Throwback Sunday [Mission; Kaguya & Ryou]

Mission specs:

It’d been quite a while since the Onomori had set foot in the academy. Nearly seven years since graduation, and a little over two since she’d failed Jakku Uchiha. The latter’s flunking and subsequent defection had definitely caused some animosity between herself and any instructors. It was rather one sided, to be honest, but they couldn’t do too much about it when she’d been officially assigned by the mission desk to act as a glorified bodyguard for a bunch of kids.

Oddly enough, most of the parents seemed to be on exceptionally good behavior around her. They were unlikely to try anything directly under her watchful eye, and as a result, she imagined most of the below the counter dealings would happen elsewhere. Lachesis was on mission with a couple of genin- one Ryou and Kaguya- and gave them instructions a couple hours before the mission to keep an eye on places that she wasn’t actively patrolling. She implied that they’d be in disguise- headbands off- to convicingly act as relatives or friends of the graduating class. They weren’t seasoned enough to come across as veterans, after all, and civilians were much more likely to overlook them.

Whether or not they picked up on that tidbit was a different story entirely. At this point, she was just curious if they would or wouldn’t.

As stated in the sticky note, she could be found pretty easily due to a bright, purple scarf, should they not be able to identify her on sight. Should anything happen, they could come to her.

Otherwise, however, she stayed in the main academy field where the talent show would take place. Occasionally, she’d meet eyes with a shadow clone- transformed to look like someone completely different, but also wearing a purple scarf around her waist.

Nothing yet had caught her eye- though not many had arrived yet. It was possible that this whole mission was just the product of someone’s overactive paranoid imagination, but the off chance that it wasn’t made it more than worth the ranking. Parents when it came to this shit were weird as hell.

She scratched her nose awkwardly and glared half heartedly at a particularly ballsy kid trying to sneak off with an entire tray of snacks. In any other circumstance, she probably would’ve let him take it- if he could get away with it, no reason not to. Plus it was funny. But here, she was actually getting paid, so she was less inclined to be merciful.

A quick look at the clock told her that the whole event would be starting in twenty minutes. Nothing of interest had yet occurred, according to both her observations and those of her anonymous shadow clone, but the day was still young.

Maybe a new strategy was in order. She stretched slowly, making a display of her boredom, before wandering off towards a less crowded area. A few moments later had her clone take a position nearby to where she had left. Perhaps with someone less obviously a ninja, people would be more forthcoming with their intentions.

[WC: 514]
[Total WC: 514]

Ryō absentmindedly rubbed at his forehead for a moment before catching himself and putting his hand down. Not having his headband on while on a mission felt weird, almost like a betrayal against everything it stood for. He knew, of course, that such a notion was ridiculous; sometimes, a mission required discretion, and running around with a symbol of one's position and occupation would run contrary to that. As it was, he was on just such a mission... just one that had phenomenally lower stakes than normal for such a mission. 

When he had been assigned to the mission, he found that he would be working with a familiar face. He hadn't really spoken for any length of time with the Jōnin in charge of the mission, but he was beginning to understand a little bit of the woman and how she approached missions. There was precision in how she moved and acted that he found admirable; no energy wasted, no line of attack granted. It was that kind of stark professionalism and competency that he aspired to. So any reason he had to work with her on a mission, even a trivially easy one such as this, was relished.

Taking a moment to patrol the area, Ryō scanned the people there and tried to imagine who might be a troublemaker for them. The kids, aspiring graduates and future genin, were all excited for an opportunity to show off their talents. They had split off into several smaller groups, some of them talking about the show while others seemed to be practicing hand seals for their jutsu. They were all acting as one might expect of an academy student and were respecting the rules set in place and the instructions of their teachers. They weren't the problem today, and Ryō knew it.

Most of the assembled parents and family were behaving as they got close to the starting time. They were being shepherded to their observation area by the teachers and assistants, though Ryō noted a few who seemed to be dragging their feet or making excuses for why they needed to hang back. Most were being politely but firmly escorted to the observation area, but Ryō noticed one woman slip away with a clever distraction and a well-timed Body Flicker. If he hadn't been staring right at her when it happened, he'd have mission her entirely. This was the sort of thing they were on the lookout for.

While Ryō was confident that she didn't mean any real harm or present a threat to anyone, the mission and his orders were clear. He scanned the crowd and quickly caught sight of a bright purple scarf around a woman's waist. A second quick scan confirmed that no one else had such a scarf and knew that was the Jōnin for the mission. Making his way over as casually as he could, Ryō stopped near her while pretending to nitpick at his shirt. "Possible trouble. Someone slipped by the assistants with a Body Flicker. Lost sight of her. Few others might mean mischief, but I don't about that one. Orders?"

