Why is Nature so Important?

Dracoso woke up groggy to find that the sun had already risen high in the sky. He knew that he should not get used to getting in so late each day, but the missions seemed to demand late hours for all the secrecy he was needed. Sutsui did not seem to care as she slept whenever she wished, so she was happy to sleep in late with him. With the days cooling off around them, and the holidays just around the bend, Dracoso knew that he would be seeing even fewer faces around the village. During the holidays, it seemed like everyone was running around purchasing items or focused on finding the best plans possible. Even he knew that it helped to slow down and focus on what was really important in life. Self-growth and time with those who make you think, and smile. 

After a warm shower, Dracoso headed downstairs to find his parents eating lunch together in the living area. His father looked up at him and gave him an oddly proud smile. His mother was watching him over her tea as she quietly petted the boarlings, aka the 'children', at her feet. Dracoso came down and sat at one of the open seats as his father's warm stare confused him the more they looked at one another. After a few minutes of uncomfortable eating, his father piped up finally and said, "So, plenty of achievements lately, I've heard about you." Dracoso smiled and gave a nod as he thought on his recent advancement to chunin and swallowed his food. He was about to speak as his father continued, "you handled some pretty dirty supplies those nobles were trying to sneak around, didn't you?" 

Dracoso lost a bit of his steam and nodded again saying, "well yes, I was able to stop their plans to prepare for what they thought would be the return of Xyxer. I also-" His father jumped in and said, "You also ran around saving several people from the oncoming tsunami recently, I heard. People saw you and those wolves of yours running around and dragging people off to the shelter. Right alongside the new Mizukage at that!" he gave small nudges in the air with his elbow, expressing pride in Dracoso's work. Dracoso just kept smiling, a bit awkwardly at this point, as his father kept going. "You even stopped the recent uprising issue with that mother who lost her son. Found out from a couple of my friends in the ANBU that you even got a ninja off the chopping block for possibly having been the one who killed the boy."

With all the comments on his recent missions, Dracoso felt a bit embarrassed and was not really sure how to shift the topic towards his advancement. His father was beaming after hearing the work about him lately and Dracoso wondered why he was so proud all of a sudden. His mind wandered for a moment and a quick glance to his mother gave him one clue about what was going on. Dracoso slowly spoke, "Yes, I have been rather busy with all my work. In fact, you could say I have not had a chance to slow down since my last mission..." He watched his mother's features, but she seemed to show no outward response. His father had hesitated as Dracoso spoke and tried to pick the conversation back up. "Well of course, you seem to really be getting a lot done lately son. You really should take some time to think about the good you are doing around you and appreciate it."

"So, I should slow down a bit and redirect my attentions then?" He asked, leaning towards his mother. She seemed to slowly turn towards the window as he made this comment and Dracoso let out a sigh. His father was now the one at a loss for words and looked from Dracoso to his wife and back before letting out a deep sigh, one of the things Dracoso had inherited from him. "Alright, alright. We are proud of you for all the work you are accomplishing son and the effort you put in. Your mother and I are just... wanting to help guide you in this time of growth. You are still going full speed, since you first became a ninja and the only thing that really slowed you down was hunting that thief-" Dracoso's mother turned and gave her husband a firm stare, to which he stopped in his tracks and seemed to wilt under.

Dracoso looked from one to the other, before settling on his mother. She let out a small breath and turned to Dracoso before speaking. "We want what is best for you, honey. We did receive word on many of the things you have achieved, including that advancement of yours to the chunin rank. That was actually the highest rank I achieved before I ended up retiring." Dracoso smiled to her and gave a quiet nod before saying, "it was a bit of a surprise. I had been running around for so long and I had seen so few people. I was not really sure what would happen if I just kept going. Even the... mission with Saito made me feel like I opened new levels of ability within myself, but that I still didn't feel like I had progressed. Not until the Mizukage sat me down and-" 

His father choked softly on his coffee and looked at Dracoso sternly before asking, "did you mind your manners with the kage? Was it more informal or formal of a discussion? Please tell me that you did not ply him with questions." Dracoso just silently blushed and dipped his head. The conversation had been rather informal, especially with the fact that the Mizukage had been his genin exam proctor. He was still confused as to why his father was putting such a strong interest in everything he was doing, until he realized that the Mizukage was just a few bosses up from the people his father worked for. Dracoso let out a sigh and simply said, "I was well-mannered and made sure to answer each of his questions. He asked me his thoughts on some of the concepts he was considering, and I told him what I thought might be a good adjustment or some other ideas to go on."

