No time for Halloween? Halloween will come for you

Overall missions:

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Current mission:

It was a chilling night in Kumogakure, as the mountains breeze were already pretty cold at this time of the year. Jun was walking through the wet streets of the village, heading towards the village’s ninja headquarters for his Patrol Training. The young Shibasaki thought that no such training was required for patrolling a place, especially for a trained and graduated Shinobi like himself… but he was getting rewarded for just taking the class, so it was a win-win situation for him.  

Overall, Jun was quite happy with his evolution as a shinobi: he had finally awakened his Tengan, the heavenly heritage of the Shibasaki clan, he had finally mastered his clan's signature element, the Sun Release, and was now practicing and developing new techniques with this advanced element. Little by little, the young genin walked towards fulfilling his promise to his late father and, for a change, he was feeling pretty damn optimistic about himself.

As he was around two blocks from his destination, Jun started hearing a loud bark coming from an alley across the street, and just for curiosity, he crossed the street and entered the alley. Jun came across a small caramel colored Chihuahua, which was barking incessantly towards a brick wall for no apparent reason. As Jun was familiar with dogs in general, he was quite surprised, as that bark was clearly that of a dog scared of someone, but again, there was absolutely no living soul besides him and the caramel dog. 

The young Shinobi noticed that the dog had an identification collar, and carefully approached it so as not to startle it. The little dog then stopped barking as Jun approached and, after a period of mistrust, let the shinobi pet him while licking his hand. After a while petting the Chihuahua, he was able to check the dog’s collar, hoping to find a clue about who was his owner. “Elvis - Arazuki Animal Shelter”.


“Wait…I just passed this place a couple of minutes ago… the place is falling apart, poor Elvis. But he’ll freeze out here in the streets, better under a roof than no roof at all.” – and so, he decided to take a small detour and take the dog back to the shelter.  He took the little dog in his arms while still petting him, and walked away in the opposite direction of the headquarters. “I’ll make it in time, no problem.”.

After a few minutes of walking, Jun came across the old, falling apart building. Still with the Chihuahua in his arms, he knocked on the door and was soon greeted by a very old man, who used a cane to get around.

- Oh you found Elvis! I was looking for him everywhere! Thanks so much, young man! - Said the old man, almost shouting.

- Yes, this cute little troublemaker was barking to a wall in an alley nearby, but now he’s home! – replied Jun, as he handed Elvis over to the elder, who was warmly greeted by the dog.

- I really appreciate that, young man…would you mind doing me some extra favors? If it’s not too much to ask, would you mind nailing down the wooden boards back into place, and put back all the animals inside their cages? Sorry if it feels like I’m abusing your politeness, but since I spent all day looking for Elvis, now my knees are killing me...and it's just me alone here taking care of all these 15 dogs…

- Don’t worry, I’ll help your sir! – replied Jun, readily accepting the task, most likely because of his good mood.

And as Jun started doing his “chores”, the old timer sat in sat in a chair, stretching out his legs, still with Elvis in his arms, and began to tell his story and the shelter’s. How he had lost his two sons, former shinobi, in the war. How after his wife fell ill and died, he had been left alone, with the mission of taking care of the shelter that had been created by her. And as the years passed, how this task had become very difficult, as he was too old to take care of the place alone, and at the same time he didn't have the money to hire any employees. It was all very sad indeed.

Soon Jun placed the last dog into his resting place, having already nailed the last wooden board, and he looked at an old watch at the shelter’s wall “Damn, I have 5 minutes to reach the headquarters or I’ll be late for the Patrol Class, I must hurry!”.

- It was a pleasure, Mr.Arazuki, I’ll see you around!

- Come visit me and Elvis any day young man, our shelter is always open to you! And thank you very much for your help!

And so Jun left the shelter, hurrying to the headquarters for his training.

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WC: 815

Current Mission:

Jun finally arrived at the village’s ninja headquarters after helping out Mr.Arazuki and he was…2 minutes late. Such lack of punctuality earned him a scolding from the patrol instructor, Captain Teru Agamoto.

- This is unacceptable! You even broke the first rule about patrolling before your first patrol: BE PUNCTUAL!

- I…I’m sorry sir! It won’t happen again, sir!

- You’re lucky that only you showed up for this training, otherwise I would have sent you home. But it looks like that the Kumo shinobi does not appreciate anymore a good old patrolling like the old days…

- I love patrolling, sir!

- You do, eh? So I’ll forgive you, rookie. So, let us begin!

And so they started a tour over the ninja headquarters, with Captain Agamoto showing the facilities and explaining the basics about patrolling. While he shared his knowledge about the old art of patrolling, Jun mind was actually far, far away from there. What was he thinking about? Everything and nothing at the same time. His mind was tripping over the origins of the universe, memories with his father, his past missions, his goals as a shinobi…his mind was everywhere but there. After a good while of being at “auto pilot” mode, Jun was pulled back to reality with a loud, shrill dog bark.

- And that’s Temaki, our guard dog! – pointed the captain to a huge pitbull, barking frantically at a wall. – You know, my father used to say that dogs and cats could see the spirits the wander in our mortal realm, invisible to our eyes…are you barking at a spirit, Temaki my good boy? Hehe, I’m just kidding, rookie, don’t shit on your pants!

Jun replied only with a sallow smile. Could dogs actually see spirits? Nah, that's just an old superstition. Rationally thinking, it didn't make any sense...but it was already the second dog that Jun came across barking at, apparently, the absolute nothingness.

- And so that concludes our training, and now you’re ready for patroling, young ninja. So, show up here tomorrow at the same time as today, without being late this time! You will do your first patrol round, be proud!

- And where would I be patroling, Captain?

- Right here, our headquarters! Hope you paid attention to all details in our tour...

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WC: 385
TWC: 1200

Current mission:

The next day, Jun's optimism and good mood gave way to a strange feeling, he was somewhat uneasy and couldn’t concentrate at all, and he also had no idea why he was feeling like that. Despite this, the young and determined shinobi spent the entire day practicing his Sun Release control, in an attempt to finally develop a Jutsu with the advanced element. Soon, night came again and Jun was soon to report to the village's ninja headquarters for his first official patrol.

After eating a spicy ramen specially prepared by his mother, Jun’s favorite dish, he dressed in his usual attire, baggy black sweatshirt with the Shibasaki clan symbol (The Shibasaki Sun) printed in the back area, black cargo pants with two pockets on each side, and all-black sneakers, tied up his ninja headband on his right arm, kissed goodbye to momma Shibasaki and left for his mission.

- I’ll spend the whole night on patrol, so don’t wait for me, Mom! - and so he left.

The way to the headquarters was short and Jun knew it like the back of his hand, which greatly diminished the chances of him being late again. "Captain Agamoto would kill me..." but again, he was only a couple of blocks from his destination and time was on his side today. As young Shibasaki walked carelessly through the streets of the hidden village, he began to notice that some buildings along the way had red graffiti with the words "THEY ARE COMING BACK!", all in the same color, with the same style and that looked like they had been made by the same author, but the most impressive fact was that they were always almost on top of buildings, in places of difficult reaching. “Who the hell is coming back?”. Although he wasn’t much of a fan of the art known as graffiti, the places that guy reached impressed Jun for the boldness of the person behind it.

After a few more minutes, Jun finally arrived at the ninja headquarters and presented himself to Captain Agamoto for his first day of patrol, his task being to patrol the headquarters itself throughout the night. As the Captain was explaining some final details, Jun again noticed that Temaki, the huge guard dog and his companion through the night, was again barking at absolutely nothing.

- SHUT THE HELL UP, TEMAKI YOU ANNOYING BASTARD… for budda’s sake, what’s going on with that dog this days? Where was I at…right, before going home, at the end of your shift, I want a full report of your rounds on my desk. And one more thing, don’t forget to feed Temaki or he will get even more annoying. Understood, Jun Shibasaki?

- Yes sir, I got it!

- See you tomorrow morning, kid. And don’t forget to ring the alarm in case of any trouble.

And so the Captain left, and one by one the other Shinobi present at the headquarters left it as well, leaving at some point only Jun and Temaki the pitbull inside the building. And so Jun’s long and tedious night at patrol started…

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WC: 520
TWC: 1720

Jun then began his rounds on the ninja headquarters, following a set patrol route at clockwise direction, and eventually reversing the route, this technique being one of the few things the young man had actually paid attention to in his patrol class, being developed to bring more "unpredictability" to the patrol’s routes and make it difficult for potential invaders to predict where the watcher would be. Besides that, Jun had no idea what else Captain Agamoto had instructed the night before, but even so, the young Shibasaki was quite calm, for two reasons basically: he was probably patrolling one of the safest places in the village, and he had his doujutsu, the Tengan, the heavenly heritage of his clan at his disposal, activating it from time to time to scan the site for potential intruders.

