By The Books

Mission Details:

The weather this morning in Hoshigakure was decidedly poor. Dark clouds and rain were the forecast for today. No thunder or lightning though. A shame really; Ana enjoyed seeing lightning forking through the sky. With a small smile to herself, she got up and got ready for the day. A simple meal and attending to her equipment before getting ready to head out. A note addressed to her was waiting at the table by their front door. A summons to the Unseen University for a mission. The Akari Genin would pocket the note and make her way over there to see what was going on. It was nice to be back in the rhythm of getting work.

The mission center was located in one of the first sets of rooms at the Unseen University and thus easily accessible by Genin who would not normally be allowed access to the deeper areas without permission. She showed the note to the guards on duty and was promptly allowed inside. Once inside, she made her way to the mission center where she was given her mission scroll. Opening the scroll, she read the contents, taking in all of the details related to the mission. One of the noble religious families in Hoshigakure was recently found to be trying to plot a coup to once-again overthrow the shinobi aspects of the village. This isn’t what one would consider uncommon, but what was strange about this particular occurrence was that rather than the family using their own funding for the coup, there were reports that they had been receiving significant sums from outside of the village. The mission was to track down any leads and find out who was responsible. Not her preferred type of mission, but she would do the task to the best of her abilities. She would not be doing the mission alone at least; the mission stipulated that there would be two others joining with her. She would leave the mission center and make for the city square to the meeting point designated in the mission scroll to wait for the others.

WC: 351

The slender arms of a young golden eyed girl would reach up and back from the elbows behind her raven haired head. It was the first night of good sleep that Emilia had gotten in quite some time, in fact it was so good she slept well past her alarm that she just now heard going off. ”Holy crap, I can’t believe I actually slept through the alarm… and it looks like it’s two hours past… good gosh, was I drugged?” The last word escaped her lips as she frantically moved about her bedroom as she leapt from the bed. There was even a nervous sort of look on her face as she felt like she was missing something, though she wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was just an uneasy feeling? Emi didn’t have much plans for the day, mostly she was going to attempt to enjoy her breakfast and then also do some training on some really interesting techniques.

The young genin slipped her feet into the shoes that she normally wears when doing anything shinobi related. Her left hand slid her bedroom door open after she made sure that she had readied herself properly for the day. The first thing she had noticed was a tiny scroll that had been slid under her door. Emilia’s thoughts went to a summoning of sorts for some kind of mission, and she wasn’t off-base with that thought. It wasn’t that she minded doing missions, it was that it was way short notice and it changed her day completely. Her hand reached down as she bent over to pick the tiny scroll up from the ground and she went to unseal it, allowing it to roll open. Her eyes moved back and forth as she began to read the mission details.

”A recent raid of the estate of a treasonous noble family in Hoshigakure has revealed that they are receiving quite a lot of outside money. This is curious, as the flow of money from rogue elements within Hoshigakure is usually outwards. Go through the files and follow any leads. Find out where this money is coming from.”

This was a higher ranked mission than Emilia had done recently and she felt like her efforts within the village were finally being noticed. Her previous thoughts about this changing her entire day and being a little grumpy about it changed completely. It also seemed as though there were going to be two others that were part of this mission, so it gave her a chance to meet some other folks with-in Hoshigakure, if she had never met them before of course. She twisted and turned making sure that she hadn’t forgotten anything and that she packed all of her equipment. Once this was confirmed, she opened the front door and headed out. Usually you would need to go to the mission center to receive the scroll, but maybe due to the circumstances, they wanted to act quickly.

Emilia’s feet moved about as fast as they could without tiring herself out in moments. It seemed like most of her missions took her towards the city square for whatever reason. This one she thought might be different, but it didn’t seem so. Apparently they were tasked with going through files and trying to find a reason for why such an established Hoshi family would become treasonous. A true follow the money mission, which in and of itself can lead to other things, so maybe there would be another mission tacked on with this one.

Emilia looked up at the sky as she entered the city square, noting the ugly day that it had turned out to be. Not a ray of sunshine was to be found anywhere, meaning it was likely going to be this way into the night. ”Just one of those nasty nasty days I suppose. Now, where are the people I am supposed to meet?” Her eyes wandered around as she had made it to the meeting point, it didn’t take long for her to find the first person. They stood out among the rest just from the outfit alone, and she looked capable. Emilia took a couple of steps forward and slightly bowed her head and as she raised it up, she let a smile come out.

