The Curmudgeon Mission [C Rank]

[Guyviroth]

SPOILER: Click to show

The Curmudgeon
Rank: C
Repeatable: Once Per PC
Description: A thug has causes terror in the streets of Konohagakure By robbing men and vandalizing homes he has become quite the burden. Unfortunately he is also quite elusive and difficult to track down. This man must be found, else the citizen of Konohagakure will lose faith in their shinobi.
Reward: 50 EXP and 1,000 Ryo

It was any wonder how long it had been since Helios did any sort of mission. A week? Maybe two? It didn't matter; today was the day where he would stand on his own two feet, walk out that front door, and prepare to show the Hidden Leaf exactly who he was. Who was he? A naked pale shinobi. Before contemplating even setting a single step past the door frame he had to get himself ready for his mission. Hopping from his bed, Helios gave himself a good stretch, arms wide apart as his back arched to the rear. He turned to find his robe, sword and hakama sitting upon the dressing table. Quickly he got his gear together, put on his sandals and stepped out the door.

Outside was definitely one of the more better days Helios had seen in a while. Then again, he was cooped up in his room dying of muscle pains for a while that all he could see on the village was the top half of the Hokage's castle, several trees and one caterpillar on the window sill. The sky was of a bright ice blue, crystaline if it were to take a shape, with passing cotton clouds drifting seemlessly through heaven's gentle breeze. It was certainly a day that Helios could get to grow used to. He only wished that every day was as grand as this. Unfortunately, with so much heat the village tends to get and with the moisture from the trees, it tends to rain as much as it does shine. It's a shame it doesn't snow either.

The pathway to the mission office seemed to be clear today; perhaps because most of the missions had been done while Helios was taking his break. It was a shame really, Helios wished that it would be more busy to show that he could be needed at any given time due to the lack of available workforce. Now it made Helios feel like he was slacking for so long that all of the redundant and petty tasks now lay upon his shoulders. Still, he had to do something; he needed to keep fit, get some training, and more importantly the experience. He looked at the stairway that proceded to the mission's office, not knowing the last time he'd seen such an incline. His legs began to feel the pain before he even took a single step, but nonetheless he proceded onwards, ready for his next assignment.

[Guyviroth]

How long had it been since Helios has climbed such amount of steps? Oh, right, the last time he did a mission. Helios wasn't so much as worn out, but he could feel his legs start to numb from the muscle pain, and also from the amount of stairs he had to ascend. They were amount ready to buckle and break underneath the rest of his body, and he had to support himself up right by leading to the side of the wall, an open plam and outstretched arm bracing the rest of his being. His free hand reached into a pouch for a cigarette, to which he nestled between his pale lips before withdrawing a lighter from the same place, oil fueled with ignited as soon as he flipped up the top. Withdrawing a breath, the end of the paper began to smolder, burning a bright orange before a trail of blue smoke began to emit from the end. Exhaling, a puff of grey smoke let loose from his mouth into the air. Putting away the lighter, Helios was about to knock on the door, but he could hear voices.

"How is it this man hasn't been caught yet!"

"Whenever this guy strikes, he disappears without a trace, captain,"

"No foot prints, no finger prints, not even so much as a smell for the ninken to follow!"

"God DAMNIT! I want this scumbag found and caught within the week before I start--"

Helios opened the door, to which two Jouning were stood in front of the large oak desk, while the third man, the one shouting, stood up hunched over, hands planted flat on the top of the desk amongst various sheets of paper. Helios could make out they were reward and wanted papers, more than likely for the man they were after. The three of them were shocked to see Helios, although he couldn't really pinpoint why exactly. But, as he took a drag from his cigarette, he finally realised why.

"You! What are you doing with that thing? You're too young to be smoking, you know that right!?"

Helios found the man rather obnoxious to start with. It seemed as though whomever was handing out missions before was either rotered out for the day or was permanently replaced by this guy. Even though he was his superior in terms of rank, he wasn't an authoritive figure to tell him what he could or could not do in terms of smoking. Helios looked up, droopy eyed, still a bit exhausted from the stair climb, although that was probably something to do with the smoking habit. "I'm sure your criminal affairs is more important than a child smoking, right?" The jounin grumbled a little before sitting back down. He placed both elbows upon the desk, fingers intertwined within eachother as he stared intently at Helios. "Perhaps you need someone to keep an eye out for your man. I'm aware your Jounin can't be everywhere at once, so let me have a crack at it. Besides, what decent criminal would suspect a child to capture then when your Jounin couldn't?"

