Picture of a Thousand Words

Mission Details:

Himari's Stats:

It was another sunny day, partly decorated in bulbous clouds that masked the sun's rays for a time before passing by to unveil its golden glow. And yonder the horizon, a young, short violette-haired kunoichi trots down the worn, earthen path, who'd traveled from the spring now toward her home. As her figure comes closer into view, so do the details of her person become clearer: adorned in a lavender-colored qipao with violet and white accents accompanied with mesh armor leggings and her headband wrapped about her waist.

She holds with both arms tucked around a narrow wooden pole that carries two buckets at either end and a third placed perfectly on top of her head. Her stride is steady yet relaxed as the two buckets gently jostle and swing to and fro at her arms. The third bucket never shifts out of place as she cranes and angles her neck to balance the object precisely to always remain at the center.

As she saunters on, just over the bend upon the beaten path she walks, she spots a dilapidated building in the distance. The structural integrity was shoddy at best, the wooden planks rundown and rotting, bits of debris and clusters of sundered ceramic caked the earth. As she got closer to the rundown facility, she noticed a damaged billboard hanging from only one edge. Slowing her stride to a comfortable halt, she carefully kneels and lays the three buckets down, and reads—

"Konoha Animal Adoption Center"

"Odd," She murmurs.

And before she could ruminate further, the bushes on the opposite side of the road rustles. Instinctively, she leaps a few meters away while her left-hand digs into her ninja pouch and assumes a stance. Expecting a troublesome bandit or rivaling-nin to appear, instead, emerges a brown and white-coated pup.

"Eh?" She slips her hand out from her pouch, still unsure of the current situation, and she takes a moment to assess the dog before her. There's hardly much to go by: its fur is caked in dirt and stray leaves. No wounds are present and it looks… quite chipper to see her? It paces toward her but she refrains from making any sudden movements until it's within arm's reach and barks, pawing at her leg. At least it's friendly, for now.

"Hello friend," She dusts off some of the dirt and leaves before she picks it up. The pup, now with its paws steadied at her chest, immediately makes an effort to lather her face with its tongue buoyantly. "Hey!" She squeals gleefully, shifting her head away from its eager licks before a croaky voice calls out.

"Pardon me, young miss!"

Her laughter dies down as quickly as it rose, turning to face the voice's owner. By the building she just passed, she sees an elderly-looking man adorned in a monochromic Samue outfit. He has weathered and grizzly facial features, but his bulky physique says otherwise.

"I see you've found young Roku," He strides over to her. "I've been looking for that little rascal everywhere."

"Oh, is he a pet of yours?"

"Well, more like I'm his keeper until someone decides to take the young'un as their own. Hopefully, he hasn't caused you any trouble, I'll take 'im off ya." He gestures his arms outward and she returns pup into his arms. "Each day's been getting quite difficult to keep these animals in check." He faces the weathered building. "Doesn't help that this place is looking worse for wear, at that. Oh, pardon me. Where are my manners, I'm Hayate."

"Hyūga Himari!" She simpers.

Himari took a moment to examine the building a while longer before a thought came to mind. "You wouldn't happen to be the same person who wanted the building fixed up?"

Hayate turns to face her again and smiles. "Indeed! And would I presume you'd like to help?"

"Of course!" She nods. "When can I get started? What needs doing first?"

Hayate laughs. "Well, allow me to get you acquainted with the place first. Better I show it to you than tell." Waving her to follow, he guides her back to the adoption center and explains for some time about the parts of the building in need of replacements and repairs and a list of all the animals in need of retrieval to be sent back to their respective places.

Luckily for Himari, there were only a handful of animals that needed to be rounded back to the center, most of whom still resided either inside or were nearby. The more agile animals would prove to be a challenge for her. Nonetheless, when all was said and done, she got to work on replacing the old planks with the new ones for a little while before gathering one group of the missing animals back to their holdings.

She would repeat this process, intermittently needing to recapture any of the animals brave enough to venture from her supervision, for several hours until the center looked at least reasonably in decent condition. She's no handywoman, but the effort was honest, and she knew she couldn't fault herself for it.

Even when the sun soon settled midway on the horizon, she continued to keep herself busy, reinforcing whatever parts of the structure needed the most attention while she tends to the animals with Hayate who, in spite of his protests to leave the rest of the work to himself, indulged in the kunoichi's desire to continue aiding him until the center looked well-enough to appear maintained.

As night soon approaches, the adoption center at the end of the day no longer looked like the phantom of its former self and looked well enough to be back in business, but only time would tell. The two would exchange their last sayings of pleasantries and then their goodbyes. Picking up her buckets, Himari strides once more upon the earthen path until she arrives home and sets them down beside the doorway before retiring to her room for the day until tomorrow's next assignment commences.

WC: 1,009
TWC: 1,009

The following morning…

The clouds deigned to relinquish their dominion across the skies to the radiant star. And for the second time in a row, a young, spry kunoichi Kong vaults through the open window of her bedroom, latching onto a nearby branch from a tree some couple feet from her house—or at least, that’s how she anticipated this part of the whole stunt would go.

Although the initial maneuver’s transition appears seamlessly, the sudden downward force bends the branch until she hears a crack at its base. Instinctively, she slacks her grip on the branch, performs an impromptu roll, and finally regains her balance after digging the heel of her left foot to break her momentum.

“Maybe I should go for a different branch next time?” She ponders, looking at the now lame branch before pointing to another in the opposing direction. “The one opposite to it would make for a g—”

A knob twists and turns, the hinges creaking as the wooden door reveals a familiar mature woman. She is dressed in a navy blue and white accented kimono, with two cloth-wrapped rectangular parcels stacked on one hand.

“Oh right! Thanks again, mom.” She says sheepishly, acquiring her two and carefully tucking them away into a small backpack.

“How did I come to raise such a troublesome child?” Her mother sheathes her hands into the open arm sleeves.

“I remembered to bring my satchel this time, though!” Himari pirouettes to show her tool pouch. The mother sighs.

The mother sighs and pats her head. “Be safe.”

Himari nods fervently, embracing her. “I will!” She remarks with a jubilant expression.

