Someone Your Own Size [M]

[Lang]

SPOILER: Click to show

Bully Beatdown
Rank: D
Minimum Participants: 1
Details: There is nothing worse than a bully and that’s exactly what we have. Some recent academy dropout is picking on kids as they walk to school. Confront the misguided youth and set him straight. Do not use any more force than necessary; he’s just a kid after all.
Special: This mission can be repeated indefinitely.
Rewards: 100 EXP and 500 ryō

Not everyone was suited for the life of a shinobi; he could understand and respect that. It took a certain type to withstand the level of pressure they faced. Even the lowest administrative positions in the village required a minimum rank of Chuunin, meaning every secretary or regular errand runner had brushed against death at some point in their career, probably more than once. Those that would be drafted into even more grueling departments, such as ANBU and the T&I Division, he could only imagine the trials they faced on a daily basis. So yes, Rael could tolerate individuals abandoning this way of living, as they found professions more suited to their personalities.

However, he had zero tolerance for those that couldn't cope, and in turn, tried to deter others from succeeding where they'd failed. One example was the boy mentioned in the scroll he now held; not that there was much in-depth information anyways, aside from a name and photo. To anyone harassing the children he'd come to view as his students, he had some choice words and medication for bad attitude. And while he now frowned on using force to prove a point, Rael could be properly motivated to dish it out if he didn't like the answers he heard.

The current time was seven-thirty, half an hour before morning class started. From what the victims told him, they were being bullied on the way to the Academy by ways of jeering and physical harassment. Even if they were only new students, some of them belonged to rather prominent clans, such as the Inuzuka and Hoshigake; how this apparent 'dropout' managed to even threaten the above was beyond him. Anyone with even the remotest control over their clan hijutsu or kekkei genkai could, quite frankly, beat the everloving shit out of some young punk.

It didn't take long for him to find the insolent cur. Four blocks away from school, the sound of obnoxious laughing rang out, grating against his ears. Going by his old personality, he would've silenced the culprit in his sleep, or at least somewhere he wasn't suspecting a confrontation. However, Rael was out to make a point this time, and so it wouldn't hurt to have a few eyewitnesses. Perhaps embarrassing him in public might yield better results.

[Lang]

"Oi, don't run off you p***ies! Come on, don't tell me you all went to the Academy for nothing!"

Everyone within a 50-meter range of the youth cringed at his irksome behavior, yet none of the other children passing by had the grit to stand up to this bully. That, or just nobody wanted to deal with the annoying pest, period. Rather than accepting their behavior as denying his very existence, he mistook their casual dismissal as a sign of his own superiority. Even the young child he now trailed after, merely seven years old, could likely wipe the floor with this idiot. The only thing preventing him from doing so was the village rule stating shinobi were forbidden from using force to deal with 'civilians', and Agaro Ganta classified as one since he dropped out from the Academy.

Too bad for him, Rael didn't give a rat's ass about that particular set of rules, and confirmed it by bringing his fist down on the back of Ganta's head from behind, knocking the boy flat on his rear end. Crying out from this unexpected abusive treatment, the five-foot boy lurched to his feet and spun around, fully prepared to give whoever dealt him a surprise blow a sound thrashing. However, the sight of Rael made him pause, and for good reason. Despite towering a good nine inches over the white-haired youth, the latter sported a look that, while impassive at first glance, managed to convey the amount of hurt he was going to dish out in just a few seconds. Another glance, this time at the boy's shoulder, revealed the proud symbol of Kirigakure stitched into his clothing, something no one but a registered shinobi of the village would openly bear.

"Agaro Ganta. Age, twelve. Son of Agaro Mizuki, Chuunin, and Agaro Yumina, civilian. On account of seven charges for assault, two resulting in bodily harm against the civilians of Kirigakure no Sato, you are hereby sentenced to capital punishment, to be carried out immediately."

If the Genin sounded at all like he was joking, the tanto strapped to his back and currently being unsheathed from its scabbard suggested otherwise. The cold steel slid free from its holding place, held in a reverse grip and pointed directly at the troublemaker's throat. Anyone that lingered about until now immediately took that as a cue to quickly flee the scene, in fear of being inadvertently dragged into the ensuing conflict. Then again, perhaps 'conflict' wasn't the correct term, being how one-sided this altercation appeared to be going. It was only the boy's trembling form and the sight of a growing wet patch at the front of his pants that indicated exactly how he felt about the entire matter.

"Y-Y-You're joking... r-right?"

[Lang]

Rael's answer was to bring the tantō high above his head, seemingly prepared to deal a killing blow by plunging it into the impudent child's skull. However, before the weapon even began its descent, Ganta let out an undignified shriek and collapsed to his knees, arms lifting and flailing wildly, as though it might do anything to ward away the incoming blow. The image was made all the more pathetic by a growing puddle of urine at his feet, dignity thrown out the window along with any semblance of bladder control. It was pathetic enough to give the Genin pause, as he stared down at the older but so much more sheltered boy.

"Not so funny is it, you miserable little cretin. How dare you even think for an instant the village would tolerate your kind of action."

