Mission:

Sunadokei had arrived at the Mission Assignment Desk rather early today, the sun still rising in the morning sky. Everyone seemed rather sleepy, sipping their coffee or tea, going about their morning as slowly as they could muster. It was a bit like the whole village just wanted to go back to bed. Not Sunadokei though, for once she wasn't the lazy one. The reality of the situation is it had been one of her younger cousin's birthdays yesterday. True to their name, that meant the Akimichi clan had gathered for a large feast. As was tradition the birthday boy got to pick the main course, so they had collectively dined on roast boar. It had been an evening of food and dance, celebrating and revelry. There was no feast like an Akimichi feast. But as the sun grew low in the sky the children had gone to bed early while the adults, now deep in their sake cups, sat around the fires to swap stories and play card games.

Normally, Sunadokei would be the first to join them. She was no longer a teenager, now a young woman in her early twenties she more than considered herself an adult. And while she'd have loved to listen to her father and uncles sitting around swapping stories of their latest heroic exploits, deep in enemy territory or dispatching dangerous criminals, Sunadokei had done something extremely rare. She had eaten too much. There was full, there was Sunadokei full, and there was this. The woman practically felt like she was in her Human Bullet Tank technique just sitting at the table, severely bloated and wondering if she'd regret her decisions. The birthday cake had been so good, but perhaps eight pieces was one too many. As she relaxed the sash on her kimono, she still felt like a balloon ready to pop. So Sunadokei had made the prudent choice to head to bed early, to lie very still and get over her indigestion while she digested more than her fair share of the feast.

True to her kekkei genkai, Sunadokei had done just that over the evening. Enough food to feed several grown men digested rapidly, converted into calories and stored lovingly in the kunoichi's already more than ample curves. Sunadokei awake feeling slimmer, refreshed, and several millimeters more curvaceous than the night prior. All those calories were giving her boundless energy this morning, and she felt like she could take on the world. The same couldn't be said of her parents, who were notably hungover during the clan breakfast. She refrained from commenting on it, both to spare herself from her mother's sharp tongue but also because she herself was a lightweight among Akimichi. Their tolerance to alcohol was legendary, and while Sunadokei could drink any of her peers under the table, the same could not be said sitting at the table with the senior members of the Akimichi household.

Sunadokei finished her breakfast, polishing off her third plate before rising from her seat. "Breakfast was delicious mom. I hope you feel better soon." She told her motherly sweetly, offering to gathering up the dirty dishes and deposit them in the sink in the monstrous kitchen that stood adjacent to the dining hall of the Akimichi estate.

Her mother, Kikyō Akimichi, just nodded her head appreciably, the bags under her eyes evident from a poor night's rest. "Thank you honey. You know that means a lot to me. Give me a hug before you head out." Sunadokei rolled her eyes, but made no effort to protest the request, it was her mother after all. Sunadokei leaned in and accepted her mother's loving embrace. Her father boasted his daughter had thankfully inherited her mother's looks, not his. Like her daughter, Kikyō Akimichi was an exceptionally curvaceous woman. Though she lacked the height and build of her daughter, which came from her father's side. As a result Sunadokei had actually grown taller than her mother by several inches, but still always felt small and safe squished lovingly against her mother's hug.

Kikyō kissed her daughter on the forehead, she wasn't wearing her forehead protector yet. Instead it sad idly on the table next to the rest of her gear. "Oh yes, one more thing Suna. We burned through quite a few things at Choga's party yesterday. I wrote up a list, it's not groceries, just herbs, spices, that sort of thing. Could you swing by that specialty shop I like on the way home and pick these up? It'd mean a lot to me." As she spoke the elder Akimichi woman withdrew the list from a pocket on her robes.

She didn't have to ask twice, as Sunadokei took the list in hand, eyeballed it quickly, then tucked it away in her cleavage for safekeeping. "Suna! Don't do that, it's unladylike!" Her mother protested, raising her voice slightly. Sunadokei's father Makaro, ears already ringing from a very hard night and a mighty hangover, looked like he wanted to die. He lowered his head and tried to distract himself with his meal while the women in his family argued.

"Hey! You were doing it first, I learned it from you." Sunadokei retorted back, pointing a finger at her mother's chest.

"Why... I never." Kikyō snapped back, covering her bust with her arms and blushing heavily.

"Yes you do mother. You do it all the time, where do you think I picked it up?" Sunadokei snapped back, crossing her arms folded beneath her own massive bust.

Her mother opened her mouth to reply, but her husband spoke first. His voice loud, but clearly very tired. "You really do darling. Suna didn't fall far from the apple tree, don't try to act like you were some kind of priestess growing up." Makaro's expression was painted with a wide smile, a shit eating grin. He know he'd take a verbal thrashing from his loving wife for what he just said. But sometimes it was forth it to embarrass one family member in front of the others. That was a father's job after all.

