Work times Two

Mission Details:

There he stood, near the main entrance of the leaf village. His stance was relaxed, his shoulders at ease as he waited for the deliver of precious soil to arrive. It was rich in nutrients, well suited for growing bountiful yields of fruits and vegetables. He eyes the caravan of carts headed his way, looking out for a distinct cart with ordinate design. He removes both his hands out of his pockets, revealing a single sheet of parchment containing the details of not only this this task, but of the next of after. He didn't fret, for today, he was only tasked with two missions; with the option to opt out of extra work.

Sometimes, when the work load backs up, due to lack of shinobi(mostly genin), the higher ups tends to load up the work words to keep up with the demand. Okisho has heard many horrid stories about how sneaky and slick the higher ups can be when assigning missions. Shinobi receiving 12 assignments back to back, with hardly any rest or delay. Essentially, they were living to work at this point. Fortunately, today, it would seem the able bodies finally managed to catch up with demand. The momentum mostly due to the chunin exams, new recruits, fresh graduates, and even volunteers striving towards becoming the best shinobi they could be.

"Let's see, yep, nothing too out of the ordinary from what I saw the last time this morning. delivery of the Epson Soil, and attending the workshop at the "new and approved" training facility in the... Nara District on 57th and Taro? Yeah, must be new, I don't remember there ever being a training facility on 57th. At least it is in the same general area, since the drop point is in the Nara district too. Hmm..." The sound the carts getting closer robbed Okisho of his attention from the parchment. Something didn't feel right, but he decided to look into it some more later on in the day.

Finally, the cart would arrive, pulling up near the gate and detach the cart from his own series of carts. Okisho and his teammates assigned wagon with already a single covered cart attached to it, was located to his six, just behind him. It was on loan from the higher ups, along with two calm demeanor stallions who awaited instructions. Okisho was quite in pressed with the animals, assuming the the wild animal would be difficult to control at first chance.

For now he stood near the cart, awaiting for his teammate to arrive. He wondered if the other person was from team 212. The time between the blast time he met up with his old teammates was only getting longer. As for his own attire, Okisho is a minimalist, so it was nothing too flashy and void of any logos. He is seen wearing a simple all light grey shirt, and a pair of dark navy-blue slacks which stop at the top of his ankles. A single ninja pouch concealed underneath his black shirt. His shoes are standard issued shinobi editions, revealing his toes and back ankles. His shinobi headband is tied tight against his forehead, but not so much to cause any discomfort.  
---
WC: 537

It was the sunlight that first alerted the child to the fact it was the morning. They sat up, brushing the mess of white hair out of their eyes and looking around slowly. The child judged it to be relatively early still with the village in the middle of stirring into life. Scratching the back of their head in a just woken-up daze they examined where they were this time. It was an unfamiliar location, some rooftop in the middle of the village. The child hopped to their feet and looked at the sheet of paper grasped in their hand. As was becoming the norm for the child they had no clue on how they had acquired it or why. A vague memory of heading to the mission office and getting assigned some other menial tasks at the tail end of the previous day. The child wondered if there was a correlation between getting the labourers tasks and showing up late.

Not the time to dwell on it however. The child had a strange feeling about today. They dusted off the white, over-sized cloak that was a permanent part of their attire and took stock of the situation. They were late. The child wasn't sure how they knew, but the fact remained that they were already supposed to be somewhere. Their eyes quickly scanned the sheet of paper. The child's ability to understand the gibberish that was often written on these had improved over the duration of their fledgling shinobi career. While the majority of it didn't make sense they were able to grasp the basic idea. It was for this reason that they found themselves running along the rooftops of the village. The destination was that of the village entrance. It was a place unfamiliar to the child mostly having only been there once or twice before in passing. At least, that's the only times they remembered going there. It was impossible for them to tell these days.

Thankfully, if there was one thing the child was good at it was running. For this reason in no time at all the village gates were within sight in only a few minutes. The child spotted commotion at the gates. A number of carts were being brought in, and several people were milling about doing a variety of things. Thankfully there was only one rooftop to go before the child reached their destination. One final jump across roofs and they had made it...where was the next roof? The child blinked in mid-air, finally noticing that there was not in fact another building in front of them. They sighed, and fell like a stone to the ground.

