Mission Info:

Nayoko was waiting at the gates of Konoha for his charge to arrive. Upon arriving at the administration building this morning he had checked the mission board for anything that he would be able to help with. As he was about to take a mission trying to help rebuild a bakery in the village that  had burned down, an Special Jonin had approached him with a different mission scroll in his hand. The shinobi introduced himself as one Shunsen Nara, and mentioned that he had been paying attention to Nayoko’s progress as a ninja. “I saw some of your work at the academy. You can use some fairly impressive jutsu, so I’ve got my eye on you. A good strong Hattori such as yourself shouldn’t fear mediocrity. I’ve got a feeling you’ll rise above your clan’s reputation.” The words were very encouraging to Nayoko, but he could not understand why this high ranking ninja would take such an interest in him. He was about to ask when Shunsen handed him the mission. It was an escort job, travelling with a young ninja leader and taking him back to his small village. It had seemed simple enough. The Jonin told Nayoko that he should try to take this challenge on, and in a moment of recklessness and nigh embarrassment, Nayoko had agreed.

So here he stood, waiting for this ninja to arrive at the gate so that they could make their way into the countryside. He waited for about thirty minutes before a boy, perhaps 3 years younger than Nayoko himself, approached him. “Hello there, you must be my escort!” The young man greeted Nayoko with a smile which Nayoko returned while shaking his hand and introducing himself. “Yes that’s me, Nayoko Nozara, Genin of Konoha. I hope your stay in the village was enjoyable enough?” The pleasantries continued for a little while before he finally said to the young shinobi, “Well, we better head off so that we can arrive before it is too late. Let’s go!” And with that, the duo was off.

The journey was fairly uneventful for the most part. The ninja leader discussed the small village he was a part of and mentioned in passing some of the business that he had been attending to in the Hidden Leaf before turning his attention toward Nayoko. “So Nayoko, why don’t you tell me about yourself if we are going to be together for the next little while. Nozara is not a clan I am familiar with! Would you mind telling me about its people?” Nayoko smiled a tired smile, "Oh no sir, I am a Hattori clan member actually. Nozara is my family name. It’s pretty important to me so I go by that instead of Nayoko Hattori.” As a follow up to that question, the young man began asking more questions about Nayoko and his family and why he cared about them so much that he would leave his clan’s name out of his own. Nayoko, surprisingly, found himself talking fairly openly with the young man. He talked about his father and how hard he worked, his sister and how she wanted to be a ninja just like her brother, and he even mentioned his mother and her unfortunate passing. Nayoko and the ninja continued on like this for some time before they crested over the top of a hill, and looked down toward a small village, sitting on the edge of a lake.

As They approached the village gates, a sound caught Nayoko’s attention. He stopped and turned around quickly to determine the source of the disturbance. His eyes scanned the shoreline and the edge of the forest next to the road they had come to the village by. He almost missed the attack, but at the last second he saw the three senbon flying in the direction of his charge. “Watch out!” He yelled as he tackled his companion to the ground in order to get him out of the way of the weapons. He jumped to his feet as fast as he could in time to see three people soar from the trees and land him front of him. Nayoko grimaced as he surveyed the group, and dropped into a fighting stance. “Get to the village, friend. I’ll hold them off.” As Nayoko said this he sized up the shinobi in front of him. There were two men and one woman. They each seemed around Nayoko’s age and seemed fit enough, but nothing too overwhelming. The woman was lithe with long blonde hair that fell over one of her eyes. One of the men was a tall brute who looked like he could pack quite a punch, while the final member seemed to be around the same build as Nayoko. Each of them had one characteristic that was the same however; the headbands they wore all had scratches through the village symbols. Missing-nin. Damn.

By this time, Nayoko’s charge had stood up and begun backing away slowly. Nayoko had to protect the boy, but three on one was not in his favor at all. He kept a serious look on his face while he addressed the missing-nin. “Alright you three, I am Nayoko Nozara of the Hidden Leaf, and I am asking you to walk away from this so that I don’t have to hurt you. I’m giving you one chance.” Nayoko was putting on a show, knowing full well that the three of them would not be so easy to dispatch, but he kept a straight face to see how the hostiles would react. The woman then chuckled a bit before responding. “No Nayoko Nozara. You’re going to get out of our way, or we will kill you. It’s that simple,” she said as she drew a kunai from her belt. The other two dropped into stances, preparing to fight.

No choice then, Nayoko thought as he quickly made the tiger hand seal, creating four water clones in an instant. “Fine then, but don’t say you were not warned!” And with that, Nayoko jumped into action. Two of his clones went for each of the men, while Nayoko attacked the woman directly. The two clones that headed for the smaller of the two men opened up with a series of Taijutsu strikes intended to leave the enemy with few options of moving. As they rushed forward the man decided to face them head on, which was a mistake. Nayoko’s taijutsu training served him well as he unleashed a torrent of strikes that were woven together in an impressive combo, before finishing with one clone launching the other into the air as a distraction, while it rushed forward and landed a knock out punch to the jaw of the missing-nin. They then dispersed as Nayoko felt the one presence leave the battle. The other two clones were having a tougher time, as they fought tooth and nail the larger man was able to block a few more of their strikes, but before too long, the odds worked against him as the two clones overwhelmed him with sheer volume of attacks; but not before the large man grabbed one of the clones and smashed it into the ground, causing it to revert to water. The remaining clone used that opportunity to incapacitate the ninja with a blow to the back of the head, then dispersing as well.  

Nayoko and the woman stared each other down for a moment, while the clones and companions fought around them. Nayoko finally decided to make the first move. He jumped forward, hoping to catch her off guard with his speed. He unfortunately did not as she managed to catch him with a solid punch to the gut before Nayoko managed to regain his composure. They fought hand to hand for a while, trading blows from multiple directions and elevations. This is going nowhere. His thought was cut short by the woman’s kunai headed straight for his head. He pulled back just in time, but the blade seemed to pass by in slow motion as it sliced open his face. This is real. I could die here if I don’t smarten up. I can’t hold back.  Nayoko grunted, jumped, and released a stream of air from his mouth to send himself flying backward toward the water’s edge. As he landed, he looked up, and seeing his clones either dispersed or destroyed he quickly formed a series of hand seals and sent a set of ten leaves and blades of grass flying toward his opponent as they transformed into ninja tools. The woman had to busy herself with those, but she was not fast enough as one of them pierced through her side. She paused, and Nayoko knew it was his moment. He quickly formed a complicated series of hand seals, finally ending them with a shout that he knew his charge would be able to hear. “You will NOT take him!”


As his words rang out, the water behind him erupted into a giant dragon made of water. There were no fancy coils or spirals, just a straight shot from the water as it arched slightly upward before smashing down onto the woman who was still grimacing and gripping her side. Her eyes widened just before it smashed into her with its full force. The dragon exploded into a giant splash of water that reached back and even sprayed Nayoko quite a bit. As the mist subsided, the woman could be seen, unconscious on the ground.

With the explosion of water subsiding, and the dragon reverting into nothing more than a large puddle, Nayoko turned his attention to the ninja he was sent to escort. He rushed over and ensured he was alright before nodding and saying, “Well, be better tell the authorities about these three. I’m glad we got you here safe.” He smiled and turned toward the village, trying to mask his discomfort. One thought ran though his mind as they entered the small village’s gates. Thank goodness I was able to take them….

[Exit Thread]

WC: 1756
Mission: (1000/1000)
Training: D-Rank Jutsu (750/750)
Unused WC: 6