Spooky season festival

Missions:

It was finally here—fall time in Kumogakure. It never failed to satisfy all of the senses. The sounds, sights, smells, and feelings of the rain and cold returned to the village. Herozen always got nostalgic when the autumn winds blew through the village. Herozen remembered that he dressed up as the Raikage one year when he was ten. He couldn’t wait for the Halloween parties and dunking for apples. All of the thoughts ran through Herozen’s head. Pumpkin-flavored everything was on the tip of Herozen’s tongue and caramel dipped apples. Herozen was a newly appointed genin in Kumogakure’s shinobi force, but that wouldn’t stop him from soaking up the festive fun that was starting to roll into the village. Right now, Kumogakure is setting up for its annual Halloween festival, with various food carts and vendors with spooky decorations. With fog machines and jack-o’ lanterns, it was setting up to be a wonderful Halloween, and Herozen was glad he wouldn’t have to run security like many other shinobi were. Herozen would have probably asked for the festival off anyway; he was glad when he didn’t see his name up for security detail. This didn’t mean he was safe from missions, but as a genin, he wasn’t expecting to be sent away, so he felt he could handle that.

Herozen practically jumped out of bed in excitement for the Halloween festival season to start. He quickly grabbed a cigarette and sucked it down. He had so much to do and see today. He wanted to help set up however he could. He remembered the sales he would make at his ramen shop and wanted to help those around him do the same. First thing first, Herozen’s to-do list was to decorate the family home with lights and displays he and his family had accumulated over the years. He quickly got showered and dressed in his usual attire: dark cargo pants, a light blue shirt, and a black jacket that held the Uchiha clan emblem on his right shoulder. He left his room to go to the storage room in his house to grab the decorations when his mom stopped him. “Good morning, Herozen. You have orders to go down to the mission administration office today. I would advise you not to be late, or they may pass off all the in-town missions to someone else, and you’ll miss out on the Halloween festival preparations.” She told him in a serious tone but smiling. Herozen knew his mother wanted what was best for him, but she would push him to become the best shinobi he could become. “Alright, Mom, I guess the early bird gets the worm.” Herozen would say, turning away from the storage room and shifting towards the door to leave. “Before you go, you can have breakfast and some tea with your father!” Herozen heard his dad’s voice calling to him from the dining room. Herozen would take his dad up on the offer and sit down for breakfast and tea.

Herozen headed to the mission office in a hurry after he was done with breakfast. As early as Herozen was outside the village was lively. Usually, the streets were barren when he left his house this early, but with the festival preparations getting underway Herozen was scared he wouldn’t make it to the mission office on time. The sky was still dark, but the villagers and the travelers were working hard to prepare the village for an extravagant Halloween festival and they would work around the clock to get it all ready before it started. Herozen had to take the long way because there was so much foot traffic on his way.

When Herozen arrived at the mission administration office there was a lot more activity than he expected. There were a lot of missions to complete and not a lot of time. Herozen would look at the long line of shinobi and find his place at the back. He was hopeful he wouldn’t have to leave the village for a mission, but he knew if he had to he had to. It only took a few minutes for Herozen to approach the front of the line. The administrators weren’t allowing people to loiter, so they would just walk up get handed a scroll and walk out in an orderly fashion. Herozen always noticed how the mission administration office smelled. It was always clean and tidy and smelled like fresh cleaning supplies. When he was summoned to the desk the lady just held out a scroll and Herozen quickly retrieved it. He quickly about faced and walked out making sure he didn’t upset anyone in the line, or the administration team. When he made his way back outside, he would open his mission scroll.

The mission scroll informed Herozen his mission was to help a child named Guiki to pick out a pumpkin. This mission would be easy as cake for Herozen. He recalled when he was younger and he would choose his own pumpkins. He had a natural knack for choosing the best shape and sized pumpkins. Guiki lived on the other side of the village so it would take a while to get there. It was still early morning, but Herozen would check to see if he was ready to search the village for his pumpkin. By the time Herozen arrived to Guiki’s house he had smoked three cigarettes, and the sun was starting to peak over the mountains to the east. Guiki was outside ready to find his pumpkin. “Good morning, are you Guiki?” Herozen would ask the boy playing outside the house. “Yes, sir, are you here to help me find my pumpkin?” Guiki asked, “My parents usually take me, but they have work to get done before the festival starts and they don’t have time this year.” The boy would inform the shinobi. “Don’t worry about it, I’m actually a pumpkin expert.” Herozen said cooly as he smiled at the young boy who couldn’t be older than seven. “Well, let’s get going.” Herozen said as he collected the boy and turned towards the first pumpkin patch.

