Ok, I'm gonna be honest. I have no idea where I am.

Konoha was a logical stop between my home country of Kirigakure and my destination, Sunagakure. Since I was going anyways, I figured that it might be fun to take part in the Kiri-Konoha exchange program and see what kind of genin they had in other lands. Especially the Leaf. Being Kiri's closest neighbor meant that stories and legends of Leaf shinobi reached the Mist's ports quite easily, so I had heard of the plethora of...interesting characters Konohagakure held. I was really excited to see who my partner was for this assignment, and what kind of things they could do. So far, all I knew about them was their name, Yukino Sarutobi.

I wonder if they have different styles of fighting in Konoha? Maybe they don't use fuuinjutsu as much as in Kiri. Or maybe they use it more! That would be exciting. I might just have to check out one of their libraries just to see their thoughts on it...

And so it ended up that on the morning I was supposed to meet my mission partner, I ended up lost in the streets of Konoha. It wasn't that the streets were particularly congested or badly designed, it was just that the overpowering smell of food from a nearby shopping square had entranced my senses. I had considered summoning Arusuno so that he could have a sniff too, but I didn't particularly like the idea of drawing too much attention to myself, especially not in a foreign land where I was supposed to be helping. And both the summoning technique, and often Arusuno himself, could often cause quite the commotion.

The mission itself seemed pretty simple. My Leaf ninja partner and I were supposed to track down a 10-year old kid who went missing, with strong evidence to suggest that he ran away from his home. There wasn't a lot to go on in terms of description or likely locations, but the blue tunic and grey shorts might be helpful. I mean, judging from their flak jackets, Konoha really seems to enjoy the color green, so maybe the kid wouldn't be too hard to spot.

I mean, really, that is a major stretch, but it's the best I've got so far.

I decided to get a better in order to get my bearings, so I jumped and clambered my way up to the top of a roof, and surveyed the scene before me. A grand village, with a great cliff overlooking a serene landscape. And true to its name, the village was surrounded by a massive forest. I still preferred the cool mist and warm waters of Kiri, but I could see the appeal in living here. After jumping around for a bit, and worrying I was going to be late because of it, I finally found a familiar landmark, and made my way back to the front gate of the village.

Ok, final guesses on what my mission partner is gonna be able to do: Ninjutsu? Probably. I think the Sarutobi have some fire style techniques if I remember correctly. They also have something to do with...some animal. I forget which. If it's a tricky animal, the ninja might know genjutsu?

Again, Nobuya. Bit of a stretch. Let's get facts before making conclusions.

I arrived at the front gate. A couple people were milling about, but a dark-haired kunoichi with a Leaf headband soon caught my eye. She had seemed to be looking around for something or someone, but quickly spotted me and seemed to have a look on her face that she might have found what she had been looking for.

I wonder if...?

I approached her.

"Hey, would your name happen to be Yukino Sarutobi?"

If she expressed anything that confirmed that she was indeed the person I was looking for, I would say, "Hi! I'm Nobuya Yomechiro of the Mist. I guess we're mission partners for this. It's nice to meet you!"

WC: 688

I've decided: I like her. Not like like her, way too early to tell for that, but I can tell that this mission is gonna be fun.

I came to this conclusion early on in our introductions. After we exchanged greetings, my initial feeling was originally uneasy. She was courteous in the way she was speaking to me, but her blue eyes looked at me as if her focus was somewhere else, like she had no interest in what was in front of her. A little off-putting, but I figured she was just more of a serious-type ninja then I'd expect of a genin. Maybe that was just the culture of the Leaf - to be serious when taking missions. For the Village Hidden in the Mist, at least in my experience, we seemed to like missions as a way to test ourselves, often to prove our mettle in combat. I must admit, as much as I didn't like hurting people, growing up in Kirigakure it was hard not to enjoy taking part in a good fight. Still, that experience wasn't for everyone, and maybe here it was viewed as a serious means to protecting and reinforcing the village, deserving of the upmost respect. Or maybe she viewed it as more of a chore than anything else. Or maybe she just didn't like the idea of having to work with me.

So at first, I just chalked it up to a difference in culture. But then -- then she caught me off guard.

“I’ve never had the opportunity to meet a ninja of another village. It’s good to see you’re not that much taller than me.”

I couldn't help it. I let out a small burst of laughter before stifling it back up. Even with trying to hold it in and keep focus on the task in front of us, I couldn't help but continue to smile. It was just...SO unexpected. My perception of her did a complete 180. She went from a pretty standard exchange of greetings to a deadpan joke in no time flat. And for just seeing me for the first time, she clearly had a pretty quick wit and good sense of humor.

