The next morning, Karin ran into her brother's room to help him get ready for the day, just as usual, and she was very excited because they were going to wear their new outfits.
She was already dressed in her black trousers and a red kimono-style blouse with long sleeves, held in place by a black obi. She had a black rope tied around her waist, over the obi, in a butterfly knot on her back. Underneath her blouse was mesh armour, tightly fitted around her figure, and under that was a black, skin-tight undershirt with full sleeves.
She was also wearing her arm guards over the sleeves of her undershirt, and shin guards, which were fitted in with her low-heeled, knee-high custom boots. A black shuriken holster was tied around her right thigh, and then a white medical pouch around her waist, on the left side, attached to the rope. Her arm guards also had kunai holsters fitted in them, where she kept one kunai each.
When she entered Enma's room, she found him half-naked, wearing his black trousers, having just taken a shower, and she blushed hard before she approached him and helped him put on his black undershirt and the mesh armour over it. Next, she helped him wear his elbow guards and his fitted tang shirt, which was red in front and black on the back. There was also a large Uzumaki Clan symbol on the back of his shirt.
Around his waist, where his shirt draped over his trousers, she helped him wrap a black obi and then helped him put on his belt over it, which served as his shuriken and kunai holster.
He wore his ankle-high boots, but then there were black bandages over his fitted trousers, reaching up from his ankles and covering half of his legs.
He did not like wearing shin guards. Instead, he wore metallic cuffs, several of them, which had weight seals on them and activated as soon as they were put on.
Lastly, he carried a medical pouch on his left thigh.
The two of them then checked the storage seals on their arm guards, making sure they had everything they would need in case of emergency.
"How do I look?" he curiously asked her, and she smiled as she ran her eyes over him and nodded her head.
Karin then quickly tiptoed and ran her fingers through his thick red spiky hair, which fell onto the back of his shoulders, and set it, giving it a neat yet unruly look which suited him a lot.
"Perfect now."
He smiled at her words and leaned in to plant a kiss on the tip of her nose, which made her giggle and blush at the same time.
The two then quickly left the room and joined their mother and siblings at the table for breakfast.
They ate well, as usual, not compromising on their energy requirements, and then met up with Sasuke, who was walking towards the gate with Akane.
Karin happily hugged her cousin and started chatting with the two, but as soon as they exited the gate and said their farewells to the girl, they used the Body Flicker Technique to rendezvous with their teams as planned.
Shizuka was already waiting for them at the Uchiha Bridge, also wearing a new outfit, dark and suited for a kunoichi, and as soon as they arrived, their sensei, who was lazing on the tree in the distance, revealed herself as well.
"So, kids, excited to take on your first mission?"
"Yes!" the two girls spoke in unison, and Enma nodded his head as well. They had never stepped outside the walls of the village, so they were indeed excited.
Anko grinned at their enthusiasm, and there was a playful spark in her eyes, which confused the two girls.
They raised their brows at her, but she did not say anything and led them to the Hokage Tower, where they soon received their answer as to why she had that playful glint in her eyes.
"Is this a joke?" Karin, indignant at what happened at the mission desk, expressed her feelings as soon as they came out of the Hokage Tower.
"Nope," Anko laughed.
"We are shinobi! Not lumberjacks!"
Their sensei laughed even harder at hearing her words and then led them to the lumber yard, where the owner soon put them to their tasks.
Since Enma could not 'see', he was simply responsible for moving the lumber that Karin and Shizuka were preparing, and their sensei just sat on top of the roof, reading some book.
Both the girls were mad, and they convinced themselves to consider cutting and shaping wood as their training. Unfortunately, they ended up impressing the owner of the yard a little too much.
He did give them a bonus, 27,000 ryo instead of the 20,000 that had been offered as the mission reward.
However, he also told them that he would ask for their help again tomorrow.
And sure enough, the next day, the kunoichi at the mission desk handed them the D-Rank mission scroll, which specifically asked for their help.
Karin and Shizuka were planning on ruining the man's lumber yard, but after Anko told them that this mission was dozens of times better than the others they could receive, they hesitated and worked just as well as yesterday.
For an entire week, they worked at the lumber yard, helping the owner process all the wood, and when they sat down for dinner on the last day, at their favourite yakiniku restaurant, they realised that they had earned a decent income.