His father seemed partway between pride and concern as Dracoso explained this and his mother finally tapped her teacup to get their attention again. "We are both very proud of you for what you have accomplished honey. Especially with how quickly you have achieved it, make sure that you let us know how things are going. Especially since most of this information came from our connections, rather than the source." She ended the statement with an even tone, but Dracoso became very aware of that fact that he had been running around so much that he had not returned home to tell them about these events for some time. He rubbed the back of his neck softly and said, "well, I could send letters a bit more often if that-" one glance at his mother made him stop and realize that she was not looking for alternatives.

She quirked her mouth to one side with an eyebrow up as she sipped her tea. The stare she leveled at him made it clear that she wanted him to report the details back himself. It was painfully clear as she said, "I am also glad that you were able to settle the uprising and foil the nobles by making a one-man attack upon their warehouse. In the future, just let us know what is going on. Finding out about the wolves, the hunting mission, and all the recent tasks have put us a bit on edge." Her expression softened with a smile as she stood and walked over to him. She placed one hand on his shoulder and spoke softly, "just come home during the day and let us know what is going on a little more often. Ok honey?" 

Dracoso nodded and returned the smile as he rested his hand over hers. She gave him a kiss on the top of the head and returned to her seat by the window as his father cleared his throat before speaking. "With the upcoming holiday season and the shift in weather, the village will be much quieter in terms of combat and mission work. There will be plenty of activities and setup around the village for organizing and decorating which you may want to take part in. It may not seem as important as a mission to save the lives of those around you, but it does make a different in those lives. I was asked to make a few tools and items to help with easing the labor it takes to get this up and running, so I may be a bit wrapped up in the next few months. I do want us to still spend time as a family, so I would enjoy it if you ever wanted to stop by and give me a hand."

His father looked to Dracoso and gave a smile of his own before settling back in his seat. Dracoso gave him a nod and said, "sure dad. I would love to." They shared a smile as his mother spoke up, "well, with that all settled, what is the next mission on your plans to tackle?" He thought for a moment and realized that he had not picked up a mission yet. He gave a shrug and said, "I am not sure. I have just been going off what I felt like would suit me at the time and had not really created a list yet of the ones I wanted to complete. Honestly, I feel like I am starting to run out of missions lately with how busy I have been." His mother thought for a moment and asked, "didn't your advancement provide you with access to more difficult missions?"

It took him a moment, but Dracoso realized that with his advancement to chunin, he was allowed to take on the next rank of missions available in the village. He pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead and let out a sigh as he chuckled. "You're right Mom. Maybe I should have just taken one of those missions on to start." His father looked a bit worried as his mother gave him a warm smile. His father tried to whisper to his wife, "I thought we were trying to slow him down, not point him at harder missions!" His wife simply waved a hand and spoke in a normal volume, "oh, we wanted him to slow down by taking on less. Having a harder mission means he will be more focused in one place." His father tensed up for a moment before letting out another sigh. It was obvious that his mother cared for Dracoso and wanted him to pace himself. Yet, seeing him grow and what he achieved was something she enjoyed just as much.

Dracoso sat back in his seat as he thought over the missions he had completed. Some had been rather quick and gave him enjoyment to see the results and the fun that came from his efforts. He had met Sutsui during one of those mission and even bonded with her over a second mission. His first ever mission had brought the boarlings home with a more difficult mission bringing him in contact with the wolf pack. Maybe it was about time he took on another mission handling some part of nature. He still shivered at the memories of the overrun garden of green that would regrow as he cut it. Even the large tree he took down had helped the neighborhood. He still questioned how that tree was beginning to push an entire house over but realized that he had seen stranger things with the pair of thirty-meter-long sharks lured by a pirate crew.

