Starring:
Clary, Maia, Crin, Kenta, Mitsuomi
Date: 13th April, 2010
Summary:
Kumo ninja go out to deliver a letter which gives tidings of WAR! :O But who cares about that, the fun part is that they have to deal with an ROUS. ;)
"Big Rodent Problem"
Land of Rice Paddies
Mission time for Kumo nin! Although, today's mission shouldn't be all that difficult or dangerous. Important, but not hard. The task is to deliver a letter from the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning to that of the Land of Rice Paddies. What could be simpler, right? Of course, even the simplest of communications between leaders of countries has to be amply protected, hence the team now making their way through the rice paddies to their destination. But seriously, what could go wrong? O:)
Walking alongside Mitsuomi, Maia seems to be in a cheery mood. "see! You underestimated yourself and overestimated me. I couldn't even land a hit on you!" she says, chuckling once more. She scrunches her nose and idly runs her fingers through her hair as she just makes casual conversation on the mission. "Besides, it was all taijutsu stuff, I really should probably work on that." she muses under her breath as she clings to her backpack, sighing softly while looking around the country.
Okay, so he HAS been asking for an assignment perhaps a bit too much, but he was hoping there was some killing to do. Instead, what the Jounin has ended up doing is escorting a bunch of kids to deliver a letter to a Daimyou. This could be anything from something important to passing a bloody love note. Who knows? But orders are orders. For the moment, he walks to the back of the group, not that he's not wanting to be on point but that he is rather large for the others to see over and around. Plus, it's easier for him to keep an eye on potential danger as well as potential students this way.
Kenta walks on one of the boarders of dirt separating one rice paddy from another. His arms are out for balance, but he's still wobbly as he takes small steps. And most likely straying from the ground. But again, this was a simple mission and Kenta isn't worried that problems will happen. With a puff of air, he blows some strands of hair out of his eyes before concentrating on not getting wet…again.
Mitsuomi didn't turn his head as a small smile rose on his face. "If you would have done more you probably would have hit me plenty Maia-chan. Don't sell yourself short." His pace was slow as he fell back a few steps behind Crin to his side. Better to be at a man's flank than directly behind him, you can protect his backside better that way.
This mission seemed like it would be boring enough. Just walk around to pass off a note, and if a fight broke out beat down whoever got in the way. Simple enough as long as they weren't outclassed…or bogged down by someone not up to par.
As the ninja walk, a faint commotion comes into hearing. Soon enough they can see a small crowd in the rice paddies off in the distance, all hopping about around something and shouting to each other while waving their farming tools. Soon enough one of them notices the travelers, and comes running to them with pleading arms outstretched. "Ninja! Please help us! It is Granny Vole and her offspring! Wherever they appear, the harvest is devestated! You must rid our land of this menace for good!"
Sure enough, there's a gigantic watervole the size of a small horse sloshing through the rice paddies, surrounded by hundreds of regular-sized ones, all of them chewing away at the rice shoots. The farmers are trying to pick off the edges of the pack, but anybody who gets too close risks a Thousand Years of Ankle Scars, not to mention the wrath of Granny Vole herself. Yup, this looks like a job for ninja all right. Oh, and wasn't there some mention before the team left about how it would be good to keep up good spirit with the Land of Rice Paddies? Yeah, pretty sure somebody said something about that.
Kenta blinks and watches the watervole and her grandkids ripping apart the rice paddies. Kenta lifts his eyebrows in surprise, "Well, you don't see that everyday." He looks over at Mitsuomi, turning at the corner of the rice paddy he's at the edge off and walks towards the group. "Well, what are we going to do about that?" He thumbs over to the group of villagers and creatures.
"Well, that just means I can continue to ignore my taijutsu training in order to be a better genjutsu user." she says with a sage nod, snickering the entire time. Still, that's when something catches her attention.
Blink. Blink. Maia just stares blankly as her ears twitch from the faint commotion. As a Yamayuki she had a good sense of hearing and she just scrunches her nose a little, staring at the hugenormous watervole. She just stares for a few moments, looking a bit confused. "Granny Vole is biiiiig. Why do vermin have to get that big?" she grumps, sighing the entire time as she sighs softly before looking towards the senior most member of the group. "So what's the plan, oh so sooper speshul one?" she asks Crin curiously.