”I’m Emilia, nice to meet you. I’m presuming you’re here for the mission?” Emi let her hand reach out for a proper introduction… at least it’s how she was taught by her father.

---

WC: 770

Added Mission:

As Anastasia stood there waiting for the rest of her team to arrive, someone unfamiliar to her entered the square, looked around until they spotted her and made their way in her direction. They appeared to be a young girl, around the same height and build as her. Her skin was paler, her hair was darker, and her eyes were a golden colour. Almost like what her eyes would be when her Kekkei Genkai was activated. When she came close enough, she introduced herself as Emilia and extended a hand in greeting. Anastasia accepted the offered hand with one of her own. “Nice to meet you Emilia, I am Anastasia.” When asked about whether or not she was here for the mission, the Akari Genin would nod in agreement, “I am.” She looked around briefly. “Not sure if anyone else is supposed to be joining us.” She would wait another five minutes before declaring “I think it’s just us. Let’s get a move on.” With that, she would lead the way to the Noble’s home, a manor on the outskirts of the village itself.

The Noble’s home was more fortress monastery than manor; a large wall with turrets and parapets surrounded the main building. ‘The walls didn’t look to be built the same time as the buildings inside…’ Anastasia thought to herself, ‘likely built afterwards in a fit of paranoia. Very likely what aroused suspicion and ended up getting them caught.’ The entire structure was cordoned off and Hoshi-nin were providing security. Mainly Genin with a couple Chuunin overseeing things. The Akari Genin showed the lead Chuunin the mission scroll they had been given, which would give them access to the building in order to assist with the investigation. One of the other Chuunin led them through the building where the noble’s financial records were being examined. It looked like the records were moved to the manor’s library; the room was wall to wall with books of different types. The furniture had largely been moved to one side to make room for a few tables with chairs around them. The documents were piled on the different tables in no particular order. It would mean that they would likely need to be organised first before any meaningful work could happen. Anastasia would immediately take off her gauntlets and place them into her belt before putting on a significantly thinner pair of gloves, the better to handle the papers and scrolls without leaving any fingerprints that could be construed with other evidence. “Alright,” Anastasia would say to Emilia, “I guess we get to work here. I’ll start organizing what I can. You can either do the same or try to find some leads in what has already been sorted.” With that, The Akari Genin would start leafing through the documents and attempting to assert some form of order on the mass of paper in front of them.

WC: 485
TWC: 836

”Nice to meet you Emilia, I am Anastasia.” The kunoichi had introduced herself rather quickly to Emilia and she looked around like she was waiting on some other folks. ”Not sure if anyone else is supposed to be joining us.” It seemed as though Anastasia was in the dark as well, at least as it pertained to who all was going to be joining them for the group. The best decision would be to wait a few more minutes and see if anyone else would show up, and if not, then the best course of action would be to head out to the noble’s estate and get started with the mission. ”I think it’s just us. Let’s get a move on.” Emi agreed with Anastasia on this and would nod her head to the other genin. ”Agreed, let’s get started.”

The two kunoichi moved almost in unison as they headed towards the estate, manor, or fortress of the nobel that was being investigated. The adventure from the meeting point to the estate wasn’t all that long and while Emi had an urge to create conversation on their journey, she held back and just allowed her thoughts to run rampant through her mind. Mostly they were things about what the manor would be like, would there be any dangerous occurrences that happened even though it sounded like they were just doing some research? As the last of the thoughts slipped through her mind, the two genin pulled up to what they could only presume was their destination. It definitely had a feel of a fortress… at least more so than a manor or estate. It was armed to the teeth with defensive walls/capabilities, which was honestly curious to Emilia. ”I wonder why a noble family would need to have their estate armed like this? They’re in the heart of Hoshigakure… it just screams weird.”

As the two of them entered the manor, they passed the shinobi that were now guarding the manor, likely to ensure no one entered who wasn’t supposed to. There was already a chuunin inside that seemed to be “in charge” of the operation and Anastasia and Emilia both showed their mission scrolls to confirm they were supposed to be there. The two genin would be led through the estate to what seemed like the library room. It was wall to wall with books and any sort of record keeping that you might think of. Emi allowed her eyes to wander the room, trying to see if she could immediately spot anything out of place or just find a starting point. She then looked over and noticed Anastasia, she had taken her gauntlets off and put on some graceful looking gloves… maybe it was easier for her to go through paperwork with those?