A grunt of pain was forced out of their body as they hit the dirt with a thud. It took them a few seconds to recover, having had the wind knocked out of them momentarily. They got onto all-fours, and then after a bit longer finally pushed themselves to their feet. For the most part the other workers did not seem to dare. The child got a few odd stares as they made their way toward the gate, eyes scanning for where they were supposed to be. It did not take long to spot the cart that they had been assigned to. Another shinobi stood there waiting. They seemed older, and a lot bigger, than the child was. Perhaps they were another instructor of some sort. The child was not sure, but they approached anyway.

The child would hold up their sheet of paper that detailed their assignment when they finally got close enough. "I'm Saku." Was the first words they had spoken in quite some time. Their voice was soft, almost muffled behind the array of bandages that covered their face. They had learned fairly recently that you were supposed to actually introduce yourself to strangers instead of remaining silent. A strange concept for the child, but one they now put into practice for the first time.

Their eyes scanned the horse and cart in front of them warily. They had not dealt with these kind of animals before, and decided it was best to not approach the creatures for the time being.

[700]

With the adjustments were made, the cart now ready to be guided to the other cart, Okisho was then met with the missing member of the team. He turns around slowly, taking note of the parchment pressed towards him, and the short cut introduction  by the white haired genin. He felt a bit caught off guard, the boy was prompt and direct with no indication of his approach. He was like a ghost, using the environment to mask its movement towards Okisho. Relaxing his eyebrows, his shoulders dropped to its regular height, he get a measure of his new company.

At first glance, he seemed a bit weary of something. His own eyes traced Saku‘s direction, coming to thankfully realize that it was not him, but the great stocky horses behind him. He takes note of this before speaking. Aside from that, his whole aura seemed strange. Even his garbs, or rather trappings he should say, was different from what Okisho was used to seeing. Then again, Okisho‘s style of clothing was extremely basic. Anything different compared to him would be otherworldly.

“Thanks for coming, Saku. My name is, Okisho. It would’ve been difficult to do this all by myself. I feel as if today might yeild some interesting turn of events… ”, he said while reaching over towards one of the horses and strokes its black hair mane. “These particular, Horses, are very tame. They look as if they used to race too, due to their muscular build”, Okisho was quite used to dealing with horses due to some of his missions requiring him to drive horse drawn wagons. That was one of the perks of taking on unorthodox mission. Sometimes, being exposed to different methods and trades ends up sticking with a person the more they tend to utilize them.

“Ok, all we have to do is hook up this wagon with the cart over there, and we will be ready to head over to the Nara District. Have you ever been to LoDo?”, LoDo stood for lower downtown. The Nara Clan was one of the founding clans that made Konohagakure, according to the ancient text. The district was full of old style architecture, paying homage to the olden times. Okisho gave, Saku a bit to respond, either way, he’d move on. The Uchiha was seen using the steps on the side of the wooden carriage to seat himself on the bench overlooking the well tamed horses. “When you’re ready, get on.”, he said with a stern yet trusting tone. The line was already in his left hand, and the brakes were in working condition as expected when he first inspected the wagon.

Now, Okisho was seen pulling gently on the line, signaling the pair of horses to move. He displays lines clearly out in the open. He guides the horses towards the wagon and gently pulls to the right to allow the pair to move left. He quickly pulls the line, signaling the horses to stop. He of course gets off, and attaches the other cart assigned to him. After successfully attaching the cart, he gets back on the wagon.

If Saku was on the wagon, he would offer him the reins. “Would you like to try? Or would you prefer me to drive? The main street should take us all the way to the Nara District, we just have to make a left on 57th.“
—
WC/ 569

The stranger introduced themselves to the child, confirming them to be the one they would be working with today. Okisho was the name of the stranger, and with his words brought a sense of calm. For the child this allowed their attention to be drawn from the great beasts at the front of the cart and back to the job at hand. The child examined the wagon they would be using. It seemed in fine enough condition, slightly worn from use but otherwise perfectly serviceable. This relieved the child with the knowledge that they likely would not have to chase a rogue wagon wheel through the village.

