Kyo always wondered why she got landed with such menial tasks. She was a Special Jounin, for God's sake. She was supposed to be almost on par with the elite of Konoha. She was the leader of the Senju Clan and a rather powerful shinobi, in her humble opinion. She was a master of Wood Release and an expert of Fuuinjutsu. She wasn't someone that the average shinobi would dare to trifle with. But she was still at the mercy of the Hokage's whim, as was every other idiot in Konoha. Kyo sighed heavily. At least she was basically being paid to walk. That wasn't difficult at all. And the young kunoichi had to learn money somehow, right? The money that her parents had left behind wouldn't last her forever. And she couldn't exactly just leech off of the other Senju, despite being at the head of the clan. The way she saw it, though, she was more of a figurehead than anything else. The elders didn't quite trust the nineteen year old with any important decisions yet. She had faith that they eventually would, once she had proven herself to be a formidable kunoici, but she was in no hurry for that.

In any case, Kyo Senju was currently landed with the task of escorting an old merchant to one of the neighboring villages. She was told that the trip would take about two days in total. She sighed once more. She had never been much of a social person and was, quite frankly, trying her best to ignore the old man. He was constantly showing her the goods he sold and explaining what they were good for and their multiple uses. He stopped every time he saw anything remotely shiny so that he could pick it up, give it a name and sell it as something precious with properties that could do just about anything that he made up. It made Kyo want to bash her head against a tree repeatedly. However, she kept her seemingly emotionless composure and was nice enough to answer him whenever he addressed her. Of course, her answers were blunt and short and left little to no room for conversation. But then again, that was just the way that Kyo was. It wasn't anything personal, which she had explained to the old man several times already. He had stated that he would complain to the Hokage - Takao Kimura - if Kyo kept this behavior. The young woman only shrugged and kept walking.

There were several other people escorting the old merchant. It was a sort of caravan. Some were armed and on guard while others were simply in charge of carrying around the merchandise. It made Kyo wonder why, exactly, she had been hired. Despite the fact that the man guarding the caravan weren't shinobi, they looked like they could fend off petty thieves and the like. So far, all Kyo had done was stab a wold using her sprigs cutting technique to keep it from mauling on one of the men in charge of carrying the goods. This earned her some favor with the old man, who then proceeded to ask her how shinobi techniques worked and how and why she had the abilities that she had. Kyo gave a short and comprehensive explanation in her very dry and humorless tone of voice. The man seemed interested still and refused to take the obvious hint: Kyo didn't get along with people.

He then went on to try and sell kyo a pair of kunai that were blunt and rusted, saying that they were the best quality in the entire Land of Fire. Kyo pointed out that they weren't. She told him how old and rusted they looked, to which the old man, once again, didn't take too kindly. To illustrate her point, she launched one of the blunt weapons at a tree with all her strength. Had it been a normal kunai, it would have pierced the tree several inches. This one, instead, bounced off of it harmlessly. The man claimed that Kyo simply lacked strength and then proceeded to try and sell her a tonic that would bring out her innermost potential if she kept drinking it once a day for two years. Kyo simply ignored him this time, shooting a glare in his direction and heading towards the head of the caravan. The young woman resolved to simply state that she lacked money and leave it at that the next time he tried to offer her something.

In brief, this was going to be a long day. For a brief moment, she thought that she would rather be landed in the middle of a family dinner with the Uchiha, but then thought better of it. At least in this scenario, she had a very good chance of escaping unscathed. Still, that didn't mean that this wasn't something akin to torture. In Kyo's perspective, the mere thought of being surrounded by people was a nuisance, especially people of this kind. When nightfall came, Kyo decided to set camp for the caravan and the old man, using some of her wood techniques. It wouldn't take long, after all. All she had to do was form a couple of hand signs and something akin to a small village would sprout from the ground. It was nothing difficult, really. She chose not to sleep that night, so that she would properly do her job. She had gone several days without sleep before. This wouldn't be much in comparison. She spent almost the entire night twirling a kunai in her hand. Nothing eventful would come to pass, except for a couple of wolves and bears that Kyo proceeded to drive away from the camp with little effort.

The following day, they arrived at the small village where the merchant planned on setting shop for a while. Kyo sighed, finally freeing herself of the annoying man. Kyo being Kyo, didn't even bother to say goodbye or wish him well in his endeavors. She simply turned around and headed back to Konoha where she would resume her training and hope to God that she would get a more exciting mission the next time she went on an assignment.

[Word Count: 1042/1000]