Escort Through Unknown Territory (INVITE ONLY)

Rank: B
Words Required: 4000
Other Requirements:
- Genin+
- Be in a team (bring the team)
- Total of stats over 60
Reward: 1000 Ryo
Task: Two important workmen need to be escorted from Konohagakure to the unknown village of Skyscraper. There are contracts out for these two men so it is almost guaranteed that you will encounter someone seeking their blood on the way, and thus damage to yourselves is also almost guaranteed. Only undertake this mission if you fully understand the risks.

Primrose had actually slept the night before. She had woken up early which was normal for her. She put on her ninja attire and was about to dig her weapons out of the drawer when she stopped to read the mission scroll again:

: Two important workmen need to be escorted from Konohagakure to the unknown village of Skyscraper. There are contracts out for these two men so it is almost guaranteed that you will encounter someone seeking their blood on the way, and thus damage to yourselves is also almost guaranteed. Only undertake this mission if you fully understand the risks.

She rolled it back up again and stuck it in one of the pockets on her leather pants. Prim opened her weapons drawer on her dresser and pulled out her weapons pouch. Then after shutting the drawer she took her katana off the wall. Prim followed her routine of grooming then going downstairs, grabbing a quick bite to eat and leaving a note for her family.
Prim grabbed her black cloak as she headed to the village gates to wait for the other people who would be joining her on this mission. She already knew who they were, and she was very excited to be joining them as a team.

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Taro had not slept well. As of late he had been having a reoccurring dream of his mother’s death. In an attempt to put the dream out of his head he quickly got ready for his day. Today was his first mission since being a missing ninja and he was not about to be late. He saw this mission as his chance to prove his loyalty to the leaf. With his Leaf headband tied loosely around his neck and the same black suit he wore to a party not too long ago; Taro dashed out the door.

It took only about two minutes time for him to make it to the village gates. He arrived in a blur of speed about seven feet in front of Primrose. “Long time no see! Are you ready?” Taro exclaimed with an uncharacteristically boyish grin on his face as he flipped his disheveled hair to the side. He also took note of two nervous middle aged looking men hanging around the gates-Taro assumed that they must be the two workmen they were to escort to the Skyscraper village. Something had those two men spooked and Taro was pretty sure that he would be finding out what it was before sun down. Maintaining his distance from Primrose Taro took up a almost bored stance as he waited for last member of the team to arrive.

{447/4000}

Nightshade had left around the same time as the others it just took her a little longer to get to the gates because she tried a new shortcut. “Sorry guys! Primmy! We get to work together again! Hey Taro, I guess you are the other team mate on this mission. Haven’t seen you since the party! And I take it that’s the people we are escorting for the mission. They look frightened. This must be pretty dangerous.” Nightshade said the last part low enough that only Prim and Taro could hear her. Luckily Nightshade had all her weapons on her and was ready for the mission. She was ready to show that she could help protect these people and her team mates if needed. A lot had changed for Nightshade recently and she wanted things to keep getting better. More training, more missions and she was going to continue being her very bold self through it all. “So are we ready?” Nightshade asked looking at the workers they were about to escort to another Village. This was actually her first Escort mission, she was both nervous and excited at the same time, she knew she could handle it, and the thought of helping someone in danger was exciting.

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Prim smiled when Taro showed up. It was her first mission with him and considering she liked him this would be fun to get to know him a little better. “Of course, I am always ready for missions.” Prim said smiling. It was true, Prim was always ready. She looked over at the workers when Taro did. “They seem to be frightened, I know there are people that want to kill them, why I have no idea. This is going to be an interesting escort mission. Now we just have to wait for Nightshade Arashi and we are ready to go.” Prim said as she walked over to Taro. She was wondering if they should go talk to the guys to see if there was any way to get them to calm down or at least tell them more on why they were so scared or why someone wanted the workers dead. Prims thoughts were broken and her gaze interrupted as she heard the voice of her best friend Nightshade. “Hello Nightshade, nice of you to join us!” Prim teased. She knew Nightshade was ready for this mission by the way she was acting. “Yeah we noticed they were shaken up to, not sure really what is going on, just we have to escort them to another village in the Sky Nation I believe. Since we are all here, I guess we can go.” Prim said smiling at Taro and Nightshade.

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Taro gave a slight yet friendly affirmative nod to both Primrose and Nightshade. He spoke in an calm undertone so only Nightshade and Primrose could hear: “Let’s try not to spook these guys anymore than they already are, ok?” Then in a loud enough voice so that both the workers could hear him Taro continued “Well we should be off”. Taro would then make the snake hand sign to activate the wood clone technique. It would look odd to all who were watching as three “stems” would branch out from Taro’s body and within a matter of seconds take the form of three fully formed wood clones. These clones held the exact likeness to Taro appearance wise and would greatly aid the group’s defensive capability-there truly was safety in numbers.

Sighing a bit the original Taro walked out of the gates with a smooth effortless gait with the two workers following suit. Two of the clones flanked Taro at either side as he walked. Mean while the third clone would wait for Primrose and Nightshade to go-it would take up the back of the group. As he walked Taro could vaguely hear the workmen talking nervously about something or another, but he paid them little mind as his mind was focusing on the surroundings. He doubted that the people hunting these two men would attack so close to the village, but it never hurt to be cautious.

