a day's labour

[Haru]

1, lost land

-----------------------------

It was approaching dawn, and the first rays of sunlight penetrated the pervasive mist surrounding the village as my destination gradually entered the foreground. Light slowly colored my surroundings as I journeyed with poise through the waking streets of Kirigakure. The strip of land I traversed was essentially empty, which wasn’t particularly noteworthy considering the hour, and the park I was converging upon did as well reflect the village’s bare temperament. 

I had grown fond of the peculiar tranquility garnered from such quiet, misty mornings over the past year, since my initial fortuitous admission into this land. While admittedly daunting from the outside, from within, beneath blankets of mist and stillness, and the taciturnity of anterior time, there was nothing to be felt but a quiet calm. Of course, within this land, a calm could mask death just as likely as benevolence – though, should I tell it, the two weren’t necessarily exclusive categories to begin with. Still, I revered this silence, as the kind that could befall one here was certainly a silence of the former variety.

Unfortunately, the proceedings of the day would not be consonant with the serenity of the sun’s dawning. Today would be a day of abasement and menial labor. Though I didn’t consider myself above it, tasks such as cleaning parks and walking dogs had never been my forte. I doubted that any academy graduate actually looked forward to such tasks, yet I was nonetheless aware of their importance, and the role that they played in the tempering of a shinobi’s ever-becoming will. I would execute them in stride, and hopefully at the day’s end be able to reflect agreeably, if not enthusiastically. Fortunately, to wrest truth from the dreary monotony of daily life was an art that I had by now attained some semblance of expertise in. For the sake of sanity, a reasonable amount of optimism was simply necessary, as the advent of despair invariably signaled the death of intrinsic motivation.

And thus without any disquiet I would enter the unoccupied park.

It was a decent-sized area, with an oval walking trail encircling a large, tree-strewn field and playground. As with most any other public space, cleanliness was not one of the park’s virtues. Scanning the field, trash could be seen scattered throughout, while other miscellaneous items, likely forgotten, as well littered the scene. I wondered how long it had taken for such disarray to be effectuated, and how long after the cleaning it would take for an identical mess to be produced. It was neither here nor there, I guessed. There had additionally been reports of rabid dogs terrorizing civilians in this area, and while I didn’t see them now, I was sure that they’d show up eventually. In the meantime, I’d set off along the trail and begin carrying out the objectives of the mission.

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SPOILER: Click to show

{M-1}Clean Up!
Rank: D
Description: The new parks around Kirigakure need to have there litter picked up and the trash taken out. Clear the area of any rodents or park creatures that don't belong. In addition to cleaning up the park(s), you must also place some new literature about the park's history and attractions on benches throughout the area.
Restrictions: None/May be completed multiple times
Rewards: 25 EXP and 500 Ryo.

[Haru]

1, lost land

-----------------------------

Making my way along the trail, picking up a water bottle here, a crumbled napkin there, I found my mind gradually parting with the active present and entering the more removed, meditative state requisite of contemplation. This was often the case with routine tasks of this kind, and I found the whole process somewhat therapeutic. Considering the unseemly trash build-up in places such as these, I began to wonder about the general outlook of the Mist’s citizens, particularly what view could ever warrant such negligence, and where its sources could possibly lie.

Pondering the possibilities, I was ultimately led to the Church, and I couldn’t help but call into question the deleterious effects I assumed such doctrines could have on a populace. It had recently been my conviction that the one true anathema to any hope of progress and rationality was outright certainty in the face of existence’s open ambiguity. Ideologues and fanatics had forever been the bane of any real, revolutionary, living thought. Their propensities were for petrification, for halting progress by turning to stone any notion of dialectical movement, and their means, rather than rational argument, were often unthinking belligerence and a kind of reactionary bellicosity.

Interestingly, the contentment that could arise from one’s believing that they understood totally the seemingly infinitely complex world was the same contentment that could warrant one’s littering without a care, for in both instances there existed a base, vile, and uncaring laziness. Nevertheless, there was a reason for rejoice amidst what I perceived to be the populace’s shortcomings, as rumors of an impinging war had spread throughout the land, and given hope to those of us who still valued freedom in the singular, and the apparently outmoded virtues of discipline and temperance.

