The Lower Ends (Missions/Solo)

Mission:

Baruga actually quite likes paperwork missions, despite the usual genin distaste for it.

Perhaps it was a result of her upbringing. Or, perhaps, it was a result of her current extracurricular role in the village: that was to say, as an in-village ninja contact for her father. At this point, either way, these sorts of affairs came like second nature to her.

Cracking her knuckles for about a morning and a noon's worth of work, Baruga sat at her table stacked with mission report copies and begun to sort through them, playing some mindless music on the radio for her listening pleasure.

As she looked through the missions, most of them turned out to be duds. She'd created sections for each type of mission she would be categorizing them into, and by and far, her "known technique" and "no notable technique reported" piles were becoming fairly large. At worst, there was the usual elemental technique, perhaps a Space-Time technique unknown to others but well-known to herself and several experienced ninja within the village, and the stray genjutsu that could be parsed out given enough cross-referencing with related mission reports.

(Quite honestly, she was finding it incredibly embarrassing how many green genin were reporting the Hell Viewing Technique — or, worse, the Heaven Viewing Technique — as real effects. As though being engulfed in eternal hellfire would happen on a D-Rank. Though, perhaps this simply pointed to the efficacy of genjutsu techniques.)

A few hours passed, and Baruga found herself with at least a handful of interesting missions. Several of them involved summons, her own personal interests, but there were some advanced elemental techniques mixed in there, as well. Currently speaking, she was transcribing an instance of an Ice Release technique and cross-referencing it with some older sightings around Kirigakure, as well as historical evidence. Her evidence was actually amounting to a generally good starting point for any researchers, but unlikely to help any but the most bookish of shinobi.

One such report, however, truly captivated her attention. As she worked past the AM hours into the noon and the midday drowsiness begun to hit, she came across a scroll detailing the acquisition of animal-like characteristics and strange tattoos after concentrating on gathering chakra. This mission was an A-Rank, done by one of the many nameless assassins of the village, but its contents intrigued her.

Of course, she knew about Sage Mode. As a newfound summoner who'd made contact with her species of choice, it'd come up in conversation and she'd inquired about it. But to see a foreign shinobi use it... and, ah, they gained wings? Absolutely fascinating.

Humming thoughtfully to herself, Baruga completed the paperwork for this particular mission, creating a transcript and all — and then making a copy for herself. That particular scroll went into the "known, but significant" pile, likely to be buried under perhaps half a dozen other scrolls.

The rest of the missions were sorted before the clock struck one in the afternoon, and Baruga left satisfied with her work.

---

WC: 503

Mission:

The next day was only mildly more eventful than the other. Her mission time would consist of some solo work outside of the village itself. Though, perhaps saying "solo" was simply redundant for Baruga: she'd been going on an awful lot of solo missions. Of course, it wasn't everything she did, but still.

Seemed like Kumogakure was in need of more construction, as well as other heavy duty work. She'd be hitting two D-Rank missions in one go today, hopefully without overexerting herself. Luckily, though, she was more equipped than most of her other peers in this work, especially given the prowess of her summons.

The first order of business today was area clearance. Or, was it road work? The mission parameters made it sound like the latter, but closer inspection of the requirements indicated the former. In any case, it was time to rip up a tree from its roots.

Initially, Baruga didn't understand what about this mission required a kunoichi's touch as opposed to hiring any other lumberjack company in the area. With Kumogakure's naturally wooded lands, it wasn't like it would be hard to find someone with the tools to trim a tree.

And then she saw what type of tree it was.

"Heeeeyup! We make chakra induction paper outta these here woods. Unfortunately, that there tree's startin' to sap up all the good nutrients and chakra from everywhere else. We usually try not to let it happen, but sometimes stuff slips through the cracks."

"Right. And you can't cut it normally because...?"

"Too big. And chakra dense, too. Mundane axes like this here one ain't gonna cut it. Snort! Get it? Cut it?"

Baruga nodded thoughtfully, eyeing the gargantuan... chakra induction tree? Chakra tree. In truth, it stood leagues above every other tree here, about twenty meters in height and just as thick, whereas the other trees were only about five to ten meters high. Just as well, the roots were overextending something fierce, looking more like snakes anchored into the ground than actual roots.

So it did require the usage of techniques. Probably not more than any novice genin could handle: she suspected if she softened it up with a D-Rank technique, she could take an axe to it just fine. However, it was clearly tough enough that normal lumbering techniques didn't... cut it. Yes.

"Yes, I suppose. Alright, please clear some room for me, please."

With that, the big, bearded worker she was just speaking to hollered at the rest of the crew — about a dozen of them, half of them curious about the ninja visit, the other half of them just trying to look at her ass — and they cleared out to a safe distance, still able to observe her.