"MAKARO!" Sunadokei's mother snapped back at her husband. He just snickered, his wife could do as she liked, he had already one. She looked so flustered, eventually Kikyō just gave up and stomped off to the kitchen to begin doing the dishes. She tended to distance herself from arguments by doing housework, the matriarch of the Akimichi household was usually the more level headed of Sunadokei's parents.

Sunadokei meanwhile, was gathering up her things for the day. Securing her forehead protector, strapping her kunai knives to her hips and thighs, and of course grabbing a snack for later. She looked at her father, mirroring his grin. "Mom's gonna kill you dad, you know that." She teased, jabbing her father playfully in the shoulder.

"Yeah... I know. She can try. The White Mountain Warlords couldn't kill me, I'll be damned if I let my wife do it." He joked back, slowly rising from his seat. The man was a veritable mountain, a dense wall of muscle and fat that towered two feet over his eldest daughter. Makaro held his dishes in one hand and wrapped his trunk like arm around his daughter's slender shoulders, giving Sunadokei a brief hug. "She'll be fine. I'll go take my lumps and offer to do the dishes for her. That should get me out of the doghouse... I hope." Makaro did not sound convinced, but he and his wife had been married nearly thirty years now. Clearly he was making something work.

"Love you dad." Sunadokei said from beneath her father's crushing embrace. Makaro regularly forgot his own strength.

"More than you love food?" Her father teased back, releasing his hug. He couldn't help but crack stupid jokes to embarrass his daughter. She was in far too good of a mood though, and playfully jabbed him in the arm again.

"Sometimes." Sunadokei said with a grin, to which her father feigned a pained expression. It was a long running joke among the Akimichi family members. Your love for another waxed and wanes, but your love for food is forever.

"Oh yeah, one more thing Suna. If you see that lazy fool Yami Nara when you head to the Administration Building, tell him I'll need an extra day before we head out. He won't say no, I can practically hear him jumping back into bed just thinking about it." Yami Nara was the head of the Nara clan, old allies of the Akimichi, and the second clan of the fabled Ino-Shika-Cho combination. As such, he was already a member of her father's lifelong squad and a dear friend. Sunadokei presumed they must have some mission of their own they were making preparations for. Nara's were lazy by nature, and although he set a good example, the head of their clan was never one to turn down an offer to procrastinate or nap.

"Will do dad. Good luck with mom, and for the record you were right." Sunadokei added, gathering the last of her things and heading out the door. There was a spring in her step as she bounded out the gates of her clan estate and into the streets as the village collectively rose from its slumber. It didn't take long to reach the Administration Building, though Yami Nara was nowhere in sight. Oh well, her father could meet up with him on his own time. Sunadokei though to herself, as she took her place in line for assignment. By the time it was her turn her spirits were uncrushably high.

"Akimichi, Sunadokei. Genin... D-Rank, Taijutusu and Ninjutsu specializations." The Jōnin proctor rattled off her credentials from his dossier, rifling through his paperwork looking for her mission scroll. "Looks like we've got another D-Rank assignment for you kid, sorry about that." A slight frown formed at the corner's of the woman's mouth, but she told herself it couldn't be that bad. "Mail delivery service. Tough luck, at least you'll get it done quick I'm sure." The proctor handed over the mission scroll, Sunadokei could practically feel her heart break. She was heiress to the Akimichi line, why was she always getting saddled with the lowliest of assignments? It wasn't fair, but she was far too respectful to ever protest.

Instead Sunadokei just took the scroll in hand, skimming its contents quickly before rolling it up and tucking it into her cleavage alongside her mother's shopping list. "Thank you, I'll see to it that my task is done as swiftly as possible." She gave a short bow, before turning to depart. Now she was the one that wanted to go back to bed. Sunadokei knew the routine well enough for mail courier work. The main village post office was on the ground floor of the Administration Building, report there for your route and your mail. They'd give her a temporary badge and a courier's bag, and expect everything back by their closing time.

So Sunadokei reluctantly made her way back through the building. Still no sign of the Nara clan leader, oh well. The postal director got her sorted out quickly. Three letters was all they had for her this early in the morning. Well, that was a relief. Too bad they were all marked priority. This wouldn't be so bad, Sunadokei thought to herself, until she paid closer attention to the addresses listed. They were almost perfectly on opposite corners of the city. She'd practically need to travel to all four corners, considering even the closest stop was a good ways from the Administration Building. She silently cursed whatever gods were listening, was this their way of telling her she needed to lose weight? Well it wouldn't work, not today anyways.

Angry at the state of the universe, Sunadokei stopped at the small cafe in the building's main lobby. She ordered herself a dozen muffins of assorted varieties, had them put in a to-go bag, and was out the building. Eating the first of many muffins less out of hunger and more out of anger, Sunadokei inspected the first letter. It was assigned to one Lee Sin, and his address put him on the western edge of the city. Sunadokei tucked the letter into her favorite pillowy storage compartment, and was running across rooftops mere moments later. Muffin in hand, taking bites between lips as she made her way westwards.

