Posted Up (mission; TG)

[purple]

SPOILER: Click to show

Name: Scouting Part I
Rank: C
Repeatable: Yes
Description: With the shinobi all gathered and stationed within the village Konoha is a safe place to be. However this doesn't mean that danger doesn't lurk on the outskirts.
Obective: Search the Land of Fire for any mysterious persons. If a missing nin is spotted or a shinobi from another country is found, do not engage. Report back to the Hokage immediately.
Reward: 200 EXP and 1,000 Ryo

Suzuka figured she’d put a big enough target on her back to lay low for a little while—or at least, to very blatantly show that she didn’t plan on pushing things too much. She had very recently finished another mission—and managed to piss off at least one person connected to ANBU in the process. No, for now, she’d just do something simple, chill out, let things run their course. Rather than taking one of the more “exciting” missions that she tended to enjoy, she opted for a C rank—something she hadn’t done in a while. It was just an extra patrolling detail around the village—experience told her she probably wouldn’t find anything—but who knew? Maybe some crazy asshole felt like attacking today. That would be exciting.

Though she was technically qualified to engage, she planned on playing it by the book this time and not doing so, partially out of spite. They said report back, she’d report back. She’d be obedient to a fault until she figured out exactly how to move up in Konoha. Besides, she would more than likely be working with a Genin, and she didn’t want to put anyone in danger. And here I am again… acting like it’s not a shot in hell that I’ll find anything suspicious anyway. Right.

Suzuka headed out toward the village gates, where she would be meeting her patrol partner. She decided to get there about fifteen minutes early, mainly because coming off of a patrol to realize your relief was late was pretty much the most annoying thing ever. She had all of her equipment on her, yet again, though this was mainly because she fully expected she might be sent right back out to take care of the threat if she did find something to report in… at which point she’d valiantly neutralize the threat, have her own private I-told-you-so moment with the administration, and keep it moving. Following directions… She’d been having issues with that, lately.

Mulling about idly, she started down at her outfit for the day. Black tights, short purple shorts, white top—standard fare for her lately. What was new was her giving a damn about her appearances—maybe that was a good sign, though. You got along with people better if you gave a damn about how you looked, she found. She returned her surroundings, looking more outward to receive the shinobi currently on patrol than looking for her own partner.

[Whoa Man]

Korenth was up to the usual sort of mission he was well equipped and talented for. Scouting. It was boring to some for a lack of action and activity, but to a man with Korenth's condition it was art. Making use of his OCD, Korenth had show some skill with making sure no leaf was unturned and no trace of his actions and movement were left behind. Of course it also didn't hurt to have a plentiful supply of kikaichuu to micromanage tasks that required a delicate touch.

The only thing that was somewhat skewed from the normal day to day routine, was the addition of a partner in today's work. Korenth had frowned at the prospect of another shinobi to work with, he didn't have the best of social etiquette. In fact, he was fairly certain that every word that left his lips exponentially increased his chances of making an enemy out of a complete stranger. With this ludicrous theory in mind, he resolved that today he would talk as little as possible and make nice with whomever his partner may be.

"Well, at least it's a beautiful day for a walk." He reasoned as he set out across the village from his house. He wore his dark round glasses as expected of Aburame shinobi, a light brown suit that suited him quite well, and a pair of beaten up worn sneakers that redeemed the casual look of his outfit. In his left hand he carried his trusted and highly polished long bow. Up his sleeve? A butterfly knife he had taken to playing with when there was nothing left to clean.

Soon he was drawing close to the gates and spied a woman waiting, most likely for him. It was unfortunate but it would take Korenth two minutes to cross a distance that would've taken an average man walking thirty seconds at best. For with every step he took he was careful now to avoid the crack and lines in the road that had turned into something of a busy road with cracks and wear lining its surface. As he moved slowly, he would catch the woman's eye by waving his hand meekly and flashing a brief smile.

After the wait for him to finally get out of the village through the gates he would turn to face her reaching up with one hand to adjust his glasses as he spoke. "Aburame Korenth, Genin. I assume you're who I'll be out on patrol with today madam?"

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Out of the corner of her eye, Suzuka caught a glimpse of someone waving at her. She turned, waving back to confirm that she had seen him. She expected to greet him within seconds, but instead she found herself staring an awkward moment right in the face as he half hopped, half shuffled over to where she was. She had to admit, she sometimes avoided the big cracks on tiled floors when she walked—more as a game than anything—but this was a little painful to watch. She found her eyes moving down to his feet—realized that might be rude—moved back up to his face—felt extremely awkward—looked away—felt rude again—looked back at him—flinch. During this little ordeal, Suzu had ample time to notice what he was wearing—brown suit, sneakers… Well, that was… Interesting. Finding nothing quite comfortable to focus on, Suzuka shifted her weight between her feet and let her eyes drift back to where she’d been looking, pretending to be searching for the last patrol.

