Missions:

Fukai was sick of being cooped up and the center of attention. He had been housed in the visitor residences that were set up for the compeditors of the exams and their entourages. He had been kept under tight supervision for the entire duration of his stay so far in the land of lightning. It was causing him to be a little claustrophobic in the small room. He was being treated like some noble, ill bord daughter that must be waited on hand and foot. The sudden change in his environment had done nothing but tire the young man. He needed air and space. Getting away from his party would do his sanity some good. It wasn't like he couldn't handle stuff by himself, to be honest, he didn't know where all this attention had come from. He suspected it was because he would be the only Iwa person compeeting so the village was putting all their eggs in one basket so to speak. All their hopes fell on his shoulders, the representative needs of the village hidden in the rock was soley his burden to bare.

Slipping out from underneath the noses of retired ninjas was not an easy task but Fukai managed to when they went out for their tea break. The large figure climbed out the window and dropped down to the street below. Twisting the scarf around his neck and adjusting his clan clothing. "Now let's see what trouble I can get myself into." He walked through the temporary village, passing very few as the streets were mostly bare. Only a pair of elderly men walked in the opposite direction, their attention fully on their whispered conversation. He hoped to escape the clutches of his captors, even for a few hours. He had not had parents looking over his every move for almost 10 years now, it was a strange feeling, not having the freedom that he had been used to.

He had been walking through the village for only about 15 minutes when he stumbled upon the pack of thugs. He had found himself wandering the backstreets of the residence quarter. Fukai always seemed to be drawn to the darker side, the part of town that remained in the shadow cast by the affluent main street. The mask shown to outsiders was little more then a facade to him, a ridiculous game that his own village played called: 'hiding all our troubles in the darkness'. But there they always were, those unsightly problems that were swept away from the eyes of visitors could still be seen congregating if you looked hard enough. This was what Fukai called life. He had lived this life for many years now and felt right at home in the dingy alleyways even in this foreign land. It was the same people, the same stories.

There were four of them, mostly naked apart from shorts and freaky white masks. They were bent over a mass on the ground amd looked to be harrassing it. Fukai increased his speed from stroll to canter as he realised that it was a person on the ground getting his life kicked out of him. "Oi! What do you think you are doing?" He yelled out to them to try to shift their focus. The call was successful, the four muscled goons stopped stooping over the poor person and turned towards the new figure. The largest one called out at him, his tone meant to intimidate and demean. "And who the hell are you? Ahh I see now, you're one of those upstart genin come to play around in our village eh? Fukai's hand went to his forehead to adjust the Iwagakure symbol engraved in the metal forehead band. He couldn't see any movement from the slumped mass and he hoped that he had arrived in time.

"You shall curse your misfortune for coming across me, I carry the luck of a black cat with me." The young man usually wasn't one for theatrics but in this instance, it felt right. He wasn't on any sort of mission, he was just playing the white knight. He stepped towards them with purpose, unsheathing his staff. They were now all barking at him, throwing taunt after taunt at their white haired foe. His mind was set on what he would do. Their defeat was imminent, Fukai would show them what screwing around in a ninja village would get them.

As he approached, the first thug charged, arms raised in front of his face. The bulging muscles on his shoulders foretold every move. He would run at the genin with a hefty right hook. Fukai easily ducked around it and pushed the fist across his body. The man lost his balance and crashed to the ground when Fukai smacked him across the side of his head with a full power blow. At the sight of one of their comrades being downed so easily, the other three growled and charged together. The young man knew how to fight in situations like these, simple tactics were implemented to switch the field into his favour. He suddenly accelerated towards the one on the outside, attacking him quickly so that he may get an easy one on one. A sharp jab to break the nose and then a twirl to smack out the knee of the next closest one. Roaring with pain, the bloodied one recoiled, the second attack left the target on his knees as he struggled to regain footing. The third and final attacker launched at him in tackle. Fukai bent his knees slightly and then thrusted with all his might upwards. He knew not to take on these massive males in a strength contest, and there was no reason to. They were very slow to move and could be stepped aroun easily. The genin launched himself above the tackle and spun over it, smacking the back of the man's head with his wooden stick. The other two were now composed and ready to go again. Their other two friends lay unconcious on the ground.

Fukai was surprised that they stayed around even though the outcome should have been apparent to them at this point. "Their comradeship must be the only strong thing about them" the young man thought. It wasn't long before the last two fell to the ground, concussed from the Iwa shinobi. The four brutes lay unmoving at his feet. The Iwa officials would have surely made a big fuss if they had come across this basic display of brutality while they were being hosted. Fukai sighed. He liked to avoid violence when he could and did not draw any joy from hurting others, but it did feel good to stretch out his joints.

The purple eyed male walked over tho the groaning heap of a person that he had just saved. He stepped up to him and bent down, talking while rolling him over. "Hey are you alright?" He rolled over the boy, he looked about 14. He had short white hair and darkish tan skin. He sported the cloud headband which showed him to be a ninja of Kumogakure. From his current state, Fukai would have to guess that he was a new genin. One that had probably been surprised and quickly overpowered by the thugs. The bruised boy dodn't look too bad, considering the circumstances. He groaned and opened his eyes. "Not such a great place to be taking a nap, kid." His rough words only said when he saw the boy wasn't in too rough of shape.

"Ohh.. uh thanks mister." He struggled to his feet, Fukai not offering any help up. THe genin looked around in disbelief at the downed men on the ground. Then back at Fukai. "You.. beat them." He looked deep into the elder male's purple dojutsu, then his eyes flicked up to his Iwagakure headband and back down to his eyes. "You are one of the people coming to compete in the exams."
"Stop telling me things I already know, boy." Fukai realised he was being unneccisarily harsh on the kid that had just had a rough day. He thought back to his own years as a lonesome genin. He remembered many a time that he had wound up like this. He had just learned to cope on his own and had grown through the experience. "Now, what were you doing back here. On a mission, I presume?"

"Yeah.. I was given the task of delivering these messages, a pidgeon came this morning. The mail service is down a few people so there is a bit of a rush to get all of them delivered. I.. also took another mission that I shouldn't have.." His tone turned into utter regret instantly. The expressive tale amused Fukai, the boy was devastated at his own foolishness, it seemed. "I took a mission to apprehend that gang but I was beaten so easily. And then you came in and delt with them.."
"Hey look, the job is done now, don't worry about the rest. I can help you out with your missions."
The boy's eyes widened at the young man's generosity. "Well we can turn in these guys and then do the mail delivery if you like."
"Sounds like a plan, lead the way."

The pair tied up the thugs and then jogged to the genin administration house while exchanging pleasantries. Fukai waited outside as the boy called Kaiku reported in that he had dispatched the group of thugs and was now moving on to completing the mail delivery mission. After fifteen minutes or so, Kaiku came out and met him around the corner. They set off for the post office, chatting about how it went down. The genin reported that a few adults would go to pick them up and that they were delighted to see that he was able to apprehend the men. "I feel bad about lying.. I'll split the reward of these missions with you" The earnest young one spoke as he glanced over at the large figure. Fukai smiled.
"Don't worry about it. I have my own reasons for helping you." And those reasons were mainly boredom for the most part, although it did feel good to help people out.

Kaiku led them to the post office, once again walking into the building while the older man waited outside. Fukai could hear the boy being yelled at by a screeching woman. He burst from the door with a bunch of letters. "Let's go! we are late!" The white haired male ran after him, pacing to come up next to him.
"Here, give me some of those letters, let's split the work." The boy did not seem to want to refuse his helf, practically throwing them at him. Seems like the sharp tounged mailwoman had driven fear deep into his soul.
"Ok my first one is over in the residential area, I'll get going now. Meet you back at the post office in half an hour." Kaiku left with surprising speed. Fukai suddenly stopped in his tracks. He realised that he had just offered to deliver mail in a place that he was completely unfamiliar with. The village could have been a massive maze to him.

Three went to the village central district where the Raikage would reside, one went to the main market street and one went to a residential address. Fukai started running. He made it to the central district and managed to ask around for the places to drop off each letter. It was realitively easy as each person he asked was a professional and willing to point him the right direction. Twenty three minutes left. He ran out the door and onto the roofs of the buildings jumping from wood to metal. He kept his eyes sweeping around the area and was soon able to pick out the busiest street around. He descended swiftly and began asking the passers by. The young man was successfully directed to a small hair salon in the corner. Again not too difficult. The old lady who ran the joint attempted to establish small talk but Fukai declined, once again blazing a trail onto the next objective. Nineteen minutes left.

The home for the last letter was paticularly hard to locate. The little shack was hidden around the back and Fukai had spent more than a few long minutes running straight past it. In the end, he managed to get the letter to the little old man who came waddling out to get it. Fukai managed to depart without much more then a hello and hurried back to the post office.

"Thank you Fukai for helping me out today, you really saved my hide."
"No problem, mate."
"I'll be cheering you on in the exams."

...Oh yeah. The exams.

[2164]
~both missions complete~