Assisting the Youth (C Rank Mission)

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

Mission Desc.:

The dark clouds drifted around, moving around in what seemed a manner of wandering aimlessly yet knowing they followed a strict direction of the wind, one could say that they have a predetermined goal. One could deduce that the goal is to follow the wind, going wherever it blows and covering whatever needs to be covered, overcoming obstacles by it’s sheer size and the distance it covered. Whatever you did, it is unlikely that you shall change that belief, you can try to blow the clouds in another way yet nothing shall be achieved except the fall of one’s own honor. A philosophical soul could claim that humans are very similar to this – following a predetermined direction or goal, their own “wind”. It is that wind that gives their lives focus and keeps them awake at night, it is the same wind that gets them up from their knees to follow it. Some others could claim that people could not be more different from the clouds, they waste their time choosing a wind to follow, not necessarily following the strongest one, their beliefs can easily be changed by reason that another wind is stronger or takes them a direction that is more fitting. Then again, even the wind itself sometimes changes direction, most of the times drastically making one wonder if the direction before existed at all…

Similar stupid thoughts broke into Hisako’s head as she was standing in the cold near the village gate, waiting for the last piece of her new mission – the young genin. The girl was pleasantly surprised that her previous tester - Yoruma Kuro was also present. The girl met him several times after the test as well, he always treated her with some shade of respect after the test, something she had to earn through blood and tears. Hopefully the fresh one will also earn this as Kuro was definitely a man whose respect is valued, he was oftenly the consultant of the Yoruma elite in just about any question and was said to be the most intelligent Yoruma in the whole clan, some drunk guy once called him the best strategist in the village just to offend a nearby Nara clan member… Despite the words having no actual proof, they weren’t too far from truth, Hisako still has chills from the last words that he said to the victim during her test “Mercy? I’ve planned for this moment since your birth, all this thought would go to waste…”. Just the most of Yoruma, the man had several sides to him, his fighting style altered as well. Hisako seen the Jounin planning events from the sidelines, acting as support and predicting things with almost perfect accuracy, as well as fighting in the front lines, moving his blade through every defense and finding it’s way to it’s target. If there was a man that Hisako respected, he was Kuro Yoruma.

Just like during her own test, the man wore the same dark camouflage-like hooded coat. His only open eye kept moving around, sometimes focusing onto Hisako, then slipping away to something else. The numerous scars on his face were possibly the only detail that could be picked up in his face as it was covered by both the hood and his coat’s collar. Hisako remembered being slightly disturbed after seeing his face completely open: covered by some burns then cuts and bruises on top there were probably no untouched part of his face. His left eye remained forever closed and a huge slash mark over that side of the face served as a clear indicator why. He told Hisako during an ambush before her test was over that it was because a student didn’t follow his plan and tried to run away because the plan included the kid losing an arm. While stories like this sometimes creeped Hisako out (not because of their content, more so due to the calm face that Kuro had while telling this), they perfectly justified Yoruma’s reputation as successful yet disturbing strategists.

“You’ve been awfully silent Hisako…” the man grunted with a husky and grumpy voice, as he told, a result of a failed throat slit. “Yeah…It’s so not me huh, Kuro-san?”, Hisako replied, noting the elderly assassin as one of the few people Hisako uses a honorific on, more so, the only one she uses to show respect. The man cracked a grin, Hisako always thought it was strange that despite his disturbing features, all of his teeth remained intact and looked even better than those of fifty year olds like himself. He most likely remembered how he said a similar thing during her test, to which the girl replied that she prefers doing to saying. “So did you predict that brat being late?” Hisako asked both: as a joke of Kuro’s seemingly know-it-all attitude as well as just wanting to know. The man kept his twisted smile and didn’t say a word, something kept whispering to Hisako that he definitely did though…

Some time has passed since the two were waiting, it seemed that the two were involved in a sick game, who will get irritated first. Strangely neither Hisako or the man showed any sign of irritation. “Hey, guys!!!” the boy finally showed up, jumping down from a tree, Kuro smiled “Why the rush? Should’ve finished that ramen…” the kid looked greatly surprised, so was Hisako after she realized that may have been what he was actually doing. “H-h-how…Did…” he boy exclaimed, Kuro turned around and started walking off “ Scent of eggs, your trousers look wrinkled except your bottom part, suggesting you were sitting on a platform chair, you’ve still got some parts of beef slices on your cheeks splashed when you were eating noodles, your cheek has a red pinch spot, suggesting you were eating noodles with a chopsticks rather clumsily…Plus 15 minutes for ramen preparation, add 20 for eating, not finished as I said before, then taking 12 minutes to get here, it 's the only thing that fits the time schedule…” the shocked expression on the boy’s face never changed back, the man must’ve left some impression. This was to be an interesting mission…