As he was contemplating his thoughts, a soft tapping came from the window. He glanced up as his mother opened it to let in a small messenger bird carrying a rolled-up piece of paper. The moment the paper left the bird's beak, it turned around and took off into the sky. Most likely, it was on its way back to pick up another assignment. Dracoso looked to his mother as she unrolled the paper and read it over before saying, "it looks like a mission was sent this time for you to consider," she said, offering the paper to him. He took it, a bit confused as he said, "I always go and pick up new missions myself. I wonder why they decided to send it to me this time." 

The document outlined a mission that seemed simple on the surface yet required quite a bit of preparation and planning to handle. It stated that there had been several poachers in the area who had been collecting turtles from Kiri's shores and taking them off to other countries to sell. Many believed that it was to sell the meat for exotic meals and the shells for some sort of decorations or material for making alternative weapons and armor. From the locations listed, they appeared to slowly rotate around the country yet whenever a group went to engage with them, the enemy would seem to disappear. They had sent out several groups so far to try to stop them, but each time they were either interrupted or unable to catch the poachers. The mission was originally open to Genin, as it was simply seen as a basic mission to stop some poachers but, with each failed attempt, the difficulty of the mission was identified as higher than originally known.

Due to this, the mission was sent as a request to Dracoso to investigate exactly how the poachers were able to avoid capture, find a way to counter their abilities, and then catch them and turn them into the local authorities. Dracoso read through a few more notes on the document outlining the earlier groups who had taken on the missions and some of the specific locations where civilians had witnessed the poaching and/or disappearances when the groups engaged with the poachers. He sat back in his seat and looked at the ceiling as he began to consider the steps he might need to take before looking to his mother. He figured he could start now with reporting things in.

"So, for this mission I will probably need to run around for a few days, talking to people and gathering a bit of information. Odds are, I will be confronting a group of individuals who are causing trouble and disrupting the local turtles to eat and/or sell them for profit. I am not sure exactly how long the mission may take me, but I know I will be relatively safe and able to deal with it with enough preparation." His father was busy eating his food, nodding along to Dracoso's words as his mother listened. She replied, "it does sounds like a good mission for you to take up, dear. Sea turtles are one of Kiri's favored animals. They lived hundreds of years, they can be a sign of safe waters, and they even carry a bit of magic about them.

Dracoso looked to her curiously, "magic? What do you mean they have magic?" His mother hid a grin as she continued to look out the window, away from him. "Oh, just that they are known to cause trouble from time to time. Some grow as large as ships while others can slip past even the strongest of sensors. Some think they might even know ninja techniques that allow them to control the oceans." Dracoso began to wonder and let his thoughts slowly grow to imagining gigantic turtles leading armies of their brethren into battles. Just as he was letting his imagination get the best of him, his mother softly poked him in the center of the forehead. "Just joking dear. I think you might still get a bit too wrapped up in your thoughts," she teased. Dracoso blushed and quickly stood up as he responded, "yeah, well, you know how seriously I take your words."

She smiled at him and said, "well I am grateful you do not take me lightly." She stood and gave him a kiss on the cheek before he headed for the front door. As Dracoso left his home, he planned to stop by the guardhouse to procure a map. With all the locations he needed to visit, he felt that following a similar pattern may give him additional insight to the reasoning behind the poachers' behaviors. He learned that Pert and Chap were off duty for that day, so he left a message for them to keep an eye out for him upon his return. Ever since he received his Chunin advancement, he had only been able to visit his teacher and his family. Dracoso was beginning to miss some of the people he had gotten to know along the way there.

