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 Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:48 pm
S-Rank Mission: Desert botany, Family feud
The Village hospital has extended an open request for medical supplies, including medicinal herbs. Syaoran Masamune, of the ANBU, has volunteered to lead a team of ninja across the ocean in pursuit of several rare plants that grow in the region of his childhood home. Haganegakure, the village of his birth, lies eighteen hundred miles across the ocean, in the middle of a vast desert. That he has an ulterior motive is clear, but his offer is too good to pass up.
Knowing the high level of risk (and illegality) in sending ninja to any foreign country without proper authorization, the mission will hereby be ranked S. Only reputable ninja may apply.
The group is to keep a low profile, and guard the valuable cargo sent along in the trade caravan at all costs. Secure as many possible herbs and medicinal texts/tools as possible for the village, make no mention of the ninja in the group.
The group members are also ordered not to allow Masamune out of their sights once in the village. Knowing his history and reasons for leaving Hagane, he is a high risk of doing something regrettable. He is ideally to be kept as busy as possible in his duties as guide and chief merchant/security officer.
Story thus far...
As the date of departure draws near, Masamune has become increasingly agitated. He eagerly awaits the arrival of his teammates.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:03 pm
Syaoran Masamune Paced around in a circle by the gates. The gatekeeper wouldn't allow him to leave without his team, and he was getting annoyed that none of them had shown up yet. The traders had arrived and were at the moment loading their freight onto several wagons for the trip to the coast, where the rest of the journey would be taken by sea. Syaoran made attempts to inventory the cargo, but he was too excited to pay much attention, and in the end just resigned himself to pacing while the traders did their work.
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:56 pm
Manndar had finally made it to the meeting point shortly after Masa started pacing. Honestly, Manndar didn't know why he was suddenly going on this mission, but he just assumed that one of the perks for being a jounin is to travel to far off places like this.
Manndar arrived with little knicks and a few pieces of tissue stuck to his chin. Manndar could fight with great dexterity and skill, but in his first attempt at shaving he butchered it miserably.
"Sorry I'm a tad late." Manndar said with a grin as he rubbed the back of his head. "I had some complications this morning."
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:18 am
Syaoran glared at Manndar, then smriked slightly when he saw the nicks and TP squares.
"'Bout damn time" he said, adding, "And honestly, giving you sharp pointy objects and letting you play with them was the worst idea ever. I've tried to get them to take them away, but..." He gave a helpless shrug, then gestured to the carts.
"You can help speed this up. Start loading. It'll be the best exercise you get until we make land in a few weeks. Be sure to take an inventory of everything you load, the Second wants records of everything that happens on this trip, being that it's our first venture off the continent."
Giving the cuts another look, he finished with, "And try not to break anything. It's valuable goods, meant for barter. Damaged freight can't be sold."
Syaoran showed Manndar how to take inventory on the clipboard and set him to work, then continued to pace as he oversaw the operation.
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:16 pm
"Right." Manndar said when he was finished with the lesson from Masa. He then cracked his knuckles and headed towards the carts. Since the stuff was valuable, Manndar took his careful time but even that was a couple leagues above the loaders. Boxes that took two of them to carry or load, Manndar loaded by himself. The smaller boxes, he took two or three at a time so he could still see. Manndar inventoried the boxes as he loaded them and then went for another load. Nedless to say, the pace was greatly swifter.
Manndar had finished a good ten minutes later, and he didn't break a sweat yet. "Here ya go, boss." Manndar said with a grin as he handed back the clipboard. Manndar's handwriting was legible but it definitely looked like he was self taught. "I tried to refrain from drawing doodles on the bottom right corner."
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Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 2:08 pm
Syaoran thanked Manndar and copied the inventory into the main ledger, then went about checking the wagons, making sure everything was secure and undamaged. Satisfied, he set the ledger down in the front compartment of the first wagon and continued his wait. The few wagonloads of merchandise they had wouldn't seem like much, but they'd be meeting another caravan on the road in a couple days, from a neighboring village interested in the unique opportunity to trade overseas. This would double the amount of wagons they had to defend, and by increasing their size, would increase the priority they got from Hagane.
"Hey, Manndar. If you like, you can go grab a couple of snacks for the road. We have enough food for the trip ahead, but it'll be a long time before we see another store that carries junk food. Your money won't be any good where we're going, so best spend it on what you need while you still can" he said.
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:21 pm
"Don't worry about that." Manndar said with a grin as he pointed over his back. "I've already brought a backpack full." In order to stay healthy, Manndar had noticed that he needed to eat a lot more than other ninja, most likely because he trains more physically than most so snacks are always on hand now a days.
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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:36 pm
By pointing backwards, Manndar unknowingly pointed out Kei, the raven haired jounin was in the middle of raiding his colleagues backpack and pulled out a bag of chips that he opened up and began to munch on. Turning around, the wind user approached his teammates for this mission at a leisurely pace, unhurried by the fact that they were waiting for him, because the ship wasn't due to board for another half an hour. "Hey there Masa, Manndar. Long time no see." Kei greeted them with a grin and a two fingered salute.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 9:23 am
"And where the hell have you been? We're all ready to go as soon as our last member arrives" Syaoran said testily. He was eager to get on the road, and the holdups were pissing him off more than a little. The ship would be disembarking in three days, and the trip to get there would take at least two. They couldn't afford to waste time. Still, they weren't going anywhere without their last man.
"Make yourselves comfortable. We're leaving at two this afternoon, with or without our teammate. Until then, we've got to wait." he said, cursing the fact as he said it.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:15 pm
Manndar ignored the potato chip thievery. He just simply smiled and said "Yeah, I guess its been awhile." Manndar couldn't help it, not only was he going on a mission, but he was also supposed to travel on a boat. Just thinking about all that water he could use if a combat situation arose filled him with excitement. ".....I can't wait for this. I've never actually traveled on a boat before!"
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 1:09 pm
"I've done it. Once, when I first came here. I'm not overly fond of water, myself. Not looking forward to spending the better part of a month at sea." he said.
The last time he'd taken this trip, he'd been on the run, fearing for his life after the murder of his whole clan. Just thinking about a boat trip had him in a foul humor. The fact that he was going back home made it worse. He knew it wasn't his safety keeping him from returning. He didn't want to revisit his old home because it would mean coming to terms with the past he'd been running from his whole life.
At least Manndar and Kei seemed to be in good spirits. Damn them. Syaoran made a mental note to keep himself busy until their excitement died down.
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 1:29 pm
"It's not that bad Masa, my biggest concern is if your sister decides to met us at the other port, or even on the ship. Bad blood with no escape routes doesn't sound like the best thing to me." Kei said in a seemingly casual manner but still capturing the seriousness of their situation. "We're going to have to keep aware this entire trip, we have no idea how far the reputation of Gaioh has spread or the level of threat others might take us as if we were to be discovered, so nothing can happen while we're at sea or at our destination." Kei remarked as he flipped a chip into the air like it were a coin, leaned back and caught it in his mouth.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:19 pm
Manndar sat there and listened for awhile. Apparently he was more out of the loop in the village then he thought. He didn't even know the entirety of the mission specs according to what Kei was talking about, but there was one thing in the conversation he new about.
"When it comes to our village's standing. I'd assume that we are a village of mid-strength. We don't have to fighting forces that the top villages have, but our forces are strong. But we are known enough to get missions from areas that could easily get help from other locations. And, we haven't been invaded yet, so that could be a good sign.
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:48 pm
"Well, Gaioh's reputation is spread at least as far as the Hidden swamp village that Chaos comes from. I've had the pleasure of visiting it once before. Unfortunately, we were attacked on that occasion. However, it turned out to be a family affair, and not directly attributed to village rivalry. Still, I don't think we made any new friends on that trip.
Secondly, Gaioh is known of by the residents of Hagane. Or at least it Used to be. My mother was an Ichijin, before the Ninja war that destroyed Gaioh, she went to Hagane on a mission much like this one. My father is said to have taken an interest in her from the moment he laid eyes on her at the gates. But it's a long story, best saved for the trip ahead. I suppose that mother was indirectly the cause of my choice to run to Gaioh after... I might never have heard of it if it hadn't been her homeland."
Syaoran looked pensive for a moment, then frowned as he came out of his thoughts.
"Anyway, my sister will not be a problem. She seemed to have had a brush with a particularly unsavory form of plantlife when I last saw her. You might see it along the trip if you're unlucky. The parasitic plant that she uses for her techniques should have killed her by now. But I suppose you can never be too sure. After all, Chaos seems to have done wonders to survive his own deadly affliction. Hopefully he's the exception to the rule." He said, and meant it. Kasumi was a tough one, and even though Syaoran had gotten so much stronger since then, if Kasumi had survived... there was no reason to think she'd be a pushover. But for now, Syaoran was worried what kind of welcome he would receive if he was recognised in his home. He supposed the circumstances of his leaving would not look good. Hopefully everyone just thought he was dead. There had been so many slain that night..
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:21 pm
When Manndar heard Chaos's name mentioned, his facial expression slightly changed. He didn't like how Chaos left and became an enemy of the village, but he couldn't change that. He sat down on the ground and began to eat an apple. It looked like he was deep in thought for a few moments before he spoke again.
"So, how much fun do you think this mission is going to be?" Manndar asked as he began to eat the apple core. "I've been doing nothing for way too long."
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