Their eyes snapped from the wagon and towards Okisho when they realised they were asked a question. The child played it back through their head, trying to recall if the words seemed familiar. "Once." They replied after a moment. While they were unsure when they did recall passing by the Nara's district at some point in time. The child had found the building structure interesting at the time, though they had since grown used to such designs from their later ventures into Konoha.

Okisho had instructed them to get onto the wagon; however the child elected to stay put for now. A small wave of the hand to signal for them to keep going while they observed silently. The child judged it to be better to watch from the side, lest there be issues that Okisho could not see at the time. Thankfully there seemed to be little cause for concern, and the child set about to help hitch the cart to the wagon for transportation. It was not something they were entirely familiar with, so they assisted where it was needed and mostly kept out of the way of their elder Genin for now.

With this first minor task accomplished the child made for the front of the wagon. It was a tad taller than they had realised upon first examination; and so the child had to jump and clamber up onto the seat. The child was given the option of taking the reins of the wagon. As the child was often inclined to do the stared for a moment. They gave no verbal indication and instead took the reins in their small hands. Make the horses go forward, how hard could it be?

Surprisingly not that difficult. The horses had been trained for this sort of stuff it seemed. For the child they were left with little to do other than sit back and let them do most of the work as the wagon blazed its way through the village. Blazing might have been an exaggeration, it was more of a trot. The child imagined it would not be wise to go full speed through a dense urban area, or actually at any point with a wagon now that they thought about it. Despite the rather toned back nature of the journey the child retained a white knuckle grip on the reins. They had not done anything like this before so despite the low energy adventure their heart rate was still elevated. Anything could go wrong they thought, maybe one of those barbaric children they had worked with before might try to attack...or something.

Yet despite their worries it remained a relatively mundane journey for the most part. For the child what felt like an eternity of high thrills likely encompassed less than an hour of travel time. The hardest part was making sure to not crash into a wall when rounding the corner rather late when they realised that yes it was that left. Still, they arrived all the same at the Nara district with little to no major incidents and only one or two close calls.

The child exhaled in relief. How long they had been holding their breath they weren't entirely sure but it felt good. With that part done now they had to help offload whatever was on the wagon. Some sort of dirt, the importance of which was lost to the child naturally. They would set about lifting a bag at a time and handing them off. It was almost a comical sight, as the bags were about the size of the child and quite often blocked their vision during the labour.

It was toward the end of the task that the child took a small break. During which they examined the notes they had been given before. Another mission was on the cards for the day, one that wasn't that far from here it seemed. The child's brow furrowed as they tried to make out what exactly they were supposed to be doing there, yet as always answers eluded them. So remaining in the dark for now they would return to the moving of soil until they were done.

[1505 TWC]

Finally, the duo were on their way towards the Nara District; Okisho seemed at ease, while actively checking in on Saku as he drove the wagon. His posture, was slouch against the back of the chair. The boy seemed in control, a bit better than Okisho’s first time, and keeping a much faster pace too.

“That’s it Saku, just be mindful of the pace”, Okisho said cautiously, his eyes rolling over towards Saku every now and then to check on his demeanor. His gaze swing over towards his left, taking a moment to take in the image of the Hokage Rock. His smirk, although quickly retracted, was due to the memory of him meeting, Nokino there. The moment was surrounded with a strange occurrence that was dealt with swiftly, but in the end it made it all the more memorable.

After a few close calls, Okisho gripping the edge of his seat at each encounter, the two reached the destination. He hope down quickly, inspecting the last wagon they towed. It all seemed to be in order, and the horses were still well enough to go on. However, his teammate seemed to be a bit taxed. Okisho would have offered him a protein bar if he had any; but could spare none at the moment. Looking at the situation half full, they were almost done. Just one more mission to go.