”Alright, I guess we get to work here. I’ll start organizing what I can. You can either do the same or try to find some leads in what has already been sorted.”

Emilia nodded in agreement with Anastasia and noticed her quickly getting to work around organizing paperwork and sorting through what was what. Emi took the room in one more time and noticed a bunch of things that had already been organized from a paperwork standpoint. She figured since Anastasia was already organizing things, she would go ahead and go through the sorted stuff. She eloquently moved through the room to where she needed to be, letting her eyes move across the paperwork that was on top of the pile. She’d have to be efficient if she was going to get through the stacks of records. Emilia took a deep breath in and then it all out and just allowed herself to flow effortlessly through each record that she looked at. A lot of what she was seeing was just business reports at first, though some of them were a little weird. They would have a letting missing in a word or maybe something would be misspelled.

”Seems odd that there would be spelling mistakes or missing numbers in so many reports… especially for folks that seemed so detail oriented… makes zero sense.”

Emilia was talking to herself as she was locked in a zone. She wasn’t sure if others could hear her out loud thoughts, not that she really cared. Everyone there was there for a reason or was part of the mission in some sort of capacity. Emi looked up to see that Anastasia was still sorting away, and she figured she would go help off-load some of the work since she had already gone through her paperwork. The young raven haired girl stood up and then walked over, smiling at Anastasia if she had looked up from her current tasks. ”I’m finding some weird things in some of the records I have been looking at. I’m really curious to see if the same trend continues with these stacks that you have sorted out. Missing numbers and incorrect spelling/grammar… could potentially be a code?”

Emi got right to work as she ended her thoughts to Anastasia, hoping she had a few thoughts of her own to add to the conversation. Emi’s golden eyes flowed across the new documents she was looking through and her fingers thumbed them easily, letting her flip each page with ease. The first few records that she went through were all clean, and so she thought it may have just been a mistake… at least until she saw another grammatical error. She didn’t know what any of it meant though because she didn’t have a way to decipher the message. It was then that Emilia had noticed something, it was coded or cloaked in anything. The message itself was just tucked away inside one of the documents, something that could have easily slipped through if Emi hadn’t been thorough and double checked the folder.

It seemed to be an agreement of sorts for a very large sum of money. The note was torn and not all of the message was available, but she could make out that it was from Iwagakure… which was now a dead village. Emilia’s eyes widened and she looked over to Anastasia, passing her the piece of parchment that she had just found… it seemed ominous to Emilia and a rather important note. She also called the chuunin over to take a look at the message and get their thoughts as well.

The chuunin would wait for Anastasia to take a look at the found parchment and give her thoughts on it… then he would reveal another reason for this mission to the two genin.

”The two of you actually haven’t had the entire story, the noble of this estate was due to return to Hosh a while back and has been missing. We sent out a search party over here and found some interesting things and that’s when both of you were tasked with going through the records. This piece of paper definitely confirms suspicion of treason that likely goes back many years with someone from the dead village of Iwagakure. Here’s the second part of the mission that you will be tasked with… find the missing noble and bring them back to Hoshi if they are alive. Last known location was of them crossing the border into Haven. Do you have any questions?”

---

WC: 1270
TWC: 2040

Emilia commented on the defenses of the manor when they arrived, it seemed that she also shared her thoughts on the situation. ‘The religious come up with whatever justifies the means…’ Anastasia thought to herself as they walked. When they arrived in the library and had started getting to work, Emilia started going through what was sorted. ‘Good…’ Anastasia thought to herself, ‘we’ll likely cover more ground doing different things. Once this is all sorted, I’ll help her look for more leads.’

It wasn’t long before Emilia noticed something in some of the reports she was going through. Apparently, some of them were either missing information or words were misspelled. Once or twice, it wouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but if she kept running into them, it would definitely be worth looking further into.

The sorting process was extensive considering the number of documents that they had. Most of them were financial reports so it would be easy enough to sort them by date and what they were related to, so the Akari Genin was able to make the work go by quickly. While she was primarily sorting through the records, she was at the very least initially scanning them for something to pop out. Since Emilia had mentioned it, she also noticed that through the sorting she would pick up the odd spelling mistake or missing word. Eventually Emilia had run out of things to go through, so she came over to help Anastasia with sorting. As she walked over, she mentioned again the strange errors that she’s encountered, errors that Anastasia had found her fair share of as well. Anastasia nodded at her suggestion of it being some form of code. “I agree, it’s happening more frequently than one could just chalk up to human error. It’s being done on purpose.”

