Mission:

“It’s time to get going,” Shingen pushed her out the door.

Sachiko hurried her little feet along the stone path that led to the street from Shingen’s small house. It’d been months of living in this house, with a lot less playing around as she used to get back at the orphanage, but she didn’t mind none of it. No, the whole thing made it better for her, easier even, to get on track with learning what it meant to become a shinobi. And although the training was brutal, Shingen did try to make it fun for her to keep her invested in it. She’d been invested from the beginning, just nervous at trying something new and especially anxious when it came to trying out jutsu. Yet no matter what the outcome of training each day, he always applauded her efforts, and that was the best thing in the world for her.

The iron gate squeaked as she pushed past it, letting it clash against the two foot tall stone fence that outlined their little yard.  Shingen was quick to let it close back behind him as they left. Rain and mist, which were both more common than the sun shining in this village, had affected the gate incredibly so, the squeak could sometimes be more of a screech and was quite painful to her ears. Shingen was used to it though, she assumed because he had lived here for so long. She found hope in that one day that would be her, too.

“What are we doing today, Shin?” she asked as they headed down the street.

Shingen smiled down at her. “Today I’m going to have you start your first mission.”

“My first mission?!” she gleamed.

“Yes, now let’s hurry along.  Don’t want to be late to meet with the Missions Office.”

Sachiko gleefully strutted down the streets, thoughts running wild in her head of what she might be doing for her first mission. She remembered how Shingen always would come back home with stories of his own missions. Things like escorting foreign dignitaries or protecting a supply caravan through bandit-infested routes. One time even, Shingen had to leave for a few days on some secret mission. Sachiko hounded him for questions when he left but got no answer. That had just made her more eager to figure out what he was up to, but she never did find out and Shingen was determined to refuse her an answer.


Mission: 420/600
Total: 420

Was something like that in store for her? Was there going to be a big mission for the both of them to take on together? Was there something he wanted to give her as a big test of her combat abilities of which he had so painstakingly tried to teach her over the past months? Plenty of days of special training, one-on-one with Shingen while other Genin had to be taught in larger classes about what it all took to be shinobi. From the start of her training with Shingen, he had kept her more of a secret, telling her to keep a persona of a civilian while out and about,

Now it was different. Now she was a Genin. Shingen had gone up to the Administration building and showed off her skills. It was one of the best moments she had had yet. Being able to show them what all he had taught her and win their approval for making her a Genin. It was as much a testament to her skill as it had been a testament to her trainer for having learned everything needed to grant her the rank of Genin without training through the Academy. Now she was taking on her very first mission.

Looking for clues as to what might be in store for her, Sachiko cast several glances over at Shingen as she skipped along ahead of him. His attire didn’t seem to give anything away as to whether or not he would be a part of the mission or not. His casual attire could usually cover up most of his weapons and ninja tools. He was good at concealing weapons, yet still having them be easily accessible. It was a key point that he always tried to make to her, saying she would soon have a lot more equipment to carry herself and that needed to be carried smartly for her survival.

“Settle down now, Sachiko,” Shingen called out as they came up to the Administration Building entrance. “We are both shinobi of the Hidden Mist now and must behave ourselves.”

“Okay, Shin! No more civilian stuff.” she responded, immediately dropping her giddy little girl act and relaxing into an upright posture as Shingen opened the door for her.


Post: 379/799
Mission: 600/600
Unused Total: 199

The two of them entered the building and found a couple men talking amongst themselves, a few others examining various boards of open mission slips ready for anyone to take up on their own. That was where Sachiko believed her first mission would be, with the rest of the other interesting missions that were pinned to the bulletin boards. Instead, Shingen walked past them all and stopped at a Mission Officer’s door. He held open the door for her and then followed as they both stepped inside.

Within the room sat a Mission Officer and two Jounins. They were gathered around the front of the desk and listening as he leaned over to talk with them. The appearance of Sachiko and Shingen made the talking stop before she could catch any word of what they were saying, and all eyes went from her to Shingen and back to her. The Mission Officer stood up and greeted Sachiko with a smile. “Ah, you made it. We were just talking about you, Sachiko.”

Nervousness overtook her and she took a step back, nearly bumping into Shingen behind her, but he stopped her with his hands, placing them gently upon her shoulders to reassure her. However, she still didn’t reply to the Mission Officer.