The Jounin were about to reprimand the boy for his insolence. What right did he have to mock the powers of the Jounin despite not actually having caught or even seen the criminal? But, the captain was more lenient; Helios was right after all. A criminal wouldn't suspect a child to be watching him for his crimes if he was only looking out for the Jounin. It would be the perfect undercover operation.

"Right, you've got it kid. Here's your paperwork, and here's your mission statement. Not like it's gonna help you.

The guy wasn't too wrong either. There was no picture attached to the documents, no description of the criminal, and no statements or witness testimonies to what he wears or what he looks like. If the Jounin were to be believed, he lives no foot prints, no hand prints, and no smell. It's a wonder if this was even human. Regardless, Helios nodded and walked out of the door. He had a rather good idea where to start first.

[Guyviroth]

The day hadn't gone by as much as Helios thought it did with the amount of time he spend in the missions office. Not to mention the amount of time it takes to get up and down them damn stairs. You woulda thought they'd put in some sort of elevator or something. Either way, It wasn't going to be a hassle spending a great amount of time finding this guy, as long as it was today. The day was young, so Helios had several hours to do what needed to be done. The only problem he had was how he was going to keep an eye on the guy if he didn't know what he looked like, not even so much as a height differentiation or even a gender to go by. For all he knew, it could be some kid... but then again, what kind of kid would know not to leave handprints, foot prints or smell? Even Helios wasn't that grand in preparation. Then again, he'd never thought of stealing anything before.

Before Helios wandered out into the streets, he sat by the steps of the stairwell that lead to the mission's office, at least where the thief, if he was around, wouldn't be able to see him. He began to scan through the documents, particularly the areas the thief had attacked. The thief's first robbery was from an old lady, Mrs. Yamaki's house, four days ago at 12:08 AM, the item was a ruby set ring. The second robbery was from a middle aged man, Mr. Tazami, three days ago, at 2:30 AM approx, item was a sword. The third was a vandalism crime, again three days ago, but at 4:16 AM, about an hour and a half after the robbery. Vandalism description details two broken windows at a Mr. Hideki's house. The cause of vandalism was unknown; the windows were shattered cleanly through blunt force but no item was picked up at the scene of the crime. The last charge was two days ago, another vandalism charge, this time graffiti, along the back alley way between Mrs. Yamaki's house and her next door neighbour.

It was definitely an odd set of charges for a criminal to go by but it was what it was, and Helios needed to solve this. The only problem is that the last charge, the graffiti charge, was documented to be a series of tags; pictures that are associated with the artist in order to easily identify them by their creator. The attached pictures showed of the ring, the sword, the smashed windows, and the graffiti tag. The ring was made of a thick gold, perhaps 24 karat. The ruby was of a spherical cut, set into the ring in a four pronged flower decor. The sword was a wakizashi blade, the scabbard was a pure black with a dragon etched into the wood to give it an outstanding decoration, while the sword itself had a silver hand guard and black fabric covering a silver handle. The windows were, well, broken windows. The tags were of a kitten face, smiling, with a sunshine behind it, with the words "I can bring you happiness" sprawled underneath.

The crimes seemed to be of a rather fitting for a person of such calibur, but the last crime was a bit jouvenile. A guy steals two items, smashes two windows, then paints a picture on someone's wall. Helios couldn't bend his head around it and could only think that this last act of vandalism was caused by someone else and not by the same person who commited the previous crimes. Helios sat up from the steps, still looking at the pictures before finding another on the reverse side of the last page of the documents; a scaled map of the village, bird's eye view, with four circled locations, each matching the locations of the crimes. Good enough, the locations were considerably close knit to each other. It was about time he set off to work.

