Books are Overdue [Mission]

[Tatsuo]

[col]It was starting to get colder in the Leaf Village, people were opting to wear jackets over their normal clothing. However it wasn't a bad cold, more that the frigid air finally had grown strong enough to ward off the blazing heat of Konoha's summers. However today Shinzo would find himself in the library for some reason or another. Most people were wrapping their days up, students packing their bags, teachers speaking to other teachers in hushed tones as they kept an eye over the students and a few librarians keeping the whole place in check. By all accounts it'd seem like it would be a good day. Nice and relaxed, perhaps Shinzo was even preparing to go home but fate had something else in mind for him that day. Just like the adventures the boy had found himself on earlier, another one was about to start. Perhaps less intense than that of the rabbit rescue, but more serious than the Great Pumpkin. How would Shinzo face today's adventure?

It wasn't long before someone approached Shinzo, a woman only a few inches taller than him approached him. A few books in hand. Despite her height it was obvious she was a older than him and he probably knew her as one of the librarians here at the Academy's library. "It's Shinzo, right?" she said in between a smile. "I heard you were a pretty dutiful guy, didn't you even save the Great Pumpkin?" she asked while placing her books down on a nearby table, placing a hand on her hip as she looked at him. "I could use some help actually, the library loans out hundreds of books and for the most part people return them, but we've got quite a few people who have kept them for way too long. Do you think you would be able to get some for me? We're taking in this years inventory before winter and it's imperative we get them all accounted for. If you could go get them for me i'd owe you big time! I could even see about throwing in some sort of reward, maybe an advanced library pass. How's that sound, will you help me?"|

[/col]

WC: 366

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

A young boy sat alone at one of the central tables in the library, his head was deeply buried into the pages of the book he held between both hands. Occasionally he wrote a few notes onto a small piece of paper. Shinzo’s eyes scanned over the last paragraph of the page he was reading in a small book. His hand flicked over to the next page where he continued to read. Normally reading would be the last of Shinzo’s priorities but his most recent encounter with a fellow student really drove him to understand the intricacies of combat, reading seemed to be the fastest way to acquire this knowledge. In all honesty, he had fallen asleep several times during this library session, the boredom really got to him and even though he had a desire to learn it didn’t give him enough energy to continue to endlessly read. His eyes moved from right to left as he continued to read, peering up as the woman approached.

“Oh? Yeah that’s me.” Shinzo said in reply to her inquiry, calmly closing the book in an attempt to hide his excitement to be doing something useful that actually required movement. At this point any sort of task that called for him to stand up was going to be more interesting than pages upon pages between two covers to the young shinobi in training. He pushed his chair back, laying the book onto the desk next to which he was sat and then stood to face the woman as she spoke. He beamed at the mention of the great pumpkin and with his right thumb motioned to point to himself. “Yes! I did defend the Great Pumpkin! And I would do so again, it was an honour.” As he stopped revelling in his memories of that fateful day his full attention turned to the woman. “I can help you out, is there anywhere that you’d like me to start?” He paused for a moment to think about what such a mission could lead to, surely nothing much. It was just a matter of collecting overdue library books after all. His belt pouch and butterfly swords still remained on his lower back, ready for action. “How many books do you need me to bring in? Is there a list that I need to go through? Where do you want the books dropping off?” This barrage of questions displayed the energy that Shinzo began to draw on as he waited for the mission to begin.

WC: 420

 

[Tatsuo]

The librarian walked to her desk with Shinzo following behind, she spoke softly, "Yes, there are a few places you will need to go. Just give me a minute." she said sifting through her very organized desk. From a folder in one of the drawers she pulled out a piece of paper with a list of names on them:

1. Nakedo, 213 Main Maple Street, "Kunai for Kids!"
2. Tatsuku, 1226 Main Maple Street, "How to find love as a Shinobi?"
3. Nastpa, 439 Main Maple Street, "Tale of a Gutsy Ninja"​

"They're all on the Main Maple Street so you won't be running all across the village." she said with a smile, before handing the paper. "First is there names, then their address and finally the name of the book. It honestly shouldn't take you long. You'll probably finish before we close the library tonight at six. It's only three now, so if you're fast you should be able to get it." After handing off the sheet of paper to Shinzo she closed the drawer and thanked him once again before taking a seat. "I'd love to go do it myself, but i've plenty of things to get done here. I have to take count of every book in here and make sure we're not missing anything. Thank you again Shinzo and good luck!" With that she waved and began to stamp the pile of books next to her, while also writing their names onto a piece of paper.

