Shinji's Mission Thread (Private)

[Yasahiro YagamiCitizen]

Spoiler:

Shinji was in the narrow shaft of an elevator that led to the surface. He still marveled at these creations despite having seen them every day for the past month. Once he reached the top the cool fresh air hit his senses like a freight train. The air in Tengakure, ironically enough, was not all that fresh or at least fresh compared to the surface. Checking out with the Jounin in the guise of a small child. At this point Shinji turned and went off to the east where there was supposedly some supplies that had been left behind. The task now fell to him to go and retrieve the goods and return them to the underground village. Why people couldn’t seem to finish their own jobs Shinji would never know, but he always seemed to have to clean up after every ones jobs.

While he walked Shinji tried to take as long as possible to get to his detestation. The sun danced through Shinji’s hair-it was a rare chance to get to see the world above that was lost to him while living in the safety of the earth. With all honesty Shinji would have liked to stay in the old location of the Skyscraper village, but felt obligated to move, because he knew one day he would have to take care of his “parents” as they took care of him. Plus it would have been a bit of a bore staying in an abandoned city.

Arriving to the clearing where the goods, a tool bag and two backpacks, Shinji grabbed them and walked off back to the village. On his way back he heard the birds singing-that was something that he would never hear in the underground city of Tengakure. In fact the cool vibrant colors of the natural world were a rare sight in Tengakure. Granted they had farms underground, but not really any comparison to the groves of the upper world. Lost in thought Shinji had walked right past the entrance to Tengakure. Quickly doubling back Shinji made his excuses to the jounin guard who nodded and admitted him. It was then that Shinji descend once again below the earth where there was a never sleeping city at work. Once Shinji had dropped off the goods at the construction foreman’s office Shinji headed for the restaurant direct-he had been growing hungry despite having done relatively little.
(403/400)

Spoiler:

The hustle and bustle of the steam powered train had left Shinji searching for a metaphorical needle in a hay stack. He was hot on the trail of a thief. Earlier that morning Shinji had been ordered to go investigate some robberies that had been happening at the same time-in the ninja world not an uncommon occurrence. So following a few leads Shinji got from some of the people who were robbed he identified where the thief or thieves would strike next as they always seemed to target jewelry stores, which Shinji thought was a bit dry and boring, but a crime nonetheless.

Having been partnered with three other genin Shinji sent them to stakeout three respective jewelry stores. While Shinji himself watched the last one and waited for about an hour until a girl with bright orange hair. Admittedly the girl caught Shinji’s eyes, because she was to say the least well-built not because she looked suspicious. But, Shinji’s suspicions were aroused when the girl walked out of the Jewelry store with a sizable bag in her right hand. Taking action Shinji started his pursuit, but was not able to catch the swift girl as she slipped into the steam train.

And that was how Shinji got to where he was now: right behind the orange haired girl without her even knowing. “Boo!” exclaimed, which drew a few weird looks here and there, but overall Shinji had accomplished what he wanted to: scare the girl and catch her, which he did in short order. He then got off at the next stop and hauled her back to the meeting point where the three other genin were waiting. Apparently the girls had been using shadow clones to steal goods from all over-catching a jewel thief was all in a days work for Shinji and as he walked homes he felt content and fulfilled.
(315/300)

Spoiler:

It was Shinji’s day for guard duty granted it was not the most glamorous of jobs, but he couldn’t really complain as in the whole scheme of things he was still the low man on the totem pole. Guard duty in Tengakure was now if anything boring as Hell. The above ground guard duty was left to higher ranking ninja while the genins and chuunins were left to patrol the actual city. Very rarely were there any disturbances in the streets. Plus Shinji was pretty sure no one knew of the transplanting of the Skyscraper village, thus making his job as guard useless.

Regardless Shinji marched around the dank and at some point poorly lit parts of the city and encountered nothing. Here and there he did see a stray dog or two, but nothing worth reporting. As Shinji walked he figured that if he were to enbcounter anything it would be the end of him as to have gotten past the aboveground guards would have been an impressive feat worthy of a master Ninja who could easily kill a lowly Genin such as himself. With soundless footsteps Shinji continued his sweep of the city occasionally he would spy another genin stuck with the same job of him. At a couple of point Shinji was sure he had seen something behind him only to find that he had been jumping at shadows-some Shinobi he was.

Finally after hours of patrolling Shinji could see the artificial lights powering up like a man made sun. It was with this unspoken signal that Shinji knew was meant to tell him that it was time to return to the command base and give his rather uneventful report. Afterwards Shinji planned on heading home for some well-deserved rest and maybe catch a real quick bite to eat-a new Ramen bar had just recently opened in the grand city of Tengakure.
(317/300)
{Overall: +1350 ryo & +12 JP, also the link to these missions is here }

[TelamonCitizen]

O.o

[Yasahiro YagamiCitizen]

Spoiler:

Shinji awoke with a start as his alarm clock rang itself off his nightstand. Lately he had been oversleeping, as such he had been setting his alarm earlier and earlier each day so now he woke up about an hour or two before he had to get out the door. Literately rolling onto the floor off his bed Shinji groped for the alarm clock that continued its incessant ringing. After a bit of time Shinji’s hand slammed down on the clock silencing it once and for all-at least until this time tomorrow when it was bound to interrupt Shinji’s peaceful sleep yet again. Still lying on the ground Shinji considered fall back asleep, but thought better of it and pulled himself up and then quickly made his bed and pulled on some clothes.

Ready for his day Shinji stopped by the bathroom real quick before heading to the kitchen. It was still early so neither of Shinji’s “parents” were awake, so he was left to throw together a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs. He rounded off his breakfast with a cup of orange tea that soothed Shinji to the very soul. Finished with breakfast he ran out the door on to the surprisingly vacant streets. Making a beeline for the mission command of Tengakure Shinji arrived at the front doors within a matter of ten minutes. Pushing open the door Shinji was greeted by the smell of cigarettes and the laid back face of a jounin whose job it was to be handing out missions that day. Walking up to the man Shinji began: “Shinji Uzumaki repor—“ The jounin had already handed him a dossier and cut him off: “Yeah, yeah I know. Here your mission particulars are in there. Be back before closing time.” With that the jounin waved him off in an impatient manner. Slightly offset Shinji walked right out of the mission center and back onto the streets. It was still dark as the ceiling lights that lit the cavern known as Tengakure had not been put on full blast, but there was still light enough for Shinji to quickly glance of the dossier he had been given.

The mission order was to investigate something or someone lurking in the sewers-not the most glamorous job, but Shinji was bound to do it. Finding the closest sewer entrance Shinji pulled off the grate and descended into the world of feces and rot. As he went down the ladder Shinji could hear something scuttling around, but soon found it to be rats. Despite Tengakure’s relatively new location the world vermin seemed to have converged upon it in almost no time. Grabbing a light that hung on the wall Shinji took his first steps into the darkness. It became quickly apparent that there was a small river of god knows what flowing down the center of the sewer while there was two walk ways on either side. In the air stank of human excrement and had linger steam or mist that lingered in the air. All in all despite Tengakure’s great advances in technology its sewer system looked much the same as any other cities would and, to Shinji anyway, smelled about ten times worse.

Continuing his walk down the street of sewage Shinji had to bite back the gag reflex. Every time he glanced into the river of sewage he could have sworn he saw something move, but paid it no mind, because he was pretty sure what it was. After fifteen minutes of walking Shinji arrived at a fork in the road where the sewage worker had reported hearing noises and seeing explainable things.

It was then that Shinji saw it; to his surprise and horror a small serpentine figure rose from the water. The creature look exactly like an over sized cobra with beady red eyes that seemed to stare right through Shinji. Sighing out of annoyance Shinji rose his right palm and shot forth an ethereal orange chain. The snake creature had hardly any time to react as its head was impaled and rendered useless-effectively killing the best with a simple blow. Shrugging Shinji could see why this was a genin’s job the best had been nothing more than a pest-nothing too dangerous. Unfortunately while Shinji had been musing how easy it was to kill the beast the beast itself had fallen into the water and made an ungodly splash sending the “water” if one could call it that all over Shinji. It was at this point that a slightly pissed off Shinji marched out of the sewers with the smell following him all the way to the mission center where the jounin took one look at him and sent him out tell him he had done a great job and to not come back until he had been through at least seven showers. Taking his advice Shinji ran home leaving a stench in his wake that smelled like none other-at least the mission had been done. Though it would take a full week for the smell to fully go away and Shinji did not plan on going in the sewers ever again.

{846/800, +600ryo +7 JP, also not sure why Telamon posted here, but I also need the last three missions approved as well-thanks}

[Kalix Terumi (Wuwu)Citizen]

Approved for Appropriate rewards....

[Yasahiro YagamiCitizen]

{Link to approved A rank mission here}

Spoiler:

A loud shrill whistle shot through the air and jolted Shinji from his sleep. Shinji’s house was in close proximity to the steam train that ran throughout Tengakure. Normally he would have slept through it, but today was different. Slouching out of bed Shinji threw on some clothes and walked sleepily into the kitchen. It seemed that both his surrogate parents had already gone out to work: Goro worked as an accomplished black smith while his wife worked at a florist-an odd profession for an underground city, but a lucrative one nonetheless. With sleep still weighing on his eyelids Shinji made a mindless breakfast of a new fangled food called cereal, which Shinji had taken a certain liking to.

Whilst munching on his breakfast Shinji walked over to the mail chute to check it. Tengakure had a series of small tubes that ran to every house in the entire city, which like everything in the city is powered by steam, that acted as a mail delivery service-the idea overall was ingenious though it did leave the metal capsules that were sent through the system to be a wee bit hot. Though Shinji always forgot this fact and at this point burned his left hand that had reached down to grab the capsule. Jumping back in surprise Shinji dropped the bowl of his breakfast all over the floor along with the capsule.

With a sigh Shinji walked over to the sink and ran some cool water over his burned hand. It stung a bit, but it wasn’t anything too bad. Once he was done he wrapped his hand in a cool towel and carefully picked up the capsule-it seemed to be bursting with mail, which generally was a pain as Shinji hated sorting out the mail. He always had to check the mail for capsule for missions and as such he had to sort through the endless mail. Before opening the capsule though Shinji really quickly cleaned up the broken bowl and his ruined breakfast. Finishing quickly he returned to the capsule that now sat on the kitchen table.

He carefully popped the capsule open and emptied the cylindrical canister onto the counter. At first glance the mess of mail that came out seemed entirely irrelevant. Shinji was about to head back to bed when a small red envelope caught his attention. The letter had the word “urgent” pasted all over it. Shrugging to himself Shinji ripped open the envelope and read the contents which were as follows:

Shinji Uzumaki,
You are hereby ordered to carry out a mission for the Sky nation. Two people, lovers to be exact, have gone missing. Recently we received demands from a group of bandits claiming to have captured the two. It is your job to kill these bandits and bring back the two people unscathed. This is an A rank so be careful and leave as soon as possible.
-Tengakure Mission Command

Shinji was thoroughly irked-he had planned on staying home all day and doing nothing, but now it seemed that his plans had been dashed. With the sleepiness now gone from his eyes Shinji moved with a new found speed and grabbed his ninja tools, grieve edges, some shuriken and a new book for good measure, and ran out the door.

The streets were relatively empty. Apparently there was some holiday that Shinji had forgotten about-he wasn’t good with dates, but that didn’t matter to him at the moment. Rushing through the streets his mind was surprisingly blank he was completely and utterly focused on his mission. In fact he almost forgot to check out with the gate guards who reminded him with a stern cough, which prompted Shinji to show his mission dossier and Identification card. The guards, as of late, had been rather picky about who went in or out. Moreover Shinji had read in the newspaper that tension was building throughout the nations-then again it might just be the news people hyping the situation as they were always prone to do. Shinji tried to disregard most of the happenings in the politics of nations-he had more important stuff to do than worry about something he could not hope to affect at his level.

Once above ground Shinji started on his way to the bandits camp that had been marked on a map along with the mission order. While he jumped from tree to tree he felt small drops of water start to fall from the sky-it had started to rain. Rain was always a welcome treat. In Tengakure it never rained seeing as it was underground. The Skyscraper village had come a long way. It used to be a land where rain had reigned, but now the only rain it got was from the odd cloud of steam that condensed and came down as water. With his mind at ease Shinji continued on his way as the rain started to come down harder and harder. Along with the rain came a light mist that blanketed the forested land.

