You Call This Art ? (Mission)

Mission

It was early in the morning when Sai awoke. He had set an alarm this morning to make sure he got up. Normaly he would oversleep due to his hectic training hours but he made to get his the night before. Today was going to be a big day for him, he and a couple other shinobi from the village would be going to a mine somewhere on the borders of the Fire country. Sai didnt expect to be doing such a high rank mission so soon, but he had been on a roll with his team. They had been completing mission with no failures, so it was only right that after their work he could go on a more serious mission.

Sai wasent sure how many of his fellow shinobi was joining him on this trip, but he hoped it would be someone he knew. Nothing made a trip more boring than being with someone who couldnt hold conversation. Sai himself wasent always in the mood to talk, but when on a trip like the one they were going on there was no reason not to talk. The Mission they were going on was a bit special, the mine they were going to was suppose to hold jade crystal inside of it. Sai wasent a jewelery kind of man but he knew that it was a pretty expensive mineral. 

One of the main reason's Sai was excited about was the possibility of keeping some of the mineral for them selfs. He wasent sure what he would do with it but he knew he would do something special with it. He would first have to do some homework on the crystal and see what the blacksmith could do with it, or sell it for the money if needed. Sai was curious why they would need to hire ninja for this job, but he was thankful none the less .After laying in bed a few more minutes after his alarm went off Sai decided it was time to get out of bed. He quickly arose to start on all the things needed to go out of his home, ready to get another mission under his belt. 

Normally he would take a long time to get ready but today he didnt want to waste any time. He didnt want to be late for his first A rank mission, it would be slightly embarrassing to be the last one there, and he for sure didnt want to be left behind on such a important mission to him. He quickly showered and brushed his teeth, before getting dressed. He looked in the mirror one last time to make sure he was good to go. He grabbed a apple as he made his way to his front door.

Sai left his home the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, meaning it couldnt be no more than a 6 in the morning. Unfortunately for Sai it looked like dark clouds were moving in, meaning rain could start to fall sometime this morning .Sai made his way over to the spot where he was suppose to be meeting the rest of the shinobi going with him on the mission. Sai wasted no time in getting to the spot, taking no more than twenty minutes to get there. Upon arrival he notice that he was the first one there. It surprised him, normally he was last one to arrive. 

As he waited he kept looking at the clouds, who was now almost covering the sky. Sai loved the rain he just wasent in the mood to get stuck in a downpour before arriving at the mission location, all he could do was hope.

WC:618

First A rank mission on the notch. Akira was slowly but surely making her way up to the person she felt destined to be. Although it didn't really feel like it. She hardly felt any stronger than on the beginning of all of this. But perhaps that's how its supposed to be. She has yet to get on an all out serious battle that could be a possible life or death situation. So the red haired kunoichi was still not sure what she could be capable of under the right pressure. What she did know was that she wanted to become strong. She wanted to be so strong that her strength would be acknowledged by others. There wasn't that many female shinobi, and she had yet to see on within the walls of Konohagakure. Except that one time in the noodle shop, yet she was still unsure whether or not that woman had been a ninja.

Akira had heard the news of being invited to an A rank mission. This mission was much more different then the others. This one's purpose was to gather some type of rare mineral. This red haired kunoichi didn't know much about minerals and crystals, but it was common for clansmen of the Kitsune to cherish these sorts of beauty. Even the yokai foxes cherished little stones and beads as well. There was no telling how excited Pyro would get if her little foxy eyes landed on a Jade. Either way ome thing was for sure, and that was that Akira was not selfish when it came to possessions, or objects. Her desire for power and dominance was one thing. But she desired that power and control to be earned rightfully. Not just handed over if she didn't deserve it. Such an act would almost be insulting.

It didn't take long for Akira to clean herself up and get dressed in her usual attire. The comfortable flexible material of her clothing resulted into a revealing black crop top and tight leggings. Her combat boots had flexible soles and was laced tightly around her mid shin. Akira was out in no time with her adorable blonde fox. Pyro stood rather large for a normal fox, and was a few inches bigger then the average red fox size. Her fur was gorgeous for an animal, and she had golden bracelets that decorate her poofy tail, neck, and legs. Along with little gems and beads that ornamented her body. One glance at her would show that little Pyro definitely appreciated the beauty of her items. Both her and Akira made their way to the mission spot. Quickly grabbing a bite to eat along the way at a food stand as they did so, as a fast morning breakfast. Within ten minutes after Sai arrived, Akira popped out from the streets and arrived there as well. She had been in a hurry, with a shrimp kabob hanging from both her and Pyro's hungry little mouths.