Parting ways, Himari traverses through the forestry of Konoha’s outskirts before arriving several minutes later in the main village towards the common shopping district. While doing a series of butt-kicks to mettle her unyieldly anticipation and excitement, she unfurls the note she wrote to herself earlier this morning before she got ready to recount her next assignment.

The note describes finding a middle-aged person named "Hiro" with short brown hair who can be found at the center of the district. And relative to where she stands, she is positioned on the outer rim away from the clamorous chorus of commerce. Luckily, she's no stranger to its ebbs and flows. She makes her way through the many busybodies until she finds the man, with his hands and arms at his back and his hair slightly unkempt, standing in front of a grocery stand as he occasionally points to an assortment of fresh vegetables and fruits. The owner of the stand picks each one and places them into a bag, ties them securely, and then stores them inside another bag.

The owner repeats this motion while Himari strides closer and stands parallel to him. "Excuse me," She starts. "Are you Hiro-san? I'm Hyūga Himari, I was given a task to help you with your grocery shopping. I hope I'm not too late!"

The man turns to face her and nods, a faint smile on his countenance. "Aye, that would be me and you're well within time, too. I thought to get started right away on the smaller things." He rifles through his shirt pocket and pulls out a small sheet of paper. "The list isn't long, but some of these things I'll need will be quite heavy and I wouldn't want to strain you."

Himari shook her head, arms akimbo. "You've got nothing to worry about, I've got an easy solution to that."

"Oh?"

Assuming a stance, she closes her eyes and performs the hand seal of the Rat before four individual puffs of white smoke appear as quickly as they disperse, revealing four replicas of Himari herself. This naturally catches the attention of several passersby before they returned to whatever task at hand they were doing.

"The more hands, the merrier! And I—well, we can each carry anything too heavy you can't lift yourself. It's what we do as training!" She beams.

"Ah!" Hiro remarks approvingly. "With such confidence, I would be remiss to doubt you otherwise. An excellent idea, Himari." Hiro gestures to the store owner, who finished packing Hiro's groceries into their four respective bags, to hand them to Himari. Acquiescing them to her, she slides two of each onto her shoulders.

"There we go." She huffs, adjusting them to a comfortable position.

"Shall we get going, then?" Hiro says in askance.

"Lead the way!" She answers.

Over the course of the next few hours, Hiro guides Himari—and subsequently her four doppelgängers—to a number of different grocery stores and stands. At first, Himari delegated the smaller items to be held by the hands—specifically around one of each finger if possible—unless a larger item were to be held next. In that case, she would instruct and coordinate to have any with free hands to holster the grocery bag along the shoulders.

Some time later…

By the end of the final hour of the shopping spree before the afternoon, each clone, including the original, was carrying an impressive bundle of grocery bags. Upon returning to Hiro's home, Himari helps sort and organize his supplies. When she finally sets down the last item in its designated space, Hiro stands in front of the door frame on her way out.

"Is there anything else that needs to be stowed?"

"Nope, none at all. I'll take it from here. Thank you for the help, Himari. I never would've thought kunoichis could become so remarkably strong."

Her face flushes a little and waves her hand. "Oh, it's no biggie. I'm just glad I could be of help to make your day easier!"

"You've succeeded in that gracefully." He grins. "And, again, your help is appreciated. I'll let the mission coordinator know to pay you your dues when you return there. Until then." He waves.

She nods and waves to him. "Have a nice day!"

Exchanging their farewells and parting ways, Himari unfurled her small note and carefully folds her now-completed task before commencing her next assignment.


WC: 1,006
TWC: 2,015

Some time later in the afternoon…

Himari's next order of business was attending a grand feast being held by the Akimichi clan. Although the details of the celebration written at the mission board when she took on the assignment were, at best, vague, the mention of the word "feast" alone caught her attention. And considering the scant instances the Hyuuga clan participates in similar events, she couldn't pass up on the opportunity as a guest to experience another clan's culture.

Walking from the residential area of the village to the Akimichi clan compound took only several minutes for her to arrive. And right from the get-go after veering around the corner, there are choruses of sprightly commotion coming from the wooden long table. An expansive row primarily consisting of members of the Akimichi filled many of the now-occupied seats, with a few neighboring clan and non-clan members interspersed, some of whom were relatively close to her age.

If there was one thing Himari understood, it was that the Akimichi were no slouches when it came to the immense portion sizes of their food. If anything, the very word it and of itself was written on their clothing besides their namesake, a source of their strength and testimony of their unique capabilities to manipulate the size and weight of their bodies. The two worked hand-in-hand with one another.

Ah, but enough with the history reminiscing, now was the time to be merry and indulge in the hearty banquet. The familiar rumble in her stomach and the intoxicating smell of freshly cooked meals wafting in the air was enough to snap her out of her awestruck state. Striding over, she waving and introducing herself to one of the clan's cooks before sitting herself down at one of the vacant seats by the long table.

In the haze amidst all of the revelry and camaraderie, it had hardly occurred to her just how hungry she'd been since this morning. Not that she hadn't had anything to eat since then, but her steadily growing appetite while in the presence of various appetizers, entrees, and deserts may have contributed to the full acknowledgment that she'd nearly forgotten the lesson her mother taught her about eating in moderation.

That lesson will be in for a marathon-long challenge of maintaining that discipline if she can keep her wits about herself.

Over the course of the long hours of the feast, Himari would help herself to at least one of each food item on the table. On occasion, she would have to be quicker on the draw to snatch a delicacy if one of her table-mates were in want of the same foodstuff she was after. In some attempts, she would succeed and, of course, in others, she would be just a crucial second off from getting the piece she wanted. At the end of it all, it was all in good fun. She would laugh, cajole, and even sometimes be the center of attention of the many anecdotal stories told.

Then the coming afterparty was at hand. Although one could argue if the traditional concept was upheld in this case. The Akimichi's understanding of "afterparty" was eventually succumbing to the food coma, sending them into a presumably long "nap". Almost as though it were like a routine, many of the revelers found spaces for themselves to lay comfortably before the sounds of what once were clamors of joy into snores of serenity.

