Missions:

One lazy blue hued eye opened at the sound of someone placing two items upon a desk. The twenty-one year old special jounin looked down at the items and sighed. It had been about a week or so since Syekren had returned to the village and almost like it was punishment, he was put to doing low ranked missions to earn his ryo. It was rather annoying as he was a member of the ANBU black ops, but he figured it best not to bother disputing it with his new kage as he had been away for quite a while. Still, he did miss the days he could do higher ranked mission and get more of a payout. With a sigh, he adjusted the sunagakure no sato headband over his left eye and picked up the scrolls, reading through one after the other. One was to go with a caravan to set up a new checkpoint. The other was to deliver supplies to an outpost on the way to the checkpoint to be's new location. Simple, and everything flowed together so there really wouldn't be much of an issue for Syekren if he played this right.  He looked down at the garb he was wearing: the normal garb he had become accustomed to donning and nodded, signing and stamping the scrolls with his acceptance of the mission, handing them off to a chuunin for delivery on his way out of the administration building located inside the kage's manse.

It was at the door he was greeted by a rather official looking jounin who was looking over the mission dossier, and checking things off of his list. He noticed Syekren coming out of the building and held up a rather large backpack that looked pretty heavy. He nodded to the bag as if telling Syekren to grab it, which he did and slipped it onto his back, sighing under the added weight of the garment. The ninja crossed this off of his list, or rather, that's what Syekren assumed he did, patted the special jounin on the back and walked back into the administration building, closing the doors behind him. It was just Syekren out in front of the building now, noting how hot today was, with the sun high and no breeze to cool one off. He hoped the caravan had an extra canteen and sighed, making his way towards the village gates. He noticed that he sighed a lot, and made a mental note to reduce his sighing somehow, by just bucking up and dealing with what he was dealt. It was all to help the village after all and that was the most important thing to him so he'd gladly do his part.

Upon reaching the village gates he was greeted by a chuunin to whom he showed his papers of travel outside the safety of the gates. He nodded as he passed through the opening gates to be met by the caravan that was heading to set up the checkpoint. Four camels each dragging a special type of wagon on skis laden with supplies, and about eight or nine caravan hands, with one of them being a shinobi it seemed. This confused Syekren for a moment until he noted that most of the supplies were in fact scrolls used to seal items inside them for easy transport and use. This was rather pragmatic and made sense in the larger scheme of things. He waved to the shinobi, who seemed to be leading the caravan, walking up to him to begin their journey.

"Before we go, do you happen to have an extra canteen of water? I don't have one of my own today, and it's rather hot outside."

"Hm? Well yes, I suppose. Go ahead and grab one from the lead camel. And do it quickly, we leave now."

His voice was gruff and firm, but with a kind note to it. Syekren nodded in thanks and ran to the front camel, grabbing the first canteen he saw . With a signal from the shinobi they were on their way out, marching over the expanse of sand and dunes to make their way towards the endless space in the wilderness of the Kaze no kuni. This was sure to be a rather long and arduous journey, while not altogether dangerous it would surely be taxing on everyone save for the camels who were most assuredly used to such treks by now.  Perhaps so too were the caravan hands, but Syekren wasn't entirely sure. Not many people traveled out into the desert willingly unless it came to a mission or something and even then they didn't do so often. Camels, however, were indigenous to this part of the world and had an easier time  making these trips as they'd evolved and adapted to be suitable for such things. They were truly interesting animals. Syekren had once heard they store water in their humps, but he couldn't tell for certain whether it was true or not.

It was a rather uneventful journey to the outpost, and Syekren was so lost in thought he barely noticed when they'd arrived, it wasn't until the Caravan leader bumped him on his way to the water spigot that Syekren realized what was going on. He yawned a bit and reached for his canteen, opening it and draining the contents down his throat in a few gulps. Once he was done, he refilled it at the spigot, attaching it to his belt and making his way through the outpost. He found the Jounin in charge and pulled off the backpack he was carrying to hand over the supplies, watching quietly as the jounin pulled out everything piece by piece, marking it down on a checklist to make sure that everything was in fact where it should be, and not stolen or missing. Once this was done he shook Syekren's hand and went off to continue his work on making sure the infrastructure of the outpost was sound and that the sentries stayed hydrated and fed. With that mission complete, Syekren returned to the caravan as they started heading out, towards their destination.

Along the way they encountered a few coyotes, which Syekren dispatched rather easily, punting them away from the caravan each time they got close. Their speed was great, but he was no genin and their speed didn't come close to his own. Once the three or four coyotes were dealt with it was smooth sailing on towards where they needed to be, the sun getting lower in the sky when they finally came to a halt, on rather solid and rocky ground. This was to be the new checkpoint and it was a prime location: near the border as well as within a ten mile radius of other landmarks. It would work for what it was needed to do, at least. The caravan hands  began to unload equipment while the leader unsealed supplies and such from the scrolls, ordering the men about to use the supplies he'd just called from the scrolls to set up camp. Syekren watched quietly, with his hands in his pockets, staring at each in turn as they ran back and forth to do their duties. Some set up tents, others dug latrines, while still others put meats and such into specialized jars for preservation with a special type of salt meant to keep it fresh. This was all so hectic, but after a few hours everything was finished and it was dark.

"You're welcome to stay here for the night, and make your way back in the morning. It's going to be much harder to traverse the dunes if you can't see what's in front of your face. There is a tent over by the watch tower that is being built that you can take. It's got a small pallet, pillow and blanket, as well as a lantern if you need it. Pretty simple but it'll keep you out of the elements tonight."

It was a nice gesture, and normally Syekren would turn it down. But as he had no more work to do and he really didn't wish to travel in the dark back to his village, he'd decided to stay with the caravan for the night and make the trek home. It was really much easier than trying to find the path home with blackest night at your back and packs of coyotes stalking the wastes. He was good, but he wasn't going to press his luck and attempt it. With a nod of thanks he made his way to the tent in question, slipping inside and clasping the flaps shut. Syekren's form fit this tent almost too perfect and the male yawned, stretching out as much as possible before he laid down. His eye closed and before he knew it, he'd passed out, dreaming of his journey home the next morning.

As morning came, the ninja stretched and moved out of the tent to look around the checkpoint. The tents were set up, latrines dug, camels hitched up with feeding troughs, two watch towers built with sentries inside them, and a small building shaped like a box with another sentry inside, holding a checklist. Three of the caravan hands were busy with their new jobs and so the rest of them could be found building a wall around the checkpoint, as well as affixing a gate to it. Syekren waved to them as he walked out of the checkpoint, nodding to the caravan leading shinobi who was talking to another ninja; possibly a jounin by the looks of him. The new ninja must be the guard for the remainder of the construction and this was fine for Syekren. He stretched as he walked back towards the village, eager to get home and start a harder mission.


Missions Complete, End Thread.

WordCount: