Spoiler:

DAY ONE

Trilby stared at the long stone road before him, three days of rations and camping equipment strapped to his back. "Guarding a crossroads, that should be... colourful." He muttered to himself, frustrated with the nature of his assignment. Of all the jobs for a ninja, guarding a crossroads doesn't seem very high on the list. Still, I suppose that's why it's a C rank mission. The crossroads was a twenty minute brisk march from the sunagakure gate, and it was the meeting place of several roads. If travelers or merchants need to reach Sunagakure, this is the road they take. The area was mostly empty, with only a few cacti breaking the sea of sand and stone around him. Without anything more pressing to attend to, Trilby began to pitch his tent for shelter from the sunagakure sun. "This assignment will be a long one it seems." he thought to himself.

The air under his tent was pleasant, if a bit constricting. Trilby had pitched it in the distance, far enough away that it's camouflage would blend in with the desert, and he could see the crossroads in the distance. Hopefully, he thought, this would help prevent anyone ambushing him and he could still monitor the road in silence. It was mostly silent, and he had little to do except re-read old ninjutsu books as he stared out towards the crossroads. Every now and then, a caravan or a small group of people would pass by, and he would write down every detail he could see about them in his notebook, but it was never anything particularly noteworthy, a few merchants, a family from Iwagakure judging by their appearance, and a few Sunagakure shinobi returning from missions.

The sun set, and a few more caravans rolled through. A family moving their belongings out of the city, a merchant caravan packed full of food, a few more shinobi returning from missions. An ultimately monotonous day, hopefully things will pick him tomorrow, Trilby thought, finishing his night's rations and sealing his tent.

Word Count: 340/1000

DAY TWO

The sound of pounding hooves woke Trilby from his rest, as a horse charged by his tent, knocking one of the pegs keeping it in place loose, causing half of the tent to collapse. "Oh for the love of..." Trilby muttered, rolling out of his now collapsed tent. "HELP!" the rider of the horse screamed, it was a young female, probably fifteen at best. Trilby turned around to see another horse in hot pursuit, an older man, sword in hand. He had dark grey robes on, with a red fist emblem on it's back. Trilby watched as they charged on, while quickly scrawling out some handseals. Boar, dog, bird."Doton: Doryuusou No jutsu!" Sharp spikes of stone shot from the ground under the bandit's horse, piercing it's heart and causing it to collapse. The bandit let out a loud scream as the horse toppled over, pinning his legs underneath it.

Marching over to the man, Trilby saw that he was desperately trying to lift the horse off himself, but was unable to free his legs. "That emblem on your shirt. Is that the Ironarm gang?" Trilby said softly, trying to repress the rage in his heart. The Ironarm gang were nomadic thugs that attacked caravans, and sold the people they captured into slavery. Trilby's mother was one such victim, being sold to the mine where he was eventually born. "Who the hell are you?" the man shouted, trying desperately to reach his sword, clearly afraid of Trilby. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he had his Sunagakure headband clearly displayed, or perhaps it was related to the fact that his rage was boiling over, and his desire to kill was clearly written across his face. "I'll take that as a yes..." Trilby said softly, walking over to the man's sword. A more merciful man would've taken the bandit prisoner, made him answer for his crimes in court, but Trilby was not that kind. "I see you're having some trouble freeing your legs, allow me to help." He plunged the bandit's sword into his legs, severing them cleanly before throwing it out of the man's reach and walking away. He would bleed to death like the dog he was, and he deserved no less.

The rest of the day was ultimately un-eventual. Trilby fixed his tent and dragged the Ironarm thug and his horse into the desert to rot away and feed the wolves. Afterwards, he returned to his post and monitored the traffic along the crossroads. The day was quiet, only a few travelers all day, and before long the sun was setting again. "One more day to go" Trilby thought to himself, as he went to bed. His work was almost done.

Word count: 795/1000
Chakra: 110/120

Spoiler:

DAY THREE

The morning of the third day started with a lot less festivity than the previous day. The early morning was marked by more merchants, more travelers, and was altogether uninteresting. Trilby collapsed his tent down and went to sit on the edge of the crossroads, laying in the sun as he waited for the day to end, and with it his shift. He began to dose off as the sound of horse hooves woke him up. Looking around, he saw a young girl riding past on a horse. He almost let her pass when he realized, he had seen her before. "Wait a minute Miss!" he called out in surprise, as he hadn't expected her to return after the incident with the Ironarm thug the previous night. "D-do I know you?" she stuttered, surprised at being stopped by a stranger. She was considering leaving when she noticed the headband Trilby was wearing, and realized he must have been the shinobi that saved her the previous night. "I dealt with that thug chasing you last night. What're you doing back here? I figured after that affair you'd be long gone.""I came seeking shinobi aid, O-our caravan was attacked, early in the morning. They killed my father when he resisted, took my mother and my siblings and chained them up. I only managed to escape by freeing the horse and charging off into the desert. And, well, you know the rest. I came to report it and see if I someone could help me.""I'll be sure to mention that when I report in, I'm sorry you had to go through that." Trilby's skin was crawling. The same thugs that had made his life hell were still operating, so near sunagakure no less. One day, he would wipe their blight from the surface of this planet.

The girl left, and evening rolled around. The crossroads were deathly quiet for the rest of the day, save for one lone shinobi, probably returning from a mission, judging by the level of blood on his gear. The sun was setting, and Trilby's work was done. It was time for him to report in, increased bandit activity so close to sunagakure wasn't something to simply be ignored, after all.

Word Count: 1169/1000