It was all of a sudden that he heard a shrub rustle down on the ground. Typically Shinji would have ignored it as an animal or some other disturbance, but Shinji spotted a trail of blood that lead into the bushes far below him. Interested Shinji stopped his advance and made his way down to the ground level. From behind a bush Shinji heard a shrill cry that sounded almost like an animal. Approaching cautiously he pushed aside the foliage and the image that appeared before him was shocking: there was an old man with a kunai knife in his hand and one in his left shoulder-the source of the blood no doubt. Upon seeing Shinji the old man let out a yelp and threw the kunai knife haphazardly at Shinji in some vain hope of hurting him.

Luckily the kunai had not been very well thrown and Shinji was able to move his head to the side to allow the kunai knife to pass by harmlessly. It was at this point that Shinji spoke up: “Hey there! I’m not gonna hurt you how did you get out here?” The old man gave Shinji a shocked look and began talking in a hurried and sporadic fashion: “well well well WELL! I was minding my own business…..and then I was attacked by a group of scoundrels….those brutes….They claimed I was ripping them off and planned to take back to the hostages….I have no idea what they were talking about….and then they just attacked me.” Shinji’s eyes remained emotionless and simply nodded the man’s story seemed a bit off, but then again he had just been attacked. So Shinji decided to cut him some slack: “Its ok. I’m going to get them. For now you need to keep moving. I passed a small inn whilst coming here. They should be able to patch you up. Now get moving any longer and you will catch pneumonia on top of your wounds.” The old man merely nodded and started walking, limping really, towards the inn.

Shinji’s will had hardened. He was going to get these bandits-they had become paranoid kidnappers, the worst kind. Taking to trees once again Shinji drew ever closer to the place indicated on the map. As Shinji grew nearer and nearer he could hear the crackling of wood in the fire. And in the next instant he saw the glow of a huge bonfire that very well could have been the size of a bed and about as tall as an average human. Around the fire Shinji could make out three witch like figures standing around the fire. On the ground next to the fire was two tied up people-Shinji took these to be the captives he was supposed to save. Though something was…off. Shinji was sure there were more bandits, but he could not make out any other figures and there was little time for him to think things over. The only path before him was to attack the three now cackling figures who were now spewing some nonsense about fair being foul-it all sounded like a bunch of nonsense to Shinji so he launched his attack.

The witchlike figures had been in a clearing so and there was no hope of sneaking up without alerting them so he simply walked into the clearing and raised his voice in a greeting: “Hey! Creepy witch people prepare to die!” The words came out with a nice pompous tone that pleased Shinji. The three figures merely cackled and cackled without even acknowledging Shinji-it was getting really odd. But, then without warning as Shinji advanced he was tripped-there had been ninja wire laid out all around the clearing. In an instant four more bandits appeared and surrounded Shinji. Each one held a long cruel looking black blade.

Shinji now lay on the cold wet ground as in the distance thunder rolled through the heavens-things were not looking good, but Shinji still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Concentrating on three points in his chakra system. From these points three chains would fly; one from his left palm then right and finally his chest. Though as opposed to smashing into any of the people who had surrounded him the chains flew into the sturdy branch that hung overhead. In an instant Shinji was pulled upwards by his own chains. He released the one on his chest to allow himself to pivot upwards and onto the branch. Then with a hard tug Shinji removed the remaining chains from the branch and back into his body. He now stood on the branch a good ways up from the bandits, who admittedly were either dimwitted or slow, because they had sat there as Shinji had executed this movement-then again it had been a rather impressive maneuver.

Taking his chance in with the stunned bandits Shinji took out eight skuriken and showered them down upon the bandits. Instantly five of the seven men fell. The remain two escaped unharmed, but had no real way of attacking Shinji from where they were so they looked up at him as if expecting him to jump down and jump down he did. If one had quick eyes they would see the glint of blades on Shinji’s heels-the bandits did not have quick eyes. Shinji came down with a forward flip that ended with both his heels in the shoulders of one of the bandits. He then effortless jumped off the shoulders of the now incapacitated man and down onto the ground. The last remaining bandit was, to say the least, brave. He ran at Shinji with his sword aimed straight for his heart.

Though the man was clearly scared and in a frenzy as Shinji easily sidestepped him, but not having any blades on his arms was unable to score a meaningful hit. So, again and again the man came at him with the sword as black as night. Until after about five minutes of dodging back and forth width Shinji saw his chance. He allowed the frenzied man to knock him to the ground, but as the bandit stood over him swinging his sword down in an arch right for Shinji’s head Shinji kicked his left foot up and into the hamstring of the bandit who promptly dropped his sword and grabbed for his hamstrings. But, it was too late: the damage had been done. Shinji would grab the fallen man’s sword and slice his head off-killed by his own weapon.

At this point the rain stopped. Shinji had accomplished his mission and not even gotten a scratch on him, but he was covered in the blood of his enemies. All that remained was to get the captives back safe and sound, which could not be too hard after all he had just killed seven men. In the blaze of the bonfire Shinji approached the two bound people: one was a very good looking brown hair woman and the other a rather stately looking man. They both seemed to be out cold, which was a major problem as Shinji could not carry both of them so far now he cut their bonds and dragged them over to a tent the bandits had been sleeping in. All Shinji had to do was wait-it was a good thing he had brought that book along.

The rain continued to drizzle steadily as Shinji cracked up the first page of his book titled “The Big Bad Book of Juinjutsu.” Shinji had purchased this book from a shady street dealer. He had always been interested in the nature of cursed seals, but he never really had the time to study up on it, so now he had a chance. The chapters dibbled by, though he had to reread the whole first three chapters again and again, because he had no clue what was going on. The basic idea was simple transfer ones chakra into a seal that can be released by the person the seal is placed on, but the application of such a seal was anything but simple. Unfortunately Shinji only got through the first three chapter when at last the two people awoke with a start.

The two people instantly embraced each other and showered each other “I love yous” and “I’m sorrys.” Shinji was not really much for this kind of thing so he cough rather loudly, which caused the two love birds to break up. Alas they started showering Shinji with “thank yous.” The end result being Shinji just giving in and putting on his most humble face. In the back of his mind Shinji wondered what was wrong with these people-love did some weird things. Finally the couple was up and ready to go. Shinji leading the way had to guide them back through the relentless rain. All the while the two talked about their next escapade-Shinji was pretty sure they were going to get caught by bandits again if they kept doing these secret meetings, but did not bother to mention it.

The rain calmed down to a dribble as the threesome arrived at the “gates” of Tengakure. Checking back in with the guard Shinji and the couple descended into the depths of Tengakure; the city seemed to be still as everyone had gone home from their various jobs earlier due to the holiday that Shinji had forgotten about. Bringing the couple to the mission command Shinji collected his ryo and went on his way before the couple could thank him-they were far too lovey dovey for his taste. On the way back home he stopped and grabbed some groceries for dinner and half considered dropping by the bathhouse for a nice way to rinse off the coldness from the constant rain he had been in all day, but thought better and decided to do that at home. Then with his mind swimming with the days and events and various facts about juinjutsu in his head Shinji turned for home.

{2520/2500, +10JP & +3000 ryo}

[Kalix Terumi (Wuwu)Citizen]

Good Job.

[Yasahiro YagamiCitizen]

Spoiler:

To start Shinji hated cats. It was not just a normal run of the mill hate: it was a deep seeded one that stemmed from his time in the orphanage as a child. At the orphanage there had been an orange tabby cat that was supposed to comfort the orphans. Instead of doing that it terrorized Shinji: it attacked him once and peed in his bed every once in a while. Ever since then Shinji had hated cats with a bruning passion that nothing could quell. Yet now here he was chasing cats around Tengakure. It was like a nightmare coming to fruition in the real world. The task was only necessary, because it was a mission. When he had been given it Shinji just about bolted out the door and gave up being a shinobi for good, but thought better of it and decided to face his irrational fear of cats.

The streets were packed with people so finding the cats were hard, but supposedly each one had a bell affixed to its collar. Not that Shinji could hear any bells in the clamor of the streets. Yet still he searched and searched. He asked bar tenders, kids, elderly, and even a passing jounin. After a hour of searching Shinji was starting to lose hope. He practically turned the entire city upside down and still could find neither head nor furry tail of the little buggers. He was starting to give up hope until at last he came to a dark alleyway devoid of any other humans save for Shinji. It seemed as though he had walked alone into a valley of darkness. He could just hear the demonic mews of the five cats. Clearly there was a feeling of pure evil that pervaded the air-only it seemed that Shinji was the only one who could feel it. Approaching with as much caution as possible and a drawn shuriken or ten Shinji edged his way deeper into the lair of the five evil cats.

At last Shinji caught sight of the five demons in the far corner of the alley up against a wall. With a nervous laugh Shinji got closer freezing every time one of the cats moved. Luckily the cats had taken refuge in a cardboard box, which would allow for easy transport. Finally taking his chance Shinji sprinted the last five feet to the cat’s lair and snatched the box and in the same movement slapped a top on the box effectively trapping the five cats. From outside the box Shinji could hear the awful mewing that sounded like claws on a chalkboard to Shinji. Making all haste Shinji took to the rooftops to make it back to the mission command faster. Once there he had delivered the five feline demons and went on his way not giving the thankful old lady the chance to say a word-he would pick up his payment later when there was not five cats there. It was this day that Shinji had done battle with the feline enemy and come out on top.

{514/500}

Spoiler:

Thieving was such a petty thing and it was something that Shinji simply abhorred. So, when he heard that there was an art thief a foot in the artisans district Shinji jumped at the mission that allowed him to pursue the thief. The mission itself was only a D rank, but that did not deter Shinji-he was helping Tengakure: there was nothing else he would rather be doing. Tengkure was without a doubt a metaphorical city on a hill, which was slightly ironic seeing as it was underground. Plus this mission would give him a chance to look at some art, which was another thing he did not have too much time for being a ninja and all.

Shinji wore the clothes of a civilian and walked down to the art district to investigate where some art had already been stolen from and maybe pick up a clue or two. Once at the scene it became rather obvious that whomever was stealing this art was an amateur as they simply broke through the door and grabbed the art then ran. Overall the only real clue as to the culprit was the lack of finesse in the job otherwise there was no real connection. Shinji sincerely hoped that it was not a shinobi who had been thieving as his or her stealth skills were simply awful and he or she would be a complete and utter disgrace to the name of shinobi. Taking solace in that fact Shinji allowed himself the rest of the day off: he would patrol these streets at night when the robberies had been happening. For the rest of the day he would visit each and every art gallery.

When at last night came the artificial lights lit the street and gave the whole art district an eerie glow. Shinji sat on the rooftop of one of the high class art stores and waited. From up there he would be able to see most anybody for three streets around him. Sure enough after about three hours of waiting a big brute of a man came stomping into the district and smashed into the very store on which Shinji was perched. Though Shinji did not act not yet as he was smarter than that. He allowed the man to rob the store and then followed him back to his “hideout” and allowed the man to inadvertently reveal the stash of stolen pieces of art. It was then that Shinji swooped in and took him out and grabbed the paintings. At dawn he returned the stolen paintings and turned in the criminal-another job well done. Also out of appreciation Shinji received a nice piece of art from the artisans guild that featured Shinji on the rooftops watching over the village. Overall the painting was rather flattering and was worth more to Shinji than the small pittance in ryo he received from mission command. The mission had gone out without a hitch, yet again: Shinji was on a roll. He really needed to get a promotion for all the work he was doing, but that would have to come with time.

{521/500}

Spoiler:

Shinji sat in front of three students with a blank look on his face. He had been tasked with showing some academy student what it meant to be a genin. Having been a genin for four years Shinji had a wealth of experience, so he figured he would start with the three basic techniques. Even though he was sure that they had already seen all these techniques in the classroom it always helped to see it again. Putting on his most authoritative voice Shinji told the students what he would be doing: “I am going to demonstrate for you the three the most basic tools in a ninja’s arsenal so watch carefully.” Shinji could see the boredom on the three kid’s faces. It was rather pathetic on his part: he would never cut it as a real teacher.

Shinji went on with his demonstration regardless of the obvious boredom on the kid’s faces. He started with the transformation jutsu and followed it up with the clone jutsu. He then finished with the substitution jutsu. The nonplused looks on the kid’s faces continued until after when one red haired kid spoke up: “Can you do anything cool?” Slightly dismayed Shinji did not allow it to show and decided to show them his chakra chains: after all that’s pretty cool right? So Shinji merely nodded and allowed two chains to fall from his left palm. He gave them a good swing around and watched as the young kid’s faces lit up in awe. All three clapped and Shinji continued his demonstration until he got a nasty look from the jounin overseer, which put a stop to it.

Moving on from there Shinji had the full attention of the children so he figured now was a good a time as any to drill them on their practical ninja knowledge. So he asked them a few basic questions regarding formations and notable clan bloodlines. They answered flawlessly and even managed to correct Shinji a few times and teach him a thing or two. All three of them had a greater wealth of knowledge than Shinji had at their age, which in all actuality was not surprising: Shinji knew he had been a wee bit slow at that age. When at last it was time to go Shinji felt he had accomplished a lot or at the very least helped to inspire the younger generation.

{406/400}

Spoiler:

Shinji having just come back from his A rank mission was put directly on…trash duty. The most illustrious job a genin could ask for-so much for the big leagues. He walked from street corner to street corner without a care in the world save for his want to be done with this wretched job. This was an academy level job being given to the genin; Tengakure must be hard up for trash collectors. To make things a little more fun Shinji began using his Uzumaki chains to pick up trash so he would not have to bedn down to pick it up.

This technique was actually quite effective and saved Shinji from a backache the next day. Though he did get a few odd looks from a passerby now and again. After all who sees chains coming out of a boy’s hand everyday? Thus this was the course of things for the whole day: Shinji moved from street to street making the city cleaner block by block-people were truly a filthy animal. Whilst in the middle of trash pickup Shinji promised himself that he would not litter for the sake of all the other genin and academy student who would be doomed with the same infernal fate he was: trash duty. The job had been rather degrading and Shinji also resolved to never take on a mission like that ever again to protect his sanity as the mind numbing job was bound to drive one mad if they did it for too long. Basically besides trash duty, which had taken all day, the day had not been too bad. Once the final piece of trash had been picked up Shinji took off at break neck pace for the bath house. He would pick up his ryo later right now he needed to clear his mind of any remnants of trash duty.

{313/300}

Spoiler:

There was slight panic in the village as some how an Onbaa had been let loose into the city of Tengakure. Preliminary reports said that the Onbaa had gotten in on some shipping crate that had not been fully inspected. Naturally the higher ups saw this as a chance to have a wee bit of a competition-though naturally this would be a competition for the genin as a jounin or chuunin would find this job far too easy. They invited a group of genin to come to a mission briefing codenamed CTO, which was an abbreviation for catch that Onbaa. Shinji had been one of the few genin invited to this special squad. Once there Shinji saw that there was about ten other genin. Most of them looked fairly incompetent, which was surprising and slightly insulting to Shinji: why had he been lumped with this lot? Not that Shinji really cared, because as of yet he had no clue what this team was for.

Just as Shinji was getting uneasy just standing around a heavily armored jounin walked up to the group and started talking: “As I am sure you all know we have a an Onbaa. Now you ten are part of the find Onbaa task force. It will be your job to find and safely capture the Onbaa. We cannot allow it to latch onto anybody. Nor can we allow its parents to come looking for it…because that would be at best a disaster. Now be off and don’t get caught yourself.” With that the ten ninja ran off in every direction to scour the streets for the small yet disastrous Onbaa. Shinji did not know much about Onbaa, but he knew that if one latched onto your back it was bad news, because it would bond to you and take you as your parent, which could be disastrous for how big they supposedly came.

Shinji took to the rooftops. He jumped from one to the other until at last he saw an old lady walking in the street. Just five feet away from her was the small brown figure of the Onbaa. Acting quickly Shinji tackled the old lady out of the way and carried her out of the way and onto a roof where she would be safe. Unfortunately in that time the Onbaa made its escape. And so the hunt continued. All over town there were reports of the Onbaa. In fact at one point the reports said that the Onbaa was in three separate places across the village at once-it was quite a mess. Though at long last Shinji caught up with the Onbaa and manged to sneak up behind it and grab it with out much fanfare. Of course he was now hailed as the one as the Onbaa catcher. Upon returning to the mission center Shinji was given a small reward and a general approbation by his superiors. In fact upon arriving home Shinji got some sarcastic applause from his surrogate parents who had a good laugh calling Shinji the “Onbaa annihilator” much to his embarrassment. And so that was how Shinji manged to save Tangakure from the plague that is the Onbaa.

{520/500}

{Overall reward for 5 D-rank missions: +15 JP & +2350ryo}

[Kalix Terumi (Wuwu)Citizen]

Good Job

[Yasahiro YagamiCitizen]

Spoiler:

The human race as a whole is a complete and utter mess. This sad fact became apparent to Shinji when he was dispatched in the middle of the night on some so called important mission. Supposedly some fool had made a mess of the village gates and it was Shinji’s job to help fix them up. Granted Tengakure did not really have real gates as its entrance was really an elevator shaft, but it did have, at the bottom of the elevator as an entrance to the city, a decorative gate that made the village seem all the more official. How someone had knocked down the entire decorative gate in the middle of the night was beyond Shinji, but apparently some visiting dignitaries were coming and it had to be fixed up by morning.

As Shinji made his way to the gate he noticed that a few of the lights were out on the street, which made it seem as though he were walking deeper and deeper into shadow. It also gave the street more of an empty feel. After walking for ten minutes he arrived at the gate, which was indeed damaged, but not beyond repair. Somehow an idiot had smashed down one of the main supporting pillars. Luckily Shinji was going to have help for this mission: a clever engineer and a few other genin. Greeting them with a sleepy smile Shinji could see that they were all waiting on the engineer who was fashioning a replacement pillar on the spot. The genin it seemed were going to be the muscle to move it into place. Taking seat Shinji pulled out his book he had brought with him to pass the time should there be a lag time between job, which in retrospect was a smart move on his part and luckily there was just enough light for him to read by.

