Ten years ago...

“Mom! Mom! Look!”

A small girl ran through the house. Her mother smiled wryly as she looked down on the young girl.

“What is it?”

“Look what I can do!”

The little girl clasped her hands together, one hand slightly above the other, with both pointer fingers pointed to the sky. She furrowed her little brow and puffed her cheeks. Her mother chuckled.

Ah, all the little kids, playing shinobi…

There was a puff of smoke.

A clear sign of an external chakra activation.

The smoke cleared. Nothing had happened but the little girl still jumped around.

“See! See! I’m a ninja now!”

“That’s…wonderful baby. Let’s go find your father, shall we? We should show him too.”

That night, a man, a woman, and a child sat around the table.

“This is incredible! We’ll need to start training immediately. Draw up a schedule for her, I’ll ask around and see if anyone knows anything about this. We’ll have to get her to the village as soon as possible.”

“Honey…she’s still very young. Maybe, maybe we should take it a bit slower?”

“What are you saying? Don’t you understand? She’s a ninja now! If she joins the village, becomes one of them, it will change our lives! No more giving up our hard grown food every year as tribute, no more worrying if we’ll starve over the winter. They’ll be paying us instead! And for the future…this could be the start of our very own clan! Our descendents will never lack for anything ever again! We need to seize this opportunity, right now.”

“I understand that, but she’s just a child.”

“So? We worked all our lives! She’ll have time later, she just needs to put in some effort now.”

Little Nana glanced between her parents as they talked, a worried look on her face. She thought they would be happy that she finally succeeded at that thing…why were they arguing now?

Her father glanced at her and put a hand on her head.

“Nana, I’m incredibly proud of you. Just, keep up the good work, ok?”

Nana nodded.

“I will, daddy!”

“That’s my girl.”

Eight years ago...

“WHAT IS THIS?!”

Nana winced as she stood before her father. Her father tossed a scroll on the ground.

“Thoroughly mediocre. That’s what it says. What have you been doing, Nana?! Have you been slacking on your training, huh?!”

Nana bit her lips and looked down to the ground. Her mother gently touched her father’s shoulder.

“Honey, she did her best, you know that.”

“Don’t interrupt me, woman! Don’t you know how much this means to us?! She needs to prove herself! Mediocre doesn’t cut it! This is for her sake too, you know what happens to mediocre shinobi!”

Her mother averted her gaze.

“Maybe…maybe she shouldn’t be a shinobi…”

The man shook his head.

“Not an option. You know what this means for our family! And a failed shinobi…that’s worse than never starting at all. No one will want someone like that.”

The tears started to drip from her eyes.

“Nana, you need to work twice as hard from now on. Everything depends on it.”

“...Yes….father…”

A short while ago…

Nana stood in front of her teacher. He glanced over a paper, reviewing her latest test results. He let out a sigh.

“Well, you did pass, so I guess it’s fine. I’d like to see some more effort for the practical, however.”

Nana looked down.

“Yes, sensei.”

“That is all.”

Nana bowed and left the room, wandering through the streets of the village. It had been a great honor, at first, being invited to the academy. Her father had even smiled for once…

And then they found how high the mountain goes.

Nana worked hard every day. She spent every moment she could spare in training. Everything she could do to give herself an advantage.

It wasn’t enough.

She was competing with the ninja clans now. The children who had been trained from birth in secret techniques by expert trainers. How could she, the daughter of poor farmers, ever compete with that?

It was a miracle she wasn’t at the bottom of the class. That was more due to Umewaka-san’s antics than any success on her part. And Umewaka Nagahiko carried a powerful technique that more than made up for his poor test performance.

What did she have to set her apart?

The answer?

Nothing.

Which is why her teachers never said much, but never spent much time with her either. Why her classmates were polite, but never reached out to her. Why her father barely spoke to her now, barely said a word when she moved to the village.

She wandered around until night time, looking up at the stars. She should be training. She should be trying again to come up with some special technique…

She let out a sigh.

What was the point?

She could do everything right. She could do everything she should. She could put in every ounce of effort she had.

But it would never amount to anything.

Her most desperate efforts would barely reach the feet of these geniuses and titans. The heirs of great clans. The children of the legendary heroes. What was she compared to these?

Just a normal, mediocre girl.

“There you are, Nana.”

She turned, eyes widening slightly.

“Sensei?”

“Come with me, we need you for something.”

“Um, ok?”

She was brought to the borders of their territory and before some strange man in a mask. She bowed her head and greeted him.

“Miss Ueno, was it? I have some questions for you…”

She took a deep breath. Time to get this over with. She heard along the way that every other student had already failed this test, her teachers did not expect any differently from her. So it didn’t matter what this man asked of her, she just had to get through it and go home…

“First, tell me about your family.”

Nana blinked several times.

What?

A few minutes later.

“Miss Ueno, I’d like to offer you a job.”

Nana blinked. That couldn't be right. A job? After just a few normal questions about her daily life? They hadn’t even done the test yet. She must have misheard…

“Are you certain, Bob-san? Her personality aside, compared to Kiyosuke, her skills are…”

“I’m certain. She is the one I want. She’s the best of the lot.”

Nana jumped, and her eyes widened.

What?

He wanted…her? She’s…the best?

This couldn’t be real.

She must be dreaming. Maybe she was caught in a genjutsu. She took a needle and poked her side. Ok, probably a dream then.

The man held out his hand.

Nana lifted her hand. She moved slowly. She knew this couldn’t be real…but wasn’t it all right…if she could dream just a little longer…

Their hands touched.