Noticing the commotion and seeing one of the village-folk run up, Crin stops a little away from him. Granny Vole? What the heck is that thing? He looks up at the watervoles that the farmers are trying to fend off, no expression showing on his face, not even sympathy. "Well, well, kids. Looks like we're up for a little bit of fun today." Seeming relaxed, the Jounin glances between all of his current team. As Maia speaks, he glances over at her. "We're not at the restaurant anymore. We act as shinobi here." With that, he goes back to looking between them. "Here's the game. Kill as many of them as you can without harming the farmers' crops. Simple enough? I don't want us destroying the thing we're trying to stop them from destroying. I'll be watching and perhaps have a spot on an official team for someone."
Mitsuomi didn't have time to respond to Maia's comment as he saw the villager come running at them like a cowardly runt of a man. Turning slowly, he looked at the creatures and sighed to himself. So the boring mission turned now into a hassle. A small exhale passed his lips as he began to move towards the heard of creatures, it was almost a sigh. "Let's see who can get the most of them in the end. Just to add a little fun to this and make it not so dull."
A silent Mitsuomi now moved towards the creatures without an ounce of visible fear about him. He was calm and focused. The order was to kill them, and he would do it without hesitation or mercy. The weapon of choice…bare hands.
The farmer whoops with joy and runs to inform his comrades. They quickly move back to give the ninja room to do their dangerous work. The immediate danger gone, the voles turn their attention even more voraciously to consuming the crops. Granny Vole herself, though, eyes the approaching ninja suspiciuosly. Seems she's smart enough to know something's up. >B
"Hey! Hey!" Maia cries out as she looks towards Mitsuomi and Crin for a few moments at the order of death from ninjutsu. She grumbles something under her breath as she starts dashing towards the Granny Vole, flailing her arms wildly about as she jumps to and fro from place to place. "Hey! They wanna kill your family, but I was totally wondering. Can we reach some sort of agreement here? Ya know, where you don't bother the nice farmers, they don't bother you, and there doesn't need to have to be killing, cause ya know, we have a mission and whatnot. We're supposed to bring this letter to the daimyo, and yeah know boys, they like fighting, and I'd really love to spite them by having no fighting, cause that would just be awesome."
She smiles cheerily towards Granny Vole as she says this. Now whether or not the vole is sentient or speaks human language is the question. Did the young kunoichi just waste her time? Who knows?
Kenta isn't as agile as Maia or as blood thirsty as Mitsuomi. He takes the direct route to the voles and says, "I don't think they can understand us." Well, maybe granny vole can. But even then, they look more interested in eating than talking. Maybe Granny vole has always told them don't talk with their mouths are full? The tenjin pulls out a kunai and spins it a few times before getting in front of one of the smaller youngling voles waving the blade in front of him, hoping to stop them from eating.
"Nice idea, but do remember," Crin warns. "If you kill the most but also damage the most crops, you haven't done so hot." When Maia takes off running toward the giant vole, he blinks. Well, there's an idea. It rather stops his being able to observe the lower level shinobi fighting to be able to pick out a potential team candidate, but it could save trouble and possibly the letter from getting wet. "Hold off, gents. It seems Maia is having a conversation," he says as he starts walking casually toward where the rest of them ran off to. Alright, so Maia wants to make some sort of contract with an overgrown rat. Interesting enough for someone so prissy.
The farmers gasp and murmur nervously. "You must not try to speak with Granny Vole!" one of them pipes up. "She will put a spell on you if she learns your name, or your business, or your favorite color! It's in all the old tales about her!" Granny Vole's lips peel back to let out a squeaking laugh. "That's right, deary, better not talk to strange creatures. You might end up turned into a toadstool or something. Anyhow, a body's gotta eat. What'm I supposed to do, chew on rocks? Whole blasted countryside's covered with these rice paddies. Makes it a very lovely green color, though. Y'all like green?" O>)
"Oh goodness. Strange creatures. But yeah, people do have to eat. Can't you eat ya know, other things other than rice? I mean I love rice. I could eat it all day, but there's other things that are good too. Like grass! Or uh.." and she hrmms, scratching the back of her head as she looks around the area for other things to eat. Maia lets out a resigned sigh for a few moments as she runs her fingers through her hair.
"Or you guys can share! Or don't you all eat insects? I'm sure that would be a help to the farmers if you eat insects that would be ruining the land as well!" She then peers back towards the other group, her brows raised for a few moments as they seemed to have stopped their approach.
Laughing at the farmers' reactions, Crin just stands back and watches. While he holds his sword in his hand readily, he seems to have no worries about what's happening at the moment. After all, if the beast attacks Maia, maybe it'll chew her tongue off and keep her from talking. He is pretty close to the area, but he's definitely in no hurry to stop the exchange. As Maia looks back, he simply gives her a nod as if to motion for her to continue.
Kenta smiles a little. Voles that can curse and have magical powers? Sounds a bit out there but Kenta is surprised that granny vole talked. Maybe the magic bit is true too. Kenta slips the kunai into his sleeve and says, "If they don't like it here, what about moving someplace else? The land of fire I hear has some nice greenery and it's dry." Kenta does a quick, but unsteady, hop to land a short distance from Maia. In case the voles do attack. Kenta can stab a few with his kunai before he's taken down. Killing is at the bottom of his list of solutions though.
Granny Vole snorts and bites off a rice stalk to her side, slowly working it into her mouth. "Bugs're too small and skitty for me these days. Use up about as much energy catchin' 'em as I'd get from eatin' 'em. Not enough grass t'keep body an' fur together either. Anyhow, those rootcrunchers are exaggeratin'. Worrisomest lot you ever clapped eyes on, farmers. Give 'em rainclouds, they'll worry about flooding. Give 'em sunshine, they'll worry about drought. I don't eat nearly as much as they say, gotta keep my girlish figure, after all." Granny Vole glances down at the regular voles flocking around her. "Now these freeloaders, on the other hand…"
Maia beams at Kenta at his suggestion. "Well, like he said, there's always the land of fire. They have things that might be able to satiate your appetites, but I can understand trying to catch bugs. I have cousins who like catching butterflies and they run around all over the place, and at most they catch one in an hour or so. That would get tiresome." she says with a sympathetic tone in her voice as she hrmms once more.
"But, you could always reach some sort of compromise. Ration a bit of the land so they have enough to eat without being gluttonous. Then, the rest will be left alone by you all! Does that sound good?" she offers, looking towards the farmers while raising her brows as keeps her cheery smile.
As Kenta suggests the voles moving into the Land of Fire, Crin shows a faint smirk. Well, there's a good way to create a big distraction for the Leaf Ninja. These things probably multiply rather quickly, so that could create quite an infestation for the Hokage and his tree-hugging minions. He simply continues to listen to Maia's conversation with the beast, hoping she pushes the Land of Fire idea. After all, who couldn't use an edge over the Village Hidden in Hippie Weed.
Kenta smiles too, just to keep up the good mood. It's not what Kenta would have chosen, but he isn't the highest ranked ninja around. He pulls out his kunai from the sleeve and says, "They're not going to agree to that, Maia-sempi." He thumbs back towards Crin and Mitsuomi, "Hey Granny, see those two? They're uber-powerful ninja. I don't want to see them have to kill you and your…grandkids. So, get out of the farmer's rice fields and clear out of here. Trust me, they can kill you without breaking a sweat." Maybe she responds to threats better since none have been given yet to her and the brood.
The farmers don't like how this is going one bit. "They're under her spell!" "We can't give up any farmland, we barely make it by as it is!" "Are you Kumogakure ninja cowards or something? Kill her!" Granny Vole scowls at that last one. "Don't you have some THRESHING to do?" The man in question suddenly adopts a surprised, almost blank look. "Oh! I forgot." He turns and walks off up the path as though he's forgotten all about the hullaballoo here in the field. Granny snorts. "Much better. Now, as for these mites, do what you like with 'em. I don't reckon a single one of them is any real relation of mine, bunch of little hooligans. Killing /me/…well, I reckon you could, if I stuck around for you to do it. I'm only here as long as I want to be, see? I can go POOF anytime I please, and come back after you're long gone. So if you really want me to shift, you'll just have to /show/ me a better place to live. I ain't draggin' my tail all over tarnation just to please you lot." Munch, munch, munch.
