Mission: Hidden Away [Private/Yuri]

Mission:

Spoiler:

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It's yet another uncomfortably humid and warm day in Island Country, and the gathering clouds tell of a building rainstorm, color draining from the buildings as the sky slowly turns gray and eats away the sunlight. Makoto stands on a rooftop, leaning against her heavy umbrella as she watches the darkening clouds pass. Truth be told, she'd never looked too deeply on the history of the island before it had become Kirigakure's home- her ancestors' records didn't go that far, and Yul certainly had avoided commenting on it. So, the prospect of recovering some old documents and maybe sneaking a peek at them was rather attractive- though finding them was going to be an ordeal all of it's own.

She puffs out her cheeks, frustrated. It seems like all the missions she takes have been ramping up in difficulty, yet she's still a genin! Should she really be doing all of this stuff? Part of her feels like it's just duty, but, well.

Well! It always feels like people only take her seriously when she can be useful.

At least she should have a teammate for this mission, so it wouldn't be too boring. All this looking at clouds was reminding her of her meditation exercises as a kid, and how often she'd just wind up asking Yul about inconsequential things...

"Hey, Yul? What's that kind of cloud called?"

"The long ones that are this close are called stratus."

"And that one?" She looks up at the biggest one

"I like to call that one the 'did I leave my clothes out to dry and forget' cloud"

She snorts. "Did it happen a lot to my predecessors?"

"You wouldn't believe how forgetful holy maidens can be, when they rely on a poor old centipede so much..."

"Haah... I guess I'll just have to endeavor to not leave my clothes out, then."

"Truly, you have surpassed your ancestors in at least that regard"

They continue talking away, waiting for their teammate.

[337]

Shimagakure, she was familiar with the name. The name was inextricably linked with the history of Kirigakure as it is now, and her family was inextricably linked with Kirigakure, so of course as her father often shared with her history from his grandfather, knowledge would be passed down from parent to child about the nature of this place. Not to ignore that Shimagakure was inextricably linked with Tengakure, at least if her history lessons from family were accurate, and Tengakure was a marvel in the technological sense, which meant Shimagakure and by extension Kirigakure had carried some of that. 


She could appreciate the task of having to find those kinds of records. Though itade her wonder why such a difficult task was left to her and Makoto. Looking around Kirigakure and taking the time to think, it was actually more apparent how the city had grown and change. The paved roads and the sidewalks had a new, fresh look to them. The weather was a bit warm and humid, honestly the lessons on discipline training were supposed to make her not care but she was annoyed. It was winter time! It should be cooler, a bit drier though that'd also mean some rain was to be expected since it was still a semi-tropical island. Not forgetting whatever weird stuff the storm barrier would do to the whether. 


She was finally at the meeting point with Makoto leaps up, straight to the top of the building in one go. This time she'd chosen to forgo wearing her new armor, and her headband, there was something to be said about discretion and privacy and sometimes it was nice to not constantly broadcast that she was an active member of military wandering in a place she'd never been before searching for a piece of cultural heritage in an older district. Even in different parts of a city there could be a big culture gap and she couldn't want to risk being too agitating. 


She wasn't giving up her sword though, Karuma still strapped to her hip as always. That was a part of her culture. Landing on the rooftop, waving at Makoto, as she puts a free hand in her baggy jacket pocket. 

"Yo. Ready to get to some exploration? It shouldn't be hard to comb through this part of Shimagakure and hunt some stuff down. I have a few ideas to help."

WC: 400

Makoto waves back, smiling. "Seems like it's always just us three, huh? Figures. I was asking if Yul had any applicable advice, but apparently my predecessors didn't linger around here a lot... So I'll follow your lead? What do you have in mind, then?"

Leaning against the umbrella like it was a cane reminds her of some of the worst parts of her treatment while she was being prepared to become the clan head. In some ways, it's a feeling of stability, even if it brings back unpleasant memories... The grimace is clear on her face for only a moment before she clears her mind. There's plenty of stuff to keep in mind for a mission like this, and she can't be losing herself in the past, metaphorically. Physically, there would doubtlessly be a lot of losing herself in the past here, she figures.

"Deep breaths. I'll keep an eye out as well."

With Yul and Yuri here, it would all be okay, she figures.

"Have to admit, it's a bit daunting, I'm still getting used to the place after so long, and since i'm so busy I've never spent much time here at all. I probably should've asked about the temple, since they get around more, but..." She wags her hand a bit to try and convey that there's issues there. "...Situation is...complicated, there, right now."

