Missions Make My Day

[¤ SFS ¤]

Runaway
Rank: D
Ninja needed: 1-3
Mission info: An academy student by the name of Luke Treadstone has packed up his items, all of them, and has run away from home. There are not many details concerning why he left but his parents have reported the tsuchikage in hopes of getting their son back.
Special Info: Can be repeated five times.

"You ready for this kid?"

[/b][/right]
It was probably the first thing Hyoka had said that actually bothered Sen. So instead of answering directly he convinced himself that the 'kid' Hyoka was referring to was the one the mission ticket listed as Luke Treadstone. All at once the gears in his head began to turn as he took what he knew about the mission and about Iwagakure no Sato into consideration before formulating some likely places to begin searching. Because the mission ticket didn't provide any addresses or people of interest to begin questioning a text book procedure of divide and conquer would provide the fastest means of finding the kid. "We need to split up to cover more ground, there are too many places he could be, luckily enough none of them are outside the village itself. You know from traveling here that Iwagakure no Sato is surrounded on all sides by large mountains and the narrow pathways that lead here are laced with jagged rock. Even civilian children know better than to leave the village alone expecting to survive."

In the back of his mind there was something familiar about this situation. Though he couldn't quite put his finger on it he knew more about the situation than he realized and although the details were fuzzed he could clearly remember what leads to follow up on, the bulk of which would be found in the child's home. Just to cover all the bases however it would be wise to have someone check in at the Academy and see if anyone knew anything useful.

It wasn't his intention to boss around the Chuunin, in reality he didn't even feel that he was bossing him around. He just took point in a situation that called for something with more knowledge of the area and society. "You should start with the major hubs of information. The Academy and his teachers are a good place to start. Find out if the kid has close friends or major rivals. Maybe they might know something that'll point you in the right direction. I'll do the same but with his parents, I'd rather not have to be bothered with any of my old instructors. If anyone gives you funny looks for not having an escort or whatever just show them the mission ticket. We meet up back here in two hours and compare notes."

Without a second a thought he took his leave, casually tossing the black garbage bag in a dumpster he passed by. The parent's address, which was provided on the mission ticket wasn't too far off from his current location, with any luck they might have some insight into the location of their kid but if not then at the very least he was sure they'd let him step in for a moment and wash his hands.
[/size][/blockquote]

[chiatsuki]

He was an optimistic fellow, my comrade. This entire time I had let him call the shots just to see how his mind worked. I wasn’t going to let him go at the mission alone though and so his suggestion would be taken into consideration. My hands curled into a number of seals swiftly conjuring up a single teaspoon of my chakras in order to create four clones completely comprised of raiton energy. I felt my senses increase, somewhat, as they all turned to look around in a direction they would all be going. With the swift raise of my left arm they would be sent out in four directions; north, east, south and west. My position would stay put as of now in order to record the locations of all my clones – I would become a checkpoint for the information after an hour or so of search.

“Agreed. I will go to the academy and see if I can capture any leads. Report here in an hour”

I’d say in a bold tone. There was no telling where this kid was and so my comrade was right in pointing out if he’d had any enemies, possibly bullies, within the academy. My figure would simply blur within the eyes of my partner as I searched hesitantly for the academy building. In my village the academy looked somewhat like an institution so finding the Iwagakure Academy was somewhat an easy task. I would find my way in through the front doors of the school into what looked like an administrators office of sorts.

“Hi may I help you?”

An assistant would say, sliding her glasses down her nose just a bit so she could see me clearer. A nametag positioned at the top of the desk spelled out the name ‘Annabelle Ichizoku’. I simply noted the name in case I’d need to use it at some point to get the kids attention.

“I’m looking for a Luke.. something? I need to question some of his classmates”

She would look at me hesitantly as she raised out of her seat. I could hear her muffling through a drawer somewhat before looking back up to me again. She must have been nervous to see me, I was wearing a kusa shinobi headband afterall.

“Oh, right. You’ll need this visitors badge. Room 11A”

I followed her directions after receiving the sticky patch, placing it on my left shoulder before proceeding down the hallway in order to find Luke’s classroom. My thoughts raced on the time I had already spent completing the other two missions and how quickly I seemed to be making progress with each of them. I hadn’t felt that feeling of progress in a long time but I knew the feeling would be short-lived.