What became of the leftovers were—well, there were hardly any leftovers, to begin with aside from what may be scant morsels and bones among the array of plates scattered along the table's surface. And luckily for Himari—who'd all but remembered her mission assignment the feverish cacophony—was about to partake in her own nap before something hard slaps against her shoulder. The suddenness of the impact renews her into a wakeful state.

Turning to face the source of her pain, she's greeted by one of the Akimichi cooks with a deadpan expression on her countenance. It furthermore didn't help that the fat in her cheeks added an extra layer of intensity, and the beadiness of her eyes could peer into her soul as though she were caught lying about doing something she oughtn't had done in the hopes she could get away with it.

"You've got some work to do, young one," She commanded adenoidally. "Come, gather the plates to the kitchen, and clean any messes you find." Then she went about to a few others in the same fashion who Himari could guess were also other Genins who participated in the cleanup session after the party. Taking a long breath in and out, Himari shifted her slightly unsteadied self and first gathers the empty plates from the table and stacks them by one of the vacant counters in the kitchen.

Although there was no stated urgency for the Genin to clear out the abundant mess, Himari herself still had a few more missions to undergo and one of them was time-sensitive. While she had faith in her ability to do her part in cleaning up her portion of the duties, the same faith couldn't be extended to the rest of her fellow Genin at work. A handful of them appeared to have eaten themselves silly and were all but worried about what amount of time passes.

Thus in an effort to expedite the cleaning process—with the aid of some of the Akimichi helping—she met with what few of her fellow Genin remained along the way between her table and kitchen and organized a reasonable number of them to a pseudo-assembly line consisting of a few collecting the dirty dishes, then another few passing said dishes to a vacant counter to stack, and the rest of the small retinue remaining to clean the plates.

This cycle would repeat itself over time until the dining area had been picked clean of anything reminiscent of the feast prior. Although there were a couple of hiccups during the proceeding, it created a sufficient window of time for her to travel from here to the next mission area. Of course, this was after she offered her thanks and farewells to those who attended and were awake enough to reciprocate the pleasantries.

WC: 1,041
TWC: 3,056

The following evening…

The sun began edging closer and closer to the imperceptible horizon, gradually cascading behind the buildings that surrounded her in Konoha. Himari's next assignment was located at the Konoha Student Academy. As she traverses through the now-dwindling traffic along the sidewalks, she arrives in front of the Academy gates. The Academy itself is quite large and comprises several buildings merged together through a series of hallways, with its familiar "火" plastered on its sign which hovered aloft the facility.

However, considering the time she arrived, perhaps it would be best if she returns in the morning when there'd be a sizeable busybody of aspiring shinobi and kunoichi. Although as of this moment, there were a few more students conversing among themselves at the double-gated doors by the building, and with them, a kneeling mature-looking brunette kunoichi engaged in a dialogue with one of them. When she steps pasts the entrance and towards the group, she waves to the kunoichi.

"Hello!" She says, catching the attention of the group. "Sorry if I'm late, I had another assignment to fulfill while I was out. Would it be best if I came back tomorrow morning?"

The kunoichi smiles and rises. "Actually, you came at a good time. I was just explaining to a couple of the students here the basics of what we've learned today. We could go over a select few from today's curriculum, which should take no more than a few hours. But if you think it would be better for your demonstration to be witnessed by a larger audience, that works, also."

"Wait," Remarks one of the students inquisitively. "She'll be our instructor for review, Yoshimi-sensei?"

"Manners, Monosuke." Yoshimi softly rebukes. "She may appear close to being your agemate, but she's still a Genin and a graduate from the academy no less. Her knowledge and wisdom may prove invaluable for when you yourself eventually graduate."

Monosuke mumbles to himself and folds his arms. Himari pays him no mind and briefly ponders the consideration, gazes toward the soon-gradient sunset, and then at the handful of academy students. Her lips curl into a smile.

"We can get started right away! I'll get whatever's left for review done in a jiffy before you know it!"

Yoshimi's countenance lights up. "Fantastic. Let's move further into the courtyard before we begin. Oh! Pardon my rudeness, I'm Yoshimi. And you are?"

"Hyūga Himari!" She exclaims.

And thus, a review of today's lessons began. Yoshimi details a breakdown of the three subjects for Himari to assist in demonstrating to her students how to excel in their respective fields. The first official review was to go over the principles of performing the Transformation technique. For this lesson, the academy students were to practice replicating Yoshimi's appearance as their own to the best of their ability. Himari is first chosen to perform the technique as an example and the students would be tasked with discovering any discrepancies in her technique. She takes a moment to note as many details of Yoshimi's appearance before she nods to herself. She then weaves the Dog handseal seamlessly. Starting at the base of her feet, an off-white cloud of smoke erupts and encompasses her figure until it dissipates into the air.

Himari form now assumes the visage of Yoshimi: short and diminutive, and her complexion was a light olive color. Her brown hair was about medium-long and wavy and had big, deep violet eyes, an angular face, a narrow nose, and tapered eyebrows. And of course, she wore the typical village attire corresponding to her rank. The original Yoshimi, who stands parallel to her replicant, instructs the others to find any faults in her technique. After a while of careful observation as their gazes shift between the original and the replica, one of the students notes a difference located at the right side at the base of Himari's neck. An otherwise difficult spot to locate, but hidden well enough if one to overlook.

Yoshimi — or rather both characters — congratulates the student in tandem, before sharing both a look and a laugh as Himari reverts back to her original form. Now it was the students' turn to demonstrate their technique. They each took turns to perform the Transformation technique, with Himari and the rest being observers of any physical differences between the two. Himari, although no master of the art herself, could tell from a moment's glance the discrepancies of each student's attempt. But, because this was a learning exercise for them specifically, she kept many of those details to herself and instead, alluded to them in the form of feedback when any of the students were visibly struggling to tell one apart from the other.

When everyone had gone through their turn, Yoshimi noted everyone's individual attempt having made progress towards being a one-to-one copy to herself. And thus, she would then move on to the second exercise: surface walking. Guiding the group to a nearby tree, Yoshimi once more asks Himari to volunteer and gestures to demonstrate her ability to scale up the tree's trunk, while Yoshimi delivers a moment-by-moment lecture.

After an expression of agreement, Himari assumes a runner's stance and focuses, steadily channeling her chakra to her feet. This takes a minor length of time longer to facilitate, understanding her own tug-o-war history with chakra control. As soon as she feels the flow of chakra travel to her soles, Yoshimi, upon seeing her posture, intermittently makes mention for Himari to take measured steps. Himari's foot skids a little forward and chuckles at herself before approaching the trunk and, as instructed, takes a measured step each as she scales the tree up until she's hanging upside down off a branch.

"The key to successfully walking on any surface," Yoshimi remarks. "Is to control the level and flow of chakra at your feet. In this case, knowing how much chakra to invest and subsequently maintain will help you traverse through even difficult terrain with practice. Using too little or too much will result in you slipping and falling." Yoshimi waves Himari down and the Genin disperses the chakra at her soles and as she falls, pivots her body to land gracefully on her feet. "Himari and I will divide you into two groups and each of you will take turns in an attempt to scale… hmm. Let's say," She unfurls her pouch at her thigh and pulls out a kunai, marking a horizontal line a couple of meters off the ground. "This high. We'll conclude this exercise when everyone reaches this benchmark, or close to it, and move on to the final exercise."

Yoshimi was in charge of two pupils and Himari two of her own. Both instructing and occasionally commenting on the progress of the students attempting to scale the tree. This exercise proved to be more lengthy than the last, oftentimes the results of each student's efforts were due to variable inputs in chakra flow or fluctuating control of said flow. Summarily, only one of them was able to travel past the threshold provided by Yoshimi, but that didn't stop either instructor from instilling words of affirmation for their attempts. Throughout the exercise, although there were short periods of doubt, none of them gave up the exercise altogether.

Before Yoshimi could continue to the final exercise, she took note of the growing darkness. "Ah, perhaps we'll have to postpone the last exercise until tomorrow morning." She remarks and bows to Himari. "But, we appreciate the help you provided to my students. I'm sure they've learned a few pointers from your tutelage to help them improve." She looks to the group and they all offer their thanks for Himari's guidance in unison. "Thank you for what you could do for us in such little time." Yoshimi adds.

Himari waves her hand dismissively. "No problem! If you're ever in need of an instructing assistant again, I'm more than happy to help." Thereafter exchanging their farewells, everyone disperses and Himari arrives home to rest until the next morrow to continue with her last two sets of missions.

WC: 1,349
TWC: 4,405

Some time later in the morning…

Today was a rather cloudy day, the eminence of the sun's golden glow was veiled behind a curtain of bulbous gray. And although the typical routine for Himari would be to launch herself out from the window onto another unsuspecting tree branch, at this moment, she feels particularly sluggish. It was uncharacteristic of her to arise from her seemingly eternal slumber to a roused state of wakefulness. Using her core to rise from her futon bed, she rubs the residual flakes from around her eyes and unfurls the confines of her bedsheets before she neatly folds them.

After bathing and clothing herself, she slides the door to her bedroom open, she exits upon her approach toward the kitchen and living space while closing the door behind her. Her mother, Hyūga Nozomi, kneels and fashions a bento box on the kitchen island in the meanwhile with another particoat of cloth beneath it. From beyond the counter in the kitchen space, the scent of freshly cooked food wafts through Himari's nostrils and guides her sight to a small table not too far from where her mother sat. And what awaited her was a generous helping of a bowl of steamed white rice, another bowl of hot miso soup, a plate of four slices of soft tamagoyaki, a third bowl of seasoned ohitashi, a cup of tea, and — by the Kage — is that what she thinks that's on her plate? She winces at the sight of the small cup of natto sitting alongside what otherwise would've been a delectable banquet.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Nozomi announces, carefully arranging the foodstuffs she'd prepared the night before into their designated spaces. From where Himari stood, she could tell her mother was packing another assortment of her favorite delicacies into her lunchbox consisting of freshly cooked white rice, generous mixed portions of kaarage, katsu, sliced sausages, handfuls of steamed edamame, and last but certainly not least, a small bowl of mixed small, diced fruits. "Did you sleep well? Breakfasts on the table, too."

"Like a baby but," Himari drones as she drags her feet toward the table before sitting on her legs at the table. "Mooom, do I really have to eat this natto?"

"Beggars can't be choosers, Himari," She gently rebuttals as she now seals the lid over the box and steadily folds the cloth over, under, and around to tie a secure knot. "You've got a long day ahead of you and knowing you, you'll grow hungry in a cinch if you don't at least get a decent helping of protein in you. And besides, it's only a small cupful amount of them. If you pinch your nose and swallow it whole, you won't even notice the taste and smell."

Himari stares at the dishes before her before she finally rests her gaze on the cupful of natto. She takes a deep breath in and out of her nose. Her mother may have been pulling her leg about swallowing it whole, but the idea itself didn't sound half as bad when she ruminates over the stray thought. But if she had to choose between savoring the stench and stinkiness of the fermented beans and simply gulping it down in one go, the choice wasn't difficult for her to choose.

After clapping her hands together and offering thanks for the meal, she indulges in her "banquet", taking her time between letting the mouth-watering goodness of the rice and other dishes settle upon her eager tastebuds before steeling themselves for the final stretch of the meal. When Nozomi finishes tying up her bento and tugs at the knot to test its security, she grabs either side of it and stores it away in her daughter's backpack. Nozomi strides over to sit opposite Himari.

"I've been meaning to discuss something with you, Himari." She says.

Himari, completely enrapt by the way she imbibes her breakfast, stops halfway to look at her rice stacked above her chopsticks. She hums in acknowledgment before she munches the rice and stuffs her mouth with a whole tamagoyaki.

"After you've finished your last two sets of missions today, I think we should resume your training tomorrow."

Himari raises an eyebrow, but Nozomi waves her hand dismissively.

"I'm not referring to a change in your typical routine, you're doing just fine as is. However, what I'm talking about is finally teaching you the respective techniques of our clan. The Eight Trigrams and such. I've reserved a few lessons in mind to teach you now that you've become a Genin."

