Chiba played with the plate newly seen into his right sleeve. He was still unaccustomed to its weight, having been a genin for only a short while. It was unlike him to fidget, but it was the best way for him to gather enough information as to remove the annoyance of the added weight and stiffness. At least it added another pocket for him to hold his tools.

Everything has its uses. He knew this all too well. Even the mission he was heading towards had its practicality. Rescuing a cat from a tree may seem trivial to most ninja, but to him it was a chance to get to know Iwa better. It'd also give him a chance to practice his Supernatural Walking.

He found the old woman's home easily. It was marked clearly on the mission flyer he had taken upon accepting the mission. He approached calmly and confidently. He knew he was up to the task at hand. He knocked clearly, and greeted her appropriately when she opened the door, "hello, ma'am. My name is Chiba Shogo, a newly appointed genin to Iwa. I saw your mission flyer, and am eager to be of assistance."
She stared at him a few moments before abruptly demanding "why are you here jibber-jabbering when my precious cat is trapped up a tree? Don't bother me until you have him." With that, she shut the door in his face.

"Odd behavior is often excused in women, particularly erratic emotional responses", he recalled reading from one of his older scrolls. Granted, it was outdated and referred to the reason women were not trained to be ninja, but that is most likely what is happening here. Women must have calmed down greatly since then, as none of his female classmates ever conducted themselves like that.

Turning to the house with the offending dog, Chiba started the retrieval of the cat. The dog, though chained up, was looking purposefully back behind the house. Chiba figured that to be the direction the cat must have gone if the dog is so interested in it.

Walking behind the houses, he is quick to spot a large tree. The leaves prevented him from seeing any evidence of the cat, but that didn't mean it wasn't up there. Moving to the base of the trunk, he made his was around, inspecting not the branches above, but the trunk at hand.

Quickly he saw what he was looking for. Claw marks along the trunk, too high to belong to the dog out front. The only problem was that there were more ths one set. In fact, from the look if things, this happened a minimum of once a week.

Sighing at the realization, Chiba started the ever more familiar flow of chakra to his feet. He began walking easily up the side of the trunk. Controlling chakra along his body was something that he'd studied hard to accomplish, and he was more than confident that he would manage.

As he walked easily up the tree, he searched for signs of the old lady's cat. Nearing the topmost branches, he finally saw the scared face peaking over the side of a branch. He aproached slowly, extending both hands to the frightened animal. It sniffed his fingers cautiously before allowing him to pet it. As it calmed under his touch, he carefully lifted it from its perch, and pulled it close to his body.

It almost immediately snuggled up to him, purring at the relief of being rescued. As he turned to descend, however, it panicked, digging claws into every part of him, and digging its way into his shirt through the neck, where it shook in fear, it's eyes peaking out at the world below.

Chiba only began his descent, trying to find a way to hold the cat so it would not scratch him any further. As the two of them nearer the ground, the cat lept from his shirt, scratching him several more times as it made its clumsy escape and ran ip to the house in which It belonged.

Chiba knocked as the cat wound around his feet. When the door opened, the old lady scowled at him. "What is it this time?" She croaked out.

Pointing down to indicate the cat, Chiba said nothing. The scroll he'd recalled had warned him; "when a woman is in this state of mind, it is best to engage as little as possible." Seeing as this was obviously the woman the words had been referring to, he thought it best to not engage over manners. When she didn't follow where he was pointed, he chose his words carefully, "I found your cat."

In the blink of an eye, her demeanor changed. Spewing babytalk, she swooped down, picked up the poor creature, and vanished into the house.

Hardly offended, Chiba unpocketed his book, and went on his way.