Normally when Roku took a shift of Gate Duty as a mission he could expect long hours of leisure, relaxed guarding of some seldom travelled gate where he could pass the time in peace. But today, guarding the Northern Gate that laid the way to al other nations on the continent, it was much more busy, more stressful. Whereas before Roku could have done little more than stand around in the sun and rest his eyes, spend time ogling the occasional lady who crossed by and generally did very little for his paycheck at the Southern Gate, here at the busiest part of the wall he was was spending hours checking I.D's and searching through carts for contraband. His partner for this occasion wasn't even anybody he knew, just a fresh Genin like himself from a faceless civilian clan. Had Hayo been there the hours could have been passed in some form of comfort, where he could enjoy the quiet companionship of the older Chuunin, it could have passed as another stress-free misssion. But today, Roku was working for his pay.

Just before the sun had crested the distant dunes Roku had relieved another unfamiliar guard on the Northern Gate, and even then before sunrise had come there were dozens of travelers coming into and out of the village. Many of the outcomers were merchants beginning a long trip to lands abroad, or shinobi going off to perform some mission in the desert or beyond, while the ones coming into Suna were often rural citizens and foreign merchants coming to conduct business. Any hopes of getting off with light work early in the morning were dashed for Roku as he was forced to remain alert immediately upon arriving, carefully scouring I.D'a for suspicious information and digging through boxes on the back of carts for a few hours. Thankfully, besides a few expired licenses and and an odd fruit that caught Roku's eye while searching, nothing of great importance had happened yet.

The distant sun grew larger and larger in the cloudless blue sky as the searing heat became more and more stifling, but this granted only a slight reprieve in the countless travelers that passed through the gate Roku guarded. Noon had come and gone quickly without fanfare as the two Genin worked to keep up with the flow of travelers, sweat soaking their clothes as what little shade the morning held vanished in face of the hot star above. The two agreed to stagger their lunches and make them very brief in order to maintain a full watch over the gates, Roku tucking away a large slice of dried meat and bread before his counterpart did the same, and only a slight delay in the flow of traffic resulted from the break. It was not the most efficient of work that could have been done, but both were rather inexperienced and unsupervised.

It may have seemed odd, two low ranked shinobi doing important work such as guarding the main entrance to the village, but that only spoke to how stretched thin the forces of Suna were. Long years of struggle and decline had reduced Suna's resources to a shadow of what they had once been, and its military force was not able to compare to the larger villages such as Konoha or Iwa. It sparked a touch of enmity in the prideful part of Roku; that its neighbors could be thriving and growing while Suna itself corroded from within with the terrible crime problem and lack of leadership. The new Kazekage had taken steps to improve upon the stability of the village, but it was only a few months into Midori's reign and very little had yet to bare fruit.

Besides, while a low ranked shinobi like Roku took care of the security of the village it freed up more capable shinobi to perform more important duties than they could otherwise. Even Hayo was working harder than normal lately; Roku had learned the man was part of a small task force created to deal with serious crimes done within the very walls of Suna, often by criminal civilians and rogue shinobi, which was much more important than guarding a gate in the redhead's opinion. Still, it beat collecting snakes and cactus fruits in a bag or hiking across the desert to deliver supplies. At least with this mission Roku had a large wall to lean up against on occasion.

One shift had passed a short time after 2 in the afternoon, with is fellow gate guard replaced by another Roku had never met before, but the Genin had taken two shifts and was forced to continue working for another few hours. The sun had reached its zenith in the sky and hung there for hours as it rained heat down on the Land of Wind, and even the heavy breeze that swept across the dunes was dry and hot. It was said that the greatest defender of Suna against foreign invasion was the very desert itself, as soldiers from more temperate climates did not fare well in the unyielding heat and merciless wastes. For one who grew up under that overbearing star, it was several times easier to deal with as the body had adapted to retaining water and staving off the sun rays, but the desert had claimed thousands of Suna-nin as well over the centuries. With the scorching sun came a slight decrease in the amount of people flowing through the gates and down the trails through the desert, but still they came. Many could not afford to delay their plans just on account of the bad weather.

Finally, as the sun began its descent and the temperature slowly climbed lower and lower, it was time for Roku to finish his work. He waited impatiently for his replacement to come relieve him, who did shortly later than he was expected to, and passed off his Radio to the replacement. Tired from a long day in the sun on his feet Roku hurried to the administration building to complete his mission and receive his pay.

WC: 1028/1000
Mission Complete~