“Let me introduce myself, my name is Momochi. These two men are Jounin Hideyo and Special Jounin Ryoma.” Each of the men bowed their head just slightly as they were introduced. Sachiko bowed back in respect. “We all know about you, Sachiko. Forgive that rudeness. But as more pressing matters are at hand, let us get on to your first mission, shall we?”

Sachiko only nodded. This was all so much for her first mission. Was everyone’s first like this? For some reason she didn’t think so, but she didn’t think asking about it would be the best thing to do at the time. Shingen lead her forward to the desk, Hideyo and Ryoma stepping aside to let her stand before Momochi.

“She’s ready as she’ll ever be. Time to get her feet wet.” Shingen said. The sound of his voice making her tilt her head back to look at him. He seemed confident about what he had said.

“Well, alright then. Here’s the mission, Sachiko.” Momochi rested his hands on the middle of his desk and leaned forward. “We recently got word that a Chuunin by the name of Oda Satoha is going to attempt to leave the Hidden Mist soon, if not today.”


Post: 424/1223
Mission: 600/600
Unused Total: 623

Sachiko stared at the Mission Officer. Did he want her to stop a Chuunin from defecting? Like, stop him stop him? She had barely scratched the white haired boy she’d met on the docks. Maybe Shingen had been too confident about her skills with Momochi, but she couldn’t do that. “I don’t think I can stop a Chuunin in a fight, sir.”

Momochi’s grin became genuine at hearing Sachiko speak up. “Well, seems you are well aware of your skill level. That’s good, but don’t worry about fighting the boy, Satoha. Hideyo and Ryoma are here for that purpose. If anything should go wrong, they will jump in to take the boy down. You won’t have to fight at all.”

“I don’t understand, Momochi, sir. What is it that you want me to do then?” she asked.

“Mediation. Sachiko, I want you to talk Satoha out of it. Make him see reason. He’s still pretty young for a Chuunin, only a few years older than you. We’d hate to have to put a kid down.”

Sachiko nodded.

“Very good. Just before you two arrived Hideyo was telling me that our wayward boy was at the marketplace, buying some food. Most likely for his journey.”

Everyone started to move. Was the briefing already over? Did the mission start now? Sachiko was still a bit overwhelmed with the task.

“Oh, Momochi, sir?”

“Yes?”

“Exactly how am I supposed to do this? I don’t even know Satoha nor had heard of him until just now. I don’t think I can get him to open up about his plans and then talk him out of it so quickly.”

“Don’t worry too much about the details, girl. I’m sure that you’ll figure out what to do when the time comes. If it’s any help to you, we were first alerted about Satoha from his sister, Kiyomi.”

With that, the Mission Officer straightened up and motioned toward the door with his hand. Shingen opened the door and let Sachiko step outside. Hideyo and Ryoma following them into the hallway.

“Sachiko,” Ryoma spoke up once they were well down the hallway. “I have the utmost faith that you are just the right one who can get the job done. Hideyo and I will be heading out now to the market to keep tabs on Satoha. We’ll be waiting for you there if you need us.”

Hideyo and Ryoma both smiled and nodded once in farewell to Sachiko and Shingen, then disappeared in a quick blur before their eyes. Finally being alone with just Shingen, Sachiko breathed deeply, planting her face into Shingen’s stomach. She couldn’t believe the mission she had just been placed on. These people expected so much of her and yet this still felt like the weirdest thing of all.


Post: 484
Mission: 600/600
Unused Total: 1107

Shingen patted her hair, stroking it slowly as she sank further into his shirt. “You know, Sachiko. I think this is the perfect start for you.”

“Really?” came Sachiko’s muffled response.

“Yes,” he nodded even though she couldn’t see. “I don’t think I know anyone as persuasive as you. After all, you did convince me to take you in and train you. And I remember countless times I said no, but you kept persisting that it was something I had to do.”

She poked her head up just a few inches to look up at Shingen. “I guess I can be pretty persuasive.”

“You guess? Who else went from living in a podunk town in the Land of Grass to being a Genin of the Hidden Mist? Tell me who?” Shingen smiled.

Sachiko laughed. “Okay, okay. You made your point.”

“So, how about you get going? Hideyo and Ryoma are waiting for you.”

“Alright, I’m going.” Sachiko pushed off of Shingen and started heading for the door. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you if things go south.”

Shingen only waved as she left the building. It was her first mission, and it suited her. Even if it started off sounding like a horrible idea, Sachiko was sure now that she was just the right Genin in all of the Hidden Mist to do it. Now she just had to convince Satoha of it.

---

The marketplace wasn’t too  far from where the Administration Building was located, and as she entered the bigger plaza of shops, she quickly spotted Hideyo and Ryoma as they made themselves blend with the crowd. The two of them were on opposite sides of the plaza. When she made eye contact with Ryoma, he nodded his head to his right and motioned with his eyes for her to look past him. Not too far from where Ryoma stood by a stand of pineapples was a boy with the Hidden Mist headband on while he perused through some red apples.

Sachiko made her way over to the pineapple stand and began picking through the fruits. “Is that him by the apples?” she asked as discreetly as she could.

“That’s the pineapple for you, little girl.” Ryoma said, tapping on the pineapple that she was holding.

The message was understood, albeit the message was very complex. Could have just whispered, silly. Still, she sat the pineapple down. “I don’t know about this one.”

She turned away from the stand and made her way over to the red apples. She still hadn’t quite figured out quite exactly what she would say, or how she would say it. Now that she was so close to the boy, she didn’t know how she’d get herself to think up a good conversation to get things going, much less how to get him to not defect.


Post: 485
Mission: 600/600
Unused Total: 1592

The boy was putting apples into his sack. There looked to be about a half dozen inside next to a few loaves of bread. “You getting food for home too?” she asked, grabbing an apple in her hand and looking over at the boy.

He hesitated a moment as he grabbed apples to answer. “Yeah, it’s… something like that.”

“What’s it like then?”

“What?”

“Well, if it’s not for home, then what is it like?” she pestered, trying her best to pry while keeping things nonchalant.

The boy, Satoha, fidgeted with his bag for a moment, then started to walk away. “Just different, you wouldn’t understand.”

Sachiko sighed. It was understandable that he was being defensive. She was a stranger and a Genin of the village that he was planning on defecting. It would take a lot more to get him to open up about anything he might be doing in preparation for his departure.

Hideyo was sitting in an open bench with a newspaper in his han. When Satoha broke off from her, he stopped reading and watched the boy walk away, then making eye contact with Sachiko. Did you fail? She could feel him asking.

A strong gaze back at him would keep him at bay. She furrowed her eyebrows in slight anger as if to say, no, just give me a minute.

She ran after Satoha and pulled at his sleeve. “Hey! Where are you off to?”

The boy’s arm pulled back with more ease than she expected and his bag of fruit came with it. The apples and loaves of bread came crashing onto the cobblestone pavement. “What the hell? Leave me alone!”

“Oops!” she exclaimed. “I’m so sorry.”

The apples rolled every which way, some getting squashed underfoot by other shoppers or passersby. A commotion began to stir as people sidestepped the fallen fruit. Satoha scrambled to the ground, huffing angrily at Sachiko for causing him so much trouble. She reached down and helped gather up the stray apples. He yanked them out of her hands and quickly shoved them back into his rucksack.

Seeing such a small bag being used for his food supply nearly caused her to laugh. The rucksack reminded her of her own when she first left her old town with Shingen. It only took her one day’s worth of travel to get through everything in the sack. Shingen had laughed every time her stomach had growled during the following days of the trip, but his more sentimental side ended up caving in and they would stop often for food. The trip had taught her that the rucksack would be insufficient for any extended journey that the boy might be planning.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, catching the smirk that was on her face. “You enjoy knocking people’s food to the ground?”

“No,” she wiped the smirk off. “Just thought it was funny you using a travel bag to carry your groceries.”

The boy looked at his rucksack and then nervously tried to sling it over his back in an attempt to hide it from her gaze. “It’s not a travel bag, it’s just…”

“Just what then?” she set her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow up at him.

“Just… none of your business, that’s what. Now get before I make you get.”


Post: 566
Mission: 600/600
Unused Total: 2158

He was being good at not giving too much away as to what he was up to but anyone could see he was up to no good, and with what she knew about what he was planning she could easily see through his act. Still, she was running out of time to get this kid to stop. Hideyo and Ryoma were slowly getting closer to them as things went on and Sachiko could feel her time running out. She needed to work fast if this kid was to live.

“No, you need to stop, Satoha!” she hissed, her voice kept lower than the marketplace buzz so just he could hear.

He froze in place, his eyes taking a new look at her. That got him. “Who are you? How do you know my name?”

“Be quiet,” she warned, grabbing his hand and leading him away from the plaza and behind one of the stores. “Look, your sister is worried sick about you and she came to me. So whatever it is you’re really planning, better change to taking this back home to your family.”

“What? How-“ he cut himself off. Sachiko looked at his eyes, searching them for his thoughts. She needed to know how much he’d set himself on defecting. “Whatever, tell my sister that this is my decision.”

“So you decide to die? To betray those that you love?” she asked, her eyes firmly set on his.

“What? No!”

“Defecting paints a target on your back. A big one.”

He looked away, not able to keep the strong stare from such a smaller girl and turned his gaze to the ground. Everything was feeling odd, which was how she wanted things to feel for him. Maybe feeling unsettled would get him off his plans. She wanted to give him a reality check, to make him realize what was at risk and just who would all be losing if he went through with his plan.

“Look, your sister cares about you,” Sachiko began to lay into him now. “If you get killed trying to leave here she’ll lose you. And even if you somehow get free, she’ll still have lost you and then deal with the fact that any day could be your last and she’ll never know how you’re doing. Plus people will talk.”

“I know!” he yelled back, as if to shut her up. His eyes were starting to tear up. “I know, okay? I just… I can’t stay here.”

Behind the tears, she could tell there was conflict in him. He wasn’t as adamant about defecting as he had been at first. She was getting through to him. “Why can’t you? No one wants you to go.”

“I said I can’t!” he brought his eyes back to Sachiko’s. “I couldn’t save my friend. He needed me, and I hid because I am useless!”

Sachiko took a step back. His response was definitely something she hadn’t expected. This made it harder for her to work with. She figured that reminding him of his family would be enough, since betraying the village was already something he seemed to not care about. Yet seeing someone die resonated more with her than even he knew. It was because people were killed and beaten in front of her that she had sworn to Shingen that she’d do anything and everything to learn how to protect herself and others.


Post: 581
Mission: 600/600
Unused Total: 2739

Satoha was wiping his eyes now, sniffling the last of his tears away. For Sachiko, this was her first time seeing an older boy cry. Back at the orphanage, she had seen several of the younger kids cry and had sometimes been the cause of their tears whether be it on purpose through little scare pranks or by accident. But usually they were only five or six years old. Satoha was older than her and he looked really troubled, she needed to react strongly or her mission and his life would be over.

“I’m so sorry, Satoha,” she said, bowing her head in respect. “I know how you feel. My name is Sachiko, and I came from a town a long ways away, a town that had been attacked by bad men, horrible men. I saw people I knew die before my eyes and I couldn’t do a thing. I feared for my own life, too. But then I was saved by a Kiri-nin, someone that you and I can have the chance of becoming. We both have the chance to become stronger here, to become braver and be able to protect those around us.”

She looked back up to his eyes. They were red from his crying but she could see no more tears, just intrigue. Her words were hitting his core as much as they were coming from her own. “You see, I came here in order to not have to be the one who hides when others are being attacked. If you leave, you’ll be giving up that same chance to become the protector you wish you could have been.”

There was silence for a while. Neither of them spoke, just stared. He was thinking, and that was as much as she’d ever be able to say to someone a rank higher than her. She just hoped that she had used the right words, spoken with the right gumption to gather his wits so he could save himself from his certain demise.

And then, with a long sniff and rub of his nose, he spoke up. “You know what? ...You’re right. Thank you, Sachiko.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied and they both bowed their heads to each other. “Welcome back, Satoha.”

“I better get back. My sister’s probably worried I left.”

And with that, Satoha dropped his rucksack and headed back home. Sachiko stayed behind for a moment, shocked that she had truly succeeded in her mission, the one that she had so quickly assumed was doomed to fail. Maybe things would work themselves out.

Hideyo and Ryoma came around after a few minutes to see where she had gone, and congratulated her on the success as she told them all what had happened. They went back to the Administration Building together and Sachiko was given praise from the Mission Officer, Hideyo, and Ryoma. After the report was finished, she was free to go home and found Shingen waiting for her with a celebratory dinner already prepared for her.

Things just might work themselves out, indeed.



Post: 516
Mission: 600/600
Unused Total: 3255
Training Speed stat E -> D-3: 1925/1925
Words Remaining: 1330
Training Reaction Time stat E -> D-1: 1075/1075
Words Remaining: 255