Thoughts of poison

Mission Details:

Another day waiting to start , and the boy was simply staring at the ceiling of his bedroom as the dawn began to start. The dream was dull this time, there was nothing new. The shadow continued to chant the same words over and over again, and he still couldn't catch the meaning as to what it was that it was saying. The episode that he was in was beginning to end, as the shadows didn't dance across his vision, and the whispering was gone. But this episode caused him to do stuff that he had never expected that he would do. 

He stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the things he had done, the cruel things that he had done without even thinking. He thought about what the voices in his dream had said that day before the interrogation mission, that the influence from Yuumei was going to be at a level that he had never witnessed before, and it was right. That day he had witnessed Yuumei's influence completely cloud not only his vision, but his emotions as well. He thought of the moment before he walked into the interrogation room, the shadows covered his vision and the hallway went silent for a moment. He felt nothing and saw nothing, nothing but anger and hatred that filled his mind. 

He walked into the interrogation room and he didn't feel anything, and he felt such a confidence that was not normal for him. He untied the bandit, completely freeing him, leaning on nothing but his own abilities with the sword that his father had left behind. The speed at which he moved, the ease it was to cut off the man's arm. He didn't feel any of his emotions, and to be honest it all felt like a blur. It felt like it was somebody else entirely, but it wasn't, it was only him and what lived inside of him, without his own inhibitions stopping himself from being consumed by it. 

The screams the man had produced as the blood poured from his body, they seemed to blood curdling now, but at the time, he just continued to punish the man as he screamed in pain. He remembered the things he did, the continuing punishment that he delivered to that man, and even though he was a criminal, he was still human. But in that moment, he didn't care about humanity, he only cared about the mission and that was all. He could still see the blood pooling around him, and even the amount of blood that was covering his own body. His clothes had the man's blood on them, as did his fists, and his sword. 

He couldn't seem to stop thinking about it, about the blood and the misery that he was giving out to the man and he seemed to somewhat enjoy it. He shook his head quickly to try and get the thought out of his mind. He continued to lie in his bed, allowing the sun to rise and the light to fill his room. He was proud of himself, he was able to get through an episode without sticking himself in his dark and isolated room, hell he even got to feed himself during it. This was the very first time he had ever been able to go through his episode like that, and for what he had gone through during this episode that was pretty impressive. 

Then another thought popped into his mind, that maybe if he hadn't tried to push himself so hard during his episode, that the influence wouldn't have been so bad and he wouldn't have done those horrible things. Thinking about it from that perspective he began to feel bad for the things he had done, but then again, what did he do? He acted like a shinobi and he got the job done. There was nothing to feel bad for, he finally performed a higher ranked mission and he performed it remarkably and it was all thanks to Yuumei and his influence that he allowed to consume him.

His eyes shot wide open in realization, "That's what it was! That's what the dream is meaning!" He yelled to himself in his room. He realized just what it meant to be a vessel of Yuumei. Or at least he thought he understood it. He hadn't spoken to another member of the clan in a long time, so his understanding was that of a young child, so he had a lot to learn. But as of now, he understood that him being a vessel was not something to hide away from the general public, it was something to be proud of. He remembered the actions he took during his episode once more, but with a different perspective, this time with the perspective of what he believed a ninja needed to be. 

He thought of how quickly he moved when that bandit tried to overpower him. How easily his sword cut straight through the arm of that man, the thought of his arm still twitching as it laid on the floor. The screaming of the man and just how easily it all came to him. These were the actions of a ninja, but more importantly it was the actions of a vessel of Yuumei. He wanted to be more than just a vessel, but if it meant having that much power to himself, then for now, he would be a proud vessel. He saw the sun was now fully passed the horizon, rising up to the village walls when he finally realized that it was about time that he had gotten up and started his day, today was a day where he was going to fulfill a mission gathering a different kind of resource, one that would be out of the mines and more in the open fields, today he was going to be picking hemlock, a poisonous plant that he would be able to use in the future, given the right situation and equipment that is.

