Heiwa is a moderately sized port town located on on the western coast of Hi no Kuni’s neck in the Kogeta Province. Heiwa is the third youngest town in Hi no Kuni, after Kasai and Teichaku respectively. The location of the town has left them fairly inefficient to be a trade hub, which has lead to the town exploring alternatives toward benefiting their economy. Heiwa is known for their beautiful women, which lead to the town developing the largest fashion culture in Hi no Kuni.

The majority of the population in Heiwa are seafarers, general labourers, and miscellaneous citizenry.

Demographics
Population: 80,000
Population Density: 321/km²
Land Area: 249/km²

Economy: Good, stagnated
Relationship with Konohagakure: Moderate
Relationship with Akagahara: Excellentr

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Mission name: Cartography
Mission rank: C
Objective: Assist the crew in completing sailing routes and maps.
Location: Any port
Reward: 300 ryo
Mission Description: Your duty is fairly simple but an important one to every sailor o' the open seas. You're a shinobi so you'll do the scouting and reporting. The crew is sailing around to map newly discovered islands, sand banks and coral reefs. It'll be your task to dive into the deep blues, help spot the beginning and ends of the sand banks and/or explore the new islands.

Mission Details: 1500 wc
- For diving, the shinobi will be needing a rebreather in their locker to dive properly.
- For sand banks, enhanced vision and vision sensory will be useful
- For island scouting, you'll take the rowboat to and fro the island and explore.

Strolling through the picturesque streets of Heiwa, its vibrant colours coming to life, Alexa was rereading the letter she received for the 101st time now. She was barely looking where she was walking, so absorbed by its contents, the bright smile upon her face making it seem like she was reading a love letter of sorts. But that was not it. The C-rank mission the administration had bestowed upon her was one where she'd help out a crew of sailors with the exploration of unmapped areas. She'd be on a ship, sailing the seas.

The lass could see herself standing on the deck already, salty wind blowing through her hair, eager eyes looking about to find the slightest piece of land. The ship would reef the sails and drop anchor at the guidance of an old treasure map, the captain calling to drop the diving bell. One volunteer would be assigned diving duty, the others letting the tool down slowly and pumping in fresh breathable air while the bell was submerged. The beauty of coral reefs and exotic fish would reveal themselves, a harmonious dance as she'd swim in between them with an unlimited supply of air in her lungs. Her dream bubble popped but the smile on her face didn't. Even if she couldn't go for a dive, she'd be on that ship and that was all that mattered. It mattered so much, in fact, she had even refrained from drinking herself drunk just to be fully aware of what she'd be seeing, of the ship's gently sway as it skipped across the water. The first step to becoming a real sailor, and certainly not the last one.

Exiting Heiwa's streets and ending at the docks, she'd spot a single ship. A cog. Old, by the looks of the wear and tear of the hull, but perfectly seaworthy. It didn't held the splendour of the schooner she loved but it was a fine ship for what it was supposed to do - transport. In this case, the ship would be transporting the crew around uncharted areas and allow them to disembark to explore uncovered land. A couple of ropes and a single walking plank would keep the ship in contact with the main land, and so Alexa wandered onto the ship. She'd soon be greeted by its captain, who looked her up and down with a cautious eye.

"Keep yer ogling to yerself, cap. You requested a Konoha shinobi, so here I am.", she'd tap the Konoha headband that hung loosely around her neck, tilting the metal plate sufficiently for him to spot the Leaf's symbol etched in it. He'd nod in reply to acknowledge his request to Konoha.

"We're waiting for a couple more people. Crew's out to do some last duties and I heard another shinobi was supposed to arrive as well. Once everyone's gathered up, we'll be ready to set sail."
"I can wait."

That was more of a lie than she wanted to admit, the feisty girl hardly holding any sort of patience if she didn't have anything to drink while she passed her time. She was a passionate one, and eager to hear the flap of the ship's sails as the wind would blow into them. Not wanting to lose her temper due to impatience, Alexa sat down on a barrel instead, allowing the glossy red eyes betraying her Hyuga heritage to overlook the small waves in the sea. Calm waters, a soft breeze. It'd be a casual trip, it seemed.

---

609

Akira walked down the streets of Konoha, holding a scroll. Next to him is Akisu. She had been summoned for a lot longer than Akira had initially wanted her to be. Akira decided to let her be, as she wanted to do some sight seeing before they duo would be going on a mission. “Hm, not much has changed in fifty years has it? Konoha still feels the same.” Akira said nothing looking at the scroll. The pair had been out for hours, seeing the sights and Akisu doing some light training in the woods. “So…how close are you to summoning Genzu?”