[¤ SFS ¤]

Turning back to see how Hyoka handled the situation he was impressed by the Chuunin's methods. Send out clones to do the work and stay in the meeting place as focal point of sorts. If any of the clones came across anything useful they could sent the intel back with haste. It was savvy way to widen his search range and instead of getting angry that he hadn't thought of it first Sen simply acknowledged the superiority of his partner's method and continued on his way. The reality of the situation was that Hyoka would comb the most areas in the shortest time while his own search was a bit more focused. There were very specific places the kid could have been and it stood to be very likely that Luke Treadstone was doing something that Iwa Academy Student's did every now and again.

The knocking on his parent's door was answered quickly enough and just as he'd suspected Luke's parents didn't have any useful information but they had a sink open for use and a hand soap that smelled like strawberries. The time he spent washing his hands reminded him once again of a time when he didn't feel so dismal about the world around him. Or at least when he didn't let his dismal feelings of the world around him make him feel dismal about himself. His parents were a mess, worried sick and too fearful of Luke's fate not to show it. His father had grown a nasty beard, his clothes were wrinkled and his glasses were covered in smudges. His mother looked pale and her hair was almost as messy as his own. They were a fairly young couple, in their early thirty's it seemed. Before making his exit the Genin asked if he could examine Luke's room for clues or hints about where he went. His parents insisted there was nothing to be found in there but encouraged him to look anyway, hoping he would notice something they missed.

One step into the room and Sen saw everything he needed to. His parent added some color to his personality saying the boy was adamant about graduating from the Academy, he was very average in most respects but always cheerful and obedient, clearly not the "run away from home" type. The mission ticket itself held small out hints about the boy's state of mine and those hints lead him here to his room, now the room was telling him where to go next. Fishing his copy of the mission ticket from his pocket he read over the part that echoed in his mind since the first time he'd read it.

"Luke Treadstone has packed up his items, all of them, and has run away from home."
....
"packed up his items"

The kid's room was spotless. There was no mess to be found anywhere and everything was neatly put in a place where it belonged, the parents claimed they hadn't cleaned it after he went missing and that the room was just as Luke left it. Facing away from the worried parents he allowed himself to smirk, it was once upon a time his favorite facial expression but now he only broke it out on special occasions. Before leaving he thanked them for their help and assured them he would find their son, getting the name and address of the boy's best friend before disappearing down the street.

He was 80% sure he knew exactly where the boy was but he had to pay this best-friend a visit before he could be sure. Hmph.... Kids.

[chiatsuki]

I was rather disappointed I must say as I came to an empty lead in the classroom. I had addressed the issue in front of the entire classroom yet no one seemed to truly know what I was even talking about. With a shrug of my shoulders and a sigh I would thank the teacher for his time and exit the classroom. With but a single hand seal I would release the raiton energies suppressed within my clones in order to rally the information they had gathered. My eyes looked nonchalantly into the distance as the information registered to me with an agile gathering. Nothing.. I thought to myself as I failed to capture any useful tips from any of the clones’s databases. My hands would push out of the doors in frustration as I waltzed off of the academy compound. I was becoming somewhat unhopeful of the succession of this mission but hopefully my comrade was doing much better than I on this mission.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED ON SPARKY, HE WOULD HAVE HELPED US BETTER ON THIS MISSION..”

I looked at the burgundy buzzard floating above me with an un-passionate tint permeating my hues. My least favorite of the summon family so far had been Sparky and so I wasn’t too sure on asking for his help in a mission, he might have told me to fuck off. The checkpoint I had told everyone to meet me at is where I would take seat in wait for my comrade, wherever he was. It would come apparent to me that I was alone in this village and so my place would be comfortable here perched on a wooden bench. Behind me a patch of grass and a large tree stood evident giving me little shade to the hot sun. Looking into my palms I would think of my home town. It had been four years since I’d even stepped foot on kusa’s soil – I yearned for her beauty once more.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right about that. But I sort of like your company y’know?”

I’d say – lying to Enten knowing how it would ‘mess’ with him. It only took a few seconds for him to circle me in attempts at landing right in front of me. His head would cock left and right like a rooster picking for food.

“YOU’RE NOT GETTING SOFT ON ME ARE YA?!”

The phoenix would say flapping its wing releasing some feathers around me. I would chuckle a bit before bringing my hands through my hair. I was confused at why I was homesick – maybe I was changing, but was it for the better or for the worse? Only time would be able to tell. I wouldn’t let anyone see me in this decadent state and so I would position my hands within the coils of one another as my elbows took stance on both of my knees with my head resting in the center of my knuckles. Maybe I was going to get a little bit of rest whilst the genin finished the rest of the mission.

[¤ SFS ¤]

'KNOCK' 'KNOCK' 'KNOCK'

The sounds of a young man beating at a door with obvious restraint rang out into the open streets. He had gotten this name and address from Luke's Parents who assured him that if their little Luke had a single best friend in the whole world it was the the kid who lived here but they hadn't had any luck getting in contact with anyone who lived here. A beautiful and only slightly older woman opened the door whom he guessed was probably and older sister and the genin wasted no time in getting down to business completely ignoring to the lusty looks the woman gave him. She'd had probably been ignoring Luke's parents either that or she truly wasn't home when they came by to ask about Luke's friend.

"Good afternoon Ms., I've been given a mission to get some important extra curricular work to Satoso Maida, is he home?"

"Oh no, Maida is spending the weekend at his friend Kushoru Zuba's home. Can I take the work and give it to him when he get's back?"

"No that won't be necessary his instructors were specific about only giving the assignment to the students directly."

"Then maybe I can give you Zuba-kun's home address?"

And so it went, Maida wasn't home because he was at Zuba's. Zuba wasn't home because he was at Macho's. Macho wasn't home because he was at Biyobaru's. Biyobaru wasn't home because he was at Goshima's. Oddly enough Goshima was home and having a hard time covering for all his buddies at the occasional check in from their parents or guardians or his own parents, non of which were shinobi. Sen gave the kid credit though he was damned good with a henge and he was mighty pissed to hear that Luke hadn't told his parents where he would be all weekend which caused them to think he was missing and eventually lead an actual genin to his doorstep. He didn't want to rat out his friends and give up their whereabouts but luckily enough he didn't have to. The genin gave him a genuine laugh a slap on the back and went on his way hands in his pockets.

It was a bit of a tradition practiced every year by the graduating class of Academy scrubs. A Squad of five would venture off into a secret cavern of Iwa only accessible through a narrow and tiny bit treacherous pathway a bunch of genin made generations ago. A sixth person would stay home and cover for the others, most of the time the cover man was the one who was the best with ninjutsu already. It was a secluded area where the students could perfect their Academy jutsu in private and have a bit of a vacation from the families at the same time. It was fairly dangerous and very irresponsible but every year a group of guys got together and did it. It was a secret the boys protected with their lives, which was mostly why it wasn't common knowledge among non-ninja. In fact the only reason Sen himself knew how to get to the place was because he went himself back in his Academy Days. Though now it was obvious he had grown because he could barely fit through the damn passage way.

Luke could only laugh and try to down play his error though his friends seemed anxious to kick his ass for nearly getting him caught. He was supposed to have told his parent's he was going to Goshima's for the weekend but in his haste to ensure he had everything he needed for training he forgot to set up his alibi. The boys were upset that the Genin was cutting their little adventure short but they understood that the secret of the Rock Cavern had to be protected so they would all have to head back to Goshima's and actually stay the weekend plus Luke would have to make up a fitting lie for where he'd been this whole time.

Before they neared the meeting place Sen scolded Luke thoroughly on the ability to maintain a secret using false information. "Knowing cool jutsu ain't all there is to being a proper shinobi. You can't forget things like passing along the right intel, you almost got busted and exposed the secret of the cavern and no one would have let you live that down kid. Anyhow you'd better just go with something that's not a total lie when you talk to your parents. Tell them something like 'I forgot to tell you I would be at Goshima's all weekend' or whatever." Approaching Hyoka just as casually as he'd left the Genin gave a simple head nod to his partner. "Found him." There was no need to warn the kid not to talk about the Cavern in front of the Chuunin they little runts barely wanted him to know about it and he was their elder.

