Yet again there was a panic in Iwagakure no sato. Though this time the trouble lurked in the for of Academy School students. A gang of misfit students have decided to cause some trouble by the downtown area in the village. Thus far the gang of academy school students had not committed any serious crimes, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time due to the level of impact they are having on the district. That was why Tenjin was not surprised when he was dispatched on this C ranked mission to eliminate the possibility of anything serious happening with this gang. Tenjin did not have much experience in policing so he hoped that he would be able to get more than enough assistance from his partner in this mission. Tenjin himself had already been promised a healthy sum of ryo to compensate for his trouble so he didn’t see this mission as that hard. He would only be fighting a mangled group of kids; how strong could they be? With hat thought in mind Tenjin set out to go to the downtown district, where he would meet up with his partner for this mission. Though he managed to get sidetracked before leaving the house, because he could not find his headband. Tenjin looked all over his apartment and still didnt find it. He was surprised because Tenjin considers himself one of the most strict and organized youths in the land of stone. Yet he happened to have lost a simple, and important thing like this. Tenjin found what he was looking for in a matter of couple hours, and right after that, Tenjin was on his way.

As he walked the streets he observed that in the market that vendors were more protective of their merchandise; were they afraid of the kids as well? It was truly a sad state of affair, thought Tenjin. Was this group of academy school students, he rather doubted that they will cause him trouble, but the way people acted proved the contrary, as they felt that these kids were too much to handle and thus they called upon shinobis to take care of this. Regardless the villager’s fear made Tenjin want to finish this gang even more. Tenjin approached the district, where he was said to have to wait for his partner. As he approached a store, a gruff old man came up to him: “So you are Tenjin I assume. I sincerely hope you are ready to to end these brats, because they will no doubt be after this store for my collection of ninja weapons.” Tenjin still wasn’t clear on a few things so he inquired further: “You must be the merchant that requested this mission. So why are you so sure that the kids will come after this store?” The old man chuckled a bit: “Well these kids are academy school students, and they wish to be shinobi. I sell shinobi weapons that these kids cant buy due to their rank, I assume they are coming over here sooner or later to try and reinforce their dillusion of being grown.” Tenjin couldn’t help laughing a bit as he understood what the old man was saying, only because he found himself in a similar position trying to be older than what he truthfully was.

With all the weapons in stock, the store itself felt like a fortress, Tenjin wondered if it was even practical to attack such a behemoth. Then again from what he had heard thus far these kids seemed pretty out of their minds. Tenjin waited for his partner as he browsed around the store looking at the different weapons. The shinobi weapons intrigued Tenjin, and Tenjin finally thought that maybe bukijutsu is something that he should begin to study so that he can gain such a fighting style in the future. Bukijutsu would definitely complement his taijutsu after all.

WC 653 / 1,500

It was a good day to be outside. Dry weather, barely any clouds. Laïs was strolling through the streets as she often did, coming from the downtown area. As it was not night yet, most of the parties had yet to start, so after some familiarisation with the local street boys, doing a little dance battle and share a drink, the crow sage had decided to return back to the common streets in search of something to kill her time. Finding herself in the shopping street somehow, she considered a walk past the shops couldn't hurt a girl. As she casually passed by the shops, at times halting to see what Iwagakure's latest fashions and goodies were, she eventually ran into the familiar face of a young shinobi talking to a couple of merchants of a weapon store. Stepping inside the shop, she took a moment to eye the variety in weapons before she tapped Tenjin on the shoulder.

"Hey you. Looking to buy yourself a new weapon?"

She would smile a mischievous grin at the young shinobi as he turned around, finding his youth rather out of place with the impression the weapon 'fortress' expressed. It was a good thing she knew enough about Tenjin to know that his youthful looks deceived the muscle and skill he actually had, making him far more dangerous than anyone would credit him for.