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

The pale lunar discus lit the road with a dim shade of light, giving off somewhat contrasting impression – something that was associated with night and darkness was probably the only source of light. That may change after some time though, the bright dots of light could already be seen. “I wonder what are they selling there…?” the young genin asked. Honestly Hisako didn’t know either, from the look that her elder companion had, she judged that he did but didn’t want to fuel the boy’s curiosity. That could be understood since the boy has been nothing but a noisy brat the whole way: shouting how awesome Kuro’s display of intelligence was before, shouting how fun it is to be in a mission, sometimes just plain shouting for the sake of making noise. Since Hisako was suppose to be largely unseen and only see that the genin’s and Kuro’s cooperation is successful, she did her best not to shut that boy up but he was honestly working his way up the Hisako’s annoy-o-meter. “If you’re trying to keep the wild animals away with your shouting, don’t bother, there aren’t many around here” Hisako groaned after her annoyance had taken it’s toll.

Strangely the Yoruma elder wasn’t annoyed at all, a part of him may have even been enjoying the vitality of his genin companion. Hisako couldn’t understand that at all. “Look out ya jerks, cuz we’re coming for ya, specially I – Hideki Yoruma” the boy shouted as if he was actually trying to warn their target. “Well if you shout any louder, they may do just that…That’s how I lost my eye” Kuro commented with his husky voice. It seemed that even the iron will jounin was starting to get a little annoyed. “Hey, old timer, c’mon tell me something about the mission, how ya gonna do it? You gonna let me do it? We are both gonna do it?" there seemed to be no end to the boy’s needless banter. Hisako couldn’t help but notice just how different this was from her test. Granted the assignment was somewhat the same but she acted differently, she could remember that at that time, she didn’t talk very much at all, that eventually worked out in her team’s favour. There were more of them back then though, there were two experienced genin assistants. “So who is that girl with us? We’re bringing her to lose her, then save her? Don’t worry girl, I’m gonna protect ya…” suddenly the boy’s mouth stopped in shock, Hisako’s knife flashed near the kid’s face. Hideki grabbed his cheek, covering a deep cut, Kuro pouted a little, however it was clear that he was more glad that the banter was shut than angry “Hisako…” was all he let out. The girl blushed and looked at the ground.

“Why did she cut me, I don’t like her, not at all, I’m not going to protect her at all” the kid only managed to keep silent for only about twenty minutes. However this time the thing that finally shut him up was the teahouse that they approached. Kuro lifted his palm for the two genin to wait outside and entered. It took him about half an hour to deal with whatever he had to. Strangely Hideki kept silent the whole time, probably he was a little afraid of Hisako. If that was the case, It probably was for the better, Hisako would rather lose a fan then have to deal with that talking for any longer. “So our guy’s a dice player…There’s no other place in Roiyaru then there to play dice…” Kuro grunted, pointing at a nearby building with flashing lights. Hisako had to hand it to her mentor, the place did look like it was getting a lot of profit and it’s not very likely to see another gambling house like that in the whole Roiyaru. “Alright…I’m busting in” Hideki shouted, charging forward to the building. Hisako almost reached to stop him but Kuro grabbed her hand and shook his head when Hisako’s sight met his. She didn’t understand if Kuro stopped her because she wasn’t suppose to interfere much or if he had the boy’s reaction planned, that was likely, he must’ve read the boy’s file before the test same as he did with Hisako’s.

Few minutes later the doors of the gambling house slammed open, with the boy flying out and a group of men following. Kuro put his hand on Hisako’s shoulder and walked away, it didn’t look like he was going to help Hideki, Hisako grinned “That guy…”. The boy stood up but didn't seem to put up any fight, he was just getting pummeled, it looked like he was just frozen in fear. Hisako slowly approached the gang, turning to the boy “My hero…” she whispered.

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

Despite Hisako’s clear intention of keeping her young genin companion alive, she also wanted to teach him a lesson and also test him, like he was supposed to be tested. With Kuro gone in the shade, there were really no one keeping Hisako in check, in a way she enjoyed that. However like it so often happens, when you are suppressed for a long period of time then released, you don’t really know what to do with the freedom given to you. Hisako currently felt the same way, she knew that the boy was to be kept alive and she could kill every one of those people for threatening him but as she couldn’t pick a way to kill them, she was postponing the very fact of killing. Hideki finally got it in him to stand and grin at Hisako through his bleeding face. He must’ve gotten a nice pounding in there, nothing like he was supposed to get here. Few bandits finally got over the fact that Hisako interfered and tried to keep attacking the boy. It looked as if they were more surprised than triumphant when their attacks actually connected. Hisako didn’t move a little bit to stop them. “Just how much are you able to follow up with your bragging?” Hisako thought, it wasn’t long before the bandits forgot that the blackhead was standing there and all got invested into the fight with the boy.

