What was it about cats and trees? Or old ladies and angry cats? Or dogs chasing said cats into said trees? Shigeki wasn’t a big animal person and he really didn’t want to do this, but it was a mission, and he knew that the old lady would be happy, at least until the cat ran away again. He walked his way around the village and sighed softly. Where the hell am I supposed to find trees in Iwagakure no Kato anyway? How is it this stupid cat managed to find the only tree in the village, hidden away in who the hell could possibly know where specifically for this useless feline to get stuck in? And who is the asshole allowing this woman to have a cat in the first place? I feel like I’m completely wasting my time here. If it wasn’t for the money I’d tell this old woman exactly what I think about her silly cat being up in a tree and where I’d like to shove that damned cat. Shigeki was more frustrated than he had been in a long time, being the first Kanetsu to be recorded using genjutsu and constantly having a feeling of superiority about him probably not helping that.

As he wandered through the winding streets of Iwagakure no Kato he flashed smiles at the seemingly random people he passed, many of them not realising that he was the young girl that several of these wholesome men had flirted with at the bar on different occasions. He wasn’t entirely sure why but he took great pride in this fact, chuckling to himself as he remembered the things that several of these men had said to him and wondering if they said similar things to their wives, imagining that a good majority of them didn’t as they had a tendency to be rather crude. He was keeping his eye out for the tree that the cat was hiding up when he heard a tell-tale sound from around the corner. He rushed towards the strained meowing sounds and shook his head. The cat was up at the top of the tallest tree he had ever seen, which to be fair he hadn’t seen a lot of trees. He shook his head and sighed.

“How the hell did you manage to get yourself stuck up there?” Shigeki wasn’t impressed in the least, punching the tree and recoiling as he felt a stabbing pain through his hand. Damnit, I hope I didn’t break it. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down a bit, thinking what the best way to get the cat out of the tree would be. The frantic meowing wasn’t helping his concentration at all and he eventually couldn’t take it anymore. He picked up a small stone off of the ground and threw it at the cat, causing the cat to dodge the stone and leap out of the tree. Shigeki saw this jump and moved to intercept the cat, grabbing onto it and holding it tight. It tried to claw and bite its way out of his arms, which he didn’t personally care about. Pain was something Shigeki was used to and he just shook his head and petted the angry animal until it calmed down before walking it back to its master’s house. He couldn’t believe the old woman could lose her cat so often and it really bothered Shigeki but he knew it wasn’t his place to question the owner of the poor animal. He held the cat and walked up to the house, knocking on the door and hearing an odd noise coming from inside. When the door was opened he could see the old woman standing there with a grin and noticed at least a dozen other cats in the room behind her, and assumed there were more by the sounds.

“Ooh my Muffin, you found him!” She squawked in glee as she took the cat from Shigeki’s arms. She fished out some change for Shigeki and promptly slammed the door in his face, ensuring that the none of the cats would be able to escape. As Shigeki walked away he shook his head once more, noticing there was an opened window with cats staring out of it…

(713/600 mission complete)