Himari nearly spoke, but remembered that to speak with her mouth full would certainly rouse a side of her mother she would rather not butt heads with. After swallowing her fill, she grabs a napkin to wipe her mouth with. "But why wait until I became a Genin? I mean, I'm not complaining, far from it, that I get the chance to learn now, but why not when I was still an Academy Student?"

"I'm sure you can reason why I chose to withhold this part of your training until later on, no?"

Himari was silent for a moment. "To focus on covering all basics?"

Nozomi nods. "Rightfully so. It would be an injustice to have you begin specialized training when you had yet to understand how to control your chakra. Any deficiency in a ninja's prowess can prove to be a critical weakness in battle and a vital advantage to your enemy. It's the difference between victory and defeat. But, I'm sure this is something I wouldn't need to re-lecture you on."

"Mhm," Himari thrums, with only a few dishes remaining left before she's to confront her biggest challenge. "We'll be starting first thing in the morning tomorrow?" She asks, collecting some rice from her bowl together with the ohitashi and consuming them.

Nozomi shakes her head. "We'll begin sometime during the afternoon when the sun is at its apex," She answers. "Wouldn't want to interfere with your morning regimen. It'll help loosen the muscles for what's to come."

She makes it sound as though the upcoming training Himari will receive will require the full range and motion of her body. Sounds pretty intense, she thought. But then again, when hasn't her mother pushed her to her physical limits. Ever since her days as an academy student, Nozomi designed her training regimen for her Himari to hone her physical perimeters. And a number of those activities typically involved having to balance on either foot with an oftentimes shaky item, run marathons around the village, and carry weighty objects around on her person between lengthy pathways.

Although she never specified why, Himari had initially deduced it was in due part to her unique condition. The awkward structure of how her chakra coils made it difficult for her to manipulate chakra normally, and thus, she had to compensate for this by strengthening her body. However, after the brief exchange just now, she now understands that it wasn't only to power up her figure, but to also condition it in preparation for the rigorous nature to utilize the Hyūga Arts. Himari had always been confident in performing a variety of physical tasks thrown her way, but she wonders if she is up to par to withstand the fatigue she'll need to endure for what's to come. Then again, if her mother says so, who is she to think otherwise?

With only a residual amount of rice leftover and the still daunting cup of natto present, Himari does as she was suggested: she first piles up the remaining rice into her mouth to stymie the taste and on top of it, the natto before she swallows them both. Her hand pats her chest, her cheeks inflate, and her eyes wince. With a bit of effort, the foodstuffs successfully glide down her gullet. She clears her throat and wets her throat with the tea to suffocate the abhorrent aftertaste.

"Whew," She sighs and climbs to her feet. "OK, I'll do my best when the day comes!"

"I would hope so," Nozomi smiles. "Anything less than that, and I may have to consider upgrading the portion sizes of your natto servings."

"Eh?" A chill ran down Himari's spine. "Oh no, you can definitely count on it, Mom!" She walks over to pick up her backpack and fastens it well against her form. Nozomi collects the empty dishes and stacks them on top of each other as Himari approaches the sliding door toward the outside world.

"Be safe!"

"I always am!"

And off she strides toward the main village once again to finalize her last two remaining missions.

Today's assignment, one could argue, is a precursor to Himari's endurance. Or rather, her tolerance for what she's assigned to complete. As it turns out, there's a landfill located toward an isolated designation zone of Konoha that needs to be cleaned up, stowed in their respective trash bag compartments, and set aside for the garbagemen to pick up and process for disposal. However, her dismay is abated by the fact that when she arrives at the zone, there is already a conglomerate of people, comprised of volunteers and a handful of Genin, piling and storing trash into large bags, which are then handed off to the garbagemen for processing.

After briefly scanning who would presumably be the person responsible for the operation, she treads over to them and introduces herself. The man responsible then details a breakdown of how the process goes and the roles typically assigned to each group. Noticing her headband tied at her waist, he designates her to join the other Genin involved with the role of picking up any stray wastes and dross and piling them in the corresponding trashbags for the volunteers to then carry to the collectors.

With her task assigned and the details clarified, Himari got to work immediately on gathering the refuse with a pep to her step. That was until the wretched stench of said refuse invaded her nostrils enough for her to slow her skip into a trudge. She was certainly going to need a very thorough washing when everything was said and done, but right now, she'll have to stomach the nauseating miasma. Grabbing a stave with a sharpened, narrow tip at the bottom and a trash bag, she methodically gathers the debris from the landfill, intermittently tying the bags at their opening and passing them along to the volunteers.

All the while between spearing, gathering, and storing, she attempts to make what little small talk she could to hopefully distract her mind from the grueling task at hand. Thankfully, the other Genin in question had a similar idea to make conversation with among themselves. From among these dialogues Himari engages in, some were agitated by the overwhelming smell emitted from the landfill, so much so, their rank-mate handed them a cloth to tie about their nose to at least stymie the stench. On the plus side, it worked well enough to quell their complaints, on the downside, the complaints remained still.

Another Genin with whom was in discussion with Himari was expressing their jubilance to finally get started on missions that weren't simply menial labor. Although, they expressed their doubts as to why this particular mission in question was reserved the rank of "C" when it's no different than a typical "E" rank with just a larger scope. In retrospect, Himari never gave much thought to the purpose of each rank's classification, but she understood well enough that so long as the mission itself aids the village in some shape or form for the better, it didn't matter whether she had to fend off enemy ninja from the village or gathering garbage to tidy it up. Simply by virtue of keeping the village clean helps those, people or animals, who would be at risk of whatever sickness spawns from the refuse.

Over time, as the size of the refuse gradually lessens until it's no larger than perhaps a story high, the head honcho of the operation decides to wrap up the cleaning session for the day and let the rest of his men carry on with what remains. That is, after he offers everyone his thanks and those with dues for their efforts await them at the mission facility after they get themselves cleaned up.

No need to tell me twice, Himari thought, and she returns home, much to Nozomi's surprise until she pinches her nose from the miasma perforates into the house. She hurries Himari along to bathe while she fetches a set of fresh clothing while she takes what she wore earlier and heads outside from the backdoor to wash her clothes. After her quick bath session before Himari could exit the house, she felt her stomach growl. Guess Nozomi wasn't wrong about her working up an appetite prior to her departure.

She takes a brief moment to vacuum-clean her whole palette before she arrives at her next and final stop: at one of the local bath houses in the main village.


WC: 2,180
TWC: 6,585

Some time later in the evening…

With the recent musk of refuse now washed away, Himari decides to take the high ground. Upon approaching the first building she sees, she kneads a little bit of chakra from her stamina reserves and concentrates the flow toward her feet. When it manifests and gives form at her soles, she crouches down to her knees, positions her body in the desired direction, and long jumps to the side of the edifice. When her feet touch its solid surface, she takes a moment to get a feel for how well her chakra control has come along. And so far, she's maintaining her ability to cling to the surface well enough to remain steady and still!

Proud of the progress thus far, she scales up to the top of the building, ending with a front flip until the balls of her feet stand above the top of it. Using both of her hands to form a makeshift binocular, she scours the village for a cluster of folks at her assigned location. In just a few moments, she's immediately found what could be the final mission she's tasked with. An altogether dangerous endeavor, but one she believes will give her the necessary confidence for the trials ahead. And this goes well beyond the upcoming training marathon that she'll be expecting from her mother, too.

From where she stands, she can see numerous shinobi and kunoichi — possibly officers hard at work at the scene — surrounding what could only be a bathhouse, all in front of a crowd that forms a semi-circle about them. That must be where all the action's happening, Himari thought. And "stowed" away her binoculars and quickly leaps from one construction to the next, swinging from each electrical line to the other, and tumbling under any pipes in her way.

By the time she's close enough, she graciously lands several meters away from the bustling crowd and commotion. She makes sure to carefully push through the shifting amalgamation and apologizes profusely to any she may have accidentally bumped into or whose feet were stepped on. Considering at first glance how the situation looked from afar, she would need to make haste to hopefully diffuse whatever predicament ailed the establishment.

When she finally squeezes her way past the sea of folk, she looks around and steps by the side of one of the police officers who was writing in her notepad and says, "Excuse me," The police officer's zone state was sundered by the sound of Himari's voice and turns to face her.

"Ah," The kunoichi officer smiles. "Sorry little lady, this place is off-limits for the time being until we can resolve the situation. Until then, please remain outside of the area and keep yourself safe."

"Actually, that's what I'm here for." Himari pats her chest. The kunoichi only blinks.

"I'm sorry?"

"Oh, uh," Maybe the mission administration center hadn't informed them that she would be arriving at the scene at some point or another. But then again, it has been a while until she could actually arrive to help out. "Hyūga Himari, at your service!" She bows to the kunoichi and judging from the subsequent expression on the kunoichi's face, a light bulb in her mind lit up.

"Ah, right! I was told by one of my superiors that we would have a shinobi — well, in this a kunoichi — helping us with the current situation." She returns the bow with one of her own. "Police Officer Mayumi, or soon to be at least, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'll take you to my boss and he'll fill you in on the details of what's been going on lately. Follow me."

Officer Mayumi guides Himari to the crime scene, lifting up the police tape that separates the wailing and curious amalgam. All around her, Himari could see some officers giving sitreps on the current dilemma, others in a meditative pose in the company of another providing feedback to another officer, and three more who stood closer to the front entrance to the bathhouse. The latter are the most audible out of the bunch, nearly rivaling the clamor of citizens as one of the officers fervently gestures with her hands while another with tamed passion, gestures in kind inversely.

"Excuse, Chief Officer Ryouichi," Officer Mayumi intercedes. The most fervent of the trio stops midspeech and turns to face Mayumi, the rest follow suit.

"What is it?" Chief Officer Ryouichi asks indignantly.

Mayumi gestures to Himari with an open hand. "You remember the aforementioned backup you told me to watch out for? She's her. This is Hyūga Himari, she's come to help disarm the paper bombs around the bathhouse establishment. Himari waves to the trip.

"About time! And I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up."

"Easy Ryouichi, she's probably had her hands full with other missions." One of the officers chimes in.

Ryouichi visibly decompresses after he takes a moment to reassess the conversation. "Right, right. You're right, Kenji. My apologies, Ms. Hyūga," Ryouichi adds.

"That's OK," Himari replies calmly. "I can only imagine how stressful it is with the way things are right now. I came as quickly as I could before coming here."

"No, no, that's quite alright. Thankfully nothing has escalated until your arrival. We've kept a clear line of communication with these guys long enough to still know the hostages inside are alright."

"Wait, hostages?" Himari inquires and points to the bathhouse. "With paper bombs all over the place? Who would do such a thing? They didn't do anything wrong, right?"

Ryouichi nods to Mayumi, she dismisses herself from the immediate conversation, and he beckons Himari to come closer.

"No, as far as we know, they're just there to enjoy a nice relaxing bath for all I know. But let's get down to business, hm? I'll give you a rundown of the whole situation from start to finish from what we've gathered." He gestures a hand to the two other individuals, an unknown person and the other individual with spiky, black-haired that she could presume to be Kenji. "Ms. Hyūga, this is Detectives Kenji and Yuto."

"Greetings," Kenji adds.

"Pleasure to meet you." Yuto nods.

"So far from what intel we've gathered from the civilians and what few hostages were released, there's been a rivalry of sorts between this bathhouse, Kotokuri's Bathhouse, we'll abbreviate that as 'K.B.' and another further down the district, Minoru's Luxurious Bathhouse, we'll refer to them as 'M.L.B'. There's a bit of history with the latter, M.L.B. has had a monopoly on the bathhouse sector of the industry for a couple of decades now and customers would regularly flock to their establishment to partake in their services. No surprise there, the quality of them is bar-none. With only the finest minerals and only the freshest spring water you can—"

Yuto clears his throat and Ryouichi nods.

"Anyway, they've been doing well for themselves until in recent years when K.B. managed to penetrate the market and gradually make a name for themselves that would eventually create competition for M.L.B. At first, they didn't bother with them and enjoyed the still oncoming customers that used their services until the quality of K.B. gradually improved over time. So, M.L.B. wasn't having any of it and has since tried intimidating them to either exit the bathhouse market or worse, as one of them put it, to 'stop stealing our customers'. You can see how that's worked out for them until now."

