Maigo sat on a bench facing away from the mission board, his friend carefully scanning through all the missions for that day. As she scanned through everything, Maigo sat sprawled out on the bench, his legs straightened out and in the way, his arms wrapped around the back of the bench. His head tilted back, he stared at the single and thought to himself, coerced into helping Teru on a mission. Not that he mentioned helping her out or anything, but a mission was usually so much work and was he ever in the mood to put forth a real amount of effort into anything? Absolutely, he would lie to himself if he tried to pretend that he was that apathetic but his interests lied elsewhere. He sat around, his normal attire, black sandals-black pants-his grey jacket with brown belt and bandages wrapped tightly around his stomach like always. His ninja tools and katana were all there, he'd double checked them twice now, once when he left his house this morning and again when he agreed to help Teru out. She spoke out after a quick inhale, "What do you think of this one? We should be able to do a decent job here, wouldn’t you think?" Maigo turned his head towards her for a second, without moving any other part of his body, "I don't know what it is."

It was too late for him to make any further comments as she held out the dossier to him, he exhaled and stood up quickly, then calmly took the papers and skimmed over the title. He nodded and handed the papers bak to her, not bothering to read anything other than the title and a short skim of the summary, "Yup, seems fine to me.". He'd yawn heavily and raise his arms, papers in hand, while he stretched backwards, his back cracking with a heavy sound when he started to lean backwards. Leaning back to his normal posture, his body felt like gelatin for a second as the relief of cracked joints set in. When Maigo came back to reality, he heard Teru grinning while speaking, “I’m ready whenever you are, Maigo. We’ll wipe the floor with them and be back to celebrate." she said and then began to stretch her own arms in a similar manner while Maigo held his hand out to her and waited for her to take the papers from him. She was obviously excited about the mission, the rank of the mission was a bit much for a genin, and from working to take out a few smugglers, there would have to be several of them to constitute a B rank.

Still, Maigo sighed and shook his head at her, "Celebrate?" he asked like he had no idea what she was talking about. "I read the title of the mission, we'll be lucky if one of us doesn't get stabbed... or worse." he said with a sarcastic flare to his voice and a chuckled grin at the end. Then with a wave, he held his hand out towards the door, sweeping his arm across his body, "Well, you're in charge. After you..." he would keep his smile and a little bit of the same sarcasm. In actuality, Teru was in charge as far as he was concerned, he was just there to make sure that she didn't get stabbed. Or that he would take the blade in her place, besides, most people would be surprised at the thought of a genin taking on a B-rank mission, he'd have to be on his sharpest intuition once the mission actually began.

Maigo would let Teru lead the way, if she had any questions or anything to talk about he would do his best to answer, otherwise to comment on something. There was a lot he wanted to ask this young Uchiha, but there were better places for that than missions. But, Maigo would tail along until they reached their destination or got close to it, hands in his pockets like he always had. Either watching just in front of his feet or as far down the road as he could, he would definitely have to get focused soon. Focused. The slow ascent to being ready for a mission began as soon as they took their mission and left the missions office.

[738 words]

Teru asked him if they were both in agreement, Maigo smiled and went on with his own flair, "Of course, how else is someone supposed to spend the afternoon?" Teru took the papers back and stuck them in her pocket, Maigo sighed just thinking having to put effort into working this afternoon. He then offered Teru to lead the way and they began to head out to wherever they were going. A little bit of doubt and a slight mood tone change at Maigo's comments about dying, maybe he should keep that kinda sarcasm to himself, but what was he kidding. A chance to act out was something he took advantage of more often than he'd brush his teeth, and a mission was no reason to curb that behavior. Her own confidence at being able to finish the mission was rather curious, though Maigo wouldn't complain about confidence or her own ecstatic nature. In fact, he rather enjoyed it, it made her seem cute while she was going on, whether that be from her confidence yet inexperience or if Maigo was just being himself around another heroine of the village.

