First Mission Jitters

The forest, Shinoskay was beginning to suspect he had a thing for the place or maybe that there was some kind of gravitational force out here that was drawing him to it over and over. Today there was a little bit of an overcast but it really didn't matter since light often was filtered by the canopy of leaves anyways, perhaps it made the forest slightly less lit then it normally was?

He was suppose to meet another Genin he was to partner with for his first mission, they were suppose to go and find someone that had apparently gone out into the woods that morning and had not returned when they were suppose to and also apparently this has happened before so there wasnt too much concern for danger. Sure beat trying to find cats for old ladies or dogs for children, or even trimming grass with scissors and a ruler.

Today Shinoskay had his face-mask up and his goggles on, there was nothing special about the cloth or goggles but he had heard there would be hazardous bugs in the area so he wanted to have as little exposed skin as possible.

[wc 196]

Allegro left the village gates of Konohagakure completely clad in his ninja tools to head out on his mission. Sure, this time it was only D rank, but Allegro knew better to underestimate troubling circumstances in the shinobi world. He had to be ready for anything and everything. He replayed his conversation from earlier in his head as if it was the music playing in his headphones. He was assigned this mission and the task of looking over Konoha’s newest recruit. He had not yet been assigned to a genin team, but was being deployed on missions as soon as he was able. This was much like Allegro’s circumstance when he first became a genin. Among his teammates on Konoha Team 7, Allegro had the highest mission count. 

'Shinoskay Shirogane. Age 13. An orphan of unknown origin that recently passed the genin exams relatively easily.'

Allegro looked at the contents of the scroll he was given at the Mission Assignment center and reviewed what he knew about his genin peer as he made his way through the forest in an effortless dash.  

Mission Details:

He eventually came across the boy, laying eyes on the unique emblem on the back of his clothing. Upon approaching the genin, he didn’t say much. He only offered the mission assignment scroll to the small boy so that he could review it for himself. Once Shinoskay opened the scroll, Allegro would point to a small sector on a drawn map as he said, 

“Yo! Im Allegro. The parents that requested this mission last reported the girl to be in this part of the forest.”

After he said this, he adjusted the headphones arching over his head so that they were sitting just right. Once Shinoskay was ready, the two would head out, Allegro leading the way by jumping into the treetops of the dense forest. The duo would need to travel about 50 meters in the forest before Allegro’s sharp hearing picked up the screams of a damsel in distress. Allegro would stop abruptly on a tree branch, and tell Shinoskay that he heard something in the distance if he himself did not already hear it.  After communicating, Allegro would dash in the direction of the scream.

The two ninja would arrive to a the scene to discover an exceptionally large tree at the center of a 100 meter wide clearing. The tree itself stood at about 50 meters high, and 10 meters thick. The tree seemed to twist and ravel upwards and its branches and leaves seemed to touch the clouds in the sky. And if one looked oh so carefully, one could see a girl dangling from the branches, constricted by vines and other random foliage. She was screaming for help.

"EEEEEK! PLEASE HELP ME!"

[460/1000 WC]

Haven’t not noticed the approach of Allegro, as he was once more caught in his musings upon the state of things in Konoha and where he fit in with the whole spectrum. Going over, once more, the conversations he had with Yensung, about sticking the idea upon his soul that Konoha was his home. How the moment he had received the Leaf headband he was expected to live and breathe for its village, how Shinoskay had now passed and was been permitted to work and finally actually earn yen to buy food and supplies rather than having to make, steal, or catch everything himself. Finally, and also upon that Kirigakure conquered this village and yet it operated as if nothing had changed aside from a few of its shinobi leaving to join their conquerors.

He almost jumped up and around when he heard someone speak out towards him, their loud greeting had jolted him out of his thoughts "oh, heh, sorry," he scratches the back of his head while pressing a cloth covered smile more seen by his eyes then his mouth, "I was, just..."

He quickly made a small bow "I am Shinoskay, greetings Allegro."

Shinoskay happily accepted the scroll but since this was his first mission he wasn't really sure what to do with the scroll and so he just blankly looked at it for a brief moment before lowering and just holding on to it. He didn't really do anything else to prepare, defaulting to just staring blankly at the older genin as they adjusted their headphones before leaping off.

'wait, shit, he's moving.' upon thinking this realization to himself he quickly rolled the scroll so it would be easier to hold before dashing as best as he could to keep up. This wouldn't be the only time he was surprised, not just in action but in perception as Allegro seemed to pick up on something even though he had headphones in 'maybe they are some kind of sound enhancers?'

Shinoskay didn't actually catch what was said to him as, once again, he fell into his thoughts and so for a third time he was caught in surprise as the larger genin quickly set to dash off through the trees into the direction of the sound. Something DID catch Shinoskay attention though, at this time, some kind of buzzing sound gently filled the air 'buzzing? mosquitos?'

The newest of the two had opted to keep to the ground, and so he was not as encumbered by trying to coordinate leaps with dashing and turning so this is probably why he was able to keep up with the faster of the two but this also left him awkward and out in the open.

[WC 455/651]

Inexperience? whats that? Certainly not something that would show itself here toda... oh wait, there it is. See, Shinoskay hadn't been nearly as careful as Allegro was and the moment he too caught on that the young girl was going to fall, something he seemed to have seen before stopping, he had determined himself to rushing in and trying to catch her some how. Sure, maybe he could have questioned the convenience of the moment or thought about how she had been almost fine before and up to now but he didnt think about any of that.

As the vines slowly tore, all he could see was that she could fall and get hurt or die, the same instinct that had helped him survive while so many other's died during the fall of so many of the villages he passed through just took over.

