Leaving traces [Sanae, Kotetsu]

Mission: Ill gotten artifacts



Another day, another mission to go on since money needed to be earned in the family and her father had gone off to a longer lasting mission as. This time it was Sanae standing in front of a blackboard in an office where she was picking a job to go on. Since the last thing she did was a marriage where some monks had done them a solid favour marrying the two questionable lovebirds a mission fell into her eyesight. She looked at the paper that stated that around Hoshi there was a robber going around robbing the temples of their gods and statues. She signed, took the card and went to the office where she would register the mission as hers. After seeing her mission record the admission's assistant agreed to make her in charge of it und the condition that she would take another, fresher Genin with her to do the mission. She shrugged and agreed to that while ordering all information on the matter and spent the day marking the different spots where temples were robbed on the map with dates and such so there was a pattern to be seen. After she was quite sure where he would strike next she would start collecting intelligence on the place but also some of the other close places around the area, but manly the one she had singled out. More or less in between the information gathering process the assistant came to her and showed her the profile of a rather new Genin named Kotetsu which he had seen as fit to go with her. She just blindly agreed to it, because she did not see why any kind of Genin would be a problem to take along. After that she told the man that she wanted the Genin prepared for tomorrow, travelling gear and clothes for about five days since she could not tell if they could expect the thieve to come right when they were coming. One day of travel to reach the temple and one to come back leaving about three days and a bit to maybe catch a thief that could be striking any minute. Hopefully they did not come too late. A letter with all the gathered information about the thieve and his prey and the attendance call for the mission was send to the Genin's home this afternoon and with a currier to outline the importance for this matter.
 
Sanae herself was going home preparing her gear and throwing it into a backpack. It was kind of scary being in this big house all alone while her father was not home. She would never really admit to it but sometimes she was scared when he was gone. What if he would go as well and never come back because he was disappointed? Well for now he had always returned. Once it took him some years but he returned. That night she slept on his futon that was still carrying his set, so it felt not so lonely anymore. Tomorrow she needed to be strong in any possible way so good sleep was kind of mandatory. After a good night she prepared herself some lunch and enough to drink and packed it all into her backpack. Her clothes were her regular mission clothes adding the jewellery she acquired to make herself stronger and then she set out to walk up to the gates where she would meet up with her new comerad.

WC: 579

He was sore and stiff from the beat down he got from Valen the night before, and still no closer to landing a hit on him than he was from the start of their sparring session. Oh well. Kotetsu wasn't about to sit around moping about it. The only way to change the outcome would be to train, learn new techniques, and become strong enough to match Valen shot for shot, move for move. That will take time, and it would seem that is all Kotetsu has right now. "I need to go on a mission..." He says out loud, to no one in particular. Almost as if his complaint was heard, there was a knock at his front door. Kotetsu got up and answered it. There was a messenger with a letter for him. He had a mission for Kotetsu. He was to meet up at the front gates of Hoshigakure with another shinobi, Named Sanae Kaguya, and they would be heading out to stop a thief from robbing tombs. 'The mission seems pretty straightforward.' Kotetsu thinks to himself as he packs his gear and gets ready to head out for tomorrow. The messenger said they would be gone for at least 5 days, so Kotetsu made sure to pack the essentials for the trip. Clothing, rations, all of his ninja tools, basically anything that could possibly be useful on the trip. It wasn't much, Kotetsu didn't really own much, but it would have to do. He spent the rest of the night meditating and going over the information he was given in his mind.


It was a B-rank mission, surprising for his first assignment. But hey, money is money, and it's needed for several things. The mission was to deal with a thief that was breaking into temples and stealing artifacts and other relics. It was concerning, but nothing that would hopefully be overly troublesome. Kotetsu didn't have much in the way of offensive ability other than his speed. Hopefully he could put stealth to use instead to be more resourceful. Scouting the area for his comrade and letting them take point in confrontations, sneaking around, and waiting for an opening to strike.


The next morning arrived and Kotetsu was excited to go on his first mission. He grabbed his bag and made his way out of his parent's home towards the main gates to meet the other member of his team. It didn't seem like there was much traffic today, and there was someone just standing idly around, other than the regular gate guards. Looked like another Hoshi-nin from the garb and headband. Kotetsu would approach casually, giving the other shinobi, a girl from the looks of it plenty of opportunity to watch him approach. Once he gets within speaking distance, "Hi there, you wouldn't happen to be Sanae, would you?"

