Lost Memento! [ M ]

[Kii!]

North of Konoha . . . I thought, staring down at my mission slip with a look of confusion. I'd been north of Konoha for an hour now! There was absolutely no cave of any sort that I could find, much less some memento of a wealthy man. With a sigh, I slumped my body forward and pouted to myself, walking slowly as I stared at the ground. Unfortunately, my utterly fantastic sense of direction was failing me now, so I could only wander. Frankly, I wasn't even sure if I could find my way back to Konohagakure. Closing my eyes, I continued to walk forward, unsure of what to do next.

Then, my foot ran into a small rock, and I tumbled forward. A few spins, about seven meters, and a bruise or two later, I found myself staring at a dark stone cave leading into the ground! It was at a slight angle, embedded into a hill beneath a deep overhanging of earth and vines. I rose, excitedly, wiping a bit of the mud I'd accumulated off of my body, and with a smile strode into the black without hesitation.

"Man! I don't have a way to light this place up," I said to myself, looking around (although I couldn't really see much through the darkness of the cave). The light from outside was diminished some by the overhang, and otherwise wasn't powerful enough to pierce the dark veil as far as I really needed it to. With a snap of my finger, I remembered a jutsu I knew that would give off a bit of light, though it was far from its intended use. Focusing my chakra at my hands, I activated my Onkyuu no Jutsu, instantly lighting my hands with a bright, red chakra. It was a medical technique used for cauterizing wounds, so its immense heat energy easily produced light. I just had to be careful not to touch anything that would burn . . .

SPOILER: Click to show

Lost Memento
Rank: C
Life Cycle: One per PC!
Description: North of Konohagakure, within the forests that surround it, is a deep cave. What's within is unknown, but a wealthy man has requested that his watch, a memento of his father, be retrieved. It was dropped, fell off of a steep hill and was lost within the cave.
Objectives: Find the memento within the cave and return it to its owner.
Rewards: 50 EXP / 1,000 Ryo

[Kii!]

Luckily, the light my jutsu gave off was more than enough to illuminate the area around me rather well. So, I kept my hands out in front of me, careful not to touch myself or anything else that might burn, and proceeded into the cave. It was quite steep, and eventually became even more steep eventually, until it was completely vertical.

What the hell . . . I thought, looking around. At the bottom of the vertical cliff, which I found myself perpendicular to and keeping myself upon using chakra at my feet, was a pool of water. I couldn't hear any running water, and assumed it was simply an underground lake in which water from outside had accumulated over time.

"I bet the lost item is at the bottom!" I shouted excitedly, only for it to echo and reverberate off of the stone walls. With a smile I jumped off of the wall, diving down into the water. As I did, I felt the water around me becoming rather hot quite fast, and realized it was due to the jutsu I had active. The light from my hands faded, allowing the water to cool, but sinking me into a veil of black. After a moment, another light encompassed my hands, fiery in nature and pale green--Shousen no Jutsu. It's light wasn't nearly as strong, though it served its purpose and wouldn't boil me as I swam.

For quite a while I dove down to the bottom of the lake, which I found in this area was about eleven meters deep, and rose again to breathe. However, I'd covered quite a large area and couldn't find what I was searching for. I only stopped when I came to a rock wall short enough for me to climb onto out of the water. As I emerged, my hair and clothes fell heavy, sticking to my body and weighing me down a bit. With a shake, I rubbed my hands through my hair and began to wring out my clothes.

[Kii!]

Crossing my arms, I pouted a bit as I realized that this would be harder than I expected. With the darkness, water, and volume of the cave considered, I could very well find myself searching for ages. Still, this was no time to pout! Shaking my head, a look of determination flashed over my face as I extended my hands to light the area. The water wasn't flowing anywhere, so I knew it was simply sitting in a big hole, rather than running off. Still, that didn't help me much. The item I was searching for could easily be anywhere here.

