Mission Info:

Arriving back from my last mission in the south shore of the Land of Wind, I quickly notified my secretary and advisors that I had come back home.  I headed over to my family residence to drop off my travel bag and unload, though my parents had other plans in mind.  As soon as I had stepped in the door to my house they greeted and praised me for my job well done.  The news of me stopping the pirate bandits attack and decapitating the well-known pirate Captain Bearpaw was running wild through the streets.

The clan had all gotten together to celebrate my success as Kazekage and as a good protector of the state.  It had been quite a while since my family had displayed so much joy and pride on the outside that I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  The food was glorious and ever-present no matter how much I seemed to eat.  The food in the coastal town had been good, but nothing could compare to how my clan makes food.  We had sushi, squid, miso soup, ramen, and plenty of other delicious foods.  The whole clan seemed to come to life that evening and it was marvelous to see everyone so happy.  Even Daisuke, my lifelong teacher who had trained me in the arts of Bōjutsu was smiling and that never happens!

Finally, like all good things, the celebration came to an end and the clan went back to their homes.  I headed to my own and put on my nightgown.  The cool night air felt good and the weather was just right, so I decided to leave my bedroom door open and have a gentle breeze soothe me to sleep.  My belly felt like an overstuffed pig before it got sent to the slaughter.  I went to sleep that night with a genuine smile on my face.

Waking up the next day to the hot gaze of the morning sun, I had to shield my eyes and hurry to my screen door.  Once the sunlight was out of my eyes, I was able to see and get dressed for the day.  Once I had on my formal attire and was ready to get back to whatever paperwork and duties of being the Kazekage were required of me, I stepped out and joined the rest of my village in getting to work.

Making my way through the bustling town, I made short work of the commute so that I could have as much time to devote to what I was sure would be a ten feet tall pile of papers for me to sign, reports to check, missions and promotions to review and approve or deny.  I wondered if there were a few more students that would have graduated from the Academy this year, seeing as it was around time for the Academy to have done its Final Exam.  The thought of getting more ninja to join the ranks and protect the village was enough to get my blood racing with excitement.

Entering the office building, I was immediately pounced upon by my secretary.  "Lady Kazekage," she said, panting as she had raced up to meet me as soon as I had walked through the doors.  "It's awful!  The Daimyo of the Land of Wind has been kidnapped!  They're asking for a ransom and the country demands that you show up and deal with the issue yourself!"

She handed me the letter from the Daimyo's palace and watched me open it.  The words of the Daimyo's official council were harsh and brutal, scolding me for letting the Daimyo be taken without even so much as putting up a resistance.  According to the letter, he was taken sometime last night and the letter was rushed straight to me.  I looked up from the letter to my secretary, her eyes matching my gaze with a very worried look.

"I'm sorry to have to put you through this, but it looks like I'll be leaving again," I said, she only nodded in response.  "Immediately."


682/3000

Turning right around, I headed straight back to my home so I could pack and get on the road as quickly as possible.  This was a serious matter, the Daimyo was the only one I had to listen to and obey, and now my only boss was kidnapped.  My job was to protect him and his country, now both were in jeopardy.  The worst part was I had no idea who it was that had done this.  Nothing had come through my shinobi of rumors or intel about a plot against the Daimyo.

Getting home, I quickly went through my wardrobe and pulled out some spare clothes.  The journey would be much shorter to the Daimyo's Palace, especially seeing as I needed to hurry.  Making sure my items and clothes were all accounted for, I strapped on my travel backpack and headed out the door in a run.  The people waved me off as I passed them by in the streets, wishing me well on another journey.  They didn't know where I was going, nothing had yet been broadcasted, but they all had eyes and a brain.  Seeing me with a travel gear on my back was enough for anyone to put two and two together.

