There's No Place Like... (Mission)

[Kildred]

Usio walked out of the atrium in high spirits. His hands still stung from the ordeal with the cat, but that was something he could put at the back of his mind. Having the houses around the village be fixed up would be much better for his family business. If there were more people, the shop would get more customers, which means more profit. If there's more profit, there's a chance that they could hire an actual worker, and he could have some time off for a change. Not to mention have more opportunities to go out and accept missions for pay. He would do anything to help the store, but he also needed money, and they stopped paying him around two years ago, when the prices of seeds and fertilizer started going up.

Walking down the street, he made a mental checklist of the houses that needed repair as stated in the mission list. The easiest ones simply needed to be cleared of rubble and old, unusable furniture, as well as a fresh coat of paint. The houses he was currently looking to help with needed extra help with piping, plaster, and other things requiring a bit more technical expertise. Beyond that, houses that were in need of serious repair. New walls, structural repair, sometimes a whole revamp of the entire building. The village needed a lot of work, and it needed it soon. While it was heartening to think that he was being loyal to his home, Usio knew that a selfish part of him just wanted more people to shop at his store. Of course, what was stopping the villagers from opening up their own shops?

Sighing at the depressing thought, he made his way past the hospital to his assigned area. Hospital? The building made him almost remember something, but it was just outside of his reach. There was something about the hospital that he felt he needed to know, but it just wasn't being registered. Well, he was busy anyway. He'd think about it when the job was done. Still, it bothered him. It wouldn't do to have his mind elsewhere while he was working, otherwise he might go off like he did before. He'd hate to space out while trying to repair a pipeline or something. Slapping his face and giving a self-reassuring grunt, Usio jogged down to the work site and reported for duty.

[Kildred]

As he approached the house, Usio watched several other people drag concrete and furniture out of the house one by one. The large items seemed to take a toll on the workers, as they took a breath which each step. It seemed he wouldn't be able to snake past this mission with ninjutsu, like he did previously. Of course, he did not know much ninjutsu that could be used inside a house. It was a simple two-story house, ample for a four person family. It shouldn't take much effort to clear it out of the assorted rubble that was no doubt littering the structure, but what needed to be fixed internally was yet to be known. Hopefully, if anything, it was something he knew how to fix. Admittedly, that was a short list.

Approaching the woman in charge, she waved him inside to continue the clearing out of the house. He moved to the second floor, spying the remainder of what needed to be taken out. A group was already taking care of the room on the left, and the bathroom was cleared out. The last room had a very large broken slab of concrete laying amongst smaller pieces of rubble. By the looks of it, it was too heavy for the groups before him. Usio briefly contemplated gathering everyone working, but thought better of it. There was still a lot to cover, and the more that were working, the sooner the house would be complete. He knew the concrete wouldn't respond to his Doton jutsu, so he did the next best thing.

Summoning his chakra, he reinforced the muscles in his arms, back, and legs. The granite slab was easily as big as he was, and he wasn't quite used to using chakra to increase his strength. He decided to give it a few practice lifts before trying to carry it downstairs. Using the sides that jutted out as makeshift handles, he crouched down and grabbed the slab. Keeping his back straight, he lifted while using his legs to carry most of the weight. It slowly lifted off the ground, and hovered as he seethed through his teeth. Okay, okay. I got this. It's not...too bad. He kept as good a grip as he could and moved it out of the room, maneuvering through the door in an odd fashion. He managed to make it outside and set it down away from the house. No one batted an eye as he did so. They probably expected as much from a ninja, and left it there for him explicitly.

[Kildred]

With the majority of the rooms in the house cleared of obstructions, Usio went out to see what was next on the agenda for the house. While several people were already sweeping up dust and debris on the ground floor, he was set up to go back to the second floor and make sure that each wall of every room had a nice few coats of paint on them. It seemed like every room would have a different color. It was likely just to showcase the house, as the people or person who bought it would probably repaint the rooms to something more befitting of their own style. Regardless, this was an easy job for him to do, albeit time consuming. Grabbing a roller and a few buckets of paint, he made his way upstairs and entered the first room.

It was a spacious room, likely a bedroom of some sort. Two of the walls had windows, ensuring good lighting for the morning and afternoon. If it was going to be bright in here, a light color would probably be best. Maybe a light blue or something. Choosing the appropriate bucket, Usio laid it down next to him and placed some paper around the ground to catch any drips. After placing a bit of tape around the edges for accuracy, he popped open the bucket and poured a bit into a disposable tin. Dipping the roller into the thick substance, he rolled it over the wall a few times, coating the bland wall in a new eye-catching form. It would take much longer to finish the room, and even longer for the others, but this was necessary for the new tenets, whoever they would be.

As he painted the wall, Usio's mind drifted off. His arm moved mechanically, still covering the wall in spots that he had yet to reach, but without much conscious thought on his part. He instead wondered about the state of his family's store. He never remembered them doing particularly well, even after they had moved to Kusagakure. Their farm wasn't very large, and they only produced enough vegetables to sell and make a very small profit. It was the entire reason he applied to become a ninja; the extra pay from the missions would help his family stay afloat. Of course, he spaced out in those classes, and as such, it took him a few extra years to actually graduate. Thank goodness there wasn't a tuition fee. Blinking, he moved to a new section of the wall. Getting depressed now wouldn't help anyone.

