Some Lessons Are Learned More Than Once

Dracoso had signed up for this mission figuring that he would be able to apply his experience as a guard and on patrol. The mission had detailed that he would be escorting a well-known architect through the area to design personalized buildings in his style. what Dracoso had not signed on for was having to deal with all the trouble that came with him.

He and Sutsui had woken up early for the mission and had begun planning out strategies. Dracoso hadn't expected Sutsui to start picking up on jutsu of her own, but she seemed to grow rapidly from their guard training. He figured the sudden culture shock of going from the adoption center to seeing people and places all over town had had a positive effect on her. She seemed capable of quite a few new abilities, including cloning herself in a very similar way to his own. He figured he would just need to practice alongside her and see how much further she could go within her own right.

Once they had headed out from home, their contact directed them to a small contingent of guards who were chosen for this specific mission. Dracoso joined up with them an introduced himself to each of them. He was surprised to see the woman who had been napping during his guard internship was a part of the group. She grumbled about how the Head figured she would get into less trouble if there were more people nearby to actively make sure she did her work. This did not bode well for Dracoso as she already seemed far more relaxed than someone who was going to protect someone's life.

They left the village and headed a short distance out, traveling to a nearby town. They settled in for a few hours, exploring the area and checking for any issues when protecting their charge. They did sweeps through the streets and found any hidden pathways to avoid any kind of ambushes. Once they felt assured that they knew the layout of the town inside and out, they set up a post at the entrance to the town to await the client's arrival.

Night settled in and the team was a bit confused as to where the client could be. They had originally planned to meet up with the client as the sun was setting to allow for a quick move into a different inn once night had fallen. As the crickets arrived, Dracoso was standing at the post with Sutsui assisting him. He kept a keen eye trained on the horizon for the client and kept imagining what may have happened. He had heard that the client was often targeted by his competition in the hopes to reduce his opportunities for work. Some stories said that he was attacked by dozens of enemies, and he came out unscathed, by sheer luck. Others spoke of how he himself would defeat his enemies and never tell people the details.

While in his thoughts, the first thing that came to his attention was not the sight of his client, but the voice. "What do you mean I will be staying in an inn?! I demand that I be put up in the most profitable hotel available and that I be given a room to myself for my creativity to flow!" Dracoso heard the man as if from a mile away. The crickets had long left, as Dracoso had a feeling he would be wishing for soon. Two torches appeared as a group of men marched forward, one on horseback. As they drew closer, a pit began to form in Dracoso's stomach.

The man on horseback was dressed in a multi-colored outfit that would best be described as a sky during sunset. Many bright oranges and pinks seemed to weave and clash in areas that overlapped whites and browns. It was as if a painted had taken their palette and run a paintbrush through each color and drawn a line in a random direction over one another. The man's make up seemed to take pieces of those colors with blue for eye shadow, pink for highlights, and green for blush. The man was still griping about his woes as they arrived in front of Dracoso and he slipped down from his horse.

"The thought of me riding in anything less than a two-cabin wagon is dreadful. I suppose there are not many options out here on the islands though... You there-" the man pointed a finger at Dracoso, "Tell me, where is the nearest hotel and spa to recover from this ordeal?" Dracoso raised an eyebrow and he felt Sutsui begin to ruffle her scales. He sent a quick image of an X over a skull to let her know that this is the person they had to protect. Sutsui let out a wave of disappointment and frustration before settling back into his neck. "Hotel? There might be one in Kirigakure, the main village, but I don't think we are headed there on our path. We are already late to get you to your resting point-" The man cut in, "Late?! Well if these guards hadn't tried to stop me when I wanted to take inspiration from the nearby landmarks, we would not have been late!" 

Dracoso glanced at a nearby guard who simply shook his head. The guard softly said, "He wanted to climb into one of the fountains at a nearby town because it had a dolphin and a tiger in it. He had already spent an hour trying to figure out how he might model a house after a tree before we had to convince him to go." The man pointed his finger at the guard, "and now we may never see a true 'Tree-House' made good sir. That we may have lost to time." The guard threw up his hands and gave out an exasperated sigh.