Fine by her. Forming her hands into seals, Baruga ran through the list of her Whales in her head, calculating which one would be be able to help the most here.

Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram. Biting her finger to draw blood (and goodness, did she hate that she has to do that), Baruga slammed her hands into the ground as the summoning matrix unraveled in the grass.

"Summoning Technique! Mitsunari!"

A plume of smoke erupted from her position, as per usual. Suddenly, the earth shook, and out of the smoke rose a gigantic figure, 35 meters in length, with the body of a whale and the face of a continent. With his entire front end encased in stone, plants growing on the island on his head, the B-Rank Summon, Mitsunari, soared into the air.

The lumberjacks all yelped and gasped, given nobody expected the giant floating whale. Flying over to her, the huge creature lowered its head to her. She bowed back, as is befitting a meeting of nobles, and she pressed her palm to the packed dirt covering his snout.

(RYOINSATSU-DONO.)

Baruga accepted the telepathic link, but spoke aloud. Her voice was level and respectful, a far cry from how she usually treated people.

"Mitsunari-dono. I offered up my time and chakra to ask for a bit of help gardening. I hope you don't mind."

(EXCELLENT.)

Ever the beast of few words, Mitsunari swerved past Baruga, allowing her to chakra walk up his skin and onto his back. Soaring up into the air, Baruga took a moment to appreciate the flight — for the world was ever so beautiful when she was above it all — before directing her summon.

"That overly large tree is threatening to overtake this section of forest. Might we replace it and patch it up?"

(YES.)

Gently, Mitsunari swam forward in the air, his head moving back and forth. She allowed her summon his curiosity: he seemed to want to appreciate the chakra tree forest, and she was certain she'd be hearing poetry of it within the month. Funny how that worked: she'd never imagined that a technique she could use would summon a Zen Buddhist, but here she was.

Coming up to the tree, Mitsunari opened his great maw, the top half and the bottom half of his earthy head separating to reveal huge, fanged jaws. With a grunt, the giant whale enveloped as much of the tree it could into its mouth, lumber audibly cracking and squeezing.

Then, Mitsunari pulled. As possibly one of the strongest Whales in the upper echelons of the Endless Blue, as well as a veteran gardener, uprooting the tree like a weed was child's play for her summon. The ground cracked and the roots snapped and twanged as he kept pulling, before the entire tree was completely undone and pulled out.

The whale set the tree down in a nearby clearing, before returning to the sullied ground he'd left behind. Baruga jumped off of Mitsunari's back and returned to the lumberjacks while her Whale set to flatten the ground with his body.

"Job done. Mind handing me a shovel? And, perhaps, a sapling to plant."

Wordlessly, in awe, a worker handed her the shovel while another calmly left to retrieve said sapling. Giving a quick thanks, Baruga went over to help her summon with any further gardening he wanted to do.

---

WC: 1020
TWC: 1523

Mission:

The next order of business would be assisting the construction of a nearby building. Specifically, a house, likely part of Kumogakure's latest real estate scheme. With the relative novelty of internal peace and a loosened martial philosophy, all sorts of entrepreneurs were coming out of the woodworks to try and expand their businesses both in Kumogakure and in Lightning Country as a whole.

Baruga didn't mind the whole thing, so long as everyone involved paid their taxes and brought in cash, but she was jaded enough to know some of them might fail. However, that wasn't the point: as a ninja in service of Kumogakure, her job was technically to shut up and complete her mission.

As an aristocrat and a political figure, she'd snort derisively at that, but she digressed.

Mitsunari was more than willing to take her to the mission area once they'd gotten their morning gardening out of the way, but she'd dismiss him once she got there. Not that he wouldn't do it, but she knew he'd only do it out of service obligation, which was one of the worst ways to treat an esteemed guest, royal court of summon species or otherwise. Nobody in the right mind asked an ambassador to help clean the dishes, for example.

Luckily, the Whales were a colorful sort, and she already had in mind someone more than happy to help build a house.

Making a grand entrance by coming in on a giant floating island in the sky, which was actually a giant floating whale, Baruga disembarked from Mitsunari and dismissed him after giving her proper farewells. Bowing to the slack-jawed man in front of her, Baruga regarded him with an unimpressed look, all while he gaped like a fish.

"Y-You're the daimyo's kid, aren't you...?"

She sighed.

"Yes, sir, but I'm simply your genin for today. I, Baruga, will be at your service. Did you have any specific requirements in mind, or am I to help in construction using my basic techniques?"

"Er — yes. Yes! Apologies, Baruga-sama, I, erm. Eheh! Well, yeah, mostly just walking up walls and helping set the framework, but — would you be able to use one of them sea monsters to haul our material? That'd speed up work by a week's worth, I think. Er, if you don't mind! I don't want to impose..."

She hated dealing with people like this, even though it's what she deserved in terms of treatment. Mostly because it was all idolization, with zero decorum. In any case, she bowed.

"Yes, I'll be helping you for my assigned six hour contract, or at least until the framework is completed. Allow me to find a clearing to perform the summon, then."

"Oh, this house is slated to have a huge backyard! Here, this way, this way..."

Moved along by the mission contractor to a backyard with an empty pool, Baruga figured this would be enough space to get to work. As before, she channeled her energy, feeling her chakra strain from two large summonings in one day. She suspected she wouldn't be able to summon any more higher-end summons for today, but that was fine.

Taking the band-aid off from where she bit herself before, Baruga begun her hand seals. Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram. Slamming her palms into the white tiling in front of the pool, yet another gargantuan plume of smoke exploded outwards, so thick and so large it could almost be considered a cloud.

And then, in the sky, a 40 meter whale eclipsed the sun, and Baruga squinted upwards as the whale slowly begun descending on the nearby road. Several civilians screamed bloody murder, but Baruga's learned how to tune out the scared-shitless over time. The A-Rank Summon, Hideyoshi, descended, the gigantic blue whale lowering its head in a bow. Baruga bowed deeply in response, before placing her hand on its nose.

(B-Baruga-dono. Greetings. Did you, uh, need to fight someone...?)

"Hideyoshi-dono, hello, and nothing of the sort. I just wanted to ask you for help: these fine folks need help moving building material, and I know you're the one for the job."

(Oh! Y-Yes, uh, I am! I mean, it's one of the few things I'm really good at, so. Y'know.)

"Indeed. I'll go ask about the specifics: just go park on the road and wait for my instruction."

Within the hour, Baruga had a working material movement system with the construction team. She did have to notify their material warehouse of the giant whale coming to take the plaster, wood, and whatnot from storage to the location, but it was definitely more easy for everyone involved. You wouldn't believe how much traffic could be avoided once you take a giant whale back and forth. And the direct line from storage to location definitely beat the winding roads and uphill rides.

Once the system was established, Baruga set Hideyoshi on continuing the supply line while she, herself, worked with the workers as much as possible. Her Space-Time Arts: Portals Technique was actually incredibly useful in this situation: while she scaled up walls and outfitted the bearings and drove in nails, people could actually hand her tools without straight-up throwing them at her, which was convenient.

Establishing the second floor framework was hellish, though: who knew a revolving staircase would be so troublesome to actually implement? Especially because she had to keep track of which way was up and which way was down, given she herself was upside-down. Hard to remember that, sometimes. Also, keeping a hardhat on was troublesome.

In any case, it was a shame that her other techniques weren't exactly suited to this, but her addition of the whale system and her ability to move small objects here and there were plenty of help, she'd say. She wondered if she would be better at a building demolition now that she had more control over her summoning... hm.

By the end of the day, though, the construction team had completed the house framework with her help, and Baruga dismissed Hideyoshi with a promise of hopefully repaying her for her hard work. Probably ordering a gallon's worth of krill, that was her usual go-to. Maybe two gallons?

Ah, but she couldn't wait to get back to her bed. A B-Rank and then an A-Rank summon, as well as a full day of manual labor... talk about stressful! Forget her bed, actually, she'd be heading to her masseuse after this. Her poor back...

---

WC: 1077
TWC: 2600

---

1 E-Rank + 2 D-Ranks Completed

Claims
— 1000 Ryo + 100 Ryo from Genin Rank (E-Rank)
— 2000 Ryo + 100 Ryo from Genin Rank (D-Rank)
— 2000 Ryo + 100 Ryo from Genin Rank (D-Rank)
(5300 Ryo Total)
— 5 + 10 + 10 AP (+25 AP Total)

— 2600 WC
— +26 Stats (+16 to Speed; Stats Maxed; +20 AP from 100 WC Left)
— 982 WC to S-Rank Summon (Ieyasu) (4000/4000)
— 1000 WC to Summoning: Rising Summon Pillar (A-Rank) (2500/2500)
— 500 WC to Summoning: Wandering Oasis (B-Rank) (1500/1500)
— 118 WC to Summoning: Wandering Oasis (A-Rank) (1618/2500)

All seems to be in order, so Approved! Well done, and don't forget to add your claims to your stat page

But I do have a request; in the future, please link the techniques/skills/weapons you are claiming as it would make it a lot easier to reference them. Thank you