Complicated was an understatement... She was starting to notice, bit by bit and with Yul's help, a lot of the ways things ticked at home, and the more she unraveled it-
-What did she say about not letting herself get stuck in her own thoughts? Focus, Makoto...

[616]

Yuri nods, she got having a complicated home life. Sometimes things were going on with friends or family that you just didn't wanna talk about. Sometimes even she had trouble with her dad, and honestly right now after meeting her unreasonable deadline she couldn't deny that even she felt a bit more withdraw. Scratching the back of her head she turns from Makoto to look out over the nearby streets of Kirigakure.


"Yeah, this mission is gonna be complicated isn't it? We have to search through the old districts to find papers related to the prior village of Shimagakure so we can take them back to the vault. Part of the issue is we don't have a solid lead, but one of the most important things we can do is ask around. This is a bit of a warm mission, and maybe if we're lucky someone else is looking for it. It'd be a hassle to try and cut off someone looking for something like old advanced blue prints and the like but at the very least it means we can find this thing faster. If absolutely no one is hunting this stuff down, it at least gives us some time to comb up and down the districts. If I recall I swear there are hidden passages, like tight alleyways and sewer systems that could have something, or abandoned buildings."

Of course the first part of her plan wasn't just based on idle hope. When she'd received the mission she'd taken a bit of time to check to see if anyone had been buying up property or getting permits to perform demolition. It was honestly tiring going through all of it before heading off on the mission but at the very least it'd given her some insight. There had been a string of recent purchases for the hope of redeveloping the older districts and bringing them up to date, modernization, but all the purchases were too focused, yet also sporadic. They'd focus on a specific area in a part of one of the old distracts before buying up areas an appreciable distance away. If it was just redevelopment it came off as odd. It was entirely possible they were just struggling to get leases but still, it was at the very least a lead.


"Anyways lets head off. Just follow me for a sec."

Yuri confidently announces, leaping off the building, a soft clack as her heels hit the pavement and got ready to hit the streets, moving from the lands of new island country to the lands of old.




WC: 830

"It sure sounds like a long day of work, and it looks like it's gonna rain...I just hope they don't get ruined by the storm when we bring them out."
Makoto leaps after her, landing on the pavement with a little noise as she almost trips. Sheesh, and with all her training... Hopefully she wasn't cursed to be forever clumsy or something like that. Surely, she'd get over her issues eventually, with enough training.

Otherwise, she was going to have some words with the world. She had rights, dammit.

Walking beside Yuri, she takes the opportunity to appreciate the colorful buildings, even in the worsening weather. There was something to this place that made her wonder, really, what the place was like before the Mist took over. Makoto supposed this was about the best chance she'd get to find out, hidden documents and all.

"Someone else looking for it, though, do you think it'd be for a normal reason, or is the rank of the mission an indication that we're about to get into deep, deep trouble?" She asks her, turning to look into an alley. "Yul doesn't know much about the area, and he's kind of worried. He's a worrier, though, so..."

"Just be careful. It'll probably be fine, but that doesn't mean you should let down your guard."

"...Mm, yeah, yeah, I won't" She replies "Still thinking about home?"

"What else. Could be someone from there."

"Let's hope not- oh!" Right, Yuri can't hear him. "Nothing too important, just some home stuff." `She explains. "Are we going to split up?"

[887]

"Yes. It's a complicated thing, there can be any sort of reason to look for paper like these, whether it's in service to someone else or for personal gain. The question is whether it's for something like profit, an obsession, or preservation, like a historian. If it's the first two we may actually run into a bit of trouble, especially if it's someone who wants it for a collection or to sell, or to make a fancy new thing that they can then sell at a big profit. Though I wouldn't expect trying to use blueprints from Shimagakure to be easy. From what I know that stuff was kind of crazy complicated. If it's just something like preservation though there's a good chance that they'll work with us, so we have that at least."

Yuri had to admit the architecture was pretty at the least, it made her wonder why they moved to the somewhat less colorful style in most of Kirigakure. It was easier maybe, to not worry about color when you're trying to redevelop as quickly as possible, still. It was kind of a shame wasn't it. Right now most of their work would be wandering around asking questions, and keeping an eye out. If they moved quickly it shouldn't take too long, just run around scoping out the areas for anything that seemed like it had potential.


"I'm a bit faster but still, we should probably stick together and just move across the rooftops scouting the place out. This mission is urgent isn't it? We should hurry."

WC: 1090

"I have to wonder why they urgently need these papers. It makes sense mostly if someone else's looking for it, but the mission didn't mention anything..."

Makoto thinks back to her intimidation mission, frowning. "You know, unless they don't want to tell us that there could be a problem for whatever terrible reason they've got cooked up. Ah, well..."

As it turns out, Makoto is pretty good at being friendly and polite to strangers when she gets going, asking questions with the most innocent voice and sounding like an eager tourist. Houses being bought up for renovation comes up a few times, at least, which checks out with Yuri's knowledge- and some people definitely report seeing suspicious folk around, which just puts her more on edge. If those areas have already been checked, it stands to reason that they'd need to-

"...Do we have a map? I feel like we ought to start crossing places out and find a pattern to the whole thing." She grumbles, trying to hold all the information in her head. Yul, thankfully, has much better short term memory. "Before we go running across the rooftops, with all the suspicious types apparently running around, because nothing can be simple these days, no, it's probably some sort of terrible conspiracy or whatever."

Seems like whatever's going on in her life has her in a foul mood, despite her behavior towards the civilians.
"Well, at least we know it's unrelated to the clan elders. That's a relief"

"Mm, that's true... Yeah, let's pick up the pace. The more I learn about this the less time I want to spend here."

[1166]

"Well you have to understand that we're hunting for important papers from Shima, it could be some weird prototype or important history. I doubt it's some kind of conspiracy, though if it is I can't think much of what they'd need it for. Maybe if they were looking for some kind of weapon?"

Walking through the winding streets of the old district, to go a bit faster, Yuri leads them to cut through a tight alley between two buildings nestled up between each other. The light could barely illuminate the faint area. Pushing through into what would be the cramped alleyways led to an ambush. Stepping into a small clearing, faintly lit by ambient light, and cluttered further with those slights amount of trash, was a small gang of strangers. Yuri had noticed some civilians waiting in the area but didn't think any of it. Until she saw the weird, matching black clothes with red versions of the symbol of Kirigakure going across it.


An ambush of four, they outnumbered the duo two to one, but if Yuri had to honestly appraise her thoughts of the situation, she would say they were painfully slow. Even slower than Makoto. Even here, waiting just around the corner of the clearings entrance to ambush them with pipes and knives, there was plenty of time for her to react. Though instead of immediately going on to the offensive in that short span of time that she had, her eyes instead went to Makoto, checking how she'd react before choosing her own course of action.


WC: 1350

Makoto, having noticed as well, walks calmly forwards, smiling. She knows this isn't likely to turn out well, but it is the trying that is important, no? Silently, she places a hand upon her chest, asking Yul for support.

"It's inevitable something like this will happen, in our line of work. Be prepared, please. I could not bear to see you bleeding out for your kindness-"

Kindness, as she'd found out, was often more of a problem than a virtue for a ninja. It had a terrible habit of getting in the way. That was, after all, why her clan chose to entrust themselves to Yul and his kin to bear their sins. She'd thought she understood it before, but having never quite dirtied her hands enough, she could never have seen it this clearly. And yet. She lets chakra flood her body, controlling it's flow through her muscles minutely, balancing it out, drawing more and more strength from within herself. She lets out a long breath, steadying herself for what is surely about to happen.

Hoping for the best was hardly enough. Makoto sighs.

"I would kindly ask that you drop your weapons before I collapse this entire alley on top of you." She raps her knuckles on the wall, talking calmly. "I would be remiss to not offer you the chance to get home tonight while keeping your limbs."

[1350]

The red symbols on their clothes. Familiar, not in the sense she'd seen it before but she was almost certain her father had told her about something like that. It had taken her some time to think, while she watched Makoto's response. Her body and instinct remembered what he'd said sooner than her mind could keep up with. The slight, stylistic appearance of water curling around the edge of her sword as she draws it, decapitating the two attackers coming at her in a quick breathe. Well before anyone had the chance to finish moving. The thing that her father had told her, clear in her head. Just as her own grandfather left to get away from a bloody mist, there would be others that wanted to see its return. Ultimately, if someone had come to kill her it was her obligation to fight against them with equivalent force as a sign of respect. Blood spurting out of the necks of Yuri's enemies, reminiscent of Spider Lillies, and her body tensed. It was likely apparent to Makoto that in a few moments Yuri would be on the others as well, any relaxed composure had left her, and she'd properly entered a fight or fight response.




WC: 1555