They would continue to go through the information that had piled up, finding more pages that had similar errors or omissions in no particular order. Each one would be put aside to be cross-referenced later. That was, until Emilia found a single piece of parchment that effectively gave them the information they needed. At least one solid piece of proof they could use. The rest could still be useful, but a single piece of paper that noted a large sum of currency as part of an agreement from a contact using Iwagakure as a base of operations was too big to ignore. The rest of the files could be sorted while this lead was pursued. Emilia flagged over the Chuunin in charge and showed them the paper she found. Once they had all taken a look at the information, Ana would make her stance known. “It’s clear then, this noble at the very least was in contact with hostile elements that seek harm to the village. That is unacceptable and we should see if we can track them down and bring them to justice.”

The Chuunin in charge took this moment to advise the pair that the noble in question has not been seen or heard from in some time. The raid had taken place because they were concerned that a plan was already in place and happening, but they were unable to confirm that at this time. Their new task would be to track down where this noble has disappeared to and bring him in to pay for his crimes. They were last seen crossing the border into Haven from the Land of Earth. It’s unclear where along that path they vanished but finding out and recovering them, dead or alive, was current top priority for Anastasia and Emilia. Anastasia nodded and swapped gloves again, re-equipping her gauntlets.

Leaving the Manor, the pair would head in the direction of the Land of Earth. Since it wasn’t entirely clear where the wayward noble diverged from their path, they would need to be thorough and search the entire path. “I think it would be in our best interests to search starting from the Border with the Land of Earth and work our way back towards Hoshigakure,” Ana would say to her comrade. “It’s going to take the same amount of time to do it regardless of which way we handle the search, but since he was returning home, I feel like it’s more likely something happened to him closer to the border itself.” She would hear any thoughts that Emilia had on the subject and would work to come to an agreement on a search pattern that they would both find acceptable.

Regardless of which way they started looking from, their first clues would be found about a third of the way from the Land of Earth’s border. The body of a horse was found at the side of the road, partially obscured by the rocky formations that make up this part of Haven. There wasn’t much in the way of footpaths in the area so they would need to explore the area with a fine-tooth comb. The first day was almost at an end when Anastasia noticed a wooden structure hidden among the rock. Taking cover so that they would have less chance of being seen initially, Anastasia would look at her ally. “What do you think, shall we go in now, or would you rather wait until it’s morning?” It didn’t make a difference to her, but for what could potentially involve combat, everyone needed to be on the same page.

WC: 908
TWC: 1744

Mid-topic claim:
Claiming B-Rank mission complete from WC (will post rest of the mission claims/rewards at the end of the topic).

Mid-topic claim (1200 WC)
12 stats (12 Vigor)

729 towards towards Flowing arts (2000/2000) proof here

471 WC towards Blacksmith (471/2000, slotless)

The resolution was to at the very least wait until nightfall; at the very least, Ana could scout around the position thanks to her Golden Eyes. They found a spot out of the way and set up a small defensible camp so that if they were discovered, ambush would prove ineffective. They rested and ate in silence; it was the smartest decision in this particular situation. Sound could carry and they didn’t want anyone here to know they were around, at least for now.

When darkness truly fell upon the area, Ana would get up and head out, looking to see if she could gain any information on what could be waiting for them in the structure or the surrounding area. She could see a single light in one of the windows of the building, but the rest was dark and there was no sound coming from the building, at least none that she could hear. She would slowly and quietly continue her approach. Eventually she got close enough where she could hear footsteps coming from inside, sounded like at least two individuals walking around. Ana prowled around the perimeter, catching glimpses inside any visible windows. All in all there was five people inside; four thugs and their missing nobleman. ‘Good…’ she thought to herself, ‘at least we know he’s here, and it looks like he’s still alive as well. Even better news for us…’ Her excitement was short-lived though, the one who seemed to be running the show was gathering up the thugs and the nobleman, getting them ready to move out. They mentioned something about a hidden passage in the back of the structure that led into the mountains. Anastasia would need to act fast then if she wanted to make sure that they didn’t lose them. She couldn’t go back to get Emilia; she would need to do this herself. It was risky; the capabilities of the thugs was an unknown, and she also didn’t know if barging in there would bring danger to the noble, whom the village wanted alive. She didn’t have a choice though, and with only a moment’s hesitation, she barged through the front door. There was a startled exclamation from one of the thugs coming from one of the rooms in the back, so the Akari Genin would make her way through the building in that direction, sword and shield in hand.