Dracoso's first stop was along the coastline to the far south where a fishing town had been built. Most of the folks living there had not heard much on the topic of sea turtles being taken, but one teenager came running up to Dracoso as he was asking questions. "You here about the turtle problem from a couple weeks ago?" she asked. Dracoso nodded and said, "Yes, I am trying to figure out what happened here. This was the first place anyone reported sighting the poachers, so I figured I would start here." The teen gave a grin and pointed a shoulder down towards the waters. "Well, me and my pal saw them out here late at night. We were trying to start a bonfire for fun and suddenly there was screaming and yelling from this boat out on the water. By the time my pal and I got a good look, there was this huge splash, and the ship was gone."

Dracoso raised an eyebrow at the girl's story. "The ship just disappeared?" he asked. She nodded, grinning as she said, "Yeah, it was like a ghost ship or something. When we told our parents, they thought we were making it up. When that first group of them came around though, I couldn't tell my folks off fast enough." Dracoso gave an awkward chuckle as she laughed at the thought. "Other than that, the ship never came back." Dracoso looked to her and asked curiously, "you said the first group. Have many other groups come by?" The girl nodded and said, "Yeah, about five of them so far. A couple only had two or three people. One group even had eight. Hell of a large team at that," she said with another chuckle. 

Dracoso nodded, thinking back on the notes he had been given. With five teams sent, there was plenty of expertise and specialization that should have come with them. It would be strange that they had not discovered the poachers and dealt with them. "Thanks for your help," he said to the girl as he turned to leave. She stomped her foot once, making Dracoso glance back. "Oh, so no reward for my help?" she asked, keeping her earlier grin. "I mean..." Dracoso stumbled over his thoughts trying to figure out the right response to this situation, "I am not allowed to give out money for this mission." The girl crossed her arms and said, "then entertain me!" 

He looked at her a bit confused. "Entertain... like with a show or something?" She tossed her hands up at him and said, "whatever! just do something to amuse me!" Dracoso gave out a sigh as he slightly slumped forward. This felt very much like when he was beginning to do tasks as a genin and tried to eat grass as a transformed ox. He figured he would just get this over with using one of his techniques. A few handseals later and a large ice dragon came to life and circled high overhead. The girl jumped up and down in excitement, watching as it shot streams of water and ice around in the sky. A sparkling mist slowly fell over the area around the girl. In all the excitement, Dracoso slipped away on silent footsteps, making sure to duck out of sight as soon as possible. 

The trip to the second town was surprisingly short, only taking him a half an hour of jogging. As he arrived and began to ask around about the poachers, several individuals came forth with information. "Well, there were four of them and they all were big and muscular!" said the first. "They had bleach blonde hair and did not like the sunlight!" said a second. "No, no, no. They were all covered in fur from head to toe and tried to kidnap our children!" said another. Dracoso had begun to take notes but paused as the details seemed to begin contradicting one another. He let the townsfolk slowly wear themselves out, shouting details whenever a pause came from the others around them. After a good half an hour, a silence spread over them. 

"Ok," he started, "let's start with some simple points. At what time did they show up?" The crowd started to argue over whether it had been noon or midnight, with some yelling that they had already told him when they showed up. Dracoso raised his hands for peace and then said, "ok. For all who believe they showed up during the day, please stand to my left. For those who believe they showed up during the night, please stand to my right." He directed them and slowly split the group in two. "For those of you who believe they came at night, please over here if you believe they came to attack the town or stand over here if you think they did not." He directed the group to split up again. A far smaller group stood off believing it was not an attack on the village. Dracoso then turned back to the other two groups and said, "So you all know, I am here on a mission to find turtle poachers who have been spotted during the night. For all of you who have seen other issues occurring, please report to the mission board or send a message to the main office in Kiri to assist. Thank you all for your time here today and I will be happy to help with those issues in the future."

