Seiji was very excited taking his first mission today. He knew it wasn't like a high priority mission that an ANBU or Jounin might get, but he still had pride as he strapped on his headband. Almost bouncing down the stairs he met his mother who was setting a plate of breakfast out for him. Without even sitting down he picked up the plate and forced the scrabbled eggs into his mouth like a bulldozer.

"Vanks ma!" He said as he attempted to swallow and speak at once. Choking lightly he opened the old wooden door, waving to his mother with his hand still holding the plate. He chuckled to his mom who seemed to also be laughing as he set it down. "Sorry didn't feel it..." with a quick nod he was out the door.

After reaching the mission board Seiji was delighted to see all the other young ninja before him receiving missions. He watched as several kids he had graduated with ran off to search for lost cats and than an older girl he didn't know took off north in search of a ninja. He took note in his mind how strong she looked and yet how gracefully she still carried herself. Stepping up he picked two missions that he believed shouldn't be too difficult for him and wouldn't require a lot of physical labor. Walking away he nodded to himself as his eyes scanned ove the details of his first mission. Gathering raw materials from the old "haunted" mine shouldn't be very difficult. Tucking the scrolls away he took off through town.

Seiji stopped as he passed a general goods store noticing a nice sack. "Surely that would make a much better method of carrying the raw materials." Seiji said to himself. He walked inside and quickly moved right up to the old sack. It wasn't as nice as he had thought seeing it from the street but he still knew it would be better than nothing. Carrying the sack he walked over to the store keep.

"Hello good sir!"

"Oh, well hello there young shinobi. And what might I do for you today?" The shop manager responded

Seiji got a sly smile on his face and held the sack up. "Well you see this sack, I believe you might take notice that it is very close to falling apart. It might be best if I simply take it off your hands so you wouldn't have to sell it to someone who might become upset once it tears through."

The man's face turned cold and he snatched the bag from Seiji's hands. "How dare you come into my store and talk of my merchandise in such a way! Get out of here before i throw you out!!" The man's voice got louder as his anger grew.

Seiji knew he could not reason with this man as angry as he had become so he quickly ran back out into the street. Standing there he looked back into the shop one time before making up his mind. He darted around the corner into an alley so no one could see as he used his Fox Transformation jutsu to become an average looking fox. Now with that same sly smile he took off as fast as he could andd ran through the shop. With a quick snap of his snout he nabbed the sack and dragged it with him as he ran down the street hearing the angry shop keep yell behind him. Once he was a safe distance away he transformed back and threw the sack over his shoulder before walking calmly the rest of the way to the mine.

As he came upon the mine he noted it was already past noon and he needed to regain some energy. So he made his way up to the entrance before sitting down and pulling out a bit of trail mix dried fruit. He nibbled for a bit enjoying the taste and the cool air coming from deep in the mine. Just as he finished his little snack Seiji folded up the stolen/borrowed sack and commenced to lay down with it as a pillow. With in a short while Seiji was asleep taking his first nap of he day.

Seiji woke up a couple hours later stretching as he usually did. He laid there staring at the sky for a few moments before sitting up. As he did he noticed a small cut on his leg. Unsure of when it happened he inspected it closely. It didn't appear deep or very dangerous so Seiji decided to just continue with his mission. Standing up he gabbed the sack and dusted it off before heading into the dark old mine. As he made his way past the entrance he automatically noted the cooler air and musky smell. It was no wonder to him why someone might think that this old mine is haunted or even why some people would just rather stay away from it entirely. However, Seiji found the mine a bit settling, almost comforting like a fox might look at a den. Only a few feet further and Seiji located his first bit of raw ore. he smiled at his luck to find some so soon but he knew he still had much more to find. He began to whistle a little tune as he ventured further into the dank mine, enjoying the way his tone deaf music echoed off the empty walls and traveled ahead of him. He started to play with the echo as he walked saying things he found funny...of course like many prepubescent boys he mostly spoke of female anatomy, especially the parts boys shouldn't speak of in public. Every time he shouted the word down the mine he would giggle and every time it returned to him in the echo he would laugh harder. This went on for several minutes leading into an hour only breaking to pick up a piece of ore or two along the way. As he came to a fork in the shaft he decided he would go the direction that could return the best echo. He made a loud yelp looking down one direction and was rewarded with a distorted and funny sounding yarp. Turning to the second he was about to yelp just as he heard a moan or what he thought was a moan come from the first direction. Fear gripped Seiji as he recalled the stories of how the old mine shafts were haunted. Some claimed it was the spirits of old miners who died in cave ins, while others spoke of young children who would get lost playing in the mines late one night. Either way if any story was true Seiji did not wish to stick around and find out. He began to run back toward the entrance, but just after making a few steps he stopped himself. He was a shinobi now, he took this mission, it was he job, his honor to complete this task. Turning back around he shook his head. Ghosts or not he had a job to do. He nodded thinking he will simply avoid the moaning shaft and head in the other direction. Logically they should only haunt the sections of the mine they died in, Right?...

