Spoiler:

Jerrick left the Administration office with his first official shinobi mission. There was nothing too great about it. He would need to map out some of the older areas of Iwa’s older districts. The mission was suitable for someone of his stature. The axe at his waist wanted to taste combat, but this mission didn’t require such need. It was a mission that was generally given out to the lower rank members of the village shinobi system. Due to his lack of experience in the shinobi world, this was all that he could afford. It didn’t bother him by taking on this mission. Cartography had been taught to him at an early age, but most of the maps he designed were of the open ocean. The other types of maps he designed were of small islands and this would be closest thing he would have to strictly land.

Jerrick stroked his chin as he looked over the mission details. He followed the map to the old districts. The map lead him to the edge of a very old district. There weren’t many people here. It seemed to be poor. Jerrick figured that if more rich people lived here the maps would have been kept up with. For a few minutes he walked the street keeping a mental note of some of the structures. It wasn’t anything exciting not that he expected it to be. He would just keep walking and make notes on a writing pad that he had. There were a lot of notes that he took. Most of them were his own personal use. He could greatly improve this place if he had the funds, but this was a bad time for his family to even think about asking them for it.

After awhile he would need to find the highest point of the district. It would be the greatest spot that he could see before moving underground to the tunnels. He made his way to an old guard tower that had been abandoned. Rats and small bugs had made it their home, but at least they weren’t seagulls. Oh, did he hate seagulls. He stood at the top of the tower and started to draw what he saw. Jerrick pulled out a ruler and began drawing the scale of the district. He had a good eye for seeing distances and being able to tell how far away something was. Years on the ocean helped greatly with that. You had to have good eyes when traveling in general. Certain things would catch your attention and could draw attention to something important. Even storms started to give certain signs over the water that didn’t always show in the sky.

Once he mapped out what he saw, he made his way back down the tower. He started to make his way to the tunnels. The entrance to the tunnels seemed to be a bit rugged. There was warning tape around the entrances with warning signs. Derrick knew to be careful, though he didn’t care for being in such an enclosed space. The tunnels were quite open with enough space. There had been about 6 meters of width in diameter that the tunnels had. He made sure to put that it his notes. Even with the wide girth of the tunnels, he still didn’t feel comfortable. A low rumble sounded as he made his way deeper into the tunnel. The rumble continued for awhile. Jerrick started to draw out his current path in the tunnel as pebbles started to fall from above. Jerrick’s pencil stopped as he slightly glimpsed up. His face started to roll up as he heard rocks behind him start to fall.

Jerrick started to run forward as the rocks began to fall almost like a chain reaction. He made his way to a downward incline that he slid down he moved a meter forward as he looked up. The path behind him seemed to be blocked. He shook his head being a bit annoyed. The trader pulled out his pencil and started drawing and making additional notes. The techniques known by the Iwa shinobi would be enough to clear it, but he didn’t have those kind of techniques on hand. He would need to continue walking. The walk that he had ended up being long and dark. There were glowing fungi that lined the walls of the tunnel that gave sufficient light. He found that it would probably be helpful if he had some technique to deal with the situation, but he didn’t. This just made things more difficult for him.

Jerrick pressed on regardless of his current situation. He continued to map out his path as he traveled. He had spent about three hours marking his path. Eventually, there was no longer light to guide his path. He had to feel his hand on the tunnel wall trying to find where he was supposed to go. The fact that he was in the dark made him very upset to the point where he occasionally punched the wall. The path he took was hard to remember, but he did the best he could. Next time, he would remember to bring a torch. He started to get a bit depressed that he couldn’t find his way that he almost stopped to mop. His soldier training kicked in as he knew that he had to persevere.

The Shinkai trader felt the wind blow as he moved forward. He knew from his training that it meant that he was close to an opening. If he had gotten lost in here, there was no one coming for him. It was the price he took for not having a village association. After another hour or so, he started seeing light. He made it to a large lake that was surrounded by rock that had a clear opening to the skyline. Jerrick sat down next to the lake as he had gathered his thoughts. He looked up and saw the moonlight that illuminated the lake. He figured that waiting until the morning was probably the best thing. There was no inspiration for him to move forward at the time. He laid back and placed his head on top on his interlocked fingers.

Sunlight had graced his face. The light started to blind him as he opened his eyes. The lake glistened as he looked over its surface. The surface was quite visible. He looked up thinking that he could climb out of the cavern, but he did still have to map out the tunnels. He started mapping out what he remembered onto his paper. He figured that the lake lead to a different water source, but he didn’t want to take chance of losing his work. Jerrick stood up and briefly outlined the lake. Though, he wasn’t trying to find out or take a dip in untested water. The lake could easily be an undertow that lead to your death.

Jerrick looked around and noticed an entrance to a tunnel. He sighed as he didn’t want to take on a tunnel again. It was another long walk, but at least more of the glowing fungi had lined the tunnel walls. Another hour had passed before he made it to an exit. The exit led him outside of the village. The exit was hidden within the mountain, but there was a path below. Fortunately, he knew it to be the path he had taken to get into Iwa a couple of days before. He sighed in relief as he slid down a slope. He pulled open his map again and started to doodle and make notes on the exit he took. It was time to turn in his mission. Jerrick definitely felt a need to visit the bath house and go to one of the local taverns for breakfast and ale. He didn’t care that it seemed too early for a drink, but it was pretty common among his clan to have drinks around the clock. The thought of eggs over easy, ham, and oatmeal started make him hungrier than he already was. He was happy to be alive and to survive his first shinobi mission.

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29 unused words