Part I:
How was anyone supposed to work with this many documents! Student profiles, class schedules, progress reports, exam reports; it was a never ending pile of paper! Jo had spent the better part of six hours sorting, filing, un-filing and re-filing in one of the basement storage rooms of the Academy. The room was large at five hundred square feet; the walls were lined with grey filing cabinets, the center of the room dominated by four large rectangular tables with aisles between them. Jo was the only one down there today, and so was able to utilize all of the table space; and he needed it! Between the glow of the fluorescent lights and the bright white paper, Jo was sure he would go blind by the end of the day.
As he sorted through yet another pile of student mission expense reports, the door behind him opened revealing Rei, his academic advisory and the one who had hired him to do all her filing for her. She flashed a gentle smile, ”I’ve got coffee,” she said, handing him one of the two large paper cups she was carrying. ”I didn’t know how you take it, so I left it black. I figured you’d need it since I haven’t seen you for a few hours.”
”Thanks,” Jo said, sipping the scalding hot brew and sighing heavily. ”No wonder you hired me to do all this; it’s torture!”
Rei chuckled, the sound like the gentle peal of a small silver bell. ”If you think this is bad, you should be hear around the end of the term. There are literally walls of term papers!” She looked around the room at the tables. Even though they were all covered with files and manila folders, the stacks were finally dwindling. ”Well, the good news is you should be finished here in a few minutes. Then you can have a little fun!” To answer Jo’s questioning look, she pointed at the giant trashcan of files and papers that needed to be disposed of. ”Those need to be destroyed, and you need ninjutsu practice. So I figure we can kill two birds with one stone by having you incinerate them with a fire jutsu! Sounds fun, right?” Jo nodded quietly as he sipped more coffee and started clearing the last of the paperwork from one of the tables, tossing several stacks into the trash barrel. He didn’t even question her as to how she knew he had been practicing fire jutsu. Rei always seemed to know what he was doing, where he had been, and who he had been with.
The rustling of papers from one of the other papers told him that she was at least being productive and helping him finish the task. Within the hour the tables were cleared and the last drawer shut. Jo threw his now empty coffee cut into the nearly full trashcan before thinking. ’How am I supposed to get this thing up all those stairs!’
WC: 498
Part II:<i></i>
After much grunting and sweating, Jo finally heaved the full trashcan of old files out onto the practice yard. Rei hadn’t bothered to help, insisting that it was a good workout that she didn’t want him to miss out on. Placing the plastic trash barrel in the middle of a scorched patch of gravel, Jo stood back and took a couple of deep breaths to recover from the climb up from the basement.
”Alright, Jo; lets see what you’re made of! Burn it to the ground!” Rei shouted, enthusiastically pumping a fist into the air. Jo wished she had been a little quieter about it, because her shouting had gotten the attention of a handful of other students who had been training nearby who were now on their way over to watch. Shaking off the stage fright, Jo slowly and systematically formed the handseals to a basic fire jutsu he knew. Focusing his chakra into his mouth and filling his lungs, he ignited the chakra with a burst of energy and breathed a Thermal Maw: R1 of flames over the trash barrel. The intense heat staggered a couple of the greener students while the older students and their genin tutors clapped at the display. The flames instantly ignited the plastic of the barrel ant its paper contents, creating a towering blaze of orange flames.
”Great job, Jo! Now do that as many times as it takes until there’s nothing but ash left. All those documents have to be completely destroyed for security purposes.” As the fire burned, the small audience dispersed, leaving Jo to tend the flames. Every time the fire started to die down, he’d blast it with another wave of burning chakra, repeating the process for over an hour until all that was left was a pile of snow-white ash. Sweaty from the heat and dirty from the smoke, Jo wiped his face gratefully with the cold, damp towel Rei provided along with his pay. ”There’s some extra in there for doing such a good job destroying those old documents. Oh, and don’t forget to clean up this mess before you leave!” She shouted cheerily over her shoulder as she exited the training grounds, leaving Jo to sigh in defeat as he wandered off to find a broom and dust pan.