He felt like this was enough of a welcoming to the man and Dracoso gave off the birdcall, signaling the rest of the guards. As the four guards from his group stepped forward to take over, the old guards stepped off and headed into a nearby bar. They were to rejoin the group in the morning and act as a solid unit. Dracoso began to lead the horse off towards the stables, when he realized that the brightly dressed man was simply staring at him with his arms crossed. Dracoso turned to face him, "are you ready to go sir? We should get to bed soon with how late it is." The man stomped his foot once and pointed at the building, "we are not sleeping here tonight. I demand you find me better accommodations."

Dracoso shook his head as he gave off a slow breath to focus himself. He walked over to the man and said, "my name is Dracoso and we are here to make sure you can keep creating your... masterpieces." He leaned closer and said softly, "This is not the place you will be sleeping in, but a cover so that you will be safer in case someone attacks." The man chuckled and said, "well while your name is not as important, I am Jamil. The great Jamil Proctor!" He said it loudly, as if pronouncing it to a crowd. Dracoso wiped a hand over his face, realizing that this might be a long night. Jamil continued, "Yes, let them figure out where I am sleeping then. I am unafraid of any dangers that may come my way!"

He balled up a fist and let his frustration out as he clenched it. He showed Jamil his way into the inn where the innkeepers were still up and bowed deeply to the man. Once upstairs, Dracoso created a water clone from nearby which he had replace Jamil in his bed. They slipped Jamil out, leaving a guard sitting nearby in total silence, and adjusted the bed to account for the clone's shape and liquid once it had dissipated. Once out the back of the building, they moved through alleyways and carried Jamil over a few buildings, to end at a smaller inn towards the opposite end of town. Dracoso had a feeling and, right as Jamil saw the building, he threw his hand over Jamil's mouth.

The man went into what felt and sounded like a tirade behind Dracoso's hand, which lasted all of a few minutes. He struggled with Dracoso, almost causing them to fall off a building, until Jamil seemed to tire himself out. Dracoso had had enough and quickly, with his free hand, created some chakra anesthesia, and made the already drowsy man fall asleep. The guard traveling with him helped to carry him into the inn and lay him out in a futon which was placed in a hidden room. He set up a watch rotation which had himself, the guard, and Sutsui taking turns to give each of them ample time to sleep.

Once the morning came, Jamil seemed in perfectly good shape, physically anyways. The first thing the man wanted was quail eggs and fresh bacon for breakfast. The helping hand of the inn was able to deliver the latter and simply had carefully colored chicken eggs to look blue. The man took this for large, exotic quail eggs and seemed to quiet down for the morning. They left the town early in the day in the hopes to avoid any trouble on the roads. The travel would take a few hours and allow them more time in the sun to safely arrive. They numbered 10 in total: Jamil, the 7 guards, Dracoso, and Sutsui. 

A new horse had been acquired and Jamil was the only one who was to be kept off his feet for the trip. As they walked, the man could not seem to stop talking about his lavish lifestyle or how different visuals and environments 'fed the soul.' It felt as if Dracoso was listening to one of his teacher's lectures back at the academy, if the lecture was all about how much of a teacher the teacher was, or could be. 

A sudden rustling nearby alerted the forward guards and two headed forward to check out the noise. They were standing under some tree cover and the path was wide enough to allow for two men to walk abreast beside the horse. The day had felt peaceful enough, aside from Jamil's endless banter towards himself. Maybe they would arrive unharried to the first checkpoint. 

If only hopes could hold in a world such as this.

The two guards came back and reported nothing out of the ordinary. They thought a couple of birds may have gotten caught in a bush and freed themselves before they arrived. Dracoso questioned the idea of birds getting caught in a bush and Sutsui simply sent him an image of birds getting caught in a snake's coil. Dracoso shook his head and focused on their surroundings. The sun was already high in the sky and they had made the majority of the trip with ease. He talked on his guard duty internship and his patrol training and they were fascinated by the idea of wolves making pacts within the woods nearby the village. The two forward guards seemed to become uneasy and so the group shifted positions around to allow for flexibility.

