Mission:

I was leaving for the Land of Lightning and the Village Hidden in the Clouds in a few days, but I still had to report for missions. And today, my mission was to explore the land of fire. I was to map a certain area that had been previously been mapped, but mapped a long time ago. I was actually a little nervous about this mission. Even though this was D-rank when most of the other missions I've done have been C-rank, I knew that my work would go inside the Administration Building as a record in their nationwide geographical survey. These could be used for planning defenses, guiding foreign diplomats, or equally important things. Still, it had to be done. I took the scroll that I was supposed to draw the map on, along with a copy of the old map, and set out.

The mission had described the place I was supposed to be mapping as containing very deep valleys surrounded by extensive wildlife, so I knew that mapping all of it extensively wasn't going to be the easiest task in the world.

Still, a mission's a mission. And it must be done. I don't want to be behind on my missions while going off to the chunin exams. That would just be improper.

I arrived at the landmark that I was supposed to start my mapping at, a single stone pillar apparently originally used to mark the halfway point between two long-lost villages. It was strange to think that even though those villages filled with people would be lost in time to wars or crop failure or natural disaster (I don’t remember the specific history of the villages), the pillar would still stand. The pillar would stand unappreciated long after even I was dead. It amused me to think of the stories this pillar could have witnessed: the journeys, the adventures, the secret rendezvouses... and now an exploration. I marked the location of the pillar on the scroll and got to work.

Because it was all topographical work, and I didn’t have to record the foliage or the types of animals, I could thankfully keep my Buragan off for the majority of this mission. The mapping was actually a lot harder than I expected though, trying to get precise angles and accurate scale. I drew the few roads I came across as well as I could, and I marked the start and end of valleys and ravines to the best of my abilities.

By the end, the finished product was actually a much better map than I had thought that I could come up with. For the most part, it wasn't that much different from the original. There was a section of trees on the old map that I had seen as a plain, but I guessed that that area of the forest was cleared for some kind of development.

I noticed that there was also a dip in a valley that I had marked as straight, so I went to check it out, to see if I had made a cartographic mistake. When I arrived, however, the valley was as straight as I originally plotted.

A mistake in the original then?

I went down to investigate, and saw that the wall of the valley seemed to be made of freshly packed dirt. I searched around the area, but couldn't find anything else.

How peculiar. I wonder why this is here now, when it wasn't before.

I kept looking around, and eventually found a bit of the wall that's dirt was a lot softer than the surrounding area. I dug away at it, and it gave way to reveal the mouth of a cave. I crept in to find that it had crates of assorted, seemingly random, goods. After close inspection of the crates, I found that they contained goods from many different caravans and companies.

I think I just accidentally found a smuggler's hold.

I exited the cave and closed the entrance back up, and marked the cave on my map.

This was a very fortunate discovery.

When I got back to Konohagakure, I told them about the smuggler's hold. They looked surprised when I mentioned my discovery of the hidden cave, and sent a unit form the police force to seize the goods.

I have to say, I felt pretty proud of myself.

Wordcount: 743

EXIT THREAD

Final Wordcount: 743
-600 (Mission)
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Remaining Words: 143