Wisdom in the Paddy Fields

Mission:

Training was meant to be hard, meant to prepare you for the future, for the hardships of life as a ninja. Despite what the stories made it out to be it wasn’t all fights and glory, there was a lot of work that no-one ever told stories about. Carrying messages, searching for lost object, hunting for lost pets, the glamorous glorious life of the ninja. Airi had known about all that going in, she’d been prepared for that work her entire life. No-one had mentioned the harvest, no one had mentioned the sheer backbreaking work of gathering the rice crops.

It was apparently almost a right of passage for ninja of Tanbogakure, everyone from the most elite to the newest most inexperienced student, they all had to do it. The rice didn’t just provide the nation with it’s name but provided them all with the food they needed to survive. Airi knew she should be proud to help out, it was just…well the sun was so hot and the work was mind-numbing. Step…press a seedling into the soil, step forward and press another seed into the ground. The work didn’t require a lot of strength which is why she could o it, but hunched over as she was she could feel the midday sun beating down on her back, the light of the sun burning the skin at the back of her neck.

A groan slipped from Airi’s lips as she straightened, using the back of one hand to wipe the sweat away from her brow as she let her dark eyes travel up towards the sky, as if she could drag clods over the sun through her sheer force of will. She knew her father could create mirrors of ice that could block out the sun but she wasn’t that skilled, that capable. She couldn’t even summon a sliver of ice to cool herself or those around her. All she could do was bow her head and help out with the  work, join the other workers baking under the sun. She’d shed her gloves and thigh highs when she’d first arrived, the water of the paddy lapping around her ankles. If the girl closed her eyes she could almost imagine that she was at the beach, the feeling of the water, the soil under her toes like sand gathered underfoot. It was almost like a vacation, if it wasn’t for the work that seemed to occupy every single moment she was out here.

A soft groan slipped from her lips as she straightened, hands pressing into the small of her back as the girl straightened to suck in a breath, her spine cracking as a sigh of pleasure fell from her lips, she would never underappreciate workers or the labour they put in ever again.

“Hey, slow down girl, you trying to make us all look bad or burn out. We’ve got hours left to get the paddy done.”

A heavy hand fell on her shoulder, the tanned and muscled limb of the foreman she’d been assigned to help for the day, A kindly look spread over the man’s face a he squeezed her shoulder before fishing out a bottle of water, passing it over with a sage nod.

“You won’t help anyone by burning yourself out, pace yourself when you need to, lest you end up causing problems to the rest of your team.”


With a nod the man moved on to check on the next worker, leaving Airi alone to tilt her head back, the cool water sliding down her throat a blessed relief after the touch of the hot sun. Her next visitor wasn’t so gratefully received, a new batch of seedlings to plant as she groaned and bowed her head. Don't burn out, pace yourself and don’t hurt your team. 

Words to remember, here and elsewhere.

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TWC: 641

Claiming: 1000 Ryo and 5 AP for mission completion.

+6 stat to vigour
500 WC to learn Body Flicker
141 WC towards Genjutsu Release