“We’ll head to the Remitsu farm first, I always found the best pumpkins there and they don’t over charge like a lot of other farms do.” Herozen said as he guided the pair to the pumpkin farm. Once they arrived Herozen was jolted back to when he was small child zooming through isles of pumpkins having the most fun. “I hear these guys are even doing cart rides to the pumpkin patch, you want to try that out?” Herozen asked the boy. Guiki would squeal with excitement at the mention of a cart ride, so Herozen took that as a yes. Herozen saw that others had thought of the idea of coming to this farm because of the cart ride and the quality of pumpkins. Herozen and Guiki waited their turn to get in the cart and got ferried to a pumpkin patch that didn’t have many others in it. Herozen was grateful the Remitsu family farm was a huge piece of land and they were prepared to have several hundred people come and visit. Herozen and Guiki had a lot of fun looking for pumpkins, Herozen had a strategy, he would find a handful of good pumpkins and if Guiki didn’t like them he would start finding really bad pumpkins and then when all hope seemed lost, he would find the best pumpkin the patch had to offer and he would offer that one to the child. Herozen didn’t need to try that strategy because after three pumpkins Guiki found his favorite pumpkin in the patch. Herozen was pleased, when they retuned to the entrance of the farm Guiki noticed there was a lot of activities happening and he asked Herozen if they could participate in a few of them. Herozen was more than happy to oblige the child since his task was over. Guiki and Herozen bobbed for apples, went through a haunted corn maze, and hung out in the petting zoo portion of the farm before they had their fill of the activities and headed back to Guiki’s house.

While on their way back Herozen and Guiki would have a conversation about how much fun they had when the boy asked, “Hey, Herozen sensei, what are you going to dress up as for the festival?” Herozen really hadn’t thought much of it, but he knew the parties he was going to attend would have costume contests. “Hmm, Guiki, you ask an interesting question, I’ve been so preoccupied with the academy I didn’t invest much stock into my costume this year. I know, I’ll be a skeleton and I’ll get some glow paint so the bones will glow.” Herozen said with a short chuckle and a smile. “What about you Guiki, what costume did you get for the festival? I hear the better the costume the better the candy.” Herozen said in a teasing manner. The boy looked up at Herozen and blushed. “I haven’t gotten my costume yet; I think my parents plan on getting me one when they get off work.” He said looking down at his feet. “Well, they’ll have plenty of costumes in the market as soon as the stores open, I’m sure you’ll get a great costume Guiki.” Herozen said trying to improve the boy’s spirit.

When the duo made it back to Guiki’s house there was a note on the door that read, “Thank you for the help Herozen, we’re sorry we left before you got back, we’ve extended your mission. We need you to get Guiki a costume we left some money for you to take, thank you.” Herozen read the note out loud and it seemed like Guiki was getting upset. “You bored of me already?” Herozen asked the boy jokingly. “I was having a lot of fun at the farm. We can go find you a costume and while we’re out we can get some lunch.” Herozen said with a smile to his young friend. Herozen was having a lot of fun with this mission and it kept him from getting taken away from the village so he really didn’t mind helping Guiki out, and he really was a good kid, so Herozen and Guiki would leave the pumpkin at Guiki’s house and turn around and head to the market where they would have a plethora of costumes for Guiki to pick from. To be honest though, Herozen was more excited about the food than the costumes. “Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, I need to pick up a costume for me as well. You want to help me pick mine out?” Herozen would ask as they headed to the market, and Guiki would clench his fist and scream with glee at the idea of helping Herozen out. The fact Herozen cheered the boy up was really making this Halloween festival special to him.

As soon as the two arrived at the market it was pandemonium, a wild zoo. There were hundreds of people both native and from far away shopping at the Kumogakure market for Halloween festival trinkets, costumes, and memorabilia. The smell of lunch foods and treats were making their way to Herozen’s nose. “Guiki, you smell that? It’s the smell of Halloween.” Herozen said drinking in the smells with deep sniffs. “Let’s go check out the costumes, and once we find the best one, we want, we’ll go stuff our faces with all the food!” Herozen said getting more and more excited. The pair squeezed through the crowd careful to stay within arms-length of each other until they found a shop selling costumes. Herozen let Guiki go into the kids’ section while he stayed close to the door making sure the child stayed safe while he inspected a few costumes he might like. Herozen would make sure he would glance at the child sifting through costumes every few seconds, Herozen really didn’t want to mess this holiday up for the child and have something bad happen to him. The boy seemed to be having the same problem as Herozen, they had so many good costumes it was hard to pick one. Just then Herozen had a great idea. “I see you have quite a few like I do, let’s try them on and we’ll let each other decide which we like best!” Herozen said getting himself and the boy pumped for this idea. “That’s a great idea, Herozen sensei, I’m going to try on the pirate costume first!” The boy said squealing with joy as he ran into the changing booth. Herozen would choose the next empty booth and change into an oni spirit costume he thought looked cool. They both exited the changing booth at roughly the same time. The boy seemed to enjoy looking like a pirate with the parrot on the shoulder, wood peg leg, sword on the hip, and hook for a hand. “Look at me,” the boy laughed, “Isn’t this a great costume?” Herozen thought it was a splendid costume and he let the boy know. “How about mine? Isn’t it spooky?” Herozen asked as he made crazy poses. The boy laughed and agreed that it was in fact a great costume. “Do you want to try on another one, or are you happy with this one” Herozen asked as he entered the changing room he just left. “I think I want to try on a few more, but I really like that one.” The boy chimed through the soft drapes that separated the changing rooms. The next costume Herozen would try on was a werewolf costume complete with a wolf mask. Herozen knew it got cold outside at night in the autumn in Kumogakure, so this costume would keep him warm. This costume took a little while to put on so the boy beat Herozen out of the changing area. “I want to suck your blood!” The boy screeched as Herozen stepped out. “Oh, a vampire costume? I really like the cape!” Herozen complimented the boy. “But I’m a werewolf,” Herozen howled so loud the entire crowd got really quiet and laughed at Herozen. This provoked a giggle fit from Guiki which made Herozen laugh from the stomach inside his mask. “How do you feel about these costumes?” Herozen asked he had a few more he could try on, but his stomach was telling him it was time for food. “I’m getting hungry do you want to try on one more costume or are you satisfied with one of the choices so far?” The boy pondered for a moment and then his stomach also growled. “I think I want to be a vampire, and you should be a werewolf, Herozen sensei.” The boy said, walking back into his changing room. Herozen would enter his own and put his regular clothes on. They both hung their unwanted costumes on a rack that would get redistributed back into the store and paid for their costumes.

When they left the costume store, they were both being guided by their noses. They decided to eat some fried meat and steamed rice. Herozen also picked up some pumpkin bread to take home. Both of them were pleased with the food and the costumes. “You’re going to have a lot of fun collecting candy tonight,” Herozen said to the young boy noticing a smile that wouldn’t go away. “This is why I love the Halloween festival. It brings so many people so much joy.” Herozen said, looking around at all the festivities and people participating in them. “Let’s take you home; you’re going to want to get ready to collect candy,” Herozen said to the boy and walked to Guiki’s house.

The boy seemed to be in a much better mood after leaving the market, which pleased Herozen. The Halloween festival was supposed to be a time of wonder and fun, making Herozen feel good about doing these missions. It took him back to the days when he had no responsibilities, and he cherished those memories. The walk back to the house was uneventful, with just the two walking and enjoying the day they were having. As the duo found themselves at the front door, a messenger approached. “Herozen, I have a mission scroll for you; it says to open immediately.” The messenger told Herozen and left.

