Cleaning Up The Grove [Mission / Private]

Tending The Grove:

I Hate Sand:

Poster Problem:

Kaito exited the Sunagakure Shinobi Headquarters in a huff, not trying to show his disappointment in the slightest. He had just gotten tasked with cleaning up and beautifying the Grove, the park and recreational center of the village, after the massive sandstorm that had plagued the village the night before. After having just come from his patrol mission with Kota and Ichika just a few days prior, he was really hoping for something a bit more.

"I'm cleaning up literal garbage while I should be cleaning up the streets of crappy people and keeping the village safe..." He said to nobody in particular, kicking up an empty can with his foot and catching it in his right hand. He crushed it before putting it into the trash bag he carried in his left hand. Tied to his back he had a long metal pitchfork and hoe. The metals clanked together to make a god-awful sound, one that would surely drive the young shinobi mad if he had to hear it all day long.

'This really is gonna be a hell of a long day...'

Trying not to dwell on things too much, as all shinobi at one point or another would have to do the menial things at one point or another, Kaito looked to the brighter side of things. As listed on the mission dossier, Kaito would not be doing the work alone. He would actually be joined by a fellow Sunagakure shinobi, someone named "Naki Choko". While the name did not sound at all familiar, Kaito was more than happy to meet yet another fellow ninja. In the past few weeks he had already become acquainted with so many new faces; Arantima, Kota, and Ichika. To be able to add yet another name to that list would be more than enough for Kaito to not continue to fuss about the lackluster work that he was presented with.

After a few minutes of uneventful walking, Kaito started to near the Grove. He could tell as the Spire loomed overhead, looking down almost ominously upon him as to say "make sure you clean up every speck of rubbish or your career as a ninja is over". Kaito couldn't help but gulp as he looked up at the foreboding tower, knowing that far above the Kazekage's office currently stood empty. He had heard rumors that Lady Kazekage was off somewhere for a meeting with her fellow Kage, and honestly, he couldn't help but worry a bit. While he wanted to someday become the Kazekage himself, he was worried if the Mizukage would be there at this meeting or not. If the rival village was still just as ruthless as they always had been, he wasn't sure how things would go for Lady Kazekage. Memories of Kirigakure's previous invasion of Konohagakure, his birthplace, filled Kaito's field of vision. Wincing from their sudden intrusion, he clasped his forehead with an open right palm, starting to breathe a bit heavily.

'It's been eight years...' He thought to himself, sweat starting to pour down his face as he fought to catch his breath. 'Why are these visions starting to appear now?'

Feeling as though he was about to throw up, Kaito inched his way to one of the many benches that dotted the Grove. Sitting down and setting aside his gardening tools, he did his best to collect himself. There he sat perhaps for another ten minutes, thinking to himself without saying a word. While he was sure that many people his age had been through hell and back worse than he had been, Kaito couldn't help but look back on Kirigakure's invasion of Konoha eight years prior and the horrific loss of Kawomaru four years after that. Having witnessed so much death, Kaito finally knew that he couldn't hide it from himself anymore.

'P.T.S.D...'

Kaito pondered for another few moments, a sense of dread and sadness overcoming him.

'What am I going to do when it comes time for me to take on those bigger, more meaningful missions? Am I just going to bail out every time I start reliving these memories in my head? Am I even cut out to be a ninja if this is all it takes to knock me down?" Kaito continued to sit a few minutes longer, smacking himself upside the head. Suddenly, he shot back up to his feet, throwing his right fist forward.

"No! I can move past this!" He shouted, the people around him stopping dead in their tracks and glaring at him. Not being deterred in the slightest, Kaito continued on. "I am Kaito Inuzuka; future Kazekage! If that journey starts with me cleaning up this mess of sand, garbage, and posters then so be it!" Finding his motivation, Kaito removed the hoe that he had sat upon the bench and started removing the excess sand from the walking path, waiting patiently for this "Naki Choko" to arrive and assist him.

AP Utilized:

Items Utilized:

[Word Count (Post) - 826]

[Word Count (Total) - 826]

Naki was exciting his home as these last few days of his has been very eventful. He met the deputy kage and he was still kinda in the process of learning some techniques from a ninja named Kota. The young ninja would over look his home before locking up shop and heading out. He would make his way to the spire as today was the day he would receive his first mission though from what he's been told many times now is that he would be stuck doing e ranks for a bit before he could move onto the next rank but that didn't bother him at all. "I just gotta get them done so I can move on to the next thing." he told himself as he ran up the building and made his way to the spire to get his mission. 

He was quickly briefed on the ones he'll be taking on along with someone named Kaito Inuzuka. He had already came by and would be the one to help Naki in his few quests for now before he can take on his own stuff first. Naki would nod, of course sad but understanding of what he has to do, and began to leave heading out to where the grove was. This is his first time actually going to the since he's been there and it was surprisingly nice despite how dirty it was. "This would be a great place to put a mural or something up." he said to himself before stopping to grab a few wrappers and tossed them into the bag of trash he had. Naki wore his dark blue jumpsuit and had his kunai pouch on his left thigh and his shuriken pouch on his right buttock.

He would walk through the grove as the spire loomed over him though he wasn't really bothered by it. Naki couldn't help but notice a man sitting on a bench with his head in his hand lightly hitting it. Naki became very hesitant about approaching him, however, he saw that the man was also wearing a suna headband and he realized that might be Kaito. Though that was confirmed almost immediately as he stood up and screamed his name out as Naki smile kind of lessened as he was nervous about going up to him now but he had a job to do. Naki approach the young man and smiled at him as well as reach his arm out towards him in a show of friendly gesture. "Hello I'm Naki Choko. It's a pleasure to meet you. Sorry, if I'm late kinda was struggling to get out the house a bit." He chuckled as he meant that he may have had a string of unfortunate events. "Shall we get this done?" he asked as he smiled as he waited for his introduction before he starts to clean the grove bit by bit. 


WC:490

Just as quickly as he had finished his rather out-of-character outburst and started clearing up the sand from the walkways, Kaito was greeted by the sight of a young boy standing before him. Kaito did not recognize the boy, but judging by the Sunagakure headband that was tied around his forehead one could easily tell that he was a Suna shinobi.

'This must be Naki...' Kaito thought, standing upright and resting his left arm on top of the hoe. He let the forearm and hand dangle nonchalantly as he cocked his head slightly to the right questioningly and arched his free outwards, placing a gloved hand upon his hip. His assumption was almost instantly met with confirmation as the boy introduced himself as the "Naki Choko" he had read about briefly in the mission dossier.

"Ah! Naki!" Kaito exclaimed, closing his eyes as he grinned from ear to ear. Removing his hand from his hip and firmly grasped Naki's extended hand and shook it in excitement. "It is nice to meet you, and no worries about being late. We've got all day to get these jobs done if needed." Removing his hand from Naki's, Kaito began rubbing the back of his neck and started smiling awkwardly. He just realized that the young boy before him had almost definitely taken witness of his outburst just seconds before. "My name is Kaito Inuzuka, but I'm sure you heard me shout that a few moments ago. If anything I should be the one apologizing for my outburst. I'm kind of dealing with some things as well, but nothing I can't handle."

Looking at Naki, Kaito smiled normally again, maybe a bit too much, as the newcomer asked if they should get started. Kaito could see a bit of himself in the young shinobi; excitable and eager to get right down to business. Complying with the question, Kaito threw his arm over his shoulder and pointed his thumb over to the bench he had been sitting at.

"Sure thing. I'll finish up the dusting of the sidewalk if you want to get started removing all of those posters and flyers from the light poles, signs, and wherever else you see them. Just take a few of those trash bags and the stapler remover from that bench and you'll be good to get started. Once we're finished up with both of these tasks we can work together to collect all of the garbage scattered throughout the main section of the park."

With that Kaito pretty much left Naki to do his own thing, wanting to finish up their missions as quickly as possible to hopefully get a more exciting mission after to mediate this surely boring affair. He would be more than happy, however, to assist the young Genin if he had any questions or concerns, so he kept a close eye out while he went about hoeing and raking away the sand from the stone pathway. Soon enough, however, Kaito finished up cleaning the main circle around the fountain in the center of the park.

