Mission: Patrol Duty (C-rank):

Patrol duty: for some it was a chore, something that they hated to do, but for Zaylee it was honestly interesting and a learning experience. There was a slew of activity within any village that only happened at night, and by being assigned a shift that would start at eleven in the late hours of the evening and run until seven o’clock in the morning she was going to be privy to all sorts of dealings that were going on - or, nothing at all depending on how quiet things might or might not be. While many would have questioned Zaylee’s motives as to why a girl of only thirteen years old wanted to know the nightly dealings of a village, Zaylee had her own reasons that she hadn’t really bothered sharing. It wasn’t that she was a budding criminal looking to get a piece of the action or anything, but more because she often felt that people who gave their reports to the Raikage did so with ulterior motives. It might have sounded a bit paranoid, but Zaylee had been taught from a young age not to trust anyone blindly. Therefore, being able to experience and see things for herself would mean that her father got a more accurate report of what was going on, compared to someone else who might have just let things slide, ignored it entirely, or whom were too blind to really see what was going on.

Given the lateness of her shift her lunch-time training with her grandmother had been postponed, moved to the next evening after she had gotten some much needed sleep. As much of a tyrant as her grandmother could be with her training - and she used the term lovingly - her grandmother also did understand the concept of duty and Zaylee’s reasonings behind so willingly accepting a shift that would trash her sleep schedule for several days. Zaylee had goals in her young life, none of which revolved around one day taking on the position that her father held, but rather ensuring his safety and security within that position. It was not an easy road, and it was certainly a long one, and Zaylee’s grandmother understood that she would need all the experience she could get which sometimes would mean having to rearrange training schedules to fit in the missions she needed to accomplish along the way. Of course, her grandmother wasn’t going to let her get out of the training entirely free: the time that they were supposed to train had been increased by some three or four hours just to ensure that Zaylee wasn’t trying to use the missions as a means to slack off. It would be a long and brutal session, but she wasn’t one to complain: in fact she found herself looking forward to it as her grandmother always pushed her beyond her limitations while showing her how to continue to work flawlessly through it all. It was difficult, but for Zaylee it was fun.

So, Zaylee had crashed around noon that day after drinking some herbal tea her mother had made for her to help her sleep for a while, and had woken up at eight. After a shower, Zaylee had gotten dressed in what was becoming her usual attire: a black tunic-style shirt with sleeves that were billowy until they got to her elbow where they became slim and sleek until they stopped at her hands, a pair of white-ish shorts worn over top dark grey leggings, blue boot socks, and black boots. Her hair was properly brushed with her bangs pinned to the side, and then scrolls filled with weapons hidden in various places on her person: not that she hoped she would get a chance to use them. Satisfied and with her ninja ID on her, she had headed downstairs to enjoy a late bit of supper, her plate having been placed aside for her before everyone else had sat down to eat some two hours previous. Once finished eating she had washed her plate and then relaxed around the house, chilling in the living room and talking to her brother, grandmother, and parents for a while until it was time to go. Grabbing her waist length hooded cloak from a hook near the door she had donned it and after saying goodnight to her family had stepped outside.

She was aware of the meeting point she was to go to, where there was to be a superior handing out the patrol assignments and pairing people up, and so it was that direction that she headed with her usual agile quickness, choosing to take to the rooftops despite the mostly empty streets as it was more comfortable to her and gave her more of a higher view of the village as she traveled. She found herself wondering what route she would be assigned to, if she would be given a partner, and what if any sort of trouble she might face for the night when she spotted the group in question and made her way down to them, landing lightly upon the ground and making her way over.

She didn’t have to wait long, that much was a good thing, before she was paired with a boy named Shiro and given their assigned route. Of course, things immediately started out on the wrong foot considering Shiro’s superiority complex and the fact that he was four years older than her. “So what we’ll do is split up. Walking the streets will be easy enough and we can catch people doing whatever it is they’re doing.”, the Genin spoke, his voice filled with superiority, as if he knew the best plan and expected no arguments about it.

“There are two problems wrong with that plan.”, Zaylee spoke simply before continuing on, keeping her voice level and hiding the irritation she was already beginning to feel. “One, if we split up and the other needs help there is no way of communicating. Secondly, being down in the streets will not give us any cover advantage, which would make it actually harder to spot someone doing something wrong considering most people are smart enough to try and hide any criminal or dark dealings if they see someone else approaching. We should stick together, each take a side of the street, and keep to the rooftops where there’s plenty of shadows and coverage since the moon is dark this evening. That will allow us to keep an eye on the entire street, from a vantage point where we cannot be seen quite so easily, but also allow us to be close enough to one another in case we stumble across a situation we’re otherwise incapable of handling alone.” Her words baffled Shiro, but she had expected as such. Zaylee had been trained by powerful shinobi, and this was by no means her first situation where danger could possibly present itself: her father had put her in charge on missions far above her skill level simply for moments like this where she needed to be able to take charge to keep anything stupid from happening.

Shiro seemed annoyed, but he nodded sharply in agreement, though Zaylee kept an eye on him and the way he had his fists clenched as they took to the rooftops as she had suggested and began making their way to the street they were assigned to patrol. It was definitely a long night, the pair moving back and forth along the route they were assigned to, thankfully far enough away from one another where idle conversation could not happen - Shiro put a bad taste in her mouth, and she didn’t want to speak to him anymore than she had to beyond basic communication to keep a tab on what the other was seeing and doing and vice versa.

One hour turned into two, then three and four passed slowly, finally, as it neared seven o’clock and the sun began to rise Zaylee knew their task was coming to an end. Sadly, nothing out of the ordinary had happened beyond an Academy student out alone past curfew, but their simply arrival briefly into the street had sent the kid back home to his parents without hesitation or an argument. Nothing else had been amiss, and in a way Zaylee was sad about it: she would have nothing more than a boring report to tell her father, as well as an update on the Genin named Shiro and the plan the boy had come up with. Some would have considered it a child tattling to a parent about what someone had done wrong, but for Zaylee it went deeper than that. If these were the kinds of plans Shiro came up with then he wouldn’t last long as a Genin, and would end up dying before his first rank up. By informing those above her of what was going on Shiro stood a chance on getting help and being shown the right way to do things, so for Zaylee it was more than just trying to get him into trouble, but rather trying to get him some help so that he could improve on the knowledge he already had and hopefully survive to an old age.

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