In a week, they had made 189,000 ryo, and after the Hokage Tower took 50% of the reward, they were still left with 94,500 ryo. Thankfully, the jonin in charge of the genin teams were not allowed a cut in the mission rewards for D-Rank missions.
Each of them had 31,500 ryo on them, and since they did not have any need for all the money right now, they had a sumptuous dinner and then deposited the rest in the Konoha Bank, opening their accounts there.
Karin and Enma already had a decent amount of money in one of the storage seals on their bodies, so they did not need to keep any extra cash on them.
The next day, they finally realised why Anko had said that the lumber mission was still better than other D-Rank missions.
For 10,000 ryo, they were told to investigate who stole a villager's sheep. It was supposed to be a matter handled by the Konoha Police Force, but the person who issued the mission was hell-bent on involving the Shinobi Force.
Hearing the man curse the thief's seven generations, and all his complaints, gave them a headache, but after a day that left them completely exhausted, they finally figured out who the thief was.
It was the man's son, who had lost a gambling bet, and to pay off his debt, he stole his father's sheep and sold them.
Their third mission was an interesting one.
A man was offering 15,000 ryo specifically to their team to train his daughter for a day, who aspired to become a kunoichi and was already enrolled at the academy.
Her name was Moegi, and Karin was familiar with her because she was their little brother's classmate.
When they met her outside the Tower, the girl had stars in her eyes, and the Uzumaki Princess happily took her to one of the training fields. There, she trained the girl in shuriken and kunai throws, patiently guiding her through the process.
Since there was a river next to the training field, Anko ordered Enma to help Shizuka with the chakra control training, on the water.
The Uzumaki first tested his teammate's chakra control, and since Shizuka already possessed enough control to perform the tree climbing exercise, he took her into the river and taught her water surface walking.
It was ten times harder than tree climbing, and Shizuka ended up getting soaked in the water dozens of times.
"We will keep practising it until you can stand and walk on water without even realising that you are doing it. This is an essential exercise, and through it, you will learn a lot of different methods of utilising your chakra in your jutsus."
"How long will it take for me to walk subconsciously on water like I do on the ground?" she asked when she heard from him how important water surface walking was.
"Depends on your talent and determination."
"How long did it take you?"
Enma smiled at her words and shook his head.
"Just focus on your exercise."
"Tell me, please."
He sighed.
"Five minutes..." As soon as his words entered her ears, Shizuka lost her focus and fell into the river again.
It was a funny sight, and both Karin and Moegi laughed as they watched the raven-haired girl swim to the shore and get out, only to trip and fall back in.
Enma walked over to his teammate and helped her get out of the water, and then he held her by her waist until she was ready to stand on the water again.
"If you want, we can start by learning how to run on water. It is easier than standing still..."
"No, I will learn to stand first." She shook her head and did not even ask him how long it took Karin to master this exercise.
Her pride had taken enough of a hit for the day.
Shizuka was very grateful for how patient Enma was with her. He did not rush her into doing anything, and did not get upset when she repeatedly failed. She was also grateful for the tips and hints he gave her, and she noticed considerable improvement in her training after applying them.
In the evening, when it was time to send Moegi back home, Shizuka had managed to stand on the water for a good three hours without falling, but she was far from mastering this technique. It required a lot of focus, and she was sweating profusely as she maintained control.
"You did well." Enma patted her head, which made her blush, and his compliment helped her confidence a lot, especially after their sensei also appreciated her progress.
"I will see you next week!" Moegi promised when they got close to her home, and Karin laughed at her enthusiasm.
"You don't have to issue missions for it, Moegi. If you want, I can help you for free whenever I have time."
"No, no. I want to train every weekend under you. If you don't have a mission for it, you will not have time..." She shook her head. "There are a lot of good students in my class, and I don't want to lose to my friends." she determinedly said, and Shizuka's heart warmed up to the little girl too. "Besides, Papa is rich. He doesn't mind." she happily smiled.
"Alright, fine."
Karin agreed, and the girl excitedly hugged her and Shizuka before she ran towards her house.
The next couple of weeks, the three of them were bored as hell with the stupid missions.
They wanted to request some C-Rank mission, but their sensei refused to make the request to the Hokage.
From working at construction sites to babysitting duties, they took on a lot of missions, and when their quota of forty D-Rank missions was reached, their excitement finally returned.
They could take on a C-Rank mission now.
However, when they went to report to the Hokage in the evening, seeking his permission for C-Rank missions, they received alarming news.