{WC: 496}

Today was going to be yet another great day of being a ninja within the Hidden Leaf Village. Waking up in his bed he opened his eyes slowly as the sun was shining through his window while the smell of breakfast wafted through the crack of his closed door. He sat up from his comfortable bed, stretching his body as multiple muscles within his back and arms stretched and cracked, as he got up and walked over to the door and went out to the bathroom for his morning shower. Turning on his hot water he heard a knock upon his closed bathroom door as Saori called inside. "I have your preferred breakfast ready and waiting, sir. I'm preparing your tea right now and it should be ready for you by the time you're done with your shower." Hearing her voice come through the door he took a breath of the warm fumes before speaking back in a calm voice. "Thank you, Saori. I'll be out in a minute." After speaking he did his normal morning bathroom routine until about twenty minutes later as he walked out in a robe and made his way to his bedroom where his clothes were waiting for him cleaned, dried, and pressed.

Upon getting dressed he made his way to the kitchen to pick up his sandwich before moving to the fireplace where his sword was hanging on a mount over it. Eating his food quickly he grabbed his sword with a flourish, the ribbon strands hanging off the sheath floating rapidly behind his flourish before settling calmly down to his side, as he walked over to the front door where Saori was already waiting and opening the door for him to leave. "Have fun on your mission, sir, and do be careful. This may prove to be a dangerous one." Walking past her he nodded to her in thanks as she closed the door behind him and he made his way over to the spot where everyone was to meet. Making it five minutes after Sai had arrived he gave him a nod before waiting in silence for the rest of the team to arrive. It would be five minutes later as Akira had come rushing to them with food still within her and her... pet's(?) mouths. Already he was getting the feeling that this mission was going to be an interesting one.

(WC 406)

Snow tired himself of training. He was unable to sleep the night before, kept seeing similar images in his head that he saw that night with Akira and Sai in the forest. After tossing and turning for hours, he finally decided that it wasn't worth it and headed into the training grounds for some late night training. He began working on a few Ice related techniques that he was fascinated with and had to work on to try and improve his skills with his ice techniques. The specific one that he was working on was Flash Freeze, a technique that spread out from the user's position and freezes anyone that would be around him.

He would create himself a shadow clone and have them stand in the training grounds. When the clone got into position, he had the clone rush in as fast as he could to get to Snow before the cold began to get too much for it. The move was extremely effective and he couldn't wait to begin using it more and more often in actual battle. The visions and images in his head were repeating during his training, leaving him unable to actually focus on what he was doing so he figured it would be best for him to attempt to meditate and get his mind back on the training.

He walked over to the side of the training grounds, being on his knees directly next to the river that rushed through the middle of the training grounds area that he was in. As he tried to clear his mind, the images only became more and more vivid and clear. Snow's breathing became more rapid, and his calm hands turned into solid fists. He continued to breathe deeply, trying to calm his mind down. Sweat began to build onto his eyebrow, his forehead feeling as hot as fire when they generally felt cold as snow. His eyes finally shot open when he began hearing people in the background, approaching the training grounds. He then put it together that he had spent hours attempting to meditate and now he needed to hurry to meet his teammates for the mission they had been planning on going on.

When he arrived at the meeting locaiton, he noticed that everyone had already arrived, Akira seeming to be just showing up at the same time he had. Snow greeted everyone, with the images still repeating in his mind. He tried to be his perfectly happy and calm self, but he couldn't bring his mind to be happy in this moment, so it would come off as distracted and frustrated. It wouldn't seem to be that Snow was frustrated on any of his teammates, only at something distant and far away from their present situation. "Hey guy. How is everyone?" His words came off as down, slightly perturbed and extremely distant.

WC:479

Sai waited for the people who were to be joining him on this wonderful day, he couldnt help but slightly get distracted for a moment. He had saw to birds fighting over piece of food, Sai wasent sure what kind of food it was but it was some form of meat. If Sai was alone and not about go on a mission this would be something of intrest to him. It wouldnt be the first time Sai would summon a Shadow Clone and make a bet with it over what animal would win. It wouldnt alays be animals Sai and his clones would talk about. It could be anything, just having another person to talk to was enough. As Sai was snapping back into reality he had seen Vergil approaching.