As Dracoso stood towards the front, he kept a sharp eye out for any motion or sounds that might come. The rolling forestry and plains created a pattern which he started to memorize. Knowing the lay of the land may come in handy in the future. Just as he was starting to map out the overall landscape around him, he heard a small noise up ahead. The guard next to him zeroed in on the sound and made the rest of the group come to a stop. He motioned to Dracoso and the two of them headed up into the next tree line.

Sutsui seemed to be on high alert the moment they moved into the thick foliage, and Dracoso realized that there was an odd tension. The air was silent, as if all the animals had left the area. Dracoso quickly formed the three hand seals and let himself connect with the area nearby. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and realized that someone was staring at him. He breathed out and felt for the heat signatures nearby. Two bodies, one closer to the guard who had accompanied him. They seemed to slowly be approaching the two of them.

With his hand close at his side, he made the hand seals and spat two streams in their general directions. The bodies seemed to stop for a moment. A sudden rushing noise sounded in the silence and two large water orbs appeared. They were wrapped around what appeared to be men wearing light clothing. The guard came running over to Dracoso, "what the hell is this?!" he cried. Dracoso looked at the men and raised an eyebrow. They looked like no more than bandits. Dracoso had quietly created water clones laying down under the bushes next to each of the men. The clones had then quickly thrown up a water prison, using their own water to form them.

He had the clones pull the men out into a small clearing nearby and, once unconscious, released them from the prisons. He checked them over and found a few pieces of gold and some basic weaponry. From the looks of it, they were meant to ambush Dracoso and the other guard, and possibly pose as them. As he thought on it, he realized that they may have already been successful once.

Dracoso returned to the group and began to look the group over. He quickly said, "before we go on, let's take a quick nature break," as he began to pull Jamil's horse away from the group. Two of the guards seemed to want to stick close to them to which Dracoso said, "we need a bit of privacy please. I am sure Jamil isn't as accommodating in that field as the horse might be." The guards looked at each other and then at the rest of the group who were glancing over. They nodded and headed off in another direction, seeming to need to use nature as well.

Once they had left, Dracoso walked the horse back over to the pathway and sent Sutsui an image of a net. She took the understanding with a soft shiver of her scales for confirmation. Once the majority of the group was back, and he saw the two guards returning, Dracoso took a deep yawn in. Halfway through his yawn, Sutsui peeked up and the two of them unleashed a sticky torrent over the two guards. The syrup starch washed over them, pinning them to the ground. The rest of the team, other than the guard who had gone with Dracoso earlier, took up their weapons and tried to get between Dracoso and Jamil. 

Dracoso quickly explained what had happened when they went to check on ahead, and he figured that there was a chance they had pulled that trick off earlier as well. They revealed the faces of the 'guards' and found that no one could recognize them. They had been wearing helmets to help keep anonymity when away from the group, but these two were not the same individuals. As they checked, the same amount of gold could be found in their pockets. He interrogated them, giving them threats of water needles and snakes, to which Sutsui made a wonderful display. They only told him that the guards from earlier were alive, just injured and unconscious. 

They didn't have time to go back or to take these bandits with them. Dracoso knocked them out with a throat chop each and shook his head. One mistake was already made. Another might not be as easy to recover from. They continued on, leaving the bandits to their fate in the wilds, and headed for the town ahead. Jamil seemed to have become somber, but within a half an hour he was talking on the fascination of irrigation. He spoke on the patterns of the water traveling through the fields and how he might build a house under the fields one day to truly 'connect the farmer with his farm.' This just seemed one step too far for even Dracoso to understand, so he just let the man run on about his dreams.

The rest of the night was uneventful. They went into the stables together and left again with a guard dressed in some of Jamil's clothing. They had Jamil dressed as a guard, to which he threw a fit to the ends of the earth, before he was half dragged by Dracoso to the new inn. They had split into three teams, to throw off any tails, and had rooms at three separate inns. They reconnected as night fell at the actual inn together. Dracoso kept a post to watch over Jamil as three of the other guards went off to get pre-paid for supplies from drop points.