---

234

Tenjin was shicked to feel a tapping on his shoulders after some time spent window shopping in the armory. ‘This is excatly why I should develop my sensory capabilities.’ He thought as he turned to see a familiar face. “Ah Lais. So you are the person I have been assigned to complete this mission with. I guess the authorities thought we did a good job with the last gang of academy students.” Tenjin was rather happy to be parnered up with someone he is familiar with, of course getting to know people is good for networking, but sometimes peoples behaviors are too inconsistent for Tenjins liking. Lais in the other hand, is someone that Tenjin believes is working to develop her prowess, which is something that Tenjin can relate to being part of the Sencho school and the study of dust release. It is a long road ahead, and Tenjin sees serious potential in Lais. One more quick thought rang through Tenjins mind before he began to speak, and the thought was ‘Too bad she is not part of Iwagakure no sato.’

This train of thought lasted no more than a split secant before Tenjin spoke to Lais once more about the mission objective. “I am glad you’re here. Right on time. Apparently the mission revolves around us trying to again capture a gang of academy school students as you may already know. This is our employer (Tenjin points at the weapon shop owner), he strongly believes that his shop will get robbed soon because the gang has been extraordinarily active around this downtown area…” Tenjin was cut off before he finished speaking, it was the old man. “Yeah those goddamn brats are coming. I know they are. Please, feel free to use the weapons in this shop to capture those little bastards…” Tenjin then proceeded to cut the old man off from speaking, “Excuse me sir, but those ‘brats’ are still Iwagakure citizens and the future of Iwagakure shinobi. Show some respect.” The old man didnt look too happy with Tenjins response, but he didnt say anything, Tenjin suspects that he knews that he needed Tenjin and Lais more than the pair needed him. Tenjin then spoke again, “We wont be needing your weapons. We are capable shinobi, we can handle this.” After saying this, Tenjin remebered that Lais isnt necessarily a shinobi, although she shows the capabilities, she was still not raised in one of the villages with that standard of living. “Lais, do you remeber what I told you about the potential of these kids?” Tenjin will wait for an answer before he continued and said, “Dont let your guard down.”

Tenjin then decided on a specific plan. Not knowing where the gang of academy students are, Tenjin decided to tell Lais about it as well. “I believe the best course of action is for us to wait this out.” Tenjin noticed as the old man got mad at the plan and opened his mouth to speak, but when Tenjin looked back, the man proceeded to pretend to yawn. “This shop has two entrances, we should wait till night time as that is the most likely time period for this shop to get hit. The lights will be off, but feel free to hide to be less conspicuous. I’ll get the front door and you get the back. What do you think?” If Lais likes the idea, Tenjin would set himself up, for the prevention of this robbery. He would utilize his surface walking technique in order to stand on the ceiling, looking down at the door.

WC 600

TWC 1,253 / 1,500

So they'd be catching brats again? Laïs wondered what it was with Iwa's youth and going rampant as they did, wondering just as much if it would be the same gang they'd meet as last time. Though young and a bit weak on the execution of their plan, she remembered how one had hid in hopes to liberate their friend. Creative, but not good enough. However, Tenjin didn't specifically mention the new gang of culprits would be the same, so she assumed they would be a different group all together.

When he pointed at the salesman, she rose a hand and smiled somewhat of a forced smile. He certainly didn't seem very happy with the thought of being troubled, and not even a lovely smile would change that mood. Worse even, what she thought about the kids, the man actually spoke out loud, earning himself a scolding from the kid next to her. She found it an odd sight to see an older man be berated by a young shinobi for his behaviour, and was quite happy she wasn't the one getting scolded at. Not that Laïs would allow him to scold her, shinobi or not. Tenjin waved the idea of having weapons away, and asked her if she still remembered about the prowess of Academy Students.

"Naturally. They were craftier than one would expect last time."

And she expected it to be just the same this time. Trained as young shinobi, they were trained to think differently. Creatively, always looking for a solution to the problem at hand. Smarter and better trained than the average kid, and most likely than most adults at that. The only benefit they had was that these youngster had yet to develop most of their muscle power and the insight of an experienced life.

Tenjin spoke his mind when he thought about a tactic to take them down. It certainly sounded like a good strategy at first, when she suddenly thought about the fact she couldn't see in the dark. Granted, her sage senses allowed her to register people in the nearby vicinity, but it didn't allow her to see in the dark and it wasn't that her senses were sharp enough to replace her beautiful pair of eyes either.

"Not a bad idea, but ... We can't exactly see in the dark. Even if I can sense them approaching, it's not the same as having to do something without light."

Of course, using light, the kids would be extremely cautious, perhaps even skip the shop all together as they opted for a safer option. There was a need for risk, an idea that Laïs just loved, but there would also be a need for efficiency.

---

465
Total: 699

After hearing Lais concerns, Tenjin felt like assuring her that she’ll be alright by saying, “Do not worry about that, windows around the shop will certainly brighten up the place as the moonlight will shine into the area.” With confirmation that Lais understood, Tenjin would set himself up waiting for the gang of children to enter the facility. Tenjin didnt think the leader of the gang will enter through the front door, so he hoped that Lais was able to handle her own in case their strategy was more flamboyant. Tenjin was positioned on the ceiling for nearly half of the night, and just when he was about to give up, suspecting that nobody was indeed breaking in, he noticed the front door nob jiggle a bit. The jiggling lasted but sec before it suddenly stopped. It did not take long though for the door to end up being banged on from the outside. Tenjin thought about the cost of repair for the door, and knowing that he was going to capture these kids, it was likely that their parents will have to pay for the damages. Tenjin didnt want to make a bad situation worse, so he decided to meet the gang outside. Tenjin opened and left through the window and while walking through the side of the shop, he heard a couple of kids arguing as they were scheming as to how to go about stealing things from the shop.

Tenjin was able to sneak behind them and interject. The kids were in the middle of kicking down the door before they heard Tenjins say, “You know this isn’t making Iwagakure look good right?” and as soon as this was said, some of the kids actually yelled in shock while the closes one to Tenjin was stardled enough to strike at the young shinobis face. Tenjin grabbed the young shinobi fist, intercepting the punch while simultaniously turning the young academy student around thus causing the kid to have his arm locked behind him. Tenjin counted and noticed five academy students other than the one that was already capture, the kids decided to run away which resulted in Tenjin sighing as this was going to certainly be a repeat of the last mission. Tenjin told the young academy student, “Can you tell your friends not to run away?” but this question was of course rhetorical as he didnt expect an answer and the young academy student ceased to respond. “Okay then, you will have to wait here.” Tenjin gave the kid a light hit to his head which caused the kid to temporarily be knocked out cold.

Tenjin then darted off to catch up with the other kids and was able to catch the last academy student of the bunch. Although, Tenjin grabbed the young shinobis shirt, which caused the kid to slip away by just sliding out of his T shirt. Tenjin then looked at the T shirt and laughed, as this kid was really slick. Too bad he is just an academy student and thus doesnt have the necessary speed to run away from someone as capable of catching up to a chunin ranked shinobi. Tenjin followed suit and was able to reach the shirtless kid, and when doing so, Tenjin utilized the young academy students shirt to tie him up. Tenjin then dragged the kid by his shirt to wear his partner was, it was indeed possible for the young academy student to stand up and run away so before Tenjin left, he reminded the kid about how fast he was, and if he ran, it would be a matter of time before he caught up to the kid once again.

There was 4 kids now, and Tenjin needed to catch up to them even though he guarantees that they are too far to be a problem to this shop now. Nevertheless, the mission was to stop these kids and if Tenjin didnt catch up, the possibility of those kids robbing this shop once again is really likely. Tenjin utilized his body flicker technique in order to move at top speed in the direction of the running academy student. When Tenjin saw where the kids were, he suddenly appeared right in front of the gang of kids. The kids were once again shocked as Tenjin was able to catch up really fast. The kids made a sudden stop and before they began to run again, Tenjin yelled, “Stop!” after a short pause and noticing that the kids did indeed stop on their tracks, Tenjin began to speak again. “I know that you know that I will be catching up to every single one of you tonight. I am not saving this problem to be solved in the morning.” The kids then gathered once again as they began to listen to Tenjin. “Im not much of a talker when in the middle of a mission, but because you are Iwagakure students, I really feel the need to warn you guys. You guys are heading in the wrong direction.” The kids looked confused because they were all running home, but it wasnt a geographical direction, but instead, a moral one. “You are Iwagakure student. Iwagakure.” Tenjin strongly emphasized the villages name. “We’re all from the same village. This type of continous action will certainly result in at least one of you becoming a missing ninja. Not only that, but you might get kicked out of school, and if that happens, you can forget to become a ninja. Since you will be needing basic knowledge gained in the Academy, if you dont attend, you wont even become capable of defeating the weakest of ninjas in the world. You were breaking into a ninja shop, so I am positive that you all want to become great shinobi, am I right?” The kids looked at each other and shook their heads yes. Tenjin then pointed into the direction of the shop and said, “Join me in the walk back. We can talk about the consequences of this misdemeanor.” The kids then walked and talked with Tenjin about the pros and cons of becoming a shinobi and truthfully, the benefits of graduating from the academy.

WC 1,033

TWC 1,500/1,500

TWCx2 786 / 1,200

Abiding her time in the back of the shop, Laïs' dark coloured clothes gave her the perfect camouflage to sit quietly in a corner of the shop unseen. For a long period, silence was about the only thing to be heard, boredom nagging at the crow sage's mind as time slowly trickled by. Seeing as no one appeared, she decided to stand back up and wander through the shop for a bit, taking a look at the plentiful weapons that were neatly displayed against the wall and within the cases. Swords, spears, bows. Knives, shuriken and senbon. Most of them didn't mean much to Laïs, but the senbon attracted her attention and so she picked up one of them to take a better look at its craftwork in the dim light of the moon. Comparing it with her own set of senbon, she had to admit the quality was far better than what she had and, most importantly, not showing any sign of overuse and rust. Making a mental note that she shouldn't forget to get her senbon changed some day, she placed the quality senbon back in place and wandered around some more in the back of the shop.

Suddenly, she registered a couple of chakra signatures on the edge of her sage senses. Six of them, to be precise, and as she acknowledged them the front door jiggled as they tried to enter the shop. As Laïs left the front side to Tenjin, she tracked the movement of one signature through her senses, feeling him detach from the group to sneak around the building. Expecting him to try his luck in the back of the shop, Laïs unlocked the door and stepped into the shadows, waiting for his arrival. As expected, the boy opened the door without the slightest of effort and quietly stepped inside. As he took a few steps, Laïs clicked on the light, catching him off-guard as he was caught red-handed, watching how he frantically looked around until he looked into the eyes of the young woman.

"Did your parents not teach you breaking in is a bad thing?", she asked with a bemused smile. A bit hypocritical, after all, as she had never bothered to abide by her parents' or any rules if she could help it. The boy, however, didn't wish to linger around any longer, attempting to escape through the door he had come in, but Laïs blocked the exit by pressing her hand against the door.

"I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"
"Oh, I'm fairly certain you won't. After all, I was asked to take you to prison once I caught you breaking into a weapon shop to steal something of value."
"I'm a shinobi, I can have weapons!", he tried still.
"Curious. Administration said you were a student, not a shinobi just yet."

Unable to answer as even his intimidation didn't seem to work, he slumped a little and sighed.

"No escape, boy. Come with me without causing troubles and you might still get away with a scolding rather than prison time. What will it be?"
"I-I'll come..."
"Good boy"

Extinguishing the shop's light, the two of them exited the shop through the back door and walked around the building to the front where she had formerly sensed a larger group of people. By now, most of them seemed to have scattered to the four winds, Tenjin most likely chasing them. As they reached the front, one kid laid out cold on the floor. His friend gasped, running up to the knocked out kid and grabbed him to see if he was alright.

"Is he dead?"
"That is possible. Tenjin leaves nothing to chance.", she added to the dread she was already causing. "After all, you knew the risks when you were committing this crime, did you not?"
"We didn't want anyone killed!"
"Is that so..? Well, promise me you'll stop stealing from your own country, Iwa-nin student, and I might yet save his life."
"I promise! Really!"

The sage crow nodded, crouched besides the knocked out kid and checked his pulse and breathing. She already knew Tenjin would not have killed him, but to keep the act up, she proceeded with the basic medical check. Rising to her feet again, she nodded.

"You're friend will be fine. He's just knocked out. In any case, you made a promise. Administration will expect you to follow it up. Can't have ninja break their word, hm?"

As the boy nodded, cheeks red in shame, Tenjin's chakra signature returned into her range, along with the remaining few students. From his gestures and moving lips, it looked like he was already lecturing the small bandits on the road back, so as he arrived back at the shop, she filled him in.

"This one tried to sneak in from behind. We had a little talk, and he promised me not to steal again so he doesn't lose his chance at becoming a real shinobi."

She would ruffle the boy's hair with a hint of amusement, respecting his creativity and boldness in silence. If he truly wanted to become a decent burglar, he'd have to get better at it or be lucky not to meet someone who didn't know the tricks of the trade by own experience.

"I think we have them all?"

---

920
Total: 1619

When Tenjin arrived to his destination, he wasn’t surprised to see Lais already there. After all, she has been extraordinarily efficient with the matters of these missions. Hearing what Lais did with the one gang member that tried sneaking into the back, Tenjin was surprised to just have seen one captured youth. “You must be special kid to be going on your own like that.” Tenjin smiled a bit and looked at Lais before he began to speak once more. “What a coincidence, I had the same talk with these youths. They all want to be shinobi, and I suspect that they regret the path they have taken. Unlike the last group, who darted and tried their best to not get caught, I think these kids are actually good kids who happened to fall for the wrong goals.” After speaking, Lais would ask her question, and soon after, Tenjin would reply. “Yes.” Tenjin looked at all of the kids and said, “I do think we have them all.”

Tenjin then crouched down as he got into arms reach of the knocked out academy student. With a few light slaps to his face the kid was able to regain awareness, and while the youth was adjusting his eyes to the light of the bright full moon, Tenjin was able to untie the other youth that he ended up placing right next to the knocked out kid. While the youth stretched his arms after the uncorfortable bondage, he asked with a light tone to his voice. “Are we going to get in trouble for this?” Tenjin smiled and looked at the kid who was waking up, and rubbing his neck. “I think this experience is lesson enoug for all of you.” Standing up and facing all of the academy students, Tenjin would continue speaking. “You are the future of Iwagakure. Due to our pasts, other villages trust in us is lacking.” This statement was in reference to the Iwagakure of old and their partnerships with criminal organizations, but Tenjin didnt mind the partnership as this shinobi world is a survival of the fittest, and even now, Tenjin is finding a good team in a kunoichi that is not from his village. “This is why we should do the best we can to take care of ourselves. We are not Konohagakure no sato. Strife cannot come from within our borders. Now go, we’ll tell the administration department that you have all learned your lessons.” Surprised, the kids stood up and thanked the pair as they all ran home with a new outlook in life. Tenjin then looked at Lais as he told her, “I guess we did end up meeting again after all. I am going to Kumogakure in the morning, so next time we meet, it will be in a foreign village.” With that said, Tenjin said bye to Lais as he awaited any last words or actions from her, which would then result in the young shinobi smiling and saying “Till we meet again” while creating them ram hand seal and body flickering out of their current location.

WC: 517

TWC 1,500/1,500

TWCx2 +1,200 / 1,200

Tenjin continued lecturing the kids and talked about the future of Iwagakure. Laïs was rather surprised to hear that Iwagakure had a bad reputation, even among its own, as it had lost the trust of others due to an error in the past. Laïs could only guess at what that reason would be or what the reference with Konohagakure exactly entailed, but one thing was certain... Everyone had to take care of his own first. The world was a selfish place despite the luxuries of civilisation, ruled by demons wearing the disguise of men and women alike. Only the strongest, fittest or smartest would survive until a fatal mistake would be the end of their reign. In the end, even the mighty king had to cede his place to the heir walking in his footsteps. Keeping her thoughts to herself, she let Tenjin do the talking and the wrap-up as it was not her place to dictate how 'the future of Iwagakure' had to run. She wasn't home here, and sooner or later she would leave to visit another place at that.

Addressing her after his talk, Laïs nodded.

"We did, didn't we? Unexpected, but next time we meet we'll be in Kumogakure. Anyway, I'm off to find my bed and have a beauty sleep. Good night, Tenjin."

He wished her goodbye as well and flickered out of sight, leaving the crow sage on her own to walk back to the room she rented. It was still quite a walk, but the silence of the night and cool air was all she needed. One last stroll before the night would pass would do her good.

---

[EXIT]

283
Total 1902

- 1500 mission (base 300 ryo)
- 400 extra ryo (+100 ryo)