Rollin up with the squad. Keeping Suna safe.

Link to previous mission here

Mission Details:

The morning sun felt great as it warmed his back. Kota was laying down not a care in the world. He vaguely recalled that there was something he had to do. It must not have been important enough to him. A start was enough to wake him up as he realized he was late. The previous day he had guard training today he had to do the job. Crap! I am not actually even hung over this time. I am still running late.

Kota had brushed his teeth, fixed his hair, and gotten dressed in under fifteen minutes. Kota felt impressed with himself.  His dad had made some onigiri for him to eat before he left. It tasted salty and not too good. The flavor put a smile on his face as it was made by his dad. When his mother first entered the hospital all Kota could eat was easily made food. A homemade meal was a dream. As neither him or his dad could cook. Not to mention the mess that the house was in. Kota’s dad only changed when he saw how much effort Kota put in. Admittedly the two had gotten closer and his dad would attempt things like cooking. The food was never the best but it held a special place in his heart.

“I am here on time and reporting for duty!” Kota rushed into the building where he had the previous lesson. He was met with more security and a rough looking woman. Kota tried to give her a smile to butter her up. He had to work his Apollon charms. Even if a person was not your type it never hurt to charm them all. It was an Apollon rule the children learned in their crib. “You’re late cadet. These are the mission details. You can head outside to see the rest of your crew and patrol your areas. A bit of advice. You have the most completed missions on files and experience. You will be considered the spear head for these missions. The success or failure will reflect on you the most.”

Taking the mission details Kota gave it a decent glance over. The first place they had to patrol was the residential area. The missions looked like it went from easiest to hardest. As a lot of people would consider the slums the most dangerous part. Going through the list Kota could get a general gleam of the intention behind the missions. Kota stayed in the slums upon his first arrival to the village. He found it ironic as the shadier stuff usually happened in the more well to do areas. The residents just had more power to influence the patrols and guards. Hence the true danger would be in the residential area. He gave a nod and headed out to the waiting area. His quiver was at the ready and bow was in hand.

“Sorry I am late this time! I hope I did not give you all too much time to miss me.” As the last one to make it, Kota gave a heartfelt greeting. He would allow for the others to talk and get through greetings as well. “When everyone is ready we can start. The first part of the patrol is in the residential area.”

WC: 549

"Crap! I'm late!"

Kaito jumped out of the window of his bedroom and onto the roof of his family's home. With all the speed he could muster he started running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, droplets of sweat starting to roll down his cheek from his brow. He, of course, was running late. Very late.

"Those two are gonna kill me!"

The day prior he had partaken in the patrol internship examinations along with two other ninja; Kota and Ichika. The three of them had been tasked with watching a long and boring instructional video detailing how the patrol operations were fundamental for the prosperity of the village and many smaller details of the job itself. After they were tasked with utilizing some of the knowledge they had learned to take note of three things that stuck out to them about the room they had been occupying. Kaito had a bit of a hard time of it, but he finished up the assignment and along with Kota and Ichika had passed the exams. They were then given strict orders to arrive at the HQ no later than nine o'clock on the dot the next morning to begin their first patrol detail, but Kaito had much more on his mind when being given the instructions.

After the examinations, Kaito had walked right on over to the training grounds. He had full intentions of training himself but had gotten intrigued when he saw two people sparing intensely. He watched the spar from afar in amazement, watching one of the fighters do all sorts of Taijutsu techniques he had never seen before. Intrigued by these techniques, Kaito had started training immediately to master his very own technique, but he still had a long way to go. Before he knew it, however, the sun had gone down and it was already well past midnight. Kaito lurked home and set his alarm clock for 7:30 A.M., but it did not help him in waking up at all. He slammed the Snooze button a half dozen times before he finally woke up at 8:50.

"There's the headquarters building!" He exclaimed a few moments later, having ran and jumped at least a mile in total. He jumped down from the rooftop of the three-story building he was on down to the streets below and ran hurriedly to the front doors. There before him now stood the same two guards he had encountered the day before, again standing at attention and eying him up and down.

"The head of the patrol guard is waiting for you." Said the one standing to Kaito's right as he opened the glass door. "She doesn't like to be kept waiting so I advise you hurry it up." Kaito nodded in agreement, too out of breath to reply. He walked at a brisk pace into the building and followed a set of signs pointing him in the directions of the director's office. Once he stood directly in front of the correct door he meekly on the wooden door.

"Come in!" A woman's voice bellowed from the other side of the door. The force behind the voice made Kaito jump, the shock surely being more than enough to wake him up if his morning run hadn't enough already. Gulping, he opened the door in a squirmish manner to reveal a very tidy office. In front of a glass window that encompassed the entirety of the back wall stood a solitary wooden desk. At this desk stood a woman in Jonin garbs, standing upright. She scowled at the sight of Kaito.

"You're late, cadet!" She exclaimed, slamming her fist upon the desk before her. "I explicitly told you and your two friends to be here no later than nine o'clock. It is now ten minutes after nine! Explain yourself!"

"My apologies, Ma'am!" Kaito retorted, slamming his arms flat against his sides and bowing as low as he could while still standing on his own two feet. "I had a long night of training and los-"

"Excuses are like assholes, maggot! Everyone has one!" The patrol captain scooped up a small stack of papers and waved them towards Kaito erratically. "Just take your mission dossier and get out of my sight!" Without another word Kaito hastily walked over to the desk, trying his best to look the female patrol captain in the eyes as he did, but honestly being too anxious to keep vigilant contact.

"I'll do my best out there, Ma'am." He said meekly, backing up upon his heel as to not turn his back to the rather scary captain. "Please, excuse me..." He crept backwards slowly until reaching the door. He closed it softly before running back down the hallway and bursting through the front doors. Taking back to the rooftops he glanced over his mission dossier, trying his best to not trip and fall down to the sandy streets below.

'So we are starting in the residential district first.' He thought as he put the papers into the item pouch located on the back of his left thigh. Maximizing his speed, Kaito continued on his way until in the streets below, perhaps 82 meters at his two o'clock he could see two familiar-looking shapes. Slowing down he covered his eyes with his palm and squinted, faintly making out the objects to be Kota and Ichika. Panting, Kaito measured the time by the position of the sun above him, realizing it was now roughly 9:30, give or take a few minutes. To continue to sprint towards his two acquaintances would make him even later than what he already was. Thinking, Kaito quickly came to a conclusion. There was nothing in the way of him and his mission partners, so Kaito formed the Ram hand seal and focused his chakra into his feet.

'Body Flicker Jutsu...'

A cloud of sand swirled around Kaito and within less than five seconds he was gone, leaving behind sand and a light breeze in his absence. Before he knew it Kaito had traveled the full 82 meters that stood between him from the roof of the third-story building he had initiated the Body Flicker Jutsu upon and the ground beside where and Kota and Ichika were standing. Another cloud of sand swirled around him as Kaito's figure sprung to life out of nowhere one meter away from the other two people, still forming the Ram hand seal. He looked at the two people standing before him now to make sure they were who he thought they were, which he had in fact been correct, before bowing as low as he possibly could.

"I am so sorry for being late, everyone! It won't happen again!"

AP Utilized:

Items Utilized:

[Word Count (Post) - 1,119]
[Word Count (Total) - 1,119]

Kota was enjoying the chat with Ichika. He felt a stronger chakra than usual flicker too close for comfort. The golden dawn was drawn fully with three arrows locked and loaded. The time it took to have it pointed was almost imperceptibly as Kota did it at blinding speeds. Before the release of the arrow he noticed who it was. If his training was even a bit less he would have turned Kaito into an unfortunate pin cushion. “I would avoid trying to use body flicker when you can help it. If you get next to the wrong person too quickly you risk becoming a wet spot.”  It was the only warning Kota felt like giving. He put his arrows back in his quiver. It would be a waste of arrows to shoot him.

At this point Kota was already starting to form his own solid opinions about the two. Ichika was smart and sweet. She contemplated Kota’s bow. It was one of the best compliments he could receive as a member of the Apollon clan. Compared to Kaito she was an angel. As far as Kota was concerned. Kota considered Kaito as sloppy, even by his standards. Kota ran late and the recruit ran even later. He could only imagine how the group looked in the eyes of the higher ups. “Anyway let’s get on with it.”

The walk to the residential area was the easiest. The route they took to patrol went from the innermost part of the village to the outer rings. Kota did not have to be a dog to sniff out the odd scent in the air. It smelt like cat hair, mixed with burning oil, with a light scent of rot. If Kota was not on duty he would have started to noping away from the scent. He ran full speed towards it because it was his job. That and the smell was on the route so he did not have to go fully out of his way. The fact that Kota was getting focused and running towards the smell at full speed, he neglected to make sure that the other two were keeping up with him. One could only hope they followed the smell as well.

Upon arriving at the scene Kota would try to repress retching. The scent was staggering as a small sewer pipe had burst. The smell was coming from unrepressed sewage that was causing a mess everywhere. As a guard Kota was not sure if the mess fell underneath his jurisdiction. He felt like he had to report it at the bare minimum. The sewage presented a sanitation and security risk. A report will have the needed personnel come to make the corrections. Kota would take out the notepad and pencil that was generously provided by the guard station. Kota started to fill out some notes on the notepad. “Would any of you want to get some information about the general situation from the people. I will write it on the pad for it to be checked out.” Kota wanted to make use of the two kids.

If they listened, or not, Kota would not pay it too much attention. The notes would be filled out. When the other two were ready to move on they would continue on their patrol. He wanted to complete all the patrol routes before the sun went down. A not patrol would be too dangerous for all the people present.

WC: 577     TWC: 1126/ 2000 of wc needed to complete the missions.

As quickly as Kaito was able to apologize to the others upon his arrival and remove himself from his bow, he was greeted in return by three separate arrows ready to strike, the boy known as "Kota" holding a steady hand at the nook of each arrow and keeping the arrows in place against his bow. Frantically, Kaito held up his arms as to show that he meant no harm. Kota, most likely realizing that it was only the young Inuzuka from the patrol examinations the previous day, lowered his bow and replaced the three arrows into their quiver. He provided Kaito with a rather stern warning, something that Kaito could only shake his head at as he waited for his heart to find its place back in his chest instead of in his gut.

"S-sorry about that..." He replied simply, lowering his arms before Kota advised him and the girl named "Ichika" to follow him as their mission began. Kaito did as their leader said, not wanting to have another fistful of arrows pointed at his face again. Internally he was beating himself up over his mistake.

'Idiot!' He thought, keeping an eye out for anything out of the blue and keeping to himself unless otherwise spoken to. 'Why did I have to stay out so late training last night!? Now not only am I in trouble with the Guard Captain, but I'm also on Kota's bad side!'

Kaito, while fighting with himself internally, was able to keep himself alert enough when a  foul stench caressed his Inuzuka-enhanced nostrils. He would easily recognize the horrendous smell before the others and the smell made his nose clench and his eyes widen instantly. He quickly fell behind as he found a trashcan no more than three meters away from him to his right. Running at his top speed, Kaito regurgitated over and over again into the receptacle for a few moments before looking back up and looking to see where Kota and Ichika had gone off to. He was able to find Kota easily enough as the pseudo-leader was investigating the source of the smell and writing something down into a notepad. Ichika, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.

'That's odd...' He thought as he removed the drinking flask from his item pouch. He quickly took a swig of the water inside of the container, swished it around in his mouth to remove the foul scent that now lingered inside, and spit the water out inside of the trashcan. He then proceeded to pour some of the water upon his free hand and wiped off his face before replacing the lid and putting the flask back into his item pouch. He then zipped up the collar of his shirt to full length and clenched the fabric tightly around his nose before hurrying over towards Kota.

"So, a broken sewage pipe, huh?" He said, his voice sounding very nasily due to the fact that he held his nose tightly. Kota seemed to ignore the question for a moment before standing up and looking over the Inuzuka. He asked if anyone would want to gather some information regarding the broken pipe. Wanting to make a better impression than the one he had left Kota with earlier, he spoke up with almost no time for the last words to escape Kota's mouth. "I'll take care of the intel gathering." He said, still holding his nose. "Honestly, I have no idea what happened to Ichika. To make up for it though, I've got this..." With his free hand, Kaito formed the one-handed variant of the "Clone Seal" hand seal. Suddenly, in a puff of smoke, two exact replicas of Kaito formed behind the original; the first one meter behind him to the left, the other one meter behind him to the right. Both were holding their noses in the same fashion that the original was.

"Okay!" He said, looking back upon the two "Shadow Clones" he had created. "You two know what to do; gather some intel regarding this pipe and try to find Ichika if you can. Off you go!" The two clones went about their duties and Kaito turned back around to face Kota, proud of himself and the answer he was able to find in regards to the dilemma they now faced regarding their mission companion. "My Jutsu has a range of 500 meters, so we can cover a third of a mile before they disperse and relay to me all the information they gather." He started walking in the general direction the team had been before they stopped, looking back over his shoulder at Kota. "Let's get goin' Captain."

[10 Minutes Later...]

The patrol of the rest of the Residential District went on without any further hindrances. Kaito kept an eye out for any suspicious activity but was unable to locate anything out of the blue. Coming to a crossroads, Kaito and the crew soon found themselves beginning to enter into the Trade District. Suddenly, Kaito could feel the memories of his two clones flood back to him, the feeling still very odd as he was still getting used to this relatively new technique of his. Flipping through what the two clones were able to find out regarding the pipe, he found two things of interest; the majority of the villages interviewed began noticing the smell in the wee hours of the morning that day, and an old lady had actually seen a shrouded figure messing with the pipe before the smell began lingering.

'Why would someone want to break the pipe?' He asked himself before turning to face Kota.

"So my clones just dispersed. They relayed to me that a majority of the people they interviewed started smelling the sewage early this morning, around two o'clock. Also, an older lady said she actually saw someone messing with the pipe before the smell began lingering. That person she saw might have something to do with the pipe being broken..." He paused for a moment, giving Kota a few moments to think things over. "What do you think about it, Kota?"

AP Utilized:

Items Utilized:

[Word Count (Post) - 1,019]
[Word Count (Total) - 2,138]

[Exit]

Too much time has elasped. Just treating this as a social and exiting out.

Claiming 389 of the wc to finish learning  Chameleon Scale Armament at A rank with my 25% discount. I started learning it here.

Rest of the WC 737 is going towards Hunting Shot at B rank at 25% discount. Bringing it up to 737/1,313

Approved