Honouring Ancestors (IO)

The Mission: Honouring Ancestors (May add more as we go)

Anastasia's stats at the start of the mission:

The day was not as nice as Anastasia Akari would have liked; it was cloudy, dark clouds that hinted at rain later. Not something the Akari Genin was particularly fond of but fully understood that it was a necessary part of life and nothing she could do or say would have any effect on the weather, so it was best to simply let it be and not trouble herself wishing it was different. That thought process over and done with, she would begin her morning routine as always; meditation, followed by exercise and training outdoors. She then got cleaned up and ate some breakfast. As she was getting ready to head out the door, a messenger arrived with a mission for her. A B-rank mission no less. It would be the highest ranked mission she would do since coming back to the village.

The mission today would be another one related to the religious side of things in this country. Because of the diverse beliefs that were held here, there were plenty of religious sites; temples, churches, shrines, and the like. They all required tending and because of how important they are, the amount of care needed was of a higher degree than other parts of the village. Those that normally tended these duties required additional assistance for the moment. They paid well and it would be well worth her while to earn a little more goodwill with the religious members of the village, even if her standing didn’t really change all that much. ‘It seems my plans for today have been decided, at least in part.’ She thought to herself as she left her apartment. This didn’t see to be a mission that would require any gear, so she left all of it behind, going out only in her normal clothing.

The meeting location, like most missions, was the main gate of the village, as some of these sites were outside the village. The walk to the village gates wasn’t a long one, and Anastasia had left as soon as the mission request was delivered, so she likely had some time to get there. The gates were busy as always, and she couldn’t see anyone that appeared to be waiting for people, so she would simply find a space near the gates and lean against the outer wall, keeping an eye out for anyone that looked like they would be joining her. She was not likely going to be leading this one, due to the rank of this mission, so she would wait for the team leader to arrive and see what they wanted to do.

WC: 437

Toneri sat crossed-legged at the rendezvous point, on his lap the unsheathed Hoshimura steel sword Brightroar. Other knights might have sharpened with a whetstone as they waited, but it was a common saying in Haven that if you took a whetstone to a Hoshimura blade, you would need another whetstone. And maybe another hand to keep it.

Toneri was not eager to find out the latter part. A knight in full armor can shrug off swords, spears, and axes. But Hoshimura steel slices through his protections like so much cloth. As advanced as iron is from bronze, so is Hoshimura steel from ordinary steel. Lighter yet more substantial, and nothing holds an edge like it. 

Unfortunately, the process to create more, like so much of the knowledge, was lost in the clan’s doom two centuries ago. That one-eyed dipshit, Vaenar Hoshimura, claimed that his ancestor, Alexandros wove magic spells into the molten metal and blasted it with fire from the lungs of a dragon. 

Toneri had laughed at that, but now holding a Hoshimura blade on his lap, smokey and dark as if drinking in the sun and rippling with a thousand folds, he could not possibly scoff so loudly anymore.

"Heads up, they are here." Natsuki's voice rang in his ear, sharp as a kunai. With her regal black tunic and a red cape, his sister looked beautiful today. The cloak, pinned on her thin shoulders with a golden leaf brooch, danced like a living thing behind her.

"Seems like we have a full party," Toneri said as he rose to his feet. "Fate us brought us together once again, Anastasia." He then shifted his attention on the young man-at-arms whose face he met for the first time. "We all got the helping church mission. You know how much people here love their faith."

WC: 305

Slowly he paced the corridors of the home that he had built under the ground in the wildlife reserve. He had been given a mission from the village officials, and it was to be done with a group of young shinobi, all three Genin. He was going to be there to observe and study the children to understand their strengths, and their weaknesses. He was very excited to begin this mission as it was truly a first step in the direction of becoming a mentor in the village. He was becoming an individual that would be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the entire village, and one whose opinion would be sought after, or at least that is what he had hoped. 

The girls began to awake and exit their room one after another in the early hours of the day, all of them asking the same question. "Why are we awake so early, father?" Gondul rubbed her dark blue eyes as she spoke with a scratchier voice than her usual velvety soft one. The snow haired shinobi proudly sat at the head of the table in the meeting room when he motioned for all of the girls to sit in their seats. When they had all been seated, he would begin to go over the day's expectations. 

"I have been assigned a mission to not only help the village, but to also observe and assess some of the young shinobi that reside within this village and are a member of the village's ranks. This is a rather large honor for me to have been given, and I wanted to make sure that you all had something to do while I was away for the duration of this mission." He would pause for a moment, ensuring that he hadn't any questions from the girls, which he indeed did not. 

"I would like for you all to firstly pick your individual rooms, care for them and clean them. Then I would like for you to do the same in the bathrooms and the kitchen, clean our home top to bottom and ensure it's presentability. I have a feeling that we will begin to have guests to our home in the near future, and I would like to be ready. Once this is finished, I would like for you all to go out into the wildlife reserve and begin your work on stalking and predation. We are soon to be leaving this village on behalf of the village's officials, and I also want to be ready for that. Work on this for half of the day, then spend the rest of the day doing whatever it is you would like to do. The floor is now open to questions or comments."

The girls all looked towards their father, but none had raised their voices nor their hands. Gondul looked across the table to her father and smiled. "Starting to get attached to this place, are ya?" The old snow haired shinobi glowed slightly as he responded, "Indeed my dear. Beginning to have a feeling that I haven't had in a very long time." With that, the girls smiled, as did the young Uchiha, and they all rose from the table.

The girls all walked to their respective rooms while the Uchiha left their home and headed into the village. He used the tree tops first, as he did not want to have any footsteps leading to his home, at least not yet. Then when he reached the entrance to the reserve, he leaped down to the ground and entered the larger part of the village. He knew exactly where he was supposed to be meeting these children, and the time was leading to the fact that he was going to be directly on time. He was hopeful that the rest of the party had already arrived, but he did feel slightly uncomfortable with the idea that he may have made them wait to begin their mission.

He picked up the pace slightly so he could be there at least a few minutes early to the rendezvous time. He closed in on the meeting point, and sure enough he saw every member of the party already there. He stopped his sprinting when he got within eyesight of the group, and he began to walk with a brisk pace towards them. With a raise and flick of the hand, he greeted the group as he got close enough to them, and he began to cheerfully speak to them. 

"Hello! It is great to see that you are already here and ready to go. I will do my best to remember each of your names, but I would like to start with a quick greeting before we leave." He would look to the one with the sword in their lap, he would point with his right index finger as he spoke their name, "You are Toneri if I am not mistaken. It is a pleasure to meet you." He would then point to the next individual in the party, "You would be Cole. Pleasure to meet you." Then he would point to the last individual of the party and speak with a slight wave of his hand, "And finally you are Anastasia. I am truly honored to meet you all." He would now be within three meters of the party when he finished going through the names. 

Crossing his arms and smiling, he spoke once again before they would commence on their mission, "I have been assigned to this mission to be a means of observation. I do not tell you this so you can make sure to try to be impressive or to 'show off' as it were. I only mean to tell you this because I want us all to have a degree of transparency to each other. So now that our greetings and my own purposes have been explained, I ask. Who would like to be the one to lead us to our destination?" The smile across the young Uchiha's face would not cease, it would stay firm as he was truly filled to the brim with excitement to work with the youth of this village, and to see what they were capable of.

WC: 1044

It would appear that she wasn’t the first person, or persons, to have arrived at the gate. The minute she heard his voice she inwardly winced. On the positive side, Toneri’s sister Natsuki was also with him. Naturally the Akari Genin much preferred her over him simply because they seemed to share a similar mindset. Anastasia would turn to look at the pair as they walked over to her. Anastasia would smile at Natsuki, making sure that Toneri realised the gesture was not aimed at him, and then said to him “perhaps fate will allow me to see you do honest work today, Hogokage’s brother, rather than have your sister show who the better of you two is.” The words had no venom or emotion behind them, as if she was stating a fact as opposed to insulting the boy’s work ethic and sense of pride. She would then turn back to Natsuki. “It’s nice to see you again. I don’t believe I caught your name the other day when we were working together.”

Another familiar face walked over at that point. Cole River, yes that was his name, approached and asked if they were also here to assist the church. “It’s nice to see you again Cole,” she would say to him. “It’s a little more complicated than that, but yes, I believe that is the mission we are here for.” All that remained was for the team leader to show up as far as she was aware, since it didn’t appear that any of them were of Chuunin rank or higher, which was definitely required for this mission.

Right on cue, someone was walking towards them at a brisk pace, someone she didn’t recognise. He waved to them, which likely meant that he was the last person they were waiting for. He was roughly the same height as Toneri, with a slightly bigger build. He had white, spiky hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. The only blemishes that she could see were a trio of birthmarks on his face; one on each cheek, and one on his chin. He definitely did not appear to be from Hoshigakure, simply based on his manner of speaking. The man would then take note of all of their names without introducing himself, a small red flag there, but easily resolveable. Once he had finished the summary of his reason for being here, strange that it was, Anastasia would bring up her concern before they started moving. “Apologies, sir, but while you know our names, I don’t believe you introduced yourself.” Once that was out of the way, the Akari Genin would offer to lead the team to their first stop, which would be one of the bridges that led into the water gardens.

WC: 461
TWC: 898

Toneri sheathed the blade featured at a hundred songs at his left hip. His attire, a white tunic that bore the Hyuuga colors in reverse, suggested that he was more of a knight than a shinobi. Those queer samurai robes and shinobi jackets, and these would never stop a blow from a blade, while an armor would very well keep a man alive.

Today he would not need armor, however. The middle Hyuuga child had decided that Grey Lion, that piece of magnificent steelwork made by the master armorer Mercurio Stamatis, would only be used in the mission of A-rank and above, whenever his beloved brother thought Toneri was worthy of such Honor.

“My name is Natsuki.” She said and giggled at Anastasia’s insolence towards Toneri, her face lighting up, as it always did when she was happy. Anastasia would make a polite gesture towards Natsuki and, in the elegant ceremonial way of Hoshi, excluded Toneri from it, but not before belittling him.

“You and my sister have grown very fond of each other.” Said Toneri, who did not share the girl’s excitement. “I believe I begin to see why you are immune to my charms.”

He said to Anastasia and turned around. The Hoshi man at arms, whose name was Cole River, appeared to have been daydreaming—keeping the same lost look on his face thorough the entire encounter. There was a jape on Toneri’s lips before another figure made its appearance. Snow white hair on a broad-shouldered male in his late twenties.  His shadow dancing like a living thing in the cobbled street. The Golden Hyuuga knew the shadow and the man who cast it. And he knew who everyone is—much to their confusion.

Toneri and Natsuki nodded in acknowledgment, Cole a look of confusion and Anastasia a question. “Who are you.” That was that question, but before the figure could answer, Toneri’s voice sharp as the sword thrust took flight.

“This, my dear Anastasia, is my older brother’s newest companion. Taichi Uchiha. He rose to that position after a heroic deed. And we know how much Lord Seventh appreciates those.” Toneri stepped forward, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword, a golden lion’s head, with ruby eyes that shone like two red stars.

“I missed your rank through, sir. Are you a Jounin, or are the rumors true, and my brother has finally filled the seventh and final position in the Nova Corps." His thin lips formed into a smile that cut deep like a kunai. "You seem to be missing a white cloak if the latter is the case.”

WC: 432

The children that all stood before him were quite intriguing. They all had their own personalities, and they were all so different, but they all had the same type of fire in their eyes that reminded of himself when he was younger. In his own excitement to take on his first assignment working with the village, he had been reminded that he had not yet introduced himself. It was a fact that made him chuckle slightly, and just as he was about to fix his error and introduce himself, he was cut off by a boy thrusting his sword into the air and explaining the Uchiha's recent circumstance and his new entrance into the village.