He no longer whistled, and certainly made no more games involving female sexual organs. He wanted to have little to no chance that he might alert the spirits to his location just in case they had any intention of having him join them. The sack was coming along nicely now over half full. Just as he bent down to pick up another piece of ore he stopped. He could have sworn he heard something behind him. Slowly standing back up he tucked the stone into his bag and even more slowly he turned his head to check. Just as he could peer over his shoulder he saw a quick movement. Without giving what ever it was a chance, he took off running. He was in full sprint moving forward as he held the sack tightly to his chest. Seiji was not about to lose what he came all this way for but neither was he intending to allow the thing behind him any chance at harming him. Before he knew it he was deeper in the mine than he expected to be and he wasn't sure how long it would take for him to get back out. Winded he found a small area off to the side where he was certain he would be hidden from anything coming by. He tucked the sack in along side him and settled in and before he knew it he was napping again.

Shaking his head lightly Seiji began to slowly look around the room he now found himself in. Waking up here was a bit strange but he remembered why he was down in this dark cool mine. He stretched his arms out in front of himself before standing and searching through the room. In just a few minutes he found an old oil lamp, shaking it next to his ear he could hear a small slosh of liquid informing him there was still oil in the old boy. He quickly began to inspect the area around him in search of anything that could be used to light the lamp. Any amount of light could be very helpful this deep in the old “haunted” mine. Seiji set the lamp down on a half decaying crate, after realizing there was nothing in the room that would create the flame he required. Looking around more and moving slightly deeper into the room he came upon an old rusty mine cart. Upon closer inspection he found six pieces of raw ore in the bottom of the cart. They were fairly good size compared to the ones he had found up to this point and was very happy stuffing them into his sack. Seiji smiled taking this find as a good sign that he was on the right track for finding the ore the Smithies required. He continued forward heading deeper into the mine shaft wondering exactly what time it may be now. As the mine twisted and turned he found a few more small pieces of ore before wandering into another large room. In the middle of this room he found another mine cart with a broken wheel. Inside this one was four pieces of ore around the same size as the six before. Along side the ore he had found a miner’s helmet and two very old mining picks that looked to be one swing away from being garbage. Placing the miner’s hat upon his head, he quickly scooped up the four pieces of ore and continued down the shaft. He was making good progress now having the bag a little over half full. As he came to another fork he simply chose to go left and headed down the way. His mind wandered thinking back to the movement he had noticed earlier allowing his curiosity to imagine what it might have been. Perhaps a spirit like in the tales he had heard, or maybe an old vagabond that decided the mine would make a decent home, or perhaps something more dangerous still...it could have been a missing nin. Yes that would make perfect sense, a ninja with no village to call home could easily see an abandoned mine as a lair to hide from his pursuers. He shook his head at his silly thoughts, “No no no. There wouldn’t be a missing nin down here. Its too close to the village and there is too high risk that we would find out they were here...plus if it had been a missing nin behind me that time...they probably would have attacked me.” Just as he finished his train of thought he saw he had reached a dead end. “Great this was the wrong way.” He turned around, and with less gusto than previously, proceeded back to the fork to take the other route. It did not take long before his mood became more chipper as he reached another much larger room, this one with three mine carts two of which were full of ore and the third was tipped over having spilled ore all over the mine floor. Seiji ran over and began to fill his bag as fast as possible and as he did so he heard a loud rumbling crash come from down the shaft he had come from. “A cave in?” He couldn’t be certain as he had never heard one before but he was certain that was the most likely cause. As he finished picking up the ore he slung the sack over his shoulder and began to head back the way he had come. He was relieved to not find any blockages as he headed back through the room he had fallen asleep in, but he knew there was still plenty of shaft he still had yet to go back through. As expected only a few feet past the room he came to it, a huge mound of dirt and rock had fallen in filling the tunnel and almost completely blocking his path, He looked closely and noticed the top of the piles did not come up to the roof off the shaft totally. This would allow him to possibly dig his way through at the very top he was sure. Climbing carefully, he took each step gently feeling the rocks and dirt shift and settle beneath his feet. He had to take his time because the last thing he wanted was to be buried down here by himself with no way to alert the village. His care paid off as he reached the top and he was rewarded with yet an even better surprise. As Seiji looked up at where the dirt and rock collapsed from he could see a bit of light and noticed that this shaft passed under one of the higher tunnels. Activating Supernatural walking technique he began to climb up through the large hole and before long found himself only a few hundred feet from the entrance of the mine. His smile could not have been brighter as he ran full sprint towards the exit basking in the sunlight that sill shown through the clouds that day.

