Mission name: Forward Base Assembly.
Mission rank: D-rank.
Objective: Establish camps for Village shinobi to advance so operations can proceed smoothly.
Location: Suna Excavation Site.
Reward: 150 ryo + 1 EP
Mission Description: Konoha is requesting ninja to assist army with setting up forward camps where ninja can stay as they travel toward Suna.
Development References: What Lies Beneath Event.
Mission Details: Assisting the army may involve clearing native flora and fauna, ruins, bandits or other threats, or merely quickening the pace at which camps can be established.

The fencepole would be jammed down into the sand, as hard as Chigetsu could. It wasn't nearly deep enough. The foundation here was shaky and difficult to work in. The soil was incredibly loose and gave away at the slightest touch, if it even could be called soil. In the Land of Wind it was rare to find any ground that was capable of fertile growth of agriculture, the majority of it being barren sand. Getting a solid foundation to create a campsite at was exceedingly difficult. Hammering poles down deeper barely mattered when the entire dune you were on could shift and blow away are a moment's notice. That they were on more stable foundations now, with the ground being a half-sand half-soil mixture, barely mattered. Hammering down the stake again, Chigetsu would groan in frustration. It was all a waste of time. He couldn't help but feel like his actions here was meaningless.

None of this mattered. He was a tool of Kirigakure, and here he was being sent off to sweat out and die in the desert, and for who's gain? This was a mission he was sent on to advance the speed of which Konohagakure camps were set up. Why? These weren't anything that would benefit Kirigakure, except perhaps indirectly. The status that Konoha had as something of a state under vassalage of Kiri was something Chigetsu was beginning to understand, but at the same time he would be bitter about doing work that assisted another nation other than his own. Rationalizing it as sharpening one of his master's tools, Chigetsu would get back to work.

Working on this task, as futile as it was, became easier with time. That was the epitome of his existence. His successes in driving the poles into the sand was something he took pride in, even if they were meaningless. Setting up a single tent had taken far too long. It felt good after all that frustration to finally succeed against the desert. The little things mattered. Still, it was intolerable to spend so much time dedicated to achieving so little results. The backbreaking labor was something Chigetsu would then leave to the other ninja that were assigned to the job, mostly from Konoha. It was more suited for them to do the brunt of the work. Following this he would move to do something more suited to his talents. Removing anything that impeded a clear campsite. There were a variety of large cacti that dotted the flat expanse where Konoha seemed intent on setting up camp. The long spines prevented them from being removed easily. This would be much easier for somebody of his nature though. Why he hadn't started with this job was a mystery that he now began to wonder on.

The cactus would be slain. He would cut it in half easily, without any difficulty. Getting close to it was no problem at all either. The spines penetrated harmlessly into his squishy, liquid body. He could get as close as he needed and slice the entire thing in half. His kunai was great for that, and where he couldn't slice the serrated edge made it easy to saw. Other than the spines these things were complete pushovers. It was so incredibly easy to just slice through, especially given how nice and soft they were. The reward for each that he cut up was intense as well. So much delicious juice, most of it immediately sucked up into Chigetsu's body. He would quickly go from cutting the cacti up to piercing a small hole in them and sucking them dry until they deflated like popped balloons. Suddenly Chigetsu was liking this job a lot more. He was essentially getting paid to eat and drink these cactuses while messing around with knives. What more could he ask for? Each cactus that he drank from would turn him a deeper shade of green, and slightly increase Chigetsu's size. After drinking five he would be a few inches taller, and once the entire field was clear he was a solid foot and a half taller than normal. Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of how tall humans can grow, but still much greater than he was originally.

Once the field of cacti was cleared Chigetsu would let out a sickening belch. It was a lot of fluids he had just consumed, more than he had expected. Eating them one after another was so easy once he managed to get into the swing of things, the sweet juice being so incredible to taste. He gave himself a nice pat on the back. Job well done. Now that he had done his part, Chigetsu was off to get a nice and solid nap to digest this all.

---

[808]

[EXIT]