The townsfolk grumbled as they left, some stomping as they went. Grumbled words of not being believed and inconsiderate ninjas followed them. Dracoso just shook his head tiredly and turned back to the three remaining individuals. Two were small girls, barely old enough for the academy, while the oldest was a boy in his teens. "So, what exactly did you three see?" The boy stood somewhat between Dracoso and girls, almost as if shielding them from him. "The three of us were out late, collecting seashells by the water since Cinba loves them." One of the little girls smiled shyly and pulled out a little seashell she had in her pocket. She held it over her face as the boy continued, "it was pretty quiet at that time of night. We started to hear these strange splashing noises and saw a boat a little way out. Since we know all the fishers and boatowners in town, we thought we might know who it was. I yelled out to them to ask if they needed help. It looked like there were three people that suddenly jumped. A minute later, I saw them throwing some large object overboard which caused a big splash. By the time the water from the splash cleared, the boat was gone."

Dracoso nodded as he took notes down and looked out towards the beach. "About how far out would you say they were when they dropped that object?" he asked the kids. The boy scratched his head and said, "I am not sure. Maybe about two hundred meters? They had a couple of lamps they were using to check in the water for something, so that was the only way I could tell their size." He thanked the boy for his help and then crafted up a couple of ice pops for them using his ice abilities before heading off towards the waves. Sutsui slipped down off his shoulder and into the sand, burrowing into a little hole she carved up. Dracoso knew that he wanted to get under the water and that Sutsui would not be safe if she kept close. The sand gave way as he slipped his helmet back on for his R&D suit and trudged his way into the waters. As the waves came up to his neck, he slowly swam out roughly two hundred meters before flipping the switch between two of his fingers on one hand. He dove under the waves as fresh air filled his helmet and kept him safe from the environment around him.

He slowly sank down into the darkness of the waves, becoming quickly aware of how difficult it was to see. He waited until his feet hit the seafloor before slowly forming the handseals for the technique he needed. With the increased pressure from being under this amount of water, his body was slowed greatly and moved with less gravity. As he finished the handseals, a fan of lightning slowly formed in his hand, creating a sudden illumination of the nearby area. Dracoso slowly hop-stepped along the seafloor as he searched for anything left behind. he came across some small fish hiding nearby and a school of fish that swam past overhead. Kelp and coral sat in all directions around him which he was careful to avoid stepping on. He began to worry if he would find anything just as he found what appeared to be pieces of wood randomly jutting out of the floor. As he came closer, he realized that they were the broken remains of a wooden object. He pulled one of the broken boards out and began his trip back to the surface. 

Dracoso stepped back onto the beach and shook off what water he could. It had only been a short trip, but Sutsui was already asleep in her little sand nest. he carefully picked her up and let her slide drowsily back into his armor before falling back asleep. He took off his helmet and looked closer at the wood before realizing that there was heavily rusted metal wrapped around it. He wasn't fully sure, but he had some idea what kind of object the wood belonged to. He stowed it in his sealing bands before making his way to the next town.

The stories for the next few towns were very similar. The poachers would come at night and, if they spotted something or heard someone then they would cause a big splash to occur and disappear. The only evidence of the sea turtles being involved was that a sea turtle mother would occasionally beach themselves on the shore, as if having given up on life. The only times this had been recorded was if the infants were all taken. A few individuals had also noticed a sudden reduction in the number of turtles around their town, one having seen no turtles after the poacher sighting. Dracoso checked under the waves at two more towns but found nothing more besides very surprised fish. 

At the six village he stopped by, he heard his first story of how a group of ninjas had attempted to engage the poachers. "Well, the group showed up during the day and stayed down by the water," an old man recounted. "They waited until the poachers showed up and then tried to sneak through the waves towards their boat. I was sitting on the dock, doing some night fishing in the dark, when I suddenly heard a splash. I looked over and all of a sudden there were fireballs, and lightning bolts, and all kinds of madness. After a minute or so, it stopped. Another half an hour later and the group came back and claimed that the poachers had just vanished. They said that the splash came right as they were getting close to the boat too." Dracoso looked to the man and asked, "right as they got close? Do you know if they were detected?" The man shrugged and said, "I don't know. They said they were underwater at the time, so maybe they were spotted?" 

