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1Patrol: Gate Duty (C-Rank Mission) Empty Patrol: Gate Duty (C-Rank Mission) Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:44 pm

Rokumaru

Rokumaru


D-rank
'Now this is the kind of job I could get used to', the redhead Sabaku thought as his partner tossed him the plastic water bottle the two shared, standing under the North gate of Sunagakure with the sandstone arch shading the pair from a relentless midday sun. He had been standing there for only about an hour after he relieved the sweaty Chuunin scheduled before him, and he felt like he could go another 4 or 5 without a problem. Sure, it was tedious, hot and he had to deal with rude merchants and exhausted ronin, but it definitely beat collecting snakes in a burlap sack or racing to get supplies to an outpost miles away. He took a long sip from the bottle and tossed it to his partner.

The village liked to always have at least one Chuunin standing on guard duty, two was preferred but an influx of Genin recently left many wanting missions to do. His partner was one such Chuunin, a slightly out of shape Kōga man by the name of Hayo. The guy was jovial and friendly, even by civilian terms, but his clan were unmatched in their ability with determining threats and reading people. The Kōga were masters of what they called the Eye of the Heart, not truly a Kekkei Genkai but their signature clan jutsu. With the ability they could read minute and almost inconsequential movements in a persons body or face, and were unmatched in reading and analyzing body language. They were also quite proficient in the use of close-combat, often having to defend against some spy whose cover was blown or someone planning a sneak attack.

Hayo may not have been the most powerful shinobi in Suna, or even among the Chuunin, but never let it be said he put the Kōga to shame. He was fleshy and on the heavy side, especially with his short stature at little over 5 feet, but his acuity with socialization and reading body language made him perfect for guarding the gates of Suna and dealing with those entering the village. And from the size of those hands and the muscle just underneath his fatty arms, he could do some damage up close. Hayo had been guarding the North gate of Suna for close to 6 years now and loved every minute of it; he was not skilled at combat enough to make Special Jounin and likely wouldn't even accept the promotion if it took him on dangerous missions.

The village recognized his social abilities, though, and let him work where he made the most of his skills. He was normally assigned rookie Genin to help them learn the ropes of guarding gates and this was the case with young Roku. They had many differences between them: Roku was young, proud and rather handsome, a boy of 14, while Hayo was getting old for a Chuunin, was patient and humble, and not the best looking 36 year old. But the two got along with each other almost immediately. But loved their village but weren't inclined to put in their 110% effort. Both enjoyed standing around and cracking jokes, sense of humors almost matching up perfectly. And Hayo wasn't afraid to put Roku in his place when the boy made the quip that the guy had the look of an Akimichi hopeful. Challenged the boy to a spar before their shift started and spent about 5 minutes slapping the boy around with a speed almost impossible for his size and stature. Still, he healed the bruised boy with a quick medical jutsu and shared a laugh at Roku's expense, even offered the boy a bite to eat at some point.

The two had spent their first hour experiencing slow traffic, despite the sun reaching its zenith. Roku spent this time hanging back and watching how Hayo ran things: the man would stop everyone who approached the gates, question them and ask for identification. Suna shinobi had their Info Cards checked as well as foreign shinobi, and merchants had their wares inspected if Hayo felt something was suspicious. And given the crime problem plaguing Suna at the moment, actually happened rather often. People tried to smuggle all sorts of things into the village under boxes or inside of them; makeshift kunai and shivs stacked under books, packages of drugs in piles of corn, it was really disheartening for the by to see. And Hayo was an expert at detecting when someone was being nervous or suspicious, leading to a sizable amount of goods confiscated and offenders detained by guards. A tall guy smuggling poison among bottles of wine even took a stab at Hayo with a hidden tanto and paid the price with a shattered forearm.

After an hour of watching one out of twenty I travelers be stopped and searched, all successfully turning up contraband and thankfully never finding another village's spy, Roku decides he was ready to take the lead.

He followed the same procedure he watched Hayo go through: stopped everyone who approached the gate and collected information about shinobi as well as inventory from merchants. Reading over the Info Cards carefully, checked a box or two to confirm they held what they claimed they did. Hayo watched on as his charge made his decisions, reading each person carefully and nodding when everything went smoothly. Roku was happy he hadn't made any mistakes yet.

An hour into the shift, the first test of Rokumaru's observation skills came along leading a thin horse pulling a cart, boxes covered with a tarp and held down with tons of straps. Just the look of the cart made both guards suspicious, though Hayo kept a calm demeanor and acted like everything was normal to test his young partner. Roku waited for the man to get close before approaching him, the bearded and chubby guy keeping a stony face.

Roku asked for an inventory of the apparent merchants wares and received a laminated sheet of paper neatly bullet-pointed to show clothing and medicine, food and books. Most merchants specialized in one certain market, his first red-flag besides the suspicious straps. He handed back the inventory, and the man made to move past him before Roku stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"I would like to check under your tarp for a quick moment." His voice was even and professional, but the man began growing angry.

"It's all General goods, just like I told you. I have a deadline to meet and you're not stopping me to make me late!" Belligerent and impatient, the hairy fat guy tried to push past Roku before the Genin really pushed him back. The guy stumbled and looked angry, but decided to cut his losses. "Fone! Take a damned look, and you can strap it all back down when you're done!"

Satisfied the guy was complying, Roku walked over to the cart, gave the tires horse a quick pat and started pulling the straps off. He bundled the tarp under his left arm while the straps were strung over his right shoulder. With all the covering off Roku saw another red-flag: all the boxes were mismatched rather than uniform, most merchants taking pride in appearing professional. These looked like they'd been collected in separate places rather than bought all at once. He set the tarp down and weighed it down with the straps, and retrieved the kunai from his right pocket.

Placing the kunai under one of the lids Roku pried the snug square of wood from its box, opening it to find loose rice filling it to the brim. Seemed fine, a bit hard to the touch but nothing suspicious. Until he reached his hand in and felt a sharp pain in his finger.

He jerked the hand back, bleeding profusely from a deep cut in his index finger, and with his other hand pulled the entire box off the cart. It tipped over onto the sand and poured its contents out quickly: sharp kunai and shuriken placed inside the rice alongside purple vials of something thick. Drugs and unregistered weapons.

He turned to yell out to Hayo about his find, but his partner had a beefy arm wrapped around the man's neck while a kunai laid at their feet. The smuggler's face turned purple from lack of oxygen before he went limp, Hayo tossing the guy to the sand without regard. The Chuunin turned to the gate and called for guards, who quickly arrived and hauled the man off, and watched Roku walk back over holding his bleeding hand. Hayo healed the boy's finger with a quick jutsu, the wound sealing up without a scar, and then patted the boy's back in congrats making him stumble.

Rokumaru was happy to have made his first bust but felt incredibly stressed out from that one stop. Hayo took the lead again for the next few hours and wrote out his mission report at the end of their shift. When another pair of guards came to relieve them the two walked back to the admin building together, turned in the report and parted ways with an agreement to share a drink at a shop later.

WC: 1534/1000
Mission Complete~

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