Yahiko awoke. It was a new day, his first day, of doing missions. He had been a genin for some while now, but he had not been completing missions. Eight Years in fact, since he graduated the academy, but not a single mission under his belt. He had been training, hard. He wanted to be as strong as he could possibly be for when he got promoted. Yahiko knew his own tendencies. Once he started missions, he wouldnt be able to stop. He would be a chuunin in under a week and Yahiko did not want that. Instead he opted to train himself until he was deemed chuunin level, then he would start his missions.

Yahiko yawned and stretched his arms high above his head as he rose from his bed. It was going to be a long day. Yahiko had about 3 missions in mind, two of which he could tackle in very quick succession. He would need to be a full strength to do all of this, for he would be partaking in manual labor. Yahiko walked into the bathroom, smiling as the cold water splashed onto his face; Refreshing him and helping him fully wake up. Yahiko brushed his teeth and began to head downstairs.

Full strength. A good day always started with a good breakfast, and Yahiko knew he would need all the energy that he could get if he was going out to the mines today. Yahiko but his biggest frying pan over a flame, while he tossed some of his favorite breakfast items into the mix. Two eggs, a few strips of bacon, a sausage or two, a great breakfast, filled with protein and energy. It was a breakfast that Yahiko usually had before going out to train, and it usually provided him with enough energy to keep going for a while. It should help him get through the day without collapsing from exhaustion.

The mines. Oh boy, what a mission. Kirigakure had stopped sending ordinary miners down into the dark depths of the Kirigakure mines. It was far too dangerous, the casualty level was far too high. The mines had a tendency to collapse at the most opportunistic of times, usually while there was a team of miners underneath. Eventually the Mizukage had pulled all civilian effort out of the mines, choosing to send shinobi instead. Of course, it was a remarkably easy job for a shinobi. They would easily be able to escape the collapses, and were very efficient at collecting materials. The ghosts however, could be an issue.

It was pretty hard to have a dark place, that goes deep into the earth, that didnt have a good ghost story to accompany it. The Mines had a particularly frightening tale to go along with it. It all started at the first collapse of the mines. There was a team of five miners underneath, all of them crushed. The bodies were never recovered from underneath all the rocks, and the men never got a proper funeral. It was said that the miners were angry, without the proper funeral, they would never be able to ascend from the earthly realm, so they were left to roam the mines forever, choosing to frighten anybody who dared enter their domain.

Yahiko was not frightened of these stories however, he had taken on much worse in his time, than a group of skinny, pale, dead miners. He didnt even believe the stories anyway, they were just made up folklore to keep the children from playing in the mines after all. And even if there were ghosts down there, there was nothing that they could do to harm Yahiko. They were dead after all. Yahiko let a gentle laugh escape his lips, such preposterous tales.

The door slammed shut behind Yahiko as he skipped out of his house. A quick check on his equipment, most of which he was unlikely to use.

-Katana

Check

-Fuma Shuriken, Should have two.

Check.

-Chains?

Check.

-And Finally, your Kunai.

Chekeroo.

Yahiko was ready to roll out to his mission. He jogged down the path towards the mission board where he would pick up a pickaxe for excavating the raw materials from the hard rock.

~~~~~~~

The mouth of the cave was opened wide, darkness was the only thing that would welcome Yahiko on the other side. The cave mocked Yahiko, looming over him, challenging him to enter his depths. Yahiko smirked, and shrugged his shoulders, taking a walk that possessed a little bit of speed, but there was an air of caution about his stance. The ghost stories were nonsense, but that did not suggest that there wouldnt be any other threats on the other side of this passage. Yahiko felt his hand rest on the hilt of his katana. There was a general rule of thumb to follow when entering potentially dangerous situations. "Better safe than sorry"

Darkness. There was darkness all around, and this was only the upper layer of the cave. Yahiko was yet to take the elevator down to the deeper depths of the mine, the place where all the material was. It would be pitch black down there, and Yahiko would be unable to see a thing. He would need to have some form of light. Of course, that would be where his Kekkei Genkai would come useful. Yahiko smiled as a bright pair of angel wings appeared next to him. The chakra was black in appearance, yet strangely it gave off a form of light. Yahiko found it better to not question these things.

Yahiko's eyes grew wide as he saw the elevator that he would need to climb into. It was a flimsy contraption, that would be putting it in the best way possible. The elevator was a large wooden cage, with a handle inside and a weak looking chord holding it to the roof. A manually operated elevator. This is what Yahiko was trusting his life into. This piece of crap would take Yahiko down to the bottom of the mine.

Yahiko stepped into the "Elevator" holding his breath with every step. He closed his eyes as his hand wrapped around the handle. Yahiko slowly began turning the handle, and the elevator began its descent into the dark depths of this horrible cave. It was not a pleasant trip down, the elevator refused to lower itself smoothly. Instead jolting its way down in short and quick bursts, Yahiko was sure that the chord would snap and he would plung down the mineshaft to his death. 'Just Keep Winding', Yahiko repeated the mantra to himself as he was travelling down, praying that the chord wouldnt snap.

CRASH

The elevator reached the bottom of the shaft with a thunderous crash. Not a very smooth landing.

Surprisingly, the lower depths of the mine had much better lighting that up top. Instead of fumbling his way through darkness, Yahiko was delighted to find that the mine was lit up very well, with some old looking oil lamps. Yahiko walked over to one of them, checking the oil levels. If the lamps went out in the middle of Yahiko mining, it would not be a very pleasant mission at all. He was pleased to find that most of the lamps had enough oil to last a very long time, no rush then. Time to get to work.

Yahiko muttered curse words to himself as he hacked away at the hard rock with his pickaxe. This was a stupid job. It was hard labor, and all of the same task. There was no variety at all. It was just: Lift the axe above your head, bring it down, smack the rock, repeat. It truly was the most boring of things. And Yahiko had barely even collected half the amount of materials that he needed to.

Yahiko let out a breath of relief as the cold water trickled down his throat. It was a good job he had brought alot, he had just finished the last drop of the 5 liters of water that he had brought to the mission. It was hard labor, and it tired the hell out of Yahiko. It dehydrated him and he was constantly in need of water. Yahiko had just about finished last bit of water, and he needed only a bit more material and he was good to go.

Yahiko strolled out of the mines, a smile on his face. But he was not done yet, not by any means. There was a a depressed young man thinking about going rogue and Yahiko would need to stop him.

Yahiko ran to the young man's house as soon as he had dropped off the materials at the Mizukage's office. He had limited time to get this done.

He ran into his bedroom to see the man packing up his stuff.

"Come on man, dont do it."

What do I have to stay for?

"Your sister who loves you enough to want you to stay. The city of Kirigakure that values you as a shinobi"

The young man let out a sigh and dropped is stuff,

Ill stay, for now.

Yahiko made a note to make it clear to the Mizukage that this young man would need surveillance, but for now, he went to collect his reward.