She has resided to the fact that she'll be doing this forever, or for the moment at least. Satsuki was doing the most errands in her class, possibly in the whole Academy. Who knows? No one is keeping score anyway. This time was a bit different. Instead of having her teachers or instructors in the Academy have her go and ask for missions, the Embassy was the one who called her this time which striked the girl curious. Was she doing THAT well in her missions that they were asking for her now? The girl wasn't old enough to think of these things in detail, not yet anyway.
The girl made her way to her normal route to the said establishment with the same gusto. If this was another cleaning errand she would freak out, the girl thought to herself. She wasn't bothered by the labor, she just didn't like the smell of garbage and excrement. Who does? Satsuki made her way inside the front entrance and into the same hallways as always. She was met by the old woman who gives her pet names, but this time she was sent to an office, someone important she assumed. Satsuki knocked on the door a couple of times and heard a muffled "come in" before she opened the door. The girl poked her head to look inside, the man inside gestured for her to come in and sit.
"I've heard quite a lot about you Kanzaki-san." the man said while burrowing through folders. Satsuki sitted stiffly on the chair.
"..mostly your---shenanigans before you entered the Academy, and a few more up to this point. You're a troublemaker, I know. But I wouldn't blame you for your actions, sometimes it's how people react to certain events in their personal life." the man added, taking a seat after pulling out a folder from one of his file cabinets.
"Despite everything, you've done quite a good job on your missions and errands. You have good grades in the Academy, and it seems at this point, that you might have potential. But enough of that. I didn't summon you to talk about you. I have here a parcel of important documents that needs to be delivered in the Redwoods outpost. The Jounin in charge there need this as soon as possible, and they asked for you to personally deliver it to them." the man explained.
The girl took the parcel and stared at it for a second. The Petrified Woods. She knew the place. She hasn't had the chance to go there but she has heard stories about it. They said it was one of the scariest places in Iwagakure. Some say the trees are alive. Some say ghosts live inside the forest, and now she has to go there and deliver a parcel. Great. The girl closed her eyes and shook her head. This is an important errand. She didn't know what was inside the parcel, and she didn't care. All she knows is she needs to bring this to the outpost as fast as she can. One question lingered though,
"Can I ask why they personally asked for me, sir?"
The man yawned; not openly, no. he yawned with his fist in front of his mouth. Like when you need to clear your throat in public and you didn't want to be unethical. He seemed tired, but just like everyone, he needed to do his work.
"No, I don't." sternly, the man replied. "Maybe it's your performance? The Genin are doing rather poorly at the moment, it seems. But I don't really know. I guess you'd have to find out yourself, Satsuki."
the man added.
The girl nodded and let herself out of the office and out of the building. It was still pretty early, so she had an entire day ahead of her. Weird, the man seemed tired and he looked like he just came in. Grownups seemed weird to the girl sometimes. She made her way to the small terminal that had wagons headed to the Concrete Jungle. There she would wait for someone who would let her ride with them. Running to her destination at this level would be stupid. Even a small girl knows that.
Six hours.
It would take her six hours to arrive in the vicinity. Her ride wasn't going exactly to the woods so the girl needed to walk to the place. The thought gave her chills. As any child would have, her imagination started to play as she walked towards the direction given to her. Trees that were living, ghosts, and monsters. These thoughts were scary, even if you're a kid who was studying to become a shinobi. After some minutes the horizon started to change. The girl squinted her eyes to see why. Enormous pale trees out of fairy tales. Or was it? Giant trees just like what she heard, giant leafless trees sitting beside each other, as far as the eye can see. It didn't help for it to be cloudy that day also. The girl stared at it for a minute; then grabbing her small canteen to take a sip of water before moving forward. She wasn't going inside the forest, the outpost was situated half a kilometer outside of it, which she can see. As she continued walking, she heard a voice, a question.
"Hey, what are you doing this far out kid?"
She turned around and saw a team of Stone shinobi. Satsuki got taken aback for a second, and she remembered, they're shinobi. They must've hopped towards the same direction.
"Well... the Embassy told me to send a parcel to the outpost. They said I needed to take this here." the girl replied.
