Dining in the Desert of Death

Mission Info:

A fine day for a mission. Musu, the Uzumaki gatekeeper of the hidden sand, had been assigned a mission to clear out some ruffians who have began squatting the desert of death. Word has it that perhaps this facility will need to be used soon so the Uzumaki was sent out to purge it. It was nice for the jounin to get some time away from the gates. His kage, Mizuki, had informed Musu's superior, the gate commander Hans, that Musu should get some time off to rest and to work on other projects. This project saw Musu travel close to the place where he grew up, near the borders to the land of fire, and it was a chance to hone his skills out in the field.

Musu did not know if there would be others that would be joining him on this mission. The mission board stated that all mission members should report to a small osasis near the desert of death to begin their mission and they would head out from there. It was warm outside the cooler Sunagakure, something that Musu was not used to as much as we he was, but he was an ninja of the hidden sand; he would handle the warmth and the heat of the midday sun without complaint.

The jounin would arrive at this oasis around midday near when the sun reached it's peak in the sky. Musu would wait for a little while to see if anyone else would join him, keeping his eyes peeled in all directions, and ready to defend himself if need be. After all, he was now on a mission, and it was required of him to be on his guard.

A young genin was just waking up from his rest as he decided to go about his normal routine. From the shower to the kitchen to dining room to eat. He would eventually make his way to the pictures and bowed of course before making his way out the door. He'd stop as he searched for his sword but he renembered that he left it with Kota to be repaired. Naki felt bare without it but he decided to make due on it as he figured that he should save up for backup blades eventually. The young man would leave out of the home and made his way to the spire in search of another opportunity to grow. Normally he'd take a c or a d rank but he wanted to test himself but he was also in need of cash as soon as possible especially if he wants to afford better gear. He'd ask them for a bit more difficult mission for himself as he was even willing to do it in a group with others. As luck would have it they had one that was open to the ninjas of suna and there was already someone there. They would give him the details and where he was supposed to meet though they only know of the one who is supposed to be there. 

Naki would nod and began to gather what he needed as they warned him that it was definitely gonna be hotter out there and that he needed to make sure he protected his skin. Naki thanked them for the information then started for the Oasis. Once he stepped to where the AC was at it's weakest and the heat could be felt he would grab his canteen and tuck it away as an just in case as he checked again where the Oasis was said to be. He would start to move that way looking around until finally coming up on it. He would notice another man there as his eyes squinted a bit. Naki would adjust his suna band around his neck and made his way over. The young dark skin genin would stop a good 10 feet from him as he looked at him checking to see if he had his headband. Naki was definitely on edge as this was his first time really venturing out of the village so his nerves were strong. He didn't want to cause a problem but with his cloak on, since that's one of the things that would protect him from the scorching heat, he'd have his head behind his back reaching for a kunai but at the same time he wasn't. He believed this man was most likely a Shinobi of the sand despite not meeting him before but he had to stay vigilant. He would calming and softly smile at the man there before speaking in a respectful tone. "Hello there, are you also here for the mission?" He asked as he was, again, informed of him being there but he doesn't remember the name that they gave him since he was slightly overthinking everything. 

WC: 521

The blazing heat would continue to radiate. While Musu's hair, pony-tailed and covering most of his neck, would stop the jounin from getting sunburned, he began to feel the sweat drip down the back of his robes. The heat was intense today, however in Musu's case he had faced worse, and the water within this small oasis would give some reprieve. Standing under a palm that guarded Musu from the heat he would feel out his senses to see if he could find any other ninja in the area. By the time that Musu put his hands in the formation of the seal of confrontation the jounin could sense another chakra signature nearby.

Turning towards the direction of the chakra signature Musu would first sense the being before he saw him. Naki would be coming from the direction of sunagakure, however to get here the genin would have to trek up a small sand hill. Nothing major, a few meters high, but it would mean that he or anyone could be slightly hidden from view. A light breeze would begin to blow in the direction of the chakra signature as though the imminence of his arrival would mark the beginning of the journey.

As per custom, Musu would feel out the chakra of the individual as they grew ever closer, and as Naki revealed himself from upon the sand Musu would get the full picture. His chakra signature was fainter than most, with his shiny new sunagakure headband, Musu would know just from his appearance that this ninja was just starting his ninja journey. Naki would otherwise see a thin ninja with flowing red hair in a ponytail behind him, and his gourd securely fastened along his back. Musu's attire would be loose fitting as they flowed through covering most of Musu's skin.

Musu would respond to Naki question, making sure that Musu's Signature sunagakure headband was clearly visible on his arm. "Yes, Hello my name is Musu, it's good to meet you, and I will be joining you on this mission. When you are ready, we should get going to desert of death, and hopefully finish this mission with some daylight left to spare. Do you have any questions about our objective before we begin." Musu would say with a polite but rushed tone, as he was hoping to be done quickly with this assignment, and get back to the village before his shift started.

Upon hearing the young man say that he was Naki would relax only slightly since again this is his first mission he didn't want to be caught off guard by anyone. The young ninja would slowly pull his arms from behind his back but kept his arms in the cloak as he had already built up a slight sweat because he wasn't use to something like this and his nerves were also working against him. He would breathe softly to try to get himself to relax in anyway he can as he listened to the jounin speak to him. Out of respect for him Naki would slightly bow to him his eyes looking at his feet a but before coming back up. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir. I'm Naki a recently new genin and I'm glad to be able to come along side you on this mission. I do hope I won't slow you down." he said in a respectful tone to him before standing back up and really noticing the gourd on his back as he was staring pretty hard as he thought to himself. Water? No no why would he bring a gourd of water that doesn't make sense it would weight him down. What if its a container that houses extra chakra for him? Ooh that would be sick and smart. I wonder if I should do that have something like that in a pinch and just tell people it's water to avoid people bothering me. Wait how long have I been staring? Oh god I must look like a weirdo! Ok ok play it cool you were just admiring it no need to be weird. 

 "I um like your clothes." He would stare at him with a dumb look on his face as he grabbed his hood and slightly covered his face out of embarrassment as once again he thought to himself. What the fuck was that Naki! Just shut up and let him lead before you made a bigger ass out of yourself. the young man would slightly raise the hood still looking down at the ground in front of Musu before finally responding to him. "Y-yes please I don't want to die of embarrassment anymore." he said as he would let the jounin lead the way to where they needed to go. Naki would stay silent for the foreseeable future unless spoken to or told he was ok but the embarrassment was strong for him. 

WC:420 TWC: 941

"Ummm, thank you Naki, yes it's my normal garb. I don't really care about clothing too much though." Musu would reply to the confused but at least respectful genin. Naki confirmed to Musu that he is indeed a newer ninja of Sunagakure and it meant for the jounin that he needed to be extra careful with him. It would look bad on the gatekeeper if one of the genin ended up falling at a hands of some vagrants. Regardless of that, Musu remembered when, long ago, he went on his first mission with the village. It can be nerve wracking.

"I understand that this is your first mission and I can clearly see that you have mixed feelings about it. Know this: the success or failure of any mission is determined by the will and ability of those a part of it. If you are ill at ease, then your mission teammates may feel the same way, and you may do more harm by being indecisive than you even know. I will do my best to make sure that you survive this mission. Now come along." Musu would say with a much more direct tone. It was clear that this was the mission group and for this one, Musu would have to be the teacher.

The jounin would give a deep breath become summoning chakra through his feet and into the ground.

"You'd best find your balance." Musu would say as the ground began to shake. At a speed of 140 the two ninja would see sand start to erupt from Musu's gourd. The sand would form under Naki and Musu and create 1 meter wide spheres and start to levitate them atop the ground about 10 meters.

"These sand platforms provide for quick travel to the desert of death. Please continue to prepare yourself as we should arrive shortly." Musu would say. If there was no objection from the Genin Musu would begin to maniupulate the platforms to fly towards the desert of death.  Once the two got to the entrance they would investigate the situation and come up with a plan of attack.

Mineral Sand: Desert Supension: 80 AP, 2 Sand Charges

1920 Remaining AP
8 Sand Charges Remaining

Naki would nod as he was happy to know that musu didn't think there was something wrong with him. He would listen as he took charge, as Naki hope he would, and try to get the young man to understand that his attitude is important for the mission. This wasn't perse Naki first mission though he understood where he was coming from as he moved to stand at attention. The young genin was attentive to say the least as he wanted this mission to be a success and a knowledgeable experience for himself. Naki would move around as he was told to prepare himself. The sound of the gourd popping open would cause Naki to tilt his head a bit before the sand started to come out and move towards him. Naki was visibly confused as to why he has a gourd of sand when they were surrounded by it. 

When the discs formed under them both and lifted them up Naki eyes would become wide as they went through the air though Naki didn't really have time to ask questions or anything as they flew. If the jounin was paying attention he could see the two katanas that Naki had upon his back along with his shuriken pouch. Once they arrived Naki would gently tap the ground to gain some confidence that it wasn't gonna just cause him to sink or fly. He had a lot of questions about what just happened but he couldn't ask them yet as it was time for them to get to work. He figured they would need a plan before just running in head first and if Musu wasn't gonna start them off Naki would. "Besides there being squatters do we know if they're hostile or anything? If they aren't we can possibly talk them into leaving." He asked in a hush tone just in case there were any around. "Of course if you already have an idea I'll listen."

WC: 331 TWC 1252

Naki didn't say much during the ride to the entrance of the arena. The two would casually fly from the oasis to the entrance with a hustled speed but it wasn't too fast for Musu to think that his mission partner got sick or anything. Still the silence was a bit eerie and the jounin would make note of that as the trekked forward. Perhaps Naki was nervous flying, maybe he was actually sick, or it just be that Naki had nothing else to say. The two would trek further from the safety of Sunagakure and find themselves at the entrance of the arena.