Exiting through the northern gate, I plunged into the great desert expanse that surrounded the village.  From my many travels when I was younger, I had learned how to navigate the sand dunes like an expert.  Trudging along the tops, I guided myself with the knowledge I had learned from my past experiences, being able to use the sun's location in the sky to travel along until I came to the main trade route that lead to the Daimyo's Palace.  The whole journey would take no longer than six hours on foot, I made it there in four.  My legs were very worn out and on the verge of collapsing when I arrived, having pushed myself to my limit.

I had never personally been to the Daimyo's Palace but from what I heard it was a great and extraordinarily large estate.  When I finally arrived at the palace, the large monstrosity of architecture stood, erected amongst the desert in its own personal oasis that brimmed with water and plant life.  The palace was made of concrete blocks painted snowy white.  There were thirty feet high block walls surrounding the grounds opened up through one black iron gate that had many swirls and spikes in a overarching design of wind traveling up to the middle of the gate.  Two guards were stationed on opposite sides of the gate and dutifully opened it for me as I approached.

The guards escorted me to the palace's main hall where I met with the Daimyo's council.  The group of five balding men in long white robes surrounded me, pestering me with questions on how I let this happen.  Once I had enough, I retaliated with my own questions.  "Was it not your duty to make sure he has guards to keep him safe?  Was it not your own duty to protect your Daimyo, yet all of you stand before me, still alive while he is gone." I barked at them, silencing them from any further pestering.  "Now tell me what you know of these kidnappers.  Any information you might think of could help me locate them and save the Daimyo."

The men turned to glance at each other before one short man moved forward, bowing slightly.  "Lady Kazekage, please forgive us.  We are only concerned for our Daimyo as much as you are.  As for knowledge of the kidnappers, we did not see them arrive or leave.  However, this man can possibly me of more help to you than any one of us can."  He motioned to his right and the rest of the old council members parted making a path for a palace guard that stood along the wall, waiting to be mentioned.

Once the council members had gotten out of his way, the guard stepped forward and removed his helmet, revealing a very handsome and chiseled face.  He came up, clicked his heels together and bowed to me.  "Lady Kazekage, I was, unfortunately, the one that let these men escape with the Daimyo."

"Did you see who they were?  How did they manage to slip by the Palace Guard?" I asked, intrigued that he was admitting his failure so easily.

"The men were in disguise and were carrying the Daimyo for an evening walk.  They were wearing the armor of the Royal Guard and outrank us Palace Guards.  I had no choice but to obey the Captain when he said to let them through."  He said, finally some reluctance showing on his face as he spoke.  "I apologize for my failure.  I should've known, I should've stopped them."

"Don't beat yourself up soldier.  Learn from this.  It's my job to protect the Daimyo, too.  We all have failed him this time and I will make sure he lives so that we all can repay him with a stronger fervor than before."  I said, putting my hand upon his shining, silver shoulder armor.

The guard nodded and walked away.  A disappointed look spread upon face, not much information was brought from that.  If only he knew more, I could locate these kidnappers and finish this.  What I did learn was that they infiltrated the palace, disguised themselves as the Royal Guard, and personally escorted the Daimyo right out of the palace gates.  As I stood in prolonged thought, one of the council members approached me.

"There is something you will want to have a look at; the kidnappers left a ransom letter on the Daimyo's throne."  He said, motioning for me to follow him.  The bald man who lead me was a bit taller than the short one that had first spoken to me.  He took me through the main hall and down the side until we came to the throne room.

The throne room itself looked as grand as a cathedral, with high arching pillars and a long walk up to the Daimyo's throne.  Sitting on the plump, red cushion was a yellow tinted piece of parchment.  Carefully picking it up, I thoroughly read it, learning the location of where the kidnappers asked for the ransom money to be dropped.  I thanked the council member for showing me the letter.  This was the exact thing that I needed to get to the Daimyo.  The letter demanded that a thousand ryo be left at an abandoned mine two miles to the east of the palace by midday tomorrow and the Daimyo would be returned unharmed.

