E-Rank Mission - Meet and Greet [Solo]

Mission Specs.

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There was something almost novel about actually signing up for a "mission". Going to the office and glazing over details on the various sheets, all separated according to the rank a Ninja had. The supply of Genin missions was less so an advisor meeting to send you to do a task, and more so picking up a paper and reading over the details. Then a form was filled out in a standard fashion and turned into the secretary, who would stamp the paper and send you along your way to complete the job that you had accepted. For Genin of his skill level, this meant the bottom of the barrel work. Directing traffic and information, seeing to slightly-more-important deliveries, and as Yuuma was currently off to do, meet and greet people at the gate. All the missions were mundane, taking place within the limits of the city itself. Truthfully, Yuuma didn't know that missions could go beyond the city, had he not overheard a piece of conversation that would lead him to think on it. As the young man walked down the road, eyes on the ground and head in the clouds, he wondered if there were missions to other lands. What kind of missions they were. How many other lands there was. 

For a man who knew very little about the world, Yuuma had a lot of unanswered question that he may never learn the answer to. But perhaps that was the nature of things. Perhaps the scope of ones experience is relative to what was important to them. Perhaps it was the cobbler, who struggled to pay rent and provide for their family, would see themselves the center focus of a mundane but pressing story. One that could fall to ruin were it not for the one fighting to maintain their control. That important control that told us we were okay because we said so. Permission to breath, relax, and even think. "Hey!" The shout was such a startle that Yuuma nearly stumbled backward. In front of him stood a fiery-haired woman in a chuunin jacket. And she looked pissed. "Great. Stuck with an air-head. Hello? Anyone alive in there?" A hand would wave in front of his face.

Uzuki was to be his anchor for the day. The sunlight to his shadow, as she was the one in charge of the gate team on that particular day. Yuuma had been warned that the woman had a bad temper, but he didn't mind. He had probably seen worse. "Good morning, ma'am." He replied evenly, despite the initial greeting being perhaps less than friendly. "I look forward to learning from you today." The woman seemed unamused, looking over Yuuma, who wore a set of fitting pants and shirt, over which a jacket was draped. Around his neck hung the band, emblazoned with the symbol of the Land of Haven. Without an immediate response, the woman turned around and began walking back towards the front gate with a huff. Falling into step behind her, Yuuma allowed himself a slight sigh. "This is going to be a long day."


"Don't think that "ma'am" stuff is going to earn you any favors." The woman spoke behind her as she walked. "This isn't a glamorous job, but it is an important one. One filled with a lot of standing and waiting and watching. Our job is to make sure that transit in and out of the city is regulated and enforced. Most of the field hands have a bypass, having known them for so long. Going out isn't a problem, but coming in means the usual routine. Check over their things, quick scan over their chakra if we feel the need, and send them on their way. Don't bother with small talk; you are functionally a security door. There is no need to ramble on and on when you could be staying vigilant and distraction-free." The woman went on and on and on, seemingly having prepared an entire speech for the time between them meeting and them arriving at work. Yuuma was lucky he didn't have much to say; he's not certain he could have gotten a word in edge-wise past the stampede of information the woman was dumping on him.

"...and if there is an emergency of some sort, you are not to interfere. Allow the more seasoned of us to handle anything that might seem particularly dangerous. You, keep a safe distance and make sure no one else is in the wrong place. If they are in the wrong place, get them out of the wrong place and into the right place, but only if we are not already there. Got it? I doubt anything is going to happen, but in the event that it does, I don't need your getting put in the hospital to be on account of me not having told you something. From here on out, it's your own damn fault." She spoke so plainly. It was refreshing to hear someone who was his senior in experience talk with such finality. It made it easy to understand what was and was not acceptable. Granted, he didn't expect there to be many nuances to being trained at to door greet people, but he would be certain to take to heart the things that his trainer had told him. 

"I understand." He replied simply.

Despite the rather excessive warning label that came with the job, it seemed to be quite straightforward. Nearly everyone who approached the gate already had whatever sort of documentation they needed ready, making the process nearly painless for those that traveled in and out of the city between the outlying rural areas. He didn't know all the fine details of how the city worked, where these people got these passes, or what kind of process it was to get them. All he knew was, these people going this way could show a paper, and everything was fine, but coming back in required more scrutiny. As Yuuma observed the inner workings of the gatekeepers, standing in the fancy wooden box off to the side, he wondered about other villages as big as this. Did they have similar proceedings? Was it normal to keep your city so guarded, afraid that the enemy may even pretend to be one in order to gain entry? What would happen if a shinobi from another land wanted to come in? Would they say no? Did other lands even have shinobi? 

