The negotiator (mission).

[Yox]

SPOILER: Click to show

Suicidal Thoughts
Rank: D
Ninja needed: 1-3
Mission info: There has been reports of a man attempting to jump off of a building in the heart of the city. Hurry and get there as soon as possible in order to persuade him otherwise.
Special Info: May only be done once.

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Zaiaku had taken a rather calm approach to the beginning of his day. He woke up late, barely able to crawl out of his bed due to his level of tiredness, and slowly forced himself to down some cereal before heading out into the streets. His apartment had been rather dark due to having the curtains drawn, thus he received quite a shock as he transitioned out into the bright mid-day sun as he walked out into the village. Zaiaku had been 'missing in action' when it came to his performance record with recent missions. He had been slacking off lately, thus decided that today would be an appropriate day to get back into the role of being a ninja and lend a helping hand to the people of the village. First stop: the Tsuchikage Fortress.

On arrival to the large stone fortress in the centre of the village, he was greeted by a nearby receptionist who seemed to be in a rather frantic mood. She quickly leaped across from her desk to him on his entry to the building, spooking him suddenly as his guard was down and his mind was still phasing back into reality from his slumber. "Oi you," she shouted to him whilst waving around a piece of paper in her hand. Zaiaku's eyes widened as the girl screamed in his face and followed the movement of the paper from left to right. "I've just received a call from a distressed woman in the market place of the village. Apparently there's someone who's about to jump off the top of a building. Go there now!" She handed him the parchment after taking in a breath. Then, she proceeded back over to her desk.

Zaiaku stood still after being handed the piece of paper, his mind still trying to take in the mass of sudden information that was abruptly thrown at him. After the words "someone is about to jump" rang through his head, he quickly snapped back into reality and shook is head from side to side. He had just been given a task, and now he had to get moving. What a bother. Zaiaku stretched his neck from side to side and loosened up his back. It was time to get going. Someone's life was at risk, and he had now been given the responsibility to either prevent it from happening or to ensure the person's safety if they did actually jump off the top of the building. He dashed out the door quickly and into the streets of the Hidden Stone Village. Zaiaku hoped shit wouldn't go down before he got there. It would be a pain to fail his first mission just when he got back into action.

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[Yox]

Zaiaku jogged through the streets briskly, tucking the slip of paper behind him on his hip within his waistband. He had to get to the market place. It was about a kilometre away and thus, had to get there quickly. Puffing in and out he realised that staying up late the night before wasn't the best option. He dug his left hand into his pouch and his hand-mouth began chewing on the moulds of clay within. He stopped on the spot, allowing for the hand-mouth to chew through the bits of clay and sculpt it into a work of art. Finally when the moulding had been completed, the clay spat out a miniature version of a bird into the palm of his left hand. Zaiaku flicked his hand into a single seal and let the bird go into the air. After channelling his chakra onto the bird, the clay mould grew in size dramatically and sat in front of him as a living creation.

He slowly paced up its tail, using it as a sort of ramp, and stood on the back of the clay animal. "Let's get moving. We have to get to the market place quickly. I don't want to fail this mission," he said rather imperatively to the clay mould as it nodded in response. From there, the bird flapped its wings and took off from the ground, heading into the sky above and over the mighty Hidden Stone Village. Zaiaku observed the scenes below. Many people were walking below him and performing their daily rituals. They looked like an ant colony, with crowds moving through the streets into various buildings and alleyways. Ahead of him he could see a glimpse of the market place with what looked to be a figure standing on the top of a tall building. He wondered what would be in store for him, hoping that the person wasn't some psycho lunatic on the verge of a mental breakdown. Wait a second. This was someone who was about to commit suicide. Dammit.

He flew around the area above the man, calling out to him as he stood atop the roof and looked down to an empty street below. It seemed that already some of the villages non-ninja law enforcement officers had sanctioned off the area below to ensure no one else was caught up in the moment. "Oi. What the hell are you doing man?" Zaiaku questioned the man from above him whilst flying circling on his clay bird. The man got a sudden shock, not expecting someone just to be flying around above. Zaiaku realised that this wasn't the best idea because the man almost fell off due to the fact that he had scared him. Slapping himself in the forehead once, Zaiaku continued to watch the man closely. If the man did jump, the bird would dive and would probably catch him if he fell. The man responded to Zaiaku's question with a rather broken and shaken voice. "I don't have the will to live any longer. My shop is now out of business due to a fire and it was the only thing I had in this world. Without it, I'm nothing. Goodbye."

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[Yox]

Zaiaku felt rather bugged, twitching his right eye at the man's words. It seemed the man had just given up, as if there was no tomorrow. Zaiaku felt bad for the guy, but had a completely different viewpoint on life. People had to get through the traumatic events in their life in order to grow stronger. After all, that was the catchy saying wasn't it? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger? This guy needed a reality check. "You better not jump," Zaiaku instructed to the man as he stood on the edge of the building. "Surely you have family, friends, people to live for? It would be rather selfish of you to just end your life here, unaware that people will mourn your loss one way or another. Suicide is always is always the easy way out, but it's never the right way out. If you were to fall... none of the people below us would applaud," Zaiaku said whilst floating around the man on his bird.

The man stood silently as he stared at the ground below. More and more people gathered into the market place, wondering what the fuss was about. Many of these people turned distressed as they realised what was occurring, and also seeing the man on the edge of the building. It was a fair fall, something that the man wouldn't survive even if he was lucky. He looked back up to Zaiaku with his lonely face. "I'm not from here. I came here for a fresh start to my life. I'm originally from the Land of Fire, and to escape issues I had with bandits there I came to this village to start a new life. Everything I owned went into that shop. Now I have nothing. What do you suppose I do? There's nothing left for me here, and no one would be there if I went back." The man stopped speaking for a moment. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath in. Extending his arms to either side, he fell off the edge of the building.

Screams and yells filled the environment as time seemed to slow down for Zaiaku. The jump was rather sudden, although expected. Zaiaku quickly firmed his stance on the bird as it dived down in air in order to grab the man. A fierce look appeared over his face as he watched the man's emotionless face fall with grace. "Bastard," Zaiaku cursed as the bird opened it's mouth and clamped the man's body before slowly descending to the ground. As the bird landed within the sanctioned area with nearby police, it released the man from its mouth and dropped him on the ground. Zaiaku hopped off the back of the bird and edged around near the man. "What the hell was that? You realise you would've died if it wasn't for me?" The man looked confused in response to Zaiaku.

All around him, he started to see the worried looks on the faces of the people. The man slowly realised that people in this world did care for him. It was all apart of being in a community. People cared for each other. Heck, even the blonde boy who had just saved his life had to have cared about him in order to risk his own to save it. It was something that the man had not felt in a while. The love of others. He finally responded to Zaiaku as medical professionals surrounding him to inspect him for any wounds. "It seems I have come to realise something when I was an inch from death. You have helped me see something. I am grateful boy..." Zaiaku, rather confused from the response, nodded his head slowly to the man before getting back up on the birds back. He left the man in the care of the law enforcement officers there. It was time to go back to the Tsuchikage Fortress. He wondered whether the frantic woman would be happy with the outcome.

[red]> Exit.[/red]

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[KEITH]

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