Strange visitors (with Yoichi and Fukuro)

Mission spec:

"I'm a Genin now"
Constantly repeating those words in his head, Minato was wandering around the village. People were looking at him since he was walking around with a big smile on his face.
He was a Genin now. No more time for slacking around. He had to get serious from now on if he wanted to revive his clan.

Arriving at the meeting place he and Fukuro were supposed to meet up, Minato sat down on this fence, waiting for Fu's arrival. After telling his parents about his succesful graduation, Fukuro was the second he had told the good news.
His cousin was delighted to hear the news since they could finally team up like they had always talked about. But it was custom for a Genin squad to have 3 members, so Fukuro proposed to ask a guy named Yoichi. The two of them had met a little while ago and even had trained together, so it seemed like a good idea for the 3 Genin to form a team.
Seemed like Minato had arrived early, so he had some time to think about what kind of shinobi he wanted to be, what type of fighter he could be.

Thinking about what sort of missions the Genin could complete, Minato could see Fukuro and Yoichi from a distance.
Meaning they could finally start the adventure of their 3 man squad.

(WC: 232)

A piece of toast dangled loosely from Yoichi's mouth as he burst through the doors of his his towards the coordinates of the meeting place he received from a letter. Today was his first mission, and he was teamed up with none other than Fukuro, the Uchiha with the plan! Oh, and some other guy that he wasn't too familiar with, but he didn't care about that part too much. This Minato -was- another Uchiha though, which meant their squad was looking pretty powerful. Plus, if he was anywhere near as half as cool as Fukuro was, then this whole squad thing would be the best thing to happen to Yoichi since his graduation.


As he picked up speed and started to approach his maximum, the toast was quickly devoured as if he were some sort of savage animal, his mind keenly pinpointed on reaching his destination.


"Yahoo! I'm finally gonna get to test my combat ability in a real scenario! All these thugs and robbers don't really help with improving my Shinobi ability.."


While it was true he tackled on any criminal big or small, with the the need to revolt against Kirigakure so prevalent, Yoichi needed to make sure he was in top shape against any enemy Shinobi.


"They said that we might get into a fight, so hopefully I'm pretty prepared.."


Unfortunately, he couldn't bring much except his brains and speed. In his excitement in accepting this mission, he forgot that he didn't have much in the way of offensive jutsu, and that he was much too broke to afford proper weapons. Despite that, he was as confident as ever. He had an awesome team to back him up and an intelligent mind, after all. How bad could things really go?


"I feel like I'm jinxing myself thinking everything will go flawless..man, this is gonna suck, isn't it?"


But, despite his confidence ebbing away and turning into first mission jitters, all those worries were quickly washed away once he arrived at his destination, a park located on the outskirts of the Downtown area. It was surprisingly well kept and maintained, and since it was pretty early in the morning it had a certain soothing tranquility that made you want to meditate.


"Now, where are those Uchiha at..don't see any sign of Fukuro around here..oh!"


While his eyes didn't catch sight of his best friend, it did find his future teammate: Minato Uchiha. Nice hair style. Did he use gel to get it that spiky? Would it be rude to ask? Whatever! He approached the Uchiha with a friendly smile on his face and some pep in his step, stretching out his hand towards him. If Minato were to return it, the grip would be firm but not painful. Yoichi was just dripping with energy!


"Hey! You're my teammate, I'm Yoichi if you didn't know. If the files are correct, you're Minato of the Uchiha! I'm guessing you know Fukuro, he's a pretty cool guy."


WC: 505

Minato had no idea what in the world was happening when Yoichi appeared in front of him.
Fukuro had told him that he was quite the guy, but that was an understatement. Full of energy he wasn't able to stand still and probably didn't know what to say first.
He briefly introduced himself, reaching out for a handshake.
"Yeah, I'm Minato, nice to meet you", he answered while reacting to Yoichi's outstretched hand.
Yoichi knew Fukuro from training and hanging out a bit and told Minato that his cousin is a pretty cool guy.
"He's my cousin and he sure is one of the coolest people you'll ever meet", he confirmed.

Out of nowhere Fukuro had finally arrived.
"Using your Body Flicker to meet us? I'm honored and impressed", Minato said while teasing his cousin for being late.
Before meeting, Fukuro had asked Minato to stop by the Mission Office to pick up their mission they were assigned to. It was his first task since becoming a Genin so he made sure to go there in time to get the mission.
Hearing his cousin's stomach grumble and him telling the two of them that he hadn't anything to eat yet, Minato thought it was a good idea to grab a bite first before sending off on their mission.
"Why don't we take a stop at the Ramen shop? It'd be a good place to explain the goal of our mission".
Both of them agreed so they left to go to a Ramen place.

Arriving there and grabbing their seat, Minato started to explain their mission.
"Now that we're complete, let me explain what our mission will be", he started off.
"The mission is as follows":
Three citizens of the hidden cloud village have arrived to Konoha to conduct some business, their papers were fine and their reason for being here accepted, but something does not seem right. They are staying at an inn at the edge of the village, nobody in the village has seen or heard of their business either. The ninja from the Interrogation corps are beginning to wonder about these ninjas true intentions and it is your mission to find the three citizens and take them in for some questioning.