"Well, we do have a knack for being just a bit taller than the continentals. It helps us stay above the waterline," I said as I raised my eyebrows, trying to imitate an instructor pondering a student's thoughtful question. She continued to look at me, and occasionally look me over as if trying to suss me out, but we got to talking about the mission pretty quickly. She explained her thought process that, though the child's last confirmed sighting was in his neighborhood in the village, he probably wasn't still there, though that hypothesis isn't a certainty. With the number of people living nearby, it would just be pretty unlikely that the kid would be able to get by for this long without getting spotted at least once. Especially not in a ninja village. Because of that, Yukino suggested that we start searching in the nearby woods, and make our way inward.

"I think that's a good plan. If we went the other way, the kid might get even farther away from us, and searching in a crowd would take longer anyways. Easier to spot a rope on the deck than in a storeroom. Although, if you don't mind..."

Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Arusuno appeared in front of me, thankfully not asleep like he usually he is when I summon him.

"Hey Nobuya! How's it going? Who's this?"

"Pretty well. This is Yukino, and we're gonna be helping her out." I said as I gestured to Yukino, "Right now we're trying to track down a missing kid. Would you mind hanging around near his home in case he comes back? It's been a couple days, but he might have gotten homesick, and we wouldn't want to be searching for a kid who has already been found. So if you spot him, would you mind finding us and telling us? We'll be searching outside the village, but we'll be working our way in, so hopefully we would run into each other."

"Sorry Nobuya, but remember, I can't really see that well. I don't know if I'd be able to spot them."

Right. I keep forgetting about that. Let's see...

"Well, I guess just keep a look out...err...a sniffer out? Keep your senses up for anyone short, young, and probably pretty dirty. The kid wouldn't have access to clean clothes unless he's been stealing them or using a nearby river, so maybe try to smell that, if you wouldn't mind."

"Not at all!"

I smiled before realizing a major omission I had made in my request. I turned to face Yukino and sheepishly asked my question.

"Hey, would you mind telling Arusuno where to go? Sorry, but I kinda got lost here earlier, and you definitely know the area much better than I do."

I then also realized I hadn't even asked her if she would be okay with this. I kinda just went for it.

Not very considerate when you're supposed to be partners on this mission. Not making a good first impression, Nobuya!

I tried explaining myself by saying, "I'm sorry. I just realized that I summoned him pretty quickly without asking you first. Guess I just got a bit overexcited. I just thought Arusuno might be helpful for this. He can't move as quickly as we do, but he's really clever and enthusiastic, so I just thought he might be better suited for this kinda thing. Plus, a talking armadillo might not be the best for a scared kid. Even though he's really friendly, Arusuno can sometimes be a bit...overwhelming."

I smiled and gave a side-eye to Arusuno. He turned his head away in mock indignation.

I turned my attention back to Yukino. I hoped she wouldn't be mad or weirded out, but I also wanted to make sure we could find the kid.

Chakra 220/250:

Arusuno Chakra 95/100:

WC: 1047
Total WC: 1735

Much to my relief, Yukino seemed pretty okay with the fact that I suddenly summoned a giant armadillo without any prelude. Though it was kinda hard to tell, since she really didn't seem to show any of her inner thoughts or emotions besides a faint trace of surprise. Even with my admittedly not-so-great joke, there wasn't even a pitying or condescending smile. I was beginning to think that maybe I should just follow her lead and stop goofing around so much.

Maybe she really doesn't like me at all.

She gave a polite wave when I introduced her to Arusuno, though I guessed from her slightly-widened eyes that she was not entirely accustomed to the situation in front of her.

Or she just has really low expectations for me. Although, I guess summons probably aren't too common, especially for genin like me. It was a lot of work convincing Aruide and Left to even let me into their village, and the village was still pretty friendly. I could just imagine how hard it would be to try and convince someone else.

Thankfully, Yukino was ready to use her knowledge of the village to provide instruction to Arusuno, even drawing him a map on the back of the mission brief she had been given. She also mentioned that the neighborhood was relatively upper-scale, which caught my attention.

I'd guess that upper-scale probably means that the kid wouldn't stray too far from the village, but would be sure to stay out of the nightly patrol range. I don't know if kidnapping for ransom or slavery is anywhere near as big a problem as it is in Kiri, but even if it wasn't, I would think that the kid would have the common sense not to wander too far off un-escorted. Or at least they wouldn't stay too close to any of the main roads. They'd have to be in a relatively small area in which they could find food, water, and shelter unhindered. There are plenty of trees around, so shelter might not be as big a problem, and a river or lake would account for the other two. It's been a couple of days, so they probably have either found a place to set up camp, or they're not in the area. I am making a lot of assumptions, but I just really hope it's not the latter option.