As they walked out towards their destination, Teru piped up with a grin after laughing at him, "I’ll be honest, this seems to be a bit backwards, It’ll probably be best if someone with experience-- you -- took the lead once we arrive at the destination. I’ll be right there behind you." Maigo thought for a second while they headed out and began to hit the road, his response was rather lackluster to say the least, "Maybe? I think you're right, maybe we should get dinner first to get to know each other?" He laughed to himself for a second at his own comment. "I suppose I can take over completely once we get there, but you can lead us there." he said smiling at her. "I wouldn't expect someone with so much confidence going to suddenly shy away from taking charge." he had a small flair to his laugh when he spoke. They continued on their journey though, it would be an hour and a half of whatever small talk Maigo and/or Teru could muster and at the same time a gradual shift in Maigo from flirtatious to serious and intent on his target. Maybe the graduality of the change wouldn't be apparent to Teru but if you took a look at Maigo from when he left to when they arrived, you would see an entirely different person.

The flirtatious and fun loving Maigo that would have rather asked Teru to hang out and have dinner would soon turn into a focused killer, his only goal now was to keep Teru safe and to finish the mission as efficiently as possible. The fog at the docks was thick, and the air was cool, an ambient atmosphere that Maigo loved, he was as comfortable as he could be as he took up post behind a tree with some bushes and shrubs around it, Teru was knelt down at the tree next to him, only a few feet away as they both began to take in their situation. Onlooking a path leading to these docks, it seemed the only one around, he ignored Teru's quip about the thickness of the fog. Instead he glanced slightly at her like she was a bit crazy or he had no idea what she was talking about, raising one eye brow while squinting the other at her. Quickly he would turn back towards the path and to the docks of which he could see, a cart with a few men around it, loading a few boxes onto a cart and their escort standing around it. Maigo wouldn't say anything explicitly but he would slowly begin to take charge of the meeting as he watched the men leave the small boat and gather around their vessel. Teru spoke quietly from her position, “That must be the smuggler’s vessel…” it was quiet but he could hear her clearly from his own tree, "From what I can tell from here, it's pretty quiet." she continued on focusing in. For the moment Maigo turned his head towards her to watch her work and gather what intel she could, "There must be quite a few in or around it. I'm certain of that. A diversion of some kind could do some good, I suppose." He smiled slightly at her, he wasn't aware that she had done many missions much less anything above C rank if at all and yet she was carefully observing her surroundings to the best of her ability. It comforted him that he would only have to stay watch over her but a little, showing that she had some skill and prowess of her own. If not, then the potential of such.

Maigo turned his attention back to the docks, before he spoke he closed his eyes briefly for a second and began to pool chakra into them. His eyes shut calmly, more of an elongated blink than a squint, and when he opened them his sharingan replaced his normal yellow eyes. He focused quickly on each of the men, drowning out his perceptions of Teru and the things behind him, focusing solely on the docks that lay before them. To Teru it might look like he had become lost in stare at them, if it weren't for his eyes rapidly shifting with each change in motion and keeping tabs on each person he could find. With a calm exhale Maigo focused out after a second of his own gathering, "Yeah, there appears to be anywhere from 12 or so different people at the makeshift port. Unloaded onto a cart are about 8 boxes of who knows what, maybe explosives or weapons. Best to stay away from them. Most of the men guarding the cart, I don't think we'll have a chance to move in and take out the boat hands or captain." he knelt down to Teru's level and unsheathed his sword stabbing it into the ground. "It wouldn't be wise for us to pursue after the boat and take them head on, let's play it smarter. The cart and men will have to use this path here to get out," Maigo would point to the path to their right, trees and brush around would be perfect for hiding and combined with the fog it would take them nearly nothing at all to stay hidden.

"We'll lay in wait and then ambush them..." he would lead on as he opened his pouch and counted his shuriken he had on him. "As for a distraction, we'll take out what we can with kunai and shuriken, if that's fine with you? Then you can leave the distraction to me. It is my specialty after all..." he would smile at the idea of his own Genjutsu prowess and turn towards Teru, he knew of just the exact genjutsu to cast and break their attention even further away, giving them a chance to strike. Maigo would then take his hand to his sword and hold it there for a moment, looking to Teru to either question his idea or to suggest something else if she had a better idea.