Himari hums approvingly.

"Originally we planned to get the two companies to talk it out and come to a compromise. Yet, K.B. refuses out of defiance that M.L.B. can't control an otherwise free market for other businesses to have a chance to thrive. M.L.B., of course, didn't take kindly to the concept of a compromise and, instead, decorated the entirety of K.B. with paper bombs,"

Kenji clicks his tongue. "It's one thing to be petty, but it's another to endanger innocent lives over a business squabble."

"No one's disagreeing with you there," Yuto adds. "And that's where you come in, Ms. Hyūga. You're task is to disarm all the paper bombs scattered throughout the interior of the K.B. so we have clear entry to arrest the captors responsible for this. Thankfully, those are the only traps they set in advance."

"I would also like to caution something," Kenji appends. "You are to do so discreetly. We're already on thin ice with these guys, what with their rising demands and all. By removing all the paper bombs plastered around the establishment, they'll lose the only leverage they have against us and those trapped inside. Again, you must do so with the utmost discretion or this whole place will go up in smoke and flames."

"Mm, mmm." She hums and taps her chin as she looks at the building. "You said there were paper bombs all inside, right?"

"That's correct," Yuto affirms.

"How did they get there in the first place? I doubt anyone could've just waltzed in there and had the time to place all those explosives without any of the staff noticing right?"

"That, you are correct to assume." Ryouichi avers. "Our most compelling theory suggests a mole was possibly leaking intel on the happenings inside K.B. and established a means of communications with M.L.B.," He points to the kunoichi in a meditative pose poised with a handseal alongside another shinobi as they appear to communicate back and forth.

"It was thanks to Officer Yamanaka Hifumi that we were able to intercept their communication lines while we toiled away on getting as many folks out of there as we can. We deduced that whoever was responsible for placing those paper bombs is likely blending among the crowd to avoid suspicion and get out of there with no hassle."

"And if you're curious," Yuto adds. "About whether we may or may not have already let them out, we'd figure that out already and they are still very much locked in there with the rest of the hostages. If they were to have escaped, Hifumi wouldn't need to act as our backup intermediary."

"OK, that makes sense." Himari ruminates for a moment. "I think that's about everything I could ask. Is there anything else I should know?"

"That's about all the information we can give you, Ms. Hyūga," Ryouichi says. "I'll tell Hifumi to establish a telepathic link between you and us so we can communicate with each other freely without altering the mole or anyone else to your presence while you work on removing those explosives. But in the unlikely event that things should take a turn for the worst, report back to us and escape. We'll do what we can to take care of the rest."

Himari smirks. "It won't come to that, I can promise you that much."

"Can never be too careful," He adds. "Yuto, inform Officer Hifumi to establish a mental link with Ms. Hyūga before we send her off."

Yuto nods and strides beside Hifumi, kneels, and whispers something intelligible. Meanwhile, all Himari could hear were the noisy bawls and bellows of the Konoha's denizens behind her. It hurt to hear them, not because of the volume from how high-pitched they sounded, but the mere notion that there were friends, family, and loved ones whose very lives were in the hands of an otherwise unpredictable circumstance. Today could very well be the last day that they ever see them, and that was enough reason to fuel her desire to see them reunite safely.

On the same beat after, she feels a slight numbing sensation flow through her head and down her back which nearly causes her to lose her balance and she quickly steadies herself.

"Whoa, you OK there?" Kenji asks with his arms outstretched.

Hello? She could hear a disembodied feminine voice call out to her. Ms. Hyūga Himari, can you hear me? Well, can you detect the thoughts I'm transferring to you right now?

Loud and clear, Officer Hifumi! Himari relays. Looks like the telepathic network connects just fine!

Hifumi will do just fine, thank you. I was informed that you will be in charge of removing the paper bombs from inside Kotokuri's Bathhouse, correct?

That's right!

That's a relief, I was beginning to worry that we'd run out of options. You have no idea having to keep Ryouichi grounded while negotiating with these guys not to blow the place sky-high… Anyway, sorry for my idle musing. You may inform Chief Officer Ryouichi to commence the operation.

Will do!

Himari nods. "I've got a link with Hifumi and she's told me I can get started on removing all the paper bombs whenever you're ready."

"Excellent!" Ryouichi replies reassuringly. "Now we can finally get some work done! Come with me, I'll show you a side-access point into the facility you can enter without anyone suspecting your entry. It may be a tight squeeze, but the size is just right for someone with your build. C'mon."

Ryouichi guides Himari to the side of Kotokuri's Bathhouse. Up above, there's a small opening that leads inside the building with wooden beams supporting the infrastructure. The distance between herself and the opening would make it difficult to travel without making a ruckus.

"You can use the high beams up there to travel between the hallways of the bathhouse. And with how dark it's gotten, it should help you blend in with shadows in case anyone actively looking for anything out of the ordinary." He kneels on one knee and places his open palms facing upward. "I'll give you a boost, the less noise we make the better."

Himari nods and gets into a runner's posture.

Ryouichi nods and she charges forward, hopping up with her left foot to straddle his palms and he simultaneously lifts her up into the air, to which Himari uses the momentum with her right leg to extend the travel distance of her jump. By the time her hands wrap securely on the ledge of the opening, she uses her left foot again to hoist her upper body over into the opening and slowly climb into the building across the beams. Ryouichi gives a thumbs up to Yuto and Yuto whispers a series of unintelligible sounds into Hifumi's ear before rising to his feet and regrouping with Kenji.

"Let's hope this goes well," Kenji comments.

"Don't we all?" Yuto adds.

Once Himari is inside, she's quick to grab the beam nearest to her to steady herself. The distance from her head to the angular ceiling was only a meter away at most, so she had to be careful not to bump it lest she alerts everyone inside. She quietly sighs and briefly assesses her immediate surroundings. There are numerous supplies and boxes littered all over the place, and a pleasant fragrance fills his senses.

Looks like I'm in the supply room. She thought.

Ah, so that's where you are.

Himari inadvertently let out a little "eep", then covers her mouth out of reflex before feeling the full force of gravity suddenly shift her weight suddenly. Quick to regain her balance, she wraps her arms and legs around the beam she crawls upon before catching her breath.