"Oh. OH! Yeah, I know you! Yeah, come with us. We just came back from our patrol. Our boss is waiting."
"And Kenta-san was telling us about you for a good while now." said another.
The girl grew more confused. She followed them to the outpost just like a little obedient girl, which she wasn't. but this is work, so she can break from character from time to time. Satsuki followed the team inside the outpost. It as a quaint place; it has high walls made of stone and wood and earth. The walls house a couple buildings inside, some looked like houses while others looked like small warehouses. In the middle stood a tall tower, as tall as one of the old trees. She could see a few men manning the top of the tower as lookouts for whatever it is that might be seen as a threat. While walking a grumpy voice called her,
"Satsuki!"
The girl turned and saw a tall and scruffy looking man. He walked to her with a slight limp. Odd, this man, she thought. He had a weird bandanna on and was smoking a cigarette. When they were toe to toe, the man kneeled down,
"Ahh, you really became a spitting image of her." the man chuckled.
"A-Are you the person in charge sir?" asked the girl.
"Me? In charge? HAHAHA! Maybe if I Hadn't had these legs of mine give in. No child, but he is my friend. I might not be the person in charge, but I am your uncle!" the man bellowed even more, gesturing for her to follow him.
Satsuki was shocked. She didn't know she had an uncle. From which side, she wondered. For a moment the girl was lost for words, until they reached a building that seemed to look like an offce.
"We're here. The boss is inside." he said.
"Wait, you're my uncle? H-How?" the girl asked.
"It's simple, you're mother is my little sister!" he replied. "Like what I said earlier, you look really like her. Only difference I see is your eyes." he added.
"But I have the same color of eyes like mom," Satsuki answered.
"I'm not talking about eye color child, yours is different because I can see fire in them. Your mother had a dark, bottomless pit that I couldn't fully understand up to this day. That darkness contradicts the will that her eyes should have carried." He paused, seeing that the girl is confused. "You will understand one day. My name is Kenta. But you can call me uncle Ken, or Unk". smiled the man who just named himself.
The two went inside the small office where the commanding Jounin was seated on a desk. Apparently they still do a bit of paperwork far out in the outskirts of the village. Kenta introduced the girl to the Jounin,
"My god, she does look like Nanako." the Jounin said, standing up to greet the girl.
"I've brought you the parcel sir," Satsuki replied, not letting the attention to distract her.
"Me and your mother were in the same class. It's---sad what she did."
"No sir, it's sad what it did to my father." the girl replied. This surprised both the captain and Kenta. The girl has some sense of maturity already. And bitterness, which was no surprise given the circumstances.
After handing the letter Kenta told the girl to go to the kitchen to get something to eat while he and the commander discussed things. It would go over an hour before he would see her again. Her uncle told Satsuki to stay in for the night and go back early tomorrow morning. Apparently he had sent a bird to her Gran's place to notify her that her granddaughter was safe. This would allow the two to talk and get to know each other.
-Mission Accomplished-
The girl made her way to her normal route to the said establishment with the same gusto. If this was another cleaning errand she would freak out, the girl thought to herself. She wasn't bothered by the labor, she just didn't like the smell of garbage and excrement. Who does? Satsuki made her way inside the front entrance and into the same hallways as always. She was met by the old woman who gives her pet names, but this time she was sent to an office, someone important she assumed. Satsuki knocked on the door a couple of times and heard a muffled "come in" before she opened the door. The girl poked her head to look inside, the man inside gestured for her to come in and sit.
"I've heard quite a lot about you Kanzaki-san." the man said while burrowing through folders. Satsuki sitted stiffly on the chair.
"..mostly your---shenanigans before you entered the Academy, and a few more up to this point. You're a troublemaker, I know. But I wouldn't blame you for your actions, sometimes it's how people react to certain events in their personal life." the man added, taking a seat after pulling out a folder from one of his file cabinets.
"Despite everything, you've done quite a good job on your missions and errands. You have good grades in the Academy, and it seems at this point, that you might have potential. But enough of that. I didn't summon you to talk about you. I have here a parcel of important documents that needs to be delivered in the Redwoods outpost. The Jounin in charge there need this as soon as possible, and they asked for you to personally deliver it to them." the man explained.
