Rivers, caves, and bears oh my! (Yagi, Karro)

He received the scroll at dawn, after dressing himself accordingly with black booted tabi, black long pants, a black gi with his clan’s jacket now upon his back he walked towards the door of his room and opened it before leaving the compound with the scroll in hand. He was summoned to the village with another Kumogakure shinobi, Karro…together they were told that they needed to report to a training field where they would need to teach a group of civilians to control their chakra before moving on to more pressing matters. “A trivial task that I learned at the age of three…this should be…eventful to say the least. I wonder about this Karro character though, he must have some sort of strength to be placed with the prodigy of the Raiden…” Yagi said to himself as he made his way down the mountain, waving in a warm greeting to whomever was walking up the mountain trail.

It took him less than an hour to arrive at the training grounds and he was in a lighthearted mood as there was already a group of ten people gathered and waiting. He wondered if there was to be any more arrivals, and of course…his partner for the day, Karro. He did not wish for this task to take the entire day because the other two missions that they were given were more pressing than this. He valued the defense of the village, and having villagers that could harness chakra was one step closer to having a fortified village ready to lay down their lives for their kage. He decided after waiting for ten more minutes that this was all that was going to arrive and as such he was ready to get this class started.

“Alright everyone, please gather around, I do not want to explain this over and over today. Think of your body as a cup, a vessel in which you will fill with chakra…or visualize it as water. You will be learning how to harness this cup, this vessel…so that you can eventually learn to gather that water…chakra into something that can be useful, whether that be strength, or speed, or even your own vitality. This is done by meditation, sitting or standing…whichever you prefer. Clear your mind, breathing in and holding in the breath for as long as you can, or ten seconds before exhaling as slow as you can or for ten seconds…repeat this ten times or until you have finally reached a state where your mind is no longer worrying about anything more. Then close your eyes and visualize with me a cup on a table, this cup is your body…this cup is how we will begin. Now I want you all to practice this until my associate arrives and he will fill you in on the next part.” He said with confidence as he was actively reaching out with his chakra to see if he could find where this partner of his was. He did not know if his partner was male or female…but he needed them to show up so this would actually look like a team effort.

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Waking up in his bed Karro got up and ready for the day going through the same old routine as usual, cleaning up getting dressed and making sure he had everything he needed. Making sure to stop and grab the scroll that had been delivered to him the night prior and read it once more, it contained the information on a group of missions that he and another shinobi would be undertaking today and other various information that he would need going forward.

“It looks like I’ll be working with a chunin today.” Karro said with some annoyance as in Kumo you listened to those higher ranked and standing unless you had the strength to back up your talk and at this moment Karro was lacking in that department, he wasn’t some weakling that would crumble under anyone but he wasn’t quite ready to tackle that difference yet. “I’ll be there soon so lets just get this taken care of and done with.” He said as he stuffed the scroll into his pocket and made for the meeting place where the first mission would happen which was training a bunch of civilians in some exercises. It was something that everyone went through to keep people in shape and ready for battle if needed.
 
Though it would seem that he was showing up later cause by the time he got there he could see someone instructing the civilians on the steps of the exercise. “I know I’m not late from the meeting time.” Karro thought to himself as he made his way to the front of the group with a purpose, he wasn’t going to make anyone think he was scared or frightened. Approaching the blonde haired Shinobi Karro spoke out, “I see you got the jump on starting the exercise. I take it you are Yagi Raitenno.” Karro started off as he looked at the man in the eyes. “I’m Karro, I’ll be here to assist with the missions today.” Now that he had introduced himself to his partner for the day Karro went about correcting people’s postures and forms to make sure no one was slacking off and properly doing what they were suppose too.
 
“The more you relax and settle into the positions the better off you will be in the long run. The needed strength and flexibility that you will need to be able to continue to be a part of this village comes from doing these simple and basic exercises that we have all learned since we were kids.” Karro said as he moved through the rows, most of these position and exercises were stuff that Karro still did to this day to continue to refine his own foundation for his Taijutsus.
 
WC: 456

His chakra senses picked up a significant amount of chakra nearby, he assumed it was the other shinobi that would be joining him throughout the day and he continued with his instruction. After a few moments more, Karro arrived and introduced himself while also announcing Yagi’s name before helping out with the training of the people gathered here. It did not take long for their class to get the hang of the training and now a new group could harness their own chakra to use for their everyday lives.

Once they were gone, Yagi met back up with Karro and extended his right arm in greeting the younger looking shinobi. “Looks like our next job is to go through the cave system in search of a scroll for the village, of course we do not know what the rumored scroll might be, but we at least have some coordinates to where the cave system starts. Would you like to lead the way since I am sure you have the same information as I do. It is good to have a partner to work with through the day’s duties though I will say that.” He said with an almost practiced voice of amusement and a smile that at least looked genuine. He would wait for Karro to speak before they would begin to make their way to the job. The caves of Kumogakure took people all through the mountains, hell it was how his own parents met was through a cave passageway on a road in the mountains. If they made a wrong move here, they might as well consider themselves dead or have to get stronger quickly so that they would be able to overcome any crisis that showed its face. Yagi looked contemplative as they walked and as they arrived at the mouth of the cave. “You are not afraid of the darkness are you Karro?” He asked with a sly smirk on his face.