The back room of the structure was bare, with a section of the back wall opened that was slowly closing behind what Anastasia assumed were the thugs escaping with their prize. She could not allow that to happen. The door closed completely before she could reach it, but she would not be denied. A swift series of blows with her sword reduced the barrier to little more than scraps. The thugs were already trying to run with the noble being shoved in front of them. She could see them by the light of the torch they brought to light the way. As soon as they heard the door break, three of the thugs turned around to face the Akari Genin. The last one, presumably the leader, kept moving their captive onwards. She could now allow him to escape with the noble. The other three fanned out in front of her, forming a semi-circle to try and attack her from multiple directions. The tunnel itself wasn’t particularly large, so she would have to stick with her sword and shield for now as Light’s Retribution would not have enough clearance room to do what it did best.

They decided to all attack her as one; a smart idea which would keep her on the defensive for now. Perhaps they were hoping that she would be cowed into retreating so that they could also escape. Unfortunately for them that would not be happening. Anastasia would move towards the one on her left, shoving him with her shoulder rather than attacking. Getting inside his guard and knocking him backwards and out of the fight temporarily. It would allow her to try and fend off the other two more easily and could then come back to deal with him. With the middle thug closer than the last one, she was able to throw up her shield and block his attack coming in. She sidestepped between the fallen thug and the one that had just attacked her, giving her more room to maneuver. Rather than attempt to continue attacking, the thugs helped their comrade up. ‘Smarter than I thought…’ Anastasia thought to herself, preparing for them to advance on her again. She would need to take them down decisively then, so that they couldn’t regroup like that. She was running out of time and needed to catch up to the noble. As they prepared to charge, the Akari Genin thrust her sword forward and a beam of light extended outwards from the tip of the blade, skewering the assailant on her left, the extended blade caught him in the ribs and he went down with a gurgling sigh as his lung was punctured. The other two charged at her, blades held low. A furious series of blows were traded but Anastasia would not be denied. Her bladed shield found the thigh of the thug on her right while she parried the attack of the one directly in front of her. As he went down to one knee, her shield blade found his throat, and he went down clutching it to try and stem the bleeding. The last one attempted a stab at her chest that was parried and while he was left open, she stabbed him through the chest.

With her three opponents dealt with, Anastasia turned around and charged up the tunnel. She wasn’t able to hear the other two, so it was all that she could hope that there was still time to catch up to them. She could not allow them to get away. The tunnel itself was winding and luckily only had one path to follow so she was able to gain some ground, until the pathways diverged in three different directions. The Akari Genin sighed, wishing that Emilia was here to assist tracking the different tunnels. Fortune would smile on her though, she noticed that the dirt path itself shows recent footprints travelling down the right hand path and none heading in either of the other directions so she continued her pursuit following the only lead she had.

She caught up to the pair as they were about to exit the tunnel. The bandit leader cursed and turned around, weaving hand signs. Anastasia threw up her shield to deflect a series of mini fireballs. They bounced off her shield and armour, but she could feel the heat from them. ‘That could have been bad…’ She thought to herself as she made ready to charge. The bandit had used the jutsu as a way to try and close the distance before she was ready, but he had made a fatal flaw. Closing the distance was the worse decision that he could have made; Anastasia heard him charging and spun to one side, slicing him in the side with her sword as she deflected his lunge with her already-raised shield. This one she would try to take alive as she would be certain her leaders would have questions for him. She would press the attack, catching him on the side of the head with the flat of her blade, rendering him unconscious. The noble was still at the exit of the cave, shaking with fright. His hands were bound, so it made apprehending him all the easier. With the noble caught, she would bring him and the unconscious bandit leader back to the makeshift camp that she shared with Emilia to make sure the man didn’t bleed out, and then make their way back to Hoshi to report a successful mission.

[EXIT]

WC: 1318
TWC: 3062

Claims:

WC Available: 1862
B-Rank Mission Rewards (claimed completion already): 6,000 Ryo / 30 AP
C-Rank Mission Completion + Rewards: 4,000 Ryo / 20 AP

1813 WC towards Parry (B-Rank, 1813/2063, 25% Max stat discount)
49 WC towards Light Release: Dreamfyre (49/2062, 25% Max stat discount)

Approved