Starring:
Date: May 3, 2013
Summary:
Rocks fall, everybody lives.
"Climbing for Flowers"
Land of Dumplings
Every once in a blue moon a ninja village receives a mission request that is…pretty tame, at least by ninja standards. Stuff that really, an ordinary person could do, if perhaps with more difficulty and risk than a ninja would face. When missions like that arise, particularly if things are particularly busy, a missions board may see fit to send a single genin to get the job done.
For example, take retrieval of the rare and beautiful niji bloom. This flower, for some peculiar reason, only seems to grow properly atop a certain mountain in the Land of Dumplings, and only blossoms for a short time each year. It's plentiful enough once you're up there, but of course mountain climbing is a dangerous activity, and coming back down laden with any significant load even more so. But a ninja can do it pretty easy, right? So it's not uncommon for collectors of the exotic and lovely to request a ninja to go pick a few when they're in season. As it happens, such requests were sent to Konohagakure and Sunagakure at more or less the same time, which leads us to our story for today…
Any chance to escape the village and see the world? Itami is there! Some kind of escape artist for only having returned to her duties recently. It's not that bad, but being bound to sit for a while just isn't her thing. Besides, she's curious about this bloom that's popped up on this mountain!
So, she's going with whoever else is going. She didn't know and didn't really concern herself about the who anyway, just the journey and destination. Besides, maybe she can see about getting some dumplings for the road.
Frankly, Chitose is going along mainly to get things off her mind. She is heading off with Itami, a wonderful chance to escape the village. As she wanders along with Itami, she hmms, "Is this really a mission or is it more like an outing?" Chitose hmms and glances at Itami, "Cause, mountain climbing really isn't that hard if you can walk on walls." She nods her head, "Though, whatever, right? I mean, money is money and village credit is village credit."
Sosuke followed alongside Noab he had a well understanding of the mission so he was predominantly silent. Sosuke still however brought his crescent scythe with him in the event that something did go ary, which wasn't uncommon even on apparently low rank mission. He had no idea however that Sunagakure shinobi would have also received the same request. "This is my first time hearing about the nija bloom in the land of Dumplings. I think I might enjoy this."
Did we say this was a genin solo mission? Scratch that, apparently there are jounin along, at least to supervise. c.c Maybe they had other tasks to accomplish in the neighborhood, so they could afford to spend a little bit of a Suna Council Member's or a Konoha Clan Head's valuable time on such a D-rank mission. Yeah, we'll go with that. *DING, Noab appears in the scene*
"First time for me too," Noab grunts. "Nothing too special according to the mission docs, just a pretty flower that you don't see too often. Should be a straightforward retrieval mission as long as we don't run into…" Noab raises an arm to signal a stop as he spots people wearing ninja forehead protectors on a converging path to the mountain base. "…other collectors." e.U Well, there should be enough of the flowers up on the mountain for two groups and some left over to repopulate, as long as nobody gets too greedy. Noab gestures to resume walking and trudges onward. "Greetings," Noab calls out to the Suna nin as they close in. "I'm guessing we're both here for similar purposes?"
"More like a…" Itami tried to figure out the word. "Field trip," she nods. "It's a mission to the ones that hired you to do it, but to me it's just another way for me to escape work," she snickered. "And mountain climbing is not all that hard, I suppose. For shinobi, at least. Not all mountains are just straight walls, though, so it'll require a lot of physical activity unless you plan on blowing paths into the mountain…" She paused, "But I don't advise that. But yes, money is money and village credit is village credit. You're certain to be getting both after we're done…" Her voice trailed off as they were greeted. Hmm. Konoha peoples. "Here. Well, then."
She lifted a hand and offered a light salute of a greeting to Noab and Sosuke. "Hello hello. It would seem we're here for similar purposes, yes," she admitted. "Blossom?" She questioned just to be sure.
Looking at the approaching shinobi, Chitose wouldn't even show any elevated sense of apprehension, as if she didn't care one way or another if they were here to attack. She simply nods to Itami, "Field trip then." She shrugs, "Either way." She glances at Sosuke before turning her gaze to the Akimichi, "That…is one big guy." She nods her head as she looks at Noab before looking to Itami and then back at Noab, "I'm Chitose." She nods her head, "Nice to meet you."
Sosuke follows Noab's lead when confronted with the Sunagakure shinobi. He bows in greetings seeing as everyone was being civil. The young genin would then introduce himself after glancing between Chitose and Itami. "Sosuke, the feeling is mutual." he says before looking at Noab. Sosuke took a moment to take in Noab's size. It wasn't anything too astounding considering he is an Akimichi, but the fact still remained, he has a healthy amounting of girth. "Shall we press on then? They don't seem to plan on interfering." Socializing was something best done outside of work.
Noab nods. "Affirmative. According to our intel, there should be enough to go around up there. And even if there isn't, it's not a prize worth fighting over." Noab gives as much of a bow as his leg will comfortably allow. "Akimichi Noab. An honor to make your acquaintance under such peaceful circumstances."
The walk the rest of the way up to the mountain base goes without incident, although Noab keeps a cautious eye on the Suna nin. Seem civil enough, but in the ninja world you never know. :P The mountainside is rocky and uneven, a worthy challenge for a traditional mountain climber, and at least requiring a little foresight for a ninja. Noab pulls out a long rope and starts tieing it around himself harness-fashion. "No sense in taking extra risks, even if this shouldn't be too difficult for us," he says, passing the other end of the rope to Sosuke. "In the event that I do fall, cut the rope. I like my odds of recovering a grip better than your odds of keeping hold against a jerk from my weight." :P Noab glances at Itami and Chitose. "What about you two? The more people we've got tied together, the safer it'll be."