And so went Jun's night, with Temaki the pitbull and his incessant barking being his only companion in a night where nothing happened...with the exception of something rather unusual. When the young Shibasaki went to feed the guard dog of the ninja headquarters, something that finally stopped the dog's barking for a few moments, Jun saw what looked like a figure passing by his side with his peripheral vision, something that attracted Temaki's attention as well, previously focused only on his food. Quickly the genin turned to see the figure, already thinking that he would have to deal with an invader, but to his surprise, there was nothing and no one in the place. Nor could he hear any noise. "Perhaps another shinobi?" - he thought, while again activating the Tengan to analyze the environment.

Despite the visual abilities the Tengan grants him, such as seeing through walls and detecting thermal signatures, again the young shinobi did not detect any presence. “I swore I saw something, I must be going crazy..." and he looked at the dog, eating his food intensely” …but he saw It too…he even took his eyes off his food for a while…but it must be something from my mind, if I report this to captain he will call me crazy”. Despite such a mystery, nothing else of the kind occurred for the rest of the night, and with the first rays of sunlight of the day, the Shinobi who worked there began to arrive for the day's work.

When the time for the end of his patrol finally arrived, Jun headed for Captain Agamoto's office.

- Any trouble in the patrol this night, rookie?

- Not at all, sir. Everything went fine. Here’s my report. – said Jun, placing it on the captain’s desk.

Without even reading it, Captain Agamoto handed Jun a mission scroll, which the genin swiftly opened to check it out

Scroll's content:

- This patrol night was just a test, young man… and you passed! Now, I have a new assignment to you: someone is spreading havoc within the village. Buildings and landmarks are being desecrated with graffiti and the culprit has alluded capture for now, embarrassing the shinobi of Kumogakure. His actions are becoming more daring by the day as he continues to get away with it and 
I’m pretty sure you already saw some of his “work” around the village…

And then Jun remembered the graffiti messages in red on many buildings on his way to the headquarter.

- Yes sir, I have noticed it…

- Your task is to find the criminal, apprehend him, and turn him into the authorities for proper punishment. You got it?

- Yes sir, I got this!  

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WC: 585
TWC: 2305

Current mission:

After receiving his mission briefing, June was advised by the Captain to go home and rest, as the vagrant Jun was supposed to find was only active at night, and the young Shibasaki had stayed up the whole night before on his patrol duty. And so he did it.


On his way home, the genin couldn't stop thinking about the figure he had, or hadn't, seen at the ninja headquarter while on patrol. Was he going crazy? Was that the result of sleep deprivation? Anyway, he couldn't think of anything else. The only moment he snapped out of his thought was when he saw a new building spray-painted by the "artist" he was supposed to find. "THEY ARE COMING BACK", the same message, written in the same crimson red tone…”Who’s coming back?”.


Upon arriving home, the young Shinobi said hi to his mother and then threw himself on his bed to sleep, as he would probably have to work all night once again. After a few good hours of sleep, Jun woke up, ate, and left the house to practice his advanced element until nightfall and his investigative work began. Even with the young Shibasaki determined in his mission to develop techniques with the signature element of his clan, again his head was distracted by the events of the night before... and soon the night had arrived again.


After a quick stop to eat dumplings, the young Shibasaki began his search for the artist who spread the same message throughout the village. Jun knew that his Tengan would be of great help in this task, and that for that he should choose vantage points to optimize his doujustu's visual abilities. So, as he learned in his classes at the ninja academy, young Shibasaki climbed onto the roof of a building with his ninja skills, activated his doujustu, and began watching the vagrant's preferred region: downtown Kumogakure.


Jun knew that the "artist" behind the messages was getting more daring by the day as he continues to get away with his “messages”, so it was natural he would go next for riskier places to paint the graffiti: taller buildings, difficult spots to reach, guarded places, monuments…and those were the places Jun was most focused on. After a while, the young Shinobi started moving from rooftop to rooftop, scanning and analyzing the whole area with his Tengan, hoping to find the vagrant. However, Jun found no sign of him at all. As the hours passed, his hope of finding him was gradually reduced and nothing noteworthy was happening during his night patrol... until he heard a scream.

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WC: 435
TWC: 2740

A female scream echoed through the peaceful night in the village hidden in the clouds, which immediately caught the attention of the already hopeless Jun Shibasaki. The young shinobi activated his Tengan again and looked in the direction the scream came from, but he couldn't see anything, which made Jun assume that the scream came from a greater distance than the Tengan’s range. “I gotta get closer.”.