With his new perspective on his episodes, he was saddened to see this episode go away for he was unsure if he was going to be able to make the same choices with no hesitation, but he knew that that was just something he was going to have to work on if he wanted to become a ninja worth remembering. He took his blanket off of his body and he swung his feet over the side of the bed. He placed his feet onto the ground and he stretched out his toes for just a second before he shifted his weight onto his feet and stood up. 

He walked into the bathroom and he began his morning routine so he could get at least a somewhat early start on the day, not wanting to be out in the fields in the middle of the hottest part of the day, leaving him miserable and hot. He leaned his head over the side of the tub and he turned on the water to the coldest setting and he felt the water rush over his head and through his hair  He cupped his hands and he splashed his face a few times, trying to get his body to shock itself straight with the cold water, maybe that would help his thought process and get his mind off of the anger he felt, or the excitement, he couldn't tell for himself anymore. He didn't feel to confident that it would work, but at this point he didn't know what else to do other than to go back into the pitch black room and stay in there until it passed. 

He grabbed the towel hanging off of the curtain rod in the shower and he began drying off his hair and the rest of his body that had gotten wet from his short shower. When he was drying off, he took off all of his sleepwear and went over to his dresser. He wanted to make sure that he looked presentable, but he wasn't sure what he was going to wear. He closed the drawers to the dresser and decided to go over to the closet to see just what it was that he was going to wear. He didn't want to wear anything that he could ruin in the middle of the fields, so he was going to have to wear something that would allow his body to breathe and not be smothered by a black suit again. 

He looked through his closet and he had a few choices that jumped out to him, a few suits and a couple nice sets of clothes. But this time he was thinking that none of those were going to be good choices, and instead he was going to go with something that he hadn't gone with in a while. This time he was choosing to wear a set of clothes that would be perfect for working out in the fields, a simple brown button up shirt with short sleeves. He then grabbed himself a pair of shorts and he threw it all on and went back through the door into the bathroom so he could look at himself through the mirror and get an idea as to what he was looking like. 

When he got into the bathroom, he grabbed his hair brush and he began brushing his long red hair for a few minutes, making sure that there was no tangles in his hair and that it all looked all straight and kempt. He brushed his teeth after he was done brushing his hair and he turned to face the mirror one more time, to ensure that he looked all put together. He left the bathroom and he now the last thing he needed to do was to go to the kitchen and make himself some breakfast.

Leaning down to see what he had in his fridge, he saw that he could have his usual breakfast of sausage and eggs, or he could instead have something a little different. He grabbed some steak that he had bought at the store and he let it set on the counter for about twenty minutes to raise the internal temperature a little so it would cook more evenly. He was taking a more calm approach to his day, as he had been going hard at it for a few weeks now. While the steak was coming up in temperature, he walked over to his front door and he grabbed his father's sword, realizing that he felt that he was about ready to get his own sword, to have something that he could call his own and not just something that his father had passed down unto him. Not that he didn't love his father's sword, it was just beginning to feel like it was someone else's and not so much his own. 

He grabbed his whetstone and he began sliding the blade across the rough stone to sharpen the blade as sharp as it could be. When the timer had gone off for the twenty minutes he went over to the counter and he grabbed the steak. He sliced the plastic wrap open and he grabbed the steak and seasoned it with salt and pepper. He got a pan really hot and then he set the steak on top of it so he could sear both sides of the steak. When he was done searing the steak, he put the steak and the pan it was on into the oven and he let the steak cook for another few minutes in the oven.  

As the steak cooked in the oven, he grabbed another pan and cooked a few eggs on the pan so he could have them on the side of his steak. He counted the minutes the steak was in the oven and he removed the steak and the pan from the oven and he set the steak onto a plate so it could rest for a few minutes before he began to eat it with the eggs. With his breakfast all prepared, he grabbed his plate and he brought it to the living room so he could eat it. He decided to enjoy his meal and not scarf it down. 

