C Rank Mission

Reo sat outside his home, eyes closed and listening to the wind. He listened to it, but his focus wasn’t completely on the wind. He paid attention to the vibrations in the ground. He heard the water…okay, no. There was no water nearby. Suna was a desert. Still, he would have listened to the water as well, if that were possible.
 
Sadly, none of this allowed Reo to know that two ninja were walking up to him. “Reo! Wake up, you lazy bum!” The effeminate voice called out.
 
Eliza Saniou. Reo hadn’t heard her voice or seen her in ages. She was a powerful ninja, though she had elected to not attend the Chuunin Exams for her own reasons.
 
“Come on, Reo.” Another voice said. This one was more steady and calm. It was also deeper. Reo thought he recognized the voice – if only vaguely. He wasn’t sure who this one was. So, Reo opened his eyes slowly.
 
Sure enough, Eliza stood there. She was with an adult ninja – probably a Jounin type. He looked vaguely familiar to Reo, though he couldn’t say why that could be.
 
“I don’t know if you remember me, but we’ve met a few different times. I’m Daichi – the head of your new Genin team, Team 4. You’ve been reassigned since your teammate made Chuunin and the other one…well, they went missing while you were gone. There were some concerns that perhaps they were looking for you.” The man – Daichi – spoke calmly.
 
“Team? I’m on a sabbatical for training.” Reo said as politely as he could manage. He still had to go back to Iwa to uncover more about Doton – and possibly learn about Apollo’s whereabouts.
 
“Sabbatical? You’re a ninja, Reo. You lost the Chuunin Exams but that doesn’t mean you get to neglect your duty. Get up, let’s go. We’ve got a mission. Besides, I was told that you’d be returning to your sabbatical after this mission was over.” Daichi said – his voice growing irritated.
 
“Who is the third member of the team?” Reo asked as he stood up and dusted himself off.
 
“Tsukasa Mibu.”

[351/450 Words]

Tsukasa had followed behind the other two ninja slowly. He wasn’t exactly thrilled to be on the team. Recently, all he had been doing was training. Though, progress was slow. It had been ever since the Mibu had become a Genin. That test still lingered in his mind. He grabbed his tanto from his waist and stared at it for a moment, and then sighed. He had to focus on the mission right now.

He put it back and then quickened his pace to catch up with the others. The Genin would give Reo a curt bow. “It’s been awhile. It’s good to see you, Reo.”

[106 Words.]

Reo looked up – surprise evident on his face due to his raised eyebrows. He returned the bow to Tsukasa, though he still wasn’t sure what this mission was.
 
“Alright, now that we are all here…the mission is a simple one. We are to meet a famous musician and escort them to a nearby village where she is set to perform. Now, before you get too excited, I know what you are thinking. No, this is not another famous ninja village. She is going to the small town of Dao which is about a day’s walk from Suna and still within the jurisdiction of our ninjas. We do not expect to run into other ninjas, but we do expect there to be bandits. There has been a large uptick in bandits lately, and it is expected that some will come after this idol. Not to mention, she may have some adoring fans” Daichi said calmly as he looked at the three children before him.
 
Reo, for his part, nearly laughed at the mention of an uptick of bandits. He couldn’t help but recall the incident shortly before he returned to Suna – when he had left Kiri. He had been assaulted by an entire squadron of bandits who were hired by the enigmatic Apollo to come after the Ryu Caller. Since then, Reo had not let the scroll leave his back.
 
“Who is the idol?” Reo asked calmly. He was’t too interested in music – as he spent most of his time playing and it wasn’t like he possessed some magical portable device that would allow him to listen to music while training. That would be something.
 
“Atada HIkara” Daichi said, mentioning the most popular singer in all of Suna. She was a “pop” artist which meant most of her stuff was the kind of music people liked to dance to. It also meant that her music required a lot of energy to listen to. Reo, while energetic, preferred to focus his energies elsewhere and so knew absolutely none of her songs.
 

Quote :

Feel free to move us to meeting the singer

[339 Words]
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Tsukasa would keep calm as Daichi explained their mission. It seemed simple enough, just escort this singer to another village. And protect them from bandits, now that part got him a little worried. But he kept his expression stoic, he wouldn’t survive by freaking at the first sign of danger. That was not how a Shinobi operated, not how he would operate.

The Genin would raise an eyebrow at the mention of this… Atada Hikara. He could have sworn he heard the name mentioned once or twice at the Academy. He never bothered to ask though, he was too focused on his own studies. The Mibu gave a bitter smile at that thought. He shook his head before returning to a neutral expression and turning to Daichi “If that’s all, please lead the way Sensei. We shouldn’t leave the client waiting.”

[141 Words.]

Reo frowned slightly as he listened to Tsukasa. Something was wrong with him, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. What could be troubling the new Genin? Reo began to ask, but he was interrupted by Daichi pointing forwards and having them move forward.
 
They walked to the edge of Suna where a young woman was waiting for them. Well, she was older than Reo and Tsukasa and the Saniou genin, but she was younger than the Jounin. She had bangs covering her right eye and her black hair fell about to her shoulders. She wore simple clothing – as she wasn’t a Kunoichi she did not need to be dressed for combat.
 
 

Reo bowed to her. “We are at your service, Atada Hikara”
 
“Thank you, Shinobi. I must go to my concert but the bandit activity has been rather heavy as of late, so I appreciate the protection.” The singer would reply – her voice songlike even when she is just talking.

[163 Words; 853/450 Words]

Tsukasa would keep quiet and just stare at the client for a few moments. This… Hikara seemed okay. The Genin wasn’t really caught up with social trends, so he didn’t really understand the appeal the woman held. So far she just looked slightly prettier than your regular woman, maybe her singing was the selling point. Nonetheless, that wasn’t what he should be focusing on.

The black haired boy would turn to the Jounin of the group “Sensei, if you don’t mind I will go on ahead and scout the area.” He was answered with a nod, and the Genin would then speed off. Leaving the rest of the team with the girl.

While he didn’t know the Saniou Girl well, he did know that Reo was incredibly strong for a ninja of his rank. The girl would be fine, especially if the worst they could expect were bandits or rabid fans. There was no need for him there. So the Genin chose to do this instead. It’d probably save them some time.

Unbeknownst to Tsukasa, as soon as he split from the group. Someone had started to follow him…

[189 Words.]

Reo had to admit that the girl was pretty – though she held not a candle for his….crush, Mari. In fact, Reo found himself falling into a kind of daydream thinking about Mari. He hadn’t seen her in a few weeks – not since the Chuunin Exams – and he hoped that she was doing okay. Perhaps he would see her when he made his return trip to Konoha. Of course, he had to finish his Iwa and Kumo trips before he went back to Konoha.
 
When Reo came out of his stupor, he looked around only to find Tsukasa gone.
 
“Let’s go. If you weren’t paying attention – Reo – Tsukasa went off ahead to scout.” The Jounin said as they began to walk. Reo took the reprimand well by nodding his head. They began to through the desert. Tsukasa was out of sight  - possibly due to the desert sand and the rolling dunes that were formed by the wind.
 
As they walked, Reo stopped and noticed something. There was a set of footprints in the sand.
 
[1,078/ 450 Words]

Tsukasa would duck behind a sand hill, and was disappointed when he saw no one behind it. That was the premier hiding place for a foolish bandit. But he was wrong it seemed. The boy would climb up to the top of the hill. The wind was fierce today, so sand was flying everywhere. And it was getting hard to see where he would need to go. “Great…” If only his eyes were better…

Tsukasa then heard something come towards him, and he unsheathed his blade and turned around. It was a kunai, which the genin quickly dispatched with a swing of his blade.
So, there were some bandits that knew how to use ninja tools. It wasn’t hard, admittedly. Suddenly, a few more would come at him from the right. This time, Tsukasa would roll out of the way.

He quickly sheathed his weapons and put his hands together to do a few signs. Specifically the one for his Lightning Release.
Now, he just needed to wait for the next attack…

[172 Words.]

Reo looked around. The area seemed clear. “I’m going to follow these footprints and see if whoever made them is a threat.”
 
With that, Reo dashed through the sand. He knew they weren’t Tsukasa’s footprints because of the style of print they were. Whoever left them had been wearing traditional Geta sandals. He could tell as there were two wooden slots in the footprints, as part of the Geta sandal sticks out and would sink in the sand further than the rest of the foot. As far as Reo knew, Tsukasa wasn’t wearing those.
 
It took a few minutes of running, but eventually Reo found himself behind a sand dune. There was a person looking overtop of the sand dune, though he was strangely looking in the direction away from Reo. Away from their target.
 
That was weird. Shouldn’t bandits look at the rich idol they were escorting opposed to the Shinobi guarding them. Reo walked slowly – not really sneaking as he lacked that ability – until he crested the hell. There, across the sand, Tsukasa was engaged in a fight with bandits. It looked like there were four of them total.  Reo completely forgot about the one watching the fight and ran to help Tsukasa.
 
He made it two feet before the one who was watching the fight shoulder checked him and threw Reo towards the ground. Reo, being as sturdy as he was, barely moved as he landed and faced the person he had forgotten. The man wore a Hakama and Geta sandals. He had a large straw hat on his head and a long katana on his hip.
 
“Well, if it isn’t Reo Gojisou. I was hoping to deal with Tsukasa before running into you.” The man said with a snarl as he drew his blade. It seemed to shine with an eerily familiar light. This man had done whatever Reo had to make Tsukasa’s blade glow. It felt like a long time ago, but as Reo stared at this man, he realized he was no mere bandit. How had he known Reo’s name?

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Another kunai then came towards Tsukasa, who swiftly dodged it. And he readied himself to fire back at the opponent, when suddenly a man ran out of the cover of the sand. He even had a sword raised! Unfortunately for him, Tsukasa was prepared for much worse.

The Mibu thrust his hand forward, and shocked the man. The bandit fell over, comatose but he’d live. Tsukasa clicked his tongue “A decent strategy, if only you had a better partner for it.” After Tsukasa said that, two more bandits would run out of the sand. And boy were they PISSED.

The boy would move a few steps back and unsheathe his sword.

[111 Words.]