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The leaves and bushes around them rustled as Usio and Ujiyasu made their way through the forest. Marks of green continually added themselves to his shirt and pants, which were already stained with dirt. It gave him an odd camouflage effect, though he wasn't really aware of it. As they made their way through the forest, he looked up to see the tower in the distance. It sat amongst a number of trees upon a hill, overlooking everything for miles around. While it may have been a wonderful asset in the past, it had been abandoned for whatever reason. The stories and rumors surrounding it were numerous to say the least, but he paid them no mind. Rumors had little to no truth to them, most of the time.

He, himself, had never been to the tower, but it was not out of fear or respect. He simply had no interest in the dilapidated building. Now, he was here at the behest of Ujiyasu looking into some reports of haunting, which was utterly ridiculous. Ghosts didn't exists, and any who believed they did were simply begging to be taken advantage of. Much more likely, the old building was either housing a group of people, perhaps gang members or some youths, or the noises were simply the result of the wind blowing through various openings in the rock. The whole thing seemed like a colossal waste of time and resources, but since the clientele had paid for the services of the village, they were obligated to complete it. That didn't explain why Ujiyasu thought that they were the ones to do it.

“Hehe... this will be awesome! If we can do this mission, then surely the Chuunin Exams will be easy enough! We can climb the ladder and to do more for Kusa.”

It couldn't be just to qualify for the exams. A simple eight missions was all that was needed, and there were much easier tasks to be had in the Atrium. Ujiyasu always was one to look for a challenge, though. Maybe he wanted his latest one to be a hard-hitting qualifier? It didn't make sense to him at all. In his rush to do the higher ranked missions, he might be more likely to ignore the D and C-ranks, and those were the ones that kept the village going. It kept a sort of constant flow of ryo going through the village, ensuring a stability of sorts for its economy.

“Spend the night at the tower, see what’s up then head home with our mission complete... how hard could it be?”

Usio groaned audibly at this. "You do realize that, having said that, every force in the universe is now against us?" He was a firm believer in Murphy's Law, and wanted as little conflict to go on during this mission as possible so he could get home. "Exactly why, pray tell, did you need to get this mission anyway? I don't recall any B-ranked missions on the requirements for the Chuunin Exams. Trying to overachieve?" He had more than double the requirements needed, but he wasn't going. He still felt like he didn't have the sheer experience required, and doing eight unspecified missions didn't seem like it entailed a new rank.

Usio crooned his head to the side, looking on at the person who addressed the Kusakage. He found his words hollow and unrealistic. Utopia for peace? Coexist? The entire reason the needed to emerge as a power was to defend themselves from attack. The previous wars showed what the other villages thought of other lands they believed were beneath them; mere battlegrounds. If they fought so ferociously with each other then, how would they ever try to coexist with a new village which could conceivably threaten their rule? Non one would even try, unless it was to ruin Kusagakure through subterfuge.

Rather than make his opinion known, he scoffed and took to looking at the Kusakage again. Surely she knew of how we needed to act. She mentioned not wanting to fight, which implied that she would if need be. Fighting was how the would grow, and fighting would be how they would survive.

Usio stepped through the door, giving a glare to Ujiyasu. "I'll ask you to keep that fact under wraps, thank you." He continued moving towards the desk of the Assistant, grumbling all the way. "And the only reason I'm even going with you is because you promised to get the other two for our mahjong game." Finally standing in front of the desk, he looked towards the man who seemingly worked here every hour of every day. He didn't question it.

"My friend and I would like to take on a mission above our current ranking. As such, we request to meet with the Kusakage." He took a relaxed stance until he remembered something else. Turning to Ujiyasu, he motioned to the desk. "You have to turn in a mission too, right?"

Walking into the building, Usio stopped momentarily and turned around. Odd. He knew he had a bad memory, but it didn't seem likely that he wouldn't remember leaving the building after getting his missions. He walked backwards, looking around. Why would he forget leaving? Bumping into the table, he turned around and looked at the assistant. "Oops." Pulling out the mission slips, he gave them to the man and tapped his finger on the table. "So, these are finished. I feel I should inform you that...I, uh...well, during the missions, I sort of stabbed a rich guy, so you'll probably be hearing some complaints about that."



*Please pay half mission reward - 750 Ryo*

What was it? Entitlement? A general sense of not caring? Whatever it was, he was going to fix it, damn it. The clone to his left disappeared into the ground, traveling through the earth a ways before emerging in front of the gentleman and barring his path. Walking up beside him, a scant few feet from the litter he just threw, Usio Leaned on his stake and addressed the man. "Pardon me. Just what do you think you're doing?" The man looked around a bit, which really annoyed him. Who else would he be talking to? There wasn't anyone else whose route was blocked. "Yes, you. Who do you think you are, simply tossing trash into the street like that? Don't you have any respect? Don't you have any pride?"

The man, typically, tried to defend himself. He didn't react like he thought he would, by relying on his money and clout, but he did question his authority and his audacity to accuse him of being disrespectful. With an accusing eye, Usio simply stabbed the trash and held it to the man's face. "Do you know what my job is right now? I clean up the trash that ignorant fools drop on the ground, destroying our clean image and polluting our village. Do you know what you are? A pompous jackass who believes his money and clout are worth more than they really are. As far as I'm concerned, you're no better than the garbage I pick up off the street." The man went beet-red, cussing at him and walking off. Clicking his tongue, Usio tightened his grip on his stake.

The next and final plot of land he need to take care of needed less care than the others, in the sense that no one lived there yet. A building scheduled for renovation was overtaken by weeds, flowers, and...was that a tree? Wow, this place must have not seen care in a long time. The plants grew on, around and inside the house, needing much more help than just Usio could provide. Luckily, he was well equipped for such things. Putting his hands together, he ran through the seals and summoned two rock clones. The three got to work in tandem, removing the easy to rid but widespread weeds first. Clearing the first floor and the second, all three gathered in the living room where the tree had sprouted and grown out the window.

The floorboards were torn up, and the tree grew out the window. Probably to get the most out of the sunlight. Broken pipes probably account for the water it needed. Well, if everything was going to be fixed anyway, he might as well rip this thing from the ground itself, then work it down. All three gathered around, forming the same seals before slamming their hands on the ground. A wall, just large enough to fit the circumference of the trunk, pushed upward and ripped the tree and it's roots out of the ground. Well, there's no sense in ruining a perfectly good tree just because it's in our way. Luckily, the base of the trunk fit through the window, making it simple to relocate and replant the tree somewhere more hospitable. "Two down, one to go."