The young genin rushed toward the direction the scream came from, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, using all his shinobi skills to move between the village’s buildings in a very agile way. After some time, his doujutsu finally saw something, a thermal signature that looked like a person on its knees, coming from the… graveyard. Jun dropped down to ground level and rushed in the person’s direction as fast as he could. Jun entered the cemetery and soon arrived at the place where the kneeling person was, a woman, crying in front of an desecrated tomb, which had its gravestone painted with a crimson red message “THEY ARE ALREADY HERE”.

- Excuse me, what is going on here? Are you ok?

The woman did not respond, crying profusely, still on her knees

- My name is Jun Shibasaki, I’m a Kumogakure Shinobi…and if you talk to me, there's still time to catch whoever did this! But I need your help, ma’am – said Jun, while scanning the surroundings with his doujustu.

- I…I came to put… flowers on my father’s grave and…and… - Said the woman, sobbing – and I saw that his grave was desecrated and… there was someone painting the tombstone…and then I saw HIM! – finished the woman, pointing behind Jun, which made the young shinobi turn around, only to see nothing there, with his Tengan not capturing any heat signatures at all.
“She must be a bit crazy, coming at a graveyard at this hours of the night…but that paint indeed looks fresh and the tomb is indeed opened…”

- And which direction the person you saw painting the tombstone went?

She pointed towards northeast, still crying a lot, which made Jun focus his sight in that direction, and he got something…  a very blurred, fading thermal signature coming from a few streets from there.

- I’ll catch that bastard; you go report this madness to the authorities, ma’am! - said Jun to the woman, rushing to the direction of the fading thermal signature.

Running at full speed, the signature started becoming brighter and more visible, and it was…small. In a way that or the person was a midget, or a… child? “What the hell…”. With much longer legs and much higher speed, Jun quickly approached more and more the vagrant, until they are apart by one street, in a parallel position. “I can intercept him…” thought the young shinobi, climbing a nearby building by surface walking and jumping over the rooftop, falling in the parallel street, right in front of the “artist”, and to Jun’s surprise, it was indeed a child, male, dark hair, around 10 years old, wearing old sandals and holding a spray paint can in his hand. The child stopped upon seeing Jun landing in front of him, looking straight at his eyes:


- They are already here…

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WC: 540
TWC: 3280

- ... THEY ARE ALREADY HERE! – said the boy again, shouting this time.

- What are you talking about, boy? Who is here?

But he didn't respond to Jun, instead he threw the spray paint can in Jun's direction and soon started running in the opposite direction of the shinobi in an attempt to escape. But the young Shibasaki easily grabbed the can midair and started chasing the little vagrant, managing to catch up to him and gently immobilizing him, after all he was just a child.

- Who’s here, boy? – asked again Jun, while holding the boy.

- THEY ARE ALREADY HERE!

- For budda’s sake, stop saying that and answer me!


- They… they… are…. Already…. Here… with us!

“What the hell is that boy talking about”. While wandering what was about that stuff the boy was repeating over and over, Jun tied him up quite gently so he wouldn’t get hurt nor escape, and carried him over to the ninja’s headquarters as instructed by his captain. After a few minutes, they finally arrived, and Jun brought the boy to the Captain’s Office. Upon entering, Jun surprised the captain, who was enjoying a cigarette while reading something.

- Rookie, why there is a child tied up in my room?

- Captain, I present you the “artist” who has been spreading messages through the village… - said Jun, while showing the captain the red ink spray the boy threw at him.

- Well, I did not expect that… whatever, leave he here in my office, I’ll call his parents… but first I need to discuss something in private with you, Jun. May we? – asked the captain, pointing towards the door.

- They are already here… - repeated the boy

- Is he ok?


- I think not… that is the only thing he has been saying all night since I apprehended him.

- This is odd… follow me, Jun.


They both left the office and the captain closed the door behind them, he looked at Jun with a pretty serious facial expression and started speaking in a rather low tone.

- So… we have been receiving numerous odd reports about weird… apparitions…

- Apparitions? Like what?

- From those who were gone…

- Those who were gone? What are you talking about?