Fifteen minutes later and the curvaceous kunoichi was getting close to Lee's address. She didn't come to this part of the village often, and had to stop a few times to check street corners and reorient herself. "5206... West Shikomuro street... Ha, there it is!" She said aloud to herself, spotting the address. Her muffins had long since been devoured, and her jog across the city was already hard at work burning off the calories. She leapt across the street, landing with a jiggle only a few steps from the man's door. He didn't have a mailbox, but the small slit on the door would do just fine. Sunadokei deposited her letter, checking that off her list and retrieving the next one from between her bust.

She furrowed her brow, this letter was quite literally addressed to the opposite end of the village. She stuck it back and tried the other one. This was more reasonable, the second letter was more southernly. She could make a crude loop around the city and end up back near the Administration Office in a reasonable amount of time. "Alright mister Donny Yen, you're next..." Sunadokei said to herself, before getting her bearings and taking off to the southeast. Another boring jaunt across half the village, now unfortunately everyone seemed to be waking up. She passed bakeries making their morning bread and the smells had her mouth watering. She willed herself not to stop and waste time buying another snack. Priority mail meant as soon as possible, and she would not let herself get a reputation as the Akimichi that put food before work.

Half an hour passed and Sunadokei was getting close to her second destination. This was turning out to be quite the workout, and she was glad she'd bought those muffins for a little boost in energy. Looking over the letter, Sunadokei quickly found mister Yen's apartment. "Donny is a weird first name..." She thought to herself, perhaps he was a foreigner. It was rude to judge others as such, but she couldn't help it sometimes. Donny Yen lived in a large apartment bloc, so all Sunadokei had to do was step into the lobby and find the mail cubicles. She found his apartment number, deposited her letter, and crossed it off her list.

"Two down one to go." She informed the letter, looking it over for her final address. It was addressed to one Leng Kei, and his address damn near put him butting up against the eastern village wall. Sunadokei knew that district, lots of blacksmiths and metalworkers. She wondered if this mister Kei was one, but the sound of a candy bar striking the tray of a vending machine distracted her thoughts. Sunadokei turned to see a man getting himself a bag of peanuts, and decided she could do with a quick pit stop. A bathroom break, trip to the drinking found, and a half dozen candy bars later and she was set to go. Still munching the last of her treats the Akimichi took to the air, leaping effortlessly over the apartment block rooftops.

Another forty five minutes of traversing the city ensued, Sunadokei could certainly say she was getting her steps in for the day. Being adept at Taijutsu did have its perks, and her speed and endurance were paying off in spades. "Honestly I could do this all day." She told herself between leaps. "But... I'd die of boredom." She added, eager to be done with her task as quickly as possible either way. The border wall of the village loomed in the distance, and the address in question was no home at all. Sunadokei's hunch had been correct, and Leng Kei did indeed work in the metal forging business. The letter led her to Leng & Sons Swordsmiths, and she stepped inside the smoke forge into a waiting room of sorts.

"Hello ma'am, anything we can get for you? Katana, Nodachi, Odachi? You look like a Nodachi kind of girl if you ask me." The young man at the counter said, not even waiting to see what she had to say first.

"Oh, do I? Big sword for a buxom beauty... you're quite the salesman. But... I'll sleep on it." She gave the young man at the counter a teasing wink, and slid the last letter out of her bust. "You're quite the salesman, but I'm not really here for business. Letter for Mister Leng Kei, I trust you can get it to him?" She asked as she handed the letter over to the man at the counter.

"Get it to him? Ha, he's my dad. He's in the back." The young smith added, pointing to a door at his right. "I'll give it to the old man right after you leave. It's probably from one of our more... financially secure customers."

"Oh... I see." Sunadokei said, feigning interest. "Well, that's just perfect for me either way. Have a nice day then sir, I've sadly got more letters to deliver. I'll think on the sword though." The Akimichi woman lied as she slipped her way out the door. Not a big lie, more of a white one. While that was her last letter she still had to report back to the post office. The sword however, she'd sleep on that one. Most of her clan fought with Bo-staffs, though there was no rule that said she couldn't get something else.

With her letters delivered Sunadokei felt a small weight lifted from her shoulders. Another mission completed, well, almost completed, without issue. Another notch on her flawless record. She had had to get back and turn everything in. Then she could stop somewhere nice for lunch, treat herself to a big meal with her mission payment, and swing by her mother's favorite herb shop to pick up the things on her shopping list. All in all, not a bad start to the day.

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(Thread Exit)
Word Count: 3,150
D-Rank Mission: 750/750
Doubled Ryo: 600/600
Element Training:
Doton from S to Legendary: 1,505/6,000+1,800=3,305

Remaining Word Count: 3,150-750-600-1,800=0