"Normally they wouldn't assign 3 Genin a C rank mission just like that, but since the current state of our village exceptions were to be made."
"So, let's finish our meal and go take a look at that inn they're staying."

(WC: 414, TWC: 646)

Woah. Fukuro was fast. But what else could be expected out of a genius like him? One day, he hoped his speed could reach such levels.

It was nice to see friends again, but admittedly, Fukuro's question caught him off guard. He actually hadn't learned any jutsu since the last time they met, figuring that whatever he could come across could be dealt with some ingenuity and the help of his teammates.


"Yeeeah, I haven't learned anything yet. You know, they say Fuuton is actually pretty hard to learn..but! No need for you to worry about me on this mission, I promise! I can handle anything they try to throw at me no matter what, I swear!"

He gave his Uchiha teammates a reassuring thumbs up and let the flow of conversation continue as usual, until word of food hit his hears. A piece of toast wasn't exactly the most fulfilling meal in the world, so he was glad they weren't jumping into this mission right away. It'd give them some time to do planning too, which was never a bad thing.


"Mm, I hear the ramen shop around here has the best salmon around here! Hopefully I won't stuff myself too much.."

Taking a seat, he ordered that fish ramen he was so crazy about along with a glass of water to quench his thirst. This particular venue had some pretty spectacular service too. Why didn't he ever come here more often? Well, besides it being a twenty minute walk when Yoichi had a store of his own much closer to his house.

As he ate the delicious food, he listened closely to Minato explaining the task. It sounded extremely easy, all things considered. Sure, he'd keep in mind to better prepare himself the next time he went on an assignment, but it didn't seem like he was walking into a death trap going with only a single jutsu to his name. The mention of Konohagakure's poor state of affairs brought a frown to his face, but otherwise Yoichi didn't press the issue further. It hurt every fiber of his soul that his home was in such a pathetic state, but what could he do right now but keep powering on?


"Sounds easy enough. Nothing a bunch of charming, handsome young men can't handle, right?"

Chuckling, he slipped the waiter a check and hopped up out of his seat, ready to head out.


"Well, come on guys! As much as I want to stay here and pig out, we don't have all day."

So, this was it. The people he'd have a bond with for life, the people he could call family. They'd live together. They'd fight together. They'd die together. Their were certainly worse people in the leaf village for him to be teamed up with, that was for sure. What made the universe smile upon him in such a way that they'd bless him with such amazing partners? Maybe he was overthinking things a little. Whatever. Sliding a map out of his pockets, he'd start to lead the way.

WC: 512
TWC:1020

Getting on the main road, Yoichi was leading the way with him looking at the fastest way to reach their destination.
Out of the three Genin, Yoichi seemed the most eager to fulfill their mission. No one from Konoha was happy with the current state and situation the village was in, but with Yoichi there seemed to be some kind of hate brewing inside of him.
Fukuro came over to walk next to Minato, lowering his voice just in case there were whisperers hidden in their surroundings, his cousin asked how Minato was feeling about the Hidden Mist.
"Yoichi there is gonna be the one to liberate our village. I think he’ll need our help though." Fukuro said.

But how did Minato feel about the shinobi from the Hidden Mist?
"I can't speek for all of them, but they just came in and completely took over our village. Acting all arrogant and mighty just because our Hokage wasn't strong enough to protect us at that moment."
"But I know one thing, and that is that I didn't become a Genin just to live being occupied by those from Kiri", Minato said.

Yoichi, the liberator of our village? Minato wasn't so sure it would be that easy. It's not that he didn't believe in his teammate, it's just that he knew how savage and bloodthirsty those from the Hidden Mist could be. And they were nowhere close to their level so acting now would be suicidal.
"I think we should focus on improving our skills and getting stronger, for now.", Minato said to his cousin.
"But for the sake of our village and the sake of my teammates I will do everythin in my power to protect both of them".

They finally arrived at the inn where the three Hidden Cloud villagers were staying. Having no clue about what their true intentions would be, Minato, Fukuro and Yoichi had to be on their guard.
Since it was just the three of them on their own, without a Chuunin or Jounin, they had no one to take the lead.
As he was the oldest of the pack, Minato decided to take lead and told his teammates to follow him.

"I'll go in first", he announced the plan.
"Since I'm the oldest I'll take full responsibility for anything that happens", he assured Fukuro and Yoichi.
"If anything bad happens, make a run for it. I'll hold them off for as long as I can."
Being his older cousin, Minato made a promise to look over Fukuro and now that Yoichi had joined the team that meant that he had to look out for him as well.

Entering the inn, it wasn't hard to spot the three villagers. "Here goes nothing", Minato thought and walked up to the three of them.
"Hello there, mind telling us what your business is staying in our village?", he asked without introducing himself first.

(WC: 486, TWC: 1132)

Thankfully, none of his teammates seemed to support the horrible regime they were living under. While they weren't strong enough to make a difference now, it got him thinking that in just a year or two, if they all pooled their powers together just maybe they could change how things were going. Seeing people like his squadmates gave him the energy to get up in the morning and push past his limits, even if all seemed hopeless. It made him even happier that Fukuro seemed to have complete faith and confidence in him.

I'm gonna be the one to free the village, huh? I can't believe Fuku really thinks that..well, better not disappoint!

After some time walking, they finally reached their destination. Fukuro talked about keeping up? Yoichi could do more than that! But, while Minato's care for the team was touching, their was no way in hell he could in good conscious abandon a teammate.

"Make a run for it..? No way man! We're a team here, and that means sticking together even when the situation looks tough. It's a low-level mission anyways, so I'm pretty sure we can handle anything they throw at us anyways! Even if I am lacking on the jutsu side right now, haha.."

The trio made their way in the inn, where they encountered the suspects in question. The insides of tis establishment were pretty worn down and dilapidated. Who in their right mind would willingly take a room here? A quick glance around the area showed that these prices were INSANE! No wonder this place didn't get any business! It left no doubt in his mind that these Kumogakure shinobi were likely up to no good. He lowered his voice to a whisper, intending to get the attention of his squad.

"Careful guys, stay on guard no matter what. I'm a hundred percent positive these guys didn't come here for any legal holiday transactions.."

Since Minato wanted to take the lead, Yoichi let him. Sure, those Kumogakure civilians looked pretty mean and buff, but they were Shinobi! They'd have respect for that, right?

Of course not.

"Man, get yo toothpick neck ass out of my face. It ain't none of your damn business what the hell me and my boys are doin' here. Get a life!"

The callous man waved Minato off without a care, returning to his game of poker with his friends. Since the nice approach didn't work, it was time to handle things a little differently. Annoyed with the disrespect, Yoichi placed a rather firm grip on the man's shoulder. Sure, usually he was a pretty nice guy, but when someone obviously couldn't be bothered to respect him, why should he respect them back?

"Listen pal, you can go and jerk around with your friends some other time. I know you can see the headbands on our forehead; we're here on official duties. What type of business do you have where you hole yourself up in some cruddy inn playing poker?"

For a split second, everything in the room seemed to freeze. Then, he swatted Yoichi's hand off his shoulder and flipped over the table, him and his associates starting to run towards the back exit.

"Shit, shit, shit! I think they know about the drugs! We gotta get the fuck out of here!"

He knew about the drugs -now-. Criminals could really never keep their mouths shut, could they? Of course, he charged after them in hot pursuit.

"Fellas, fellas! I got a perfect place you can play your poker games in. It's a little tiny, and it miiiight be behind bars, but I'm sure its a place you're all familiar with!"

WC: 613
TWC: 1633

Quite the gentlemen, Minato thought as they had brushed both Yoichi and him off. Seems like they were more the type who needed the "shoot first, ask questions later" approach.
But as loud as they were, as equally stupid. Having one of them mentioned that "we knew about the illegal goods they were trying to traffic passing borders through the Land of Fire". At least it saved Minato and his two teammates time from finding out their true intentions.
Once they were busted after one of them started running his big mouth the three of them were trying to get out of the inn as fast as they possibly could.
Ordering Yoichi to go after them, trying to slow them down using his Wind Release, Fukuro and Minato were trying to cut them off by using a side exit leading to the outside of the inn. Exiting the inn and reaching the outside Fukuro got to higher ground looking for the three fugitives. Minato decided to stay on the ground in case Yoichi wasn't able to slow them down and he had to stop them from getting away.

"Fukuro, as soon as you see them coming give me a sign, I'll hold them off and try to create a diversion to confuse them", Minato said to his cousin. "It will give Yoichi enough time to catch up and close them in from behind."
They didn't have a lot of time to come up with a plan so Minato had to act fast. Figuring that the three Hidden Cloud culprits were in a rush and wouldn't pay attention to everything around them Minato was getting ready to form his hand seals.

"Ram → Snake → Tiger"

Two clones appeared from the shadow Minato had created with his Clone Technique. He was counting on the fact that they would be surprised and confused at the same time by the element of surprise, taking them a while to figure out who the real Minato was. Between the time they were trying to figure it out and them actually figuring it out it would create an opening for Yoichi and Fukuro to join the fight.
"Minato, they are coming", Fukuro shouted while he was scouting the surroundings from his position on the tree branches. And there they were, running with Yoichi close behind them which meant he must have been able to slow them down a bit using his Wind Release. When they noticed there were three Minato in front of them blocking their escape route, they abruptly stopped running. Now it was up to them to decide if they were going to try and fight their way out or use common sense since they were outnumbered.
While they were considering their options Yoichi had caught up with them, closing them in from behind and for Fukuro to descend from the tree, making them cornered with no easy way out. With everyone now gathered in one place Minato knew what he had to say.

"Now you three, what will it be?" 


(WC: 507, TWC: 1639)