Her eyes widened as he shook her hand.

“...he touched my hand…”

He was real.

Someone who wanted her. Someone who thought she was the best. Her heart pounded in her chest, her stomach dropped, her head felt light, her eyes felt moist. Hope, fear. Anxiety, excitement. Did he make a mistake? Did he really want her of all people? Could she live up to what he wanted?

But the man said nothing more. He took her on his magic flying box, with Amano-san of all people. The top of the class. The best.

And still, he brought her along as they flew towards the stars.

Nana swore in her heart that day. Whatever he asked of her. Whatever the mission. Whatever she needed to do.

This time, she would live up to the trust placed in her.

Back in the present...

Nana panted as she stood before the target range, knives in hand. Every muscle in her body ached, she could still feel every spot the Mistress had struck. The Mistress was harsh, cruel even, but she was effective. All of them were growing stronger.

But it wasn’t enough.

The superweapon built with the most powerful technology. The greatest genius from the village. A mystical being who could shape reality at will. A chosen hero with the might of his entire bloodline.

And a normal, mediocre girl.

Nana grunted and with a yell swung her aching arm. Three kunai flew through the air and struck their targets. Nana grimaced.

One was slightly off-center.

She moved her trembling arm to her kunai pocket.

Not yet.

She still had work to do.

She would not fail.

This time, she could not fail.

“Miss Ueno, what are you doing up?”

Nana jumped, dropping a knife onto the floor with a clang.

“B-Bob-sama…”

“The effort is admirable, however Xiong Huang is planning to push you to the brink. You need to rest whenever she allows you to.”

Nana looked to the ground.

“I…I need to keep going…”

“...why?”

Nana’s eyes shook.

“I…otherwise…I can’t live up to your expectations…Bob-sama…”

“Why not?”

“Because…I’m not special like the others…I don’t have any special powers…I can’t even keep up with Amano-san. I can’t be the best…like you thought…I’m sorry…”

Nana’s eyes grew moist. Bob turned his head to the targets.

“Your accuracy is impressive, I’ve never seen you miss.”

Nana blinked, pausing at the sudden change in topic.

“Um…thank you? I…practiced a lot.”

Bob nodded, rubbing his chin.

“How about other weapons?”

Nana slowly nodded her head.

“We…we didn’t know how to train when I was young…so I mostly practiced throwing things…whatever we could find...”

“Wait here.”

Bob walked over to a door at the side of the room and pulled something out. He came back over and placed some sort of metal tube in Nana’s hand.

“You know what this is?”

Nana shook her head.

“We call it a gun, guess they don’t teach you about these while you’re a student. Let me show you how it works.”

Bob spent a few minutes teaching Nana how to prepare and use the weapon, then motioned for her to test it out. Nana held the gun in front of her with both hands as Bob had showed her, and took a deep breath.

BANG!

Nana frowned. Barely grazed the target. She looked at the gun, remembering how it felt. She adjusted her aim…

BANG!

Dead center hit.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Nana continued firing until the gun began to click. Seven shots. Seven targets hit, all dead center.

Bob nodded.

“Impressive. I’ll talk to Xiong Huang about adjusting your training and we’ll find an appropriate weapon for you. For now, go get some rest.”

Nana wanted to continue but she swayed on her feet as a wave of exhaustion blew through her. She slowly nodded and walked towards the door.

“And Miss Ueno…you are already meeting my expectations. Just keep up the good work.”

As the girl stumbled out of the room, Bob rubbed his chin. He then took out his phone.

“Bob! Do you know what time it is?! I’m about to go home!”

“Shouldn’t you already be home, Kanna?”

“Urk, fine, you got me, what do you want?”

“I’d like to put in an order…”

Nana stood at the firing range, a pistol in hand. Several different guns of all sizes rested on the deck in front of her. Down the range, several human-shaped targets move around at various distances. She took a deep breath.

She quickly squeezed the trigger of the pistol, emptying the magazine. Once empty the pistol vanished, replaced with an SMG. Nana pulled it against her shoulder and squeezed the trigger.

She repeated this process for each weapon on the deck. Shotgun, assault rifle, machine gun. Finally she vanished, appearing on the ground next to a pre-prepared sniper rifle. She took aim at the furthest target and squeezed the trigger.

BOOM!

Headshot.

Nana let out a breath and checked the watch on her wrist. She frowned.

Still too slow.

At that point the door to the room opened. Nana vanished and reappeared kneeling on one knee.

“Greetings, Bob-sama.”

“At ease. Hello, Miss-Ueno. I have something for you.”

Nana raised her head. Bob held out a box.

“Open it.”

Nana took the box and opened it. Inside was a handgun with a strangely large and round barrel.

“This is a special weapon, specifically designed to channel your chakra.”

Nana tilted her head. Bob motioned to the range and two walked over to the deck. Bob then showed her how to activate and prepare the weapon.

“Now, channel your chakra through it.”

Nana nodded and did so. She gasped as the weapon lit up and a small ball of blue energy flew through the air, striking one of the targets. Bob nodded.

“We still have some adjustments to make, now that it’s confirmed to work I’m going to call Elise to record data. Once she arrives, we’ll have you test it thoroughly. Please consider any feedback you might have on how the weapon feels, this will be yours once completed.”

Nana blinked.

“You made this…for me?”

Bob nodded.

“You have an impressive talent for sharpshooting, Miss Ueno. I look forward to seeing what you can do with this.”

Nana shook as she clutched the weapon to her chest.

“...thank you, Bob-sama. I swear I will not let you down.”