What was probably only a couple minutes seemed like an eternity, and Suzuka felt a sort of nervous energy rising in her stomach involuntarily. Well… This is an ideal way to meet someone, she thought sourly. Finally, he managed his way over there. She wondered how he was able to get anywhere that way. At least he had the sense to leave early enough to arrive on time. And then, people had to adjust to bigger hindrances than that, she supposed. Suzuka turned back toward him to look, smiling gingerly. She was a bit annoyed, honestly, but that was no reason to start things off on the wrong foot. He introduced himself; well, at least he was polite, if not a bit stiff. Suzuka waved again—this time smaller, more a motion of the wrist, to greet instead of flag down.

“Hey, I’m Hyoujikaze Suzuka, Chuunin. And yeah, you’ll be stuck with me for a little while today.” As she often had been recently, she was going out of her way to try and be friendly. Dry and sarcastic didn’t really appeal to most people, she’d found—the sensitive bastards. “As soon as the other patrol gets back, we’ll be able to get started. Have you gone on patrol before?” Suzuka, more conscious of her body language than she would have liked to be, stopped smiling but tried to keep her demeanor open and friendly. Suddenly, she’d gotten very nervous about how this might go—she could be the friendliest fucker on the planet, but that didn’t remedy awkward situations. Hopefully, they could start off on the right foot—assuming there weren’t any cracks in the ground to trip them up.

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[Whoa Man]

"Many times," Korenth replied with a pride he didn't know he had for his own skills. "I'm not sure if you saw me struggling with my path to get here, but I have obsessive compulsive disorder. Because of this my professional progress as a shinobi has been stunted and they like to keep me closer to home where I can't get into too much trouble. That coupled with my abilities makes me an obvious choice for a scout or patrol for the village."

He took a step further from the village and looked out for any sign of the patrol coming, but so far they weren't coming. He turned about again to gain some appreciation for Suzuka asking her, "Since we'll be working together I'll go ahead and tell you a bit about myself. Perhaps if I'm lucky you'll return the favor?" He paused waiting for some indication whether positive or negative before continuing on. "Apart from my... condition, I am still a capable shinobi. I tend to make use of my kikaichuu in combat to confuse enemies while supporting allies. Apart from that, I'm handy with a longbow so I try to keep my distance in a fight."

There was something about her that Korenth simply wasn't getting yet. She seemed alright in that they weren't fighting with each other yet. Quite the contrary, she somehow seemed approachable and outgoing even though she wasn't smiling. Perhaps she was just being very professional about her work and not smiling because she took it so seriously. Then again, maybe she was forcing herself to get along with Korenth because she was so much more professional. It was hard to tell, but Korenth would find out soon enough.

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Okay. Stiff, but friendly, and not rude. This… could work? Suzuka duly noted what he was telling her—both out of genuine interest and as a tactical reflex. She liked knowing what was happening at all times and what she could do to respond to it. It was funny how nervous she was about leading a Genin team. She had the skillset for it, honestly. Maybe she just needed to find more value in her own life before being responsible for others’. Regardless, she was happy to have someone with her who knew what he was doing. At the end of the day, for a mission, that was what really mattered. Hopefully, they’d keep getting along. Suzuka’s more sarcastic nature had a way of breaking out in stressful situations, at times.

“I guess there’ll be two people who appreciate attention to detail, then. Konoha’s in good hands for now.” She chose her words carefully, and smiled again. “Though, maybe not, if their tardiness is any indication…” she looked back up and out. This was the exact moment they were supposed to end their patrol—if not for how eager people normally were to switch off duty, she wouldn’t have said that. “Let’s give them, say… ten minutes before we go check? Does that work for you?” It didn’t seem like long, but she was being generous. Most people were literally sprinting into Konoha after a boring an uneventful patrol shift. That said, she didn’t want to wait too long, in case something had happened.