[Guyviroth]

Helios' best bet was to procede to the first area on the map, the first crime as it was marked down. Helios turned the street to find the house in which the crime took place, although the neighbourhood was lively; the kids were out playing, some of the grown ups were taking out the trash, watering plants, mowing the lawn; general chores as it were. However, looking down at the map, the house circled was four houses down on the left side, and coincidentally, that house, four buildings down to the left, had nothing going on outside. It was rather strange, although Helios suspected that it was because of the robbery; those kinds of things can leave tremendous impacts on people who least suspect it.

Strolling down the path, avoiding the kids as he smiled past them, some of them bumped into his legs, especially one kid who held a bright red ball between his little hands. The grown ups looked up to him, recognising him, waving to him, greeting him warmly. It was the first time he had ever been treated so kindly in a long while. Or maybe he had just forgotten being treated like that before. Regardless, he smiled to each person who took the time from their daily routine to so much as lift their heads, wave, smile, say hello, or even just a simple nod to acknowledge his presence. It was a great feeling, helios thought.

He arrived at the door marked on the map; a dull purple door, wood cladding, presumably oka or cedar. He gave a couple of knocks on the wood panel, making a nice hollow knocking sound, although that kind of made Helios think a bit; the door way hollow so it would of been easy to break in to, and yet there was no signs of forced entry. The culprit must be some sort of elusive thief, although that didn't explain the vandalism either. After some though, the door opened to find a skinny, petit woman, her hair done up in twin buns planted in either side of her crown. Her eyes were half closed, red, with flustered cheeks. She must of been crying, Helios thought to himself.

"C...Can I help you...?"

The woman hicced as she spoke; she must of been considerably upset, especially considering the thief was still loose and, as far as anyone could guess, would strike at these people again. Helios, breathed in and out suddenly, but in his mind he gave out a big sigh; it was a shame that a woman so fair, so frail, yet sweet and innocent, could be a target of such a crime.

"I'm sorry to intrude on you at this time miss, but," Helios flicked through the documents and pulled out the picture of the golden ring. The woman gasped slightly, her face crept a smile in hopes that it had been recovered and Helios was here to confirm the owner was indeed her. "I was wondering if you could tell me about this ring that was stolen from you? It would help in the investigation, too." The woman sighed and invited Helios into the house. Both sat upon chairs, angled not directly opposite but where both could make natural eye contact.

"The ring... it belonged to my husband before he--"

The woman began sobbing into a hankerchief she held so gently within her hands. It pained helios to see her like this, but he had to press the issue if he wanted to get somewhere. "I'm sorry miss, but could you tell me what happened on the night of the robbery?" Helios needn't write any of the information down, seeing he was very good at remembering details. Not names though, but details.

"I-I woke up when I felt a draft come in, and," The woman tried to speak words between hiccups. "... I didn't see my window open... I thought maybe the bathroom window was, but... when I left my room I saw the front door wide open. I thought maybe the wind was strong that evening that the lock broke, but... when I turned back around, I noticed the cabinet was ransacked too. And that's when... I found the ring missing."

The details were clear. No forced entry on the locked door meant the thief used a set of lock picking devices to break into the house. The thief also made off with the ring before Mrs. Yamaki awoke from the draft. For her to of felt the draft in her sleep must of been several minutes. But it leaves the question; how did the thief know where the ring was? Or maybe he was looking for a wallet and came across the ring? The report indicates that only the ring was taken, leaving behind several scraps of paper and a set of keys, presumably for the front door.

Helios stood up, rather pleased with what was uncovered, but still no description of the criminal. Still, it was information that he could use. The door was lockpicked open, meaning that the thief must of acquired such tools from a shop within the village. helios could definitely use this to his advantage. "Thank you for your time, miss. I assure you that we have made this our top priority and we'll reprimand this criminal for what he has done. Have a good day, miss." Mrs. Yamaki smiled and nodded, seeing Helios out. One place down, three to go.

[Guyviroth]

One of the markings on the map, number 4, was circled right around from Mrs. yamaki's house. Looking back over the notes, he realised it was the graffiti tag. He wished he could of questioned her about it, although it did seem she hadn't been out of the house since the incident. regardless, turning the corner he found the tag on the wall, although the picture made it out to be considerably larger than it actually was; it was a very small paint tag, not even a foot square in surface area. It was a pretty good tag though; the picture didn't do it justice. He examined the handwriting of the message along the bottom, and it was considerably neat either, as though a kid had written it.