The term of fight may be misunderstood, some people claim that fight consists of two forces of equal or similar strengths trying to overthrow the other, this was not the case. The boy was simply getting thrashed by those men, despite Hisako noticing no skill in the bandits, they were just common gamblers, someone a genin, even a fresh one should be able to handle. Hisako sensed that the boy was afraid, he may have been able to make a stand if he was able to overcome his fear to act. Not that this fear was uncommon but Hisako definitely didn’t give any points to the boy for it. “He should just die right here… He is of no use to our clan or the village. Just a noisy useless brat, unable to keep up with his loud mouth…” thoughts kept racing in Hisako’s head, she knew that she will have to step in eventually, her heart, as cold as it was, was starting to feel some guilt. The boy was doing very bad, at this point even an ordinary person would’ve at least blocked a punch, the boy just took it all in. “H-h-help…” Hideki spat out with a puddle of blood, reaching for Hisako.

The girl pulled out a knife and drove it into the shoulder of the largest grunt. At that time, they weren’t even guarding, they expected Hisako to just sit this out so they forgot to include her in their plan of battle. Few slashes from her swords right and left and two men fell down. Only two were left. One tried to run, the other faltered, Hisako dashed forward, slashing upwards with her sword, the man must’ve been lost as he attempted to block with his arm. A large splash of blood came out, as the girl chased the running man, she heard a thump. As sadistic as she was, Hisako wanted to believe that it wasn’t a sound of a limb falling down, “Screw this life…” Hisako thought as she finished her chase with a slide, knocking the last person over. Using her hands as a support, she back-flipped, finishing her chase for good, stomping on the man’s chest. In the distance Hisako heard a noise of whistling, Kuro appeared out of the shade. “Neko…I remember why I called you that now… You could use some teamwork skills though…” Hisako looked at her idol with a questioning look, he looked so calm as if nothing happened “I slipped a little sleeping powder into the our fellow’s drink while he was watching over his grunts…Should’ve been more careful, Hisako, that guy you “disarmed” will bleed out soon, what if he was the guy we needed?”. As usual when Kuro scolded her Hisako blushed and nodded, she did feel some shame about the whole situation, “Good thing you predicted the target to stay inside and watch, Kuro-san”. The man gave Hisako a strange look, looking similar to an elderly lady that was praised for her beauty…

“Awww man it hurts…” Hideki shouted from nearby bench, he looked a lot better than Hisako thought he was, it seemed the boy had a talent for taking hits. “Why didn’t you help me faster, Hisako-chan?” the boy whined, reminding Hisako of his annoying, rather high pitched voice. Hisako started wondering just why did she save him at all. Failing a mission sounded a lot better than having to work with that annoying brat. “You two really know each other? I mean I had time to recover and snatch this bottle from some wimp in the gambling house…”. At first Hisako didn’t gave much further thought to what Hideki just said, her elder companion seemed to have made a similar mistake, when the words had finally caught up to them, it was too late – the boy had emptied half the bottle… An hour later Hisako and Kuro were still resting, while waiting for Hideki to wake up. The girl looked at her sleeping genin partner, only when seeing him out cold did Hisako take notice of his details. His rugged and torn up black and red jacket and khaki pants, his messed up, spiky dark red hair. Then Hisako's look slipped at her elder friend. “Bet you didn’t predict that, Kuro-san?”, the man laughed out loud “I must admit I didn’t. One cannot predict stupidity…” Hisako looked into the night sky, some small signs of a coming morning were present, the moon was almost on the other side and the nightly shroud was already getting less and less thicker in patches. The next day, they will have to restart their hunt again, with no leads on the location of their target or any advantages. This mission may just end up being harder than the girl thought it would be.