“I’m pretty handy long or short range, though I tend to gain an edge long-range, myself.” Her tracker was in her pocket, but she could easily eyeball a distance and make a pretty good estimate about it—mainly from having used it so much. “I know my way around a sword a bit, and I’m pretty proficient with a couple different elements—fire and wind. I’d say my forte is being able to adapt to a variety of combat situations with a good strategy. I think pretty quickly on my feet, I guess.” Her voice trailed off just a little—maybe a lack of confidence, maybe embarrassment about talking about herself. She was also good at paperwork, but she left that part out. No one liked a politician—even a fake one. “I guess I’m sort of a miscellaneous case. Oh—there they are. Looks like we’re up to bat now.” Far in the distance, the previous patrol headed back. As they returned hand in hand, Suzu quickly figured out why they’d probably been late. She shook her head. “Like they couldn’t do that on their own time…”

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[Whoa Man]

Korenth's eyebrow crooked up in confusion for a moment. If he hadn't been mistaken, she paid him a compliment of sorts. That didn't happen. People hated Korenth, much less liked him enough to give him a compliment. "That's fine of course. I'm in no rush to go find a couple dead bodies and have to drag their stinking corpses back to the village." Korenth didn't think very much of most shinobi and seemed to jump to worst case scenarios with ease. Ninjas late? Well then, they were probably already dead or well on their way with a streak of torture.

As they waited Suzuka went into a brief explanation of her own skills and abilities. Korenth nodded understandably to it all but raised his eyebrows impressed by her elemental affinities. He himself had went through the trouble of learning his chakra nature was katon, only to not learn how to use it for fear of harming his kikaichuu. Before Korenth could make any comments about his thoughts on her abilities, she announced the return of the missing patrol. They strolled smugly back towards the gates but if not for Suzuka's comment Korenth would have been ignorant to their true motives.

The devil's smile broadened his features and a small scattering of twenty bugs crawled out onto the ground. "Don't worry about it, I think they'll regret it later on. Besides, we need to go out on patrol now ourselves and do the job they've neglected. We don't exactly have the time to teach them a valuable lesson." Carefully notching an arrow to the bow, Korenth started out going the opposite way of the returning patrol and setting out on the road. As the couple passed though, the twenty bugs split into two groups of ten and each group climbed into one of the couple's pants to pose as unwanted pests on their genitalia. Korenth's smile broadened even more somehow. His only regret was not being able to witness their reactions first hand.

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Ah, so, he’s, uh… practical, if nothing else. Suzuka didn’t know exactly how to feel about the boy responding not only by assuming they’d died, but… well, clearly not giving a damn to boot. She wondered if it was truly because of his OCD that he hadn’t been promoted. Despite the small knot in her stomach, she didn’t really say anything in response, opening her mouth for just a moment, brow furrowed. She wasn’t really sure what to say to that. She was torn between feeling responsible due to knowing better and the awkward feeling one sometimes feels when two dead bodies suddenly tiptoe their way into a conversation like a couple sneaky little zombies. Okay, so maybe teaching Genin wouldn’t be her strong point.

Suzuka couldn’t help snorting, however, at Korenth’s comment about the two, genuinely amused. “I think they’ll regret it later on.” Taking it at face value, Suzuka wondered if Korenth was one of those poor kids whose moms told them that if they had sex, pregnancy and death would follow. Or maybe that someone’s uterus would explode and the pieces would attack your face like a parasite. She’d heard some wiiiild shit growing up. Either way, the comment startled her somewhat and she struggled for a split second to hold back laughter, not realizing that he’d probably meant it to be funny for his own reasons. Of course, having totally not been paying close attention to him, she hadn’t noticed the bugs slipping down from him and following the happy couple into the village.

“Sounds good. Shall we start at about the midpoint of their route, check out that area, and decide where to move next from there? If we’re thorough, we should be able to cover part of their route and ours, or both if we need to, though I doubt we’ll need to.” Its purpose wasn’t really to be a question—she’d decided that that was what they would do and didn’t see why anyone would disagree. “In that case, we’ll be starting southeast of our normal route.” Suzuka started walking as well, assuming he knew the previous route anyway. It was one of those things you could ignore if you didn’t give a damn, but they gave you that information, so why not use it? She was maybe being an overachiever, sure—but that was what got the bills paid. Well, that wasn’t really true at all, but it was what she told herself.

As Suzuka walked away from the gate, her attention was snapped backward—she could swear she heard screams. Seeing nothing outside the gate, though, she concluded that it was inside the village. Ah, well. Gate patrol or somebody else got that. She turned back, running her fingers through her bright mane. This shift had already been pretty eventful for her taste, all of about ten minutes in. Then again, it certainly wasn’t boring, which was more than one could really ask of a patrol shift. A small sigh escaped her lips, and she increased her pace, assuming Korenth would do the same. The ground was more uniform here—hopefully, he’d be able to pick things up. She really didn’t feel like having to fan out around his location to cover all the ground—especially when there was nothing for him to detail, really. At the pace she was setting, though, they’d reach the other patrol’s midway point within minutes.