As he pondered over the tag, he began to deduce that it was not related to the case at hand. However, he heard two kids approaching the alleyway where he was, He could make out both of their voices distinctively; one was a boy, probably no older than 10, while the girl had a very high pitch, quiet, squeaky voice. Helios had no knowledge of differentiating a girl's age through their voice. The voices became much clearer though, but he made no attempt to hide his presence. Perhaps he could question them about what has been going on around here.

"C'mon, Ayumi, I've got something really cool to show ya!"

"Erm... okay, Tetsuro... but, where are we going...?"

"It's a surprise! I know you're gonna like it! Just round this corner and--"

The kids only found Helios staring back at them as they turned down the alleyway. The kids were at first surprised to see the teenager there, but then got scared after the young boy saw Helios in front of the tag, with a file in his hand, and a sword around his waist. The boy stuttered for a moment, before taking his friend by the hand.

"RUN!"

Tetsuo took Ayumi by the hand and both ran back the way they came quickly. Helios was rather surprised by their reaction, but as they did he began to think to himself about why they ran. He pretty much guessed that the picture belonged to him, for his little friend. he shrugged, and began to walk where they had went, following the footsteps they ahd left in the dirt. I guess that rules out the boy and the tag being part of the crime or, in fact, the criminal.

"D...did we... lose him?"

"H...haha... hahaha! Of course we did! We were just too smart for him!"

The two kids relaxed upright against a wooden white fence, panting from exhaustion, having covered two blocks to avoid Helios. Although, before they could get up, two simultaneous *THUNK* could be heard between the two. As the two looked at each other, they found two kunai between them, sticking into the fence, with their T-shirt sleeves pinned down. Helios hopped down from one of the roofs above, in front of the two kids. Both of them were about to scream, but Helios held up a finger. Both of them immediately went silent.

"Now then I was wondering if you two could help me with something?" Both kids were still visibly shaken, waiting for Helios to act further. He did, and brandished two pictures; one of Mrs. Yamaki, and another of the golden ring she had. "I was wondering if you recognized the woman in the picture, and this ring?"

"S-She's that nice woman who always bakes cakes on Sundays,"

"Yeah, we always buy her cookies with our allowance!"

"Is there anything else you can tell me about her? or about this gold ring?" The kids shook their heads, which made Helios give a small hum. So she was a baker as it seems, but who would want to steal her ring, especially one who was a petty thief? Nonetheless he needed to clarify something. He walked forwards to the boy, he began to rear his head, as Helios pulled another photo, so only he could see it. "One last thing," he whispered, pulling out the picture of the graffiti tag. "You made this for your friend, right?" The boy after a brief pause nodded. Helios smiled and then stood up again, taking out the kunai in the fence. "Okay, thanks for the help. I'll be sure both of you get more cookies later." The kids smiled before running off, presumably for tetsuo to show Ayumi the picture.

Another spot down. Two to go.

[Guyviroth]

The nearest next location was the house with the broken windows, belonging to one Mr. Hideki. Helios ended up upon the street that housed Mr. Hideki, only a block away from Mrs. Yamaki's place. The street, however, was empty; everyone seemed to be inside despite still being early in the afternoon. The houses didn't look abandoned either, but it seemed that with the vandalism that had happened to a neighbour on their street everyone was being a bit overly cautious. It was a shame that one man had to bring down so many people in the village. helios would make sure he was dealt with accordingly.

Helios wondered over to the house that belonged to Mr. Hideki and was a bit astonished; two windows were broken thuggishly; the window to the living room and kitchen were smashed almost as though it was done by a brick, or a mace, or a bat or something rather hard. The glass also littered the outside although there wasn't much glass, suggesting the vandalism occured outside, at which point it would of ruled out any itnerior struggle. The glass shards that remained outside were also large and jagged, suggesting they were pieces of glass that fell from the top of the window frames.

Helios knocked on the door two times upon a sound reflecting that of solid wood. The door was undamaged as well, meaning that there was no break in from this section. if anything the vandal probably attempted to break in through the windows to steal something; if that was the case, why would a thief break into one house through the door with a set of lockpicking tools, but then break into another house through a window? Either there were two thieves, or just a rather thuggish vandal.