Over the night, one of the other inns was attacked by a small mercenary group and, upon finding the room empty, created a ruckus. Dracoso sent Sutsui to quickly calm the group down, in case it was a diversion. With a couple of well-placed water senbon, combined with and impressive water snake attempting to eat them, the group dispersed quickly. The morning came smoothly enough, and the group was relatively well-rested. One of the guards was recovering from a hangover and Jamil was recovering from an 'inspired' hangover. He had started to draw up plans for a new kind of house until he ran out of ink. There was a small pot of tar for construction stored at the inn. Using this for ink, combined with his bad habit of putting his quill in his mouth, ended with his stomach roiling for the first half of the morning.

Luckily, it also meant that he was pretty quiet for the rest of the day. The guards from the day before still had not caught up and they decided to go on without them. The final stop for their group would be at a town by the coast. From there, a boat would take Jamil further around to where he would complete other projects.

They paid off a farmer for a small wagon, promising to return it to the same town upon their return trip. They used this for cover while they made their way down towards the coast. The sun was already high overhead by the time they headed out. Delays due to Jamil needing medicines and the guards wanting to figure out the best cover of the wagon pushed their time back. They figured that they could arrive just as the sun had set for a decent cover.

The roads were flat and comfortable to travel. The wind was calm and ocean in the far-off distance would be quite the sight to see. The female guard he had encountered during his guard internship was leading the horses. She seemed comfortable enough as she was slightly lolling in her sleep. After her first attempt to nap while driving, the lump on the back of her head from another guard gave her a good reason to remain focused.

They walked with one guard on either side, two to the back and one in the wagon with Jamil. he had recovered his normal energy levels by the time they were halfway to their destination. His talk of how building a home on wheels echoed out into the surrounding area. Dracoso kept trying to warn him that if he could not keep a bit quieter, he could let the architect nap the rest of the way. Jamil took this as a personal affront and declared that only those he trusted could be within the wagon. This pretty much accounted for everyone other than Dracoso.

Dracoso simply shook his head at the childishness of it and continued marching along. He kept a careful eye on all in his view from the wagon and tried to pick up on any other signs of trouble. The forests gave way to more plains as they made their way, to which many of these fields seemed filled with birds and butterflies. Some of which seemed to shimmer and shine in the light. The seemed to blend well with the golden wheat that grew in the fields in which they crossed slowly. Dracoso felt his eyes following their patterns, his feet slowly moving off the path. 

The moment his feet hit loose dirt, he felt Sutsui jar him back. He realized the familiar feeling of these butterflies and quickly used his chakra to override the control it held over him. The genjutsu broke around him and he quickly turned. He was only a few feet from the wagon, but the other guards had begun to wander away from the back. He grabbed some of the water from his hip flask, readying to spray them at his entranced allies, when he saw a quick flash of metal. 

He fell prone to the ground, letting his speed combined with gravity carry him. The shuriken flew right through where he had been standing. He quickly rolled, looking to his surroundings and seeing a body of water, a watering hole, nearby. He quickly launched to his feet, throwing out the seven seals as quickly as he could. A thin barrier formed around his body just as another shuriken collided with his leg. It ricocheted off, leaving a phantom imprint where it would have connected. He kept moving, not sure where the enemy could be.

Several water needles formed from the watering hole and few off into the trees nearby. This gave him just enough time to complete his jutsu and, with a thumbs up, the large water wolf came erupting out of the watering hole nearby. It galloped off into the trees as Dracoso came up from behind it. He drew up a third eye upon himself with some quick finger work and searched, along with Sutsui, for any signatures nearby. Two targets became apparent as they moved towards the origins of the shuriken. Dracoso had the water beast circle around behind as he quickly launched ten of his own senbon in their direction. He delayed three, letting them move as the enemy shifted their position, and connected. 

The second target let off two more shuriken, both connecting and shattering the shield Dracoso had built. The cut along his temple seemed to burn as he realized there had been poison on the metal. He dashed behind a tree nearby and used his hand seals to draw chakra through him and force blackened blood out of the wound. He tipped forward and let it drop out of him into the grass before he wrapped a bandage around his head. Sutsui had slithered into the tree he was recovering against and Dracoso could hear the sounds of a large snake attacking what he assumed was one of the targets. The water beast had made quick work of his target before the second had dispatched the beast. The snake mouth jutsu that had appeared after had taken the second by surprise and he was now trying to recover his foot.

