Spoiler:

The day seemed to be quite hot as people around him were sweating to no end. It didn’t phase him as it did others as he passed by unbother. A black hood covered his crimson hair. His arms exposed to the sun’s rays licking at his pale skin and Hatake tattoo. The day was pretty much like any other day regardless of the fact that he was to complete a mission. Pledging his loyalties to Kiri wasn’t a mistake as he thought it may have been at first. There had been many things that he found interest in his new village. There had been quite a few things he discovered that he may not have if he would have continued to wander the shinobi world aimlessly. The realization that he was quite skilled in the art of iryo ninjutsu made him quite curious of what he truly was capable of. It wasn’t something he truly wanted to pick up. Though with his body the way it was, the skill came in pretty handy. There wasn’t a true reason he really needed to go to the doctor anymore outside of getting advice on medical skills. The feeling he would of had would be a feeling of gratitude, but there was no emotion emanating from him.

Only cold silence could be perceived by those who passed him. No one truly knew who he was or so he thought. His clansmen hadn’t really introduced him to other shinobi. His performance at the chuunin exams didn’t seem to make people speak to him. Occasionally, little kids would look in awe as their parents would pull them tighter. It wasn’t like they owed him anything. Samuru had pretty much figured his way around the mass of islands on his own. Though he was curious about the Osada Manor. There wasn’t much information that he could scrounge up. The fact that it was supposed to be inhabited by spiders somewhat intrigued him. He wondered what research could be performed or what kind of internal anatomy did they have. Samuru thought that he could probably try and create a poison from their venom. Maybe he could find out the effects the poison would have on humans or other biological creatures. It wasn’t like time wasn’t available to him except for now. Samuru had a mission that he needed to accomplish.

The mission that he was set on wasn’t of his own choosing, but he didn’t think that it would be too much of a problem. The mission wasn’t that simple. He was to collect taxes from some serf’s of the local nobility. Samuru was pretty much given free reign over how he should handle things. It was a given that killing any of the framers would as well be a mission fail. Roughing up a few farmers wouldn’t be beyond him. There was always an uncertain with these kind of missions. He hadn’t been to this location before and it was good chance to stretch his legs a bit. Samuru had been given about three mules and a large cart to put the stuff on. The mules were of course stubborn and would occasionally buck and haw in retaliation. Samuru would give a couple of cracks of the whip to straighten them out. There wasn’t even a need to actually hit them. The sound itself was able to keep them inline.

The mission would have been better if he had a partner, but the mission was only a C-rank. It was suitable for a shinobi of his caliber. The exams helped him understand what his limits were and where he needed to improve. It had been some time since he broke his limits, but learning new skills and developing new techniques worked in his favor. He wasn’t disheartened about dropping out of the exams when he did. His opponent was just outclassed him. That was a mistake that he wasn’t willing to repeat. There were plenty of things that he tried to improve himself on, but sometimes you couldn’t do everything on your own. Samuru had always been a loner and it wasn’t until recently that he being around others could make you stronger. Though, it would not stop him from seeking out power for himself.

The cart slowly started to peak around the curved dirt road. There was a small mass of what he expected to be living quarters that stood alone in a semicircle. A barn stood tall at the bottom of the hill. A large plain of fields that sat upon a hill. The landscape was strange and he figured that the serfs would walk uphill to work everyday and down hill to the barn. It wasn’t his problem. They should have surveyed the land better than they did. The work they did was obviously D-rank level work. It caused him to question if that was truly worth living to do. He also wondered how much they grew every year. Looking at the crops, they mostly planted corn and potatoes. This matched up with the information that was given to him. He quickly looked at the list and the amount of the crops they were supposed to provide. A simple grunt came from his throat as he pulled the mules to a stop near the barn. The serfs gave him feared looks as he stepped off the cart as he grabbed his axe and placed in it’s leather strapping. It was a small group that came forth as others stayed in the fields. The group wasn’t interesting in anyway. They looked poor and somewhat desperate.