No answer. Helios knocked again, but before he could knock with a third thump of his knuckles, the door opened to see a rather small man, stubble around his cheeks, not so much taller than Helios himself, and probably in his mid twenties. "Sorry to disturb you at a time like this, sir," Helios began to address the man as lightly as he could. "I was wondering if I can have a moment of your time about the incident that ahs happened a few days ago?" The man nodded, opened the door wide as an invitation for Helios to walk in. As Helios did, he noticed the glass in the living room and the kitchen; small fragments with several medium sized pieces as well. The fragments were so small that it would be a good guess to say that whever struck the glass had a small surface area, yet enough force to shatter it.

Mr. Hideki led Helios to a seat and beckoned him to take it. Helios did so at the same time as his host and victim. Helios took a brief moment to go through the details in the report, as Mr. Hideki awaited for a question for Helios to ask. The details were not so helpful; "Glass shattered from impact trauma from the outside of the structure. No signs of unwanted entry or forced entry for any other opening. Nothing was stolen." It wasn't much to go on although he needed to re-coberate Mr. Hideki's story. "can I ask if you were in your home or out between 12 AM and 5 AM?"

"No. I was out of the house at that time. I was... out drinking that night."

Helios couldn't help but feel a bit embarassed speaking to a man who was a possible alcoholic, although that did lead him to something. "is it possible that while you were out you had found any suspicious people or activities?" Helios wanted to believe that this guy could present himself with some good details.

"Ah, no, sorry.. I was pretty drunk by the time I got in so, I didn't see anything or anyone."

Helios didn't think it made sense. He went out to drink but didn't see anyone, despite there being a robbery in the same evening? It was too much for him to not think about. So between 12 AM and 4 AM he had been out, just hours before the robbery of the sword, and when he got in his windows were broken into, but nothing stolen. Either what he says is the truth, or he's the thief of the sword, was caught, and had his windows broken in retaliation. Although this left things open such as why was the sword not recovered from the house? Helios decided instead to ask some other questions. "Coudl you tell me about these people?" Helios handed over two pictures; one of Mrs. yamaki, the owner of the ring, and Mr. Tazami, the owner of the stolen sword.

"Yes, of course. Mrs. Yamaki is an old friend of mine from a few years ago. We both worked at the bakery before I decided to persue a job as a chocolateer. Mr. Tazami is... Mrs. Yamaki's lover."

Now this was interesting, although confusing. Mrs. Yamaki said that the ring belonged to her husband, whom presumably died. Helios suspected that this Mr. Tazami is her second husband or just a fiancée. Either way, Helios was able to acquire some information about the three of them, as well as information about the vandalism of the windows. Helios stood up and nodded, putting away the pictures and sheets back into the file. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Hideki. We'll be sure to inform you when we have reprimanded the criminal in this case. Please have a good day, sir." Mr. Hideki nodded before seeing Helios out of the door.

Just one more place to go.

[Guyviroth]

The last place on the map was only a block north of Mr. Hideki's house. It was starting to get pretty dark so Helios had to make this visit quick. He turned down the street to find, unsurprisingly, that the street was deserted, although he could see that all the houses in the street were lit up with the glow of various indoor lights, showing that there was indeed some form of life in the street. Helios proceded to head down to the last house on the left, marked as number 2 on the map, circled as "Sword". fair enough note to add as well, in case any dull-brained idiot would forget why they came here in the first place.

Helios knocked on the door, hollow as well, but again showing no signs of forced entry. The response was fairly quick as well; the middle aged man opened to show a fierce face, one that looked considerably pissed to the point that Helios was intimidated, not for fear of harm, but fear of probably getting nothing out of this guy. regardless, the shinobi spoke up. "Sorry to disturb you this evening, sir," Helios rumaged through the file for the top sheet, revealing the picture of the sword that was stolen three days ago. "I was wondering if you could tell me about the weapon in this photograph?"

"Hey! What the hell do you know about my sword? You here to tell me you've found it right?"