Imagine the surprise when a Giant snake suddenly appeared on the tree... 'wait, had that been there the whole time?' his self chastisement of his own single minded focus rang the cursing through in his thoughts.

Thankfully he had time still to react to it as he closed the distance to the tree, still moving at what would be considered his full speed, he would reach into his pouch, nestled on the small of his back and he did so with both hands, for a shuriken  to each hand before flicking his left hand outward to send it into the path of the snake with the intent to hopefully hit the snake on the head, eye, or even its softer tongue. Leading from the tool to his hand would be a soft glowing blue thread that always seemed to be the precise length between the object and the tip of his own finger.

Speaking of which, no sooner had the sharp metal left his hand did his hand shape itself into a single handed tiger seal... in tandem, he threw a second Shuriken with his right hand out towards a rock with the intent of casting the thread around the rock to retrieve it. The shuriken from his right hand would have two threads from the two fingers so that when one switched from the shuriken to the rock he could still pull both back to himself. Mentally, he thought to himself how he should probably just start carrying around small stones.

It would take a little time, but the moment the stone reached his hand it would quickly begin shifting shape into a stone stick like cane. Also, the shuriken he threw at the snake would be withdrawn between when it should hit the snake and when it would hit the tree with the timing to not hit the tree, it would move forward, skid just off of the snakes head right above its either to make a small but otherwise insignificant cut before spinning and veering downward before making its way back to the still charging forward Shinoskay.

His intent was to try to draw the snake off of the girl, so if she fell the snake would be too distracted or concerned about itself to simply catch or eat her as she fell, and then to try and line himself up to catch her on ground level if she fell... this wasn't the best plan but its what his instincts were pressing him towards and he felt he wouldn't be fast enough or skilled enough to get past that giant snake and to the girl.

He also had the follow up intent that if all went well, with a cane in one hand and a shuriken or two in the other then he would put the shuriken away and the cane in his mouth to free his hands before performing the clone jutsu in hopes of employing a decoy or further distraction against the snake.

[WC 642/1293]

approved my guy

Whether it was the adrenaline, the moment of panic throwing off his aim, or something entirely unseen... Regardless, the snake managed to notice the attempt to strike it but the intent for the strike was still a success as the snakes attention moved from the easy meal, and Allegro flash stepping into position next to the young girl, to the young genin still caught up in his charge towards it.

It was fortunate for him that his teammate for this mission was on top of things, as the snake readied itself to make a lunge forward the world suddenly shunted itself around him.

For a split moment he was worried his brief and thus far almost meaningless life was flashing before his life in some torrential yet undiscernible rush, that his mind and eyes had surrendered to the notion that a snake was likely in the process of surging itself through the air to close whatever few meters had remained between the boy and it so as to sink venom filled teeth the size of his arms deep into his body. When the world came back into focus he wasnt dead, he could see there was no snake fangs boring there way into him, and in fact he felt completely fine.

One moment he was staring a snake in the maw to been in a tree next to the girl. Thankfully he had been preparing to brace himself by infusing chakra into his feet, when the world stopped moving and he realized he was angled parallel with the ground it was a simple matter of catching the bottom of his feet on the tree while releasing the chakra he had already been preparing.

The sound of feet scraping against the tree and the more subtle sound of tearing plant drew his attention while also reminding his battle exhilarated heart that not only was there was a young girl in peril but also she was now right next to him. Now firmly in place, he quickly pivoted around to face the direction of the girl, before taken a step and wrapping his arms firmly around here.

Once he was able to help her stabilize, he first checked to see what was happening with the snake and Allegro... only to see him exiting the end of the snake in an act of slicing it in two 'how pathetic of me....'. He Understood he was really new to been a shinobi but on mission one he was almost killed while his mission partner was able to EASILY handle the very same problem.

Shinoskay was careful to help the girl down, making sure to stay beneath her so that gravity would always have her weight supported by his chakra braced self until they reached ground. No sooner had he let the young girl down had his teammate began to berate him about his foolishness, of course he knew it was true and he could only offer a lame yet overly formal apology while in a low bow. He knew if it weren't for the more experienced genin he would have died, died before he even managed to be a nobody let alone a somebody. He wouldn't even be some nameless headstone, just another one of the many of hundreds of orphans lost to the present day ravages, barely even a ghost among a throng of ghosts.

Yet, something about the dead snake drew the inexperienced genins attention... something about it... almost... called to him... a spark of curiosity that nagged him from deep within from some unknown, undiscernible, origin.

'Yo Shinoskay-kun. Call on me whenever you need help with a mission, I'm good for it as long as Lord Hokage sama approves. It's better to work together, right? If you're anything like me, it might take a while for you to be assigned to a genin squad. So it might help to have a partner to go on missions with in the mean time.'

Shinoskay barely registered the words as they had been spoken but he caught enough to remember to face Allegro and to make a small bow "You are too generous with your words, thank you for the compliment, I will endeavor so that if there is indeed a next time then I wont be such a burden."

After the three made their way back to the village, and parted ways, Shinoskay would watch them leave before turning once more towards the forest. His eyes scanned the tree line just a little ways beyond the village before finally committing to walking his way back towards where the snake had been felled.

Maybe he could extract some of its venom or something....

[Exit WC 772/2065
Claim 3ap, 1000 ryo, Hidden arms Technique 1000 Body Flicker 1/2 cost from Allegro 500 Ventriloquism 1/2 cost from Allegro 250 Mark Seal 1/2 Allegro 250]

Shino, to gain stats on missions is 400 per words and you can only gain stats on B rank or higher missions. Edit the stat gain out and your good to go

noted and done.