[chiatsuki]

My hands had found themselves within the description of my next mission. I stood in awe as to the project assignment being one that continued on into further higher ranking missions. I’d look up to my comrade as he brought the boy with him. Enten would turn his head to see the two coming and would depart once more into the open sky knowing that I would be on the move once more. Although I’d had little time to think to myself it was a period I enjoyed alone. The Iwa genin’s face alerted me that he had become somewhat tired of babysitting the brat that had run away. I assumed he would take the boy to his house before returning to my position once more and so I would take this time into preparing for the next mission.

There was supposedly a missing portrait – one that would require me and the iwa genin to investigate. In order to complete the mission we only needed to provide a small detail to the mission instructor in order to be allowed to investigate it further. I was pumped – but I wasn’t so sure about my comrade whom had basically tackled this mission alone. His muse for missions was probably dying by the minute but I wasn’t going to let him give up so easily. I would await his return in where it would be mid-day when he reached me. The sun was finally burning a bright orange into the nighttime sky as I’d turned to my partner in order to release the details of our next mission.

“Missing portrait. All we have to figure out is how it was stolen in order to make this mission successful – eventually we’ll have to investigate it further though..”

I’d contort with the genin before standing fully to my feet. The person we were supposed to be meeting was supposedly a council member named Hugo, funny name. I was ready, somewhat, to begin some actual detective work as my body had grown weary from doing these D ranked tasks – I’d almost felt sorry for whoever had taken the mission other than us.

“We’ll need to begin this mission at council member Hugo’s house. Do you know where that might be?”

My words shuffled through the air as I’d begun a simple strut back and forth from the bench to the tree which sat behind it. Enten simply followed my motions overhead, flying, watching me as if trying to decipher my thoughts.

[Messatsu!]

+25@ Both!

[¤ SFS ¤]

Missing Portrait [1]
Rank: D
Ninja needed: 1-3
Mission info: There are some things that are very valuable to council member Hugo, one of those things being a self portrait of him which had gone missing from inside his mansion not too long ago. Help him figure out the mystery of how it got stolen.
Special Info: Can be repeated up to five times.

Between the playing bar security, gutter cleaner and child tracker the day had been a fairly eventful one and it was only half way done. From a numbers point of view it was 60% done but the last two mission that made up the other 40% there a more serious than the previous work in the day. The Genin found it fittingly poetic that these last two missions would take place in the evening and eventual night skies. Talking the long way back to Luke's home gave the kid plenty of time to get his lies in order and by the time he made it back to Hyoka he felt the relief of being that much closer to the end of another day with another handful of the Village Hidden in the Stones problems solved. All things considered, he was looking forward to cleaning himself off and unwinding he even considered treating himself to something nice and making an appearance at the Firefly House. His stoic and nonchalant expression had maintained itself for most of the day and now that it was getting late those features became more prominent. He was by no means tired, just ready to get the last of the missions over with an call it a night.

“Missing portrait. All we have to figure out is how it was stolen in order to make this mission successful – eventually we’ll have to investigate it further though.. We’ll need to begin this mission at council member Hugo’s house. Do you know where that might be?”

"Sadly, I do not, the name Hugo doesn't even sound familar. But there aren't very many mansions in Iwa. It'll only take a few minutes to find out which one is the right one." With a deep 'hmmm' the Genin began decide which of the mansions was a good place to start looking. He also began to rotate his wrists, wiggle his fingers and crack his knuckles to improve his dexterity and make sure his hands were loose. It was the first time he'd had to use handseals all day.

SPOILER: Click to show

Youton Bunshin no Jutsu (Lava Clone Technique)
Rank: B
Type: Supplementary / Youton Kekkei Touta
Range: See special!
Handseals: Yes
Chakra: High
Special: Up to one clone can be made at a time, plus one more each time retrained. When struck, the clone's lava essence forces whatever was used to strike it to stick within, as if it had just struck some sort of thick, jellatine substance. Clone cannot perform any jutsu, but when defeated, it explodes in a burst of hot magma, spreading its burning essence everywhere. Explosion range covers 5 meters all around the clone.
Description: With this technique, the Youton user is able to call upon aid from a perfect copy of themselves. Comprised purely of molten lava, this clone retains the user's movement speed and can share linked mental judgement. Best of all, when struck physically, most items slowly sink into the magma pit that has become their body, corroding away at appendages and weapons equally. Finally, when defeated, the clone explodes into a blob of intense lava that aims to take over the nearest opponent available, burning and melting them in place.
Domain: Youton. Fushokuzai 'B'.

