mission briefing:

It seemed that getting to the thief's stash of stolen artifacts wasn't as simple and as easy as Kegare had initially thought, as at the end of the first map's travelling directions, reaching the goal of the map did not end up the masked man at a load of riches and artifacts, but at a lousy small room which held a second map, leading kegare a long way further than he had imagine travelling.

However, he didn't mind, given that this simple second map would show that he had done more than what was asked and could very well ask more ryo for his efforts. After all, masked or not and having a grudge towards others or not, Kegare's taste of clothes was kind of expensive, so some extra cash would never be a bad thing for him.

The second map was forcing the masked Yamada to walk around again, travelling through the earth country's desolate plains and mountains, until he finally managed to reach what he thought to be the real resting place of the old, deceased thief's haul of treasures and precious ancient stolen artifacts.

Alas, to reach what the map pointed out to be the hiding place, Kegare had to traverse the underground tunnels near the village hidden in the rock, something which he had not done ever since his youth.

The stories about the tunnels were already bad enough, but with their endless reaches, getting lost within the network of corridors and narrow spaces simply frightened the man when he was still but a young child, especially with the stories about lost travellers and shinobi still wandering the tunnels until their death and even after it.

It wasbecause of this that Kegare found himself with a distinct fear in the back of his mind when he stood in front one of the underground tunnels' many entrances.

However, he knew that he could not back down or turn around, he had taken this mission and would see it to the end, even if it was more motivated by his own greed than actual loyalty. swallowing his fear and taking a deep breath, the Iwagakure genin made his way into the tunnels, quickly overwhelmed by the multitude of sounds and darkness all around him.

"Damned, I knew I had to take a torch, I can barely see anything in this godforsaken place," A sigh escaped the man's torn lips and seemed to pauze a bit between his mouth and his mask. The echoes of his own voice spooked Kegare and in a fit of paranoid delusions, he started to see dancing shadows all around him and aided by bad memories, he could hear the distinct barking of dogs, forcing him to let out a yell and run wildly into the unknown of the darkness of the tunnels.

The barking of dogs haunted the older man, raising memories from a past he always tried so hard to bury, the mission was truly starting to become a pain in his ass.

wc: 509/1000

He started running, taking turns left and right, surprised by his own agility and speed, yet unable to actually stand still and think about it, he had to find the treasure, he had to find the stash left behind by the thief and for some reason he felt like he had made a big mistake.

The shadows almost suffocated him, the darkness clinging to him like a bad dream, but it wasn't a dream. The mere thought of getting lost in those underground tunnels was what fueled Kegare's fear and his desire to bring this mission to a good end, yet the more turns he took, the more times he went left and right, the more his own paranoia started to grow.

Something was off, a gnawing feeling in the back of his mind made this pretty clear to the old masked man, he should've been at the place pointed out at the map already, yet so far he could only see tunnels, nothing more than darkness endlessly continuing in front of him and behind him. It was worse than the Neverendless Cave, the darkness was deeper, the light barely there and the haunting sounds and echoes coming through the tunnels did nothing to help him, only confusing Kegare even more.

Had he taken a wrong turn somewhere, had he missed a certain junction?

Kegare was breathing heavily, trying to look at the map with the lack of light in his vicinity this was quite a hard task. He had to find the place described on the map, yet he didn't know where he was nor where exactly the hidingplace for the treasure would be given his own situation.

There seemed to be no end to the tunnels, no direction was a clear path and there was no guide for him to work with, so Kegare simply sighed and started leaning against a wall to try his best to relax a bit. "Getting all worked up about this won't be helping me at all."

pressing a hand against his ever smiling mask, the old man tried to think of a possible solution to his rather annoying predicament, going over the countless twists and turns he had followed and taken through the tunnels, just to try and map out his own path and possibly cross reference it with the map he was holding in an effort to trace back his steps.

He thought about everything, calmly assessing the situation and his location to try and figure out at least how far he was from his goal. it took the masked man quite some time to figure out at least how far he was from his goal and with that in mind, Kegare started walking again, watching and counting his every turn, his every step until at some point he placed his foot on the ground and he could hear the distinct sound of something lowering in the stone floor beneath him followed by the sound of mechanical parts working steadily.

Touching the walls with his hands, the masked man did not find a door, but a small hatch and as he reached inside of it, the tunnels were filled with a myriad of curses when kegare realized that that which he had found was not the treasure, but simply another map. "That god damn thief's playing with me, raah!!"

wc: 564/1073/1000 complete

exit thread