-----

WC: 516
TWC: 516

Lachesis scratched her chin, noting the approach of the two underlings slash genin slash ninja. “Honestly? You guys keep an eye on the kids. I’ll go after.” she didn’t speak such aloud, but the Onomori was preeeetty sure she recognized the figure from somewhere… “If any of you need to detain someone quickly, use the tiger, rat, ox, and dragon seal, and throw your chakra at em like you would when creating a clone. That’ll stun most people long enough to prevent any issues.” She looked back- her shadow clone was in the area as well should anything go disastrously wrong.

With that, she looked both kids in the eye with a silent order not to do- or start- anything dumb. You never knew, and she’d probably have to pay for any damages regardless. With that, she slipped almost entirely unnoticed out of the main area. The figure she was pursuing- red hair, female apparently- wouldn’t be amazingly hard to locate in the current crowds, especially since it certainly seemed like she was TRYING to be noticed. She made her way through the almost entirely empty academy hallways- no longer maintained to the standards they used to. Wouldn’t surprise her if they made some of the students clean it as some disciplinary exercise for free labor type deal.

She wouldn’t blame them, to be honest. Budget cuts, taxation, whatever. She just had a bone to pick with the instructors on a personal level, so she was going to be petty either way.

Lachesis Onomori pushed a door open- a teacher’s lounge- and was greeted by a red haired figure slouched spread eagle across a slightly ragged couch. A pause, and she closed the door behind her.

“Onomoriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.” the name was dragged out slowly, half a whine and half an acknowledgement of her presence. A sharp look in her eye that lasted for a brief millisecond told her that yes, she was still dangerous.

“...”

“You don’t have anything to say? Nothing at all? Lachesis, my best friend, my one and-”

“Why are you here?” she interrupted, getting straight to the point. No need to dally with the past type deal. Obviously, Ichika responded appropriately- by her standards, anyway.

“So cold! I guess that’s why you’re the Yuki and not me. Does your student know, by the way? You could be cousins, and you never said a word~” she drew out the last sentence, and she felt herself near growl.

“Not my student.” she stated, voice nearly as cold as her ice release. “...What are you doing here?”

Ichika stretched, standing up to her full height- quite a bit shorter than the Onomori- but still with a massive presence nonetheless. Various scars that weren’t there last time, complete with a hand so mangled she could barely make out any fingers, came out from behind a curtain of red hair.

“Not everything’s about you, you know.” she sounded hurt. Exhale.

“...”

“Yeah, yeah. The great Onomori, too busy to make time. We’ll discuss this later. Have fun collecting your mission pay.” she left without another word, and she felt…

Hm.

It wasn’t until she made her way back to the main field that she was approached by one of the academy instructors- one of the more tolerable ones, anyway. He must’ve seen- or overheard- them in the lounge, and decided not to speak up. Good for him, honestly- Sage knew she would’ve been pissed if he intruded, or decided to interrupt.

“Is, uh. That your ex, or anything?”

“...Something like that.”

[WC: 577]
[Total WC: 1,101]

(Exit)
Claiming: +10 stats into vigor
+1 stat into speed
+3,250 ryo (normally 6.5k with jounin pay but kiri tax yo holla)
+30 mission AP
+687 words into https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t49217-sakura-first-step-v7-2 ; rest in https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t50405-misha-s-surgery-topic-solo#382031
+123 words into https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t50335-water-release-mouth-shot ; rest in https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t50071p20-halloween-with-mitacho
+250 words into https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t45179-wind-release-quiet-footsteps-v7
+41 words into https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t45648-v7-mark-seal#356593

Teaching Kaguya and Ryou Temporary Paralysis. Go apeshit.

Doing his best not to flinch in surprise at the abrupt appearance of his other mission partner, Kaguya, Ryō listened to the other genin's report before turning his attention back to the Jōnin. Her instructions were pretty cut-and-dry; continue to observe, intervene if needed. She even gave them a quick-and-dirty rundown on a jutsu that was supposed to help them if they ran into any trouble. Before Ryō could ask any other questions, she moved off and left him alone with Kaguya. 

Ryō turned to the girl and seemed to struggle for a moment to find something to say. He was making hand seals in his head, mentally reciting the seal sequence to perform the jutsu. Taking a quick moment to scan the area to make sure they weren't being watched, Ryō quickly performed the hand seal sequence from memory. As he got to the final seal, he gave a flinch and shook out his hands. "I hate dragon seals... why the heck do jutsu even use those stupid things?" He meant it as a rhetorical question, knowing full well the history of hand seals and how they helped mold chakra in specific ways. Nevertheless, he always had a dislike for dragon seals due to the awkward manner in which he had to fold his wrists to perform it. 

Satisfied, and knowing that he couldn't linger for too long without making it apparent what he was doing, Ryō spared a quick glance to Kaguya and nodded once before he jerked his head back towards the crowd and headed that way himself. Knowing very little of Kaguya, excepting the very brief exchange of information they'd had when assigned the mission, Ryō knew enough to know that he was probably the least likely to spot something wrong before it happened. Sensory techniques weren't a specialty of his at all. 