Taking a page from Hyoka's book the clone sprinted away to the South-West the moment it emerged from the smoke. "There's a mansion to the South-West that has a tricky path to access so he'll check out that one. There's also three more to the East, North-East, and a small bit South from here. Outside of those four I don't know of any other mansions in Hidden Stone." With nothing more to add he took a seat on the bench and waited for his own clone to confirm or deny that the location in the South-West was the right one, leaving the search of the other three mansions up to his partner. "It's too bad they didn't give us more to work with on this. A simple address or even a damn signal fire would have speed up this multiple choice scenario we have here." Although he knew he was right he was also in no mood to rant about it. "Oh well..." He enjoyed the momentary break and set his eyes take in the beauty of the setting sun against the foreground of the mountains and rugged peaks that surrounded Iwagakure no Sato. Sunset was the most beautiful and relaxing time of day to most of the village.

[chiatsuki]

My partner had become downed to the fact that there was still work to do at this hour – I couldn’t quite say I wasn’t sympathetic with his mood either. The problems that Iwa had to offer was over a handful in the hands of time and so we had to make the best of what we had. A clone comprised of whatever release the shinobi had would race off to the southwestern region of the village in order to check out a mansion. My eyes would dart towards Enten as the iwa genin spoke of the other directions. I would nod to the summon in order for him to go ahead and search the northern region, which is what I’m sure he was headed when looking at his feathers disappear within the distance. This meant that there were three other directions that needed to be checked. My hands would curl into one another – colliding my palms with one another in order to release the chakra from each of my lightning tenketsu.

A single atom birthed from only a breathe of fresh air would beckon a spark of lightning to my fingertip. This spark would radiate a luminous blue light pitch before instantaneously flickering – birthing a total of three lightning clones. The sound of an electric current would ‘buzz’ out of the smoke from their creation. My hand would swiftly raise upwards as I sent a single thought to each of them each signifying a direction to head [north, east and west]. After having given them the signal to leave I too would sit on the bench, thereafter beginning to rub the sides of my temple lobe. A sigh would perturb my lung echoing throughout the creeping night. The people of iwagakure had begun to settle into their homes – meaning that the time for investigation was growing nearer and I could only wait in anticipation as to what would be the turn of events we were to surely encounter.

“Yeah, tell me about it. There aren’t many things I could say to cheer you up – but I’d like to say thanks for accompanying me on these missions. Maybe I’ll take you on a few higher-ranked ones tomorrow – what do you say to that?””

I’d say – pulling a sheet of paper out of my pocket as the lightning clones made their way into the respective trails leading to the seldom few mansions that remained to Iwa no Sato. It shouldn’t be hard though for any of the clones to have figured out the destination of Council Member Hugo’s house, usually people of that type of authority had a sign or something outside of their door with their names on them. I was sure of it. I’d await a retort from my comrade whom had still been reluctant to the fact that he’d not given me his name, but fuck it. I’d rather have called him bro the rest of my life than to sit there and try to memorize some guys’ name. He’d probably give it to me at some random point in our lives – and that would be the day I would give him my true name. Another sigh would escape my lung before my body positioned itself to lean along the bench awaiting another ten or twenty minutes to receive the information my clones had gathered.

After a couple of minutes of chitter chatter with the iwa genin I would hold a single handseal releasing the atom from each of my clones in one great ‘flash’. If one were by the clone they would simply see a bright light emanating from their center before a cloud of smoke resonated from underneath them in combination to their ‘dispersing’. The information I’d gathered would swiftly become like memory to me as I’d become a little more adept in the ways of knowing my way around the village.

“Looks like our council member Hugo is in the mansion to the west. Let’s get going..”

I’d say just before standing to turn to the west corridor which held a trail twisting and turning through the dark alleyways between the houses in the village.