Shinji did not know the other genin so he felt no shame in ignoring them completely whilst reading. Though something the engineer was doing caught Shinji’s eyes: he was pounding small rings into place around the pillar, but that was not really what had captivated his attention. The idea by rings had caught his attention, because it just might be the solution to Shinji’s cursed seal dilemma. What if he was able to apply a cursed seal to a ring? That would allow him to overstep the major pitfall of cursed seals: the inability to mark oneself with a cursed seal. By marking the ring he would be able to gain all the power of a cursed seal and increases his own power with relatively now strings attached. Jotting down the idea right into his juinjutsu book Shinji allowed himself a pensive smile. He was then jolted from his thoughts when the engineer said that it was ready to be put in place. All the genin, including Shinji, gather around the pillar and gripped the pillar in any way they could. Then on the count of three all the genin heaved the pillar up and moved it into place. The whole action less than three minutes despite one of the weaker genin almost dropping his part of the pillar. Honestly Shinji did not really see the reason he needed to be there, but shrugged and stalked off into the night with his mind moving at a million miles per hour-after getting his ryo of course.

The only problem with his plan was that he would need to find a stable ring to transfer said cursed seal into, which in and of itself would be hard, because it would take one robust ring to hold the power of a cursed seal that very well could have the power to disintegrate any normal ring. All these thoughts continued to drift onward in the oblivion that is Shinji’s mind. For now this idea was just that: an idea. Maybe sometime soon it would come to fruition, but not yet. At this point Shinji was only a small and insignificant genin, but sometime soon he planned to be something quite different and the mission he had just completed would help him on that path.

So, as Shinji made his way home from another mission he stopped by Gorro’s forge and picked up a small silver ring. This ring would not be able to hold a cursed seal, but Shinji wanted a concept model. From that he could expand and make his design perfect. Making sure to close up the forge Shinji turned, for the second time that night, to home. He would definitely have to sleep in the next morning as he was going to be up for a long time-he might not even sleep. And so Shinji finished yet another mission and hatched a plan that would soon reshape his very life.

{808/800}

Spoiler:

Food, food, food; the whole world revolved around it. In fact, Shinji was sitting at the local Ramen bar doing what all people tend to do their: eating. Or rather he was waiting to eat. The chef had been taking a long time. Though Shinji did not really mind in the least as it allowed him time to delve deeper into his book. The book was the one he had been reading for quite a while now: “The Big Bad Book of Juinjutsu.” Although Shinji himself had finished the book about five times over already he had been going back and making notes in it. Thus far he decided that cursed seals cannot really help the seal placer as it was impractical to place a cursed seal on ones own body. The only problem being that Shinji could see no way around it-he desired all the power a cursed seal could give, but could see no clear way to getting one without depending on someone else to place one on him. The later option was untenable though, because Shinji did not want the powers of the cursed seal to hinder him in any way nor cause him to be in debt to another. Alas Shinji would have to think on this conundrum another time as he just saw the chef come from behind the counter to talk to Shinji.

The chef had a worried look on his face when he started talking Shinji learned why: “Hey Shinji, so…our store was robbed and we are unable to make any Ramen until we get more. As such I will have to refund your dinner bill.” Shinji gave a sympathetic look to the man with a reply to match: “ Don’t worry. There is no real need to refund me as I am sure I will be back again. As for your robbery problem: please tell me more as I think I can help you there. I have dealt with something like this in the past.” Shinji recalled his run in with the art thief. The old chef seemed hesitant at first, but quickly started to open up after giving it some thought: “Well when I left for my lunch break we had plenty of ingredients, but upon coming back I come to find that some bastard stole my goods. I mine as well pack up and go home for today…” Shinji mere nodded and gave the chef a brief smile: “I’ll get your stuff back in jiffy. Just leave it to me. Oh and if you don’t mind I am going to have to take a look behind the bar.” With an affirmative nod from the chef Shinji made a beeline for the back of the bar.

Once there Shinji observed the crime scene. There was no food indeed, but the thief did leave something behind: muddy footprints. Why were all these criminals so incompetent? Counting himself blessed Shinji decided to follow the foot prints. Whoever this thief was they were going somewhere in a hurry; that much was evident by the gait of the footprints. The only problem was the fact that the footsteps seemed to go everywhere: around street corners through other shops and then back again. Whoever made these prints must have noticed that they were tracking their feet all over the place. At one point or another Shinji could have sworn he had lost the trial only to pick it up again. Finally at long last Shinji found where they led to and found the goods inside. He then went and reported the robbery and as it turned out this robber already stolen from other people, thus there was a reward on his head-one which Shinji handily collected. Along with the ryo reward he got a discount on his next bowl of Ramen, which he promptly used.

{642/600}

Spoiler:

Whispers and inklings of animal fights drifted through Tengakure. Naturally Shinji had been dispatched to see if any of these rumors were grounded in fact with one caveat: don’t get caught upon discovering the location of the fights. The higher ups wanted to catch the perpetrators in the act and thereby make a greater number or arrests and stop it from happening again. This particular mission hit close to Shinji’s heart as he was an animal lover, save for cats he hated cats. So, he took it with a vigor not seen before in his other missions. Instead of taking a laid back position in the mission Shinji was putting his heart into it-there was no way in hell he would allow people to mistreat animals.

He was currently patrolling the busy streets and hopping from store to store. At each stop he made he spent time chatting up a few people here and there in an attempt to get some stray information. After a few shops and two hours of stalking the streets Shinji had yet to hear anything about the animal fights. He was just about to take a break in his search when he overheard a pair of old men talking about the money they had won while betting on the animal fights in hushed tones over a cup of tea. It absolutely disgusted Shinji and he wanted to beat the two old men up with his own two hands right then and there, but he restrained himself and allowed his temper to smolder. And he was rewarded for his patience as he heard an address where the fights supposedly took place.

Taking his leave Shinji walked back onto the street and made his way to the address mentioned. Once there is became fairly obvious to the observant eye that there was some shady business going on. People would approach the door and knock three times and then kick the door. The door slid open after this ritual had been completed. Shinji took note of this as he approached the ocean door. He gave the door three quick raps and then gave it a swift kick. Like magic the door slid open, but the house that it led into was empty. The only place to go was down into the basement, so down Shinji went.