Unfortunately, the client hadn't been specific. All I knew was that it somehow dropped in here (although, after seeing the steep entrance, I could believe it) and that it was a precious watch of some sort. Unfortunately, thinking about it wouldn't lead me to some marvelous plan that would allow me to find the item with little trouble. Therefore, I simply looked around and realized I was sitting on a sort of stone island at the center of the underground lake. So, with a deep breath, I dove back in.

The liquid was murky and dirty, which was natural for water that drained into a cave from the forest, I supposed. Unfortunately, it didn't seem my swimming was getting me anywhere. There was quite a bit of water left, though, and I couldn't say for sure how large this cave actually was. Every now and then, I'd surface for a quick breath before sinking beneath the water again. I even managed to find a sort of cave beneath the water, which was really more of a sort of overhang from the wall. It was only accessible through the water, but it didn't seem to hold what I searched for, and so I left it rather disappointed.

"Where the hell is it?"

[Kii!]

Deciding that it wasn't at the bottom of the underground lake, I finally rose above the water and lifted myself onto the rocky platform above. Since I was no longer swimming, I allowed the green light of Shousen no Jutsu to fade, only to be replaced by a red, hot light like before. It was a brigher one, and allowed me to see further ahead into the cave. From my position on the platform, I noticed that there was a smaller tunnel that lead deeper into the cave. So, without anywhere else to look, I decided that I'd head there next.

I can't imagine how a watch would just fall this far . . . I thought, checking all around me as I passed by. I was beginning to think that it hadn't fallen down into this cave, to be honest. Unless it had fallen down in here and was somehow taken by someone else, there was no way it could have bounced across the water and over here.

The tunnel was fairly straightforward, as it had no forks or split paths, but it did wind around, this way and that. Eventually, after a bit of walking, I came to a dead end, with no watch to be found. Another sigh escaped my lips as I ran a hand through my ashen hair, uncertain of how to proceed. Most likely, it was just in the water, in an area I had missed. It was hard to say, considering the low lighting of the cave, even with my jutsu.

[Kii!]

Since it's probably somewhere in the water . . . I thought, just before diving down beneath the blue. It all looked the same and very familiar, which made searching for a small item a bit hard. This time, however, as I made my way around a large boulder, I noticed a bit of light glimmering in the distance. It was all in a low-lying line, like light beneath a closed door, and I couldn't help but think the watch could have fit through the crack.

So, I deactivated the jutsu used to give me light and instead encased my fist in a fiery, pale-blue light. Using my enhanced chakra-strength, I'd be able to knock the wall out easily. So, as my fist smashed into the rock, I unleashed the chakra in a blast and it shattered immediately in its entirety. The water began to move, I could feel it pulling me, all rushing through the newly opened hole and filling whatever was on the other side more. So I followed the current and surfaced in an entirely new area.

It was outside of the cave, and I was in a lake, surrounded by trees and vines and flowers. A gasp escaped my lips as I took it all in, unafraid to express my surprise.

[Kii!]

"Woaaah!" Although I lived in Konohagakure, surrounded by the forests of Hi no Kuni, every time I saw them it was amazing. The architecture of nature was beyond that of humanity's by far. So, I spent probably far too long splashing in excitement as I scanned everything around me. Then, I remembered suddenly, that I was on a mission! So I sighed and dove back beneath the water. This lake was large, though much, much easier to search than the last. Since it wasn't extremely deep, the light from above filtered through and made my search much easier.

So much easier, in fact, that I found it quite quickly! It was silver, and glinted in the sunlight, and as I picked it up, I smiled and made my way back up. A deep breath escaped my lips as I pulled myself onto the wet grass, and for a moment simply laid there staring up at the canopy. The sun was beginning to set, so I had to make my way home!

Rising from the ground, I took off, leaping from tree to tree. Thankfully, although I was absolutely soaked and a bit dirty from my search, my leaping through the trees seemed to be drying me off.

[ e x i t ]

[Axcel]

+48 exp