Dracoso nodded and thanked the old man before heading on to the next village. There were no sightings for the next two town, but the third told of another group of ninjas who had attempted to take on the poachers. "They said that they heard the story about the last group and wanted to try something different. So, they tried to figure out where the sea turtles would generally be and the most likely spot the poachers would go. They decided to submerge themselves near the sea turtles, go limp, and wait for the poachers. One of the group members apparently did some kind of sensory thing to track whenever a boat got nearby. Apparently, the boat they were waiting for got plenty close to them, and then suddenly took off. The ninjas tried to keep up, but this strange fog came at them, and the boat just disappeared!" The man threw up his hands to emphasize the disappearance, to which Dracoso simply nodded. The man hesitated, then dropped his hands, disappointed in the lack of response. "Anyways, the ninjas thought they had someone been detected or something. Something to do with that sensory stuff." The man waved his hand dismissively at the idea.

After taking a few more notes, Dracoso thanked the man and jogged towards the next town. He had already been going for most of the day, so he decided to get some food and some rest at the next town a group had visited. It wasn't until four towns over, and realizing just how large the island country was, that the next group had encountered the poachers. A waitress at the local inn gave him a smile as she said, "well sure, that story has made its rounds here. That group of eight ninjas who stopped by? They tried to take on them poachers but ended up empty handed. If you want more, though, you will need to order something and cover my tips." Dracoso nodded, thinking back on his words to the teen in the first town, but realized this could simply be a mission expense. Paying for services could be explained. Paying off informants, especially of a younger age, was a bit tougher to explain. He also realized that the group of eight had been described as the fourth group to come through. Perhaps the third group had given up before they found the poachers again?

He ordered up some of the surf-n-turf along with a cool carbonated beverage and a small plate of raw beef that he cut up for Sutsui. The waitress delivered his food and took a seat across from him before she rested her elbows on table with her chin in both hands. Before taking a bite of his food, Dracoso asked her, "so, exactly what happened between the ninjas and the poachers?" The woman smiled as she looked up in thought and retold what she could remember.

"Well, they all showed up together and seemed like a pretty diverse bunch. Some had familiars, like yours. Others just seemed to really like their weapons or had really pretty eyes. Anyways, from what I heard; they stayed up late on the docks and watched for the poachers' boat. When they saw it, they slipped into the water and tried to circle it from all sides and sneak up on it. One apparently tried to approach early by running on the air somehow. They thought it was because the ship could detect them if they were in the water, so they wanted one on board, just in case. Apparently one of the people on the boat either saw or heard the air ninja and suddenly this big mist showed up. All the other ninjas rushed in, and this big splash of water threw them all away. By the time they had recovered, the boat was just gone." The woman gave a shrug and leaned on one hand as she continued. "Anyways, from what I heard they tried to catch the poachers once or twice more, but the poachers never showed up." 

Dracoso slowly ate through his food and discussed more of the details, but everything else seemed circumstantial. He finished his notes and thanked the woman before heading to get some rest at the local inn. He laid back in the fresh sheets and stared up at the ceiling as he thought through all he had learned over the last two days. It seemed as if the boat itself could turn invisible or simply shrink down to nothing and slip away. The object they threw overboard seemed like some kind of container. Perhaps they had stuffed themselves in it and broken out when the coast was clear? It felt like there were just two or three pieces missing from the story that he could not figure out.

The next morning, Dracoso was up early and on his way to the last two towns listed on the report. In the first town, he learned of the third group's misfortune. "Well, from what I recall they showed up here really angry," a very old fisherwoman was telling him. "They said that every town they had gone to, they could never find the poachers. They came in making a scene and making sure people knew they were there to, how did they put it, 'help the good people of this town.' We told them that we did not need their help, but they refused. After a couple days of waiting, they seemed to just finally give up and head back. Never did see no sign of poachers. Though, the turtles sure have been showing up in smaller numbers as of late..."

