Mission:

The boy stood in the shadows of the village wall as the sun setting in the distance, just a faceless Aburame of the village hidden in the leaves. The boy was in all black pants with black open toe shoes, his face concealed from the outside world with a black mask and black tinted goggles, his hitai-ate covering his forehead so that there was not a single shred of skin available to the cool evening. If not for the boy's coal grey cloak he would almost completely blend into the shadow he was standing in. Night fall would be upon them soon, and as tonight was the new moon, it would be an especially dark one and yet the boy would not remove his goggles. To most that would be strange, but for those that understood the Aburame this was common. It was a rare occurance for an Aburame to be seen without the face covered in some shape or form and for the boy it had been nearly 10 years since the boy had shown his face to the world, until most recently he had lived in a secluded part of the dense forest alone. Then in just one simple day his five year self exile was brought to an end, since that day the boy has been making frequent stops in the village whether it was to stroll around or to offer his services to the village.

Tonight the boy was here for his services, he had come into town earlier that day and found a posting asking for volunteers for patrol duty and he volunteered foe the night shift. The young boy then spent the rest of the day relaxing in the shade of trees watching his Kikaichu interact with the world around him as the clouds past over head. Now that the sun was setting and the blanket of stars began to cover the night sky the boy just had a few more hours until his shift started. Looking up at the night sky and letting out a soft sigh the young Aburame pushed off the wall and began his slow walk toward the administration building to check in and be assigned his area to patrol. As he watched a few kids chasing each other in a race down the street, a smirk began to form across the boy's face though no one would be able to see it thanks to his mask. The kids were lucky they had no responsibilities, no worries, and no having to work for a living. They had their parent's and families and friends, something that the boy had not had for many years now with the exception of his Kikaichu of course. The little beetles that filled the boy's very body was the boy's only friends, they were his only family now and tonight they will be helping the boy on his patrol.

It was just after nine when the boy arrived at the administration office, he still had a little under two hours until his patrol shift started. The boy grabbed a newspaper and sat down on one of the benches, waiting for the time to get closer to eleven so that his shift could start.

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543

It was time to get back into the swing of things. The male had been slacking off for a while -- well, not really slacking off, but taking time to figure things out. He felt a bit lost as to what to do with himself, given the current state of things in Konoha. His former leader was forced from his position, and Tre's plans for taking the throne were thrown into disarray. He had no love for the current chief replacement sitting there, and his love for this village was currently waning. Well, not the village itself, but the way it was being run. From what he could remember hearing from the upper echelons, it would seem that Konoha's power was a joke at the moment. There were whispers that the village was basically an extension of Kirigakure no Sato...

No, not his beloved Konohagakure no Sato! Say it aint so!

As much as the male did not want to believe, there were things that he could not shake off, signs that he could not ignore. But there was nothing he could do about it, not right now. All that the young man could do was simply bide his time, grow stronger, and wait for his oppotunity to free his home from its oppressors. For now, he would settle on keeping it safe for a night, not that it meant much. At lesat, that was what the duty notice stated. According to it, the male Natake had to report to the administration office no later than 10:30pm to be appointed a partner and begin his shift for the night. It was typical patrol duty, but he did not care too much as it wouldn't be hard.

As the male would male his way to the administration building, he could not help but wonder what he was in for this evening; would he come across something interesting, or would he be bored yet again? Was his partner an interesting persona, or someone he would come to hate working with? Were they a weapon user? If they were, the male hoped that they could show him something interesting; no matter what, weapons were interesting to look at, no matter how impractical the design. Tre himself was a weapon user, and he carried four of them upon his persona, two at all times; upon his right hand was a strange glove, one that was fitted with a strange mechanism that housed a hidden blade on the underside of the wrist. His left arm was gloved similarly, but the mechanism was a bit different; this mechanism housed a small crossbow that allowed the male to fire small darts at a range for attacks. Housed upon his right hip and over his shoulder was a tanto and chokuto respectively.

He doubted he would need these tonight, but it was always best to be prepared, yes? The male was only a chuunin, and yet... he was confident in his abilities to perform his duties. He supposed that he could have gone out with one or two less weapons, but then what would have been the point of purchasing them? None at all. So the young man might as well take them all with him, and go from there. It was better to have and not need, than to need and not have, after all.

Pushing open the door to the administration building, the young man would step inside, blue eyes blinking somewhat as they adjusted to the light. He could see someone inside, but could not quite make out whom they were, nor if he knew them at all.

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606 wc

Time seemed to be moving slowly for the boy, as he read the paper he would occasionally check the clock on the wall. Maybe it was the boy's own impatience, or maybe he was just a faster reader than he thought he was. When he finished the paper he looked to the clock on the wall to check the time, the young Aburame felt his heart sink from his chest when he saw that it was only 9:45 he still had over an hour before his shift started. The boy cursed himself under his breath for coming in so early instead of finding something interesting to do in the mean time, still he was here and there was not much else to do. He decided to do a little snooping of his own, hoping that it would help pass the time faster.

The boy sent out a few of his Kikaichu from his body, the tiny beetles were small enough that they would not draw attention to themselves and would go unnoticed to most when on their own. He did not send them out with much purpose, other than that of gathering Intel. They would fly silently around the room, each one looking for a different chakra source not to drain of their chakra no this was simply Intel and as such they would land on a piece of clothing or their hair or even on the wall near the source. Then using a language that only the boy could understand they would relay anything that they heard, unfortunately for the boy there were only two sources of chakra currently in the building so there would not be much he will gain from a single conversation. Still it would not hurt anything and the Kikaichu that weren't ease dropping where stationed around the different doorways of the lobby, they would be able to alert him if another source approached the room. The couple that were in the room with the boy were at the main desk, he could see them from out the corner of the tinted lens of goggles without drawing attention that he was looking at them. The Kikaichu that were nearest to them would relay the conversation to the boy from across the room, this was one of the reasons why the Aburame were so revered for their skills with covert operations. The conversation did not give much, however it was enough to catch the boy up on some recent events that took place. That spoke of the recent Chuunin exams that took place before mentioning something about a mountain being blown up by the Raikage by black lightning, the boy could not believe that someone could posses that kind of power. Power like that was not something that could be taken lightly, in all the books about history that the boy had read power corrupts even the purest of hearts. If this gossip is to be believed then the Raikage was certainly a person of interest and someone he would have to keep an eye on. Not that he could do anything against someone that could blow up a mountain, at least not yet for the time being he needed to focus on increasing his own strength.

The boy's thoughts were interrupted by the Kikaichu by the entrance to the building, a chakra source was approaching, an interesting chakra source. When the doors opened the boy would get his first look at the source that interested his Kikaichu so much, what he saw was not what he expected it was a male that did not look to be much older than himself. Though he was not dressed like the normal shinobi, Retsu assumed he was the man he had been waiting for, his partner for the night or at least he hoped it was his partner as he just wanted to start working. Standing from his seat on the bench against the far wall of the lobby, Retsu was unsure how to approach the man but considering the fact that he did not like to speak unless he truly trusted the person as he knew all too well the damage a voice could do. Once he was closer to the man the young Aburame called his Kikaichu to action causing them to form words in the air in front of him, "Hello, My name is Retsu." After letting the words linger for a moment, the Kikaichu began to reshape to form new words. "Are you here for the Patrol?" Assuming the man said yes to the question the Kikaichu would reform again to another simple statement, "I was assigned your Partner, I will follow your lead."

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~784

Into the administration building the male would step, calmly looking about until his eyes came to rest on the young man seated at one of the tables. As Tre stepped further in, the persona would get up from their seat, and begin walking toward him.

Or they were attempting to leave the building?

As the persona approached, it was then that Tre would notice something odd, or off about the persona. He could not see anything about them-- thier body was literally covered from head to toe. Even thier eyes were hidden behind dark glasses -- was this some new fashion? It was weird to the young man; he was never one to follow the latest fashion trends, nor did he really care for them, but this was a bit jarring, at least. Nevertheless, it was not his place to comment on other people's choices in fashion, especially given that his own was questionable at times. Nevertheless, if this perosna's intentions were to leave, Tre would not stop them -- what the hell was that buzzing sound?

Those eyes of the Natake would flicker red for a brief moment, and a spark of electricity would flicker across his frame as his muscules tense up; there was massive amount of insects converging in the air before him. Logic dictated that this had to be the work of the persona before him, as he seemed too calm and collected about the situation. Or rather, he was plotting on how to disable the Natake? Well then, Tre would just have to-- wait a second.

It took the male a minute, but eventually it would dawn on him -- his partner for the mission had to be persona, an Aburame. Especially given that the insects were hoving in the air, forming out letters, and eventually, words.

"Hello, My name is Retsu." After letting the words linger for a moment, the insects began to reshape to form new words. "Are you here for the Patrol?" Tre would nod and respond with a simple 'Aye', his body relaxing and that crimson glow leaving his eyes. "I was assigned your Partner, I will follow your lead."

So, it would seem that this kid did not like talking? Very well, it was fine by Tre. So long as the guy kept the bugs to himself, Tre was fine with that. Turning about face, the Natake male stepped back out into the night and began walking. He already had his assigned area to patrol, the Market District of Konoha.

~~

As the duo would make their way into the Market District, Tre would motion for Retsu to follow him down a side street. Provided that he did, he would begin speaking once more. “There's a small cafe down here... I did not grab a coffee or anything before I left from home for the patrol, so I could really use something right now to keep me awake. I'll pay for you if you would like something.” True to his word, in the distance flickering neon sign could be seen, advertising the Cafe. It was a small establishment, barely noticeable save for the sign out front. As the male came upon it, he would order a plain coffee with milk, then step aside and allow Retsu to order if he wished for something. As the barista handed Tre his order, the male would take a deep drink of the black gold, allowing it to revitalize his form. Turning his attention to Retsu, the male nodded. "So, tell me about yourself, Retsu. I can tell you're an Aburame by the way you got those bugs moving for ya. Whats it like..?"

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611 | 1217 WC

The man would nod and reply to Retsu's question with a simple Aye before turning and heading back out the door, though the boy though it was rude for the man to not have introduced himself he would waste no time moving to follow the man. Their destination was the Market District and though it was doubtful that anything would happen, it was always better to be prepared for the unexpected or at least that is what Retsu believed. The boy would spread a small insignificant amount of his Kikaichu creating a perimeter above him and his partner, the beetles were very quite their wings not making a sound and since there were so few spread across a perimeter above the pair they would go unnoticed to most especially in the night air. These few scouts would give him a slight forewarning should a hostile chakra source near them, the walk to towards the market district was a quiet one which was just fine with the boy the less they talked the better in his opinion. The boy was not looking for a friend he was here to do a job though he did wish to know the man who he is to be working with's name, but at the same time he would not be rude to the man as they were brother in arms considering they were both of the village hidden in the leaf.

As they drew nearer to the market district the man would motion for Retsu to follow him down a side street before speaking about needing something to keep him awake, the boy could not help but smile beneath his mask at the man's offer to pay for him something as well. Though the boy was not sure why the man made the offer, whether it was to try to peak beneath the boy's mask or if it was just to be kind which he was sure it was it did not matter. Retsu was not the kind to take hand outs and viewed such things as an insult, but he also did not trust people he did not know and this man had yet to introduce himself though if the boy was honest the answer would be the same no matter the situation. The young Aburame would call a small swarm of his Kikaichu from his sleeve using them to form words in the air, "Thank you but I am ok, I do not need anything." The words forming like a moving teleprompter showing a few words before flowing into the next words until the message was complete. They soon arrived at the cafe the man spoke of, it was not until man had taken a drink of his coffee that he would speak again. The young Aburame could not believe it the man still did not introduce himself, and yet expected Retsu to talk about what its like to be an Aburame. The boy would once again call his Kikaichu to action from his sleeve to form the words as they had before, "I have a better idea. How about you tell me your name first, then we can get to know each other."

The boy would not form another word with his Kikaichu until the man at least gave his name, after which he would eventually return to the man's question with a simple answer. "It's Normal," the boy was not trying to be a smart ass or anything he was simply speaking the truth for his it is all he knew and there for he had no other answer it would be like asking a dog what it was like to be a dog or asking a fish what its like to be a fish. The simple fact was that since the boy did not know what it's like to not be an Aburame, so for him being an Aburame was like being normal. "I guess it would depend on what exactly you wanted to know," he would add after a few minutes of thought.

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~682