Lost, Cold, and Alone (Mission)

Mission Details:

As it stood, ninja from Kumogakure didn't often jump from tree to tree. Dashing in bursts across treelines was more of a Konohagakure activity: adjusting to branches, leaves, and twigs was more of a specialty of the shinobi from the warmer climates. In fact, it was so married to the idea of a Konoha nin that Kumogakure had its own saying about it: "If the trees start talking, burn the forest to the ground".

Instead, Baruga felt more at home with the whistling wind and blistering cold rushing past her freezing ears, with her feet pressed against hard stone ready to push off from one boulder-made obelisk to another. If the air didn't smell like ozone and dust and snow, then it didn't smell like home. If she had to choose some way to travel to manually, that was the most comfortable type of atmosphere for her, mission-wise...

...But, alas, bounding from quarry to quarry wasn't the fastest way to get from village to mission site. Not anymore. And thank goodness, she quite hated having to go by foot everywhere.

(Baruga-dono. We are almost at your destination.)

"Thank you, Hideyoshi-dono. You shall receive my highest praise."

The 40-meter A-Rank whale with a boat on its back telepathically stammered before Baruga pulled her hand away, cutting off the mental bond. 

Her shoes tapped along the hardwood flooring as she returned to the rest of her team, with the sails billowing above them. They'd gotten safely-fastened chairs and complementary snacks for the flight on the way here (as everyone did, when traveling to a mission area with Baruga and her whale summons).

Flicking her hair into place as the wind blew past, Baruga crossed her arms and regarded her comrades. Her tone switched from reverent to commanding as she switched from addressing the summon to addressing her fellow ninja.

"Alright, we're nearly at the mountain village that reported the missing genin. Just like when boarding, keep your hands, legs, and other limbs on deck until the summon hits the ground, in which case, have a firm grip on your Surface Walking Technique as you walk down the whale's skin."

The daimyo's daughter smirked as the boat-backed whale summon begun its descent, landing in a clearing near a modest town of stone walls and not much else.

"I do hope you enjoyed your luxury flight. Most ninja have terrible callouses from all the running they do from mission to mission, and I'd like to be the exception."

---

WC: 414

Duncan would open the letter carrying his assignment, ready to get back into the swing of things. He had spent some time having fun, eating funnel cake and simply just enjoying his freedom, but now it was time to get to work and forge himself back into the weapon of the village, sharpening his skills to a razors edge. Reading his mission briefing the giant would memorize the important details, crumple the paper and almost toss it into the fire to be destroyed as it were some sort of classified information that couldn't be seen by anyone else. In reality the task at hand was a simple one, something that literally anyone in the village could have been tasked with. Perhaps it was good to start with such, not diving head first into the life threatening missions before he was ready. Well, for where he was going it was going to be fairly cold so Duncan would toss over his shoulders a fairly massive cloak made from the pelt of a fairly large brown bear. It wasn't unheard of for folks to get lost in the mountains, various dangers lurking along the trails. Still, for a trained shinobi to find themselves lost and in need of help in their own back yard it was... disappointing. Walking to the gates the giant would keep his head down as to not draw attention. He doubted that many remembered him and honestly such was probably for the best. Perhaps it would give opportunity for a clean slate.

Awaiting the knight at the gates was a fairly large flying whale with a boat resting atop its back. The creature would draw closer, Duncan's whole body tightening, unsure if this beast desired conflict. Luckily, it seemed to be yet another of the conjured creatures of one Lady Baruga. "I wondered if the briefing packet was mistaken, a noble Lady such as yourself taking on a search and rescue mission." The immense man would crack a grin, "Glad that it wasn't." And with a swift motion he would leap over to the boat, looking around at the luxury accommodations provided. The massive man would look at the seat clearly designed for a more standard sized person, "Not sure if I'm gonna fit. I can stand though." He would then grab the bag of salted pretzels from the bin next to where his seat would have been and he would open them and begin snacking. It wouldn't be long before their other companion would no doubt arrive and they could get this show on the road. 

The flight was quite something, the man not accustomed to the wonders of flight. The wind whipped at his face, stinging at times but overall the thrill of it all far outweighed any minor inconveniences such as that. It was strange to see just how small everything appeared to be from such a height, mighty structures looking like nothing more that children's toys after a certain altitude. It wouldn't be very long before they reached the small village deep in the mountains, the place seeming no bigger than maybe several hundred people, but certainly not breaking a thousand. Duncan couldn't help but wonder just what these peoples motivations were to stay this far out. Once upon a time, during the reigns of certain unspoken individuals? Sure... but such was all in the past now. 

They would land, Baruga making her tone clear that she was in charge. "Of course, my lady." He would offer, almost laughing out loud at her remark regarding callouses. A noblewoman with callouses from a hard days labor? Wouldn't that be a sight. 

They would be greeted by what the large man had figured must be the town elder from the clear signs of wisdom resting upon the man's face. "We're here from the village in search of the young genin lost during a mission. Can point us in the right direction?"


wc:655
twc:655/1000 (Assuming 3 members)

Aroma went over the details of her assignment in silence. Her mind worked out what their goal was, and it was pretty simple in a way. A genin hit lost within one of Kumogakure's mountains, and it was their job to find them. When it comes to the lightning village, it was usually about the survival of the fittest. So the genin was quite lucky that they wasn't forced to find their way back on their own.

The snake mistress was aware that some of the mountains held a few numbers of cabins for lodging, and wondered if perhaps the genin was training amongst one of them before they got lost. Either way, it was the team's job to locate them.

Which put her upon a rather large creature that helped aid them in covering the distance much faster, with much less of a hastle. The woman sat within one of the provided chairs, her form heavily clothed in a rooded rob of thick woven material. It was suitable enough for the cold mountains that they was heading for. The cold wind that chased past them as they soared forward grasped at her long hair, and bit mercilessly as her cheeks. But it wasn't something that these shinobi wasn't accustomed to.

Baruga announced their soon to be arrival at one of the villages, the one that reported the missing genin. She went over some of her guidelines and noted the benefits they've just received all thanks to her massive summon. Now it was time to get to work.

Just as Baruga recommended, Aroma descended the whale by using the surface walking technique to prevent from falling straight off it's slick skin. "Don't get to do that everyday." She muttered to herself before her feet met the ground. Not long after their arrival, they was approached by a rather large man, almost like the one that accompanied their team. Duncan went ahead and discussed their business. Aroma took that as an opportunity to scout within her standing surveillance.

---

{WC: 337}

Once everyone was safely off, Baruga herself walked off the whale and landed comfortably on the ground. Putting her hand to the whale's skin, she gave Hideyoshi a few more niceties and acquiescences, very much following court procedure — before unsummoning her with a gigantic blast of smoke. At that, the few townspeople who had come to see the "beasts of legend" started at the sudden disappearance of the mythical summons.

"Don't patronize me, Mr. Crawford. I assure you I'm more than capable, even if I have more appreciation for the more fragile things in life."

Like her heels. Or her nails. Or her clothes. Things that seemed far too disposable for the modern kunoichi, really, and wasn't that a shame: didn't any of these girls take care of themselves? Well, some of them, perhaps. In any case.

Baruga allowed Duncan to take point in terms of interacting with the commoners. Between the lot of them, she suspected he would be the least unnerving, large though he was. Definitely the type of person that these people would be more accustomed to, compared to the literal royalty and the blindfolded poisoner to her flank.

She had her own tricks up her sleeve for search and rescue, admittedly. Perhaps not as impressive as her A-Rank summon she was just flaunting, but definitely less chakra-exhaustive. Baruga put in less handseals than usual for this one, before she summoned a hefty-sized pink whale calf to her side.

"Hideyori-chan, good afternoon. We're looking for a Kumogakure genin who happened to hole up in these mountains. Would you like to help?"

(Oh, is this like playing explorer? I love doing that! And they just need a headband like yours, right?)

"Yes, and yes. Do be careful, and if you see something, report back to me, please."

(Okie dokie!)

With that, Baruga sent the relatively-childish whale off into the sky, letting the E-rank whale calf roam free. Feeling that would be sufficient until they got a better lead, the Lightning Country heir returned her attention to the rest of her team, hands on her hips.

"Right. Did we learn anything new? I don't suppose we have any trails to track or somesuch."

---

WC: 364
TWC: 778/1000
Mission WC: 1770/3000

The village elder would inform the team that the genin that was lost was here on assignment from the village. The lost genin was a part of a team that was tasked with assisting in clearing the nearby mines out of some pesky intruders that had taken up refuge there. The others in the team returned down a member, for some reason leaving behind one of their own. The village elder explained that he didn't really think too much in to the matter, as the life of a shinobi was not only dangerous, but the mountains were treacherous to the unprepared. Losing a person - while not ideal - did happen in this line of work. The elder would point in the direction of the particular mine that group went to, mentioning that the mine was a few hours travel from their little settlement. 

Duncan would shake his head, wondering just why the others would leave their comrade behind. Perhaps they were injured, and the others figured that leaving one person behind was better than struggling to carry them and getting all three killed. Or maybe they were careless, not paying attention and the group somehow managed to splinter off from one another. This was all speculation, and it didn't really matter much the "how" or the "why" right now. They were tasked with finding this genin, and so he intended to do so. The large man just hoped that he wouldn't have to bring back a corpse...

Baruga would utilized one of her conjured beasts to fly about, scouting the area from a birds eye view. Duncan couldn't help but respect their usefulness. Aerial scouts, transportation, aide in combat. These whales were incredibly versatile and helpful almost beyond measure. Just the trip to this village alone would have taken far longer if not for their assistance. He would note that Aroma was looking around, determining if she could spot anything of note. 

"If these genin returned to the village and reported that one went missing, its safe to assume that they succeeded in completing their tasks." He would point in the direction of the village and then towards the mines. "The team returned here down a member, meaning that they were lost somewhere between here and the mines. Assuming the missing genin had any idea of where he was going, I suppose we can focus our search pattern in a triangulated area based on those three points." 

Duncan would of course simply state this information, wanting to hear the input of his two companions. 

wc:423
twc: 1078/1000

Despite the team being able to possibly compete their mission and clear the mines of the pesty intruders, it wasn't very brave of them to leave behind one of their own. Unless they really was that incapable of finding the missing straggler. Maybe Aroma was thinking too harshly.

She stood with one hand holding onto the bicep of her other arm. Listening as the discussion moved further onto the topic about the missing genin. The area of search was brought up, along with an option of what their search pattern could be.

It was their turn now, another group of genin, more specifically just three, to find out what happened to the one left behind. And of course to hopefully being them back to the worried village. In doing so they would need to scout the way that the other group of genin returned from and possibly the mines as well.

"If would be a shame if the one that is missing, has somehow became captured by one of the intruders." Aroma would voice her concern outloud to her team, but only after they were no longer discussing with the villagers. She had no interest in providing the folk any more stress than they already felt.

Baruga brought out another one of interesting summons and sent them off to get a head start. The Viperis kunoichi couldn't deny the usefulness that Baruga's summons prove to provide. They had many uses and seemed to be quite loyal to the burnett. And something that massive as the creature that brought them to the mountain village could easily terrify many opponents.

With a quick and simple movement, Aroma would remove the blindfold from her eyes. She wasn't sure if her dojutsu would be any help, but if they end up needed some sort of extra sensory or was to search the mines, Aroma would be ready to use it. The mines was very poorly lit and her heat sensory could provide some usefulness in the dark.

---

{WC: 333 | TWC: 670}

Baruga turned her nose up at the thought of abandoning a comrade. Not because she had any particular sense of loyalty, but, well...

"Tch! The weaker genin failed to rendezvous properly, so they send the stronger genin to clean up? Talk about a waste of funds. Let's get this done quickly."

Her blue blood rolled off her tongue in her specific royal accent, becoming stronger with her disdain. She sighed and shrugged with crossed arms.

"We have our search area, at least. ...And I believe we'll have a few more clues, now. My summon's coming back over the treeline."

The pink whale flew back to the group, landing in front of Baruga with a smile. She pressed a palm to its head and took a moment to telepathically communicate with it, before bowing to the whale and dismissing it with a burst of smoke.

"An amateur campfire was found ten minutes north-north-east, which would be three klicks away and slightly west of the mine entrance. Had all the telltale signs of the poor sod we're looking for: dried blood, wasted first aid kits, all of it. If we want to spread out from there, we should be able to find our straggler."

They'd have to go by foot for this part. With her chakra running a bit lower than she'd like, she'd have to take it easy on the summons, just in case there was any sort of ambush, but if there weren't any issues, then she could likely manage another luxury ride back home. Not that she particularly felt like telling anyone that: she got enough flak for her civilian chakra levels and training in the Academy, she'd rather not repeat the experience.

In any case, she put on her commanding tone once more.

"Once we get there, Viperis will head east from the campsite to the mines. Check the first few floors of the mines with your doujutsu, but prioritize combing the surrounding area rather than the mines themselves. Crawford, you comb north-west, I'll go south-west. As you noted, triangulating our sod should be child's play given our known info. We'll be home by supper."

Baruga gave the village elder a mild bow.

"Thank you for your information. We're off now. Team, with me!"

And with that, she bounded out of sight, as ninja were oft to do. In heels, no less.

---

WC: 396
TWC: 1174
MIssion WC: 2922

Duncan would nod, the giant in compete agreement with Aroma. "We can only hope that they weren't captured... that would end up making this mission a great deal more unpleasant." Duncan of course knew that Genin weren't privy to a great deal of village information, but they very well could know enough. He's witnessed first hand the methods folks would go to in order to extract what they need, be it through the use of jutsu to delve into the mind for what you seek like his former master or more... traditional methods. Neither were particularly pleasant, and he didn't want any of the villagers to go through such. 

The relatively small flyingn pink mass would return to its master, the two sharing information via contact. Baruga once more took the lead, her noble upbringing likely raising her from a young age for a position of command and authority. Duncan had no qualms with her directives, and so he would simply nod and accept these orders. The campsite did have all of the characteristics the trio was looking for, and Duncan could only hope that it was their genin and not one of the enemies that managed to survive and somehow patch himself up. 

With the trio dashing off, it wouldn't take very long to reach the forgotten campsite. As instructed, Duncan would make his way North-West, making sure to stay on the paths that were clearly safer for someone of his stature. Of course, he would also keep his eyes peeled for any signs of the missing Genin to have possibly fallen off of the path. Despite a great deal of effort spent searching, the giant would find himself returning to the campsite rendezvous point empty handed. 

Once back, he would note that one of the other two had managed to find the missing youth. It was clear that they had taken quite a beating, though it wasn't clear if that was from the landscape out here or from conflict with enemies. The giant man didn't have a great deal to say to the youth, keeping his mouth closed to avoid anything unpleasant from escaping. It wasn't the knights place to reprimand the youth for their failures. That would be for the village leadership.

Once they were all ready, Duncan would follow the group from the rear, keeping eyes on not only the area for enemies lurking but to ensure the foolhardy child didn't repeat their mistakes. This positioning would continue until they returned to the village by foot or got to one of Baruga's useful whale assistants. 

---exit, unless interrupted ---

wc: 429
twc: 1507 [mission complete]

Claims: 
- 15 stats (all into Strength)
- 6,000 Ryo + 100 Genin bonus / 30 AP [for mission completion]
- 1507 wc towards Seikatsugan phase 2 [bringing it up to 2529/4000 when combined with wc from this thread]

It did not take long for Baruga's smaller pink sommom to find it's way back to the trio group. They waited as the burnett kunoichi and the summon interacted with one another, before Baruga continued with the information that she gathered, and branched out from there. Their plan was spread out within the three, and it seemed like a solid aim.

The group started at the makeshift campfire that was found, and went their own different paths from there. It was obvious that whomever designed the fire was not really an expert. They made hardly an attempt to hide the burnt coals and ashes afterwards. It made sense if it was their genin target that they was searching for. Aroma doubted that any intruder would be so careless and clumsy within enemy territory.

The other two went their separate ways as Aroma continued into the direction of the mines, taking her time to search along the the way there. Hoping to spot the shinobi somewhere close by. But after completing the distance between the two points and finding herself at the dark rock mines, Aroma was disappointed with the search. So far no genin was found, and she hadn't heard anything more from the other two just yet.

So of course the search continued. Her eyes glowed dimly as she entered the mines, so far the place seem deserted from the outside. She was even careful enough to find any hints of the intruders about, but everything seemed dead. Even the mines was dead silent, not a single echo from a clumsy genin sounded from the levels. The chances of them trying to wander and find ther way back was unlikely, but not impossible. There could be a chance that they was no where near the mines anymore.

She searched the levels with no luck, only the rare occurence of some rodent within the colliery structure. Their small little warm bodies scurried within her view in the dark depths.

Again. . disappointment riddled her face as she exited the mines. What a troublesome situation. It wouldn't be a good idea to return to the village empty handed, that would be a shame thing to do and make them no better than the genin that left the missing ong behind.

Her feet maneuvered themselves through the first path as she made her way back into the light of the outside. The sun was still glinting brightly up ahead, but soon it would be making it's way over down the horizon before disappearing. But something else also shone that caught her attention. Upon one of the rocks from the entrance of the mine was some colorant that stood out from its grayish surface. It was positioned to where that someone woukdnt notice while coming in, but when exiting the mines the smear was in the perfect facing to be noticed. She already knew what it was. With the known fact that the genin was injured, and did a failed attempt to properly bandage themselves up with the first aid that was left behind at the campfire, Aroma could easily assume that the rock was painted with a trace of old blood. But by the color of it, she was able to point out that the blood wasn't completely dried. The poor genin was foolish enough to leave her a trail to follow.

Well foolish if she was an enemy, but in this case it helped the team find the targets whereabouts.

After following the light blood trail, the Viperis was able to locate the genin, resting beneath a bare bush. She could tell that they was much younger than she was, and was able to carry them on top of her small back. Meeting up with the rest of the team and bringing the poor thing back home to their family and friends. - exits and mission completion -

---

{WC: 640 | TWC: 1,310}
Mission Claims: 6,000 Ryo + 100 Genin bonus | 30 AP
WC Claims: 7 Strength | 6 Speed
- Snakes Mouth (1,000/1,000) - 891 wc from here
- Hidden Mist Second Mastery for handsealess (1,201/1,500)

approved for Duncan and Aroma!