Dracoso thanked the woman and headed for the last town where the final group of three had arrived. He decided to visit the docks at this village first to stay more low profile going forward. He ran into one fisherman who he asked about the group and the man explained what they had seen. "Well, the three had shown up in town and seemed quite skilled in what they did. They asked me about the turtles and what kind of problems we have had lately. I told them that the turtles' numbers were dwindling and that we had not really been affected much other than missing the sight of the green shells. They stayed at the local inn at night, and I figured, after the rumors I had heard, that I would try sitting out on the docks late at night. At some point a boat appeared with what looked like a strange net in the water. I figured they were doing some night fishing of their own. There was some odd flash on the deck of their boat, and I hear some yelling. An explosion or two went off and suddenly I saw a body getting thrown into the water. A minute after that, there was some large splash and the boat just vanished." The man gave a shrug and cricked his neck on either side before saying, "I figured I was seeing things until the three ninjas dragged themselves up on shore. One of them mentioned being knocked off the boat after some kind of teleporting ability. Something about the boat disappearing right in front of them. They stuck to the town for a few days, but that boat never did come back."

Dracoso closed his notepad as he finished jotting down the information and thanked the man. With this last detail, Dracoso formulated a plan for how he would approach this situation. He traveled until he was just within sight of one of the final towns on the coastline before laying down on a steady rise nearby. Once night had fallen, he silenced his footsteps and headed along the beach until he was under the pier that split the beachline. From his hiding spot, Dracoso and Sutsui watched carefully for any activity in the water. It was nearly two hours later that an unnatural ripple in the waves and a dark silhouette on the water alerted the two to the poachers' presence. Dracoso signaled to Sutsui and she opened her mind's eye while cloaking the two in a thick layer of chakra. Kicking off from the sand, Dracoso raised them up twenty meters off the ground and, with a trio of handseals, they began to slowly float like a leaf on the wind. Sutsui focused her efforts and doubled the range of her mind's eye. As Dracoso approached, Sutsui began to feed him specific distances, shown as images with multiple measures of wingspans of birds. 

With careful calculations, Dracoso determined right as they reached the point just short of where Sutsui could normally detect and launched himself higher with a second wind technique. By slowly moving upwards, Dracoso launched himself with a third technique and positioned himself directly over their boat. Dracoso allowed himself to fall full speed at the boat, letting his momentum carry him and throwing up a wall of water at the last moment to catch him and drop him directly on the top of the boat with a thud. A voice called out in surprise only moments before Dracoso landed. He glanced over the edge of the boat quickly to see someone grabbing a large object. Dracoso rapidly threw up the needed handseals and a sudden shockwave grew out in all directions from him. The water around the boat froze in place as his organic particle destruction took hold and the boat froze in place. 

"What the hell?!" came up from an angry female voice. A loud thud rung out as a wooden barrel was tossed over the side and slid across the frozen surface. Dracoso made up his mind and threw up two sets of seals, one in each hand, as a long dragon of ice formed from the ice around them, and a wolf made of water appeared on the opposite side. Dracoso allowed Sutsui's directions lead his two elementally formed creatures to tackle into the boat, running over two of the three on board. An explosion from one side confirmed the ice dragon successfully tackling through the person who had tossed the barrel overboard. On the other side, the water wolf rapidly dispersed as a bolt of lightning shattered it. A light icy mist came off Dracoso, coating the top layer of the boat in frost as a sudden mist cloud coated the boat. 

As Sutsui sent ongoing imagery into Dracoso's mind, he tracked the female who had yelled up along with the third figure moving along the back of the ship. The dragon engaged with the third individual, fighting off what appeared to be a sword which was rapidly freezing over. Seeing that situation as handled, Dracoso threw up a few more seals and took hold of the water left over from the water beast. He drove it as four separate streams to slide along the surfaces nearby and tackle into the woman, rapidly connecting to each limb. The woman yelled out in surprise as it wrapped over her body, entombing her. She tried to struggle, summoning up lightning from within the water. After a few minutes, the woman ceased her fighting and the other individual had frozen over from the dragon's icy influence.