'Who knew this type of work could be so tiring?'

Wiping sweat from his brow, he rested the hoe against the fountain and hurriedly removed a drinking flask from the pouch against the back of his left upper thigh. Twisting the top off, he took in the smell of the fresh spring water that resided inside of it, remanents of what his parents had ordered from outside the village not so long ago. He took a huge swig, downing about a third of the contents before removing it from his lips and using the sleeve of his high-collared shirt to wipe away the excess. Looking over at Naki, Kaito couldn't help but smile again before waving over at his new acquaintance.

"Hey, Naki!" He exclaimed, yelling from the twenty-meter distance he stood from the boy. "Want to take five and get something to drink?" Kaito held his flask, now closed up tight, into the air indicating that he was more than happy to share if Naki was starting to become thirsty and tired as he was.

AP Utilized:

Items Utilized:

[Word Count (Post) - 687]

[Word Count (Total) - 1,513]

Naki could tell that this man was a kind person just from their first interaction with each other though when he said that he probably already new his name from the outburst before Naki would laugh. "Well it would be kind of hard to really miss it Mr. Future kazekage." He joked with him as he couldn't really say much since he has his own ambitions that he wants to do. Of course Naki would nod, understanding, as he too often had to fight his own demons but he wasn't gonna say anything about it yet to him. He would shake the excited ninjas hand before finally letting go of it. 


Once he told him where everything was he would nod as he walked over to the bench and grabbed the bags and staple remover. Naki would turn back to see how many poles there are and how many posters that needed to be removed. Naki decided to turn this into a small game but he didn't want to say anything until he had a decent catch up to Kaito. He'd started to go around removing posters quite quickly and as his hands were moving as if in a rhythm he had going on in his own. However before he can even make the offer Kaito was already done with what he was doing. When Kaito asked if he wanted some Naki shook his head. [color=#00ccff]"When I'm finished until then I must earn the water." He said as he laughed to himself as he was just getting started so there was no need for him to really drink. Though he was working up a sweat kind of as he's been moving his hands faster. His eyes moved from one pole to the next as if he's calculating the time it would take him to get done. He'd continue this while moving from pole to pole talking only really when spoken to. 

WC: 323 TWC: 813

Kaito nodded over towards Naki as the latter declined the drink he had offered to the fledgling ninja, placing the drinking flask back into the pouch upon the back of his left upper thigh. He continued to stand, placing nothing his hands upon the hoe he help and placing his chin down upon them as he watched Naki go about his work, almost in a rhythmical sort of manner.

'That drive to become strong...' Kaito thought to himself, smiling. "I think this kid has definitely got it...' He proceeded to stand in place for another few minutes before picking up the hoe in hand, walking over to the bench and switching it out for a trash bag and a two-and-a-half foot long pole that had a sharp iron upon it's top. He proceeded to go ahead and get a head start in picking up the garbage that was spewed about the park area, knowing that Naki would join him in this long and tedious final step of their mission once the latter had finished up with the vast amount of posters that made just about every surface in the vicinity their home.

After two more hours of tedious work, the park was finally showing its true beauty. Kaito and Naki had managed to fill three forty-gallon trash bags full to the brim with all kinds of garbage. Kaito would be taking these bags to a small recycling plant not too far from the Shinobi Headquarters before returning the cleaning tools back to the H.Q. about another ten-minutes walk away immediately thereafter. He couldn't help but shake the feeling though, while he had just technically taken on three missions at the same time, was not enough to satisfy his needs. Glancing at one of the many Victorian-style clocks stationed around the park, he could see it was only 1:13 P.M, meaning that he would have much more time to go ahead and request another mission.

Drawing his attention now to Naki, Kaito walked over to the boy and removed his drinking flask, holding it in an outstretched arm. He grinned happily at the boy, throwing an eager arm around Naki's shoulder.

"You've definitely earned that drink by now, Man." He said with a chuckle. "You did awesome today and I greatly appreciate the help. I don't know how long I would've been here if it was just me." After Naki had finished with their drink Kaito took the flask back in hand, wiping the lip of it clean before gulping down the remaining contents. "Now I've just got to take this trash to the recycling plant, return the tools to Shinobi H.Q. and get myself another mission." Kaito removed his arm from Naki's shoulder and proceeded to gather up the tools, tying them into a bundle he had strapped around his back. "I'll just go ahead and drop these off real quick and meet you at H.Q. to write out the mission report, but if you are still raring to go we can request to do whatever mission they have in store for me together? The more people the merrier, you know."

Kaito eagerly awaited Naki's response before nodding in agreement with whatever it is the young shinobi would say in response.

"Alright. I'll see you in a few minutes then back at H.Q!" Proceeding to jump atop the tall fountain behind him, Kaito looked into the direction of the recycling plant. Making sure that there would be no obstructions in his way, he placed the three garbage bags into his left hand and used his dominant right hand to form the one-handed variant of the "Ram" hand seal.

'Body Flicker Jutsu...'

A thin cloud of air, loose leaves, and pebbles of sand swirled around Kaito and within less than five seconds he was gone, leaving behind only a light breeze in his absence.

[Topic Exit]

AP Utilized:

Items Utilized:

[Word Count (Post) - 645]
[Word Count (Total) - 2,158]

Claims:

Naki would be happy when he finally got done taking apart the posters from the poles. Being able to clean up the Grove like this is nice as if he's giving back to the community. Before he even realized it he had hit every pole and was removing the posters at a faster rate. Once he finished he would turn his head to make sure he got it all which was surprising as he wasn't exactly expecting himself to get it all so quickly and so throughly. Naki would kind of look at the posters a bit as he wondered what people were advertising and it was typical stuff. Someone wanted a babysitter, someone lost their pet, someone wanted to start a band and that just made Naki laugh. He knows that certain things people can just get the genin and academy ninja to do but seeing something like this just made him happy. 

He would then look around the Grove as he realized that there wasn't much of a sign to indicate that they're in the grove only people who are already living here knows of the grove despite it being in the center of the town. "What a waste. Someone should put a sign up just in case we get some visitors from other villages." He said to himself as if he might be willing to take on that challenge but at a later date. Naki would notice that Kaito was already on the garbage duty while he was talking to himself. He would quickly move over to the trash was and put the posters in before he starts to join Kaito in picking up trash. Naki would kind of nudge at Kaito and smirk as he started to pick up more trash at a faster rate. He was egging him on in a playful manner that Kaito could tell what he was doing. If Kaito played along, and from Naki could tell, they would both be in a race to pick up the most trash since Kaito had a headstart Naki would double up on sticks and started to jab the trash then putting it in his bags.

At the end of the two hour working spree Naki had just missed his chance to beat him by a few pieces of trash as he was drenched in sweat from how fast he was moving. Naki realized that two sharp sticks won't get the job done compared to just using one. He got stuck a few times trying to get the trash off of them. It happened so much he gave up on two and went back down to one as he looked at Kaito who was very chill about it but Naki wanted to have some fun. However he would definitely be parched as Kaito came over at the right time just to offer him the water. Of course Naki laughed in agreement and drank away though he did waterfall it to keep his lips off of it. He'd hand it back over to him and watched him down the rest as Naki handed his tools back over to him as he said that he would meet him at HQ and he'd take the stuff back over. "Sure, I'd be happy to do more missions alongside you." he told him smiling as he watched him go to the fountain and disappeared I'm the blink of an eye. Naki would laugh a bit more as he looked around seeing how amazing the Grove in especially since they both put in the work to clean it all up. This feeling of being proud of what he did for the Grove definitely weight more on him than getting money but he would still want to get paid for it. Naki still has to eat and he can't afford to be doing charity work all the time. Though before deciding if he's gonna exit Naki might as well make it out of style himself as well. How ever Naki didn't know the body flicker technique so he won't be able to pull off something like that despite how much he would love to. Naki would instead just walk out before leaping up to a building getting a much better view of the grove in front of him. He would bring his hands up as he took what would normally be a photographer move to eye the area out as he was right it definitely needed some artwork to bring the place out more. He would then start to leap across the rooftops till he gets to the headquarters where he was to meet with Kaito once again though he didn't wait long outside and proceeded to head in. 


{Exit post} 
WC: 734 TWC:1547

Claims:

Approved