Dracoso took a quick breath and dove out, keeping low to the ground as he ran up on the shinobi. Finishing a second shield on himself, he dove from tree to tree, completing one final set of seals. His hands glowed as Sutsui spat a stream of water at the shinobi, causing him to deflect it with a kunai in hand. Dracoso used this moment to dash forward, making a full bull rush at the opponent. The opponent took a fighting stance, preparing to pivot and swing. At the last second, Dracoso stopped in mid-charge through a feint and threw himself to one side. The shinobi brought his blade down where Dracoso was going to be a moment later, finding only open air. 

As his glowing hand met the shinobi's shoulder, it went limp, dropping the blade it was holding. With his spare hand, Dracoso quickly formed seals behind his back and then slipped behind tree coverage. Several copies of Dracoso came out from nearby, each with glowing hands. They moved in a circular pattern around the shinobi and moved inwards. As the shinobi threw his remaining kunai at the copies, Dracoso snuck up from behind and struck his target where his neck connected to where the shoulders met. The target dropped limp to the ground as the copies all vanished.

Dracoso sighed and fell to the ground, breathing heavily. The other shinobi was nearby, bleeding from several bite wounds. He realized that he did not have time to rest, so he got up and knocked out the paralyzed target in front of him. He then went over to the bleeding man and, using a quick rip of the man's clothing, tied him up. He then wove his chakra over the man's body and, with the same glow in his hands, sealed up his wounds. Dracoso was drained at this point but dragged the men one by one back to the wagon. Once inside, he spoke with the guards on what had happened and discussed the effects of the jutsu that had been used on them.

Jamil seemed much quieter when seeing his threat face-to-face in the same wagon. Dracoso rode along, ignoring Jamil's protests. "I did not give you permission to ride in here with me! This is my chariot, and I will not share it with the likes of you!" Dracoso simply let out a tired sigh, then gave a smirk and looked Jamil in the eye, "and I did not ask you for permission. Would you prefer I let one of the individuals, who let butterflies distract them from the men who wanted to kill you, sit in my place?" Jamil shut up from that point forward.

As they approached their goal, Dracoso felt a bit bad for how rough it was for Jamil. Even though he had a big mouth and had really offered nothing more than complaints and suffering, this did seem to be his passion. He did have a flair for digging up ideas most might find silly, and, in some ways, he seemed similar to Dracoso's own passion for learning. Dracoso leaned back from his view out the front and looked at Jamil. "Look, you have an amazing drive about you and a determination I could not imagine carrying on myself for things I have no concepts for. I have irritated many in my younger days with my need to learn and see the world in new ways. I learned all I can so that I can make something better for tomorrow. You have a great head and heart, just tone down the talking. You might find people a bit more... amiable," was the best he could think to say.

Jamil listened to him and responded, "I don't need you to tell me how amazing my efforts can be. I have plenty of clients and Kages who love my work and request me personally. Having a 'good head and heart' just makes me sound like a civilian doing his best. Thanks for trying!" He seemed to be snippy in his words, but Dracoso noticed as they pulled up to the gates, Jamil seemed to have a warmer smile than he had when they had first set out. Maybe he was just imagining things, but the architect seemed a bit less reactive as well.

The guards at the gate took over and led Jamil in. Dracoso could hear him complaining about the trip and how he had had to deal with the dangers that came with it. He was already shaking his head as they turned the wagon around to head back. It was silent for a moment as the horses came to a stop. Jamil had stopped the horses with a hand before making his way over to the side of the wagon. He reached into his outfit and pulled out a scroll which he quietly handed to Dracoso. Jamil gave him a small smirk and turned away to head back to the guards who looked at each other with curiosity and confusion. "Well? Get to guarding me!" was all Jamil said before he marched into town.