WC: 474

Sanae had not been waiting long as someone approached her it was a young teen just like her and he would wear his headband and he looked like the description she had gotten, but then there was the total obviously remark that he asked about her name. Indeed that would only be one who was asked to go here and meet her. So the young Shinobi turned towards him and smiled: "You are right there Kotetsu-san."[/b][/color] The bright eyes looking upon him she adjusted her backpack a little as she then just started walking. "I'll be filling you in while we walk. We will try to intercept the thief known as Power Snow he seems to be a master of stealth because he always gets away with anything even if he leaves behind a trace of white power, but you surly read the descriptions I had send to you", she was walking towards the gates expecting him to follow her while she was walking. Telling him about the route they would be taking and why. Like it was maybe not the shortest route, but the shortest would lead them over a dangerous path through the mountains that could easily be more of a danger than a shortcut. While she was holding her speech about how taking a safer route was more favourable than a dangerous shortcut she was looking all around.
 
Then a little further down the road she took a look at him again and then said: "Whatever happens don't worry I will make sure you are save also. What I want from you is to take something back from this. So when we are on our way back, I would love to hear from you what you learned. Would you do that?", she asked him while she was still walking beside him. Well it was still up to him, but this was what she wanted his task to be because she was quite sure that his mission experience was quite low but this was a task he could make without problem and still contribute to the mission while doing an extra thing. She would be able to protect him, she was sure of that although the thieve seemed to be quite skilful so the help of the freshly promoted Genin would be useful of some sorts but maybe if she let him think about stuff, he would come up with Ideas by himself.
 
After some more walking she decided upon a resting spot where they could take their meals and rest a bit so their feet would not grow to numb. Afterwards she was pressing on, because she wanted to get there before the night was too dark to see a thing around. But it was not that far anymore so before nightfall they reached the small temple or at least the bottom of the small hill he was located. "Ahhh there t is, just up the hill", she said almost euphoric as she started to get up the hill and towards the huge Oak tree door that was shut still.
 
WC: 514
WC:1093

‘Good, I was right.’ Kotetsu thinks to himself as he made his way over to Sanae and fell in line beside her. As Sanae went over the basics with him, Kotetsu would nod occasionally when information he had already read had come up again. “Yes ma’am, I did. I’m sure we’ll be able to catch him. I can move fairly quietly when I need to, and my speed is my best asset. I’m still fairly new compared to most, but I’ll do my best!” He says with a small smile. Hopefully he was making a good impression. They make their way through the gates and Kotetsu follows Sanae’s lead as they head off down the path Sanae had undoubtedly planned to take. Since she was almost certainly more experienced in terms of the land of Haven’s geography than Kotetsu, it would make more sense for him to let her lead. She was also the senior Genin on this mission, so naturally following the chain of command would be important. As they made their way towards their objective, Sanae makes a request of Kotetsu. She wanted him to learn something on this mission and let her know what that was. That should be fairly simple, since Kotetsu had next to no experience, what with him being essentially a fresh Genin. “Of course, Sanae-Sensei. I’m sure I will learn more than a few things on this mission. Especially since this is my first actual mission. I’m confident I will come back knowing much more than I did starting out. I also appreciate know that you will have my back as I will have yours as well. I know I’m probably not as strong as you are, but I will do my best and together we’ll take down this thief for sure.” 

After a decent amount of walking, Sanae calls a break to rest briefly and eat some food. It makes sense since they would need to keep their energy up. Kotetsu will gratefully accept the break since he’s not really used to travelling for extended periods of time like they have been. Eating some rations and sitting on a stump to let his feet rest, using a little medical ninjutsu in order to relieve any tenderness. They did not rest for long since time was of the essence, so they move on quickly from there. Kotetsu was glad that he took the time to make sure his feet were looked after, because he would likely not be in any condition to fight had he not done so. They arrived at their destination essentially as night fell. It was a temple of some kind, with a very large wooden door. “Where is here, Sanae-Sensei? Is this one of the temples that was attacked recently?” He asked the other Genin. He had never been to this part of Haven Country, so learning about it would be important for when he leads missions of his own.