Once they got to the entrance, Musu would indeed lower his sand platforms to the ground, as they made towards their decent Naki would finally begin to speak up, and ask about a plan of attack. Musu had indeed thought about this before hand and he would begin to explain his idea.

"Here at the entrance lies a seal that is supposed to lock outsiders out of the arena. If it's intact then we know that they squatters, if there are any, had to find another way into the desert. Chain fences surround the enclosure and it's possible that they were able to break through it and find their way in." Musu would say as they landed on the ground. About five meters away was the entrance to the door and Musu would go up to it to inspect the seal.

"The seal here appears to be weakened but I'm unsure if that means that somebody had breached it. What do you think the best course of action is?" Musu would ask the genin.

He would listen to him as he explained what it would be if there were squatters or not. Now Naki was definitely thinking about how to approach the situation as they moved closer to the gate. As he explained the situation he would look at the seal along side him though Naki didn't have much knowledge of it. When Musu asked him for his thoughts on the matter Naki would look around before focusing back in as he had somewhat of an idea. "We should survey the area. If this is the only entrance then there's a chance that there's a weak point along the fence somewhere that someone could have used to get in hence why the seal is weak but not broken. If you could use that jutsu again I can leave behind a clone as we circle around though I'm not sure about how big the area is." the genin said as he looked around. "Another idea is to send in a clone to get as much information we can though I haven't really tested the distance I can use the clone at. If someone who is good at reconnaissance was here this can be a bit smoother. I don't want to have us waste any unnecessary chakra and time just in case we do end up fighting."

He told musu as he took a step back to look over the fence to see how high up it actually goes. "I'm also making a heavy assumption that the seal is also creating a barrier around the valley. If it's not then my plan might not exactly work out but it was an idea." he said as this genin might be something in the future with that kind of thinking. The young man would step forward and looked at the jounin for his input on it as he didn't really know what would be the best outcome though he did want to make sure that the seal did or doesn't make a barrier.  

WC 341 TWC: 1593

Musu would nod to the young genin and take a deep breath before letting his hands form the clone seal. In a puff of smoke the two would now become three as a perfect duplicate of Musu as a shadow clone would form. After which the real musu to return the the seal and place his hand upon it after weaving three additional hand seals: Rat, Dog, and Snake.

"There, I restrenghtened the seal back to its original form. Should there be any squatters inside, they will have to attempt to weaken the seal again in order to pass through. I added my own special tracking seal to the formula as well. If the original seal is broken then I will know immediately." Musu would say, letting out another deep breath before two platforms. These significantly larger than the last one, would form underneath Musu and his clone. Levitating a meter above the ground at this point Musu would continue.

"We will go scout the perimeter of the grounds. You and I will ride together and our clones will do the same. If we find any holes within the chain fence then we know that there may be squatters inside, if not, then we can assume that if there are squatters that they went through the front gate and the weakened seal, and I will know since my seal will have been broken as well."

Should Naki do the same and create a clone of himself, the clone Musu would user the clone of Naki to join him on the platform and two groups would begin riding around the arena.

Fuuinjutsu Lock - 100 Power, 40 AP
Mineral Sand: Desert Supension: 30 AP, 4 Sand Charges, 140 Speed
Uzumaki Mark Seal - 20 AP
Shadow Clone -30 AP

AP Consumed (-10% Chakra Stat discount): 108
AP Remaining: 1812
Musu: 906
Musu Clone: 906

TWC: 1592

The young man would watch as Musu reinforce the seal, which to Naki made him more curious about him. When he just did the clone seal Naki would be a bit surprised that he was able to just do it like that while Naki still had to do the normal way. He'd weave the hand signs in almost a blur tiger -> horse -> ram -> clone seal as he created two identical clones himself.  "I never thought that knowing sealing jutsus like this would be interesting. I didn't think about adding a tracking seal to it that's a great idea." he told him as he was lifted up once again from the sand and they started to move once again. Both the clone and Naki kind of stumbled a bit before relaxing on the platform and looked around. 


The original would look at Musu and his gourd as he still didn't understand why he had to carry the large thing if they're constantly surrounded by sand. To Naki, after seeing musu move the sand around, he would figure he was the strongest ninja in the sand with this jutsu.  "Hey Musu, if you don't mind me asking why do you carry a gourd of sand? Can't you use the sand that's around us as well?" he asked before turning to keep his eyes open on the fence looking for any kind of damage done to it. So far he saw nothing and neither did his clone as they went around the area. Naki kind of wanted to get to know this ninja a bit more as he wanted to gain more friends around the village. 

WC: 277 TWC: 1870
Shadow clone - 30 AP
AP remaining 615