While still focusing on the scroll he told her, “Shouldn't be much longer. We should be heading towards the docks. We have to give our aid to a ship crew. Come. We must hurry.” Akira started to walk faster, with Akisu being able to evenly keep her paste with him. “I feel like you dodged the question.”

“This isn't something that one can simply set a time on. The Shinigami will gift me when he will gift me. I advise you pray to Him if you would want to see your friend again, my dear.” She blushed and scrunched her eyebrows. "I'm not your dear. And no thanks, I don't need to pray to your weirdness.”

“If that's the case, then you must wait. Patience Akisu.”

“Oh yeah, and you are the one to give advice on patience.” Akira became visibly angry with that comment. He was not far or above summoning her away without a word. But he relented, realizing and reminding himself that she is would love to see her friends again. He brightened his face and put his hand on Akisu’s head. It surprised her, an “eep” escaping her mouth, and her cheeks slightly brightened. “It will be very soon. I promise. Just give me some more time.” She then looked away from him, becoming more interested in the randomness of the streets of Konohagakure ahead of them. After a long walk in silence, the smell of sea salt became apparent. Akira began to almost be able to taste the salt in the air. He hadn't been near the ocean in years. “I remember when we stole a ship, and then we saw a Kirigakure cargo that of fish that was coming in. And when we raided it, and had them all separated, and Kisaki was watching the captain, he actually got stockholm syndrome.”

Akira laughed louder than he intended. “That's hilarious.”

“He tried to get a bit too touchy feely. For some reason he couldn't read the situation to save his life. He said some really colorful things, and Kisaki got really angry. She threw him over sees in shark infested waters.”

“Well, at the very least, he had an interesting life to give to the Shinigami.”

“He didn't actual die until much later. He became a shark sage, and tracked her down to profess his love. And then they had a massive battle. She killed him right after giving a long speech about why she didn't love him. The hurt in his eyes was almost sad.”

Not long after the story they had arrived on the ship that they were supposed to rendezvous. “Hello. We are here to assist you in this endeavor.”

562 WC

More people joined the mission. A merry band of Konoha genin gathering up to set sail. Amusing. The first to join would be a couple - at least, Alexa thought the boy and girl were a couple - looking rather scholarly or wizardry, maybe. Well-dressed at the very least, and not quite ready to sprout a couple of sealegs at first sight. She'd raise her hands at them, leaving the proper greeting to the one actually in charge of this ship. She was already impatient enough as it was, and the skipper wasn't about to set sail just yet.

The second one to join was a familiar face. Bit dark skinned, cool hair style. She remembered having seen him somewhere. Not in Konoha... with a lot of sand and, oh right, Sunagakure. The bug guy with the bow that had been shooting arrows into the chieftain. She remembered him, being all serious and active and all that. She didn't know that much about him, but he looked like a bad-ass sort of shinobi.

With all the genin gathered up, the captain would nod and decide everyone was on board now. Nudging his first mate to start shouting orders to set sail, the captain gathered the lot of them to brief them on the situation.

"So ah, Konoha-nin, huh? I have to say, it's a first I'm calling upon you lot to help a hand. I'm not that familiar with shinobi things, but Administration recommended the three of you, so I'll trust their insight and count on your skills to get this done."

He'd beckon them to follow to the helmsman who had taken position on the wheel, and pointed at a map resting in a nearby crate which was double-solidly attached with ropes.

"We recently discovered a couple of new islands. Nothing too special with the exception of one. It's pretty large, there's under water caverns which we believe end up somewhere in the island and small coral reefs surround it. The thing hasn't been mapped, so... that's where you lot come in. I certainly need an explorer for the surface of the island and a water rat for that underground cavern. Fancy filling me in on your skills some?"

He'd look at the three of them to hear what they'd come up with. Alexa would rest her hands in her neck, seemingly distracted a little by the seagulls flying about before she replied.

"I could take a dive, I ain't 'fraid o' no water. Got a jutsu for the occasion too", she'd throw in her two-cents. She'd probably be just as fine above water, but exploring and walking sounded pretty much like a dull thing to do if there would be no adventure to experience. Besides, focused on the seas, the question remained if anyone else was prepared for a long-term dive below water. Still, the Hyuga would turn her head to hear the other two.

"Oh yeah. Name's 'lexa, by the way. Alexa Hyuga."

Because, you know. Having a name could be useful...

---

527
Total: 1136

Akira turned to see the familiar face of N’Jobu. He gave a smile and waved. “It's nice to see you again, N’Jobu.” Akisu returned the response with a nod. Akira beckoned towards the supposed captain and asked “so what shall our first task be...er...captain?” This was frankly the first time he had even see the ocean, and felt it exhilarating. The waves were so beautiful, and the fish being stole away by seagulls made him smile. Pleasant gifts for the Shinigami. He turned to the girl. She looked quite wiry. After hearing the captain speak, Akira raised his hand to correct him on a statement.

“Myself and my companion are not of this village. Just to make that clear.” Akisu rolled her eyes, annoyed by his unnecessary interruption, Akira returned a glare in her direction, and went back to listening. After hearing of the task, His eyes widened. An adventure was to be had. Akisu especially was intrigued by the idea. She leaned in closer to listen further. While doing so she leaned over to Akira and whispered. “This should be fun.” He nodded in agreement. He became more and more excited thinking about sailing at sea. Just yesterday he was only praying to his Lord, but today he would be at sea for the first time.

After the girl introduced herself, Akira felt inclined to respond. “My name is Akira Nekuro. And this is-” Akisu immediately cut him off. “I can speak for myself thank you very much. My name is Akisu. A pleasure to meet you all.” She gave a smug glance at Akira. He knew what she was doing. She was trying to establish that she was large and in charge between them. But Akira held up the hand seal that threatened to summon her away. Her expression dropped, and she turned away looking toward the wooden dock floor. “Anyway, I came from the far north east, so I am miles away from home.”

332 WC

An hour would easily pass after the captain had barked his orders to get the ship sailing. The sea was an adventure on its own and though a lot had been mapped already, there were still new islands discovered on a monthly base. Cartography was a busy occupation despite the known lands. To most people sailing was just a story of ships and water but a true sailor knew it was so much more. Positioning, sand and reefs, sailing routes, trade potential, fishing spots... There was so much to be seen below the surface of the waters. It was just a matter of keeping their eyes open. Eventually the sails would be reefed and the ship's anchor would be thrown out in the middle of the waters. In the distance the island awaited them, a good five minutes away by rowboat.

"Alright.", the captain called them all nearby to explain his wishes. Once everyone was gathered around, the captain started by addressing N'Jobu, "So, that there is the island. We're prepping a rowboat for you and a couple of men to get ashore. You'll be taking note of the fauna and flora you see, mostly to pick up anything exotic or unknown for further investigations. Any landmarks should be mapped, and if you find anything unusual such as ruins or the like, we'd need to know these too."

After he was sure N'Jobu got it all, he'd be pointing at a spot under water. It was hard to see but there was a rock entrance large enough to fit a rowboat through it. How large it was exactly or how deep it would go wasn't something one could see at first glance, but from previous experience it was too deep for a normal man to properly hold his breath long enough.

"That there is the entrance. Runs deeper below but there are no pockets of air so we've been unable to get to the bottom of it. The island has quite a bit of rocky formation as well so it's possible the two are connected somehow. Check it out and take note of anything that catches your eyes."

Alexa would salute him as a sign she had understood what he wanted and walked to the side of the ship, taking a closer look at the rocky entrance as she thought about it for a moment. Her eyes would then glide from left to right to take note of the sand around it that formed hard to see underwater sections that equally formed parts of the island but prevented a ship from getting much closer.

"Then the two of you, Akira and Akisu, will be using your eyes to help us mapping these sand banks and possible reefs. It may seem trivial but these are what make or break a sailing route. Since ships lay deep in water, hitting such obstacles may damage the hull. Aside from that being a costly affair, there ain't much worse than losing ship for a sailor. So don't take this lightly. We'll be sailing slowly around the island, counting on your eyes. Any questions?"

He'd take a final look at the three of them to see if everything was fully understood. If there would be no questions, he'd nod they could get started before he barked a few more order to his men in preparation of the job ahead.

---

579
Total: 1715

"Alright.", the captain would say as they gathered round. The captiain turned to him and began to give him instructions, "So, that there is the island. We're prepping a rowboat for you and a couple of men to get ashore. You'll be taking note of the fauna and flora you see, mostly to pick up anything exotic or unknown for further investigations. Any landmarks should be mapped, and if you find anything unusual such as ruins or the like, we'd need to know these too." N'Jobu would nod in concurrence that he got the instructions then he would wait for the remainder of the crew to receive their set of instructions. Alexa would end up taking the task of the diving mission while Akira and Akisu would end up mapping the sand banks. After he finished explaining the task to the three of them, they would quickly nod and the captain would bark orders for the rest of his men to begin setting up for the tasks at hand.

N'Jobu would nod and head off towards one of the crewman who was preparing the row boat to head ashore and scout the island. He lowered himself into the row bow and began to row towards the shoreline, contemplating just what he would find awaiting him on the island. After a few minutes of rowing, his rowboat would reach the shore line and embanked himself on the shore. He hopped out the boat, and began taking a quick look around the island before moving further into the dense brush. From what it appeared, the island was deserted but he couldn't tell for sure. He knelt down and released a few of his parasitic insects to scout the area first to bring back some intel. It wouldn't take long for them to return from their scouting mission, they were quite useful little friends. From their report, it appeared there was little to be found on the island. For the sake of being thorough however, he decided to give it a bit of a scout with his own two eyes and make a map for the captain. The island wasn't very large, so the trek around it would barely take over two hours. As he moved through the brush, he would document the various little landmarks across the island and drew a rudimentary map that would give the captain enough detail should he choose to return to it himself. Along the way he noticed a couple of unique piece of flora which did happen to catch his interest. One flower appeared to be of a fruit type variety, something he had never seen before. It was spiky  and brownish in color and his curiousity had peaked in the moment so he decieded to crack it open and see what was inside. Unfortunately for him, it was quite possibly the most disgusting thing he had ever smelled before in his life. It smelled of a foul combination of sewage and rotting flesh unlike anything, a scent that would forever be etched into his memory likely as long as he lived. As for the rest of his trek however nothing too exciting to be found although he did see some interesting species of caterpillar he had never seen before and a couple of strange land marks which were slightly interesting. Considering he made the mistake of opening that fruit, not much could have lived up to that nightmare.

On his way back, he stumbled upon the small entrance to what looked like some ruins, hidden deep in the brush just barely visible to anyone would paid close enough attention. He took a few minutes to uncover the hidden path down into the entrance which appeared to lead down into a dark cave. He didn't have a light on him at the time and he knew the sun would be setting soon so he couldn't spend too much time exploring as he was up against the clock. He jotted down the location of the ruins on a seperate piece of paper which he placed into his pocket and turned toward the direction of his row boat on the shore. "Hmmm, maybe I'll just leave this one off the map for now. I'll explore this later for myself.." he thought to himself as he began to make his way back to the ship. "Easy enough work, now to get paid," he muttered to himself as he walked back to his row boat and began to row back to the captain's vessel.

|~Exit Thread~|

WC: 767
TWC: 767 + 549+ 629 = 1945

Mission Debrief:
Mission Status: Completed
WC: 1900/1500
Payment: 1 C Rank Jutsu & 100 ryo

Remaining WC: 1945 - 1900 = 45

Having been given her instruction, Alexa dove into the waters as if she was a dolphin herself. The splash of water would be heard a second after, the distorted shadow of her figure moving forward towards the cave. Forming hand seals, fuuton chakra would be brought to life to give her breathable air and form a mermaid's tale as it bound her legs together in the aquadynamic pocket it created. Completely disappearing into the cave now, the light that gave off an inkling was now gone. Leaving Alexa to make use of her other senses as she moved forward in the dark cavernous tunnel.

Echolocation resonating against the walls prevented her from crashing time and again into the walls. For a long while, too long for anyone to have held their breath, the tunnel moved forward before it eventually rose up softly to end in a large cavern underground. The area was softly illuminated by strange moss. Too little to see decently for any human being, sufficiently to see small patches of the walls. Blind as a bat in the night, there was little the Hyuga could see that was of any worth mentioning but the rogue in her easily dubbed this place as a perfect area to stuff away a couple of things that shouldn't be seeing the daylight. A little smuggler's stash, if only there would be an entrance other than the sub-aquatic one.

The reverberating sound would reveal one. A hard to access way up through the ceiling. If that didn't offer possibilities to a shinobi, then what would? Channelling chakra in her soil, the girl ran up the walls and crawled into the exit up. It wasn't the biggest tunnel she had discovered but discomforting was something else all the while. It would lead up for a while before bending to an acceptable rise. Light would greet her after a couple more minutes, the exit squeezing her for the last five meters before the ended on the island between a rock outcrop, the entrance hidden by tall grass and brush. Not impossible to be found but it'd require someone to actively search for it to find it.

Happy with her discovery, Alexa would climb the outcrop, end at a ten meter distance above ground and throw a look around the island. In a moment like this, she swore to herself that she still hadn't unlocked the byakugan but the view remained beautiful. A rather large island from the looks of it. A ways from Konoha, potential little island to turn into a smuggler's den or pirate island. All options to think about. For now, she had to return to report her findings.

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[EXIT]

455
Total: 2170
-1500 mission (C-rank jutsu, "Dolphin Song")
-600 extra (+150 ryo)

220/250: