Nulden walked slowly towards the Tethys Grounds. They were usually a more interesting place in Kumogakure, where nothing much was ever that interesting. Here people could train and fight to their fullest desires. Here the land dipped in farther than most anywhere else in the village of the clouds. Beneath the Tethys Grounds there was a bed of lava that never failed to send chills up Nulden’s spine. Fire was scary, so by that logic lava must be terrifying. But what was scarier than that was the idea that he would allow his fear to stop him from completing a simple, D-rank, mission for the village he serves under.

There was apparently a man here being harassed. The man being harassed was an older traveller. The man harassing him was a younger bully who was apparently a local in the village. The elder man was said to be a beggar, that meant that he had enough problems already, and the mission didn’t really say whose side that Nulden had to take. Naturally he wanted to help the poor man, but there was also a sense of unity with a citizen of the village. He sat down on the ground, and propped his chin on his fist. He got strange looks from people who were just passing by that area. It was really not common place to sit on the ground in the middle of a crowded place, but that didn’t mean that he was harming anybody. After a good five minutes of nothing but uninterrupted thought Nulden decided that he would definitely be taking the beggar’s side.

While non-violent forms of making either men leave were listed in the mission, Nulden refused to degrade himself with belching or farting to make a point. He was a culinarian, if anything he had to at least be sanitary. There was also nothing listed about not being allowed to beat on either one of them. That alternative didn’t sound like a bad idea at all. It wouldn’t even be unsanitary if Nulden could refrain from hitting them hard enough to draw blood.

As Nulden approached he saw that the beggar had gone from begging for spare change and snacks to begging to be left alone. Denying such a simple request was disgusting. The bully looked very hungry, hungry for any form of attention. He was in luck, for it was Nulden’s job and obligation to serve happily. He would also serve the beggar, food.

Nulden remained silent as to observe the situation at hand to make sure that he hadn’t miscalculated while sitting on the ground. Quickly he saw that he had not been wrong about anything in this situation. As he approached the bully shoved the old man to the ground and yelled at him. He yelled, “This is where our water comes from! It must remain a clean place, and that is impossible with human filth hanging around it!” The beggar just sat there looking down in a sort of acknowledgment of what the boy had said to him.

The bully pulled back his fist and Nulden reached from behind and grabbed his arm before he could even push it a little bit forward for a punch. The boy quickly decided that he was going to be equally hateful and violent towards anybody who tried to stop his abuse of the poor elderly man. He swung around and went to kick and then froze up like a statue upon seeing Nulden’s headband. He was willing to torment normal citizens but he had no intentions on facing a real shinobi of Kumogakure in a fair fight. The bully started to shake a little in fear. “But his hand was so small and he grabbed my arm from so low down, and this guy really is a freaking munchkin, but is he really a ninja? Am I really about to fight a ninja?”

Instead of showing his fear and running like a sensible person he shook off Nulden’s hand and backed away a half a step before getting all up in Nulden’s face. He grinned from the side of his mouth and yelled at Nulden like he had the beggar. He screamed, “I swear, children like you are an abomination! Shinobi are the greatest protector’s of our village, pretending to be one is disgraceful!” Nulden responded by slowly reaching into his bag. The bully took a breath to scream at Nulden again but before he could do so he was stabbed in the side with a fork.
Feeling the difference in power between a normal person and even the lowest ranking civilian was far too much for the man. He ran off crying and holding his gut, only a little bit of blood on the wound. Nulden quickly cleaned off his fork before putting it back in the box in the bag on his pants. The beggar started to laugh before he realized Nulden was smiling at him. The man didn’t know if he wanted some form of payment or if Nulden was smiling because he just really enjoyed to beat people up with silverware.

Nulden quickly reached out his hand. The beggar flinched but soon saw that there was no reason to. Two large loaves of bread appeared in the man’s hands. He open his eyes and went to thank Nulden but he was already taking off. He had remembered that he was standing on top of liquid fire. No thanks was worth sticking around for any more of that.

chakra:

Spoiler:

[EXIT]
(word count: 918/600)

Paid out.