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[Whoa Man]

"Start in the middle?" Korenth repeated the idea out loud as they made their way down the road. One of his hands trembled momentarily before he clenched his jaw and forced the nervous tick to stop. "Yes of course, that's a sound enough plan for me." It was a sound plan. In fact it made perfect sense to the Aburame and he wasn't lying. The nervous tick, no matter how fleeting, had been a visual side effect of his OCD being forcefully ignored. He could've started at the beginning, or even the end, but to start in the middle twisted him up on the inside and his mental faculties now had the static of doubt and inner conflict. He suppressed this feeling and one of his eyes behind his black sunglasses began twitch at random intervals.

Suzu had placed him in a position where no matter what they did, he couldn't escape without a nervous tick. Both sides of the decisions were now lousy with OCD conflicts. He couldn't argue with a superior, for he followed the law and order of the village above all else. He couldn't start in the middle of something as opposed to it's natural starting point, the beginning. He was trapped, but he had already made a quick decision in the moment to try and hide his condition and so he turned off the road completely.

"If you want to start in the middle then," he said with his back turned to the chunnin, "the quickest way there is off the main road. This route winds through our forests to confuse and lose enemies of the village. I know the most direct route there through the trees if you don't mind following me of course." He shifted his bow and arrow holding them both delicately in one hand and adjusting the shades on his nose with another as he continued towards the forest. After a few paces he turned back to look if she was going to follow.

"That is unless of course you would prefer to just walk to road and take our time with this ma'am."

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Suzuka had to change directions only slightly. "Sure, that's fine." She slowed down just a little, but more or less kept her pace. She wanted to do this quickly. But then, it didn't seem like they'd have any speed issues anyway, so he could keep speed for them. It's not like they were on a difficult mission, and he'd done this before without messing up bad enough to get banned from it. She fell behind him and they progressed forward. Suzuka enjoyed relaxing missions like this--wind whipping through her hair, fresh grass under her feet. She loved the smell of the greenery around here.

It wasn't long before tree cover spotted up the sky overhead. Soon enough, they reached roughly the midpoint of the previous patrol's route. "This is as good a place to start as any," Suzu said, slowing down. Let's start by taking a quick look at the area. Of course, quick for Suzuka was still meticulous. She looked around first for any signs of combat or rigorous movement--nicked trees, disturbed earth--and quickly found that there weren't even any sign that anyone had been through here recently. It was usually pretty easy to tell--generally, the routes were tweaked just slightly so that different patrols would pass through different parts of the forest. That way, the routes would retain some level of "undisturbed." It was more to tell if intruders were around than to check on those patrolling, but it worked just as well.

The Chuunin inhaled deeply and sighed in mild annoyance. Honestly, she was tempted to just skip it, but at the thought of it, she felt an uncomfortable pit in her gut. A familiar pit--not getting something done right, even though it was her responsibility. Bust this was honestly just busy work. She felt conflicted. She was halfway tempted to just skip it, but doing so in front of Korenth probably wouldn't be the best example in leadership. "So, I'm pretty sure they didn't patrol..." she began, the energy totally absent from her voice. "Either you can stay here and keep an eye out while I go back to the start of their patrol, or you can go ahead toward ours. Or any variation of that. I don't really mind. But we should get this ground covered." Her eyes were already further scanning the area as she awaited his decision.

[Whoa Man]

As Korenth walked through the forest he was cautious of where he stepped to avoid scuffing or dirtying his dress shoes in the forest. Admittedly a forest wasn't the place for dress shoes, but he was already committed to the style for the day and resolved to clean them if they were messy when he returned home. With every careful step he took his eyes darted about the ground watching not only for the next carefully taken step but any sign of disturbance in the off road paths. There were a few marks, but easily dismissed as animals that had passed through certain clearings recently and were likely still in the area from the sounds of the occasional foliage disturbed in the area.

They soon reached the mid point of the patrol and Korenth came to a stop respectfully turning about as Suzuka inspected the area. She was thorough. She was professional. Korenth couldn't help but smile with appreciation for her talent and her eye for detail as she went about her work. "Are we related or something?" He mused as she worked, this thought distracting him from the mild ticking in the back of his head, "I mean, we have the same hair and habits when it comes to work it seems. Admittedly you don't move quite as slow as me when it comes to work," he admitted pulling lightly on his bow string to entertain himself. "But, you seem to be quite thorough in your work."