WC: 326
TWC: 846

Having finished up with the civilian’s and their exercises it was time to move onto the next mission of the day. Yagi approached Karro and offered his hand in greeting to the younger Shinobi which Karro would give a firm handshake if anything to show he wasn’t a complete weakling. Karro wasn’t some all powerful shinobi but he was confident in his strength despite how small he was, though moving on Yagi described what their next job would be. It seemed to involve looking for a  scroll that had been hidden away in some nearby cave system, they only had the coordinates for the entrance. Yagi offered to let Karro lead since they had the same information and there wasn’t any real difference who lead the way there.

“Sure I’ll take lead I think I already know about these systems anyways just never been inside.” Karro mentioned as he started leaving the way to the cave system.

The path there took them through most of the village and to the outskirts where hidden by some brush and foliage the entrance laid bare for anyone who knew where it was to enter it. Yagi made a teasing question on if Karro was afraid of the dark, which when he was much younger then he is now he always had that typical fear of the darkness but he had grown out of that with his training and growth.

“You know at one time I was scared of the darkness, ya know typical kid stuff but now a days I’m more worried about the things that go bump in the dark then the darkness itself.” Karro said with a sly smile in return.

Going over the mission scroll to make sure what to expect before heading into the cave system itself, Karro noticed it mentioned the possibility of local hooligans hanging out in the cave as some kind of hang out spot and that the cave was filled with bats that had rabies.
 
“Well it seems the worst we have to worry about is getting lost and dealing with kids and flying rodents.” Karro said with a slight hint of annoyance. He didn’t mind the bats or the stupid kids who thought they were some fancy outfit or group or gang whatever they called themselves now. He was more worried about getting lost, though he felt that Yagi would be able to handle making sure that didn’t happen as he was of higher rank then Karro. It would be weird if that didn’t come with the experience in path finding or something similar.
 
“Alright lets head in and get this scroll.” Karro said as he decided to take the lead mainly because if he was the first to any kids he might be able to smack them around a bit for slacking off, which would help relieve some of Karro’s stress.
 
Entering the Cave there wasn’t much difference in light as they were in the entrance but in the dark distance there seemed to be a light source of sorts casting shadows along the cave walls. “Probably the kids mentioned seems we won’t have to worry about bats till farther in.” He said as he began walking slowly trying to get an idea of who was here and then deciding if it needed a plan of attack or not. Though it would seem that the pairs luck for finding some kids to discipline wasn’t up to snuff as there was only a barely holding on fire and the discarded remains of some snack wrappers.

“Of course, the only fun part of the mission isn’t even here.” Karro said with a sigh as he snuffed out the light more to stop any possible issues of spreading or smoking them out later on deeper into the dungeon. Karro was slowly trying to make a mental map in his head deciding to train himself on his memory, looking over at Yagi he said, “Hey you want to take lead from here? I don’t mind either way but figured I toss it up.”
 
WC: 676
TWC: 1132

Hearing that Karro was going to take the lead was a good sign that at least he was not going to get stuck with just a junior that would follow just any direction. He wanted to make contacts while in the village and this was just another step to be able to do so. On the outskirts of the village the caves that were marked were all monitored by patrolling shinobi every so often, however this new system was something new so it was not quite marked…that and every time that it was…someone removed the signage, no doubt it was the slackers that the mission warned the pair about.

It did not take them long while clearing out the underbrush to find the entrance, Karro was quite adept at searching and Yagi was answered really quick as Karro admitted that as a child he found himself frightened of the dark just as any other kid would be, but then added in that now he was just more frightened by what lurks inside of the darkness…the things that bump around in the void. “Fair enough, but I doubt we will be in any amount of drastic danger, the rank of the mission is rather low…a lone genin could possibly get it done even. However I think we are a bit more adept at this sort of thing, much like how you came in to help teach the villagers without missing a beat. So I have to ask further, are you native to the village? Or were you a refugee and you naturally have this pathfinder talent?” Yagi asked as he continued to help clear the way until they entered the proper entrance to the cave.

As Karro went over the details of the mission once more he spoke out that the worse they would have to deal with is probably some “ruffians” that were just hanging around in the caves. Yagi would nod as he did not mind taking care of those that were just around to cause problems and be weak. “If we run into them, I just hope they leave with a few words…it would be a shame to further weaken the village by putting some workers out of commission, but hell…maybe they could use some teaching…it would help them to stop being weak.” He said with a chuckle in answer to Karro’s assessment. When offered to lead once more by the shinobi, Yagi nodded and walked out in front as he was more than used to being in darker area “If you have any sensory ability just reach out and let's continue to walk forward until we have to split a path, because I am sure that will happen at some point.” He said as he started the path into the cave, he could feel some chakra a little further out at the edge of his senses, but it was not worth talking about just yet.

WC:488
TWC:1,334

Karro followed behind Yagi as the older Shinobi took the lead when offered. Karro nodded along with his words about giving the people who hung out in here some teaching to make them stronger or hopefully get them back on the right path though honestly Karro would have just liked to deck some slackers in the jaw, but since they weren’t here it wasn’t worth wasting thoughts on. Yagi suggested if Karro had any ability in sensory to use it to help them find their way forward and such but beyond the basic understanding Karro didn’t know much more about sensory so he simply pushed his Chakra out to see if he could sense anything with his limited ability but he tended to rely more on his physical senses like the draft of air that would help them get back to the entrance later on.
 
Thinking over Yagi’s questions from earlier about how he was so good at finding his way around Karro smiled with pride, “I was born here in Kumo never been to anywhere else. I just enjoy exploring to the point that most places I know of at least here in the village and some on the outskirts though I’m sure there are plenty of places I haven’t found or know of yet.” Karro said with some thought as he really did enjoy learning new things that would help him be a better shinobi and learning the layout of your surroundings was something that he thought was quite important. So besides most restricted areas or places hidden by jutsus or seals Karro knew most of the area in the village and around it, he kept his ear to the ground when it came to rumors of new cave systems or some shop that sells things on the low. Knowledge of these things was always helpful and it gave him stuff to do between missions and tasks given to him.
 
“How about you? You from here also or did your family travel here?” Karro would ask as they made their way through the cave system, Karro making sure to leave some kind of physical marking whenever they made a turn so they could find their way back easier once they found this scroll they were looking for. “Also do you have any clue what this scroll is suppose to be about? Is it some technique or is it one of those scrolls we just need to find and return no questions asked?” Karro asked wondering about this scroll that was lost down here. He wasn’t sure what to expect from needing to retrieve something like this because of its low rank mission wise he didn’t expect it to be anything worth to much or at least not worth the effort it went into stealing it.
 
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TWC: 1599

Karro was happy to respond with his own upbringing, talking about how he was a Kumogakure native and had spent most of his time exploring and even going as far as to state he had been in the outskirts from time to time caught his ear Yagi smiled as the question was directed back at him.  “My clan…you could say we are Kumogakure itself.  My grandfather has seen the previous kage, and my great grandfather before him as well saw a change in leadership.  However as a whole…I can say that we are the oldest family to remain in Kumogakure.  We reside in the mountains overlooking the village and normally my family only comes down when there is a need to defend our village, or if there are matters that we must interject.  Me however, I am down here to learn…I am the only one of my generation so far to be allowed the privilege of leaving the compound unattended…Take that for what it is, do not look too much into it…it would not be worth your time.”  He said as he heard the follow up question and nodded just slightly.  “The contents of the scrolls underneath the village have always predated most of our modern text.  They are normally methods of cultivating power or even some of them have been medicine or formulae for village defenses.  So what we are doing is technically important to the village.  Usually in places like this, if a rumor pops up there are cutthroats…but yet we find nothing.”  He said as he continued to walk, there was a split coming up and he nodded forward.

“Looks like we need to split up, or we can take a break for a moment and I will meditate and try to use some of my sensory ability to read what is up ahead.”  He said as he examined the neatly carved tunnels ahead.

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TWC:1,652

“Dang seems I’m in the presence of nobility then.” Karro mentioned as he listened to Yagi share his background about his family, Karro was sure he knew what family was being spoken about but he generally didn’t pay attention to things outside his missions and his own life. Though he was sure that it would come back to bite him in the butt if he wasn’t careful, knowing his luck he would offend the wrong person and lose a hand or finger or something considering how weirdly often that seemed to happen with the Current Kage.

“I’ve always wondered what it was like to be so connected to the Village’s History like that. Can’t tell if it would be stifling or freeing to be honest.” Karro mentioned as they came to a fork in the path, Yagi suggested two options, one being they split up and see what they can find or to take a break and allow him to see what he could sense with his Sensory. Karro pondered for a moment and was unsure on what would be the best option, they weren’t really in a rush to finish the missions given to them but he wasn’t trying to take all day to finish these up. “Lets play it smart this time around. Since I don’t have any sensory ability splitting up could end up with me getting lost and causing us to take more time to finish this. So we can grab a seat here and wait a moment to see what you can find out.” Karro explained after he thought about the correct course of action, in the end it would be up to Yagi what they would do considering he was the higher ranked individual here.

So Karro sat back and waited to see what the older shinobi would decide on what they would do after hearing Karro’s input.
 
WC: 314
TWC: 1913