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Nightshade heard what Taro said about not frightening them anymore, “Yeah I guess you are right.” Nightshade noticed the workers looked even more shaken as they began to leave the village. Nightshade had always been intrigued with wood style. As a child she wanted to learn it. As he did the wood clones she became bold enough to ask him a question. “Think you could teach me wood style sometime Taro Senju?” Nightshade boldly asked. Even though she barely knew anything about Taro, she could tell he was a strong friendly person, and by his actions at the party, he and Prim must like each other, both of them had disappeared at the same time and one party guest had seen them together. If Prim trusted him, Nightshade would to. Besides, this mission replied on their ability to work together as a team. Nightshade kept watch around them as they walked to, if they were attacked, her chakra was ready to be used and her weapons were at the ready as well. She had a feeling as soon as they were a little ways from the village, if they were going to be attacked then that would be the time the attacks would happen. She looked at the clones, then at Taro, then at Prim, she had a feeling if they were to be attacked, then they would be ok.

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Prim nodded in agreement with Taro about not spooking the workers. She watched in awe as he made clones of himself. “Wood style is interesting, doubt I could learn it though, think I need to learn earth and water first.” Prim thought as she followed Nightshade and Taro as they began their journey. Prim activated her sharingan eyes as they left the village, this way she could contribute to the safety of their trip. Her eyes could see a lot, including speed and chakra and in some cases she could copy jutsus or use genjutsu. Regardless this was going to be a long trip, but with the three of them these workers would no doubt be safe and Prim will get to see a couple of other villages along the way. And get to know Taro a little better. Prim smiled at the thought. “Focus Primrose!” She said to herself trying to get her mind off of the fact she liked Taro. She would be able to focus on this fact later on. Prim looked around as they walked, her eyes could see smaller detail and her vision was enhanced. If anyone tried to attack, she would hopefully see them in time.

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The clone in the back of the group replied to Nighshade's question in a smooth steady voice: "I would teach you if I could, but its a skill sacred to the Senju clan. Only those with the blood of the Senju in their veins can use it." With that the clone dropped back to the rear of the small convoy they had created. Mean while the real Taro and his two flanking clones continued forward the terrain was changing before his eyes: from lush forest to an expanse of rocky ruts. The road followed they followed went down into a canyon-if anyone was going to attack it would be here. The road was about ten feet across bordered by about nine foot high walls of natural rock-basically were anyone to attack there would be no one where to hide or run to for that matter, which was worrying to Taro. Unfortunately there was no time thrifty way around this pass-it would take an extra day or two to go around so the only way was onward.

Taro's senses were still on high alert in fact he heard the scuttle of feet only to find that it was a small fox running by the group almost like an ominous tumbleweed. After that even the shadows themselves seemed to be watching the group-there was somebody or something following them. Out of the corner of his eye Taro kept seeing blurs, but his eyes could not keep track of them and he doubted he could do anything about it now so he continued trudging along. Though as an added precaution the two clones that were flanking Taro dropped back and walked beside the workmen ready to jump to their defense should an attack come. Taro hoped that both Nightshade and Primrose would take notice of this formation change and be ready for an imminent attack.
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Nightshade smiled at Taro, she respected that about clans, they each had their own special Kekkei Genkai. She wondered if she was art of a clan and if they had a Kekkei Genkai. Suddenly, she caught sight of what Taro saw. There was definitely someone nearby watching them. When she saw the two clones fall back to stand near the workers in case of an attack, she knew it was time to prepare herself. “Prim…” Nightshade whispered just loud enough for Primrose to hear. “Taro…” she said so he would know she saw what he was seeing. Nightshade knew this mission might be dangerous and she was ready to handle whatever might happen. She didn’t want to draw her katana on her back. It would only alert the workers and frighten them. She had her hands near her weapons pouch. If anything were to happen she would draw her kunai or use one of her lightning techniques. It may not sound like much but Nightshade was more than a pretty face, she could fight and defend and do whatever was necessary to defend someone and complete her mission. In this case defend the workers and if necessary defend her team mates as well.

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A thought crossed Prims mind. Taro Senjus wood style and her sharingan were similar in the fact that they were clan related, in other words, they were special specifically to a clan. Prims eyes at this point were blood red. She had heard Nightshade say her name and saw Taros clones move back to the workers. “Shit.” Primrose thought to herself. This could mean only one thing, someone is watching us or about to attack. She had noticed Nightshade was looking over at the same area Taro was looking at. Prims eyes picked up chakra networks and about three people running at fairly average speeds. “I see.” Prim whispered back to Nightshade. She then looked at Taro who seemed to be watching these people, yet not alerting the people they were escorting. It was apparent that whatever the workers feared, ws out there. The attackers had no clue that even if they did attack, they were not going to be able to do much damage, because between, Prim, Nightshade and Taro, these workers were safe and sound, but the same really could not be said for the fate of the attackers, they may end up in a shallow grave or being in a village morgue.

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