[¤ SFS ¤]

Between the small talk it didn't go unnoticed to the Genin that Hyoka still hadn't heard his name. He also realized that he hadn't addressed the man by the name he'd given. "I say foreign shinobi from an un-allied nation are all kept under a tight watch so it's more like I'm taking you with me for my missions. But if and when we get to a B-rank assignment, I'll be pleased to be along for the ride... and I won't slow you down." The truth was that he'd never been on any missions beyond a C-ranking. He wasn't intimidated by the thought at all the higher risk of death also meant a higher yield in the form of knowledge, field experience and Ryo. He had no idea when the Chuunin Exams would be occurring again and tried not to think about his inactivity from missions and training during the last exams that were actually held here in Iwa. Whenever they did come back, he would be ready and his time spent working Hyoka would be just the tip of the iceberg leading up to that trial.

Following the Chuunin's lead Sen began to sprint in the direction of the designated mansion. In his head he sent his own telepathic message to the Yōton clone. It was annoying as hell but it was for the safety of innocent bystanders, having a puddle of lava in the middle of a busy street was no way to go about handling it and it would give him unwanted notoriety. We found the place so you can disperse. You know the protocol... do Iwa a favor and find a discreet place to disperse. Try the mountains in the South. Bringing his attention back to the mission at hand he followed the winding path a tad bit anxious to see what kind of theft was waiting on them. Anyone ballsy enough to steal from a council member probably had some skill and he admitted to himself he wasn't looking forward to a lava fight in a mansion. He just couldn't afford the costly repairs it would bring.

When they arrived on the scene hired help escorted them to the place where the theft occurred. There were no obvious things pointing to a possible point of entry and no clues left behind that he could decipher. For the moment, this mission was beyond his capabilities. But the good thing about having a partner was that it made truth out of a simple notion, two heads were better than one. It was likely that this mission would be one in which Hyoka, with his larger experience noticed something Sen himself did not. "I got nothin'. Any thoughts?" He couldn't say that he wasn't upset about being stumped but he couldn't that he was either. If anything the negative feelings about not finding any clues stemmed from a worry that they'd be here all night and in the back of his mind he actually changed his tune and hoped a fight would break out, at least then there was 90% percent change they would have a lead to follow up on for the second part of the investigation.

In the moments between waiting on the Chuunin to find something they could go with his thoughts drifted back and forth on all the jutsu he'd seen the man come to use so far that day. Raiton and Summoning had been the only types but even in those alone he showed versatility. The summoning part in particular got Sen's attention, he'd only heard rumors on how one went about acquiring a summon and it seemed like the kind of thing in which you had to know someone who had one so that could convince them to allow you to share theirs with them. That wouldn't work here though for two reasons. The first was that Hyoka's summon had identified itself as an actual Phoenix and if that was accurate then a contract with beasts who wielded fire wouldn't do him much good as he was fire wielder himself. He needed versatility, not more of what he already had. The second reason was less tactical and more of a personal issue... he just wasn't much of bird person. Maybe if it came up, and there was time he could ask the man how contracts were made, how many different animal offered contracts, and how the hell he would even go about finding them.

His minded traveled on and on in the possibilities but he was snapped back to reality when Hyoka seemed to find a break in the case, as it were.

[chiatsuki]

A querulous task indeed. Me and the Iwa shinobi had found ourselves racing through the streets, finding our way around the city with what little light left beckoned from the summon onto the streets of earth. I was surprised to see that we would have made it to our destination so soon. Yellow tape had been sewn around the body of the yard so that no one except for me and the other shinobi could enter. The ‘hired help’ would simply guide us onto the trail which led into the council members mansion. Upon arrival we would climb a set of white stairs from which I noted that my footsteps left an imprint. Wet paint. . I’d think to myself as a quirk of my brow asserted the confusion surrounding why the steps had been painted over recently.

Our ‘hired helper’, or ‘servant’, was a tiny man who had curly hair tied up into a pony tail. He seemed very distinct about who he was, or at least who he was working for, and gave off the attitude of a snobby teen. I couldn’t quite help but become annoyed to the way he gestured to us. He never spoke – only pointed into the house as me and the genin stepped onto the tiles which made a path to the front door. I followed this trail to the inside where the council man stood stroking his chin, puffing on a cigar, in the middle of a large living room. Behind him was where I could depict that the painting was stolen partially because the paint of the room wasn’t the same as what it was underneath the portrait. . this again would alert me that someone had been painting over and over again.