After discovering the ransom letter, I began to plot a way that I could find these kidnappers and bring them to justice while keeping the Daimyo alive.  I consulted with the council members and the captain of the Palace Guard on my plans so that they would be understanding of what would happen the next day.  Once all were well informed of their jobs for tomorrow's move against the kidnappers, I asked for lodging.  The captain of the Palace Guard guided me to a second level master guest bedroom that had its own balcony.  It was much nicer than my own home back in Suna, but of course, this was a palace not a home.  I unpacked my things and set up my clothes for the next day before going to sleep.  I would need lots of rest for what lay ahead of me.


1948/3000

Waking up early, I got dressed in my combat apparel.  Taking every item and weapon I had with me, I leaped out of the balcony and landed in the palace courtyard below.  Making my way to the gates, I met with the captain of the palace guard and fifteen of his men.  I had asked for them to join me since I had yet to learn how many we were up against.  Nodding to the men, we opened the palace gates and moved out, heading east to the abandoned mine.

The ransom letter said to leave the money at midday, so we set out before the sun rose over the sand dunes and we soon came to a large rocky mountain springing up from the sand.  We made our way over cautiously as the Captain of the Palace Guard told me the details of the mountain.  It was called Hangman's Mountain for having several overhanging arches that layered over one another.  The mountain was more of a rocky forest, the arches looking like completely stripped trees with several dried out branches.  Hearing this, I began to smile.  When asked why I was smiling so much I explained to the captain that this was exactly what I needed to help my plans.

We arrived to the abandoned mine's entrance.  Setting up around the entrance, I had the men hide in the overhanging arches of the mountain that weaved all around the path leading up to the abandoned mine.  I got in position right above the mine's entrance, hiding behind a protruding and broken off arch that held a broken, small boulder that was just about my size.  Motioning for the captain to come to me, I began to fill him in on a piece of my plans.  "Captain," I said.  "Keep your men hidden until you hear my signal.  Do not attack until then, no matter what."  The captain nodded and returned to his former position, several meters farther away from the mine's entrance.

We sat there for a few hours until the time grew near to midday.  Using the transformation jutsu, I let myself drop to the floor of the mine's entrance, my appearance changing into a large sack of gold coins.  Sitting there, I waited until finally at midday two men came out of the mine.  Seeing the large sack of gold coins, they called back into the mine telling others that the money was there.  A few minutes past and the small area around the mine's entrance was full of men.  There were twenty in all.

For a while, none of them went to grab me.  Instead they kept looking all around them, making sure that whoever had brought the bag of gold wasn't there anymore.  A few even called out to the mountain, telling whoever was out there to show themselves but the Palace Guard remained ever vigilant and did not reveal themselves.  Eventually the men set their spears and swords  down from a ready position.  One man came up to grab me but his hand was smacked away by the shaft of a large spear.  "I'll be taking that, thank you," said the man with the spear.

The other reluctantly stepped back and bowed.  "My apologies, Quasimodo."

Quasimodo strode forward and grabbed at the sack, just when he did, the large sack of gold exploded into a great ball of smoke revealing myself to the whole group.  Instead of his hand grabbing at the top of the sack, Quasimodo's hand was latched onto mine.  His body froze up as black marks spread across his arm.  My Binding Seal jutsu continued to spread across him, he was struggling to get free and to my horror, he was actually breaking through.  Immediately I sprung up, keeping my hand on his arm so that my jutsu could still delay his movements. Using my free hand, I took his spear out of his hand and flipped the point back at his neck and pressed it firmly against his jugular vein.

"No one move!" I yelled out to the rest of his group who were all ready to charge in to save Quasimodo.  "Especially you, Quasimodo.  Tell me where the Daimyo is!"

Quasimodo just laughed a throaty laugh while the blade had him pinned.  He gave up movement, allowing my seal to take control.  "Typical shinobi tactics.  I should've seen this coming.  Though I'm surprised you're alone.  You think you can handle fighting the Daimyo's personal Royal Guard?"