---

Should they follow Maigo's plan, he would leap to the otherside of the brush and climb up into a branch above the path. Positioning himself that he could see the pathway and so that he could see Teru and vice versa but that the guards and the vessel itself wouldn't see him immediately. It would be a few minutes before the men headed out, two men in front of the cart pulling it along, then three men dragging their feet a meter or so behind it. One more man in front of the cart to lead the way and then two on the left of the cart and two more on the right. Ten guards in total, each of them carried an assortment of katana and swords by their side. Once they began to pass by the two of them lying in wait, Maigo would slowly nod towards Teru and waiting to see. Once the man in front passed by him, he would turn his sharingan towards him and form the rat seal quickly, it wouldn't be but a second before he would look around. The illusion of debris circling around him and then his worst fears come to life, he would fall to his knees in terror, screaming at the horror that lay before him. The other men would stop what they were doing and move around him, two guys knelt down to talk him out of it. In that moment Maigo would take his shuriken and his kunai and then aim for the necks of two men, the three shuriken for one and the kunai for the other. The ones he targeted where the two who were originally on Maigo's said (the left side of the vessel) and once they fell he would jump down on their cart with his sword drawn and keeping his eyes on the men in the back.

[1551 words, 2289 words total]
[+1 to RT from 1 tomoe]

185/200 Chakra:

Spoiler:

Chakra: 125/150

The two of them began to plan their assault, Teru listened in carefully as he analyzed their situation, after they set themselves up she made a quick maneuver over to his side of the path. "We can definitely use this to our advantage. What I have in mind should be able to last long enough for you to take them out when they try to come up. And, with this mist being here, I'll have enough cover for them to not immediately notice it. Both of our plans can be utilized, really." Maigo tilted his head slightly and squinted for a second as he looked towards her, "What do you have in mind?" he waited and watched her draw a kunai and twirl it for a second. "It would just take me a moment to set up the trap," she spoke and grinned towards Maigo, he merely nodded and smiled back as she began to crouch down towards her side. Stopping in the middle of the road to set her trap, Earth Style: Earth Flow River, and then the path set before them would become thick with the chakra laced mud. "That should work out in our favor, huh?" she giggled and whispered as she returned to Maigo's side. Maigo chuckled for a moment and shook his head then placing his hand on her head and tousling her hair, "I think it was a better idea for me to be in charge of the mission after all..." he led on before jumping up to the branch above her and leaning into the tree.

The cart quickly approaching they were maybe twenty to thirty meters away when he spoke softly, "It's almost time, be ready to strike quickly." As the men and the cart reached the mud, their movements slowed severely, the mud catching their feet and causing them to sink in. The cart became almost unbearable to pull, it would take them much longer but as they slowly made their way by them, Maigo cast his genjutsu. Several shuriken and a kunai flying out, 5 men went down immediately from their shuriken and kunai, three more in front of the cart with one trapped in a world of horror and two more behind. Maigo quickly lept down onto their cart and stared towards the men in the back. They were beginning to catch on to what was happening but it was too bad that their legs wouldn't move along with them. They grabbed their own shuriken and kunai and targeted Maigo, his eyes keyed in on them as he focused chakra to his eyes. Each one tossed several weapons, Maigo keyed in on, time stopping in the moments that his eyes took in the very details of their actions and the weapons themselves.

Then squatting into his stance, he deflected most of their projectiles back at them, seven in total, the other he would let fly past him. Declining stopping those to watch the kunai and shuriken get sent back and impaling the two men in the back. Then came the last three men, if Teru hadn't already handled them on her own, Maigo would leap backwards from the cart to them, and then with his sword he would cut them down before they would have time to act, supernatural walking would keep him from being trapped and restricted in the mud. Between Maigo and Teru the ten of those men would be nothing more than fodder to their blades, and in no time, they would fall before them. Maigo would help Teru out and cut down any men that got left behind, making sure that their deaths were quick if nothing else.

Then came the clean up, Maigo pushed the cart to the side of the road and began to cover it up in brush and hiding it away, it would take a moment for it to be done but it would be hidden from the disconcerting eye. Then from the cart, he would grab a couple of shuriken with the mark of their organization inscribed into it. It would serve as proof that their mission was complete, and then the village could send some others to come collect the rest of the goods and investigate the other nearby docks if necessary. Then came the long journey back to the village to report the mission completed, Maigo could rest easy now that it was finally done. Once both he and Teru were finished hiding the cart away he would turn towards her, "Are you sure that dinner had to be candlelit? I'd make the offer after our mission, but that sounds like a lot of work..." he would smile as he returned back to his sarcastic and apathetic self before they went back to the village and reported their mission complete.

[808 words, 3097 words total]
[+1 to RT from 1 tomoe]
[Mission Complete]
[Exit Thread]

160 Chakra:

Training: