On a normal day, you couldn't get Rokumaru to shut up about sand. He could go on and on about all of its uses; a building material to create sturdy and long-lasting while at the same time beautiful architecture, could filter out toxins and sediments from dirty water when used as a strainer, and especially made for a very entertaining when used as a play thing. It also was the staple of his combat style and would be the building block which Roku built his entire shinobi career on. But today wasn't one of those days.

Today he was walking through the hot sun in a remote part of the desert, tired from a hike hours and miles long. The water in his backpack felt so heavy but he couldn't leave it behind, especially if he got lost. The map given to him was months old and in the ever shifting dunes of Kaze no Kuni it may as well have been a millennium-old artifact.

And that's not even mentioning the sandstorm that rolled in early into the trek. Biting winds brought with it a stinging torrent of sand even his Sabaton had trouble to ward off, reducing his visibility to a few feet ahead of him. It was rough and coarse, and it got everywhere. He couldn't think of anything worse, hated-

Oh who are we kidding, Rokumaru was having the time of his life! The sand was warm and comforting as be made his way through the thick sandstorm, the grains running through his flowing locks of hair like a lover's caress. It seeped into his clothes, warm against his skin as the sun was blocked out by the torrent and the cool wind washed over his face. There was even a good deal of it in his pack, and Roku used his Sabaton to lift the heavy weight of the water bottles in aid of his sore back muscles. It was also an indicator that he was getting closer to the ruins he was searching for.

With his notebook and pencil in hand Roku was sketching the landmarks he came across as he journeyed through the ever-present sandstorms of the aptly titled Sand's Domain. Though his visibility wasn't at its peak he was able to see he was getting closer; the storm was getting thicker and more dangerous. If he was from any clan other than the Sabaku he would have been panicking, but right now Roku was practically in heaven. The sand was a comfort to him, probably like the forest was to a Konoha-nin or a damp cave and spiders were to those Iwa-scum.

The many weather-beaten cacti that eked out a living here soon gave way to signs of the ruins in question, often in the form of old and weathered sandstone pillars jutting out from the sand underneath at all angles. Modern scholars weren't all that familiar with the place due to how difficult the trek to the ruins were, teams from both Suna and foreign villages wandering lost in the desert for days before returning empty handed or not returning at all. It was likely there were bones of both animals and humans buried underneath these dunes, but Roku wouldn't be one of them.

No, Rokumaru was well-equipped for a mission such as this. For one, he was not affected by the sandstorms like others would be, thriving in the suffocating cloud while others would be repelled. His years as a scion of the sandmen, the Sabaku, gave him an unfair advantage when pressed by the offensive minute minerals. His skin was rough and accustomed to the abrasiveness, his eyes could be spared from the touch of sand using a fraction of his total Sabaton ability. This was the Sand's Domain, and it also felt like Roku's Domain.

Secondly, he had prior experience with the act of cartography and map-making. He had practice doing so in the calm wastes of the desert, now practically a master of judging distance by sight alone and keeping track of his path and overall location. His sketches of a cactus was practically lifelike. He knew what the hole of a snake's den looked like, knew by the density of birds in the air where an oasis or spring was likely to be. And he didn't have to look at a page to write and sketch precisely what he wanted, a trait he honed in the Academy as the boy was a master at multi-tasking. Looking at the chalkboard and seeing what was written as it was being done or taking notes on a live demonstration by a teacher, it helped him excel in his studies and more than made up for his weak physical abilities.

And lastly, he was familiar with much of the desert around the village that he had spent his life playing in. Early in to the trek Roku knew he had gone off track a few times when the wrong landmarks could be seen, memorizing tedious and minute details about them like how many branches a certain cactus has. He did not have photographic memory but when it came to what he cared about, he may as well have. Though he had never gone this far into the desert before it was merely another piece of the puzzle that was the desert of Kaze no Kuni, and he welcomed the chance to extend his reach in where he could travel safely.

He really was loving this mission. The fact he would get paid for it was just a bonus.

As the cacti slowly began to be replaced with the sandstone pillsrs Rokumaru knew he was getting close. It was likely the ruins were once part of a massive city that stretched for miles, or one of many settlements that was the only one to remain standing and unburied. As he sketched the pillars and cacti he passed, waypoints for those who had maps like the one he was making, a stone building could be seen through the dense storm of sand.

It was a massive structure have buried by a dune, its ornate carved sandstone architecture dazzling the sand-obsessed boy. It was a pyramid shaped structure poking out at an 80 degree angle as the sand under it shifted over many millennia. A stone archway with missing doors marked an entrance, and almost begged to be explored.

Knowing he would take this mission again and again, Roku settled for just mapping the way to the ruins as well as sketching the building itself. It was likely it lead to even more structures buried under the dunes, waiting for an eager spelunkers to make their way through. Finishing a sketch of the pyramid that took up an entire page Roku settled down to take a break, to drink some water before he made his way back home.

WC: 1144/1000
Mission Complete~