Nature is Everywhere

After rushing through his first four missions, Dracoso had passed out at home. His mother had the boarlings (which she referred to as children) drag him up to his bed. He awoke with a pretty nasty cold and spent the entire day resting. His mother would visit with the children and talked about him taking better care of himself. He tried to assuage her worries while the boars would bring her thread and needles as she worked on sewing projects. After a few hours, she had gotten him promise her to take on a lighter mission before going to anything harder. 

Two days after he had come home, Dracoso stepped outside. He felt renewed and stronger than ever. With confidence in each step, he headed off for the mission center. Only to slip and come crashing out of his reverie. The ground felt oddly soft and malleable under him. Moving slowly, he sat up and looked around to find many of the paths and shops nearby had sand resting like a small desert. Dracoso pulled himself to his feet and sent chakra into his feet to steady his steps before looking around the village for what may have caused this. 

Grunting and growling could be heard up ahead as Dracoso came around the corner to find Pert struggling in the sand. The guard from his patrol training looked up to Dracoso and shook his head, "Either this is some kind of prank or nature is pissed!" With a chuckle, Dracoso walked over and helped Pert to steady himself. They walked with arms over one another's shoulders up to the stairs that went up to the wall. Pert grumbled then entire way there about kids and getting revenge and even how nature was too full of itself. 

He dropped Pert off part way up the stairs, where the sand had not reached. Pert gave him a thanks and headed up the stairs. Dracoso quickly commented, "Watch out for the fourth-" A loud creak and Pert came tumbling back down the stairs. Dracoso rapidly made the four handseals and sprayed fluid from his mouth where Pert was about to hit the wall. The guard collided upside-down with the wall but seemed to jiggle upon impact. A few moments of silence passed before Pert let out a stream of rage. "That kage-forsaken step will be the death of me one day! Why in the world can't we just replace the darn thing! And what in the 5 villages am I stuck in? You saved my life, only to turn me into an ornament kid!" 

Dracoso sighed and walked up the steps to the guard. After a few tries, he was able to pull Pert down, with no lack of yelling. Pert looked to Dracoso with a slight glare and shrugged. He started to head back up the stairs as Dracoso asked, "so where is Chap? He is usually here with you isn't he?" Pert stopped, one step short of the loose step, and looked back at Dracoso. He sighed to himself. "The  sand in town is so bad that they needed to take some of the guards on shift to start cleaning it up. It seems to be infused with chakra in some parts, so sometimes it will snare people or just try to climb up them to cause trouble. The mission center has set up a low-rank mission for ninja if they want to help."

With a nod, Dracoso waved goodbye to the guard. He watched as Pert almost slipped on the same step, before driving his foot right through it. He heard in the distance behind him, "let's see them try to avoid replacing it now!" I guess there is more than one way to handle a slippery board Dracoso thought to himself.

At the mission center, Dracoso didn't have to look too far for the mission scroll in question. Multiple copies had been made and were being handed out to whoever might be interested. Most of the ninja didn't pay much mind to an E-rank quest, especially when they could avoid the problem themselves with ease. Dracoso made his way to the mission desk and put the paper down in front of him. At the same time, the same mission paper was put down alongside his. He glanced over to see a young girl looking back at him. Raising an eyebrow, he turned back to the desk and offered to accept this mission. The young girl piped up, "Well I am going to do this mission too!" 

Dracoso gave a shrug at her statement before the individual at the desk took their papers. He turned to leave, only to feel a hand gripping the back of his clothes. The girl had grabbed onto his belt the moment he had turned around. Her paper was also accepted and Dracoso turned to look her in the eye. "Can I... help you?" He asked, confusion clear in his voice. "I am going to complete this mission and you are going to assist me!" 

Shaking his head, Dracoso crossed his arms, "I am doing these quests to get stronger. Maybe at a higher rank I will form a team, but for the time being I am going to do the best I can on my own." The girl looked at him as if she had been slapped. She marched up to him, where he had at least 8 inches on her, and peered at Dracoso. As she took him in, his words were clear, "I am going to leave now. There is more than enough sand out there for a dozen ninjas. Do your best."

He turned and headed for the door, taking a quick step to leave her reach before she could grab him again. She charged after him, yelling how he was going to help her. The five handseals were complete by the time he stepped outside and quickly shifted out of sight before jumping onto the roof. The girl came running out and tackled into Dracoso at the front of the store. With a poof of smoke, the girl found herself laying on top of the standee that had been sitting right outside the building. 

