mission briefing:

There was a rumor that a well nown thief had finally drawn his last breath, something which seemed to greatly interest the greedy minds of the Iwagakure no Sato's higher ups. It had been speculated that this certain thief had managed to amass a fortune of untold riches and artifacts of great importance from all around the world and those who dealt with the rules and power of the village hidden in the rock were most keen on knowing how to get their hands on this so-called elusive treasure of that thief.

It seemed a map had been found, hidden away in the deceased thief's house and because the higher ups did not want to throw away their best men at something like this just yet, they decided to rely on a more... expendable force.

As such, Kegare had been summoned to his best friend's house, Yamada iwatobi's residence, who as an elder of the main branch of the clan was more than capable of finding not only shinobi perfect for the job, but also more than capable of realizing the true desire of the higher ups themselves.

The old man greeted his friend Kegare, who as always wore his signature mask to hide his disfigured features. "Old friend, it seems you've been called upon again for a mission that needs someone... less necessary to the village's overall strength and security."

The masked man laughed when hearing this, knowing that Iwatobi, despite his status disagreed with te higher ups of the village n many points and ways. "So they came to me again, the disgrace of the Yamada clan... alright, let's hear it. What do they want me o do and do they pay for my services?"

Iwatobi chuckled and sent one of his servants for tea, while he walked over to Kegare, pat the masked man on the back and lead him to the patio of his large home. "Some thief has died and in his house a map has been discovered... I think they want you to look for whatever this thief has stashed away."

"Let me guess, you already accepted on my behalf and already made the arrangements?" Kegare's voice remained stern and calm, obviously a bit irritated that the village remained to view him as an expendable pawn rather than a useful asset. "Alright, give me what they gave you and I'll check it out."

Iwatobi smiled and reached for a small container which he had hidden within his wide sleeves and handed it over to his masked comrade. "I reckon you'll need this map to find whatever the thief has hidden. Don't worry, this is but a copy of the original, in the case should you perish and the higher ups need to send someone else."

Kegare laughed and accepted the container, refusing to drink any tea, since now he hd something to do for a change. "I'll check it out."

wc: 499
twc: 499/1000

With the map in hand, Kegare made his way to the Cave Neverendless. A place known for its many networks of naturally made tunnels and caves due to erosions over time by streams of water and occassional shifting within the earth. All in all, the cave neverendless was as fascinating as it was dangerous. A prime place to get lost or die without anyone ever noticing it, especially when that someone was like Yamada Kegare; a person with no lover ones, no immediate relations except for Iwatobi and above all: no real high ranking position anywhere in the village.

If any, his only notable accomplishment so far, had been the fact that he managed to break the record of scaring away little children at night at the library, just because he thought it was safe not to wear his mask in the library at night time, what a terrible moment of misjudgent that was.

Carefully, the masked shinobi started walking through the caverns, hearing the dripping of stagnant water around him, the occassional rumble of the rock which encased the entire place and the sound of bats and other creatures of the darkness going about with their lives in the dark tunnels of the Cave Neverendless. Yet, despite all these distractions surrounding him, Kegare was strongly concentrating on the map he was now holding, spread out by his two hands.

"I don't know how he did it, but this seems to be quite an accurate map of the cavern-system of this place," Kegare was quite impressed by how well the deceased thief had made the map he was holding, with each tunnel he had to follow drawn onto the parchment with great precision and love for detail. "I wonder how long this guy had to wander through this place, for him to create such a detailed map of the entire tunnel system."

Alas, it seemed that while he was walking around, following the map's directions... it could've been wiser to remain alert and focused on his surroundings as well, as after a long hour of walking, Kegare could feel the fabric of his vest ripping off of his chest and arms.

Looking up, he noticed that he had been walking through walls covered with spikes for a while now, surprised even more by the fact that he had been lucky enough to not puncture his own skin or worse just yet. "Well, I had to get lucky at some point in my life."

Those words had not yet left his lips completely, or the masked man could feel the ground giving way underneath him. In a matter of seconds, the masked shinobi managed to use one of the basic academy jutsu to lock his feet against the rough walls of the pit he was falling into, only to hear the rest of the floor that had dropped from underneath him to crash upon a much lower floor several seconds later. "Ok, if I didn'treact this soon, I would've been minced or rather squished meat. Good to know this guy had some protective traps."

While climbing out of the pit, Kegare realized that right in front of the place where the cave in happened, there was a wooden door: an obvious foreign element in the Cave Neverendless and thus the obvious hideout of what once had to be quite a skilled thief and explorer.

When he opened it, Kegare only noticed a single chest on a pedestal several feet away from the door in an otherwise empty room. "Seems like whatever was in here has been relocated."

The masked shinobi's hunch was right, as even the chest only provided him with but another piece of the puzzle: another map. It seemed that the search for the so-called treasure was far from over.

wc: 639
twc: 1138/1000 completed

thread exit/end