While I was admittedly appreciative of the Church’s admittance of me into the Mist, their effects on the village itself belied such ostensibly altruistic gestures, which, I would later discover, were themselves anything but benevolent. A life indebted to the minds of the sick couldn’t be a life of mine. A new day was dawning, insurrection was in the air, and I sensed that immense changes were in store. In the meantime, I would have to suffice with shoveling the ordure of an unbecoming public. That was the duty of a shinobi, I guessed. To cleanse the mess of the world; to right the wrongs of the malefactors past, while concurrently effecting change at the level of its inception.

By the time I had finished my mental blathering, I’d look up to notice that my body had independently made its way well along the trail and around the entirety of the park, and that what had at once been a bleak sight could finally be looked upon enjoyably. It was at this moment, as I surveyed the broad vicinity, that a vicious barking suddenly sounded across the field.

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SPOILER: Click to show

{M-1}Clean Up!
Rank: D
Description: The new parks around Kirigakure need to have there litter picked up and the trash taken out. Clear the area of any rodents or park creatures that don't belong. In addition to cleaning up the park(s), you must also place some new literature about the park's history and attractions on benches throughout the area.
Restrictions: None/May be completed multiple times
Rewards: 25 EXP and 500 Ryo.

[Haru]

1, lost land

-----------------------------

Sweeping my gaze over the area to meet the beastly call, I’d spot two large, feral dogs. Their barking ceased as I turned to face them, though an even more incensed snarl began to form on their faces, and their bodies appeared to tense slightly, as if in preparation to pounce. Time passed slowly as we stood at a stand-still; I wondered whether simply killing them outright was the proper course of action, considering the likely minute probability of their rehabilitation. Nonetheless, staining the leaves with blood, and being forced afterwards to deal with their corpses seemed an unnecessary complication, further bothering the already bothersome task at hand.

Instead, I’d reach for my quarterstaff, and in a swift motion it would be positioned at my fore, my right hand gripping it about a third of the way up. Unsurprisingly, the sudden movement would do nothing to relieve the territorial canines of their hostility, and sequential to it they would immediately shoot forward, running toward my lithe figure at breakneck speed.

The first, who was several meters ahead of its cohort by the time it’d reached my vicinity, wasted no time in its assault, and eagerly lunged forth jaws agape. As its legs dug into the grass, and it had committed to its leap, I’d immediately side-step, and in a single, fluid motion, bring the extremity of my staff down upon its rapidly elevating skull. The two surfaces met with a hard thud, the inertia of the opposing forces sending a slight shockwave along the length of the pole. The creature would collapse, unconscious, just as the other approached my flank. Steadying the staff with both hands, I only had time to force the canine away with a half-strike, half-shove to its side as it performed a similar lunge.

It was knocked to its side, though immediately rose, and, gathering myself, I’d face it with a calm, amused glare. It begin circling me, eyeing my neck region with the ravenous, fervid glower of a wild animal. I’d pivot smoothly, facing it with each step, before suddenly stopping. Taking advantage of what it may have perceived as a fault on my end, the dog would meet my flank and lunge once more. As it performed its maneuver, however, I’d pivot with the opposite foot, in the opposite direction, my weapon brandished in a swinging motion as I did so. Another dull thud would sound, as the staff would meet once more with bone, and the once hopeful animal would sink to the ground.

“Fun.”

I’d stow away my staff, then check the dogs to make sure I hadn’t accidentally cracked a skull. They were fine. Reaching for my bag, I’d pull out a stack of pamphlets which were to be placed on the park’s benches – the final objective of the mission – and set out to do so. In minutes the marketing had been set properly, and the park’s refurbishment rendered complete. I’d survey the place one last time with a sigh, before returning to deal with the animals. My first mission of the day had been a success.

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SPOILER: Click to show

{M-1 ✓}Clean Up!
Rank: D
Description: The new parks around Kirigakure need to have there litter picked up and the trash taken out. Clear the area of any rodents or park creatures that don't belong. In addition to cleaning up the park(s), you must also place some new literature about the park's history and attractions on benches throughout the area.
Restrictions: None/May be completed multiple times
Rewards: 25 EXP and 500 Ryo.

[Comatose]

+30, take mission to Kage Tower for reward submission.