WC: 491
TWC: 965

Sanae was pleased with his reaction. It seemed as if she had gotten herself to come along. Also he seemed well aware of his strength and weaknesses, what would make it even easier to find him a part to play in this. In addition to this he had just called her sensei and she had to restrain herself a bit to not just rub over his head and mess up his hair. But she still kind of felt proud that someone felt like this about her. It seemed at least that she made a very competent first impression and that was the most rewarding feeling ever. Now she thought again about all the great people she met and whom she wanted to be more like that amazing attack where she thought a thousand blades were about to crash her to bits and then he amazing shiver down her spine when she met the albino for the first time. She smiled about her thoughts while walking and then back to where she left off. Going up that hill and indeed Kotetsu had asked a very smart question. So she was going to answer to him: "Well not really, this is a temple that has yet to be robbed and we will be providing that it stays that way", she said as they were approaching the huge wooden gate and there was already a monk waiting for them to greet them.

The bold man of kind of old age with the small white chin beard bowed lightly: "We have been expecting you Shinobi-san." Sanae bowed in return: "Thank you for having us Chitoru-sama." He smiled softly like a grandfather would. Much of him made the impression of a friendly grandparent in his orange and red robe wearing a long chain of wooden pearls with a pendant that displayed the symbol of his believe kind of a snake biting its tail surrounding a Ying-Yang-Symbol. Sanae leaned towards Kotetsu filling him in: "This is the head priests Chitoru Akame, he is about to be 100 years soon and they say he is some kind of icon for blessing children, he is beloved by many people in this country, this is why, it is so very important we do this job right", she had an urging undertone just to make clear how important this old man was. He smiled a little wider and looked at the two shinobi: "Why don't you come in and I'll show you around." For a man of such high age and so well not poor but not exercised condition he walked pretty fast and Sanae could not otherwise as to imagine her father being such a very old man.

WC: 449
WC:1542

It would seem that Kotetsu's earlier comments and responses had pleased Sanae, judging from the smile she wore. 'Good, I'd much rather be working with someone happy.'  He thinks to himself. Normally because while Kotetsu is a reserved and calm individual, he is generally more positive and happy. Kotetsu nods. "Alright, so this one we could theoretically monitor and plan an ambush, since it would most likely be in the thief's mind to attack this one as well..." Kotetsu says almost as if he's thinking out loud. He then notices the monk standing by the door that they are approaching. He's an older monk, likely one of the elders, if not the head monk himself. As Sanae and the monk greeted them, Kotetsu would bow in response, almost at the same time as Sanae. Sanae introduced the monk as Chitoru Akame, the head priest. "It is an honour to meet you, Chitoru-Sama." Kotetsu says after the monk is introduced to him. '100 years old...he's been around for quite some time.  You could fit my life 14 times into his, and there would still be some time to spare...' He thinks to himself. Sanae stressed a little in her introduction how important it was for the mission to go well, and Kotetsu whole-heartedly agrees. "Of course, Sanae-Sensei. We will do everything we can to prevent this temple from befalling the same fate as the others." After that, Chitoru invited them inside the temple for a tour. Kotetsu was excited to see what the temple looked like on the inside. He's always been curious when it came to structures and architecture to a degree. He definitely wants to have a hand in the design of his own house one day. That won't be for some time though. For now he'll just enjoy the tour and admire the architecture of the temple. Also noting potential areas that would be good for defense and potential flaws like easy access and areas that may not necessarily be structurally sound.

WC: 335
TWC: 1300

He walked in with them. The temple grounds where surrounded by about three meter high walls. The centre of it was a high tower known as a pagoda. In front of it where the statues of two snakes, one a cobra that was baring it's fangs and standing with his body upright in a kind of intimidating matter and the other one showed a long curled up anaconda her whole body wrapped around a big bunch of eggs.  As they walked by the monk told them that they stood for the two sides of parents. The one fierce side, that would do anything possible and sometimes impossible to ensure the safety of their children and then the warm, caring side full of love and compassion. Inside the pagoda they went in a praying chamber. There was an altar and many pillows one could sit on. Under the ceiling there was a golden sculpture of a rattlesnake whose rattle was chiming with bells that had been put on it whenever the wind blew against it. Right now there was incense burning down lifting the air with delightful smell that tickled the nose of the ones entering. Sanae took a deep breath and looked around finding a trapdoor on the ground which she curiously looked at. "Chitoru-sama, what is down there?"