These were the Royal Guard?  That would explain how they were able to get in and get out with the Daimyo, but it didn't explain why they were doing this.  "Why did you betray the Daimyo?" I asked them.  "You all are sworn to protect him!"

"Aye, that we did and we still are.  However, we don't like it when our paychecks go missing for months at a time.  The ransom money was our pay that we deserve for putting our necks on the line for the selfish imbecile, the Daimyo."  Quasimodo answered.  "Though now that the money wasn't actually real, it seems our time as the Royal Guard is officially over.  We have no more business guarding someone who doesn't pay his soldiers."

With that sentence, Quasimodo burst forward and broke my seal.  It was a grand move as he went to grab at the spear.  In surprise, I had pulled away and the blade cut open his jugular vein.  My unskilled hands let the spear slip from my grip as Quasimodo's body dragged it down with him.  The rest of his men, nineteen in all, cried out and began to lunge at me with their swords and spears.  In a burst of my advanced speed, I pulled out my tonfas and spun around in a circle, Katon chakra forming along them and spreading flames out five meters around me in a brilliant swirl of fire.  I shouted out the signal for the Palace guard to drop down as six of the Royal Guard's clothes were lit ablaze by my jutsu.

The Palace Guard dropped down from their high hiding places and plunged their own swords into the six of those that were on fire.  The fifteen men charged forward into the fray, lead by their captain as he helped divert the Royal Guard's attention away from me.  Just as I started to shoot out three fireballs to the backs of some unsuspecting members of the Royal Guard, Quasimodo sprung up behind me.  The fireballs had launched and my jutsu ended.  Three more Royal Guards fell to the Palace Guards swords while they burst into flames.

Now there were ten of the Royal Guard and still sixteen Palace Guards (fifteen plus the captain).

Turning my attention to the bloody Quasimodo, he stood tall, his left hand grasping at his spurting throat while he thrusted his spear forward at my chest.  As he thrusted, his spear was lit on fire, in which my dodges of it only provided me with second degree burns from the grazing heat of his spear.  I aptly weaved left to right as he pulled back, changing the spear from being on fire to being electrically charged and swung it over and over his head, forcing me to slide on the ground underneath his twirling spear until I slipped between his legs and stood up behind him.  In my slide I put my tonfas away and pulled out two kunai as I popped up behind Quasimodo, I wrapped the kunai around his throat once more and pulled back, slicing open his throat even more so.  Kicking his squirting body in the back, Quasimodo fell hard onto the ground.

Looking up, the battle had been won.  The rest of the Royal Guards had been overwhelmed by the Palace Guards and many dead bodies laid across the bloody ground.  A few guards clutched at their sides, their armor dripping blood from fresh wounds.  Counting them, they had lost a few of their own, about six.  One of the guards came up to me and told me that the captain of their guard was slain.  Nodding, I ordered them to follow me into the mine.

Keeping on our guard as we traveled down the murky tracks, we marched on through the dimly lit mining tunnels until we came to the end of the tracks.  Sitting on the soot-covered ground, tied up to a mining cart was the Daimyo.  Untying him, we lead him back out of the abandoned mine and carried the dead with us back to the palace.  The whole way there we all scolded the Daimyo for not paying his own Royal Guard.

Once we brought the Daimyo safely back, the council thanked us dearly and I stayed to make sure the Daimyo had sufficiently paid me as well as staying for the funerals of the fallen.  The ceremony for the Captain of the Palace Guard was very grand and well deserved for his service.  I made sure the Daimyo sent two years' pay to the Captains family and a years' pay to the other families of those that had fallen in battle as well.  After saying my goodbyes and seeing the new Captain of the Palace Guard be assigned, I left and headed back to Sunagakure no Sato.  Peace was restored to the Daimyo and his Palace.  Hopefully he would learn to pay his soldiers more regularly and not have to repeat such a mess.

3545/3000 MISSION COMPLETE