- Spirits Jun, I’m talking about spirits, Jun. Spirits of people from the past, long gone relatives, war heroes, deceased shinobis… I by myself did not believe it at first, but all sort of “spiritual” events have been reported in the last few days by different people around the village. We are keeping this a secret, but we can’t hold this for long as it’s becoming more and more frequent… and we believe that maybe this is related to the grave robbers…


- Grave robbers? - asked Jun, still stunned by all the information the Captain had given him, remembering the violated tomb he saw in the cemetery. – I think I saw a desecrated tomb while at the graveyard…

- Well, we have been receiving reports from grave robbers breaching tombs since before the spirits arrived, maybe there is something related between the events and thi…

- FATHEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR – suddenly screamed the boy from inside the captain’s office

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WC: 540
TWC: 3820

Hearing the boy's shrill scream, Jun and Captain Teru Agamoto quickly entered the room to check on the boy. They found him crying profusely as he thrashed around like he was in a straitjacket. He was having a breakdown, while repeating over and over again the same:

- FATHER, MY FATHER IS HERE…. FATHER PLEASE STAY!

Jun looked around in the room and he glimpsed something that resembled a male figure back, walking through a wall like he was somehow intangible. “What the hell…” thought Jun, as he activated his Tengan and looked upon the wall the figure just phased through, but he could not see any heat signature at all, like it was not an… person. “Is that a spirit? The boy’s father perhaps: What the hell is going on…”

- Captain… did you saw that guy just phasing through the wall or I am going crazy?


- I did… its worse than I thought…


- They are here… they are here… they are here…. They are here… they are here… they are here…  - The boy repeated maniacally, as if caught in a loop.

- Was that your father, boy?

- They are here, they are here, they are here, they are here, they are here - The boy repeated, in an increasingly rapid rhythm, as he faced the wall that the figure had phased through.

- Jun, take this scroll… inside there are details about the grave robbers mission I mentioned… go on and investigate it, find the culprits and see if they are causing this spiritual madness… - explained the captain while handling Jun the mission scroll.

- They are here, they are here, they are here…

- What about the kid?

- I’ll take him to the Ichigo Sato Institute of Medicine, he’s not crazy… he's just in shock, tormented by the spirits of those who are gone...


And then the Captain took the boy and hastily left his office, leaving a stunned Jun there, alone. Everything was very weird, the apparitions, the boy, the desecrated tombs. If the spirits of the past were indeed walking through the realm of the living again... would it be possible for Jun to find his late father? That thought chilled the young Shibasaki's spine. “I am a Shinobi, I must focus on my mission…” and so he opened the scroll to check on the details regarding the mission.

The Scroll:

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WC: 400
TWC: 4220

After an emotional moment at his father's grave, Jun renewed his focus and determination and began investigating the grave robberies. His first stop would be precisely the violated grave that the minor vagrant had painted, the grave of the father of that weird girl who was visiting the cemetery at night. Jun remembered that she had told him that there was someone there in the cemetery besides them, but that Jun hadn't seen anyone using his Tengan... had there been an apparition there? This made the young man remember that, after seeing the appearance of the father of the child he had trapped, Jun activated his tengan after the spirit passed through the wall, and even then, knowing there was a soul there, his doujutsu did not capture absolutely nothing. “I guess spirits don’t have any heat signature at all… the tengan may be useful for seeing the living, but useless when it comes to the dead…”

On the way to the breached tomb from the night before, Jun noticed that there were several others desecrated. Graves of common people, graves of Shinobi of the past, graves of heroes of Kumogakure. Who could be doing such evil with the village's memory? Was it for some kind of black magic ritual? To summon the spirits of the past and torment the villagers? When analyzing the crime scenes, Jun noticed the pattern was the same: the graves were open, but there were no piles of earth in the surroundings, as if the earth on the coffins had been magically removed from above... or through a jutsu of some kind. Jun looked into the open graves, and without exception, in all cases the coffin was there, intact, exposed to the open sky… “Maybe to let the souls out somehow?”. Still, despite a pattern, there were no forensic clues: footprints, shovel marks, or anything to indicate where the criminal had gone.

After some analysis along the way, Jun finally arrived at the tomb from the night before. It had already been closed again, and the girl had probably replaced the tombstone, which was now clean and read "Issa Irasobi, 1950-2022". The girl was not at the scene, and again there were no clues as to who could have done such thing. “"Well, if investigating for clues didn't work, maybe it's time to do some good old fashioned stake out.”. The young shinobi knew that, given the frequency of cases that were happening, almost every day, most likely the criminal or criminals would act again, it was just a matter of when and not if. He started looking the surroundings to find a good place to watch the graveyard, when he saw what appeared to be a man nearby.

- Hey you!

As Jun shouted at him, he noticed that the man kept walking, and was going in the direction of a huge mausoleum. “Is that the robber?”. And as the man just phased through the mausoleum walls, Jun realized what the man really was. 

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WC: 500
TWC: 5145