"Oh, right, right. Manners. I am Watanabe Itami," she offered to Noab and Sosuke. "A pleasure. Now, if there's enough up there, then that's all the better for all of us. You can collect yours and we can collect ours and be on our way. Sounds like a decent plan."
As they made their way up the mountain, Itami begins to consider exactly how many blossoms are up here. Is it worth fighting for? Possibly. She can't say it isn't, but she imagines keeping down conflict will make this all much easier. Upon reaching the midpoint, it seems, she looks up at the rough terrain and huffs softly. She might be used to it, but can't say the same for others. "I suppose we can help hold the line together," she looked to Chitose to see what she thinks. This is her mission, after all.
"It's fine by me." Chitose states at the idea of the line, "Though, I will definitely be cutting it if you fall." She points at Noab, "You really don't have to worry about that." She nods, "I'm pretty sure all three of us together couldn't hold you up." She nods and then turns and nods to Itami before taking a length of the rope and starting it around herself.
Sosuke nods to Noab "I had already planned on it." Sosuke states looking to the rope then to the Suna shinobi. Sosuke starts securing the rope to his waste. He would keep the idea of a best case scenario at the forefront of his mind. However he wasn't naive enough to ignore the worst case of events, it is because of that he kept an eye on the Suna shinobi as well.
The impromptu climbing team gets lashed together, and the trek upward begins. Noab acts as the anchor, keeping a strong hold in safe spots while the rest of them explore potential pathways up the mountain face. Despite his bad leg, he's able to scale with surprising efficiency thanks to his partial expansion technique, which allows him to extend his arm and grab handholds from quite a distance.
Things go pretty smoothly for a while…but of course, something has to happen when they're halfway up. ;) Maybe a bird landed on just the right rock up above, or maybe the vibrations from the climbers' feet shifted a critical pebble, or maybe a mischievious mountain spirit decided to have some fun. Whatever the reason, there is a rumbling from above, and a bunch of boulders come tumbling down the mountain. o.O "Take cover!" Noab barks, clinging tightly to the rock face and expanding one hand to shield his head.
Itami ties herself up and goes up the mountain with the group. She didn't have many qualms about cutting ropes when the time came for it. She doesn't wish for that to happen, but there's always danger associated with these things. Speaking of danger, rocks have begun to fall towards the group… "Oh, shoot," she remarked to herself as she hurriedly flashed through single handed seals while using the other to secure her grip to the mountain. She'd gather earth around her body to act as a shield against the falling rocks coming down upon them, thinking she'd do best to endure the strike.
A shake of her head and Chitose states, "This will be a long climb." She nods, seeming unsure of something as she looks at Sosuke before finally something exciting happens and rocks fall. She stares up and basically attempts to simply move to an opening in the wall as quickly as possible and push herself into it…perhaps she mistook the length of rope she had though and appears not to be able to get quite far enough to duck into the opening in the wall.
"Long and safe sounds fine to me." Sosuke muses as he glanced to Chitose. So far so good. No slips or falls to impede their progress. It looks as though they might have quite the lucrative assignment before them. But of course as soon as the thought takes hold in his head something indeed did occur. The rock fall was more of a disappointment than a peril. "I guess it is too much to ask." he softly sighs beneath his breath. Seeing as the others have made quick work of the plummeting rocks. Sosuke positioned himself behind Itami as she proved to be a bit sturdier than the rock.
Noab feels the sting as some of the rocks bounce off his enlarged hand, but at least they don't knock him loose from the mountainside. >.U; Chitose, unfortunately, doesn't have so much luck. A bouncing boulder strikes her shoulder as she attempts to squeeze into the crevasse, and she finds herself falling into space. Good thing they all roped together after all. Noab takes the brunt of the jerk when Chitose's section of the rope goes taut. He manages to hold, but the cusp of rock he's clinging to breaks off, and he begins to teeter backward. o.U; Time for quick action!
The rocks bounce off of Itami well enough, though they did have a bit of weight to them, she was able to endure against them. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Chitose. When she began to fall, Itami figured she'd take the chance to try and capture them utilizing earth shield in the hopes of capturing them both.
She utilized one handed seals to initiate the jutsu and send a shield of earth jutting out of the mountain. She didn't want to let go as she figured that'd just set off a chain of all of them falling down and she couldn't have that happen. If anything, she needed to keep the grip on the mountain.
Thanks to Itami, Chitose and Noab both don't fall to their absolute doom…well, possible doom, maybe doom. Chitose for her part just lets out a sigh and then looks over toward Itami as she hops back up toward the cliff face itself, shaking her head, "Well, lets go get some flowers already. This has been plenty exciting enough, I think." SHe chuckles and then lets out a breath, looking over her shoulder as if to glare at something or someone. Then she just lets Itami lead.
Sosuke sighs in relief after the brief scare. "I agree." Sosuke concurs with Chitose. He was clinging to themountain quite fiercely until everything settled. Noticing Chitose glance over her shoulder Sosuke called out "Something a matter?" he asked. Despite Itami having spared Noab a terrible fall Sosuke still didn't completely trust the suna shinobi.
Yay for ninja magic that can make convenient platforms appear! Say, why weren't they using that all alo — um, I mean, that must take quite a bit of chakra to perform, though. c.c Surely impractical for scaling the entire mountain face.
The rest of the climb is free of such excitement. They reach the top, where a meadow of brightly-colored flowers awaits them. After picking what they came for, everybody heads back down the mountain to go deliver the goods to their various clients and mark off another MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