Yep. Typical. The patrol had neglected their duties entirely which meant that now they would have to be certain in their own check of the area. A lot of walking about and checking of the most minor disturbances along the paths, which could take far too much time. More importantly, that much walking about and bending over was likely to get his shoes scuffed. This would not do. "Ma'am?" Korenth began meekly, "Do you mind if I offer an alternative? If you're willing to stay by me and protect me for a while, I can inspect both directions."

Kikaichuu. Dozens became hundreds and soon thousands! Just about two thousand all and all swarmed out slowly from the man's dress clothes and even from behind his dark glasses crawling out from his eye sockets. They took flight to the air above them in the trees hovering as a black mass, twisting and churning at their own leisure waiting. "But of course, that's up to you. I can divide them into two groups and send them out scouting for anything out of the ordinary." He pursed his lips to the side of the mouth in consideration, "But, then I'm nearly defenseless until they come back. It's your call really, but I thought I would present the option for your consideration. Orders?"

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She smiled at him, and it was mostly genuine, laced with only the slightest bit of secondhand embarrassment. It was sort of an awkward way to praise someone, and she couldn’t help feeling like there was a bit of superiority in the way he’d complimented her. Then again, she might have been hoping deep down inside that she didn’t come off that way. Giving too much of a damn compared to those around you could certainly be grating.

Well, this was an informative day. She’d considered asking him to use his bugs for this, but she wasn’t exactly sure how tiring him using his bugs this way would be. Some methods of search and sensing were particularly tiring, she knew, and she hadn’t wanted to embarrass him by asking him to do something he couldn’t (or embarrass herself by not knowing that). She agreed, standing relatively near him so she could move quickly if anything did come for him. She put her tracker on and activated it.

Regardless of what she knew about the Aburame, she couldn’t help feeling just a little freaked out by the sheer number of bugs they had, or the fact that the bugs were inside them. It wasn’t the thought itself, really—just the spectacle of the bugs evacuating his body was enough to make Suzu’s stomach churn a little. As the writhing mass of life flew into the sky, Suzu considered them for a moment, and then nodded. “Sure, as long as you’re prepared to move without them if need be.” Of course, Suzuka was prepared to fight, but she would still be prepared to follow protocol if need be as well. You never knew what kind of threats could pop up in such a situation.

She looked around. It wasn’t often that she really sat and camped out in one spot in the forest like this. She’d been taking less local missions lately. It was nice to sort of hang out like this, she supposed—then again, she’d still rather be doing something fun. Was it bad that she sort of hoped something would come up…? Yeah, probably. But hey, maybe she’d get paid more for it. It’s not like she’d never done that for an official mission before. She would have an extra burden this time, though—she’d have to keep her partner out of danger. And she wasn’t confident about doing that without knowing exactly how he fared in a combat situation. You never really knew with Genin—such things could be jarring. “About how long? And in case of emergency, how fast can you get them back?”

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[Whoa Man]

"Hmmmm," Korenth strung his bow over his shoulder and crossed his arms over his chest pointing in either direction directing the masses in two twisting columns of bugs that spewed through the air in either direction. The twisting columns seemed to wash down the paths jettisoning smaller clouds of bugs occasionally to the ground to inspect something. As they traversed the path Korenth bit his bottom lip thoughtfully considering her questions. "Well how fast I can call them back is relative to how far they've made it down the way. But from here it shouldn't be too long, I'd say ten to fifteen minutes. Twenty if they find something worth investigating."

With them gone he retrieved his bow and notched the arrow back into place on the string before casting a wary glance about. The forest seemed still for now, but he was not the best judge of his environment without his micro scouts. Suzuka had said she'd protect him, but that didn't mean he would merely drop his guard and wait to be ambushed by the unknown. Korenth was a proud soldier of Konohagakure and held himself to what he felt was a higher standard than what the village seemed to hold for their own genin.

"I am also able to move without them at a moment's notice. I can even fight, but my actual techniques are entirely from the clan. So in regards to combat you can think of me as an archer for now until they return," he explained calmly. He was slightly embarrassed by how he hadn't trained in any other techniques other than the clan's teachings. At the same time though he felt eager to prove that he was dependable as a ninja even without his ninjutsu. He only prayed he wouldn't embarras himself if trouble showed up.

"So... chunnin huh?" again Korenth was abysmally awkward with how to start the conversation but he had a few question running around his twitchy mind. "That must be fun to travel around the world. I was told most chunnin are made leaders of teams. Do you have your own?" He wasn't smiling but his voice was jovial and attempting to be as warm and friendly as he could manage. "Do they ever leave the country with you?"