[Kildred]

Covered in various splotches of multi-colored paint, Usio emerged from the building and handed off his leftover cans to the supplier. Nodding to to the various people walking past, he went over to the supervisor for his next assignment. She informed him of the piping system that was in need of repair. She pointed out a box of tools and replacement parts for him to take. The room in question was the kitchen, so he grabbed the box and made his way over to the room. They already had part of the wall carefully knocked down so as to prevent unnecessary work being needed later. Checking the insides of the wall, it seemed that a few pipes were completely rusted out, and perhaps a few more were leaking.

With the water already shut off, it was a simple matter to remove the pipes from the cascade of metal in the wall. With these ones out of commission, the ones that were actually under the sink had no damage whatsoever. It was little relief, but less work was still less work. Eventually all of the pipes here would have to be replaced, but for now, it seemed that they just wanted the house in working order. The pipes already in the wall had no protection against rust, unlike the pipes he was about to install. After enough time had passed, those would need replacing as well. In any case, he had a relatively simple job here; install piping. All he needed was the pipes and a wrench. Simple.

Well, so he thought. It seemed that he also needed to install ipe supports to hold them in place within the wall. It was just an extra step, so it was no big deal, really. After drilling several pipe guides into the wall, he moved the pipes through and fitted them into place. This monotonous task was repeated several times, with a couple of mistakes in between, until he finally managed to connect the array to the bottom row. After they did a cleansing of the line, they could turn the water back on and the kitchen would be able to be used. Usio grabbed the box of tools and moved to leave the house once more, his sore legs straining against his efforts. Just a bit more to go. Come on.

[Kildred]

Once he finished bringing the tools and remaining pipe back, Usio looked over what the others were doing. Apparently, some of the rooms were finished and they were bringing in some basic furnishings. They were real bare-bones kind of things, but it didn't really seem like the village had money to go and give everyone nice furniture. Walking over to where they had been set after delivery, he moved in tandem with some other workers and lifted a couch. They moved it slowly into the living room, where other pieces had been placed haphazardly. Looking around, he questioned the others about the placement. They mentioned putting everything in it's rightful place after all furniture had been move in. So, after bedroom sets and the like were carried upstairs, he went to work on the living room.

Usio was never one to have an eye for decor, but he at least could place things where they made sense. The couch would go by the window, for reading and such. Table near the middle of the room, but still close to the couch and other chairs. Put up a shelf over by the opposite wall for knick-knacks and books, or whatever they wanted to put there. As long as the place looked nice, it didn't matter. All in all, it wasn't half bad. Leaving that room, he went and helped the rest of the workers move furniture in the other rooms until everything was in place. Finally, it looked like this was actually a house and not some ramshackle building in the middle of a village.

Leaving for what he hoped was the final time, he went to see the supervisor. She thankfully dismissed him, signing off on his mission slip and moving to order the last of the workers. Trudging back up the street, he took heavy steps and exhaled slowly. His arms and legs burned from effort, and through the various times he utilized chakra to move things around, he was feeling more than a little drained. All he wanted to do was go back, get paid, and spend the rest of the evening relaxing with some food and drink. This, of course, hinged on the fact of whether or not his father had more farm work to be completed. Silent prayers were uttered for the time he returned home.

[Kildred]

Usio stopped in the middle of the street, intent on regaining a bit more energy in order to continue his walk back to the Atrium. He would sit down, but he feared not being able to stand back up again. As he stretched his back out, he looked to his left. The hospital was active, as it probably was all the time. A place of healing in a village recovering from battle didn't seem like it would have many breaks, if any. He had considered volunteer work, but figured he would just be in the way. Idly, he wondered how difficult it actually was to be a doctor, or a medic ninja. You'd have to have extensive knowledge of the body, as well as how to heal using physical treatment, medicine and...

Medicine? Why did that make him stop? There was something he was missing here, and his brain was on full alert trying to find it. Medicine. What was it about medicine? Salves and stuff to make the body better? That didn't seem to be why he needed to know. God, it was right there. Medicine, intravenous fluids, balms, herbal remedies, smelling salts, bands- That's it! Herbs! Herbs! Herbalist! That's what that damn pin was! Herbalists wore a pin of a three-pronged leaf! He remembered seeing the research building and questioning someone about it. Man, that was bugging him ever since he started out on this mission. Finally! Now he could...he could...?

What? Look up the Assistant's name in some herbalist directory? Why the hell was he so set on finding out the guy's name anyways? Some revelation this turned out to be. Sighing, he moved one foot ahead of him and started his walk again. Enough of this stupid guessing who is is based on visual clues. He would just go in there, report the mission finished, and ask the guy his name. He was just so tired now. Cleaning up the house dragged all cares out of him, leaving him with just the desire to rest. Once this trip was over, that was damn well what he was going to do.

-Thread End

[KEITH]

+42 EXP.