When he was done with his breakfast, he brought the dishes over to the sink and he left the dishes in the sink as he wanted to finally get on with his mission for the day. He walked out of his kitchen and back toward the front door so he could equip himself with all of his gear before heading out. He lashed his father's sword onto his side, favored over to his right side. Then he grabbed his mother's bow and threw it over his shoulder. Opening the front door he took in a big waft of the warm desert air and he walked out of his apartment and headed down the stairs onto the main road of the village. 

As he got onto the main road of the village, he headed over to the gardens of the village, which is where he was going to find the hemlock. He wasn't too sure what he was going to do with the hemlock yet, he could either make a poisonous compound to put on his arrows, or he could use it on his sword, or maybe even his armor to protect himself from people touching him. There were a lot of choices that he still needed to make, but he had plenty of time to make that decision. As he neared the gardens of the village, he saw the giant greenhouse in the distance and he hastened his pace just a bit, he wanted to get in there before the heat of the sun started to rise to far and he had to go into the greenhouse and bake inside of it. 

When he got to the greenhouse, he donned the protective equipment that was provided by the village and he readied himself to go into the place to pick himself some hemlock. When he was done putting on the protective equipment, he entered the greenhouse and he began walking through the long aisles that were within the greenhouse, seeing all of the plants made him impressed that the people of the village were able to grow so many different vegetables and herbs within such an unforgiving climate. It seemed almost impossible, but somehow the village figured it out. He was sure that there had to be some type of ninjutsu at work, but he wasn't too sure. 

Before he got to the hemlock, the women working at the front of the greenhouse gave him a list of things to gather if he wanted to take some of the hemlock. The boy accepted the list and he began walking through the greenhouse and he gathered all of the ingredients that were on the list. Each of the herbs were the ones that were possibly harmful if touched, so he was thankful that he had the protective equipment on. He was also sure that that was the reason why this was a mission for ninja and not just a task for normal people, for if any normal person had touched the plants, they could really hurt. He guessed so could he, but it's more expected of ninja to be injured or harmed, so it was more acceptable.

He finally reached the area that was holding the hemlock and he began grabbing a few baskets full so he could share the fruit of his labor with the rest of the village. It was an interesting mission that was available to people, he figured that there must not be a lot of people that wanted to pick this stuff, probably because of the poisonous properties that it held within it's leaves. When he was done grabbing the hemlock, he put a small amount in his pack, that was going to be his share of the pickings for the day. 

He grabbed the baskets and he placed them in a place by the entrance of the greenhouse and he asked the ladies that were working in the greenhouse if there was anything else that he could help them with. The women both said no and they thanked him for the work that he had done. He told the women that it was no problem and he headed back out of the greenhouse. When he exited the structure, he took off all of the protective equipment and he put it back into the lockers that were by the entrance of the greenhouse and he headed back into the main part of the village.

He now had the rest of the day to himself and he wasn't too sure what he was going to do, but he was sure that he needed to go visit the local weaponry shop so he could buy himself his own sword, one that he could call his own. He decided that that was exactly what he was going to do, he was headed to the weaponry shop for a little while until he found himself a sword. Looking through the shops, he was realizing that the things that he was wanting were far more expensive than he had originally expected. But finally after a few hours of searching, he found himself one weapons shop that had exactly what he was looking for, and for just the right price too. 

He handed the shopkeep the amount of money required for the sword and in return he was given his sword. He was thankful for the sword and he left the shop feeling a little lighter, knowing that he was finally moving forward with his own life, and not just living in his parent's shadow. With his new sword, he was going to strike out as his own shinobi and he was finally going to make a name for himself no matter what.

WC: 3002
Claims:
+6100 Ryo
+30 AP from mission
+30 AP from WC
+1 Hemlock
+ 377 towards Chakra Infusion (Completed) (Previous Progress)
+ 2500 towards Sacred Spear [V7] (Completed)
+125 towards [V7] Deflect (125/1500)

Approved