Sorry, did I spook you?

A little bit, but, uh, I'm okay now. Himari relays, she'd nearly thought to have gotten herself caught immediately before she could get a single paper bomb removed.

I'm sorry, I wasn't sure where you'd enter and was about to ask where you were located in the bathhouse. Do you see explosives lying about anywhere in the room you're in?

Himari takes a moment for her eyes to adjust to get a more thorough scan of the room. It would probably make her job a lot easier if she could use her Byakugan to bypass the obscurity of the darkness that clouds her vision.

None that I can find, no.

Alright, enter through the next hallway you can find when you can and let me know where you're located.

Yep, yep.

Himari swings and swivels herself back up on the beam and slowly caterpillar climbs her way along until she reaches a connecting hallway. She pauses and lets her eyes adjust once more and scans the perimeter. There's no one here, but she can hear voices across the hallway which may be the main lobby where the hostages are located. She remains at her spot a moment longer and searches for any paper bombs. With only the moonlight as her torchlight, she was only able to detect glimpses of a few paper bombs plastered on either end of where she lies.

I found a couple. They aren't hard to reach but it's a bit hard to see them as is. She thinks.

That's alright, just disarm as many as you can and let me know when you're ready to move to the next zone.

Himari traverses along one of the narrower beams and dismantles the paper bomb charges. She was thankful for the opportunity the academy introduced for teaching students how to disarm traps and escape from bindings. She knew it was a skill that would later come in handy when she started taking on missions, but to put them to good use this soon with the knowledge still fresh in her mind made it all the more worthwhile. As soon as she was done disarming all of them, she tucked them away in a spare pocket so as to not leave any trace of her presence.

Hifumi-san?

Just Hifumi. What's up?

Sorry, but is it safe for me to use my clone technique to expedite the paper bomb removal?

If you think it'll help get the job done without compromising your position, go for it. Use whatever you think is best, just remember to be discreet.

Himari then performs the handseal of the Ram, and four parallel puffs of smoke line up on the wooden beam, all copies of the original. She coordinates with them all to spread out the search for any remaining paper bombs and reconvenes back at the supply room to give a sitrep to Hifumi to relay to the rest of the officers. Slowly but steadily, each clone makes there way across the establishment while the original gets to work on her intended path and removes any explosives she finds along the way.

Over the course of one or two excruciating hours, Himari and her clones were able to successfully disarm and collect upwards of up to 40 paper bomb explosives. Although there were a couple of near-misses along the way, they all managed to dismantle the bombs without making a peep. As the original Himari crawls her way above and past the main lobby, she peers below, seeing an abundance of people with several men surrounding them under the dim light of nearby lanterns placed around the area.

Her gaze shifts between all of them as she crawls further and further toward the connecting hallway until her vision construes and distorts, and a noticeable throb strains at her temple, and causes her to squeeze her eyes shut. She suppresses a groan and one of the men shuffles on his feet, whispers to others, and they all look around to see where the sound came from. Himari struggles to shuffle herself along the beam, the uncomfortable strain pulsating hinders her ability to keep a low profile for a moment before it finally subsides.

When she opens her eyes, she sees almost… everything around her with clarity. She can see the chakra network and flow of her clones, past the structural parts of the bathhouse's integrity, and even the past through the people in captivity. The same men she was looking at from earlier almost appeared see-through save for one. She could see a tiny color of flickering blue chakra, and the resultant flow travel through the network toward his head. She could partly make out the physical attributes of the captor but to linger any longer would put herself and everyone at risk.

She continues on until she reaches the opening again, exits from the bathhouse, and disperses any of the remaining clones afterward. By the time she settles down her vision returns to normal again. The throb along her temples and the ability to see through her surroundings in a near all-round angle disappears.

Strange She thought.

Did something happen? It was Hifumi again.

O-Oh, no, nothing.

Well, if that’s everything, update the Chief on your success. I’ll close the mental link we share now. And just like that, another odd sensation runs through her back and scalp, and Himari no longer feels Hifumi’s presence permeate her mind.

Rendezvousing with the rest of the police force, she informs them that all the paper bombs have been removed and Ryouichi signals to the rest of the force to prepare to raid the bathhouse.

"You did well, Ms. Hyūga, and we appreciate the help. Hell, I'd say you could make for a fine police candidate someday. We'll take care of the rest from here on out." He pats her shoulder and she smiles.

"Least I could do!" She replies.

"Right, I'll let the mission facility know that you've completed your assignment and have your dues ready by tomorrow."

Exchanging their farewells and parting ways, Himari returns home, having finally finished all six of her assignments. Come the following morning after her daily training routine, she stops by the mission administration building to collect her dues and prepare herself for the next level of training she'll receive from her mother.


WC: 3,605
TWC: 10,190


[EXIT THREAD]

Rewards acquired upon completion of all missions listed at the beginning of the thread:

Total Ryo Earned: +16,000 Ryo
Total Bonus AP Earned: +80 Bonus AP

Investing the following using the Total Word Count provided above:

→ Clan Pureblood (Adding +25 BL Bonus to Speed; 3,000/3,000)
→ Heavenly Body (2,000/2,000)

Investing the following using the x2 C-Rank Jutsu Scrolls and Total Word Count provided at the beginning and end of the thread, respectively:

→ Gentle Fist Barrage @ C-Rank (-1 C-Rank Jutsu Scroll)
→ Air Sphere Projection @ C-Rank (-1 C-Rank Jutsu Scroll)
→ Block @ C-Rank (1,000/1,000)
→ Genjutsu Release (250/250)
→ Vacuum Palm @ B-Rank(1,750/1,750)
→ Storm Senbon @ B-Rank(1,750/1,750)
→ Basic Medical Ninjutsu @ E-Rank(350/350)
→ Gentle Fist: Front Kick @ D-Rank (90/500)

Spending the following using the TWC provided at the end of the thread:
→ Adding +50 SP to Speed (5,000 WC)
→ Adding +40 SP to Strength (4,000 WC)
→ Adding +11 SP to Vigor (1,100 WC)

Approved

Approved of Himari’s edit to the claim, so the character can claim jutsu alongside Stat Points.