Royal Rescue

Mission:

Today was an ordinary day for Nano. He had slept in til 10 am and then went for his daily jog through the forest. Coming back sweaty from his jog, Nano took a dip in the lake and went through the regular morning routine. Brush teeth, comb hair (Not that he used a comb, he always used his fingers to fix his hair), get dressed, eat breakfast. During this, Nano decided he wanted to do something productive today. Searching his mind for any kind of idea, Nano slapped himself. He was a ninja for goodness sake! He could do a mission!

Deciding that doing a mission was a great idea, Nano grabbed his ninja equipment and headed towards the mission centre. Along the way, Nano passed a food vendor holding up a sign for a new product added to the menu. It was called the Tornado Potato. Nano wasn't particularly interested in the Tornado Potato but seeing a picture of a tornado on the sign reminded him of a jutsu he had read about in a fascinating book about wind jutsu. It was a B ranked wind jutsu named Flower Scattering Dance. The technique when used properly would create a cyclone which could be controlled by the user.

After stopping for a moment to think about learning the technique instead of doing a mission, Nano compromised and was going to learn the technique during whatever mission he received. Mind made up, he headed to the mission counter to receive today's entertainment. Once he arrived, he walked up and started speaking to the person at the desk. "Can I please get a mission? Preferably a C ranked one." The person behind the desk who happened to be a man named Craig. "Can do." Craig then skimmed through a pile of papers before picking one out and handing it to Nano. "Have a nice day!"

Having received his mission stepped outside and read through the paper. It read 'A visiting royal has lost their way at the Hoshigakure borders and requires an escort to lead them back to the city. However, a group of bandits known as the Jaws of Grima have been spotted close to the royal and they may become a problem. If they appear hostile, do not hesitate to deal with them in whatever way you deem necessary.' The rest of the page was filled with several drawn pictures of the faces of the royal and members of the Jaws of Grima as well as the logo for said group of bandits. The logo was a skull biting down on an eye.

Slightly disgusted by the logo, Nano set off on his mission. First he headed to the exit of Hoshigakure. Showing his ID papers and mission form to the gate guards, Nano exited the village and began his journey. Not having much of an idea of where the royal was apart from that they were on the Hoshigakure border, Nano set out on a search. Looking in all directions, he found not a single clue as to the position of his charge. Shrugging his shoulders, he began jogging to the left.

After five minutes of straight jogging, Nano grew restless. He was having no luck in finding this person. Pulling out the library book on wind jutsu he had borrowed, he began to read through the page on the B ranked jutsu he was thinking about earlier. 'Flower Scattering Dance. This is a B ranked wind jutsu used to create a cyclone which can be controlled by the user's hand. The hand seals are tiger, hare, dragon. To form the cyclone, you must channel wind chakra to the palm of your hand and push it against each other, forming the spiralling wind.'

He practiced the handseals a couple times to make sure he had memorised them before he began to actually try the technique. He moved his hands through the tiger, hare and dragon seals before pushing his natural wind chakra against itself, attempting to form it into a spiral. As expected, his first try was absolutely terrible. He had done the correct seals but when he moved his chakra it ended up pushing against him instead and knocked him off balance, causing him to land on his bum.

Nano sighed. He was disappointed that he hadn't gotten it. So many of the people he knew learnt these kinds of things first try but he never did. Every single time he had failed the first time. He scolded himself inside his mind, he was acting like a child! Just because he wasn't a genius at learning jutsu didn't make him any less of a shinobi! It wasn't how fast or how many jutsu you learned, it was about how you used the jutsu once you had learned it. So many people in this world just figured out how to perform a certain jutsu but only ever used it's main use.

This technique he was learning for instance would normally just be used to cause blunt force trauma but once he finished learning it he would make sure to use it as much as possible by powering down the jutsu to carry objects or using it to corner an enemy by rounding them up like a sheep.

While thinking about all this, Nano barely noticed a small scribble in the dirt below him. On further inspection Nano realised it was the logo for the band of criminals Jaws of Grima. Figuring he must be close to either the bandits or the royals or possibly both, he began running with renewed energy. 

Turning a corner into a small clearing with a lake, Nano found a disgusting sight. He found a large bald man, around fifty years old with a large beer gut attempting to rape a twenty year old man. Yes, man. Just as the fifty year old was about to remove his trousers, Nano charged up behind him and elbowed him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious instantly. When he bent down to get a better look at the fat man, he noticed the familiar Jaws of Grima logo tattooed on the man's neck.