The man was rather abbrasive although Helios couldn't let that get in the way of his investigations. Helios sighed a little before continuing. "I'm sorry but we've yet to find the sword. However, you could help with our investigation by detailing me what happened that evening and what you were doing/

"Yeah what a damn surprise, shinobi nowadays can't even track a simple petty thief! Fune, i'll humour you with information, as though you need any more of it. I was sleeping all evening and I found my sword was stolen when I woke up in the morning at * AM. Happy now?"

Helios simply nodded before turning away and walking off. He didn't bother prying any further into the guy's business for fear of wanting to stab him in the chest himself. The door slammed behind Helios with a large crash as Helios walked several meters from the doorway. It wasn't much, but Helios had something to go on for the moment. It was just time to piece everything together.

[Guyviroth]

It was time for Helios to start accumilating what he knew. According to the information gathered, Mrs. Yakami was asleep when she was broken into. No signs of forced entry were found on the door, but the tumblers on the door's locks were strained, meaning that it had been lockpicked and not through the use of a key. The ring was the only thing taken from the cabinet, leaving behind house keys and several pieces of paper. The door was also left wide open, meaning that the thief likely made a hasty escape through some sort of reason, possibly after hearing Mrs. Yamaki awake.

Mr. Ideki, as he said, was out drinking. Fortunately, the story was successfully coberated by several of his friends who were drinking at the same place, same night, same time, as well as the bartender. he was out all night from 12 AM to 5 AM, where his friends were with him until 4 AM, meaning he could not of possibly done the robbery, and was also too pissed to see anyone suspicious or even to take heed or anyone's presence that might have been out during that time. The windows were smashed from a low position, by something with at around three inches in diameter at the end with enough force to smash it, perhaps the end of a bat or a crow bar. Reportedly nothing was stolen.

Mr. Tazami's sword was stolen on that night but he was asleep all evening. He heard no one and noticed no one had been in his house during the time frame, although again the tumblers on the lock were strained, evidently with a pair of thief tools. The tumblers were strained in the same manner as Mrs. Yamaki's lock, meaning the thief of both houses are one and the same.

And yet, in all three cases, no hand prints, foot prints, or scent for the ninken to pick up.

The only lead Helios had was seeing if anyone had purchased a set of lockpicking tools. Helios decided to go over to the one shop who would sell such items, the Ninja Tools shop. Making his way, he was pleased to see it was still open at this time of the evening. walking in, the shopkeeper smiled awaiting for Helios' request. "Excuse me, I'm with the Jounin about the criminal activities recenty. Can I browse through your sales ledger to around one week ago?" The keeper nodded before pulling out a large book under the counter. he immediately flipped to the last few pages.

Helios began to scan the ledger, and he found a date in which a set of thief tools were purchased, dated 7 days ago. But he began to get confused; it says the client of the purhcase were specially ordered and delivered by the Konoha Chuunin Division. Helios kept looking, another one, 6 days ago, by the Jounin Division. Another date, 5 days ago, ANBU Black Ops. A last one, by the medical ninja, 4 days ago. Helios was dumfounded. It was either a case of the thief stole a set from the Konoha ninja force, or was, indeed, a part of them. If he was a part of them, he was somewhere amongst the entire shinobi rankings, hiding. How the hell was Helios supposed to find him now?

[Guyviroth]

Night time hit the streets of Konoha hard. Helios was still adamant about the mission; should he report his findings to the Jounin that were on this case? Should he keep going and try and reprimand this man? What if the guy really was ANBU or Jounin? He'd end up getting slaughtered within the first few moments. No, Helios had to get those kinds of thoughts out of his mind right now. he remembered his father telling him, "If you think you've lost the fight, then you already have done". It was the time for him to be doubting himself; it was time for him to help his village, for the sake of those involved in these crimes, and for the sake of the honor of his fellow shinobi.

The darkness was kept awar by several brightly lit lanterns around the market square, but very little street lights were lit among the houses. The map helped Helios deduce that these crimes were happening in a set section of the village, so Helios just had to keep him eyes peeled. At the moment the entire streets were deserted, but he kept watch from a top of the balchony of the Genin dormatories. Even though he had his own place, Helios was given permission to make use of the spare room that overlooks this section of the village. Whatever he would see would undoubtedly have to pass his eyes.

Sure enough, they did. Helios spotted something; a rather thin, black figure, manouvering in front of what appeared to be Mr. Hideki's house. Helios quickly hopped down from the balchony, sword and equipment in tow. His steps landed quietly upon the dirt below him as he proceeded to quickly move around the buildings through the back alleys and fences. he got close enough, and found the figure of the man, much clearer than before. The figure was skinny yet athletic build, his muscles showed definition through a shiny black suit, perhaps latex or rubber, covering the entirety of his body, including his head. However, his face showed some sort of facial contraption, with two extended scopes for eyes and a breathing apparatus. The thief had with his a black katana and a pouch, from which he pulled out a set of tools. Lockpicking tools, precisely.

"Hey you! Stop!" Helios called out to the man as he dashed in, preparing to strike him with his sword, but the figure quickly turned to look as Helios was running, dropped the tools in preference of handling the scabbard of his sword, drawing the blade with his free hand and blocking the strike from the young shinobi. The figure quickly lifted up his foot and pushed Helios away, to which he felt several prongs, almost like needles, poke at his clothing but not tearing. The shinobi quickly fled the scene. Helios, however, was not about to elt the thief go, and instead proceeded to give chase.

[Guyviroth]

It was odd. Helios was just chasing him but, like the reports said, left no foot prints behind. It baffled Helios as he looked around as he chased the man to the main square, only to lose track of his person completely. No track of foot prints, or even hand prints among the walls if he used the rooftops to escape, and no scent that he gave off. It was definitely not looking good for Helios' progress in the mission. Helios in aggravation kicked at the dirt harshly with a powerful right kick, knokcing up the dirt several feet into the sky and in front of him. "God damnit! Where the hell did he go?"

"Right here, kid."

A voice came from behind Helios. It was distorted, deep, obviously the apparatus, aside from being a breathing equipment, was used to disguise one's voice. Helios' eyes shifted behind him, but he heard the figure draw a sword, the one he carried. Helios instictively withdrew the steel scabbard, still holding his chokuto, and spun around. Holding up, he blocked the horizontal slash that was aimed for his abdomen. Whoeevr this guy was, trying to attempt murder, would see no mercy from Helios. The shinobi slipped the chokuto from the scabbard and attempted to slice at the rubber man, who quickly jumped back several meters.

Helios looked at the man's katana and noticed something odd. Silver hand guard, black material along the handle, and silver metal underneath. The scabbard, from what he could see, was also black, with wooden carvings along the side. It was the stolen sword! But, why would the thief be carrying it while on a theft? Regardless, Helios sheathed his chokuto and held the scabbard in his left hand, gripped. "Dead or alive, you're coming with me." Helios retorted to his attacker before pressing on the attack.

The thief seemed daunted by the pressing attack, especially with his speed. However, as Helios pressed on, a burst of chakra blasted around him, his speed greater than usual. With several swipes, one a cross the chest, another along the arm, the other across the thights, his adversary came down with a large thud. Dropping the katana, the thief groaned in pain and frustration, but before he could get up, Helios pinned him down by the chest with a foot, before impaling the sword through his right arm, immobalizing him, and his arm. Heliso leaned down, removing the man's apparatus and the rubber cowl that stretched over his head.

"It's... you...!"

[Guyviroth]

"It's... you...!"

Helios recognized the man. His hair was rather short, a light chestnut color, bright blue eyes with a rather rectangular, mature face. he recognized him as one of the Jounin that was in the mission office early this morning when he came to accept the mission. It was upsetting to see that one of the Jounin of Konoha was the culprit. But he had to find out way. No, he didn't have to, not for the sake of the mission and the sake of the village, but he needed to for himself, to understand what would drive a man, a trusted man of whom the village put their faith in, would stoop to such actions. "Why? Why would you do such a thing to your villagers? What reason would there be to do such crimes? Money? Infamy?"