Herozen opened the mission scroll before he left Guiki. It read, “Thank you for your help today, Herozen. We have both been held up even more than we thought we would. We won’t be able to make it to help Guiki collect his candy. We have extended your mission to ensure he gets home safely from the festivities. Thank you again, Herozen.”  Herozen read the scroll to himself and settled his emotions, and he could party after the mission was over. “Looks like you’re stuck with me for the night, the vampire and the werewolf. Where can we get changed?” Herozen would ask with a big beaming smile. He knew Guiki would be upset that his parents wouldn’t take him, but he could be a good surrogate and ensure Guiki would have fun. The two went inside and got ready.

As soon as they were dressed up, Herozen would grab a pillowcase to help carry all the candy. Guiki appeared to be in high spirits Herozen wouldn’t let him down. “You ready to go? We got a lot of candy to collect.” Herozen said as he and the boy set out to collect candy. Herozen would howl and chase after Guiki every few minutes to help spread joy. They visited several houses and gathered a mountain of candy. There were haunted houses everywhere. Herozen asked Guiki if he had ever been to a haunted house, to which Guiki shook his head and looked downtrodden. Herozen gave Guiki a thumbs up and told him he would take him to a few. Guiki seemed excited, but it seemed like Guiki was apprehensive about Herozen being the one to take him to his first haunted house, but Herozen knew he’d still have a good time. “Hey, buddy, don’t stress this. You know your parents love and care about you. Next year I’m sure they’ll take you out. I know for a fact they aren’t having any fun, and we both are.” Herozen said as he led the way to the haunted house.

As the pair left the haunted house, a silhouette ran into Guiki and stole his bag of candy. At first, Guiki started to cry, but Herozen pulled off his mask with one hand and formed a couple of hand seals with the other, showing off his red eyes. “Uh, Herozen, what’s going on with your eyes” Guiki would ask. “I just wanted to see who stole your candy; it’s just some teenage punk; do you want to get your candy back?” Herozen asked as he casually walked over to the teenager caught in a daze. “What did you do to him?” Guiki asked Herozen with a look of awe across his face. “I just put him under a little genjutsu, don’t worry, he isn’t hurt, but maybe he’ll rethink his life choices.” Just as Herozen got those words out of his mouth, a group of adults surrounded Herozen and Guiki.

“What did you do to the boy? His initiation into this gang was to take a bag of candy from someone who wasn’t worthy of it.” Said a giant man. He was wearing long shorts and a denim jacket. “I guess we will have to beat him for the candy. Break both of them!” The gang leader instructed his gang of five. “Hang on, you’re messing with the wrong one!” Herozen would demand as he activated his Sharingan. “If you look me in the eyes, or I look at you, I can put you under some extreme genjutsu, and if you know anything about the Uchiha clan, you know I’m not lying.” He would say forming a hand seal and placing the guy he made eye contact with under a genjutsu. “I just placed that guy,” he would point at the guy on whom he had just cast a genjutsu. “And I’ll do that to all of you before you even lay a finger on us.” Herozen started trying to make eye contact with all of them, but they all averted their gaze. “Alright, boys, we can find someone else to rob.” The gang leader said as he ran away.

“Thank you, Herozen sensei. I think I want to be you next Halloween festival,” Guiki said, smiling at Herozen. “I don’t think my dad would have been able to scare those guys away. Can you really cast a genjutsu with your eyes?” Guiki had a bunch of questions for Herozen. “Maybe you should join the academy. You’d learn a lot there, and you could protect your family.” Herozen was fond of the child, and he reminded Herozen of his childhood. Herozen walked Guiki home and talked to his parents for a few minutes they were pleased with Herozen’s conduct and that he had helped their son during this special time of the year.

TWC: 3536
Claims:
8,500 Ryo, 42 AP, 35 Fall Fest Tickets and 1 Festival Poster

stat claims: 11 vig, 24 chakra

Jutsu gains: Chidori 3536-2500=1036
Sharringan 1036+1400 (from here) 2436/4000

Herozen Uchiha wrote:Claims:
8,500 Ryo, 42 AP, 35 Fall Fest Tickets and 1 Festival Poster

stat claims: 11 vig, 24 chakra

Jutsu gains: Chidori 3536-2500=1036
Sharringan 1036+1400 (from here) 2436/4000

Approved