The boy had divulged that he was the little brother of the Hogokage, this made the snow haired shinobi think about the Hogokage and just what age he was, something he had yet to have thought about. When the boy had put his sword away, he had asked the older Uchiha a question about his rank, another thing that he hadn't truly thought about since his meeting with Ayato. He leaned against the railing that was directly to his side as he began to think on the question that had been asked of him. 

Without too much time passing, he figured out how he was going to answer the question. "I do apologize for not introducing myself earlier, that was simply a mistake due to my heightened level of excitement to be working with all of you. Toneri's summation of my name and my current situation with the village was spot on. So to repeat the already known information, my name is Taichi Uchiha. I am currently working with the village to be a part of the Nova Corps. I have not received that jacket because there is a certain... mission that I need to take on before I am officially a part of the Corps. One that I will be taking very soon." He hesitated on calling it a mission because he knew that he was going to be sent in to kill several people, and he felt like it wasn't something that he should divulge to children so young.

He knew that the children that were before him were more than just mere children, they were on the fast track to becoming full fledged shinobi, but he didn't want to deal with a conversation that could have them question their decisions to become shinobi in the first place. When he felt that the air was becoming heavy, he slapped his hands together and he rapidly began to speak once again. "Well now that our introductions are out of the way, why don't we go ahead and start on the mission that has been assigned to us. Now back to my question from earlier, who would like to lead us to our destination?"

He was never much of a social person, at least not when he was sober and he knew that he wasn't entirely sure just how he was going to assess these children's abilities and strength, but he was going to give it one hell of a go.

WC: 518

So her new friend’s name was Natsuki, and she seemed to enjoy the Akari Genin’s treatment of her brother, which also explained why the two got along so well. They both saw how Toneri acted in the last mission they were on together, and why the Hyuuga male may finally take the hint in terms of why she would not be interested in his advances. “I will take that as a compliment,” Anastasia said to him. Being compared to Natsuki was a compliment in her books; a hard-working kunoichi that wasn’t content with simply resting on family laurels, and who wouldn’t take shit from anyone.

According to Toneri, the newcomer was Taichi Uchiha, a potential member of the Nova Corps, which the man confirmed. He didn’t appear to be from Hoshigakure, so she was a tad surprised that someone from outside the village would be considered for such an illustrious position. Of course she didn’t know the Hogokage, so she would not be aware of his reasoning for the choice. “I see. It’s nice to meet you then, Taichi,” she would say to the team leader of this mission.

With introductions out of the way, Anastasia would lead them to the aforementioned bridge connected to the Water Gardens that would serve as the first point on the mission’s path. The bridge had some minor repair work that needed to be done. Once they were done with the bridge, there were a couple shrines in the Water Gardens that needed to be tended to. When they were done at each of the shrines, Anastasia would meditate briefly at each one for no more than ten minutes. There were a few other sites around the village that she would also want to go and help maintain. Other than that, she would move with the group to any sites they wished to help take care of.

WC: 313
TWC: 1211

Cole stayed quiet for the rest of the conversation just picking up on what everyone was saying. While pulling himself back up out of the rabbit hole he had fallen into. It seemed that he was in the company of two nobles and a possible new recruit to the Nova Corps. Which mostly meant that at least one of his teammates had seen real combat before. Since in Cole’s experience nobles were pampered little brats that cried when things didn’t go their way. He was really hoping that these two were not like that, but he wasn’t going to hold his breath or anything.

With the introductions handled and Anastasia taking the lead on where to go. Cole followed her to what was one of the nicer cemeteries in the village. Where she prayed at a few of the shrines for a few minutes each. Cole walked around and cleaned up the place a little here and there. Mostly picking up old flowers and throwing away trash for the place. Cole would do his part and mostly keep to himself for the time they were here doing his best to avoid the priests and people. Not wanting to get in anyone’s way he would simply keep his eyes and ears open for some interesting conversation or something that might spring up. This way he could maybe get an idea of who he was working with.

(WC-235 TWC-1273)