The talent show began in earnest and most of the attention was on the academy students. Predictably, many of the entries weren't anything particularly exciting or flashy; most seemed happy to show off their Transformation Jutsu or their Clone Jutsu. Some of the older academy students went with a more bold direction, opting for elemental ninjutsu to show off their improved chakra control and shaping, such as one girl who managed to pierce a dummy target with several watery senbon she had fired from her mouth. That had been neat.

It wasn't until close to the end of the talent show that Ryō first noticed something amiss. Older than the academy students, but still a young teen all the same, Ryō's target had squirmed his way to the edge of the crowd and seemed to be practicing a sequence of hand seals. If Ryō hadn't watched him perform the same sequence, even as the star academy student changed, he'd have never thought to question it as it wasn't uncommon to see students and even genin practicing hand seal sequences to avoid freezing in a fight. However, the way the boy glared at the stage tripped a warning bell in Ryō's head.

Finally, as it came time for the last student to perform, Ryō watched the boy take a step forward with his hands already forming the first seal in anticipation. Before anything else could be done, Ryō moved his own hands through the hand seals Lachesis had instructed and cast his chakra out. He could feel the effect take over even as the boy's body abruptly froze in place. Ryō couldn't see the boy's face, but could only imagine the shock that must have been etched there. One of the teachers cast a glance over at Ryō, knowing full well who the Senju was and why he was there and saw him holding the dragon seal. He followed Ryō's eyes to the boy before looking back. A quick nonverbal conversation passed between them and the teacher put a hand on the boy's shoulder, allowing Ryō to release the jutsu and massage his wrists. 

He missed whatever jutsu the girl had opted to perform, but it seemed to have gone over well with the crowd as she got the loudest cheering and standing applause from the assembled crowd and other students. Sighing in disappointment, Ryō watched as the crowd began to disperse. Another day, another successful mission. Still, even for the easy ryo the job offered, Ryō found himself standing at the edge of where the show had been, clearly unsatisfied. There had to be more to it all than this.

-----

WC: 745
TWC: 1,261

Claims:
- 3,050 ryo (6,000 [mission] + 100 [rank pay], @ 50% Kiri tax)
- 30 AP
- 10 Vigor

- 500 WC ( 1,000 WC [Base} + 50% Discount for Lachesis teaching it) to learn Temporary Paralysis at C Rank
- 500 WC to learn Water Release: Mouth Shot
- 250 WC to gain First Mastery [One Hand Seal] with Genjutsu Release

After being given direct instructions to simply stay alert, not draw attention, and intervene when necessary. It seemed simple enough to Kaguya - once again making her wonder why this was a B-rank mission, but hey at least Lachesis gave them quick teaching of a jutsu that would be able to stop suspicious people from simply escaping; it was fairly simplistic but nevertheless, all jutsu needed to be understood before attempting to practice them, so the Yuki maiden would make sure to pay attention especially to the handseals order as Lachesis spoke and even practiced this on a stray fly in the air. Kaguya simply gave a wry nod once Lachesis headed off and faced Ryo, who was slightly struggling at forming dragon seals but sooner or later, got the hand seals in order. Kaguya didn't say anything but merely conveyed a smirk at Ryo once he finished understanding the technique, wishing him good luck as she quickly reconvened with the crowd.

Sooner or later, the talent show began, all of the attention being centered on the Academy Students at this point and time. For those who were up to no good, this would prove to be a great opportunity to start performing their mischief in hopes of disrupting and or sabotaging the talent show to gain whatever they hoped to accomplish, however, unbeknownst to them, three capable shinobi were watching them with great attention. If Kaguya were to be honest...it was really boring, like - to the point that she ONCE AGAIN WONDERED WHY THIS WAS A B RANK MISSION WHEN IT WAS LITERALLY JUST MONITORING A TALENT SH-

Ah. It seemed like Ryo detained someone from the corner of her eye. Nearing the end of the talent show, it appeared that someone attempted to try to sabotage them, but Ryo used the technique Lachesis taught to apprehend the saboteur. Kaguya would give Ryo a thumbs up in encouragement once he was done apprehending the mischievous kid, and soon, the talent show would end, as it would seem like that kid was pretty much the only person up to no good...sadly enough, which would spell the end of the mission. Kaguya would try to find if Lachesis and Ryo were still in the area, if so, she would wave bye to them and head back home, pleased with the Ryo and new technique she got out of this.

[EXIT]

WC: 497
TWC: 1451

+14 Stat Points [10 to Vigor, 4 to Chakra]
+30 Mission AP
+3050 Ryo [6000 Mission Ryo + 100 Genin Bonus by reduced by 50% due to Kiri tax]
500 WC [50% Discount from being taught) to learn Kanashibari C Rank [500/500]
951 WC Towards the training of Wind Release [951/4000]

Approved.