The shelter mission (P)

As an official genin of the village of kumogakure Ryuzaki now had the ability to take on missions, when he had learned of this earlier he had been expecting some kind of dangerous task that would get his blood flowing but instead he had been given the simple task of helping out with the shelters. When he heard this his excitement went from one hundred to zero, he didn't want to go deliver boring stuff like firewood and blankets, he sighed as he had already been assigned and he didn't think it would look good to refuse this. Ryu wasn't even sure he could refuse to do this, he rubbed the bridge of his nose before opening his amber colored eyes, this was not at all what he had been expecting today, well at least it would get him some money in his pockets which he could most certainly use. Ryuzaki decided to head over to the place with the firewood and found that the people in charge hadn't even gotten it chopped yet, what was he manual labor?, he grit his teeth as he walked over grabbing a simple axe to take care of the wood.

He began chopping the wood at a steady place, the dull sound of wood being split filled the area as Ryuzaki began thinking to himself about things, he wondered if perhaps he now had the power to stop that bandit brigade that came to his village four years ago. The thought had his chops going from a steady plain rhythm to a rougher wilder rhythm of chopping, it was as if Ryuzaki were imagining those bandits underneath his axe as he chopped downwards with his full force over and over. Wood splinter went in every direction even hitting him yet he did not flinch, he remembered every one of their faces and if he ever met these men again he would kill them all without hesitation for what they had done. Ryuzaki was a very vengeful person especially when he felt that he had been wronged, the wood didn't do anything to him but today it had become his source of release for feelings that he had yet to purge from himself, a flaw in his character was to hang onto things until he could resolve them personally.

After an hour of straight chopping Ryuzaki felt like he had enough wood for the shelters, he grabbed up several bundles and began walking towards one of the shelters in question, he came through the back as he didn't want to deal with all the people. "You're wood courtesy of the Ryuzaki express", he said in a cheerful tone towards the shelter worker who gave him this sort of blank look as if he wasn't interested in Ryuzaki or the wood, the man simply took the wood from him like it was to be expected without a word of thanks or acknowledgement. If the mission hadn't specifically stated that Ryuzaki was to be polite at all times he would have asked the guy what the hell his problem was but instead he just smiled before leaving, in his heart though he had already marked that guy, if he ever got the chance to do so he would ignore that guy when he was doing something to get back at him. This was how Ryuzaki reacted when people slighted him even if only a bit like that man, he had a deep sense of pride that he tried to keep in check by being realistic but still when he was polite he expected others to be polite even if it was forced politeness.

He moved onto the next shelters and the next two were actually polite and one of them even thanked him for bringing the wood by which helped get rid of that slightly negative mood that he was in at the moment. On his fourth stop there was an old woman who took the wood and brought it by the fire, she moved rather slowly which wasn't much of a surprise given her age, she was hunched over with twig like arms as she began picking up the wood. Ryu was just going to walk away but as the old woman dropped a piece of wood she looked down at it like it was so far away, he felt a bit of pity for her so he walked back over and grabbed the firewood before putting it into the dying fire. He built the fire back up for her "I'll be back around with food and blankets in a bit so don't worry about the fire, I'll keep it going until someone else comes around", he gave her a slight nod and she gave him a toothy smile he took as a thank you even though it wasn't said.

See Ryu wasn't a complete ass all of the time though he was very petty all of the time, he headed out delivering the rest of the firewood that he had chopped up so he headed back to the place that had been given to him to grab the blankets. The blankets were a lot easier to carry as they were much lighter but he had to go back and forth a lot as there were only so many he could carry and there were a lot of people that needed blankets because of how disorganized this whole thing was. He was handing out blankets to others when he still had one left, thinking that perhaps there had been a mistake he realized that there was an older shorter man who was blind sitting by the fire. He could see that the man was shivering so he decided to bring the blanket over to him, "hey I got a blanket for ya", he called out to warn the man who was more than aware of his presence as he was a former ninja and his hearing was impeccable. "I know what you got in your hands boy", the tone was gravelly and worn out as if the older man was just plain tired of existing at this point, "I can smell the cheap materials used to make the blanket".

The way the man said it seemed like he was blaming Ryuzaki for the mass production of blankets, Ryuzaki sucked on his teeth instead of saying well I didn't make the damn thing you want it or not. The blind man naturally heard this sound and chuckled to himself, "well you gonna give me the blanket or not kid?", the question had Ryuzaki's teeth grinding together as he held himself back from saying something bad to the man, "yea here you go" Ryuzaki replied in a sickly sweet and cheerful way filled to the brim with false feelings. "That is here you go sir", the blind man stated as a matter of fact which had Ryu's teeth grinding against each other all the harder, god he wanted to tell this guy the sir part could go where the sun don't shine but instead he took a deep breath, "here you go s-". Ryuzaki never got any further as the blind man began cackling very loudly drawing the attention of others in the shelter, "ah I'm sorry kid I just wanted to see how far I could push you and see if you exploded".

If looks could kill then this blind man would have been struck dead where he was sitting as Ryuzaki was glaring at him almost hatefully, the blind man seemed to be having fun as he suddenly reached out and took the blanket from Ryuzaki as if he could tell exactly sure where he was. This took the angry feeling from Ryu and it was replaced by surprise as he hadn't been expecting the man to move so confidently, "how'd you do that?" Ryuzaki asked curiously as he watched man move over to a bed near the fire never slowing down his walk or hesitating to sit on the bed. "I know where everything in this place is, got in my head like a map and I can hear everything in here, I'm like a bat on steroids", the blind man said confidently puffing out his chest as he bragged to this youngin. Ryuzaki naturally imagined a very muscular bat and that was a very interesting image to say the very least, "that is pretty impressive", Ryuzaki wasn't trying to placate the man or make him feel better he was genuinely impressed not just by what he could do but his spirit.

"I've got to head out and get the food for the shelters but I'll make sure to ask more on my way back through", Ryuzaki called out as he walked towards the entrance, if he were in that man's shoes could he keep going the way he had?. Ryu didn't think he could manage something like that, he would want to die rather than being stuck unable to see or do anything that he used to for the rest of his life, especially if everyone else around him continued moving forward while he was stuck in place. He arrived and grabbed the food for the shelters making sure that everyone got the food that they needed, as he came to the shelter with the old woman who he helped with the firewood he naturally stocked the fire back up and brought her food over to her. "They usually only give everyone just one soup but I traded a piece of bread for an extra for ya", Ryuzaki had done this figuring that she would rather have soup than some tough bread to chew seeing as she wasn't exactly at her peak strength anymore.

The old woman nodded gratefully before taking the soup, her hands shook as she used the spoon and she could see him looking at her wondering if she needed help with the soup, her eyes showed a warmth towards this young man yet she would not let herself be fed like some invalid, even she had her own pride!. Ryuzaki could see the strength still deep inside of her eyes and he couldn't pity her any longer as there was still a fire burning inside of her, she might be older and weaker but she was still strong in spirit. "You take care of yourself ma'am", Ryuzaki said in a softer tone before giving a nod and walking off, there was nothing more to do or say in this case as he wasn't her caretaker he was just doing the mission he had been assigned. Ryu moved back to go get food for the next shelter along the way and had no problems, when he came to the shelter with the blind man he waited to give him his food last so he could sit down next to the guy without worrying about giving food to everyone else.

"What keeps you going?", Ryu asked out of nowhere surprising the blind man, most kids didn't bother asking questions and if they did it was always boring safe questions like how are you? or need anything else?. This kid came straight forward like a hammer to an anvil, no disrespect, no beating around the bush, just a question waiting for a real answer from someone with more experience than him. The blind man chomped on some bread and thought about his answer for a moment, "well at first I thought about ending it to be honest, couldn't think of how to live without being able to see and fight". This is what Ryu had been thinking of earlier, "but I'm still alive, others around me died some even sacrificed themselves for me and so I'm still here, can't fight but I still exist so they still exist, that is what keeps me going". Ryu swallowed deeply as he heard these words from the blind man "I understand, thank you for sharing this information with me", Ryu said softly before walking away for the last time, "thanks for listening kid".

OOC: Word count 2,008 words, mission http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t33749-warming-up-the-shelters-d-rank, claiming 1k ryo, 3 ap, and a cookie from Aki apparently, Character has exited.