She was being very professional with the whole situation, and even excused the haste at which I brought Arusuno along into the mission. When she turned back to Arusuno to give him the map along with some helpful advice, I could've sworn I saw a faint glimmer of something on her face, but I wasn't even sure what the expression was.

She didn't seem at all annoyed or angry, and it didn't look anything like sadness. Could I...could that have been a smile? No, but...maybe? If she didn't mind too much, and if she actually does like Arusuno, maybe she would be cool with answering some of Arusuno's questions about Konoha if we get done with the mission early. That might be asking a lot of a person I just met though. We'll see.

"Thanks alot! See ya later Nobuya, Yukino!"

With that, Arusuno scurried away and Yukino said to me, “We should start moving as well, before it gets too late. We’re gonna need all the time we can get for this."

I nodded in agreement, and she took the lead as we went out the gates. Once we had left most of the noise in the village, she turned to me and asked, “Do you have any sensory jutsu to maybe make this a bit easier?”

"Oh yeah, right! I forgot! I didn't want to do it when we were still in the village since I can get a bit of a sensory overload, but out here it should be fine."

I closed my eyes, made the "Ox" hand seal and focused on concentrating chakra in my nose. I had done this jutsu a couple times before, but I had really only "mastered" it recently. Aruide, the armadillo that helped me with a lot of my training and getting approval for the summoning contract, thought that it might be helpful for situations just like this. Suddenly, I could smell everything around me. It was just as overpowering as the first couple of times I had done it, but my senses quickly adjusted. I could smell the scent of market stalls and strong perfumes in the village behind me, and the fresh vegetation and various animals of the forest in front. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but I concentrated on looking for anything that might be of use.

I opened my eyes back up, my vision slightly blurred as an unfortunate side-effect of the jutsu. I pointed to the different places I spoke of as I mentioned them.

"So, I didn't smell anything that smelled like a kid, but to be fair I don't really know what the kid smells like. Still learning how to distinguish things, sorry. That said, about 60 meters that way," I said pointing to our northeast, "I think there's a river with a good number of fish in it. If the kid's been out here for a while, I'd think it would probably be a good place to camp out. Maybe 90 meters to our left I could smell a number of people. It's kinda near the edge of what I can smell, so I'm not sure how many, but it's definitely more than one. We might not find the kid there, but they might have seen him if they've been here for a while. My nose doesn't go super far though, so we might also just wanna search somewhere else. What do you think?"

Chakra 205/250:

WC: 1015
Total WC: 2750

After I presented my findings, Yukino thought for a moment, her hand brought up to her chin as she thought about the best course of action. From what I could tell, she seemed to have a pretty analytical mind, not taking any action in a mission without considering likely results. It was a trait that I really respected in a shinobi. As much fun as rushing into something without a plan could be, it wasn't exactly conducive to a long life for a ninja. And from the way she spoke, she seemed pretty smart too, so I was ready to trust whatever she would conclusion she would come to.

After only a brief pause, she seemed to come up with a plan, producing an excited look in her eyes I hadn't seen before. She grabbed a nearby stick and started drawing a rough map of the area in the dirt. The plan she had come up with was essentially that it would be best to split up to cover more ground. Since I knew their location more precisely, I should go after the group I smelled ninety meters away, and since Yukino was much more familiar with the general terrain and landscape, she should scour the area near the river to look for probable hiding spots. It was honestly a really good plan. I hadn't really considered it before, but splitting up temporarily would really be the best option. We wanted to cover the most ground in the least amount of time possible, to minimize the risk of the kid getting farther away, and this was one of the most efficient ways to do it. And the assignments as to who should do what were clearly logical and well thought-out. Yukino suggested that we meet back at our current location in twenty minutes in case either one of us found anything.

I stared down at the map as she finished drawing it up, trying to remember as many details from it as I could. I didn't want to get lost, if only for the reason that I don't think Yukino would be too thrilled about having to track down two missing kids. As I tried to drill the details into my mind as quickly as I could, I heard Yukino speak to me.

"I won’t have any trouble finding my way back, but…"

Her voice trailed off as she seemed to be mulling something over in her mind. Seemingly only an instant later though, she reached behind her head and undid the knot that was keeping her headband on her neck.

"Normally, I would never do this but..I don’t really know how much of a scent you need, so this is good insurance."

She held out her headband in her hand, and it took me a moment to realize what was happening. I couldn't be sure, but once I realized what she was saying, I think I might've blushed for a moment just out of surprise and a slight feeling of flattery. It was really unusual for a ninja to let anyone borrow their headband, much less a ninja from another village. A ninja's headband was incredibly symbolic, a physical representation of their status and allegiance to both their village and their land. But because it would help the mission, she was willing to trust me with it, if only for a couple of minutes. She might not have meant it this way given how pragmatic she was, but to me, it was a huge honor.