As he descended the stairs he could just hear the screeches and whining of animals that were forced to fight. At the bottom of the stairs the room opened up into a small circular arena. An omnipresent smoke filled the air that stung Shiji’s eyes. He could not see the animals in the arena, but he could hear the distinct dog noises coming from it. Shinji could not bear to going any further. Instead, against his better judgment he walked slowly back up the stairs and out the door. Once outside he broke out into an all-out sprint-he needed to get help for those poor animals now. He pushed past people on the street. When at last he reached the mission command center. Upon entering he just about ran over a jounin who was leaving. Not stopping to apologize Shinji went right to the emergency dispatcher and relayed him the information.

While the dispatcher sent out an emergency mission mandate to a jounin squad Shinji was offered a cigarette by the jounin who he had almost barreled over upon coming in. Surprised Shinji accepted it. The jounin merely smiled and told him that he had heard about what he did for the animals. The jounin, before leaving, went on to tell him that he had done a good job and that he should rest easy. Relived and proud Shinji collected his ryo and went on his-a strong sense of accomplishment visible on his face not to mention small traces of smoke spilling from the corners of his mouth. The thought of all the animals he had just saved brought joy to Shinji’s heart. So, much so that he half considered adopting a dog or two, but in the excitement remember that Gorro was allergic to dogs-a very sad thing indeed. Instead of going straight home like he typically did after missions Shinji decided this time to go and relax at in the entertainment district where he could spend all his well-earned ryo.

{724/700}

Spoiler:

The great city of skyscrapers that ironically lay underground was still a prosperous village, if not the most prosperous. One would think that being underground would hinder Tengakure’s ability to provide a steady supply of food for its people. Of course if someone thought this they would be woefully incorrect and look rather foolish when they discovered that Tengakure had its own agricultural system underground. Of course the farming district was far from the industrial block and it was also Shinji’s current destination. Earlier that day he had been dispatched on a C ranked mission to go and figure out why one of the largest farming operations had lost communication with the central agriculture hub.

Shinji figured it was probably just some technical fluke, which would make his job pretty easy. But, regardless he held out hope that there would be some action. As he neared the district he could just make out a wee bit of smoke rising from one of the farms. Picking up the pace Shinji could practically feel his mind racing. At first his mind jumped to the more outrageous causes: a missing ninja attack, a rip in the space time continuum and finally a maybe a dragon. But, as Shinji got closer and closer his thoughts moderated themselves: maybe it was an accidental fire or a mechanical failure. All he knew for sure was that in a matter of minutes he would know the source of the smoke.

Arriving at the source of the smoke Shinji found that it was a smoking piece of farming equipment that had caught fire while harvesting. Getting a closer look Shinji noticed a trail of blood that led to a storage shed-this might actually be interesting he thought to himself. Drawing an odd red and green katana Shinji approached the shed. Using his sword to open the door the image that greeted Shinji’s eyes was surprising. He found a group of six farm workers huddled in the corner holding an assortment of makeshift weapons: a pitchfork or two, a shovel and some garden shears. For some reason Shinji had a flash of some kind of flesh eating monsters attacking this small crew, but like that it was gone. Putting it out of his head Shinji spoke up seeing as the six people before him were obviously not going to pipe up: “My name is Shinji Uzuzmaki. I’m here to help, but first I need to know exactly what the hell happened here.”

Almost before Shinji stopped talking a small shrew like man spoke up: “W-w-we were attacked! Some weird fire breathing monsters came out of the caves and attacked us. I think there is still a few around, so we have been hiding out in here seeing as we are just humble farmers and have no real fighting ability.” Shinji was rather shocked at the man’s forthright and frank response. With a nod he turned a walked out the door: “I will get rid of them. Mena while one of you should get back to the agricultural hub and report this.” The six men all left in a hurry, but Shinji saw why they did: the back of the shed in which they had been hiding was glow an ominous red like it was being melted, because in fact it was. In the next instant a small lizard like creature stepped through the hole that had been created by the extreme heat that had been applied to it.

It was then that it became apparent to Shinji: this lizard thing was the reason he had seen the smoke: it must have lit the farm equipment on fire. And unfortunately it did not look in the least bit pleased to see Shinji as it was now charging at him. Thinking quickly Shinji sidestepped to the left of the monster as it shot a jet of flame at him and continued on its way past him, but instead of allowing the beast to slip by unscathed Shinji jabbed down on its head with his sword as it ran by and that was all she wrote. The lizard thing lay dead with a sword through its head. Smirking grimly Shinji withdrew his sword and wiped the blood from his blade. He could see why a whole pack of these could bring the farm to a halt-he was luck there had only been one left. All that remained now was to look around the compound and sweep out anymore that may be hiding.

So, for the next hour or so Shinji scoured the entire farm and could find neither heads nor tails of another lizard beast, but they were bound to return. That being the case Shinji was sure that he would have to file a in depth mission report and probably get some higher ranking shinobi to come and exterminate the rest of the lizards should they return. Either way Shinji knew his job here was done. All that remained now was to get out of this place and get back to studying juinjutsu. Also as it just so happened Shinji was passing the agricultural districts “open air” market so he picked up some cabbage for the stew that Gorro was going to make that night. Even though Shinji in all honesty hated Gorro’s cabbage stew it would make Gorro happy and that’s all that mattered.

{901/900}

Spoiler:

Shinji had just awoken from a long winters nap. He could hear the distant whistling of the tea kettle as came to a nice boil in the kitchen. At this moment Shinji felt content to just sit in bed all day long. He had been running himself ragged the past few weeks doing missions and helping his surrogate father, Gorro, in the forge. In fact Shinji himself was becoming quite the accomplished blacksmith. Though he had yet to get the sharpening of blades down to an art. It was no doubt only a matter of time until he mastered it-like most things. He knew the technique and how it should work, but his hands never seemed to follow through with his mind-it was overwhelmingly frustrating at times. So, Shinji, clearing his mind, lay back on his pillow once again until he heard a dull thud in the kitchen.