He takes out the parchment paper once again, “57th and Taro...", he looks down the street ahead. Taro wasn't that far off. After the soil was unloaded, and the cart detached from the wagon, Okisho would get back on to the wagon , and proceed top Taro st. "We're heading to Taro st for the final mission", with or without, Okisho would press on with the single wagon. The horses would appreciate it more that they now only had to pull one cart instead of two. He sighs a bit upon reaching the 57th and taro. It was an empty lot. Within the empty lot, stood a few figures in construction gear. A few pallets were spaced out amongst the grounds. It looked like the last mission would involve them building something, but what?

Once Okisho pulled in, he gets off the wagon and approaches the construction crew. They were big and rough looking folk, but they meant well. And they were glad Okisho arrived.

"Thanks for coming by, we could sure use the help. We have to build a training ground here, since the old ones were pretty much retired and turned into the big advanced training facility. Don't worry though, we won't be building anything of that magnitude, we'd need more people for that. Once again, thanks for coming, it took quite a while for the higher ups to send some able bodies down to help us. That bid for the mission contract had been sitting in limbo forever! Did you bring the tools?", Okisho looked confused for a moment, till he looked back to the cart still attached to the wagon.

This was indicative of the type of conniving behavior he talked about the higher ups. This was the reason why the missions details were quite vague. they didn't want any shinobi calling out or coming up with a reason as to why they couldn't do the mission. He slowly walks over to the cart, his eyes getting narrow with each step. He finally got with arms reach, pulling off the sheet to reveal the many assortments of tools and gear for the job. The construction workers were ecstatic that work was about to begin.

"Yes! Tell you what, I'll let you pick the theme for the project. According to the blueprint , we are suppose to incorporate an elemental theme. So which will it be? Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, or Lightning?", he gave a pause for Okisho and possibly Saku to respond. Okisho could care less what element it was. He was still a bit irate over the the whole ordeal of the higher ups sneaking in the mission. Was it always like this for lower ranked shinobi? The jobs nobody wanted. This had to stop, taking advantage of genin like this. "Wind, unless Saku has another element in mind. Lets just get this over it.", he said while slipping on the gear from the wagon.

Moments later, Okisho was seen working with one of the construction workers. He chose to split off from Saku, aiding in the fence portion of the project. It wasn't that bad, due to the fact that the worker he was paired with, knew all about installing fences. His years of training allowed him to explain to him how everything worked in a clear and concise manner. In fact, some of the info would stick with Okisho, adding yet another skill/trade underneath his belt.

With he loud banging and and fixtures slipping into the place, Okisho was done with his part of the project. He took a moment to rest, sipping on some water the workers brought for everyone. The two were fortunate that the construction workers were alright guys, and not a bunch of know it all pricks. Quickly snapping back into the action, Okisho helps out the other worker who was installing the light fixtures, a more detailed task than the fence job. Regardless, guided by the electrician, they made quick work job and before he knew it the group was finished. The project was beginning to take shape. He nods towards the project nearing it's completion.

The other workers took note of Okisho's amazing work ethic, and even offered him a chance to join their brotherhood as an apprentice. Of course, Okisho declined their offer, for he had other plans in mind. He didn't look down at their job, in fact he respected the hard work they put in, he just didn't see himself doing labor like this for the rest for his life. Perhaps, maybe he did look down on the job. He decides to check in on Saku to see how he's doing. If he was doign alright, he would ready the wagon for departure and make his way back to the stables to return the two noble steeds. If not, he of course would help out till the job was done.

Finally, the job was done. The training ground looked pretty good for a one day job. He readies the wagon and gets on it, beckoning Saku to hop on and drop him off where ever he would need to be. Unless, the boy would decide to part way which wouldn't be a problem on Okisho's part. The fellow workers wave Okisho and goodbye as he motions for the horses to move ahead and back to the main street. he sighs at the amount of work the two did. It was no easy feat.

Pulling up to the stables, he drops off the horses back to the stable master, and ventures off back tot he uchiha district. He couldn't wait to get home and hop into the shower, it was much needed and well deserved. "I need to earn a higher shinobi rank, to avoid these missions. I grow tired of this...", he said while looking up towards the Hokage rock.
---
Exit
TWC/ 2,313
Claiming 11,000 Ryo, and 40 AP.
499 words towards Great Breakthrough V7
124 words towards Blistering Web V7.2
1,000 words towards QuickDraw V7.2
250 words towards Candlelight Method V7
440 words towards Double jump V7

Okisho Uchiha wrote:
---
Exit
TWC/ 2,313
Claiming 11,000 Ryo, and 40 AP.
499 words towards Great Breakthrough V7
124 words towards Blistering Web V7.2
1,000 words towards QuickDraw V7.2
250 words towards Candlelight Method V7
440 words towards Double jump V7

Approved!

Footnote: For future reference, be sure to add a link to the progression of any Jutsu the PC is learning (i.e. 499 words towards Great Breakthrough V7 [Progress [url=linkToPreviousThread]Here[/url]])

With the work finally done with the child found themselves sat once again in the wagon. Right now they were likely regretting their choices in their short life. What had led them to this day? What sort of mistakes had they done in a previous line to be forced to do such menial and hellish labour. A joke was being played on them perhaps, though they were unlikely to ever find the answer to such a question. It was a norm for the child, question what they were doing and then never truly find out. Tired was the child, so much so that they hardly even noticed when Okisho joined them in the wagon and had already started travelling to their next destination.

The journey was undertaken in relative silence this time around. For one it wasn't that far away, and also the child wasn't the one driving. Instead the child rested, eyes closed as they waited for the destination to be reached. They weren't entirely sure what the next mission was supposed to be. The child wasn't the best at reading you see, and instead just sort of vaguely went about things until they were told that was not what they were supposed to be doing. They only hoped that it was not more manual labour.

It was more manual labour.

The child could feel the tension. Their partner for the day seemed irritated for some reason, though they weren't entirely sure why. Perhaps they too had not known what the mission entailed. An interesting thought, perhaps the child was not so different from others in this regard. Still it did not change the fact they were to help build...something. The child had sort of zoned out about halfway through the conversation. So when it came to picking the element the child had no choice themselves. The weren't entirely sure what all the elements were to begin with, so Okisho picking was the correct call in the end.

For the next...however long it took, the child did not see much of their mission partner for the day. The two separated into opposite sides and set to work. Now the child was not a construction worker by trade, that much was obvious, so for some time was unsure of how to proceed. They sort of flighted about in silence, helping lift and carry various tools and supplies for the other workers who were struggling while the work was ongoing.

They settled down into being dragged around by an older worker about halfway through the day. What they were doing exactly the child had no idea, but regardless they had been tasked with helping. It involved a lot of holding things steady, handing the right tools over, and listening to a string of profanities that they were far too young to understand the meaning of. Yet despite this the work went relatively smoothly for the remainder of the day.

The child was dismissed sometime later, the job seemingly having been finished or near completion enough for the mission to be deemed complete. There was some minor touch ups needed here and there but for the most part it was functional enough. So the child simply left to go hand in the sheet of paper they had been given. When Okisho reached the wagon the child would have already left the area, preferring to make their own way back than hitch another lift. They had experienced enough wagon rides for today...and maybe for the remainder of the year at that.

The trip back to the mission office was a harrowing one. Exhausted from a hard days work the child was barely paying attention, and only nearly caused several collisions and accidents on the way back. Thankfully there was no harm done, except for angering a few residents but the child didn't really care for that. They would arrive back at the office to hand the mission sheets back to the old man behind the desk. The first time this had happened they had raised an eyebrow, now they simply accepted that this was how the child reported a completion.

With a sigh the elderly man stamped some things, wrote some stuff down, and then handed over payment for the job to the child. "Good work." The man said, clearly unenthused by the entire thing.

And with that the child left the office and headed out. The rest of the day was theirs to spend however they wished. The question now was how would they spend it? They could go for a walk around, they could go get something to eat. The possibilities were truly endless, and for once the child had an answer to the question.

They were going to go nap.

[Topic Closed]

[2295 TWC]

11000 Ryo
40 AP
22 Speed
1142+1358=2500/2500 Sacred Spear
1153/2500 Total Concentration Breathing