The redheaded shinobi was approached by a teenager that looked to be about fifteen years of age or so. The dark haired young man met him halfway from the cart Samuru arrived in. The young man didn’t say anything at first, but simply twisted his hat anxiously. Samuru waited a moment before he would say anything. The shinobi wasn’t sure if he should speak first or not. The serfs seemed to already know what he was there for and he didn’t think that it was necessary to explain himself. After about a full two minutes with him looking down at the boy, he decided to break the silence. Samuru already knew the look that the boy possessed. It was the same look he saw when he was a criminal. The look that the “innocent” gave when they were going to make an excuse. This was wasting his time. Life was short and he didn’t want to spend the rest of it looking at the kid.

“You, I’m here to collect taxes your people owe. Load up the cart so I can be on my way.”

“We don’t have enough to give. The heavy rains had flooded out most of what we would have sold.”

“Does it look like I care. Give me what you owe.” he demanded in a tone to insight fear.

“I’m sor…”

The boy found himself on the ground as a few individuals from the group started to rush to the boys aid. Samuru held up his hand to keep them from coming any closer. The backhand the boy received was the only response Samuru had for the moment. The task was a simplistic one. Only thing they needed to do was give up the crops they owed. Samuru didn’t want to wait around much longer. The redheaded shinobi picked up the boy by his collar and lifted him off the ground. The boy was startled and slightly confused. Fear caused him to tremble. Samuru cared not what happened to them. He knew that he wasn’t going to enjoy any of this. Not that he knew what pleasure was anyway. In his past, he would have easily found this boy at the opposite end of his axe. Though, he was now officially part of a shinobi village. His methods would have to change to make sure he wasn’t facing punishment for his actions. He did just swear loyalty afterall.

“Boy, don’t try my patience. Just get the job done and live to see another day. I don’t have time for pointless squalor. Kapeesh?”

“We’ll get it done.”

Two other serfs went to help the boy off the ground as Samuru dropped him. Samuru walked away and went to check up on the mules as the other serfs started to scramble around. He was going to wait until the serfs loaded up the cart themselves. Though, Samuru was curious about the layout of the land. He began to start walking the perimeter of the land to attempt to make time pass faster. There wasn’t much to look at. He wasn’t too familiar with corn. Potatoes were pretty standard for him back in the Land of Demons. It was a starch that was easily grown and could almost be grown anywhere. The land was sizeable, but he couldn’t see why they were causing a fuss over the crops. The potatoes seemed to be growing find, but the corn seemed sort of dead. He figured that the corn did get overwatered, but it was still no excuse. The serfs looked like they had been doing this for a few generations. There was no way that overhead showers would simply kill their crop. The weather was like this almost all of the time or so he was told. There should have been a better way that they could have utilize their fields. The answer he was looking for was simplistic. These serfs were incompetent.

This place was truly dull. Samuru looked down the hill as he noticed a few of the serfs finish loading the cart. Looking up at the sky, he attempted to see about the time it was. From what he could tell, it was around two in the afternoon. It was definitely time for him to leave this place of incompetence. Samuru made his way down to the wagon while checking his list again. It was important to make sure of the volume he was to bring back was correct. The villager loaded up one last sack of potatoes unwillingly as they stepped away from him as he approached the wagon. Samuru hopped into the wagon and checked every piece of cargo that was there. Everything looked to be accounted for. The mission could have gone a lot smoother if they only complied. He never understood why people had to get roughed up to do what he wanted.

“How hard was it to do this from the start? If I ever have to come here again and repeat myself, I’m going to start breaking fingers. Hmm.. maybe even lopping off heads. Don’t let it happen again.”

Samuru cracked the whip twice trying to get the mules to move forward. He had a half of a mind to destroy one of their living quarters. Though, that may have caused more harm than needed. The villagers looked like they were going to freakout. He didn’t care. The mission was pretty much completed. Dropping the crops off was all that was left. While he traveled, he thought of different suturing methods and ways to sedate patients without physically inflicting damage.

1906

[Thread Exit/Mission Completed]

1500/1500: Mission
400/400: 100 extra ryo

6 unused