“Good evening council member Hugo? Is it? You may call me Natsufubuki. This is my partner, his name is bro. We’ll be helping you solve the mystery of how your portrait was stolen. I am afraid that is all we can provide for now until our kage has given us orders to investigate further. I noticed that someone painted your front steps outside? Why is that?”

I’d ask swiftly in order to get the thought out of the way. It was a miniscule detail at most but maybe the council member would find it odd just as I had. His facial expression seemed to have not moved from the moment we even walked in – I guess paint on the stairs was the least of his worries.

“Yes. My servant Gerant painted them yesterday. The intruder must have gotten in some other way. . because gerant would have most likely seen someone walk in and when I’d asked him he said he didn’t. There MUST be another way this culprit entered..”

Hugo would say. He was an akimichi so his voice bellowed out a bold tone which shook the very foundation of my being as I listened. I wasn’t too sure of Gerant after him having being mentioned as the one who had painted over the stairs. . but my job was to simply figure out how the culprit got in, and nothing else. If it was true, that Gerant was not the thief, then that meant that there had to be some other entry point. Maybe an inside window?

“Well, he seems pretty fixated on the fact it wasn’t his servant. Maybe you should go check for broken glass near the windows..”

I would say to my partner as I would attempt to gather more information on the painting, its dimensions, and what exactly it could have fit through. In the meantime I needed the boy to give me a blueprint of the structure of the house – if there was anything amiss I was sure he would be the first to find it.

[¤ SFS ¤]

The Chuunin gave his orders and the Genin obliged. He's case the home and find out where something was amiss. The fact that he'd missed that thing about the wet paint gave him a new found lust to solve this annoying little mystery fortunately, there was still a clue or two left to be found. His only problem at the moment was were to start looking. He swept by the window's fast enough but didn't find any broken glass on the floor. There was a small chance that if someone who handled the cleaning or repairs stole the painting they could have had it cleaned up before councilman noticed. He opened every window on the level giving each a thorough inspection when he found something interesting; nothing at all. Jumping out of the largest window to the right he landed on the ground two stories below and began to search all the areas directly under the windows.

"Hmph... the plot thins." Sen casually muttered as he found a handful of glass shards scattered here and there on the ground under the farthest window on the left. What stood out the most was that there were only a few pieces of glass to be found which lead him to believe that either someone who worked or lived in the mansion stole the painting and broke the window from the inside and then replaced the window to cover their tracks, carelessly leaving behind a few shards. Or that someone who worked or lived in the mansion stole the painting and planted some glass shards on the grounds below to make it look like someone else who worked or lived in the mansion stole the painting, broke the window from the inside and then replaced the window to cover their tracks. Either way, the window wasn't how they got in or out.

Sealing chakra into his feet the young man scaled the walls of the mansion climbing back in through the window he jumped out of moments ago. It wasn't time to figure out who stole the painting, just time to give his thoughts on how they go in and how he came to that conclusion. "Your thief came in through the front door... or maybe the back door or some other side door. Only a trained ninja or at least, someone with ninja-ish training could have jumped from this floor all the way to the ground without heavily injuring themselves or damaging the painting and no shinobi would have stopped to clean up the mess afterwards and done such a poor job." He placed the glass shards on the desk of the councilman. "That means someone took the painting and got outside with it by normal means. They most likely hid it elsewhere in the mansion and then simply walked out of the place like nothing happened."

Sen was confident in his theory but he was only half the team he was interested in what Hyoka opinion might be and he was curious as how the whole wet paint thing fit into all of it, if it fit in at all.

[chiatsuki]

I was somewhat baffled as the genin stormed in with a conclusion of his own. Although I hadn’t spoken with him at all about what I’d thought had happened he seemed to have taken the answer directly from my mind. I would simply nod as he concurred that this wasn’t a ninja – it was a simple man, or woman, who knew a thing or two about cleaning up a mess. My eyes darted to the servant who had brought us in here. His eyes remained vigilante upon me and my partners silhouette but I couldn’t make sure of his innocence or not. My hand would outstretch to the genin who had gathered all of his information in a matter of minutes. . but he was talking too much. If we solved the case here and now we wouldn’t be eligible to have made it a higher-ranked mission.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, brother. Councilmen hugo. The person who stole your painting would have left footprints on the wet paint procuring on the outside if they were to have simply walked in so this means that there was some other exit that they must have used to take your painting. Your windows are simply too small for the painting to fit through – which leads me to believe that this painting has not yet been stolen, just misplaced. Me and my partner will report this immediately to the tsuchikage. If we are approved to continue this investigation you will see us early in the morning tomorrow. . “