Thank you substitution jutsu Dracoso thought to himself as he slipped away along the rooftops. The girl's voice could be heard echoing behind him as he crossed from one house to the next. He glanced down along the streets and found the sand to be spread out evenly with the edges of each path cleared of it. The villagers were busy sweeping it out onto the path and into piles off to one side. The sound of a sudden eruption is what caught his eye next.

He turned just in time to see a spurt of sand thrown up into the air where a shopkeeper had just finished gathering a pile. The sand spread back out, landing only on the pathway and back in his store. Surprisingly, the sand only seemed to stick on the ground. Any sand that impacted the building or the sides of the path seemed to roll right back down into the pathway. 

As he watched, the sand would occasionally trip passersby or spread out quickly if someone tried to sweep the sand away from where it was located. One individual was even slapped by a sand hand as they tried to beat the sand with a broom. The villager, infuriated, gave up and tossed the broom away.

With each incident, Dracoso considered his options and how he might subdue this odd sand. It wasn't something he could fight and he couldn't just blow it away like wind element users might. He looked around for anything in sight and saw a small pond of water in the middle of town. As he jumped down, a very surprised older gentleman turned to him with a rake in hand. He demanded Dracoso explain his intentions. Dracoso looked to the man and stated that he was trying to deal with the sand in town and asked if he could borrow the water from his pond. The man quickly shook his head and pointed at the water where Dracoso could now see koi which were swimming in the pond.

Dracoso gave a sigh and turned to go, but the man spoke up, "there is a river that runs along the outer wall nearest here. Maybe that would work?" With a nod and a thank you, Dracoso headed off towards the wall and walked to the top. The guards nearby tensed and went for their weapons, before they saw who it was. Many recognized him either from his patrol duty or, for some of the older ones, from when he was bothering them with questions as a child. They asked him for his business and he gave them a quick update. They nodded and asked him what his plan was.

He was going to use the Water Sealing technique to try to wash the sand away down towards the main gate. From there, they possibly spread it out towards the ocean or let the rivers carry it off. The guards nodded and asked him if he could find a way to relay this to the other guards who may be struggling in town with the sand. Dracoso agreed and climbed down the outer wall. A few hundred meters from the wall, Dracoso found the river and pulled out his scroll. With the necessary handseals, the scroll drew the water in until it was full. He scooped it up and headed back towards the village.

After climbing the wall, he made his way to the closest road. He aimed for one that was steep enough and dropped the scroll. With the two handseals, and a quick stomp on the scroll, the water flooded down the street, carrying the sand away with it. Some of the water spilled into the open doorways of some of the shops, but they seemed happy that the majority of the sand was gone. Relief flooded through Dracoso just as he heard the sand ahead of him erupt.

The water carrying the sand vaulted upwards, before falling back down. The sand was still being carried and some of the water had been thrown onto the buildings nearby. Dracoso sighed and wondered how long this would take him. A hand patted him on the shoulder and he looked up to find a guard looking down the street he had just cleared. "Releasing a Water Sealing jutsu... very clever. Several of us carry those scrolls around just in case of fires or dangerous terrain. It might just work. I will take over here kid. Let as many guards know as you can that the Head said to start washing out the fire sands."

After a moment of confusion, Dracoso shrugged and climbed onto the nearest rooftop. He began to run into guards and gave them quick directions on using the water sealing jutsu. Some waved him off until he mentioned the word from the 'Head'. Even then, some still didn't follow his words. He moved on from one place to the next, making sure to cover as much space as possible. Whenever he found a water source, he would scoop up some water into his own scroll and try to help. 

The sand would react in all kinds of ways. Some would burst as the first did. Others would act as if it was tripping someone before being washed away. The hand he had seen earlier seemed to try to grip onto the sand around it, to no avail. Just as he was reaching the far end of the city, he heard a yell and panicked talking below. 

Dracoso jumped down in time to see Chap trying to throw a rope into a large pile of sand that seemed to be shifting. It was roiling loudly in front of him. "What's going on?!" He yelled over the sound of shifting sand. Chap glanced at him before looking back to the sand, "Some young girl was trying to blow all the sand into one place. The moment it was gathered, it reached out and grabbed her and dragged her in." Anxiety flooded Dracoso's mind as he took a deep breath and focused on the sand. 

"I have an idea!" Dracoso said as he ran towards the sand pile. Sending as much chakra as he could into his hands, he began to climb up the sand pile. He struggled, as the surface seemed to have a mind of its own, but he was able to get on top. Drawing out his scroll Dracoso did the two handseals with his right hand and pressed the scroll down into the top of the sand before stomping on it. As he stomped, Dracoso jumped off the sand and flung himself around to face the sand pile. In his fall, Dracoso threw up the four handseals he needed most right then.

The water cascaded down, enough to clear out the top half of the young girl. They book took in a deep breath as Dracoso launched the starch syrup directly at the girl. As it impacted her back and for a moment, the sand seemed to lurch. The liquid covered the girl, pressing into her and propelling her forward. The sand seemed to grasp onto her but held no strength to keep her there. She went flying out of the sand, impacting into Chap on the other side and leaving them in a pile of their own.

A quick sigh, followed by a thud, signaled Dracoso reaching the ground. He rubbed the sore spot as he stood up and looked back to the pile. It seemed to lose shape and begin to flow outwards, returning back to the ground where it was. The first thing he heard was the girl thanking the guard for saving her. Dracoso looked up to see Chap pointing at him with the girl following his finger. She shook her head, "there is no way he just saved me!" She looked imploringly at the guard who simply shrugged and stood up.

The girl pouted on the ground as Dracoso walked over and picked her up by the back of her outfit to her feet. She slapped his hand away and shouted, "How dare you touch a lady!" Dracoso leaned in and said to her in an even tone, "Now, we are even for what you did at the center." He turned and walked away. The girl stood with her mouth open like a fish out of water and grumbled behind him. As he moved away, cheers could be heard ringing down the streets. Guards were leading sand away in every direction, routing it back to the main gate. Dracoso smiled at their efforts, then felt that same anxiety reappear. 

They were gathering all the sand in one place.

He cleared the last shops just in time to hear a scream. The sand lifted up as one in front of what could have been a squadron of guards. Many were on the wall and others standing in a circle at the base of the sand. It roiled and seemed to grab out at them, dropping sand with each failed attempt. Just as Dracoso began to calculate a plan, the guard from earlier who called himself the 'head' stepped out. He glanced at Dracoso and simply asked, "how would you handle this problem?"

Dracoso looked back to the sand and released a breath he didn't realized he was holding. He quickly made the four handseals again and launched a wave of starch syrup over the giant. It struggled within the liquid, trying to break free. Dracoso followed up by drawing his Mizu Senbo to his hands. He tossed the five needles through the liquid, causing chunks of it to break off in different directions. He repeated this, even as the syrup returned back to his watery form. The sand broke apart into hands that tried to reach out towards the remaining guards. Each one brought down a weapon, whether made of water or metal, and broke the sand apart.

Immediately after, the guards washed the sand out, spreading out in a large semi-circle away from the village to make sure it remained at peace. The 'head' looked back at Dracoso with a chuckle and said, "Well, that was quite a solution. Next time, maybe learn something a bit stronger. Like the Rain Tiger or the Exploding Water Colliding Wave techniques. You will find them to be far more effective," before turning to leave. A guard nearby chuckled as Dracoso looked at him with a slight glare. Pert, still chuckling, looked at him with a smirk and walked over. "Hell of a show kid. I think he likes you," Pert said with another chuckle.

Dracoso just gave a shrug and looked out the gate as the guards moved out. A simple mission turned into a village-wide clean-up. Life seemed to want to toughen him up. His skills grew alongside each mission he completed. He figured the next rank of mission up wouldn't be too much harder. Maybe more complex, but he wondered just how much life was going to throw at him. He felt he was safe enough that he wasn't in danger of dying. Other than of embarassment whenever the 'children' 'escorted' him to his missions. Maybe his luck wasn't a fan of him.

Nature sure seemed to like pushing him down. From weeds to overrun homes. From boars to sand monsters. He had already seen what felt like years of challenges since he started as a Genin. He might get used to the challenges over time. People around him seemed comfortable relying on him when he was around, other than old men he seemed to scare. He shook his head of all these thoughts, realizing he was ruminating again. He put on the best smile he could as he headed back towards the center. It was about time for him to step up to the next level.

{Exit}

E-Rank mission: Clean Up That Damn Sand!

Reward: 1000 Ryo + 5 AP

WC Total - 3008 (Rounded to 3000
Stats Claimed: 21 (11 speed, 10 Vigor - Maxed
Stats Max Choice: AP - 900 WC - 18 AP

Jutsu Learned:
Rank A - Mystical Palm - 2500
Rank B - Bloodletting Technique - 650/1000 (500 WC added to the 150/1000 from the last post: How Time Makes Fools of us All)

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