When it came to missions, Rokumaru didn't mind that he was restricted from taking any B-Rank or above. True, all these C and D-Ranks hardly gave out much ryo as a reward, but there was so little work involved most of the time that it was payment on its own. He could supplement his resumé by doing them and be able to say he had taken many missions; if someone didn't look deeper and see most of those missions involved standing around or simply walking from one place to another, they would only see a large number of missions and chalk the boy up as a hard worker. It was the perfect scheme.

That is why you could find Roku standing at the Suna administrative building as he waited for his charge, having taken another instance of one of his favorite missions: protecting a merchant as they peddled their wares. Just by itself, the mission was both easy as a C-Rank could be, but it had been compounded by the fact Roku got along so well with one specific merchant. Old Ichirou had a relaxed route he traveled that kept him relatively close to the village selling supplies to the smaller settlements, but avoided the more dangerous parts of the desert where wild animals and rōnin wandered about. This, added to the fact he was a decent fellow to pass the time with and could appreciate a well-cooked snake, made Roku come back again and again to have an easy mission protecting him.

He had chosen the mission as soon as he saw it was available, the Chuunin behind the desk writing out his name in the scroll for record-keeping, and stood just outside the building, leaning up against its side, waiting for the telltale tapping that accompanied Ichirou's cane striking the ground. Really, there wasn't a way for Roku to know he would be stuck with the old man in this instance, but the redhead was going to be optimistic and hopeful anyway. The boy had the Devil's luck when it came to positive coincidences.

But, while his luck held up this time, it had a little twist to it; Rokumaru was looking exclusively for the old man to come along he didn't notice his real charge had arrived, until the man was standing just a few feet away and spoke out to him. "Excuse me," the short and middle-aged man with a shaved head said, causing Roku to visibly startle a bit. "I was told to look for a redhead named Rokumaru."

The redhead in question slowly realized this was his ward, after a few silent moments of the stow watching each other, before his managed to pull himself together. "Ah yes, that would be me." He held out his hand in greeting, introducing himself with "Sabaku Rokumaru, at your service." The man stood with his arms crossed as he regarded the boy silently. After a few moments he muttered out his own name, Jorou, and motioned for Roku to follow him.

Jorou cut a quick pace as he walked to the gates of Suna, Roku trailing behind in silence. The old man would have filled this silence with questions about Roku and his goals, maybe telling a story of some land he visited or a particularly interesting shinobi he had crossed paths with. Instead, this man was content to hardly look in the young redheads direction, and not as he was not one to force conversation Roku followed dutifully.

A few short minutes later found the two at the gates, beginning to see many travelers as the sun rose from a distant dune, warming the desert from its frigid night time temperatures. Jorou had his wagon hitched up to an ox all ready to go, boxes strapped down in the back. Wait. Ox? Boxes? Roku noticed the familiar things almost instantly, noticed the ox was one he was very acquainted with, and turned to Jorou who was climbing up into the drivers seat. "This is old Ichirou's cart."

Taking he reins tied to the ox in hand Jorou gave them a crack, the wagon lurching forward as he ignored the boy. Roku could only fast walk to keep pace with the cart as he wondered about this man. "How do you know him? Why isn't he taking his cart out himself?" Roku bored down on the man with an intense stare, one hard to ignore.

Jorou shrugged and gave the reins another crack. "That is my father. He neglected to mention you would speak this much." That caught Roku off guard; he knew the old man had kids but never expected to meet them. And this Jorou did not have an ounce of the friendliness or charm his father boasted, he really was more of a curmudgeon.

The redhead had to ask, just for the sake of passing time. "Why isn't Ichirou able to complete his route today?" Normally the old man enjoyed his work, interacting with folk and seeing the countryside. Why he would send his unfriendly son in his place was only something he could guess at.

Jorou glanced at the boy for a moment before returning his eyes to the path ahead. "I am to inherit my father's merchant company and all of its holdings. Therefore, he has decided I am to familiarize myself with his routes and customers. Now, if you would perform your duties and not bother me, I would appreciate that." Roku held his tongue for the remainder of the mission, not keen on conversing with the rude man.

And so he performed his duties like every other time; animals who wandered too close to the cart would be either killed or scared off, and he would unload every box from the cart when they stopped to conduct business. The silence was a bit uncomfortable for Roku considering he was hoping to hang out with old Ichirou for the day, but he did his duty without a complaint nonetheless. When all the boxes were delivered Jorou signed the mission scroll quickly and gave it to the boy, parting ways as Roku went off to receive his payment.

WC: 1043/1000
Mission Complete~