The councilman would simply nod to me, he must have genuinely become upset at his self portrait being misplaced. I for one already had speculation of who it might have been. I would purposely allow my left shoulder to bump into the servants. I would take one good glance at him – his shoes and his clothing and would note of how there was mud stains pattered upon his foot. My attention would turn back towards the genin, whom I’m sure would have followed up after us solving the mystery of ‘how’ the painting was stolen, to reassure my knowledge of what our next mission would be. It seemed that I had lost the last mission slip and so my ‘brother’ was going to have to take care of locating the destination of our next mission, whatever it was.

“Looks like we’ll be visiting this place later on. I think we only have like… one more mission right? “

[tigaevo]

+30 both

[¤ SFS ¤]

Murder Mystery [1]
Rank: D
Ninja needed: 1-3
Mission info: There has been a murder in the village. Mrs. Pearson’s son was murdered and she has hired a shinobi to find out exactly why. Your first task is to find out who killed the boy and why he was murdered.
Special Info: May be repeated indefinitely.

The trek from the mansion to the murder scene on the east end of the village went by fast enough. There were less people on the streets at this hour and it was a straight shot from the one end to the other. It was the moment he had been waiting for all day, the last mission. A boy had been murdered and like their previous mission they didn't have to solve the whole crime tonight. In the case of this murder they simply had to figure out why he was killed and who did it. He extended the folded mission ticket to the Chuunin to read himself, still stating the key details aloud. "Someone's been murdered, no name was given but his mother's name is Pearson. Chances are it's not kid, a teenager or young adult most likely. The older the victim is though the easier it'll probably be the solve this thing... and they want us to figure out both who did it and why but I figure if we can figure out the who we can just make them tell us about the why."

In the shinobi world people died all the time. As many strings of ramen that were in your breakfast bowl, you could be sure that at least that many people were going to die that day and during wartime like now, the number was easily doubled. The unique thing about Iwagakure no Sato was that it had bore the brunt of many attacks and lost many lives for this war already. It was the most weakened of the Five Great Nations and so it became a target by default. It had become so bad he was willing to trust Missing-Nin before another ninja still affiliated with their village. Nuke-nin followed their ambitions for the most part and the ones weren't nukes followed the orders of their superiors back home. At least with a Nuke-nin you tended to know where you stood with them, but when left room to believe you could truly trust someone the only thing you were guaranteed was an eventual knife in the back. Sometimes it was the happen the very moment you let your guard down to indulge in trust and sometimes it wouldn't happen until generations down the line, but eventually, it would happen. The easiest way for the Leaf, Sand, Water and Lightning to increase their own power was to make the Five Great Nations into Four Great Nations. He'd mostly kept his head down after that stuff back in Suna so he wasn't aware whether Iwagakure no Sato had alliances with them or any other village at the time.

He couldn't even begin to the fathom the ramifications of war for the Hidden Villages in smaller countries like Star, Rain and Grass. But war was an all encompassing thing even if Iwa fell down to the last Stone Shinobi the remaining villages would just go on fighting one another and it would be someone else's turn to watch their village slowly die. His thoughts put him in even more of a stoic mood and he could feel himself unraveling. He needed a bath or a shower. He needed some time to clean himself up and collect his thoughts and that's exactly what he would do the moment he and Hyoka figured out why someone decided to kill this guy.

They got to the crime scene in one piece, and thankfully, the body was still in one piece as well. It had been nearly twenty-fours since he had been found and Sen had to apologize profusely for their late arrival. The body itself had already been moved to keep it from decaying further in the street. The corpse itself wouldn't reveal an abundance of clues as to who killed him or why. The corpse would best tell them how he was killed, and that would possibly help with the who and why. He was used to the concept of death, his training had ensured it as did his constantly attacked village but he was in no place to take his time with this mission. He would make sure he dotted all his I's and crossed all his T's but he wouldn't spend a minute here longer than he had to.