Gold Blood: Part 1 [M/Borders - Naki]

Missions Being Done:

Today brought an interesting morning to Blades in the form of two specific circumstances, both hidden in the contents of his mailbox. First, a big ol' bundle of commissions from HQ have arrived, all of which are for a variety of missions he and his newest friend, Naki filed for nearly a week ago. "Took them long enough," he mutters to himself, before taking out some rolled up newspaper right after. Right on the front page, he can see it; {A vigilante known as the 'Ebon Rose' has apprehended one of the Sand, which resulted in their hands being bitten into savagely as punishment for crimes that were proved to have happened. Was this justified?} The article continues on another page, but he's seen enough. On one hand, getting a little more publicity doesn't hurt... but on the other, he may have brought more heat on himself from the stunt with Akane's fingers. The medical experts in Sunagakure are no joke, and he wouldn't be surprised if his saliva could have been left, unlike the times he goes straight for the neck. He should be more careful next time. That being said, he might as well peruse through his newly acquired missions, and see what's going on with that.

According to his missives, he's off to be tutored on how to do patrol missions. Seems this is absent of his partner, but the rest of the text tells him about what he'll be doing with Naki. In summary, there's a lot of bandit problems in the Wind Country's borders, and they'll be helping escort a shipment of raw materials, followed by investigating a well of water that has been contaminated at a nearby pump, which has been making villagers around the area sick. This would then be ended by hopefully locating the ruffians responsible for causing all this trouble in the first place, and wiping out one of their bases, which is far to the east of Suna itself, though not far enough to breach the border, at least. Rather funny to him is the fact that, other than his literal paid training, a lot of what he's about to do is very similar to his work as a vigilante, so this would be a piece of cake... especially with his buddy by his side. After all, the dude was so much more skilled than him when it comes to chakra based combat, at least, so taking care of low level hooligans would be a piece of cake for the duo.

Deciding to wear normal shinobi attire for this set of missions rather than the usual suave style he goes for - including the lack of a hat, which showcases his fluffy, dirty blonde hair much more prominently - he made his way to the meet up for his border patrol classes, and there really wasn't much fanfare to it all. They used the walls of the village as an example of how they'd survey their given posts for a regular patrol, and then explained the dangers of being outside the confines of their usual homes. All of this is old news to him, as he's already left out to do his own cases before, but at the very least he's getting paid for information he has access to from the beginning. Plus, it at least gave him more insight on how they could be as safe as they were, despite the mishaps of occasional low level criminals sneaking their way inside. At the very least, the high tier scum kept to their own devices, as they knew the military might of Sunagakure would smite them down without a second thought. Once his class is done, he waits by a nearby wooden pole with a tarp over it, protecting him in the shade from the harsh rays of the sun, leaning against it with his arms crossed. His documents told him that Naki would join him shortly after his training was over, so he expects him to be there in a couple of minutes, or maybe even seconds. It'd be nice to see his face again.

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Naki was waking up in his room in his kind of new kind of old home and looked around before climbing out of his bed. The young man would head right into his shower, taking a pretty long hot one at that before getting dressed and heading to make himself breakfast. What he made was something simple, bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and some hash browns. After he ate he would proceed to brush out his hair looking around before standing up. He would head back to his old apartment as he was waiting for them to switch everything over to his new place. He would walk back towards his place reading through the letters he got. "Junk....junk....junk......oooh ah wait more junk." He muttered to himself until he came across the letters from headquarters. "Aww but I like going to the headquarters to get these I get some air doing it. Hmm patrol class? Was I supposed to take this before I went on that one with Kota and Raiden?" He asked himself before shrugging it off. "Oh well, I can get this done quickly." He said as he went home to get dressed in his regular clothes and his flak jacket. He would grab his family sword and stopped as he thought about it before switching out of his armor from the flak jacket to the full demon armor though he grabbed his family sword and put it across his back and the two in his legs sheathes. Once they were there he would move to grab his cloak hiding the sword on his back and began to head off to the class. He would head out after he cleaned everything and attached his mask to his hip as he walked to the class. Once inside of the class he would move to his seat as he noticed that blades was in the class as he gave him a simple wave and a smile as he waited for the class to start. 

WC 332

Patrol training, as described before, didn't really amount to much. Both Naki and Blades get guided through the basics of how to handle any situations outside their walls, and they also get momentarily briefed on the protocol to undergo when it comes to foreign affairs disputes. Many more subjects are covered, but there's no need to explain absolutely every single detail. This is all simple enough for the two Genin, though it needn't be more complicated than that anyway. When everything is said and done, each member of the class is given certification for beginning their careers as patrolmen and or women, thus giving way for the two purveyors of the story being told to speak among each other once again, lacking the fear of scolding handed out from a proctor. The entire time, Blades had only waved back with a sly grin towards Naki, but throughout their lesson he didn't attempt anymore contact or conversation. That could wait for the rest of their missions. Naki does eventually get pulled aside by the blonde haired man though, at the end of their shared duty. From there, he briefs him on the situation.

"Hey, it's been a hot minute, huh?" he chuckles wryly, beckoning him towards the village gates near a large carriage, which had no one on board, including the empty space in the back of it, save for a bundle of supplies that would be fit for two people. In the front, a pair of reigns are hooked onto a pair of stallions, one having brown fur and the other black. Unlike most regular horses, these fine specimens were bred specifically to make traveling the deserts a lot easier, while lacking the slow pace of your typical camel. Stroking along the back of the left-hand steed, he turns his gaze towards his friend once they've gotten closer, so he could explain what's going on. "Those mission requests we put it in got accepted. Three C-Ranked commissions, straight out of the press, just for us two to complete. They even lent us these horses and the carriage for the first job, since we're supposed to carry a wagon's worth of processed sand back to the village after we collect it. After we do that, though, we'll be on foot for searching some contaminated water sources, and then we'll be settling a dispute with a load of bandits in their own hideout. That being said, I have a healthy assumption that said ruffians are connected to the danger we're being warned about for all the other two missions anyway, so any we take out along the way to our last destination will only be a taste of what's to come. I hope you're ready, cause we'll probably be gone for a couple of days." Having said what he needed, he takes his seat on the driver's mount, and points towards either the guest seats, or the one right beside him. "Take your pick."

Whatever Naki says, and however he decides to respond, they're stuck together, and as such when they're both seated, Blades starts the journey. He decides not to overwork their labor critters, so while they're traveling to the edge of Wind Country's borders at a relative quick speed, it still takes about half a day in the sweltering heat to get them to their desired destination. They have all the time to talk in the world on their way, and there may be the occasional pit stop, but none of them run into any trouble other than the occasional kicked up dust storm, which would easily be handled by them both with the protective clothing Blades brought with him for them both, in case Naki wasn't bothered to bring any. The only conversation topic that Blades probably brought up on their way was to start up small talk, seeing as they hadn't had an opportunity to get to know each other when they were training. "Oh, since we never spoke properly... why don't you tell me a bit about yourself? As you know, I'm Blades, and I work occasionally at a smithy my grandpa owns. I'd say I happen to excel at sewing as much as I am at crafting arms and armaments, and funnily enough, I love to dance." Then, later on, he brings up this question. "So... what made you want to be a shinobi anyway, Naki? I got into it to help people, mostly. You know, with a more 'hands on' approach." That's one of the many questions he could have asked, but definitely the most important.

Regardless, having made it safely to the sand processing plants, Blades would have simply handed his partner a shovel, and they both get told what they're supposed to be doing with the sand and sifts by one of the factory workers there. Their task is easy, but still labor intensive, yet this would not be difficult for trained men such as themselves. While struggling sometimes with lifting a decent amount of sand into the machines that would collect various valuables and pack them into boxes for their convenience, the older Genin never really tired much their entire time toiling in the dunes, showcasing his endurance in comparison to his personal strength. While they worked, Blades sung various working songs to help lighten up the mood, his voice being carried through the winds in his beautiful way with words. This probably took another half day, so they'd have time to eat and camp out for the night, before having their boxes of baubles efficiently stacked in the back of their carriage, which would allow them to leave on schedule back to their home. Again, this would result in them not meeting with any peril, but they had two more missions to go after this, and surely all would not stay well in the next couple of days, right?

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As the class continue Naki just seemed bored of it all, as stated before he's already been outside of the village on patrol as well as went out even further to help out a jounin repair a gate. He would end up zoning out completely as they went through their presentation. For Naki it was like he was on autopilot and began to walk with the crowd of people when they got their certifications and was given the ok to speak once more. He was fixing to leave until he got pulled away by Blades, which if he wasn't aware of him being there would have ended badly for anyone else. Once he zoned back in he would smile at Blades and gave a simple nod. "I know right." He said as they began their walk all the way to the carriage. Once they got there he would listen to Blades explanation about the carriage and missions. Naki would nod understanding as he got up on the carriage and took a guest spot. "Sorry I don't know how to drive a carriage." he told him as he got adjusted as they rode. Naki did bring some protective clothing as well as water though he didn't think to bring food as he wasn't expecting this to take days but he's sure it'll be fine. When Blades brought up small talk Naki would lean forward as he explained he likes to dance something naki wasn't exactly expecting him to say. "Well, I love to paint and draw, I just recently helped paint a building and a statue with the painters guild. Then I love to sing but I only really do that when I'm alone so don't expect me to suddenly start singing out loud. Then again I just might if I'm in the zone." He said with a soft laugh as he listened to the next question as the air around Naki kind of gotten heavy. "Well, I wish to have my name known around the world. I want it known from lowest parts of the world to the heavens. I could do it being a painter but that can only get me so far. Plus not everyone is excited to see a painter for some odd reason." He explain as the air gotten light again as he attempted to move on from the subject. As they rode to their destination Naki was just thinking about the many things he could do to reach his goals he had many plans but for now he was going to rest. When they got to the area Naki would climb from where he was and grabbed a shovel as he began to start shoveling alongside Blade. As they did he would once again zone out as he was to focused on the sand though hearing blade singing snapped Naki out of it. He wasn't half bad and the songs he knew Naki knew too so while he sang Naki decided to join in mixing their voices into a beautiful harmonization as they moved the sand. Once they finished and sat up camp Naki would smile though he was fixing to bring up his singing Naki was to tired to really say much so when it came down to camping and eating Naki did just that and got himself some shut eye resting in carriage along with the sand. He was much more comfortable there, he would wake up when it was time to head back and once again went to the area for the guest letting blades drive back to the village in silence.  

WC 600
TWC: 932

[Moving topic to different thread for part 2: Part 2]