"Well, the land of fire is near the land of grass right? They have lots of food there. You and your hooligans could live there ya know! Still, I can draw you a map there if you want.." and then, she hrmms for a few moments and gets another idea. "Also, the land of water is pretty fertile. They have lots of food you could gorge on and that would be a total help to us cause they're trying to kill us you know. It's really not fair, all these people with swords are being mean to people in my country, and so, that's a win-win for us all. You get to eat a bunch, we give our enemies problem, and if you'd like, I'll even take care of voles every now and then. You're all cute and stuff, which is why I didn't want the others to kill you all." she says with her nose scrunching up a bit.
"Kenta," Crin calls out. "I believe it's time you take you and I trade positions of where we stand… In other words, shut your mouth and get back." With that, he walks forward, eyes glancing to Kenta as he moves to make sure he does as he is told. As he comes to stand beside Maia, he looks to the large Vole, giving a light nod of his head. "My apologies for the boy's crudeness. While his statements may not be false, it seems a more beneficial conversation to continue speaking of grounds that may actually be settled on." He holds his sword-bearing hand laxly, his best way of showing that he means no threat. "Now, I myself am most in favor of Maia's suggestion that you and your clan move to the Land of Fire. It's a very bountiful land, and you'll have more land to roam than just a swamp-infested area. There's enough varied types of greenery, you'll basically have an endless buffet."
At the mention of the giant vole going 'POOF', his eyes become a bit more interested. "As I thought." He pauses a few moments, allowing Maia to speak before continuing. "We are a rather busy lot. If you want us to show you to the Land of Fire /after/ our primary is complete, you must offer something in return yourself." He looks over to Maia as he reaches into his coat to retrieve a scroll. "Aree to be prepared to be summoned to aid your young savior here when she needs you," he says before looking back to the vole. "Make this contract with us, and you may live in peace from us in a land of plenty. I'd much prefer this to your crossing my blade."
Kenta scowls at the leader finally leading. Kenta has no problems stepping back, provided someone steps forward. Kenta does a few quick hops out of the rice paddy to land on the dirt road. He mumbles, "About time…" and sits down dangling his feet over the side. Kenta was fairly out classed for this mission anyway. The sooner someone pulled him back, the better. He has no fancy scrolls or uber-masterful experience like Crin.
Granny Vole kicks at some of the little voles clustering around her. "Like I said, ain't none of my kin. They just see something like themselves but bigger and reckon ain't nobody kin bully 'em anymore." Granny gives another squeaking laugh. "My savior, he says! Ain't that a hoot'n'a-half. But g'wan, sign 'er up. Worst she kin do is interrupt me in the middle of a bath."
And, since we're short on time, here's how the rest of the mission goes. Granny Vole and Maia sign a summoning contract that Crin makes out for them, though heaven help Maia if she thinks she can order Granny around anytime soon. The little voles quickly disperse when Granny disappears, though maybe the young ninja manage to show off their skizzals a bit and put a dent in the local pest population for the farmers before they get away. And the team goes on to deliver the letter, which turns out to be a request for Land of Lightning troops to be allowed to pass peacefully through the Land of Rice Paddies on their way to a campaign against the Land of Fire and the Land of Water…and this information is picked up by Sunagakuran spies in the Rice Paddies court and sent back to Suna. Wheefun.
Huzzah! Maia gets to bite her thumb to summon granny vole! Yay bloodletting for purposes of talking to animals! Still, it was a rather unexpected bit and the entire rest of the mission, her brows raised as she looks towards the ranking Jounin, peering at him curiously. Why did he do that for her? Sure, she was having a fine dandy ole time talking with Granny Vole, for it was interesting talking to sentient animals. Still, she sighs and shrugs her shoulders as the mission is complete. Score one for the newblet chuunin
"Yay! So now we go home!" she says, taking a deep breath as she scrunches her nose a bit, eager to do some more training. Having a big ass vole seemed interesting afterall.
"Yes. Good work, ev-… Well, Maia's really the only one of you did that much, but good work anyway," Crin says, chuckling a bit. With that, he turns to walk home with his team for the day. Not a bad mission, just a bit more boring than he's used to.