Nano spat on the ground infront of the rapist then turned back towards the young man who still hadn't moved due to shock. Nano clapped him on the back before saying "Jeez, for someone to stoop that low. That was almost disgustingly horrible. You alright? It's normal for you to be shocked from an experience like that. Just don't go wetting your pants on me, ok?"

The man then blushed slightly at the thought of wetting himself and introduced himself to Nano. "I am Prince Hans of the Southern Isle. I was heading towards Hoshigakure but seemed to lose the way. Thank you for saving me back there." The newly introduced Prince Hans then spun around and looked for any sign of his position. Finding no notable landmarks, the prince looked back to Nano.

"We will head North, following the river. We should reach the city square in about 2 hours."Nano explained the the prince. Knowing it would be a long trip, Nano pulled his book on wind jutsu back out. He spent five minutes studying the handseals and how he was meant to channel his wind Chakra. Once satisfied with his knowledge, he went through the three seals. Tiger, hare, dragon. He formed his wind Chakra into a large spiral and attempted to direct it towards a nearby tree.

Success! It had worked! While the spiral may have been a little lopsided, it had still destroyed the tree. Deciding that was enough progress for the time being, Nano started another conversation with the prince. "How did you like that little display?" Nano turned around towards Hans and found his reply to be the widened eyes and agape mouth of the prince. "That was magnificent! That has to be the most destructive thing I have ever witnessed!" Nano's cheeks took on a light shade of pink. It wasn't that amazing was it? It was only a B ranked jutsu.

Pushing that thought aside, he closed his book and put it back in his pouch. He would need to save his energy in case there was another attack from this Jaws of Grima group. Suddenly Nano heard a sound which was completely random and not part of a plot. He quickly turned his head to the noise. Hearing the noise once again, he finally pinpointed where it had originated from. It was coming from inside of a large tree. There was no way somebody could have fit comfortably inside it!

Nano knocked on the bark and to his surprise found that the tree felt metallic and it made a hollow sound. He circled the tree almost like a shark would his prey when he finally found what could have been an entrance. It was a brown tree branch which would have seemed normal to most onlookers but to the eye of a shinobi it was quite obvious what it was used for. First Nano pushed down on the branch but found it wasn't budging at all. Next he tried pushing it inwards, back into the tree. This didn't work either. Finally, Nano tried pulling the branch outwards which at first didn't work but when he got frustrated and used all of his strength he completely pulled it off.

While this most likely wasn't the intended use for the fake branch, it worked just as well and pulling it off had caused a medium sized hole to appear in the tree just big enough for him to enter. When he walked in Nano expected a man sitting there in a puddle of sweat due to the heat of this metallic room but instead came to see a large metal slide heading down, deep into the earth. He peered down as far as his eyes could see but could not find the bottom of the slide. Nano looked around for any people watching him but found nothing. He turned to the prince and motioned for him to follow behind.

Sliding down the cold silver metal, the two stopped in a small dark cavelike area. There was a constant dripping coming from the roof. As creepy as it was, Nano continued on without any emotion on his face. This was most likely the hideout of the disgusting rapist organisation and he was deadset and stopping them from ruining any more lives.

He looked around the room and found a small wooden door containing many locks. Curious as to what could be inside, Nano unlocked the door (they were the type of locks that don't need a key and only locked from one side) and slowly creeped inside. He was confronted with a terrible odour and almost puked at what he saw. There was an extremely pale and skinny man, about 20 years old, sitting in his own filth. This was the worst thing Nano had ever seen.

The skinny man was unconscious so Nano quickly walked back out the door and promptly threw up. Once he had emptied his stomach, he grabbed a weirdly placed hose and doused the person in water. The makeshift shower cleaned the man while also waking him up. The traumatised prisoner looked up at Nano with hope in his eyes. When he tried to stand however, he found himself too weak.

Ordering Prince Hans to help him walk, Nano walked over to another less protected door with barely restrained rage. How dare they put such an innocent person in conditions like that?! He kicked down the door, stealth training going out the window, and found three obese males sitting at a table discussing what Nano assumed to be another illegal activity.

Their heads swivelled all at once so fast Nano thought they may have received whiplash. One stood up with rage evident on his features and stomped over to him. Before he reached Nano however he found himself coughing and spluttering due to being punched in the stomach. In a cold voice Nano spoke, "To stoop so low as to put someone in such inhumane conditions. Despicable. You deserve no mercy."

He then grabbed a Kunai from his pouch and stabbed the bandit in the knee and twisted the knife. He would cause as much pain as he could to these terrible people. Nano then turned the man who was gasping for air due to the pain around and kneed him in the back. Hearing a crack, he then dropped the man to the ground and watched him roll along the ground, unable to form any kind of communication.

