Issei dressed warmly in a skin tight, burgundy muscle shirt, a black, low v-neck sweater, and a red scarf around his neck. He knew it was only going to be especially cold in the morning, but he would be heading out of the village on a mission, so the same couldn't be said of his destination, necessarily. The goal was to gather metals from an abandoned mine, which certainly wasn't a daunting task for him. He was well prepared to defend himself if he had to and he was sure that any threats he did find in the mine wouldn't be too serious. He strapped a small pouch containing a kunai and three shuriken to his right leg, put on a cinch bag to carry the metals he would be retrieving, and then he tied his Kirigakure hitai-ate around his head. As he left his home and went toward the village gates, he pulled a map from his back pocket and pinpointed the location of the mine out in the western islands of Mizu no Kuni. He had always been good with maps, and since he had spent so much of his time traveling throughout the five great nations in the last ten years, he had honed his sense of location and geography accordingly.

The Supernatural Walking Practice technique was rather foreign to Issei, as he had learned it in the academy so long ago but never actually put it to use. This was his chance to test it, because the route to the island was much more direct if he avoided taking the bridges and instead traversed the water itself. He concentrated briefly and let the chakra flow into his feet; once he'd built up enough, he condensed it into a near-solid, as when he had originally learned the technique, he was told to think of it as creating a surface to walk on that moves with the feet. When he felt ready, he took a step out onto the water, and managed to remain afloat, without falling in. He nodded to himself silently, as if confirming that he had done well, and started the trek toward the western island. His running speed was rather slow compared to most shinobi, but he figured he would arrive at the mine sometime in the afternoon within a few hours.

The island was a glorified mound of sand compared to the main island where Kirigakure was. The mine was supposed to be located somewhere on the northwestern area, amongst a cluster of bluffs and boulders where rich mineral deposits were sure to be found. Issei discovered a dark chasm and, assuming it was the entrance based on his map, boldly entered it. He grabbed a nearby branch and lit it with his Katon to use as a torch. It was damp and it smelled of iron; from the looks of it, the tunnel grew steeper the further into the cave you went, until it became a near vertical drop into the depths. Debris that looked unnatural suggested evidence of mud and rockslides changing the layout of the cave, but the area seemed stable enough, now. Issei carefully descended into the darkness, further and further.

Various bugs and creatures inhabited the mine. Issei had already seen and heard bats, centipedes, spiders, and rodents, along with a skeleton and a mass of flies surrounding it. Some unfortunate soul that had gotten stuck in the cave and died there. He followed the railways down and kept an eye out for any shimmer or glisten that could lead him to the raw ores and metals he was looking for. He had already been climbing down for over an hour, it seemed, and he still wasn't at the mine's deepest point. His torch's flame wouldn't last much longer, as the stick was already beginning to burn out, so he started to rush a bit. He wasn't prepared to be stuck in the mine without any way to see, and he didn't want to end up like that skeleton. He reached the bottom just past 2 kilometers depth, and discovered exactly what he needed; there were a few torches scattered about on the ground and a destroyed minecart full of ores, most of which seemed to be iron. Issei filled his bag with as much metal as it could carry and strapped it back onto his back. It was very heavy, but he was a powerful man, so it wouldn't hinder him to the point where he wouldn't be able to make it back. He picked up a torch and lit it, and started the climb back to the surface.

With no real threats in the cave to stop or harm him, Issei made it out of the mine in a few more hours, and just in time to watch the sunset. He took the bridges on the way back since he wanted to enjoy the view and he wasn't in any hurry. The orange, blazing sun fell over the horizon and turned the raging waters of Mizu no Kuni into a brilliant gold for a fleeting moment before the sky and the water both faded back to blue, then purple, then almost black. Pitch darkness, aside from the lights of Kirigakure no Sato in the distance. Issei made it to the administration building by moonlight and turned in the metals for his reward, thus completing the mission and allowing him to relax for the rest of the night.

[ Mission Complete, Exit Thread ]

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