The wagon pulled away from the coastal town, the shinobi had been removed to be handled by the local authorities. Dracoso let out a relieved sigh as he looked at the scroll. A nearby guard pointed at it and explained that this was evidence our mission was a success. The guard then pointed a thumb over his shoulder and Dracoso saw what looked like a large framework for a building that had started in the middle of the town. "Living in Time' is what he is calling it. He's apparently building a house that uses the concepts of sundials and cloaks to create some kind of ongoing time experience. Each room will be themed based on a season and, as you live in it, the way the light moves it will be all about seeing how things change," the guard explained. To Dracoso, it sounded like it would be far too complex a place to stay for how much his mind tried to analyze things. 

He leaned back in the wagon, Sutsui giving him calming sensations to rest. He watched as the town receded in the distance and breathed out another sigh of relief. The trip had been difficult, and he had his first taste of real combat. He found that he much preferred knocking out his foes over killing them. He knew that his opponents would not have the same tendencies. Still, all-in-all he and Sutsui had made a good team. Even with a loudmouth yelling out and ruining half their plans, they had been able to answer to each issue in kind. The throbbing from his forehead reminded him that caution was still needed though. 

The sounds of wooden wheels against the dirt road gently sounded as Dracoso nodded off into a nap. After all he had been through, a bit of undisturbed rest, without thoughts of homes underground or in trees, sounded pretty nice right now. Once he got home, maybe he would take on something a little bit tougher. Sutsui nuzzled in to join him and softly vibrated her scales in agreement.

{Exit}
D-Rank - Escort Duty

Reward: 2000 Ryo + 10 AP

Total WC: 5110 (rounded to 5100)
Total given to Familiar: Sutsui
+51 stat points (+20 Vigor, +20 Chakra, +11 Speed)

Jutsu Claimed:
Rank B - Water Wall - 1500
Rank A - Great Vortex Technique - 2750/2750 (remaining 2200 given to the 550/2500 from last post: A World Through Many Perspectives)
Rank D - Demonic Illusion: Hell viewing Technique - 500
Rank E - Genjutsu Release - 250
Rank D - Debuff Bolt - 500
Rank B - Hiding with Camouflage - 150/1500

couple of problems with this claim one you need this jutsu to learn drift as it is a requirement. You also cannot learn genjutsu binding. Clanned characters can only learn up to C-rank jutsu. please adjust the claims and let me know on here thanks ^^

Certainly. I wasn't sure how the ranks applied to familiars (As it is the one getting these jutsu). Either way, I adjusted the Rank B jutsu to Water Wall and the bubble drift to Great Water Vortex. With the Water Wall and Water Clone Rank B, I believe it meets the requirement for the water vortex. Let me know if this looks good!

okay sorry for the long delay on that there was some rule debating on familiars, and what they can learn. So not sure if you say the update but familiars have been clarified to act like summons. They can only learn jutsu they have a specialty in. If you would like to make changes to the familiar, I will facilitate them, but right now your familiar can only learn sensory techs. please contact me on discord if you have any questions.

As a follow up to the post above, I will be making the following changes to my familiar after reviewing with the mod:

Refunding the following jutsu for the costs spent:

1000 - mizu senbon c rank
1000 - water release snake's mouth c rank
1100 - water release: starch syrup captuing field c rank
500 - Body Flicker - D rank
250 - puppet art ventriloquism - E rank
250 - water release: fish spit - e rank
250 - genjutsu release - e rank, already known by familiars
1500 - water wall - b rank
2750 - great vortex technique
500 - debuff bolt D rank
500 - demonic illusion: hell viewing technique - D rank
1000 - temporary paralysis - C rank
Total: 12100

and spending it on the following Sensory Jutsu:
250 - sensory deprivation e rank
500 - scent masking d rank
500 - chakra flare d rank
1000 - spine chill D > B rank
1500 - third eye b rank
1500 - elemental detection b rank
1000 - transparent escape technique c rank
1000 - hiding with camouflage - B > A rank
1500 - Birth of Disgusting Sense: Scent b rank
1500 - barrier: canopy method formation b rank
1000 - seal sense - c rank
500 - Absolute Focus - D rank
total: 11750

350 WC is willingly lost from this.

I worked perso ally with the player to facilitate adjusting thier familiar to fit the new rules about familiars. Finally approved.