Main Maple Street wasn't very far from the library, if Shinzo didn't doddle he would be there in less than fifteen minutes at a brisk pace. The street itself was filled with lots of people enjoying the great weather. Couples walking hand in hand, old people sitting on a bench reading, kids chasing a ball. It was a peaceful time in the village, despite the disappearance of the Hokage life goes on. People could not mourn forever and with weather this nice everyone was outside. Once on the street it didn't take him long to stumble upon the first complex in which he was supposed to check, Maple 213. The apartment had a few plants outside that seemed to be perfectly taken care of as if the owner took great pride in them. The whole yard itself was immaculate, not a single of blade of grass out of uniform. The flowers almost looked fake in how perfect they were placed, but overall the yard was quite small so it couldn't have been too difficult to maintain. On the side of the door there was a small sign that said "Maple 213."

WC: 809

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

Shinzo stood and waited for the woman to sort her way through her desk, it was not long until he was greeted with the sight of a folder. ‘That many?!’ He thought to himself as the idea of hundreds upon hundreds of books that needed collecting swamped his mind. How could he carry so many? The sight of the piece of paper prompted a light sigh from the boy, maybe it wasn’t as many books after all. He listened intently to the woman as she spoke of the three locations to collect books from. He took a mental note of the locations written on the paper before stuffing it into one of the pockets on his shorts.

“I won’t be too long!” He said in a confident tone, rather loudly. He stopped himself from speaking further, remembering the location in which he was stood. Respectfully he lowered his volume to just above a whisper. “I won’t be too long…” Shinzo glanced around to make sure he hadn’t disturbed any of the other library patrons before continuing. “The books will be back in no time, well before closing.” And with that said, Shinzo motioned to run towards the library doors, he stopped himself out of respect for the establishment and so he walked with as much speed as possible before breaking into a sprint as soon as he reached the doorway.

The streets were slightly crowded as he made his way towards Maple Street, his feet carried him as fast as he could in such an environment. He pushed off from the ground to vault over a cart of cabbages, glancing back only to see the seller frantically try to catch them as the draft behind Shinzo brought the vegetables along for the ride. “Sorry!” He called out before grabbing onto a pole to throw him around the corner onto Maple Street. He closed his eyes to think back to the properties that he had to visit, ‘213. 11226 and 439. I’ve got this!’

The young shinobi in training dashed through the crowded street, weaving around each individual person that came to cross his path. He made a few close calls with one or two people as he flew past, each time he shouted out his apologies to them but he knew that he had to continue and reach the first house. Soon it was within site, the immaculately garden spread out before Shinzo as he skidded to a halt in front of the apartment. He admired the plant life, but only for a few moments before he began to walk up to the front door. He knocked three times before peering at the nearest window in search for activity on the inside.

WC: 452
TWC: 872

 

[Tatsuo]

The crowd had been bustling and for the most part the near collisions with Shinzo were met with, "Well, kids will be kids." and a few of the older civilians yelling for him to be more careful. He could always trip and break his leg or something! But for a mission with a time limit there were few students better suited for the task at hand. Faster than lightning, Shinzo was always to complete tasks quickly. However he might spill a cabbage or two, but you know what they say. No reason to cry over spilled cabbages. Or milk.

It wasn't long before he arrived at the near perfectly manufactured the lawn. Down to the blades of grass, everything seemed to be perfect and whoever was responsible for the beauty of the garden surely put a lot of time and effort into it all. There were drapes on the windows, but they were open to let in the natural light. One of the far off windows was even open with a pie hanging to cool, an almost idyllic scene. The whole village seemed to be enjoying the weather but also the era of peace they were enjoying. After a long and hard civil war it was good to see people actually able to live their lives. Free from the comfort of war and poverty, able to watch their kids and the village grow.

There was a brief silence after the knock on the door, from the far off window he could hear the closing of an oven and before he knew it a woman in her thirties appeared. She was wearing a simple pink shirt and a pair of denim jeans, over it was a white apron covered in some baking mess. A jelly stain right near her bosom. Her hair was white and tied back in a pony tail. She smiled at him and glanced up at him, "Hey sorry, I would love to buy some candy but I just got finished baking a pie. Too many sweets and I might get fat." she said lifting a hand to her mouth covering it as she giggled. "What are you selling anyways? I swear, the little kids get cuter and cuter with every generation. Do you like pie? It might take a minute to cool, but I can give you a slice for your troubles." the lady looked down to him, placing a hand on her hip as she waited for him to respond.

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

The house itself and garden seemed to be unbelievably well kept, the young boy wasn’t sure if anything he had seen before had ever been so uniform. He had moved to the door with as few steps as possible to minimise any impact he could have had on the miniature environment. He felt heat on the back of his neck, he couldn’t know for sure if this was due to the sun or adrenaline. Shinzo waited for a few seconds for his knock to be heard, his eyes wandered from the immaculate grass to the pie, to which they lit up with intrigue. ‘I wonder what that pie is.’ Shinzo licked his lips while he thought to himself. ‘Could it be pumpkin pie? I love pumpkin pie, it’s delicious. The very best.’ His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and the sight of the woman, she stood before him with her white hair hanging behind her. His eyes flicked to her chest for just a moment, mainly at the stain as he wondered what sort of jelly it could be, but shortly his gaze returned to meet hers.

“Is this the home of Nakedo? I, err, have come from the library.” Shinzo said with a slight hesitation as nerves crept through his body. “I am looking to collect a book that’s overdue, it’s called…” He paused once more, searching his memory for the title of the book. “Kunai for kids! That’s it, that’s what it’s called.” His feet shuffled for a moment before he spoke once more. “I was wondering if you had it? I’d love to stay for some pie, but I have to get back as soon as I can.” He raises his right hand and brushed through his fringe before resting his palm on the back of his head, a slight breeze lifted a few hairs, but they remained pushed back as he waited.

WC: 318
TWC: 1190

 

[Tatsuo]

"Oh that's right!" she said raising a finger to her chin, before nodding quickly. "One second! I'll be right back!" she said as she walked back into the house for a few moments.

After hearing a few things being shuffled around in the house the woman arrived with two things in hand, a piece of blueberry pie and the book, titled Kunai for Kids! As she handed over the pie in a small paper plate, she also gave him the book. "I was reading it to my nephew, he lives in Crater City with my sister and his father, but they visited the village the other day. I can't believe I forgot about it. Please tell them I apologize and if I owe anything just give me a second to go get my purse!" Considering there was nothing about payment on the sheet of paper she would nod and say "Oh alright, you have a nice day and be safe!" before closing the door.

1226 Maple Street was nothing like the last house he had visited, it was a small apartment tucked between a noodle shop and a butchery, it had a very thick smell of food and not in the good way. One of the windows had a small crack at the bottom corner, but other than that the place looked alright. Obviously just on the poorer side of things.

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

Shinzo smiled as he watched the lady walked away. So far things were going well for the boy, he would be back in no time at this rate which left him with even more time to train his shuriken jutsu in the evening! He waited for a few moments for the woman to return, he continued to admire the beauty of his surroundings while the lady was collecting the book. He reached out to take the book and the pie in his hands, his stomach rumbled as the beautiful pie came closer and closer. Shinzo would have to wait until his task was complete to dig in fully. His eyes scanned the title of the book and allowed him to mentally tick off the literature from his list of books to collect.

“You don’t owe anything at all!” Shinzo said with a warm smile upon his face after accepting both the book and the pie. “Thank you, have a nice day yourself!” He called out just before turning to walk back onto Maple Street. There were still a few pedestrians around, Shinzo had to be even more careful as he manoeuvred his way through them and to keep the pie in tact. He narrowly avoided slipping on a ball which was being kicked around by a few boys slightly younger than Shinzo, however he used the elasticity in the ball to push himself off and gain even more speed.

He came to a halt outside of the apartment, he wasn’t particularly impressed by the surroundings and ideally, he would’ve preferred to visit a similar house to the last one. However, he had to complete his mission! The young boy began to stride up to the apartment, tucking the book he acquired into his belt pouch before wrapping his knuckles three times on the door itself. Having done so have quickly attempted to peak through the window to see if he could notice any movement inside. ‘Almost done, after this I’ll only have one more book to collect!’ He thought to himself while he fidgeted with excitement waiting to see what would happen next.

WC: 353
TWC: 1543

 

[Tatsuo]

It almost seemed like no one was home, Shinzo would sit there for a while before there was a click that came from the door. A man opened it, he peaked out from the door looking to the kid, "Something wrong, kid?" he said speaking in a low voice, the man looked almost scared of Shinzo despite having no good reason to. His eyes darted between the street and Shinzo rapidly as if he was paranoid of something. His long and messy hair went down past his ears and the beginnings of a beard were starting to show. The man smelled just as odd as the house he lived in. Quite the contrast from the last place Shinzo visited.

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

Shinzo tapped his foot on the ground as he waited, what was he to do? He couldn’t exactly leave the book in there without taking it back, that would be a mission failure in his mind. He sighed and moved to stand up just as the door opened, he jumped up. The slight fright he got caused Shinzo to stand rigid for a moment before he turned to face the man in the doorway. He stammered slightly as the nerves began to disappear. “I, um, am here to collect a book on behalf of the library.” He scanned the man’s facial expressions and picked up on his discomfort. “Is everything alright? I just need to get a book called ‘How to find love as a Shinobi’ do you have it? It needs to be returned to the library before the end of the day, so I have come to collect it.” He gave a weak smile towards the man, still unsure of what was going through the guy’s brain at this point.

The young boy motioned to rest his right hand in his pocket while the left one sill carried the pie. He couldn’t wait to get home, maybe his mother had made more pumpkin soup, then he’d be able to eat the pie as a treat after. But first he had to get the book from this man and then the final book. Shinzo was impatient, but he decided to hold his tongue and continue to keep his composure relaxed as he waited.

WC: 254
TWC: 1797

 

[Tatsuo]

The man quickly slammed the door, as if he was trying to run away. However just a few short moments after the book would poke out through the mail slot, the man called from behind the door. "Here, just go!" he said before locking his door again. Letting Shinzo get onto the next and last book.

439 Maple Street seemed to be the most basic of all the houses he had visited so far, just a normal apartment by all means. After knocking on the door a man in his thirties would appear, behind him he would see two kids laying on a couch watching TV. He looked down to Shinzo and smiled, "What's up little guy?" He stretched opening the door, seeing more of the background it'd seem most of the family was enjoying some time. Presumably his wife was leaned against the bar, chatting on the phone keeping an eye on the two kids watching TV.

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

Shinzo was slightly shocked by the sudden slamming of the door. He wondered if that meant that the man didn’t have the book, or if he wanted to keep the book. Shinzo didn’t want to have to take a book from a strange man by force, especially a book about finding love. That would be extremely sad, though it could be part of the mission and so he pretended to roll up the sleeves that he didn’t have and turned to face the door, ready to make his own way in. However this action was stopped by the appearance of the book in the mail slot. “I, er, um, thank you!” Shinzo called out, slightly bewildered as he took the book to place it in his belt pouch next to the first book he acquired.

The eight year old quickly sprinted away from the apartment, he really didn’t want to spend much more time around that strange man. Though he was intrigued by his behaviour. The street was a little emptier now, especially after he had to wait for the man to answer, so he swiftly made his way to the next house. This one was alright, much like his own house. He felt a little more confident knocking on this door and to his surprise it was answered almost instantly by a cheery man. Shinzo’s eyes darted to the two children watching TV, oh how he longed to watch TV, but that was not his ninja way. “I have come to collect a book for the library.” He said moving to meet the man’s gaze with his own. “It’s called ‘Tale of a Gutsy Ninja’ if what I have here is written down properly.” He fished out the piece of paper and double checked the house number before continuing. “It has to be returned to the library by this evening, so I have come to collect it, do you have it?”

WC: 322
TWC: 2119

 

[Tatsuo]

The man rubs the back of his neck, calling to his wife, "Hey remember that book we checked out the other day, do you know where it is?" His wife shrugged her shoulders before heading into the back room, wedging the phone between her shoulder and ear as she walked into the backroom. The kids finally turned their attention to Shinzo, before returning to watching their TV. It didn't take long before the wife came back with the book in hand, she said "One second, mom." then she showed the book, "Is this the one?" It indeed was the Tale of a Gutsy Ninja.

They would say their good byes and give it to Shinzo, it wouldn't take long before he was able to get back to the library. Right after they closed, however there was a small drop box with a note saying, "Dear Shinzo! Please place the books here, i'll make sure to give you that advanced library pass tomorrow after class." - Miss Siyu.

And with that, Shinzo had finished the day. Another mission completed without a hitch, at this rate maybe he'll become a legend among shinobi!