Slightly annoyed Shinji forced himself out of bed. Despite this seemingly trivial reason Shinji cared deeply for his two surrogate parents who were getting on in years. Granted both of them were still nimble on their feet, but Shinji still worried. Not bothering to pull on any clothes Shinji walked in his flannel Pajamas to the kitchen. His very being recoils with each step as the coldness of the ground started to get to him, but at long last Shinji arrived at the end of the long hallway (that was only about a few meters long). Luckily the scene that greeted Shinji’s eyes was a relatively safe one. Gorro had taken in some metal back from the forge and it had just fallen off the kitchen table-Gorro had been up to some big project and would not tell Shinji what it was, which was dismaying. In fact, Shinji decided to take this chance to go and inspect the blueprints that were strewn across the kitchen table, but was cut short by a curt cough from the corner: it was Gorro.

The heavy set man stood up and wordlessly passed Shinji a letter. Shinji took with a deadpan look on his face-it was another mission. Gorro detested all the missions Shinji went on saying it would get him killed one day, so everyday Shinji had a mission Gorro would not speak a word to him. It was kind of harsh really, but Shinji tried to forget it as he glanced over the mission mandate that now sat in his hand. The mission was not all like all the formal requests Shinji had received before as it looked much less formal. The words were3 scrawled as if by some giant brute, but it was unmistakably a mission missive.

The mission itself did not look too bad. It was a B ranked mission that required him to save a few endangered species from some bandits. Then again the catch was to get the animals back without too much of a fight. That in and of itself would indeed be a challenge as it would either require a hell of a lot of stealth or an extreme amount of trickery and illusions. Either way this mission would be interesting to say the least. Giving Gorro a friendly smile Shinji ran back to his room to get ready.

In ten minutes Shinji was fully prepared and running down the streets of Tengakure. Almost tripping at a few points along the way Shinji moved to the frontier of Tengakure. Seeing as the city of Tengakure was underground it had incidentally intersected some natural caves, which now were dubbed the frontier by the villagers as it was a place of overwhelming mystery and danger. To Shinji it was not a bit surprised that the animals had been taken here as it would be hard to find anything in the mess of caves that stood before him, but he would play it to his advantage as well as the caves would allow for better stealth. Taking his last breath of relatively fresh air Shinji delved down into the main natural cave where the bandits were supposedly encamped.

The cave seemed to go on forever, but luckily there were odd glowing rocks that lines the cave walls making the lighting just dim enough to hide in and just light enough to see. Near the floor of the cave there hung a light mist, which Shinji found rather disconcerting as he could not see the ground and therefore not see any traps that may have been laid down. So as the mist got thicker and higher Shinji slowed his footsteps to an indiscernible shuffle across the unknown ground. After what felt like an eternity Shinji started hearing vague voices echoing down the cave walls. They were still distant, but Shinji knew he was on the right path, that was for sure.

After walking for another four minutes Shinji could see a long fiery shadow stretching up and down the cave’s walls. Clearly the poachers had set up a small fire to keep warm. It was this fire that would be the undoing of the poachers-it was evident that they feared the dark enough to want to make a fire knowing full well that it would give away their position. That or they were arrogant fools who thought they had gotten away with something. Either way Shinji would be able to use it to his advantage.

He now stood in such a way that he was right around the corner from the poachers-now was the time to strike fear into their hearts. Soundlessly Shinji walked up the wall with the tree walking jutsu until he was hidden in the blackness of the cave ceiling. Whilst being concealed in the shadows of the cave Shinji let out a guttural bellow. Anywhere else this sound would have sounded childish at best, but within the long winding caves the sound bounced around until it came out as a loud yet eerie groan that very well could have come from hell itself. For a couple seconds after the bellow all was silent then Shinji heard frenzied whispers coming from the poachers and then quiet-these guys were not the wimps Shinji had believed them to be. Clearly he would have to try harder. Using all his breath Shinji let out a more terrible bellow that reverberated off the walls.

This time Shinji could hear the poachers talking again-this time clearly spooked. To finish them off Shinji bellowed one last time with all his might. To his delight the three poachers fled with the cave without incident-the plan had worked flawlessly. Once he was sure there were no other poachers lagging behind Shinji dropped from the ceiling and walked into the fire lit chamber. As it turned out the endangered animals were three bats that had been discovered during the creation of Tengakure. Fortunately the bats were held in an easy to carry cage. So, with one swift movement Shinji snatched the cage and carried it right out of the “front door” of the cave. The poachers had been push overs, which kind of irked Shinji as it was hardly a challenge. A challenge was what Shinji wanted, but at the rank of genin it would be while before he became truly challenged-he needed to advance in rank.

Taking his time Shinji wandered back to the village as he did not want to come face to face with the poachers with the three bats in his hands. Though he did get a few strange looks from passerbys and scare a few small children when the bats whipped themselves up into a rage and started screeching. Besides those few instances Shinji made it back to the mission command without a hitch. Dropping off the bats he collected his ryo and went on his way. The missions were getting easier and easier. Even his A ranked mission had been a breeze, which was worrying to Shinji: would he be ready for the world of shinobi? This question weighed heavily on Shinji’s mind as he walked home: was he ready? Was he good enough? Would he stand a chance against an enemy? All these questions would remain unanswered for now, but maybe later the answers would reveal themselves.

To get his mind away from these questions Shinji stopped by the ramen shop and had a healthy helping of ramen to distract himself. After that he turned for home with the melancholy feeling still on his mind. It infected his thoughts and very being-it felt like a curse spreading over him, which with Shinji’s recent studies into Juinjutsu seemed almost fitting. Once Shinji got home he slouched back into his bed without a word to Gorro and started reading his book once again. Maybe he would try to make amends with Gorro later, but right now he just wanted to be alone and think. And while he thought images of the real parents he never had drifted in and out of his mind. Thus was the course of things in Shinji’s mind for the rest of the day.
{1510/1500}

{Overall rewards for completing one B rank and four C rank missions: +27 JP, +5000 ryo and Requesting Chuunin rank as I have completed the requirements: 1 A rank, 2 B rank, 4 C rank and 8 D rank missions (see above)}

[Kalix Terumi (Wuwu)Citizen]

Good Job.

I'll ask that you be promoted.