The other two bandits slowly stepped backwards, trying to evade Nano's eye but to no avail. He walked up to the other two without a sound and kicked one in the groin and castrated the other with the kunai he still had in his hands. The man who had been castrated fell over, apparently knocked out, and the other coiled into a ball on the floor and called for his mother.

"I'm sure your mother agrees with what I've done to the three of you. You're lucky I need to bring in one of you for questioning." Nano then elbowed the last conscious bandit in the temple, causing him to black out. Nano grabbed the least injured man and left the other two to bleed out. They didn't deserve to live in his opinion. Hopefully after questioning this last one will be executed.

Nano walked out of the meeting room carrying the man and headed towards what looked like an exit, the other two following closely behind. After walking up a long set of stairs, they ended up in the clearing where Nano had saved the prince. Looking towards Prince Hans, he nodded towards the lake before saying "Clean him off in the river and explain what's going on. I'll go find something to eat"

Nano then walked off without waiting for a reply and after setting the bandit down as he knew he would be down for the count for at least another two hours, set off on a quest to find something edible. After walking in silence for five minutes he heard an ear splitting howl coming from nearby. The howl was copied nearly ten times, each a different pitch louder than the other. Nano followed the sound until he reached familiar territory. It was the territory of the Wolf Clan of Hoshigakure Forest! His summons! He pushed past a couple of bushes until he found the welcome sight of all of his wolf friends.

He jogged through the middle of all of the wolves while they all stared at him, some whispering to each other, until he stopped at the large cave which housed the leader of the tribe. Once he stepped inside the cave he was greeted by the huge chief Yang. "Good afternoon chief. I was completing a mission and heard the howls of the tribe. Was there any reason for that?" The chief then spoke in a powerful voice, echoing throughout the cave, "Yes my friend. The reasoning for that was the making of a special gift. You came at just the right time as the gift happens to be for you."

Yang then pauses before speaking again, "I crafted it myself. It may look plain but it is imbedded with my own Chakra. Wolf Chakra is more potent than human Chakra so it will boost the power of your own Chakra pathways. Here, put it around your neck." The gigantic wolf then handed the much smaller Nano a silver necklace with a small silver dog tag hanging off it. Due to the size difference, it was extremely awkward grabbing the necklace out of Yang's giant paws.

Nano quickly pulled the gift over his head and let it hang off of his neck over his clothes. He instantly felt power flow through his veins and felt like he was more proficient in casting jutsu. He could get used to this. The most amazing thing was that he could get used to this. From what he understood he would be able to wear this all night and day and could feel this good for the rest of his life.

He thanked Yang over and over before he decided to ask one more question. "Not to be a pain or anything but do you happen to have some spare food on hand? I just rescued a prisoner from some bandits and he needs it." Yang then chuckled before saying in his booming voice, "Of course you can have some food! We have at least one hundred kilograms of food left from yesterday's gathering!" Nano' eyes widened slightly before he went over to what he was told was the food storage room.

When he opened the door to the food storage, Nano's jaw dropped. There was a pile of fruit nearly five meters tall and there was baskets full of meat inscribed with seals Nano assumed preserved the food. He would have to ask Next time he visited. Nano grabbed as much food as he could fit on his body then set off back towards the makeshift campsite they had made.

When he arrived he sat down on a rather conveniently placed log around a campfire Prince Hans must have made after taking the person they had rescued for a dip in the lake. Once he had sat down he was rushed to by the prince. The prince quietly explained that the man's name was Joe and that he was severely traumatised from being trapped down there for almost three months.

Nano glanced over to Joe and found him shivering and whispering to himself which Nano recalled to be the first sign of insanity. Trying to help him get back on his feet, Nano went over and started to talk to him. "I'm sure your family will be overjoyed to see you return. They all miss you very much. I'm going to take you to the hospital so they can fix you back up and I'll make sure that they notify them about you  being back. We'll begin walking back right after we finish the food."

Nano then pulled out all of the food and set it out in front of the others. He could see both of their mouths watering from the sight of such delicious looking food. After a few silent moments Joe dived into his portion of the food and was almost finished before the other two had started to eat. Seeing how hungry he must have been, Nano handed over the majority of his portion to him. Joe gave him a thankful look before digging in once again.

When the trio had all finished their meal or in Joe's case meals, they began to walk back to the city with renewed vigour. For the whole trip back to Hoshigakure the only words that were spoken were "Are we there yet" and "No" until finally the word yes was added to the mix. Prince Hans and Joe looked at the gates in awe before signing the necessary papers to be allowed entrance.