Sai knew the Vergil was a man of little word, so it was of no surprise when he only gave Sai a nod  as he walked past. Sai returned the nod, trying to act cool like the White haired uchiha who had just walked past him. Sai was kinda getting use to how vergil acted so it didnt bother him like it normally would of. Next to arrive was his good friend and team mate Akira. She still had food from one of the venders still hanging in her and her familiars mouth, it brought a slight chuckle upon Sai. The bond they had was one of Sai envy, hoping to one day have a familiar of his own he can do stuff like that with.

Last by only mere moments but definitely not least, was his good friend and rival Snow. Sai could tell something was off with snow, it normally wasent hard since he was so jolly all the time. Today though seemed different, like he had something on his mind that he was pandering over. Sai would return the greeting that Snow gave him before he would face all of team mates for today's mission and start to speak.

"All right everyone lets do our best to get this mission over with quickly, if were lucky and work hard enough we could possible leave with some of the crystal for each one of us. So lets not mess up", Sai would say with a smile. He stopped talking, only waiting for someone else to add anything they had to say before they took of.

Both Akira and her blonde fox familiar named Pyro, sat munching away on their little shrimp kabobs. Both the red haired kunoichi and her fuzzy little friend had pretty big appetites. And both of them loved meat, esp when it came to sea food. So of course the two wasn't going to skip a quick snack before starting today's major mission.

Pyro smacked her cute jaws as the kabob fell from her mouth. Akira then retrieved the discarded kabob, knowing that Pyro couldn't reach the trash can. And plumped both Pyro's and her's in the trash. Now it was time to begin. Everything else arrived and Sai was giving the speech of the day for encouragement and mentioning that fact they may leave with some of the special mineral.

Pyro was excited enough just to be laying her eyes upon them. The little fox was definitely a gem collector, but she wasn't greedy. If she was only allowed to see and not have, then she will respect that decision with a little pout amongst her fuzzy muzzle. Akira on the other hand wanted to see her familiar light up with joy, and hoped that the workers would be a little appreciative of their help. Either way, the two was pumped to begin the objective. They was waiting everyone else to start heading to the direction.
{WC: 225}
{TWC: 721}

The lads had been at it again. The game of dice was played in the hut right outside of the mine and Lachlan who was the bloody champion of it was up for the count. He 

“For fuck's sake-” Arthur cursed aloud, his fist slamming on the wooden table, throwing the dices on the mud-caked earth. A burst of laughter followed from the boys towards their luck struck foreman. And he felt the blood pumping to his veins, so much so that he could tell his red balding head was red with anger. 

“All right Arthur, cough up the green,” Lachlan said after sucking air through his teeth to compose himself. Asking for money, everyone put on a serious face, Joe had come to understand in his forty-seven years of life. With a rough callused hand, he made for his pocket, and gingerly felt the kunai on his fingertips. For a moment he pictured it, stabbing the dark blade in and through Lachlan's disgusting double chins. 

But he knew better by then. He was no longer Artillery Arthur from his shinobi days, known for his ultra-violent temper that no one was spared from, not even his superiors in the Konoha system. 

Pulling out the thousand ryo from his pocket, he threw them on the ground. 

“Here is your peanut money Lachlan, but find out you were cheating and I’m cutting off your balls and them to you,” Arthur said, half-jokingly and excused himself to take a leak. Not that it mattered the graveyard shift was almost done. Only a couple of hours before eight in the morning, where he could fuck off from this mine and go home. 

The miners had been at it again, all night trying to find some rare stones into this insanity that was Shivering Mine but to no avail. Only dirt and ol bones where to be found, but no harm done. The more shifts the union gave him, the fatter his payslip. He could not believe he had been so stupid, to consider a shinobi career risking his life day in and day out for Konoha’s peanut money,

Unless you were from noble semen, you were meant to die poor and hungry. And if poverty did not end your life then an enemy’s blade would get you sooner or later. His teammates had to find that the hard way. They had promised though when they were Genin, “Let's make Chuunin, Jounin, and ANBU together.” Marion the girl of their three-man squad had proclaimed in all childhood innocence, but even then as little girl she looked more woman than half of those Arthur had met through his years. She had been the first one to die, right after one of their promise had come to fruition. Jounin exams in Konoha were dangerous and the enemy she had been pitied with was that Hibari Hyuuga of all people. 

