Mission: Missing Cats:

There it was: my first target, the slowest one of the group. By sheer luck, I had just happened to hear it purring in an alley, but now I was in position. It was time to strike. My mission was to capture five cats that had certainly acquired a reputation for escaping before. But my job wasn’t to build a fence or wall to stop these cats from escaping again. No, they had already escaped. My job was to capture them and bring them back. At first I thought it was just a joke mission, but after spending so much time tracking just this first cat down, I began to realize that this mission was actually going to be a serious test of my skill. D-rank missions are kinda weird that way.

I leapt down from the roof. The cat looked up, and upon seeing me, yowled quite loudly. It tried to dart away, but I managed to land right above it, snatching it as it clawed at me.

Awesome! I got one!

I took the cat back to the drop-off point, and set off in search of another cat. A little while later, a couple of chunin, spotting a cat, had pointed me in its direction. It was grey and white, and when I caught up to it, I was able to confirm its identity.

From the intel I had gathered from previous cat-catchers, this cat seemed to be the one most frightened of strangers, preferring to run away rather than ever try and scratch or otherwise fight back. If I revealed myself too soon, the cat wouldn’t stop running for a long time. Time that I didn’t have. But now, it had found a place to rest. Now, it was time for me to make my move. From my hiding place, I made the hand signs Dog, Boar, Ram, and summoned five identical versions of me. I waited for them all to get into position surrounding the target. They had to move quickly or else the cat might see one of them. Luckily, since they were essentially just a basic application of external genjutsu, they weren’t really any loud. Once they were ready, I crept out from my hiding spot behind a trashcan and got ready. Dog, Boar, Ram again, but this time, channeling my chakra through myself, making me appear as a large rock.

That was the signal. My clones jumped out from their hiding places, startling the cat. The only opening they gave was straight towards me. And as expected, the cat ran directly over me. I undid the transformation and reached up to grab it. The cat yowled and, digging its claws in as it moved, jumped off my outstretched arm and onto a nearby fence.

Oh no it doesn’t.

My plan may not have worked perfectly, but at least I was close to it. And what’s more, I knew that I wouldn’t get the chance to be this close to it anytime soon. The cat had some pretty amazing stamina. I raced after it, jumping on top of the fence myself. The cat jumped from post to post, and I followed, as dexterously as I could, but it was hard to be as dexterous as a cat.

Then again, I am a ninja.

I made the signs Dog, Boar, Ram once again and summoned a clone just behind the cat that quickly leapt over it, landing in front of it in the fences. The cat tensed up from the unexpected company, and started to jump to the right, but that moment of hesitation was all I needed. I jumped for the cat and grabbed it, landing safely on the ground.

Two down, three to go.

Following the capture of the second cat, I decided to go to the marketplace to try and pickup some clues.

Who knows? One might’ve smelled a fish stand. I myself could actually go for some calamari right now. But the mission takes precedence. But then again, having the smell of squid might help. Wait, do cats even eat squid? All I know is that I’m hungry.

While I was pondering whether or not I should use myself as a sort of smell-bait, I noticed an orange tail flick around a corner.

Alright, next target.

This one was going to be easy, or so I hoped. I had heard from the owner that his cat was extremely playful, so I was banking on it to be distracted by what I was about to do. I slowly approached it, keeping my distance until I got to within fifteen meters. From the jutsu description in the textbook, apparently that’s all I would need. I held my breath, and enacted the jutsu. Chakra strings released from my fingertips, and started waving wispily in the wind. The cat cautiously approached and started pawing at them. Then…it started rolling around and playing with the chakra strings it could reach.

Nice, it worked!

I slowly approached, and when I was close enough for the cat to finally notice me, I grabbed it in my arms, where it continued to play with the chakra strings.

More than halfway done already, maybe this’ll be easier than I thought! Although, to be honest, it hasn’t actually been that easy so far. I got lucky with the first cat, happened to be in a specifically suitable environment for the capture of the next one, and the third capture was entirely based on the cat’s personality. Still, I’ve done pretty well so far.

I dropped the cat off, and set off once again, searching for trouble of the feline variety.

Chakra: 235/250:

WC: 958

This was taking way too long.

After another couple hours of searching, I had managed to narrow the search area to a few likely spots. Places like shady, isolated spots, places with food, and anywhere near anyplace that might have catnip. Currently, I was sitting on a rooftop across from one of them, a grocery store that threw away its old food today. I had set up a couple of sheets with a tripwire around the food in the hope that I’d be able to nab something.

Animals like food, why would it pass on a free meal?

I waited for about thirty minutes before I decided to head to the next location, but at the last second, I saw one of my two target cats saunter into the alley, jumping on top of the garbage can.

Perfect.

I threw my kunai, and cut the tripwire, releasing the sheets. They flew in from all around the cat, snaring it in the trap’s many hastily set-up layers. I ran as quickly as I could towards it, and just managed to reach it by the time the cat could set itself free. I was feeling pretty good about this capture, but then I spotted it: A grey tail flick around the corner, disappearing from view. There was another cat here.

It would be foolish to try and chase after two cats at once. I’ve already got this one, it’s better to just ensure this cat’s return rather than potentially lose them both.

Gritting my teeth, I raced towards the drop-off point while keeping a firm, but not suffocating, grip on the cat. The client was there waiting for me, with a somewhat impatient look on her face.

I guess she must be a bit mad that I'm taking so long. I'll have to apologize later. Right now, I have to complete the mission. One more cat to go. I saw the direction it ran off to, so hopefully it didn’t turn too many corners since then.

I sprinted over Kirigakure’s rooftops as I tried to think of exactly where it could’ve gone, and to where it might be headed.

There it is, below me.

I jumped down, abandoning all semblance of stealth. I was tired, and all I wanted to do was catch the darn cat and get this freaking mission over and done with. The cat darted under a fence. I jumped over. The cat ran through a crowd’s legs. I sent chakra to my feet and ran on the walls. The cat jumped over a stream. I caught it in mid-air.

As I approached the drop-off point triumphantly, I heard the client’s voice.

“Oh, thank you so much for your help! Isn’t it amazing that my little Gurei returned to me all by his little bitty self? And who’s that little adorable thing you’ve got there?”

Wait, what?

I slowly looked down in horror at the cat still squirming in my hands. It was staring back up at me, clearly pretty angry.

I forgot to confirm a positive ID.

Now that I looked at it, I realized that this was nothing like the cat named Gurei in front of me. I had just captured a random cat.

Awkward…and after such a struggle to get it too…

After returning to put the cat where I found it (and getting quite a few scratches in return), I went home, put some salves on my wounds (with my mom laughing as I told her how I had gotten them), and reflected on the importance of verifying information before acting on it. I smiled as I lied on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Still, that was pretty fun for a mission. Being a ninja is certainly an interesting way to live a life.

Chakra: 230/250:

WC: 651
Total WC: 1609
850: Completing Mission w/ extra 100 words for 25 extra ryo for mission payout (Total 175 ryo reward)
750: Speed D->D-1
Remaining WC: 9