"No, wrong both times. Mrs. Yamaki... she is my wife. Rather, my ex-wife. She didn't want to be with a shinobi, someone she rarely ever sees. So when she divorced me I gave back her ring. But, I found out recently that even before the divorce, she cheated on me, with that Tazami scum."

helios was rather dumfounded by the revalation that he was hearing. When Mrs. Yamaki cried over her husband Helios thought that meant he died. He never knew she was divorced. But, Helios needed more than that. "I don't understand. Why steal Mr. Yamaki's sword? Why steal the ring? Vandalize Mr. Ideki's house? And why return there?"

"Simple, kid. I stole the ring for a future purpose. I broke into the house with a set of lockpicks to make it so a common thief appeared to steal it. I then stole Tazami's sword to use it to smash Hideki's windows. However, I had to wait for a while; the Jounin couldn't find a possible weapon that broke the windows on the day and it suddenly appears the next? Not possible, even by Jounin standards. Tonight, I was planning on planting the sword in Mr. Ideki's house, to make it appear that he stole the sword, and at the same time, would suspect Tazami broke his windows. Then I was going to plant the ring in tazami's clothes to make it appear he stole the ring. A powerful triangle of conflict to get that bastard Tazami for taking away my... my dear wife..."

Helios didn't know what to say. He thought that Mrs. Yamaki was such a nice woman but, after hearing this, from such sincerity in the guy's voice, he had to believe it to be true. What else was there to say about it? "That's some story... very elaborate. But, explain to me the getup. How did you know so much about the three of them that you could prepare so well?"

"Ideki is an alcoholic. Everyone knows his nightly routine so well that anyone could break into his house and take something without him knowing. Tazami is a heavy sleeper, so breaking into his house and taking his sword was simple enough. My wife... yeah she's a heavy sleeper too. I didn't think she'd wake up though, so I make a quick dash after taking the ring. As for the suit... Well, that headgear was designed by the ANBU Black Ops, a headset which can conceal your voice and act as a gas mask. The scopes reach to x20 magnification, with night vision mode and heat detection. The rubber suit meant I could leave no hand prints, and concealed the sweat and smell of my body it was so skin tight. My shoes have small pins that elevate me off the ground, leaving no foot prints, only tiny holes that the naked eye can't see. With chakra training, I strengthen the needles to support my weight."

Helios was dumfounded he had learned a lot just from this one guy about infiltration that it was hard not to be impressed. Even so, he was a criminal with not only two counts of theft and vandalism, but attempted murder. Helios hoisted the man up, grabbing the stolen katana and head piece, and flung the guy's arm over his shoulder to take him back to the mission office.

[Guyviroth]

The mission, as far as Helios knew, was completed. The man who had been captured was indeed the thief. Under the dark of the sky and the glistening of the moon, Helios had to write up his report. His report spanned three pages, single sided, detailing all that he had done, the information he had gathered, and at the end, exactly what he found out from the Jounin during his rather subtle yet easy interrogation. At the same time, the Jounin was held under the Jounin Interrogation Squad, but he simply told them all they wanted to know right off the bat. It was almost as if the man was proud of what he ahd done and regretted nothing. But, after what Helios had heard, he ahd to agree loosely.

The morning came as Helios spent the night within the Hokage's tower as he wrote out his report as well as being interrogated himself about exactly what happened. It was any wonder how Helios defeated a Jounin of such caliber, although it was simply remarked upon that the thief had no combat training in such an uncomfortable suit, when it was only designed for infiltration, as though he was using himself as a human guinea pig to test its effectiveness. On top of that, the jounin simply was not expecting Helios to activate his Kaimon right before his attacks. The speed and lack of reaction time cost him the fight and nearly his life.

Knocking on the door, Helios opened it to see the mission captain from yesterday. He had his forehead ina single hand, leaned against his elbow upon the desk and briskfully shook his head. Helios guessed that the fact that one of his underlings was commiting such crimes under his watch, and the fact that no one suspected it, was embarassing and almost a form of personal dishonor for himself. regardless the captain looked up, speachless, and beckoned Helios to come fourth. helios handed over the report and finalised paperwork before stamping "Success" upon the front in red ink. Another mission done for Konoha.

Now Helios needed to go grab them cookies.

EXIT

[adero]

+78 EXP for the RP, +50 EXP and 1000 ryo for the mission

[adero]

Doubled the above per current month's event.

+ another 78, 50 EXP and 1000 ryo