WC: 383
{MFT}
How was anyone supposed to work with this many documents! Student profiles, class schedules, progress reports, exam reports; it was a never ending pile of paper! Jo had spent the better part of six hours sorting, filing, un-filing and re-filing in one of the basement storage rooms of the Academy. The room was large at five hundred square feet; the walls were lined with grey filing cabinets, the center of the room dominated by four large rectangular tables with aisles between them. Jo was the only one down there today, and so was able to utilize all of the table space; and he needed it! Between the glow of the fluorescent lights and the bright white paper, Jo was sure he would go blind by the end of the day.
As he sorted through yet another pile of student mission expense reports, the door behind him opened revealing Rei, his academic advisory and the one who had hired him to do all her filing for her. She flashed a gentle smile, ”I’ve got coffee,” she said, handing him one of the two large paper cups she was carrying. ”I didn’t know how you take it, so I left it black. I figured you’d need it since I haven’t seen you for a few hours.”
”Thanks,” Jo said, sipping the scalding hot brew and sighing heavily. ”No wonder you hired me to do all this; it’s torture!”
Rei chuckled, the sound like the gentle peal of a small silver bell. ”If you think this is bad, you should be hear around the end of the term. There are literally walls of term papers!” She looked around the room at the tables. Even though they were all covered with files and manila folders, the stacks were finally dwindling. ”Well, the good news is you should be finished here in a few minutes. Then you can have a little fun!” To answer Jo’s questioning look, she pointed at the giant trashcan of files and papers that needed to be disposed of. ”Those need to be destroyed, and you need ninjutsu practice. So I figure we can kill two birds with one stone by having you incinerate them with a fire jutsu! Sounds fun, right?” Jo nodded quietly as he sipped more coffee and started clearing the last of the paperwork from one of the tables, tossing several stacks into the trash barrel. He didn’t even question her as to how she knew he had been practicing fire jutsu. Rei always seemed to know what he was doing, where he had been, and who he had been with.
The rustling of papers from one of the other papers told him that she was at least being productive and helping him finish the task. Within the hour the tables were cleared and the last drawer shut. Jo threw his now empty coffee cut into the nearly full trashcan before thinking. ’How am I supposed to get this thing up all those stairs!’
WC: 498
Part II:<i></i>
After much grunting and sweating, Jo finally heaved the full trashcan of old files out onto the practice yard. Rei hadn’t bothered to help, insisting that it was a good workout that she didn’t want him to miss out on. Placing the plastic trash barrel in the middle of a scorched patch of gravel, Jo stood back and took a couple of deep breaths to recover from the climb up from the basement.
”Alright, Jo; lets see what you’re made of! Burn it to the ground!” Rei shouted, enthusiastically pumping a fist into the air. Jo wished she had been a little quieter about it, because her shouting had gotten the attention of a handful of other students who had been training nearby who were now on their way over to watch. Shaking off the stage fright, Jo slowly and systematically formed the handseals to a basic fire jutsu he knew. Focusing his chakra into his mouth and filling his lungs, he ignited the chakra with a burst of energy and breathed a Thermal Maw: R1 of flames over the trash barrel. The intense heat staggered a couple of the greener students while the older students and their genin tutors clapped at the display. The flames instantly ignited the plastic of the barrel ant its paper contents, creating a towering blaze of orange flames.
”Great job, Jo! Now do that as many times as it takes until there’s nothing but ash left. All those documents have to be completely destroyed for security purposes.” As the fire burned, the small audience dispersed, leaving Jo to tend the flames. Every time the fire started to die down, he’d blast it with another wave of burning chakra, repeating the process for over an hour until all that was left was a pile of snow-white ash. Sweaty from the heat and dirty from the smoke, Jo wiped his face gratefully with the cold, damp towel Rei provided along with his pay. ”There’s some extra in there for doing such a good job destroying those old documents. Oh, and don’t forget to clean up this mess before you leave!” She shouted cheerily over her shoulder as she exited the training grounds, leaving Jo to sigh in defeat as he wandered off to find a broom and dust pan.
WC: 383
{MFT}