Fuyuko had just returned from her adventures in Kumogakure but she wasn’t going to take a break. It was the best time to keep the momentum high and keep her training up. Despite also winning a size-able ryo reward and not really needing to do a mission for the foreseeable future, she didn’t want to already make a dent in that money. So it was the perfect time to go to the administration building and increase the stack of ryo she had going on right now. She stretched herself out one more time while sitting on the edge of the bed. It had finally stopped hurting when she moved her body around. The collar bone having fully healed. She did some morning gymnastics, mostly consisting of just stretching her body out to make sure there were no aches left in her body. When the stretching was done she took of her pajamas and put on her mission gear. A tight fit pair of black pants, a blue t-shirt covered by her flak jacket. Her headband wrapped around her head, her hair in a ponytail held together by a blue ribbon and bobby pin preventing her bangs from sliding in front of her eyes.

With the preparations finished she headed out for the administration building. When she reached the entrance there seemed to be some sort of commotion at the desk. She slowly walked up to the desk and payed close attention to the conversation that was going on. It seemed that the person that was standing in front of the desk wanted to take on a mission which was out of his reach. While she was uncertain the rank of the mission, she might still be able to help the person. She walked up closer to the desk and gently placed her right hand on the persons head. Taking a quick glance at the persons face before talking to the twins behind the desk. “There seems to be some sort of problem with the mission that he wants to take? What mission is it, maybe he could do it with me.” “Aahh Fuyuko, congratulations on your recent promotion. Anyway, yes he could definitely do the mission together with you. Here are the mission details.” One of the twins said as she handed over the mission.

She looked down at the boy with a smile on her face. “You’re alright with doing the mission together with me right?” Looking back up to the twins.  “Well I’ll be heading out then.” Fuyuko let her hand slide of the boys head as she walked back outside of the administration building. To talk with her potential new mission partner as they walked towards the gate of the village. “Better late than never, but as you might have heard I’m Fuyuko. Who might you be?” The boys hair was as white as snow, it made her wonder if he was possibly from the Yuki clan. He also had a pair of bright red eyes which would be hard to miss in a crowd of people. “What made you want to do this mission in particular?”


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A smile appeared across Fuyuko’s face accompanied with a small chuckle as the young man introduced himself to her. It was mildly entertaining to her how he had mentioned his clan name twice. She quietly listened as he talked about how the mission hadn’t been taken for quite some time. It’s unfortunate that it happens, but there wasn’t too much to be done about it, if there wasn’t more man power to take care of it then so be it she thought. However she felt like she had to reply to him when he made the comment about doing it alone, saying that any help would be better than no help. “You see Chigetsu, that’s where you’re slightly wrong.” She turned around to face him directly and look him right in the eyes. “While your heart is in a good place in wanting to desperately help the village. It’s very good of you and makes you very brave, but what good would it do if you went there and you weren’t able to help the villagers out with their problem? What good would it be if you ended up being severely injured or even killed? The missions are restricted for a reason and no matter how badly you want to do them, the rules are in place for your own safety as well.” She would place her hand on his again and ruffle his hair in a sort of gesture that his heart was in the right place but that he shouldn’t think to full of himself. When the short ruffle was done she would turn around again and continue their walk to the exit of the village.

The conversation topic they had completely changed into something that was very unrelated to what they were just talking about it. She didn’t mind it though, she enjoyed talking and learning about new people. With that also came talking about yourself of course. “You think I was amazing? Well thank you for that compliment.” She said as she turned her head slightly and showed a small smile before looking forward again. “I think I did pretty alright. But could’ve definitely done better than I did. Izumi really showed me that I wasn’t even close to being up to par.” She said with slight sad tone in her voice as she gazed up into the sky. “But I’m still proud of what I achieved!”.  The words her conversation partner spoke next came as quite the shock to her and left her a little bit flabbergasted. A celebrity? What made him say that? Sure she made it pretty far in the exams, but to called a celebrity was quite a stretch wasn’t it? She wasn’t really sure how to reply to it and so just shrugged it off to the side.

She noticed that he stopped walking which made her stop as well and turn her body a little bit so that her head would face in his direction. “What are you talking about? There is no need for you to apologize at all, it’s also no burden of sorts. I’m a Kirigakure shinobi and feel the need to help my village and country when it’s needed. If they’ve been without aid for so long all the more reason to take up that mission, right? Also if it’s that far away from where we are, shouldn’t we pick up the pace then and head over there as fast as you can?” With that said she picked up the pace until she would slightly out pace her partner at which point she’d slow a bit back then so that they could stick together. Chigetsu was an interesting fella a little bit weird, but certainly seemed like fun company to have.


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Fuyuko couldn’t help but feel the urge to address Chigetsu’s concerns once more. The boy really had a good heart about the situation and he seemed to really care about the well being of not only the village itself but the country as a whole. It was good to find people that truly cared about the well being of others. During the time she had spend in the village she had found it hard to find people that truly selfishly cared about others. So the words Chigetsu spoke warmed her heart, but despite that she still had to address his reasoning once more. A dead person won’t be able to help again after all. “Chigetsu, listen up.” She said with a serious tone as she prepared herself for what she were to say next.

“If you’re dead, what good are you to the village?” She remained silent for a little bit before she would continue on speaking, so that Chigetsu had a little bit of time to process the words. “Your heart truly is in the right place, but there is more than one way you can help the village out. Every single request that’s made to the village has to be handled. That goes from the most difficult missions to the basics of the basics. Every mission requires resources from the village but the village only has so many resources to spend. So the fewer open requests there are for help the better. So if you’re capable of doing a mission solo the village won’t have to spend an entire squad on doing that mission. So while the value of catching cats that have gone missing or helping someone with their groceries might not seem so high, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t impact the village on a deep level.” She paused again briefly looking for the rights words to say. “If you take away a tiny cornerstone of a building, it will probably not collapse. However the structural integrity  will be lower. Meaning that if that is done often enough the building will fall. So doing those small ‘insignificant’ missions matter to the integrity of the system. Even if it doesn’t appear to be that way.” She looked back at Chigetsu and smiled at him again. Hoping he wouldn’t feel down or bad about himself after the lecture she just gave him. “Lets keep going, we got a long way ahead of us.”

---

The pair arrived on top of a hill that overlooked the village. The village was rather small, there were only about 40 buildings. With some of the buildings clearly not meant to live in making Fuyuko estimate the size of the villages populace at a hundred maximum. The place as a whole seemed rather deserted while it wasn’t even that late on the day. Looking at the sun she estimated at least another 3 hours of sunlight before it would start to slowly fade away. It was enough for Fuyuko to determine that there was most likely something going on in the village. She waited patiently to see if Chigetsu would say something himself or if he would remain quiet. Not long after having made her assessment he would speak up to her. “Well, while there is a possibility that they put down a trap. I don’t think there is one. This is because, if like you said they’ve been waiting on aid for that long, I think the bandits will have given up on putting down a trap. Seeing as we have shown up somewhat ‘randomly’. However, something is definitely going on. So we should investigate and proceed with caution from now on. Just follow my lead.”

Fuyuko reached for the back of her headband and re-tightened it, making sure it stays in place. She jumped down from the tree they were standing on and moved at walking pace towards the village. Her eyes looking out for any signs of possible danger, however the path to the village would remain silent with not a single sign of the bandits. Fuyuko would boldly walk through the streets into the middle of the town making her presence well known. The bandits would probably be over confident by this point seeing as they haven’t been dealt with for so long. “Is anyone there?” Fuyuko would shout out as she looked around with no one in sight but Chigetsu.



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The word stung. Hearing them hurt for some reason that Chigetsu couldn't exactly explain. It was an immediate dull throbbing inside his chest that he didn't quite understand. In the silence that came after he would be able to hear his own heartbeat, the rhythm now heavy in his ears. At first, he had thought she was waiting for him to respond, but there was nothing he could say. Luckily for him, Fuyuko would begin speaking again shortly after, not letting the pause go on for too long. The rest of her lecture would be listened to carefully. He would be sure to pay enough respect to her to do at least that. She seemed to have accurately guessed his dissatisfaction with taking the sort of mundane jobs that D-Rank missions tended to be, but the explanation rang hollow. Whether the intended meaning of her lecture was that he should be satisfied with his status as a 'insignificant' tiny cornerstone or not, it was the message that he received from what she said. Unable to find the proper words to respond, Chigetsu would simply nod his head. He would not say anything more on their journey, focusing on getting to his destination as quickly as possible.

---

Chigetsu would find himself turning back down to the tiny village once again. It was mostly his own paranoia that assumed a trap, so having her dismiss it put him at relative ease. With all of his experience being from taking D-Ranked missions, Chigetsu found himself suddenly lost in how exactly this situation should be approached. He would take position behind Fuyuko, walking a few steps behind her on their approach to the village. His kunai would be produced quickly from his pouch, held rigid against his palm. Being that bandits were involved the boy felt the need to be prepared should he need to defend himself or to watch Fuyuko's back in the moment. The metal weapon contained a bit of familiarity to it, and that small comfort helped calm his nerves. It would be uncomfortably silent as they approached, pure silence greeting them. Fuyuko's bold march into the village would be followed behind by Chigetsu's much less confident strides.  

"Unimportant." The voice from his kunai would nearly make him jump. The illusionary voice coming from his weapon was something that he could only hear inside his head, but it had seemed so real in the moment, as if it had been shouted out from his side. The boy's tensed stance would be relaxed somewhat as he realized it was just his weapon. His clenched grip around the weapon would loosen, and his gaze would turn down to it for a moment. "Your body betrays your thoughts. Swimming upstream with closed eyes will lead to disaster." The sudden presence of the voice would leave him uncomfortably distracted. It was an annoyance now, even with how much he normally enjoyed listening. "Do you even know how to see? Can someone like you do that on their own? Can-"

His distraction would be interrupted. Something stirred in reaction to Fuyuko's shout, and the sound was enough to catch Chigetsu's attention. It was the slight rustling of wood, quickly identifiable as coming from one of the nearby buildings. The window shutters had been ruffled slightly. Whether this was from somebody inside the building moving them or if it had just been the wind wasn't clear. He was thankful for it, either way, for pulling him away from his kunai's voice. He would speak up suddenly, turning to Fuyuko. "Do you think it's a good idea to investigate? Maybe there are some civilians inside the buildings that could give us some information." The possibility of there being terrorized civilians hiding away inside their houses concerned Chigetsu. The image of a little child, bruised and terrified by having their home invaded and taken over by bandits resonated with Chigetsu in an uncomfortable way.  

He wouldn't have the time to follow through with that plan, whether or not Fuyuko approved of it. Crossing out of an alley between two moderately sized buildings would come a group of men. There were five of them, all of them appearing rather burly and well built. Perhaps muscular wouldn't be the best description, but it was clear from their physique that all of them had made their livings through a dirty job that most likely included manual labor. Their outfits would reflect that further, with a combination of overalls, dirty sweat-stained shirts, worn down boots, and straw hats being donned by the group. The presence of what Chigetsu could clearly see a crude kunai attached to the belts of one of these men, which became the immediate point of focus for the boy. It would only take a few moments for him to notice that all of these men were in possession of one of these poor quality knives, what appeared to be military surplus kunai. One of these five would take position in the center a bit further back from the others. The center man was perhaps a bit shorter than the others, and the difference in height was only made more noticeable by how he stood behind the others. From his position the man would give a smile towards the two ninja.  

"Well look who we have here. Visitors?"

[915/3172]

Fuyuko noticed that Chigetsu wasn’t so comfortable with following her full stride into the village. He seemed a little bit hesitant, but at the very least he was brave enough to follow her into the village. After shouting out she patiently waited and listened for her surroundings to make sure she wasn’t caught of guard. However it was made slightly more difficult as Chigetsu started talking to her whilst she was trying to catch cues of potential threats. As she was about to reply to him a group of 5 men came walking into her field of view. Their appearance had made it very clear however that they weren’t from here or here for reasons that Kirigakure would approve of. The reply to Chigetsu would have to wait as she gave her full attention to the group of thugs. From their composition Fuyuko was quickly able to determine who was the pact leader. They were standing in the back, most likely afraid of getting hurt themselves and so had other people do it for them. The others probably fail to realize that the leader was most likely just all bark and no bite.

However Fuyuko was unsure how to take care of them. Would she be capable of doing what Nozomi had wanted her to do the last time she was out on a mission, how the village wanted her to be. Or was she still not ready for it yet despite telling herself over and over that she was capable of doing it. Would she be able to take their lives if it came down to it? The words were spoken so easily, like they carried no weight at all. As if they were a feather carried by the slightest breeze. But to actually do the task was so heavy, like one trying to swim to the surface with an anchor tied to their legs. It really was a decision that made Fuyuko feel like she was drowning with no possible escape. The only way she could escape from the dilemma she found herself in was breaking the chain. However how do you break a chain when you can’t put force into your movements. Where could she find the strength to break the chains. She has been rustling the chains for a bit now and they only seem to have taken minimal wear by this point. If she keeps at it at this pace, she would never be able to break the bonds that are holding her down.

She mentally slapped herself across the face to snap her out of her trail of thought. There was a more pressing matter at hand in this moment, capturing the thugs that have been running rampant for far too long. “Yea, we’re just travelers coming through town seeking directions. You don’t happen to know a group of people that need to be taken down right?” “No no, we wouldn’t know anything about that. Maybe you should try looking in the next town over little girl, now move along.” “Oh that’s unfortunate, but while we’re here, this ‘little girl’ might as well take care of you as well. You don’t seem to be from around here or too kind in particular. You’ve had your fun for long enough in this village. It’s time to put an end to this now.” “Now now, little girl. These villagers can’t even protect themselves, so why would you do it for them? They’re weak and they don’t really matter. You got some fight in you, I like that, why don’t you come and join us and live the free life and take what you want. The main village hasn’t send anyone in over a month to help these people, clearly they don’t care about them.”

Fuyuko had heard enough by this point. She was already starting to get irritated by being called a little girl over and over again, but she would be able to contain herself through that. However she couldn’t believe the leader would have the audacity to strike her a deal. It was quite laughable to think they could convince her to join their cause. These villagers worked hard to live the way they were living, you shouldn’t take credit for their hard work, you shouldn’t steal all their effort. No you should take inspiration from these villagers and be like them, work hard for your own causes and get to where you want to go through hard work and determination. But what would really broke the restraints on her temper was how he called the villagers unimportant, how in his eyes they didn’t matter. Fuyuko could hold it together long enough to give Chigetsu some instructions before she would dash into the group of bandits. “Take care of any stragglers, I’ve heard enough coming from his foul mouth. I’m putting an end to this right here, right now.” She didn’t look at Chigetsu as she gave her instructions which sounded more like a command. From her voice you could clearly tell she was furious and agitated with her facial expressions probably showing something similar.

With the words spoken to Chigetsu she rushed towards the group that was about 10 meters away. A gap she would be able to close in less than two seconds time. So from the moment she would start running she would also start weaving the following signs Dog, Dragon, Rat, Ram. Three out of the four bandits were somewhat stunned at the rapid pace Fuyuko closed the gap. One of them however would lash out with their degraded kunai, his movements were slow and predictable so it was an easy dodge for Fuyuko. She jumped sideways into the bandit that had lashed out to her to get as central in the group as possible and would follow it up with placing her hands on the ground. Releasing the molded chakra through the floor and sending cracks of lightning through it, halting anyone’s movements that wouldn’t be able to resist it and making them drop anything held in their hands. But Fuyuko wasn’t satisfied by this, oh no, the leader would pay for his actions. With a clear path now to the leader she raised herself and went straight for him, roundhouse kicking him against the side of the building.

The leader was probably out of the fight already as his face smashed first into the wall, but there was nothing restraining her actions. Her moral compass had been switched off and so she grabbed the back of his head and smashed it once more against the wall. It felt satisfying being able to make them pay for what they had done to the villagers. With the leader taken care off, she’d turn to face the other bandits of the group. Most of them would probably just surrender at this point from the sheer difference in power as well as their leader being already down. The one person that really held the group together. If anyone would try to escape she’d quickly run after them and take them down. Immobilize them to the point where crawling wouldn’t even be an option anymore.

When all was set and done she’d turn to Chigetsu one last time “You should tie them up and prepare for the journey back home. I’ll wait on one of the rooftops while you do that so I can start writing the report.” Her voice would be calmer this time then when she issued the ‘order’. Despite that her face would still show some remnants of anger. However her moral compass had been turned on by this point again making her refrain from harming them anymore then they have already been harmed. She jumped onto on of the rooftops and got herself seated. It wasn’t really to write the report, it was to reflect on what had just happened. How she, just like on her last mission, lost control of herself. How she capable of inflicting all that damage with no sense of remorse. How it almost felt exhilarating to cause the bandits that much harm. It scared her quite a bit. She thought she knew herself, but it seems there was a side to her she wasn’t aware off yet.


[Exit Thread]

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Jutsu:

3329/1500 - C-rank Mission
1829/1200 - Extra payout
629/575 - Training speed C > C1 (+ 100 Ryo)

Discard 54 words.