1 The Old House and the New [Asmodeus/Private/NK] Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:42 pm
Shinako
D-rank
The midday sun beat heavily down on the watch outpost. Made of the red sandstone characteristic of the Hidden Leaf’s architecture, it radiated heat, sending undulating waves dancing just at the edges of the vision of those who cared to look. Though the high temperature of the day was scarcely 80 degrees, Nara Shinako found herself sweating. The dark-eyed woman frowned as she scanned the tree-line for signs of movement. She was beginning to worry that the team she was waiting for would miss their designated window.
Absentmindedly she unfastened one of the wooden toggles fastening the collar of her red qipao shirt. She was not dressed for field operations, and was not really scheduled to engage in any. Her assignment that day was as an administrative drop-point for sensitive information coming from the Land of Lightning. The relationship with Kumogakure since the last Chuunin exams had been relatively prosperous, so a relatively inexperienced team had been given the field-op as a secondary task to be completed upon their return. Three Genin led by a Chuunin were not exactly combat ready, but they were not expecting any sort of intercepting force along the way, despite whispered intelligence of raids coming from the Land of Water. Still, the group was almost two hours behind schedule, and had not sent a bird or a hare ahead with any news of delay.
Shinako sighed with worry, growing more agitated with each passing moment. The binoculars she had borrowed lay unused beside her. Upon arriving at the watch outpost, she had found no need for them. Over the past few weeks, her vision had grown inexplicably sharper. She twitched her thumbs impatiently, shooting an almost plaintive glance at the carrier pigeons roosted at this installation, she knew that if the squad did not appear in ten minutes she would have to perform an initial sweep of the surrounding terrain to look for them.
She had been getting more and more out-of-office assignments like this, in preparation for her pending reassignment as a Special Jounin. Someone in the higher ranks was unsatisfied with keeping her behind a desk, and the movement of that invisible hand terrified Shinako. It would not be long before she was given tasks further and further away from home; perhaps asked to be responsible for the lives of others, or even worse, to take lives. She knew she was not prepared for that.
At least she had the solitude of the current assignment to mope through her dour mood. Shinako had arrived just as the regulars of this outpost had embarked upon their shift of patrols that morning. She’d heard nothing from the regular road patrol to indicate trouble, but there was no guarantee that the incoming squad would be taking the road. A few more minutes passed in silence before Shinako began to pen a letter to the administrative building asking for authorization to perform an initial sweep. This day was shaping up to be more of an adventure than she wanted.
500/500
Absentmindedly she unfastened one of the wooden toggles fastening the collar of her red qipao shirt. She was not dressed for field operations, and was not really scheduled to engage in any. Her assignment that day was as an administrative drop-point for sensitive information coming from the Land of Lightning. The relationship with Kumogakure since the last Chuunin exams had been relatively prosperous, so a relatively inexperienced team had been given the field-op as a secondary task to be completed upon their return. Three Genin led by a Chuunin were not exactly combat ready, but they were not expecting any sort of intercepting force along the way, despite whispered intelligence of raids coming from the Land of Water. Still, the group was almost two hours behind schedule, and had not sent a bird or a hare ahead with any news of delay.
Shinako sighed with worry, growing more agitated with each passing moment. The binoculars she had borrowed lay unused beside her. Upon arriving at the watch outpost, she had found no need for them. Over the past few weeks, her vision had grown inexplicably sharper. She twitched her thumbs impatiently, shooting an almost plaintive glance at the carrier pigeons roosted at this installation, she knew that if the squad did not appear in ten minutes she would have to perform an initial sweep of the surrounding terrain to look for them.
She had been getting more and more out-of-office assignments like this, in preparation for her pending reassignment as a Special Jounin. Someone in the higher ranks was unsatisfied with keeping her behind a desk, and the movement of that invisible hand terrified Shinako. It would not be long before she was given tasks further and further away from home; perhaps asked to be responsible for the lives of others, or even worse, to take lives. She knew she was not prepared for that.
At least she had the solitude of the current assignment to mope through her dour mood. Shinako had arrived just as the regulars of this outpost had embarked upon their shift of patrols that morning. She’d heard nothing from the regular road patrol to indicate trouble, but there was no guarantee that the incoming squad would be taking the road. A few more minutes passed in silence before Shinako began to pen a letter to the administrative building asking for authorization to perform an initial sweep. This day was shaping up to be more of an adventure than she wanted.
500/500