Dracoso carefully climbed off the roof of the boat, feeling the waters underneath begin to unfreeze. He took one stream of water and used it to draw the barrel back to the boat before standing it up. He popped off the lid and looked inside. With the light behind him, he could see the boat was filled to the brim with small turtles trying to climb out. Just as he had realized, the object tossed overboard each time was a weighted barrel filled with the turtles they had been grabbing. This way, the poachers could drop their evidence and make a quicker get away without the turtles onboard. It also made a good distraction with the sudden splash of water from the weight hitting the surface. 

He walked around the boat, curious to how the poachers could escape without being seen. He looked over the main cabin and the wheelhouse, but there was nothing that stood out. It was not until he made his way up to where the woman had been standing that he noticed an odd shine along the outer handrail of the boat. A lining along the top of the handrail wrapped all the way around the boat and connected to a small button only a foot or two away from where the woman was now lying unconscious on the floor. Dracoso pressed the button and watched as the lining suddenly extended up and over his head, connecting to the top of the boat. A thin sheet shifted down handrail and fully sealed him off from the night. A layer of chakra enveloped the boat and seemed to disrupt Sutsui's ability to detect anything outside. 

Curiously, Dracoso explored to the back of the boat where the third man was still frozen over and found an odd lever had appeared from a hidden panel in the floor. He carefully lowered the lever and, as he did, sounds of the waves raised up over the sides. From what he could tell, the boat had submerged under the water. Inside the wheelhouse, a small display appeared in front of the steering wheel, showing the space ten meters in front of the boat. Dracoso thought that the boat must have some form of cloaking, but this was far above what he expected. He went back and raised the boat up to the surface before lowering the metal plating. The chakra field disappeared as the plating fully retracted. Shaking his head, Dracoso tied up each of the poachers and dragged them into corners of the wheelhouse. Being aware of the many forms seals could be made, Dracoso blindfolded and gagged the three poachers. After releasing the turtles back into the water, Dracoso took the helm.

After his practice on his own schooner, Dracoso summoned up two of his clones and sailed the ship through the night back to the closest port to the village. He summoned up a trio of wolves to help carry the poachers as he ran alongside them. His trip back to the village took only a day, but it was a peaceful trip. He handed off the poachers and explained the details to at the mission center. It took some time to outline why each of the earlier teams had encountered the issues they did, to which the person receiving the details heavily questioned how the boat functioned. After telling them where it was docked, a small team was dispatched to attempt to retrieve it and have it dismantled for examination.

By the time Dracoso arrived home, it was already dark out and Sutsui was fast asleep. He unlocked the front door with the hidden key and locked it again behind him before heading for the stairs. A soft clearing of the throat alerted Dracoso to his mother sitting in the living area nearby. He walked in and she gestured to the seat across from her. After taking the seat, she looked to him and asked, "how did the mission go?" He gave a small shrug and said, "pretty good. I caught the poachers, saved some of the turtles, found a boat that can become invisible and fully submerge in the water, and I met some nice people." His mother nodded, not even batting an eye at the mention of an invisible boat. She looked at him and asked, "did it feel worthwhile?" Dracoso thought for a moment before shrugging again. "It felt like I helped a lot of good sea turtles. The poachers were pretty smart, and I probably would have failed if I didn't get all the details I had before I went after them"

His mother gave him another nod and simply said, "well good. Make sure you prepare well then. I already know that the next mission will probably be even wilder." Dracoso nodded and smiled as he responded, "I can only hope so. I know that the kage wants me to help with a couple of the fresher ninjas in town getting through some of the missions I put up. Might be interesting to see how other people handle things." 

{Exit}
Mission: Drop the Turtles, You Fiend!
Reward: 12,000 Ryo (8000 + 2000 chunin pay) + 40 AP (transferred to Ryo = 2000)
WC = 7530 (rounded to 7500)
Maxed Stats = +150 AP (Strength of a Hundred)

Jutsu Learned:
A Rank - Chakra Scalpel - 2500
S Rank - Chakra Scalpel: Senbon - 5000

Approved