"Thank you," I finally managed to say, still slightly dazed.

“I’m sure this will be good enough for you to be able to find me no matter what. Now, any questions?”

I managed to recover, shaking my head no.

"Nope! Sounds like a solid plan!"

With that, she turned and started on her route to the river area.

"We here in the leaf have a knack for being just a bit shorter than those on the coast. It helps us navigate the trees better," she said as she turned back towards me with a smirk.

Oh, it's on! I thought as I watched her disappear into the trees, with a smile on my face looking slightly more competitive than joyful.

I am so glad I decided to drop by Konoha. This has been pretty fun, and Yukino's an interesting person to be around.

Well, I should probably get going myself. I can't just let her show me up now, can I? Hopefully whoever those people are have been in the area in the past couple of days and could point me in the right direction.

I took off, jumping through the trees towards where I last smelled the distant group. I didn't want to use the specific sensory jutsu again, just because I didn't know how long this mission would take, and I wanted to use my chakra economically. The sensory jutsu didn't last long, and it dulled my other senses anyway, not a good scenario when I'm separated from a partner who could actually keep an eye out for the kid. Luckily, even though I wasn't at all familiar with the terrain, I was able to take a relatively straight path, arriving at what turned out to be a small campsite pretty quickly.

Strange place to camp out, but at least the camp implies they're planning to stay for a while. Hopefully that means they've also been here for a while.

Before I jumped down to greet them though, a peculiar detail caught my eye. There were three campers that I could see sitting outside of a single tent, currently just seemingly lounging around. I don't think they noticed me yet, but they didn't seem terribly attentive to their surroundings. Still, there was something about them that made me a little uneasy. This didn't seem like some genin expedition, or some group of civilians straying too close to a ninja village. This was something different. One of the strangers reached behind them to grab something out of a bag, and I saw a glimpse of a tattoo on their arm. A symbol I had seen before, but couldn't recall where from. A red swirl inside a dark blue box. As they reached in the bag, I noticed they had kunai, rope, and other ninja tools.

But none of them are wearing any headbands...

A fourth member stepped out of the tent. She was a lot more intimidating than the rest, and based on the way the others tensed up when she revealed herself, I could only guess that she was the leader. She spoke, barking orders to her three subordinates.

"Kyo, watch the kid. I've got to meet our contact and I don't want you three screwing it up."

The kid? Oh no...

I suddenly remembered where I had seen that symbol before. It was on a piece of clothing from one of the thugs that was chasing down Noxxi.

Kidnappers. But why do they have the same symbol as the ones in Kiri? I've got to get Yukino, now.

As silently as I could, I made my way away from the campsite, stopping a reasonable distance away so that they wouldn't be able to hear what I was about to do. Making my hand signs, I once again summoned Arusuno. He seemed to be slightly confused by me summoning him after he'd already been summoned here, but I explained the basics of the situation as quickly and quietly as I could.

"I think the kid's in the tent, but I need you to make sure. I'm going to get Yukino and come back as quickly as I can, but when we get back, I'll need you to warn us if you smell anyone else approaching. Can you do that?"

Arusuno nodded, looking more serious than I'd ever seen him look before. Without any further delay, I ran and jumped through the trees to Yukino.

Ox.

Using her headband as a reference smell, it didn't take me long to track her down with my sensory jutsu. I leapt down from the trees next to her, holding out her headband for her to take back as I explained what I had seen.

"Yukino, we've got trouble. The kid's been kidnapped. The campsite I smelled is where they're holding him. I spotted four, armed, and presumably trained with at least basic knowledge of kunai from the fact that they had quite a few. I'm guessing they've got the kid in a tent they set up, but I wasn't able to confirm. Arusuno's there now to try and get more information, but one of the people there left to go meet with a contact, so we've got to get the kid quickly if we don't want a big fight."

Assuming she agreed, I would lead her back to the campsite. Along the way, I would tell her about my Binding Leg Seal and Armadillo Burrowing Jutsu so that I could give her more options for strategies. The Binding Leg Seal would be more useful in combat if she thought we could take them out in a surprise attack, while the Armadillo Burrowing Jutsu would be useful if we wanted to try a sneakier approach. Those weren't the only two options, of course, but I wanted to make sure Yukino had a broad information set. I would just have to wait for now until she could get a better analysis of the situation herself. Obviously, she would know her own capabilities better than me, and I wanted to repay the trust she had given me when she handed over her headband by telling her about some of my own techniques. Once we got just outside the site, Arusuno would silently confirm that the kid was in fact inside the tent.

Chakra 170/250:

Arusuno Chakra 90/100:

Jutsu Referenced:

WC: 1680
Total WC: 4430