Daraku's assignment for the day was an important one. Well, not important by his standards, it was just some small village or something, but he cared about the ryo. The sand under his feet swished with every step as he headed out of Sunagakure no Sato, headed for the town near the coastal border of Kaze no Kuni. The sword on his hip glistened in its black glory under the blazing sun as he read his objective from the mission details. It was going to be manageable; he had to stop these pirate guys from destroying the village by trapping them along with the little citizens. How cute. He'd much rather kill them and loot their bodies, but any stray currency he could obtain from their corpses would only be a fraction of the reward for the mission, so he sighed and stuck to the task.

Within an hour, the steady-eyed shinobi had arrived at the coast; it was quite a beautiful beach, still devoid of any plant life like the rest of the country, but the water crashing against the intense sand made for quite the view. He walked along the edge, splashing in the water to cool off his feet, when he saw the town come into view. It was unimpressive, like a blotch on the perfect sands of the border. What a waste of nature, spent on some crappy civilians that didn't even do an effort to integrate into Sunagakure. He already hated all of them, but what he felt had nothing to do with what he was obligated with. He entered the gate, walking down a straight street path until he reached a huge mass of villagers, all scrambling like maggots. "Hey! Calm the hell down! I'm here, I'm here." Everyone turned to face him as he said this; some with looks of gratitude and some with resentful glares.

Daraku cleared the distance between himself and the civilians, and greeted the man who seemed to be their mayor, or whatever he called himself. "You must be the, uhm, leader-man. I'm Ishido, Daraku. So, you need me to help with a trap of sorts...?" The leader gave him a crooked smile and shook his hand, replying "Yes. It's nearly set, we'll finish it soon with your help. My name is Yuro." Daraku merely accepted the handshake and grinned for a moment before brushing past Yuro, scanning through the villagers. He was supposed to do some "recon", but he couldn't really do so until the pirates arrived...argh. Such a hassle. "So what am I doing?"

"Simple. You're going to be bait for the trap." It took all of Daraku's might not to slice Yuro in half when those words echoed through his eardrums. He gritted his teeth and hissed through them, "I came...all the way over here...to be fucking bait...!?" Yuro merely nodded, and went back to assembling the trap. Daraku boiled over it for a moment, letting his anger dissipate before approaching the main gate and sitting there, bored. Yuro called out to him within ten minutes, "They're coming! Run from them."

Fuck this. I'll do it, but fuck this. Daraku thought to himself, leaning against the gate. The marauders weren't much; they stood like apes, hunched over with under-bites that just screamed, "I'm stupid, hear me ROAR." The first of them charged at Daraku with an axe. Daraku ducked under, kicked him in the stomach, and then followed through with a 360 degree circle slash, cutting through the ape-man's torso and sending him falling to the ground. "Uhm, I mean...aghhhh!" he yelled before retreating into the village gates. They followed like the dumbasses they were, running in after Daraku with the wounded one following behind.

Daraku's shirt flapped in the wind as he ran and gestured to the civilians, who were hiding in position. When the ten or so marauders were at the target spot, a net appeared seemingly of thin air and left them trapped, suspended from a tall building. Easiest trap to avoid, still managed to catch all of them. They struggled to escape from the net, and Daraku smirked. "Done. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll finish the next part of my mission." he announced before adding a quick "Oh, and you're welcome!" and sprinting off toward the marauders' ship. He arrived within minutes, and stared up at the hulking wooden vessel with annoyance. Finding the entrance near the hull, he boarded the board and looked around. This would be good; a chance to get ryo from Suna AND find loot from the ship.

The first thing he noticed was a door on the left side of the deck that was wide open, leading to a staircase that went into the ship's center. His curiosity was immediately piqued, and he entered through the doorway and followed the stairs to a long corridor. Rooms were connected to this hall on all sides, and Daraku scanned each one carefully...the sound of nearby footsteps stopped him, and he hid next to a wall, peeking over. More marauders were still here, apparently, and they entered the second room on the left. Recon was difficult when there were random lunks walking around, and Daraku had a craving for blood, so he looked up to the lantern that hung by a chain on the ceiling, the solitary source of light here. Without it, only the thin rays of sunlight that came in through the gaps in the hull would illuminate the hall, making it the perfect place to use his kekkei genkai.

Carefully stepping forward, Daraku waited for the group of men to pass before he swung his blade, cutting the lantern and darkening the room as it fell and shattered. The noise grabbed the marauders' attention, and they began searching for the source. Daraku activated his kekkei genkai and faded into the shadows, unable to be seen. The first marauder that got too close found a blade planted in his neck, preventing a scream, and his corpse fell with a thud. The swordsman of shadows followed through with a backstab on the next one, and a slit throat on the last. Silence now held the area, along with the pungent smell of blood. Three more kills to Daraku's name. "Honestly, wreaking havoc is the last thing that keeps me sane these days..." he said to himself as he stepped over their bodies to the first room on the right of the corridor.

Nothing special in here. A candle, a cheap sword on the wall, and some crappy stale bread on the side table. Daraku entered the room one door down and hit the jackpot. A treasure chest full of trinkets, weapons and necklaces, along with a detailed map of the Five Great Nations pinned to the wall. Based on the various red X markings, it was a target map for the criminals. Daraku took it down and folded it before shoving it in his pocket and fishing through the chest for stuff that interested him. He took two necklaces, a bracelet, and an unusual sword before he heard the sound of more footsteps. Damn, how many freaking marauders came for this crap town?

Daraku figured that he could massacre them all, but it would only delay his reward, as it could take a while before all of them were dead. He shoved all the loot in a bag he found and slung it over his shoulder before phasing through the wall of the ship, landing in the water.Daraku swam far from the ship before resurfacing, with his loot still in his hands. It was wet, but all there, and the map in his pocket wasn't damaged by the water either, thanks to the water resistant material.

Everything was set, but he realized that he couldn't just leave with the marauders still a threat; that was a large part of the mission as well. Maybe he didn't have to massacre them in a one-by-one sort of manner...he pointed a finger infused with chakra at the hull of the ship. "Fire Release: Suture." was his declaration as the flames jumped from his finger and took the wood of the ship ablaze. To ensure they wouldn't escape, the skilled assassin also placed two paper bombs that he had looted from the chest on the back of the entrance ramp, and then released the anchor so that the ship would float out to sea.

As he turned to leave with his loot slung over his shoulder, Daraku grinned with satisfaction at the sound of the paper bombs exploding and the flames consuming the ship paired with the screams of the worthless apes within. Mission complete. Now, to return to Suna with his findings...the Kazekage would be pleased. But more importantly, she'd pay him graciously.

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Mission Word Count:1,502/1,500