Dragging the boy up by the front of his shirt, Rael glared down at the academy dropout with unhidden scorn, not an ounce of the 'kind' medic showing in his expression. Teal eyes normally impassive, if not at least somewhat friendly, were akin to twin chips of ice, and showed about just as much sympathy. "Don't think that just because you're a civilian now, that we are obligated to protect you, and have to put up with any of your shit. If it were up to me, I would be gutting you like a pig right now." He threw the whimpering fool back down, brushing a hand against his pant leg as though wiping away imaginary filth. Considering the mess in front of him though, it could have very likely been real.

Sheathing the tantō away, Rael squatted down to be at eye level with the boy, careful not to step in anything unpleasant. His voice dropped down to a quiet murmur, enough to prevent their imaginary audience from listening in. "You have one, one last chance to clean your shit up. If I ever so much as hear another student breathe your name in complaint again," a blue aura of chakra enveloped his left hand, volatile and a far cry from the soothing green of his regular medical jutsu, "don't even think about ever having a good night's sleep again. Do I make myself clear?" His reply wasn't even a proper answer, instead being little more than a rapid series of nods from the terrified child, who seemed to be on the edge of hyperventilating.

"Good. Now get lost."

Scrambling away on his hands and feet, the young troublemaker made it about eight feet before he got up and ran, as though the devil were after him. Rael watched him go, then rubbed the back of his head and sighed. Ugh, let my temper get the better of me this time. Word would likely get out of the method he'd used, and reach the ears of the Mizukage. Effective as it may have been, the white-haired Genin would likely be facing disciplinary charges in the near future.

...At least I'll be able to afford food this month.

---

^{Chakra no Mesu [Chakra Scalpel] // 'S' Rank // [x1 High]}

[Lang]

SPOILER: Click to show

Sort, Sort, Sort that Shit
Rank: D
Minimum Participants: 1
Details: You know how much paperwork is in this village; a metric ton at least. It’s to the point where we simply don’t have enough secretarial non-ninja’s to do it all. Sadly, the village can’t function without it. We need you to spend time going through as much paperwork as possible and putting a dent in the unending load.
Rewards: 100 EXP & 500 ryō

...Well that didn't take long.

Less than twenty minutes after Rael gave the underage bully "Ganta" a taste of his own medicine, and was following the usual route back to his own residence, the Genin found himself flanked by two masked figures, their white porcelain masks and dull grey armor denoting them as ANBU operatives. The one-sided conversation was clipped, and straight to the point. Despite however much the boy considered his previous actions justifiable, and he was certain Ganta's victims were in perfect agreement, fleeing bystanders had supposedly reported him 'assaulting' a civilian of Kiri. Most likely, that little pisshead (literally) had screamed for help the minute he was out of earshot, and caused enough ruckus to bring even the normally reclusive black ops out from their hiding places.

So then, how did that lead to him, now sitting at a cluttered desk, glancing at the mountain of paperwork dumped in front of him with a deadpan expression? Rael would have liked a proper answer to that question, instead of the quack excuse they fed the young Genin; 'they' being the few on-duty staff working in the mission's office. Apparently, one of their employees had gotten wind of the boy's predicament regarding his possible punishment, and quickly pulled him out of the supposed fire. Too bad now he was looking for a frying pan to jump into; hard to tell which poison was preferable.

In reality, the job they had lined up for him wasn't actually all that bad. He was required to look through all the newly-submitted requests put forth by clients, then assign them a letter, one that would be quickly looked over by the regular staff before they posted them on the mission's board. As everyone already knew, the levels started from 'D' rank, which were little more than chores meant to teach fresh Genin skills like teamwork, while simultaneously working on their passive skills. Requests were most common at this rank, and lessened as the difficulty increased, tapering off until there was often only one, or even none at all, classified as the infamous 'S' rank. More often than not, these involved assassinations or long-term infiltration (some lasting for years), and required at least Jounin or even specially-trained ANBU to complete.

It really was a pretty cushy job in terms of physical work, but the amount of responsibility weighing on him was surreal, far worse than any amount of strenuous labor could Sitting on the other side of this desk, being the one to hand out assignments that, each day, could lead to the deaths of good friends and good soldiers, was almost nauseating. What if he mistakenly marked a 'B' rank mission as 'C', and a group of Genin still green behind the ears took it up, when the task was meant for more experienced Chuunin? In the back of his mind, he thanked Kami in knowing that others would still be reviewing the choices he made afterward.

Alright, let's get started, and see just how bad things are.

[Lang]

As it turned out, after Rael scanned through the first few requests with a wary eye, things weren't nearly as bad as he'd imagined. Paperwork #1 involved an elderly woman named "Mrs. Kubayashi", who was looking for someone to take care of a weed infestation in her backyard, along with the large number of pests that were doing overtime demolition work on her self-grown vegetable patch. Even reading it twice over though, the Genin found nothing in her request that mentioned poisonous insects or wild animals being a potential threat and hazard to neighbors, and thus immediately dropped the difficulty rating down to 'D' rank low-priority chore. It sounded too much like a mission Rael had once nearly taken for Mr. Ayabito, who'd similarly asked him to take care of a garden, since the old man's children and grandchildren were all either deceased or living too far away.