"We'll take you straight to the hospital Joe then I'll take Hans with me to the mission office." One short walk and drop off at the hospital later, Nano was leading the prince back to the mission hall. When they entered the person at the desk named Craig gave them a warm smile before welcoming the prince to the city. Craig then handed Nano a cheque and signed off a mission report for him. With his job done for the day, Nano began to head home.

Whilst melting into the large crowd in the city, Nano couldn't help but notice that every so often somebody would see his headband and back away with fear written on their face. This saddened Nano. Why must shinobi be shunned just for wanting to help protects the people and city that they love? Due to Hoshigakure being such a religious place, so many civilians believed that they were demons using magical and impossible jutsu.

While this was a terrible thing that he had to live with, at least it meant that the people that did accept them for who they really are are that much more precious. Many times in his life Nano had thought about quitting the life of a ninja and living like a regular person but each time he came back to the same way of thinking. If he didn't do it, he wouldn't be able to help other people be able to sleep easily without the thought of death every single day.

On the way back to his small little campsite Nano caught sight of a small dog being kicked around by a group of three teenage boys. "Pick on someone your own size!" The three turned towards Nano and began to slowly step closer to him until the biggest of the group was standing with his face an inch apart from Nano's. "Piss off! This has nothing to do with you! If you don't fuck off I'll have to beat you to a pulp!"

"You can try to fight me but I did say pick on someone your own size. Oh well I'll just have to beat some sense into you" Nano then proceeded to dodge the sloppy attacks of the overweight 'leader' until he had finally had enough. Shoving back the teenager, Nano rolled up his sleeves before opening a can of whoop ass on them.

Nano kneed the obese leader in the groin before deciding to play a bit of a trick on them. He pulled the leader out of the other boys' sight before using the palm of his hand to knock him unconscious. He then proceeded to memorise his facial structure and body before going through the three hand seals to perform the transformation jutsu.

It was an extremely low level technique but it should work perfectly on a couple of thugs. The disguised form of Nano walked back into the other's line of sight before saying "What a wimp, he ran as soon as I touched him." The other boys laughed before turning back towards the dog. Just as they were about to continue to injure the dog some more, Nano slammed his fist into the side of their skulls simultaneously.

When they both fell to the ground, Nano quickly grabbed a pen from who knows where and wrote a note on a conveniently placed piece of paper explaining what they had been doing. Knowing the queensmen would find them soon enough, Nano looked over the dog for injuries and when he found none he set it down and let it roam free once again.

With that little fiasco over, Nano began walking to his site again. It had been a long day and he was ready to go to bed. Just as he was about to lie down a loud rumble came from his stomach reminding Nano that he had generously given most of his meal to Joe. While he didn't regret the kind gesture, he was still annoyed that he couldn't go to sleep. Nano was unusual in that he could never even get close to sleeping on an empty stomach. It's just the way he is. He burns off so many calories with his lifestyle as a ninja that he can't go without a meal even once.

After silently grabbing some bacon he had gotten earlier in the week, Nano began to light a fire. First, he gathered some kindling, tinder and a couple of large logs. Next he grabbed a piece of flint he had been using for the last couple of weeks. He then grabbed out a kunai and created a spark by hitting them together. At first the spark did not ignite the wood but after another five minutes of striking the kunai with a piece of flint the fire finally began. It started off small but once it had spread throughout all of the wood the flames where almost two meters in height.

Grabbing a stick, Nano attached the piece of meat before slowly cooking it over the fire. It was a slow process but the warmth of the fire comforted Nano. It had been a stressful day with the mission and everything and whenever he need some time to rid himself of stress, this was the perfect way to do it. He needed to cook food either way but doing it in a way such as this was just all the more relaxing for some unknown reason.

Once the food was cooked, Nano devoured it in ten seconds flat. While he may have eaten it fast, it was actually quite filling and he now had a full stomach. With dinner finished, Nano was now ready to go to bed so he walked over to his sleeping bag and crawled in. Snuggling up to the sides for warmth, he made sure he was sitting as close to the fire as he could be without risking himself being set on fire. The warmth was as soothing as before and Nano found himself falling into a dreamlike state within seconds.

It had been a tiring day and he deserved some rest. There was no doubt that he would be sleeping in til at least eleven am tomorrow morning. Hopefully Prince Hans and Joe would be able to sleep as well as he was.

[Exit]

Wc 4250
Claiming Chakra Boosting Dogtag 1250/1250
Claiming Flowering Scattering Dance 3000/3000

Approved, Nano

+2000 Ryo
+5 action points
+ all the wc stated above for the item and jutsu.