

She had a ways to go still.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | ### | notes

Miroru made good time as she walked deeper into the woods, hopping over a stream that washed out part of the old dirt trail she'd moved onto, and taking a few moments to slip down a deer trail barely distinguishable from the surrounding underbrush. After that, though- she had arrived.

The redhead moved to a little shrine at the entrance to the grove tied up with Shimenawa- a tiny little thing with nothing inside but a little twine-tied, burlap-wrapped package. Pulling it out gingerly, Miroru untied it to pull free the simple white kimono and red hakama inside. They were roughly sewn- Miroru had made them herself, after all, and she wasn't a particularly skilled seamstress, but they were good enough. She spent a few minutes wriggling into them and arranging everything just so before she pulled open her backpack and fetched out a paper-wrapped set of rice balls.

There were a few small shrines around the grove. She didn't know who or what any of them were for, but she'd never seen hints of anyone else here, and it made her sad to think of the spirits left all alone with nobody to thank them or keep them company. So she'd made her little outfit to play miko and try to tend to the shrines as best she could.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | ### | notes

There was a little broom she'd made of a stick and some split twigs, tied with twine, that she kept next to the little shrine by the entrance, and she took that and swept off the stone slab before the shrine before setting down a single rice ball. She took a step back and bowed, twice, deeply and respectfully, her shaggy hair falling over her face briefly. Then, she straightened and clapped twice, her right hand just a little bit lower. She silently said a little prayer for the spirit who made its home in the shrine, and then headed deeper into the grove.

Eight more shrines.

Nine more rice balls.

She brought one extra to sit and eat with the spirits. They never ate the rice balls while she was there, but they were always gone when she came back. So maybe the spirits here liked them.

On some level, she knew animals probably ate them, but it was fun to pretend. And there was nothing wrong with showing some respect to something that might not be there. At worst, she felt nice about it. At best... maybe she was making some lonely spirits happy.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | 249 | notes

Once all nine shrines had their own rice ball, she sat down against a tree in the rough center of the grove and ate her rice ball quietly. Hers was small. She knew she had dinner later. But this little ritual helped her push away a lot of her stress and sadness. It was hard to pity yourself when you were taking care of someone else. Even if they might be imaginary. And nobody else was going to take care of the spirits here. So maybe that's what she could be best at.

Taking care of imaginary spirits.



Everything came back at once, and Miroru struggled to finish her snack. And when she did finally get it down, she leaned her head against the tree and let those stupid, childish tears down her cheeks. What did it matter? Lots of people weren't the best at anything. Lots of people were just people. They ran shops. Or raised chickens. Or made brooms. Plenty of people were plenty happy doing those things. Even among ninjas, most of them weren't the best at anything. That's how the world was. She was just like everyone else.

God.

She didn't want to just be another face in the crowd.

She wanted to be special more than anything.

And she was trying very hard not to be afraid she never would be.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | 231 | notes

After a few moments, Miroru scrubbed her face with her wrists, using her sleeves to mop up the tearstains tracking down her cheeks. She huffed out a breath that was a lot shakier than she liked, and stopped herself to take a deeper breath and let out a smoother one. There. A nice little do-over. That's not so bad.

She forced herself to her feet, leaning her head back and trying to think of important ninjas that didn't have any special things about them. And the obvious answer took a moment to smack her in the face.

Hokage Uzumaki-sama!

The Uzumaki clan was famous, but they didn't have magic eyes, or secret forest jutsus, or anything like that. Uzumaki-sama had earned what he had the hard way- and wasn't he famous for his hand seal speed too? If that worked to help him carve his own place in things... well, maybe it'd work for Miroru, too.

She moved back to the center of the clearing and came to a stop, thinking for a moment. Before she left... she could have some fun. Make a game for herself to practice her hand seals further. There were nine shrines, right?

How fast could she send a clone to each one?

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | 231 | notes

Then again... she'd done the best when she was running and not thinking about her seals at all. So what if she just used the jutsu at each shrine, and ran the distance herself? After all, there were only three seals needed for the Clone Technique. Boar, Ox, Dog. She could just repeat the seals fast as she could after arriving at each shrine- she'd get to make her clones pray with her before releasing them and running to the next shrine.

Miroru nodded to herself, her plan in mind, and did a practice lap between each of the nine shrines. It didn't take long, and following them led her from the entrance in a wide spiral towards the center. Hm. Had that been done on purpose, she wondered? Maybe this was an old Uzumaki grove? She wasn't sure, but nobody else seemed to come here, so surely it wasn't a problem.

She took her time walking back to the entrance, working her hands through all twelve seals quickly on the way. She managed to finish three rotations through the traditional order of the Zodiac before she got back, leaving her feeling limber and ready for her self-set challenge! All that was left... was to try it out!

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | 229 | notes

Miroru took off running towards the first shrine, curving around a few of the bigger trees and tsking at herself for not planning a more optimal route when she did her test jog. Still, she wasn't racing anyone, and the real test was the rapid-fire three-seal series when she arrived at the first shrine. She did exactly that a moment later- and immediately bungled the seals on the third one, forcing herself to start over. She took a second and did each seal a little slower, to remind herself of the slight shifts and minimal distances needed to complete the seals quickly without running her hands into each other. Then, another full-tilt attempt which - with the practice immediately proceeding- went just fine. She didn't think anyone was watching, but she was pretty sure she got extra kami-credit for praying with clones. Extra claps and bows meant extra spirit goodness, right?

She released the jutsu as she straightened from the final bow and hurtled towards the next shrine! This one went better- a rapid-fire execution, a nice little cadre of clones to bow and bow and clap and clap and bow with her, and then a satisfying group poof as she sprinted off towards shrine number three!

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Academy Student Extraordinaire!

@name | 270 | notes

Miroru kept at it. Her first attempt had some more slips- she tripped over a rock running towards shrine five, and botched the seals at eight again when she got distracted with something in the bushes- but she finished the nine shrine circuit more or less successfully for her first run.

The second went better. Still two botched attempts, but she easily nailed it on the next try after each. And she didn't trip on anything! Even more winning!

Round three brought her slips down to one botched seal series and a single trip over a root she hadn't noticed before.

Round four was the first one that went exactly as planned.

After finishing the fourth round, she flopped next to the central shrine and huffed, catching her breath and staring at the leaves overhead. She didn't feel like crying anymore. That was nice. Remembering that the Hokage himself didn't have any of those super special powers she couldn't even hope for cuz it was clan or blood or something like that... that helped a lot.

That meant she still had hope for making herself special the hard way.

By earning it.

The redhead hopped to her feet and held her head high as she headed back for the entrance to change- and to head home, whistling to herself and keeping her hands busy, practicing every jutsu she knew the whole way home. She knew it, now:

She'd give her family something to be proud of yet.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

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