'D' rank team-bonding excuse it is...well, that was easy.

The next one seemed a bit more interesting; it was a request made by the village itself, in an attempt to train more young shinobi in the art of politics, not just ninjutsu. The candidate for this mission was to tag along with two Jounin-level diplomats as they journeyed to the harbor and sailed out from Water Country. Their meeting location was located all the way in Kusagakure, so it was entirely possible the trio might run into less-than-ideal company in the form of Leaf shinobi while traversing the expanse of Fire Country. For this reason, despite the affair meant to be a learning experience, they also didn't want some greenhorn fresh out of the Academy for a potential sidekick; they'd be more a liability than asset in case things turned sour.

If it were up to me, I would never assign anything that required a talent for diplomacy to anyone under the rank of Chuunin, so a 'B' rank would be my first choice. However, they did say they wanted it to be a unique 'learning experience'...hrm...maybe a 'C' rank? I suppose that will work. However, I'll need to write a small note, saying any veteran Genin interested in taking up this task must be approved by their sensei or squad leader; don't want some pissed off Chuunin or Jounin barging into my house at night and demanding to know why one of their students was KIA.

"-an. Rael-san?"

Snapping out of his self-induced reverie, Rael jerked upright, embarrassed at being caught out of focus. He raised an eyebrow at the courier, a young man presumably in his early twenties, who dropped several stapled sheets in front of him. "This was actually posted on the mission board several days ago, but no one's taken it. The others in the office are wondering if you'd like to take a look over it, and see if the request is legitimate." Intrigued, the young medic nodded and picked up the first page, quickly reading through its requirements.

One Down, A Million to Go
Rank: D
Minimum Participants: 1
Details: No matter what we do, the name of the game will eventually be 'kill or be killed'. We might as well get a jump start on the killing while we can. Your mission in particular is to assassinate a Stone Genin. The method is up to you, but remember, this shouldn’t be open killing unless no witnesses are around to see it; we don’t want war declared just yet.
Reward: 500 ryō

...are you fucking serious. Iwa is all the way on the other side of the fucking Elemental Nations. Whichever poor bastard gets this mission will have to go through at least two other countries before they even reach Stone. Why the fuck would anyone go all that way, somehow manage to infiltrate their village, and then kill some random Genin no one's even going to miss? Of course, Rael had to show a little more tact when bringing this up with the messenger.

And for 500 ryō? I couldn't even buy myself a new fūma shuriken with that shitty pay.

"Ahahaha....I can see why no one wanted to pick up; whoever graded this request before obviously has some issues."

"...It was done by Mizukage-sama."

"Oh...hahaha..."

Shit.

[Lang]

*ahem* "Well, my previous assessment still stands; it's ludicrous for a task of this magnitude to be assigned a mere 'D' rank. The quickest route would be through Fire Country, and then one of three choices between Taki, Kusa, or Ame. We are not currently at war with the Leaf, or any of the aforementioned lesser villages, but tension has always been running high between us all," he rubbed at the bridge between his eyes, feeling the start of a migraine brewing. Damn it, why couldn't someone else be handling this?

"Should even one of our dispatched ninja be captured along the way, fingers will immediately be pointed towards Kiri; you can already guess how Iwa will react if news reaches them of our attempted stunt. Even if they do manage to successfully make it into Iwagakure, expecting them to take out a Genin, which I might add, could very well involve dealing with their Jounin-sensei, is absurd." The courier nin slowly nodded in agreement, seemingly having forgiven the prepubescent child for his earlier 'unintended' insult towards the Mizukage. Rael's argument was not wholly unfounded; even the most talented Chuunin would find it nigh-impossible to pull this sort of mission off. Their best bets were either Jounin or the elite crop of the ANBU, and no way would they take such a crappy assignment for 'D' rank rewards.

"What rank do you suggest it be reassigned, then?" asked the other party, using this as an opportunity to further test Rael's judgement skills.

"I'd say no less than 'B' rank, and that's only if you have either trained ANBU ready to roll, or a spare Tokubetsu-Jounin whose specialty is infiltration. And for Kami's sake, someone change it so that the target is actually someone high-priority. Who the hell goes through the effort of infiltrating a village to assassinate a Genin? If you're going to do that, at least have a follow up mission to pin the murder on someone else."

His fellow Kiri-nin stared at the boy for several seconds, before letting a grin spread his face, much to the medic's consternation. "I know they meant to give you this job as a slap on the wrist, but it seems you're quite astute after all." The courier nin made his way over to the same side of the desk as Rael, his posture much straighter than it was before. Suddenly, the man didn't seem nearly so meek as he was during his initial introduction.

"How about this then. You start working in here regularly from now on, and we'll pay you; same wage as a 'D' rank for a bit of your time. What do you say?" Rael looked ready to protest, then paused as if in thought. Did he want to sit here another four sessions doing this for free, or did he feel like at least getting some pocket money out of it? In the end, it was a no brainer.

"Long as you keep paying me, then...." grumble grumble

[Exit]

[vegapunk]

57 EXP @ Lang