These thoughts were interrupted as a new face approached the gate. He appeared to be a traveling merchant, based on the size of the pack he carried on his back, and the way he walked spoke of someone who was used to carrying a heavy weight on their backs. Yuuma would leave the box along with Uzuki and their third shiftsman to begin inspecting the man and his goods. Yuuma, of course, could only watch as Uzuki used this as a chance to explain what was looked for, what was safe, and what wasn't safe while the merchant spoke with the other. Yuuma would nod along quietly, his eyes floating over each object she pulled forth, and over the man as well. It was hard to explain the feeling that settled over Yuuma's mind at that moment. To him, it was like trying to watch a play or a show while someone constantly pulled your attention away to focus on something mundane. Yuuma understood the importance of the lessons being learned, but he just couldn't shake this impression that the merchant had something more important to do or say. As if the man was going to divulge some important piece of information.

"Yuuma!" Uzuki snapped. "If you don't pay attention, I'm going to tell the office you failed spectacularly, and get you sent back to the Academy." This, of course, forced Yuuma to put out of his mind this anxious feeling. It also earned him the great honor of having to put everything back into his pack once it was all sorted through. A task that Yuuma was ill-prepared for but able to handle while the merchant spoke with the two other shinobi. A hand came up to scratch at an itch that placed in the center of his chest. With his mind focused once more on his task, Yuuma hurried to repack the dense bag the merchant had been carrying, not at all envious of the enormous weight he had to carry from city to city. Helping the merchant re-shoulder his pack, and sent him on his way. In an instant, those feelings crept over him once more as his eyes locked on the man as he walked away. Yuuma's footsteps behind the others slowly steadily, his hand itching that spot in his chest as he watched the man move. Watched the man walk. There was something about it. "Yuuma?" Uzuki question.

It was the way he walked. The way he moved. It was infuriating why it confounded him so. Why did he move like that? The itching on his chest intensified as he thought it over. "He's walking strangely. That isn't a normal walk, right? Perhaps his body hurts from all that walking around. But why then would his steps sway so much from one side to the next, instead of in the direction of most of the weight? His foot didn't slide forward in his show, it sets straight down. Purposefully. Directly. It's as if he was trying to walk around something. Stepping around glass. It was as if-" The realization sent a chill down his spine, standing up straight. "There is something in his shoe." He said out loud, pointing to the merchant they had just released. This accusation raised a curious sound from his companions, provoking him to elaborate. "He's got something stuffed in his shoe. He's walking to conceal it." A quick look between the two seniors would have a silent conversation before they would turn to begin approaching the man they had just allowed to pass.

"If you are wrong, there will be hell to pay for making me look dumb, Fujiwara," Uzuki said behind her as they jogged to catch up to the man. Yuuma hardly cared, he was certain of it. Hell, he staked his grade on it. The itching began to dull as the two of them made contact with the man, having a conversation that was out of range for him to hear. Behind him, he was approached by a citizen he had seen earlier leave requesting permission to enter, to which she would be asked to hold her business for a moment. Now his attention was on that of his companions, and when he saw the two of them tense, Yuuma thought it might be a good idea to increase their distance, and would escort the citizen back to the booth to await the reprieve of his seniors. Now that business was on hold, Yuuma would do his best to continue to watch the going on of the stop. After what seemed like a few minutes of talking, Yuuma would see the man beginning to remove his shoe, seemingly reluctantly. Yuuma wasn't sure what had been revealed, but when the shoe came clear of the man's foot and into the hand of Uzuki, the reaction was instant and terrifying.

"They're fake!" He heard the man shriek as the other guard had, in the blink of an eye, drawn a kunai and put it the merchant's neck. "They are fake! See? Test one!" The man said, loud enough for even Yuuma to hear. Turning, Yuuma would direct people back further, not knowing what was going on. The citizens, seeing the exchange, gave the event a wide birth. Uzuki could be seen picking something from the shoe that was hard to distinguish from the distance. Paper? A knife, maybe? The exchange lasted for a few more minutes, and the merchant would be shed of his pack one more, and this time lead away by a pair of nearby guards. Uzuki would collect another of whatever had been in the shoe before standing and returning back to Yuuma. Holding up plainly for him to see, Yuuma swallowed. A paper bomb. 

"Guy was trying to sneak in fake tags." She said as she returned. "Apparently he's a con man. Good catch, green. Even if it was just lucky." She said, reaching out to push the tag against his forehead. Yuuma, in his great relief, didn't care much about the paper being stuck on his face, eventually pulling it off his face to avoid the smell of sweaty foot. Yuuma looked down at the well-penned tag, his hand idly itching the same spot in his chest it had been the whole time. "Alright alright, enough excitement, back to work! Next!" Uzuki called casually, summoning the first person in the newly formed line to continue the process. Business as usual.

-Mission: Complete-

Mission Target: 1,000
TWC - 2,155

Claims:
Mission Rewards - 500 Ryo, 1 CD with village leader, 1 AP.
Using 2,000 WC to change main/first spec to Medical from Taijutsu.
Putting 155 WC towards Storage Displacement - [155/1000]

Sure, approved.