Mercy D-Rank:

Makoto was running through the desert at the speed which he could manage to run at without collapsing as he hated this hot weather in this village. He began to feel like this land was cursed as the hot sand made his feet feel like they might explode and his body felt like he was trapped inside a hot bath that was on fire as he met with the small refugee group, they bowed and greeted him being roughly six or eight of them as they wanted to head to a more peaceful village outside of the great five villages.

Makoto made his way to meet up with them and after that he set out on his mission as they pointed in the direction he should be heading he kept an eye out for potential bandits that may interfere with the transfer, however he was not certain how well things would go as he prepared four water clones who went and blended in with the villagers so it would look like he was escorting twelve people in total. Makoto knew that he had to rely on his clones to make up for his lack of ability on his own as they all put on the cloak the villagers were wearing.

Words = 210

Chakra = 250 - 15(C-Rank Jutsu) = 235 - 24 - 24 - 24 - 24 = 139/250
Clones 1-4 Chakra = 24/24

Chakra 139/250:

Nothing else really mattered to Satoru other than getting some breakfast into his system. He had spent another night in the refugee camp. Because of all the work he was doing out in Sunagakure, it was a good idea to just sleep out here and get it over with. Today he had bingo book bounty as his target. ‘Icaru Kurosaki’ a known criminal to Konoha. Icaru isn't a shinobi but he is a master theft that years ago slipped through the grasp of Konoha’s finest. Knowing how hungry he was, Satoru headed off to the Refugee camp’s cafeteria tent with the intentions of getting a burger and a bottled water. A burger wasn't the healthiest way to start his day but he simply wanted a little treat for all the work he has been doing. Outside of the tent, there was a gathering of people in dark brown cloaks, looking like they were getting prepared to travel. He went inside the rather large tent and stood in line, waiting to order his food from the people that came from other nations, volunteering to serve the refugee and shinobi out in Sunagakure. He got to the front of the line and got his burger he sat down across the room from a peculiar looking man, someone who seemed to have been travelling with the group outside. Satoru’s perception was enough to pick up a lot about the man without actually staring at him, the way the man was staring at Sato. To be completely specific, it seemed very odd that the man paid close attention to Satoru’s Konoha headband. He looked to be around Sato’s age and due to his frail looking body, his short height and young appearance the man seemed harmless, so the genin wasn’t exactly worried about him.

Satoru finished his food and threw away the waste, he was ready to proceed with his mission. He received word through the local grapevine that his VIP will be in Iwagakure, so the first thing he would do is head there and ask some more questions amongst the first group of people he saw. Before he could reach very far from the tent he overheard something that blew his mind with sudden excitement, “Hey Icaru, the group is ready to leave. Lets go” one of the cloaked refugees said to someone in the tent. Satoru quickly retreated from plain sight to the side of the tent as he saw who came out after the call. It was the man who was staring at him. “Could he have known what my mission is? Hmm, he was looking at my thigh where my headband is so he knows i'm from Konoha, there's no doubt that he is on edge right now. I have to handle this with the tact of a shinobi.” He said to himself before making a hand seal and disappearing to a cloud of smoke. He had used the ‘Henge’ jutsu to slightly alter his appearance and summon a carbon copy of the cloak they were all wearing. Satoru walked over to the group to keep tabs on the VIP and he found out from the rest of them that they were all being escorted to Iwagakure by a shinobi.

Satoru mulled it over in his head and he wasn’t proud of it, but he couldn’t let this convoy be transported to Iwa peacefully. When the shinobi arrived to escort them, he was relieved in a sense. The shinobi assigned to the group was a frail looking young boy and even though you should never judge a book by its cover, he felt as though it would be easy disposing of the youth. The boy had summoned four clones to blend in with the crowd and after leaving the border camps, roughly one hour into walking through the desert, Satoru had lost track of which one of the clones were real from which weren’t. Instead of trying to confront the young shinobi head on. He tried attempted to draw him out by holding one of the refugees hostage. He didn’t grab Icaru, as he wanted to make believe that he wasn’t aware of Icaru’s presence. “Hey, im a shinobi from konoha. Listen to me, im on a mission to capture a criminal within your group here. Believe me when i say i’m not gonna hurt you, but i need you to play along.” He whispered to one of the other refugees in the convoy before the nodded in agreement to him. He quickly grabbed this woman from behind and whispered once more, “I’m sorry” before undoing the jutsu and reverting to his normal appearance. “Hey! Shinobi!” he yelled, attempting to draw as much attention as possible as he took a kunai out of his pouch and held it to the woman’s neck. “My name is Satoru Namikaze. Shinobi of the Village hidden in the leaves. You have a fugitive amongst you and i cannot allow you to take them to Iwagakure. Stand down right now and let me leave with the fugitive. If you don't comply i’ll be forced to take action against the fugitive...Lethal Action.” He waited for the shinobi’s response.