Now free of the accused mine Seiji made his way back through the village. Covered in dirt and still wearing the old rusty mining helmet many of the villagers looked at Seiji with confusion and a few kids even found it humorous. One young boy even came up to Seiji and asked if he could see his “Neat” new helmet. Seiji had honestly forgotten he was wearing it at all and surprised the boy as he gave it to him as a gift. The boy happy as a clam ran off to show his friends.

Once Seiji reached the missions board he walked right up to the counter. “Hello, I have returned with the assets I had been commissioned to retrieve.”
Seiji and took the sack. “Well lets see how you’ve done.” He walked over behind the counter pulling out a scale and pad of paper. The large man placed the bag on the scale and jotted down a few things, then he poured the ore out of the bag into a crate before placing the empty sack back upon the scale. After jotting a bit more he nodded and looked very pleased as he brought his gaze back to Seiji. “This will do fine. The Smithies should be able to make plenty of decent tools with your haul today boy.”

Seiji tried to look as professional as possible as he nodded but the joy of pride could be seen in his eyes.

“Your payment should be delivered to your home by the morning.” He tossed Seiji back the sack and waved him on.

Seiji caught the dirty bag and happily ran out. As he made it down the street he remembered that he had stolen the sack and should very well return it. Just as he thought this he remembered how rotten the store manager had been. Without further debate he pulled out his marker and wrote upon the front of the sack. “Good luck selling this now that its even more worn and dirty!” He laughed at his own humor and took off toward the store. Once outside he was very careful to set the sack against the shop door but make very little noise before quickly running away.

It was almost Dusk now and he needed to be heading to his second duty of the day. Patrolling the village borders sounded boring to most of the young shinobi but Seiji saw it as the closest thing to an ANBU mission that he was going to get this early in his life. With renewed excitement and gusto he made his way to the guard post where he was to meet with the Jounin he was meant to aid. It didn’t take long before he reached the post and it being on the north west wall gave him great excitement that it may even see some action this evening, however as he looked around he did not spot any shinobi near by much less the Jounin that was supposed to be waiting to train him. He decided that the Jounin must have gotten held up with important work and as such he would simply wait and do basic patrolling in the nearby trees. As the night approached there was still no sign of the higher ranked ninja. Feeling discouraged and a bit concerned he made his way around the border searching for another Jounin and Genin two man team. It did not take him long to find a young girl maybe a year or two older than himself along with her Jounin, a large portly fellow who appeared to be in his mid 50’s. He asked them if they knew what had become of his Jounin and the larger man began to burst into laughter.

“Oh, I am sorry young man but you have had the unlucky ticket to be stuck with Mitsuo. He is a Jounin who doesn’t take his duties all too serious.” The man looked up into the night sky for a moment. “Come to think of it, the go tournament is going on at the pub in town. He is most likely drinking and gambling to his corrupt heart’s content.” He looked back and Seiji and saw his disappointment. “Don’t fret, it’s fairly quiet most nights and tonight appears to be one of those times. I’m sure you can handle patrolling on your own and if anything comes up you know where we are.”

Seiji looked up and smiled hearing this ass he didn’t like the idea off being completely alone on patrol and liked the idea even less of abandoning patrol to try and drag the Jounin to his post. “Thank you Sensei. I am sure I can manage knowing you are both not far away.”

With that he proceeded to return to the area he was charged to guard this evening. As the night went on there proved to be little excitement, the height of the evening being the moment Seiji heard the rustling of leaves. It turned out to be nothing more than one of the lost cats the fellow Genin had take a mission to find earlier that day. Seiji made a note of the cat’s colors and which direction it had run off in just in case the Genin came by and needed the information. At one point that night Seiji decided to practice his dodging as he threw shuriken and used the Puppet strings to pull them back towards himself. Although he did hit himself a few times he considered the training a success as he dodged almost 85% of the attacks he made. He fought off the desire to take a nap as the night dragged on. It was not like him to go so long without some form of rest however without the Jounin there to watch the area he had to stay awake. He was rewarded for this struggle by seeing the sunrise over the water for the first time in his young life. Seiji starred at the lovely view and cursed himself for missing this beauty so often. He swore to himself he would see such a sight again and much sooner than ten years. Once the sun was fully in sight Seiji knew this meant his duty was over. He began his short trip back home and barely made it onto his roof top before laying down. Staring at the blue sky he watched the clouds roll past just as he fell asleep.