Arthur was no god damned angel, but everyone who even remotely came in contact with Hibari would have sworn Arthur was an angel, compared to the heir of the Hyuuga clan at the time. His killing of Marion had been ruled an accident as if that bastard knew where the weak points in her armor were and made sure to punch through them and into Marion’s vital with his Gentle-fucking-fist. And when Artillery Arthur was about to go medieval on that noble ass, he was stopped by a hundred swords and terminated from the shinobi system.  

He had tried to convince James to quit as well only he had refused, right in front of that girl's grave. “We made a promise. I’m not stopping until I make ANBU.” Those were the last things James ever said to Arthur. A couple of years later Arthur heard he had died...on his first ANBU mission at that. 

And that was the last he had heard of his team and their promises. Begone with them, they troubled Arthur no more.

He stepped into the sunrise, his small eyes slowly adjusting to the morning light. There was no way the lanterns of the mine could ever compare to it.  Arthur placed his pickaxe on the outer wall of the mine -with more effort he would have liked to admit- and after that took a cigarette from his opened factory pack. 

For some reason, the washed-up shinobi enjoyed lighting them up more than smoking them. But he would proceed to smoke it all the same, as he took a good look at the nectar curtain of sunrise. Two more hours until the graveyard shift was over, and he could leave this shithole.

WC - 768 [NPCING]

Taking the time to adjust his collar while watching Sai speak to the group upon Snow's arrival he found that he was really starting to feel at home working with this group. He had ran into them one way or another before many times over with the only mystery behind the group to him being Akira who he cared little for when it came to her appearance and mannerisms. If anything he did often find himself intrigued by the familiar she usually always had with her as he himself was wanting to secure himself a way of summoning companions in the near future to help him with his duties. He'd have to go after that upon completing his mission for it was only going to prove beneficial in the long run. He gripped his sword with his left hand and kept silent as Saizou finished his talk before turning his head to the exit. He would only move upon everyone else moving themselves as thoughts of how dangerous of a mission they were about to undertake flooded his mind. Hopefully it wasn't going to be so bad but it was always in a ninja's best interest to be prepared and expect the unexpected.

(WC 203
TWC 609)

Snow was unsure what to expect on the mission that they were preparing to undertake. He was in the midst of an internal war between what seemed like two different people, the kind loving Snow, and the tormented soul at the same time. His worries were mixed up within the war and he had a hard time keeping his grasp on reality, but he made due. The entire group of shinobi began their adventure towards the mine that they would hopefully find the mythical gem, which had been called Jade. 

Jade was a gorgeous mineral that consisted of the most beautiful color around, green. But this was no forest green that could blend in with the endless kilometers of trees that surrounded the Leaf Village. This green was of a shade that looked as though it belonged to royalty, now Snow may be slightly biased due to green being his favorite color, which would explain his choice of wardrobe, but the fact still remained that it was a marvelous mineral indeed. This was the day's and group's objective, to find the jade and to refine it to the level that it would resemble a hundred mirrors facing all different directions. On his gathering adventures in the forests of the Leaf Village, he had seen many mines that sat in the forests. While he had never been inside one, he had heard many stories of people finding the ornamental mineral in those very mines. 

The finding of the jade was a possible feat, but it was the refining the jade that was going to prove to be a challenge, for it was an extremely articulate procedure, needing the steadiest of hands and gentlest of touch. Snow was sure that he would be able to perform the task, but he wasn't sure about the rest of the group. This was not due to him thinking the group were incapable, he was just unsure due to the fact that he had no way of knowing whether or not they could or could not do it. He was certainly going to find out very soon, and only time would tell.  

WC:356

With everyone looking as ready as could be, Sai decided he had spoken enough. He himself was ready to get this mission underway. It was hard to hold in his own excitement for this mission, but he also had his doubts. The ranking of the mission is what gave him the excitement but the fact that they would be mining was what worried him. Mining wasent a ninja job, so he didnt know what to really expect their. Not only that a mine could collapse and kill them all if something was to happen. As the team took of to undertake their mission Sai took the lead. 

Sai couldnt help but wander what he was going to do with his jade if he was able to get a piece. He didnt want to have to go to a blacksmith or someone to have the material turned into something, he wanted to do it himself. Sai knew he was going to need help to refine it and that was okay with him, as long he go to do the process himself. If this mission went successful Sai would defentily want to go on something similar like this. Sai never had a special weapon or armor before but with this new material he could possible have one.