---

WC: 886

Chakra: 245|250:

The clones heard mumbling, but were not really that interested in the conversation as his only mission was to escort them to their new village, while it appeared like they were heading to Iwa the actual destination was an unaffiliated village. However he could not reveal this at risk of a village tracking them down and capturing them. Makoto felt like something was a bit off as the number of people being escorted were one too many, but not knowing who was the outsider in this group he just continued on as each of the clones kept track of what was going on mixed in among the group.

One of the clones thought they heard an apology as with a puff of smoke from the undoing of a transformation immediately triggered battle mode for all the Makoto's. The clones pushed back the people who were free and surrounded the target from all sides at a distance. The one clone standing in line with the real Makoto performed the Tori hand seal and stood there focused as the other three makoto clones all drew their swords and shields preparing for combat. The shinobi began to do something rather strange and revealed himself to be Namikaze Satoru of the hidden leaf village.

The one thing that Makoto felt was that this Satoru guy spoke way too much and even apologized as well. A fugitive meant nothing to Makoto as his mission was plain and simple, escort these people to a safe new home as best he can. This did not account for some dying of heat stroke or threats from outside bandits. However a shinobi taking a hostage without knowing all the details seemed a bit unplanned. That made it a bit interesting as the group of refugees headed towards a hiding place behind the real makoto as the lady just stood there scared.

One of the Makoto clones dashed in from behind to cut through Satoru's back, the clone would only avoid hitting the hostage. If Satoru dodged the attack the second makoto clone would intercept with five shuriken to Satoru's leg while the third clone would stab for Satoru's ribs.

If Satoru activated any jutsu of some kind he would have to let go of the hostage in which case a clone will pick her up and jump away while the other two clones would face off as the forth clone prepared to finish off his jutsu preparations.

On the off chance that Satoru tries to block one of the clones will toss a kunai and three shuriken at the back of Satoru's leg to limit his movements. The hostage was not a high enough priority for her to be a valid one.

The real Makoto would mostly observe.

Words = 210 + 464 = 674

Chakra = 139/250
Clones 1-4 Chakra = 24/24

So far, everything wasn’t going the way he had pictured it, as the fugitive is now gone too far from him. The unknown shinobi had several clones planted within the group to confuse bandits or common threats to him or the refugees. Though this wasn’t a common threat, it was a konoha shinobi on a mission to retrieve the fugitive that needs to serve justice back in his village. The environment had already changed as the refugees ran from the scene but still hung around nearby, as it wasn’t wise for them to completely leave their escort guard. The clones were all equipped with a sword and shield, except for one that was a few meters in front of him, very slowly approaching him. Satoru knew that the unarmed clone just wanted to ensure the safety of the woman and since she wasn’t really of any value to him anymore, he let her go. The unknown shinobi grabbed her up and left with her to the other refugees but Sato was not off guard. While he was looking at the other refugees, in the corner of his peripheral field of vision, he can see a clone approaching him to attack but the younger shinobi’s physical appearance gave notice that there was a gap in their physical capabilities, something that Satoru could probably use to his advantage, this could’ve been an easy fight but the sheer number of incoming attacks would have proved difficult, even if there was a visible advantage.

He drew his kunai, calmed himself down and briefly assess the situation at hand, knowing exactly how he’d dispose of the clones but he couldn’t do it if he didnt calm down and control his adrenaline, not let it control him. The advancing assault? One clone from behind, one from his right side, both are in close proximity and armed. Another clone about 6m away on his left side that had thrown about 5 shuriken to his leg. Deducing that the assault in his close vicinity comprised of mainly clones he could have used lethal force efficiently to disperse these clones and still have time to react to the projectiles. His positioning of his feet switched up as he got into a adaptive stance ready to make swift work of this battle then more importantly. The mission. With a sleight of hand, quicker than what the other shinobi could react to, Satoru swiftly got down and swept the legs of both the clones. When they both hit the floor he stabbed one with a kunai to its throat and brought down his feel to crush the windpipe of the other, dispersing two clones at once. The clones reverted to water in the sand as Satoru got up to notice his leg was bleeding, during his previous actions of countering, he couldn't do anything much to defend against the airborne shuriken. The other shinobi had drawn first blood with these shuriken, Sato realized this as he let out a slight groan of discomfort. He rushed the clone that threw the shuriken from a distance. As he got closer he reached out to grab him to dispose of him like the others. He hesitated for a second to observe the clone that had been preparing a jutsu. What comes next would have to be very precise actions that Satoru would have to adapt to in order to complete his mission and leave with Icaru. At the distance he was from the refugees, Icaru wasn't visible, this could have been troubling as it meant Satoru could have possible failed the mission. He needed to wrap up this fight quickly and suppress the VIP.

If his assault on the clan he was charging was successful Satoru would cut the fight short and head straight for Icaru, as he was getting way too distracted with this other shinobi when this fight actually has nothing to do with his mission in the long run. The fugitive needs to serve justice in konoha, he must be caught before Satoru can go back to the village. The commotion that he had created seemed like a good way for the fugitive, Icaru, to get away. If this mission were to fail, Satoru would have no one to blame but himself for going about things poorly and not planning at least a little better. He changed his mind, mid charge and turned to run towards the refugees. "ICARU!" he exclaimed. as he ran towards the crowd of people, that all split up to reveal a path straight to the fugitive who has already turned and started running in the opposite direction.

---

Chakra:

[Exit Thread]

WC Usage:

The madness that ensued made no sense as the refugee hostage was simply let go and escaped without a hitch as the opponent proceeded to duck low with a sweep of the legs to the two clones who managed to crash into the dirt while the other clone managed to hit his shield into the ground for stability and to prevent being fully grounded. With his shield down the clone took a stab wound from a kunai to the neck as he fell face first into the ground as if dead, the kunai was not quite strong enough to kill off the clone, but it was enough to be a nuisance. Meanwhile the other clone wanted to follow up, but was too slow to keep up with the fast feet and fast movements of this crazy shinobi known as Namikaze Satoru as he wished to later learn more about this clan as he felt the speeds were so fast that he could be way beyond his rank, however the weak weaponry and blows meant he was not stronger then a genin yet.

The heel kick that had this feel to it really hurt as the clones dropped down, neither one was incapacitated as they were both hurt, however they got manually dispersed as the opponent seemed to think he had defeated the clones. He drew some blood but dispersing two of his clones meant he had a smaller army, but better chakra reserves now, as he watched the opponent groaned which did not seem to make any sense at all as he tilted his head slightly.

He was ready to perform his jutsu as the other clone stood his ground as the main Makoto formed the tiger hand seal preparing to release his strongest technique, however his opponent seemed to stop for some reason as he seemed to be looking around as Makoto watched that all the refugees were now safe as he wondered what the guy was looking at. His opponent just started running in the opposite direction as he noticed there were two sets of foot prints which meant who ever this strange shinobi was after had escaped that way as he went to regroup with his refugees to guide them to new land.

Makoto did not understand this madness and wondered why the shinobi did not simply get close to the target, capture him silently and escape with some kind of teleportation or hyper speed jutsu. Though Makoto thought to himself his target sure knew how to run as their battle ended inconclusively, he had this feeling that they may meet again.

Makoto was getting a bit tired as the group stuck close to him the refugees felt a bit bad to be getting escorted by a child, however they knew it was the way the world worked. When one belonged to a village there was nothing they could do to escape the hardships of war, and the harsh nature of being trapped in a power struggle between the four great nations. The refugees remembered losing so many family members in wars in the past, from those who went to assist during the invasions of other nations, to being nice to all the villages while stabbing everyone in the back by not taking sides. Taking sides came with enemies and not taking any sides also made enemies as they knew in the end that they could never take this child with them.

The world was an unforgiving place and all they could do now was find a new land and work towards peace in order to make this a better place for them and their future children as they prayed that the gods would look out over this child as they continued on towards their destination. They soon came across any area that was green and seemed to have the signs of being from a completely different land from where they had come. No more deserts and no more sand, just beautiful green trees and they continued on further as the people got closer they discussed it among themselves as he finally got even closer to this small oasis like land as they spoke to him.

"Thank you for guiding us this far, please watch over the area for a while longer" as Makoto kept a close vigil along with his remaining two clones as the people looked around the area some were foraging and others were just observing the land and after exploring around for about fifteen minutes they concluded with their last words.

"Thank you for guiding us to our new land, Ande'thoras-ethil" as they gave a strange greeting as some others came and bowed their heads as he felt it was unnecessary as he would have easily disposed of them if they caused problems. For now he completed his mission and was annoyed by the opposition he had faced earlier, it was clear he would be no match against that man with his current strength as he would need to improve and become even stronger in the future.

In the end would Makoto be able to really become stronger and did he also need to find himself a new place to call home as he brooded over it like the moody Makoto that he was.

[exit]

Words = 674 + 883 = 1557
Mission = 750
Extra Mission Pay = 600(150 ryo)
Opposed by Satoru x2
Training Speed E3 - D = 300
Training Endurance E - E1 = 75
Total 1525

Thread Total Words = 1667 + 1557 = 3224(1 EP)