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

As the morning breached, Hideki was still asleep and from the looks of it, there didn’t seem to be any end to his sleep. Kuro must’ve used some really strong sedative to put the boy to sleep. Hisako wondered why did her partner need to put that man asleep in the first place but she decided not to ask, she remembered how irritated the man can be if someone asks a stupid question. His definition of a stupid question was rather wide, it included pretty much anything that didn’t made him feel praised or superior. That was one of the sides that Hisako didn’t like about Kuro. “So I’ve seen you learned how to handle things…” Kuro broke the silence that Hisako could’ve sworn lasted for hours, without question, the man drew one of Hisako’s swords and cut into his arm. Despite quite a deep wound, the man seemed to have little worry, “Hmmm, sharp, more of the slicing and cutting kind…Strange mix of steel, blood gives it the color? Fascinating “ Kuro kept mumbling, Hisako knew that every question he asks during his mumbles was a rhetorical one. No doubt he knew who those blades belonged to however Kuro did not ask another question just put the blade back and started whispering something under his nose. There were days when Hisako thought that the man had long since went mad…

“So…We need to know where the money is cashed out. That’s our last lead.” Kuro once again started speaking in an acceptable volume and tone. Hisako looked to his face with a questioning look, the man’s eye once again glew with the spark of smarts so familiar to anyone who worked with him “Clearly the money isn’t just held in that place, seen how hectic it is? I suspect that those grunts near the gambling house know where the money is cashed out, it is too bad that my face is long since not as charming as yours…”. Hisako tsked after realizing what Kuro was suggesting her to do. It couldn’t be helped however, those guys may be the last thing that keeps this test and Hisako’s mission from being a total disaster. It wasn’t that Hisako has never tried to flirt something out or definitely not that it never worked, in fact it almost always worked, Hisako just always liked the hard way better. Kuro smiled and gave her something that looked like black powder, Hisako assumed that was the sedative that took out Hideki, only in smaller quantities. This was going to be fun…

The girl stood up and took of her jacket, tore off her sleeves and slapped some dirt on her clothes, then messed up her hair and slapped some more dirt on her face. The previous fight with the bandits left Hisako some bandit blood on her face that gave her the “charm” she needed. Her aim wasn’t to act like a pretty girl, that trick was just too old, everyone who has ever left Konoha knew what these guys liked: young nukenins or youths orphaned by war. Those were the prime target for the bandit gangs, girls may have also been appreciated for their inexperience and sometimes used for other purposes… Everyone who had ever left Konoha seen those kids wandering around, mostly they kept their distance from Roiyaru, that was what made Hisako’s act so tempting for the band. After the “makeover” was complete, Hisako walked out of the bush, she was almost sure that Kuro would laugh, however he just nodded. Hisako played some more with her hair, sending some strings to cover her face, making those innocent yet ruthless eyes the orphans she seen had.

The men seemed to have taken the bait almost instantly, Hisako’s torn clothes and mud gave them the right message, it seemed. Hisako smiled and shown some piece of random papers to the men “Hey guys, yesterday I got a buncha checks from that hole over there, was wonderin where a gal could cash em in, can’t even read ya’know?” Hisako wabbled, trying to imitate the manner the speech of the people she heard from around those parts. The men gathered in a closed circle and whispered a little, any sane minded kid would’ve dashed out of there but Hisako’s character was “stupid” so she just remained standing and smiling with the most idiotic smile that Hisako could make. “Tell ya what kiddo, since we are all fair gents, we are going to lead you there…” the largest guy grunted. His tone almost reeked of lies, though something made Hisako wonder what if they don’t lead her to the cash house just try to rob her on the way? Hisako smiled with her idiotic smile and went on to follow the company, noticing Kuro picking Hideki up and following them, keeping his distance like he should. There was no doubt that Kuro would do his job and Hisako seemed to have done hers, Hideki being passed out was probably for the better despite it being his test…

Soon Hisako realized that her fears may not have been silly, the men kept leading her to more distant and overgrown parts, the girl even forgot last seeing the road. There was very little chance that the cash house was anywhere near these parts. Then it hit Hisako, this was all in Kuro’s plan, she was supposed to get robbed so they can follow them to the cash house when they go to cash in themselves… “Damn…Must’ve known” Hisako cursed in her thoughts, she had seen similar planning by Kuro countless times, how could she believe that the man would just make such a simple plan without one of his team getting robbed, beat up or maimed? Despite somewhat grim thoughts, Hisako kept following, she knew that this had to be done. “I bet you gave that powder to use on myself, you old fart…” Hisako let off a sarcastic grin, when the men finally turned around and one attacked Hisako with his elbow. The girl had plenty of time to dodge but she knew that it wasn’t her part. The girl took the hit, then few more, after one to the stomach she decided that her character had enough and fell down, “accidentally” dropping the sheets in the process. The men grabbed the papers and ran off. Hisako took some time to get over the pain and stood up, at the same time Kuro emerged from the bushes “Let’s go…We have them”, Hisako grunted as her stomach and back still hurt “Yes Kuro-san”

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

Few miles following the gang’s tracks, Hideki finally woke up on Kuro’s back, almost immediately Kuro dropped him down. “Whazzgoinon?” Hideki shouted, somehow not alerting the group, his words seemed to strangely tie with each other, Hisako kept hoping that would keep the boy from talking. He looked at Hisako, noticing her messed up look and few bruises from the assault, he tried to ask something but his words once again collided with each other to a combined mess of words. Kuro put his finger to his lips trying to warn Hideki not to speak and pointed to the group that were slowly disappearing in the forest. Hideki jumped on his feet and nodded energetically. Hisako and Kuro felt relieved that he had enough mass in his head not to speak too much. Maybe he finally learned something in this test. Knowing half of it was spent passed out, unlikely. Finally the massive forest was disappearing, leaving only few trees in the way, finally the gang and Hisako and the group behind them got back on Roiyaru road. The group went on for some time, actively arguing about things, most likely about how they will split the fake check. Just how were someone as dumb as those guys trusted with the location of the cash house remained a secret to Hisako.

The group entered, Kuro waved and disappeared in the alleyway again. Hideki shouted in surprise and cursed, Hisako, at this point, wasn’t surprised all that much. She never thought for a second that Kuro abandoned them but his planning started to get under her skin, despite it always working. Hisako and Hideki burst inside the building. The group of bandits were sharing drinks with some other group, remembering how Hideki described the man he took the drink from Hisako located the wimpiest looking man, that man was to remain alive, to be taken out later, the others were expendable. The large bandit that talked to Hisako before stood up “Why you…” not finishing the sentence as a kunai ended up in his chest. This time Hisako decided not to toy around, Hideki took out a kunai too “Alright we’re kicking butts now huh, Oneesan?”. Hisako charged at the group, slashing left and right, finishing up with a spinning slash with both blades, taking out at least five bandits “Call me that again, brat, I dare you…”she replied, trying to direct her rage to the fight more productively. Hideki laughed and charged at the group as well. One bandit was more than enough to take his full attention, however.

In the end, the quantity of bandits proved a little more important of a factor as more and more appeared from the depths of the cash house, some even using amateur water clones. Hisako started growing weary, skipping few knife slashes and numerous punches and kicks. Hideki started getting pummeled as well, Hisako at least maintained some guard and still kept taking people down or out. “Come on, kill those ninja bastards, free guns and drinks for everyone…” the wimp kept shouting from the sidelines, it blew Hisako’s concentration as well as the fact that now she had to defend Hideki from what looked lethal attacks, getting beat up even more. “Everyone, attack at once” the black market dealer commanded as the last and the biggest wave of clones and bandits appeared. At this point Hisako had little ideas, her heart got calmer however when a husky “Mud Style: Antlion Pit” echoed throughout. The girl jumped on the nearest wall, using the tree climbing jutsu and a twisting cyclone of muddy mass flooded the room, washing most thugs away. After the wave cleared out, Kuro appeared on a staircase from the shadows and jumped down, Hisako let got of Hideki who managed to grab her arm, then get a hold of some structure.

Kuro grinned, once again revealing his perfectly intact smile “A true assassin kills only those marked, you wasted enough people today, Neko, needed your help to lure all of them out in the open to maximize the efficiency of the wave…” Hisako didn’t pay much attention to what sounded just like another excuse to her. Hideki looked a lot more angry though, swearing and waving his arms, just as could’ve been expected from him. Kuro looked at his target, the thin man turned around, only to see the elder assassin behind him. Kuro blew some of the black power into the man’s face, forcing him to breathe some in. The man collapsed in a matter of seconds. “A true assassin leaves no mark that he ever acted”, Kuro grunted while making few handsigns. A small stream of mud splashed into the open mouth of the dealer, probably stuffing his airway. It was likely that Kuro himself couldn’t have predicted how the people that find him will interpret this but it looked like he collapsed drunk and suffocated with what came out or something similar. Hisako was impressed even if this wasn’t her favoured way to kill. Kuro turned at the boy “I will pass you if you want, however the way you are, you are a pathetic and useless piece of trash, you will get yourself and everyone else killed like you almost did here…” Hideki looked down for few moments, then he smiled “Then I’ll get stronger, I’ll train hard, I won’t be afraid, I’ll change…” Hisako turned away, she knew that Kuro will pass him, she just felt bad for Hideki’s future team and didn’t want to hear any more of this stupid crap. As far as she knew, her mission was completed…

[Mission Completando]