mission:

Ilya was extremely nervous when she finally got the call to present herself at the administration building, so she could get her first mission as a genin. Even though she was perhaps a bit older than most genin of her generation, she still enjoyed these nex things and experiences that came when finally becoming a graduate of the kirigakure shinobi academy. When thinking about it, she was glad that she had not been born a good three or fourhundred years ago, when the village was still known as the Bloodmist Village. However now it was peaceful like every other village, except maybe Sunagakure, which had seemingly been in a spiral of decline for a while now according to the news and rumors floating about. The problem with these rumors ofcourse happened to be an influx of banditry and opportunists leaving behind their whole life and career in search of some quick coin and cash.

Arriving at the administration building, nervous as a newborn babe, Ilya was finally allowed to get her documents pertaining the mission sh was supposed to carry out. It seemed that after she opened her envelope, she was slightly surprised by its contents. A simple, single file of paper detailing that a certain individual, a shinobi of lower rank and importance was suspected for defection and that it was her duty as fellow shinobi of near equal rank to either persuade this individual to remain or to have her present herself at the administration buildin for a formal dismissal.

"A dismissal, poor woman would never accept something as humiliating as that," The kunoichi thought to herself when thinking about the known procedures regarding dismissals, which usually gathered much public attention and mostly ended in a suicide due to stress and public defimation. "So...Han Meru, I'll just have to look for her near the gates, I reckon."

As she walked through the village, the kunoichi wondered about what it was that would drive a person to defect from the village. There were several reasons which came to mind, reasons such as desire for wealth, a hunger for adventure or simply dissatisfaction with a village's leadership, but the general rule which Ilya thought to be the biggest play in deciding wether or not to defect would've positively been doubt; doubt in others, doubt in a situation or simply doubt in oneself and one's own abilities. That last kind of doubt would probably prove to be the most impactful of them all when making a decision to leave the village and thus one's home behind.

After a good twenty minutes of walking and contemplating on what would rive a person as far as to defect from the village, Ilya finally managed to reach the southern gates, where she was supposed to spot Han Meru and prevent her from defecting. With her missive in hand, the kunoichi went to the guardpost and brought the two chuunin guarding the gates up to speed, that it was her duty to prevent a comrade from defecting and making a poor choice for themselves and that it was the guard's duty to apprehend this person if Ilya would not be able to convince her.

Understanding what they had to do, the two waited along with Ilya, until the kunoichi finally did spot someone who seemed to fit the description. "Excuse me, are you Han Meru?" The young girl quickly ran up to a slender, somewhat lanky looking woman who looked up when hearing her name and almost froze in place, yet Ilya did not show any ill will, which helped to at least calm the woman down enough for the Uzumaki genin to casually be able to approach the chuunin. "Can we talk?"

The woman: a pale skinned, brown haired young woman not a day over her twenties according the file, yet looking like someone who had been through a very rough time. The description was at least very accurate and one hundred percent correct, making it easy to find the woman in question. "What do you want girl? Though I can guess what this is all about, no?" The woman let out a sigh and looked at Ilya, who simply smiled at the woman with an honest and bright curl in her lips. "Don't stand in my way, the village doesn't need me anyway."

Ilya's smile vanished, turning into an expression of pity and confusion. "How can you even say that? Do you think just because you're not the strongest or the best with jutsu,
that the people wouldn't need you?" The girl gave the chuunin a pat on the back and pointed at the farmers coming through the gates, the kids playing on the street and all the other villagers. "You're perhaps not the strongest shinobi, but does that really matter? What matters is that these people count on your protection, they hold you in high regards for it, will you just abandon them, they who need you, just for a selfish reason like thinking you're not strong enough?"

Han Meru's eyes became wet and she started to cry, bawling her eyes out like a toddler who had just been reprimanded. "You're right, I was...no I am foolish, not being the strongest isn't an issue...I'm sorry, I'll go atone for this, I'll give myself up and hope they'll forgive me for my wicked thoughts..."

With that, just a good talking to seemed to do the trick, but it made Ilya wonder though, how would she react herself, when she'd be facing her own weakness, how would she react if it was her time to doubt herself...

957 wc

750/750 mission complete
75/75 Reaction time E-0 to E-1
75/75 Speed E-0 to E-1

900/957

57 wc discarded