The old monk displayed a smirk: "Well this of course is where we put our treasures. One being quite rare called the skin of Yamata no Orochi, the eight headed snake. It is Silk woven in with silver and gold threads and covered with scales out of many rainbow coloured jewels. We wrap babies in it for their birth ceremony and it is said that this ceremony keeps them healthy and makes them grow strong." Sanae blinked shortly while the man talked so openly about what amazing treasure was hiding in there. She was not sure how big this wonder blanket was, but scales made of jewels? Who would not be after that and all of this placed on silk, silver and gold, this was so very ridiculously exclusive and rich with rumours around it, which thieve would not love to steal this. She rubbed the root of her nose and then looked back at the monk. "I guess it is okay then, when we just stay in here for the night?", she tilted her head and he nodded slowly. Nothing would go against it and then asked if she wanted to see more.

To not be impolite she nodded and let him carry on. The rest of the temple contained of a U shaped building that held the chambers of the monks and novices. There were five other monks and two novices as they were told. A kitchen, a storage room, an exercise chamber, a workshop where they were building an carving things out of wood they would then later use themselves or trade in and of course a bathroom. Everything quite simple and humbly shaped and after the tour he dropped them off at the pagoda again and left to do his duties. Sanae then turned to Kotetsu while she was taking of a piercing she was wearing and swapping it with a ring she put on her hand: "Any first thoughts?"

WC: 543
WC: 2085

The inside of the temple was not quite what he expected, but it amazed him regardless. As this was a mission, he tried to keep his amazement in check, while mentally noting things about the temple and its layout. The walls themselves were about 3 meters high. 'Not really high enough to deflect a determined assault, but who would normally attack a temple...' The Pagoda, basically a tall tower, was in the middle of the temple's courtyard. 'That's normally the best place to put a tower, that way you would have a good vantage point of the entire perimeter if the tower is tall enough, which definitely looks to be the case.' Naturally for a temple there would be plenty of decorative motifs and statues, none of it would really help in regards to a making a concerted defense. The two snake statues flanking the entrance to the pagoda were intimidating, but purely ornamental from what Kotetsu could see. He admired their design and the realism they portrayed in what is assumed to be parental instincts or that of an older sibling, but when it came to defending the temple, these snakes are purely ornamental and would serve no purpose in its defense. From there they made their way into the pagoda, into what looked like some form of meditation or prayer room. 'It looked like a nice place to rest or for serving the purpose it was built for...' Kotetsu thinks to himself '...but the altar and the golden snake statue in the ceiling would definitely not be useful in defending the temple. If anything they would need to be protected, as things like that would be sought after by thieves'.

Sanae-Sensei interrupted his thoughts by pointing out a trapdoor and asking Chitoru about it. Kotetsu had not noticed that, and silently berated himself for not noticing it sooner. According to Chitoru, that would be where all of the temple relics and treasures are stored. Meaning that this trapdoor is most likely where the thief will try to get to. It would be the top priority in the defense of the temple. As Kotetsu goes over strategies in his head, Chitoru describes to the pair of Hoshi-nin what's actually under the trapdoor. 'That...that would definitely pique a thief's interest for sure... It's not like the monks hide the fact that it's here...' Kotetsu muses. 'Definitely something to keep in mind when we plan out defense.'

At that point Sanae confirms with Chitoru that the pair can stay the night. It made sense since that was most likely when the thief would strike, so it would be good to remain on site and plan out a strategy to protect the temple and its relics. Chitoru wanted to show them the rest of the temple first, which worked just fine for Kotetsu. Learning more about the location would definitely help in the planning stages. The rest of the tour was fairly straight forward, showing Sanae-Sensei and him the outbuildings and whatnot. He brought them back to the pagoda and left to perform the remainder of his duties. Once he had left, and Sanae asked him about his thoughts so far. He shared essentially all of his thoughts up until this point. About the layout of the buildings, the walls, potential weak points. Kotetsu hadn't figured out a strategy yet, but with enough time, he could have several plans for different situations.

WC: 571
TWC: 1871

Sanae was listening in on everything her friendly kohai was telling her and nodded to it in agreement. But as it seemed a definite plan was not in the making. So it was on her do make a decision or at least a suggestion to him from which he would get on. So now she took out the earring she had and moved it between her fingers back and forth. Then she looked at the ground: "Well then let's say I go down there and figuratively sit on the item so it can't be taken. The thief comes in and I see him. He will most definitely try to flee, but you will wait out here following him leaving traces for me to follow, like cuts in trees. You find his hideout I catch up and we take him down", she suggests and looks at his eyes, "If you want you can even borrow this", she was holding up the earring now to show it to him. "You said speed was your best asset, this would make you even a little faster, so you'd surly keep up with this man or women." Slowly she would walk around the room looking up a while still playing with the earring in her had. "Mhmm maybe a trap somewhere up there is an option too?" Carefully walking around the room she was measuring everything with her steps seeming to think a bit more.
She was not quite sure if maybe one of her jutsu would promote a well made trap. In the worst case it would backfire and entangle one of them and then the other one, most likely to be her young companion would be on his own maybe not able to handle the mission and then it would fail. She went through her hair roughing it up a bit. Then she looked again at the young Shinobi in front of her. "What do you think?"

WC: 323
WC: 2408

There were several possibilities in the making here. It primarily depended on what was available here for them to make use of, in addition to whatever equipment they had on themselves. As Sanae-Sensei proposed a strategy, Kotetsu thought it over. It was a good strategy, since they did not know the thief's skills. "It's a shame I don't know the tracking version of the Mark Seal..." Kotetsu says to Sanae. "Then I could just mark him and follow him without worrying about losing him." Reaching into his pouches, he pulled out his gear to show Sanae. "This is what I have on me right now, Sanae-Sensei. I have 5 kunai, 5 shuriken, a couple smoke bombs, an exploding tag, and a couple scrolls that I have inscribed with a water release seal. They have water inside, the exact amount I'm not sure of. If we could use some materials from around the temple itself, we could rig a decent trap. That trapdoor would make a good option to catch him. Especially if we transformed something, like a cushion, into the blanked that's in there. We put the actual one in a safe place, transform the decoy, and wait nearby. Once he opens the trapdoor and goes down, we jump out, close the trapdoor, and throw a Fuinjutsu lock on it. He'll need to use either some chakra, or a good deal of extra effort to get it open. It would also allow us to take a little time to make sure he couldn't escape." Kotetsu pauses for a moment. "Unless you want him to escape, so we can find out if he still has the other artifacts that we could then retrieve. Assuming he heads right back to his hideout. I can travel silently if need be, Sanae-Sensei, but it usually works better in the day, since the technique makes my feet glow, which is kind of easy to spot." Kotetsu shrugs. "It would be nice if we had a sensory ninja, then we could have potentially some warning when they approached. That way we'd have some advance notice."

When Sanae offered him the earring, he would accept it graciously. "Thank you Sanae-Sensei, I will make sure not to damage it, and return it to you once we've completed the mission." Since his ears aren't pierced yet, he takes it and jams it into his earlobe with a small wince. In order to avoid making a mess, he quickly makes the hands signs for basic medical ninjutsu and heals the area around the piercing to stop and bleeding but without healing the earring into his ear. "I'll take all the help I can get right now." He says with a chuckle. It's true, he's not particularly strong yet, but that's only a matter of time. He can only hope that his current skill level will suffice for now.

When she asks Kotetsu for "If we want to trap him here, we may need a few things, to make it harder for him to escape. Reducing the number of exits from the pagoda to one would be a priority, I would imagine most of the focus would be on the trapdoor since that's where the blanket it that they want to steal. I don't really have a specific strategy in mind for that because I don't know what else we would have to work with." He thinks for a moment before continuing. "In terms of letting him flee and following him, it's potentially the riskier option, as we have no idea how skilled he is other than what was in the briefing, or whether he's expecting anyone to be around at this time. Especially if he's prepared his hideout to ambush pursuers. I have no problem trying to follow him, I just find the lack of useable information and the potential risks to be concerning."

WC: 646
TWC: 2517