The girl took the parcel and stared at it for a second. The Petrified Woods. She knew the place. She hasn't had the chance to go there but she has heard stories about it. They said it was one of the scariest places in Iwagakure. Some say the trees are alive. Some say ghosts live inside the forest, and now she has to go there and deliver a parcel. Great. The girl closed her eyes and shook her head. This is an important errand. She didn't know what was inside the parcel, and she didn't care. All she knows is she needs to bring this to the outpost as fast as she can. One question lingered though,
"Can I ask why they personally asked for me, sir?"
The man yawned; not openly, no. he yawned with his fist in front of his mouth. Like when you need to clear your throat in public and you didn't want to be unethical. He seemed tired, but just like everyone, he needed to do his work.
"No, I don't." sternly, the man replied. "Maybe it's your performance? The Genin are doing rather poorly at the moment, it seems. But I don't really know. I guess you'd have to find out yourself, Satsuki."
the man added.
The girl nodded and let herself out of the office and out of the building. It was still pretty early, so she had an entire day ahead of her. Weird, the man seemed tired and he looked like he just came in. Grownups seemed weird to the girl sometimes. She made her way to the small terminal that had wagons headed to the Concrete Jungle. There she would wait for someone who would let her ride with them. Running to her destination at this level would be stupid. Even a small girl knows that.
Six hours.
It would take her six hours to arrive in the vicinity. Her ride wasn't going exactly to the woods so the girl needed to walk to the place. The thought gave her chills. As any child would have, her imagination started to play as she walked towards the direction given to her. Trees that were living, ghosts, and monsters. These thoughts were scary, even if you're a kid who was studying to become a shinobi. After some minutes the horizon started to change. The girl squinted her eyes to see why. Enormous pale trees out of fairy tales. Or was it? Giant trees just like what she heard, giant leafless trees sitting beside each other, as far as the eye can see. It didn't help for it to be cloudy that day also. The girl stared at it for a minute; then grabbing her small canteen to take a sip of water before moving forward. She wasn't going inside the forest, the outpost was situated half a kilometer outside of it, which she can see. As she continued walking, she heard a voice, a question.
"Hey, what are you doing this far out kid?"
She turned around and saw a team of Stone shinobi. Satsuki got taken aback for a second, and she remembered, they're shinobi. They must've hopped towards the same direction.
"Well... the Embassy told me to send a parcel to the outpost. They said I needed to take this here." the girl replied.
"Oh. OH! Yeah, I know you! Yeah, come with us. We just came back from our patrol. Our boss is waiting."
"And Kenta-san was telling us about you for a good while now." said another.
The girl grew more confused. She followed them to the outpost just like a little obedient girl, which she wasn't. but this is work, so she can break from character from time to time. Satsuki followed the team inside the outpost. It as a quaint place; it has high walls made of stone and wood and earth. The walls house a couple buildings inside, some looked like houses while others looked like small warehouses. In the middle stood a tall tower, as tall as one of the old trees. She could see a few men manning the top of the tower as lookouts for whatever it is that might be seen as a threat. While walking a grumpy voice called her,
"Satsuki!"
The girl turned and saw a tall and scruffy looking man. He walked to her with a slight limp. Odd, this man, she thought. He had a weird bandanna on and was smoking a cigarette. When they were toe to toe, the man kneeled down,
"Ahh, you really became a spitting image of her." the man chuckled.
"A-Are you the person in charge sir?" asked the girl.
"Me? In charge? HAHAHA! Maybe if I Hadn't had these legs of mine give in. No child, but he is my friend. I might not be the person in charge, but I am your uncle!" the man bellowed even more, gesturing for her to follow him.
Satsuki was shocked. She didn't know she had an uncle. From which side, she wondered. For a moment the girl was lost for words, until they reached a building that seemed to look like an offce.
"We're here. The boss is inside." he said.
"Wait, you're my uncle? H-How?" the girl asked.
"It's simple, you're mother is my little sister!" he replied. "Like what I said earlier, you look really like her. Only difference I see is your eyes." he added.
"But I have the same color of eyes like mom," Satsuki answered.
"I'm not talking about eye color child, yours is different because I can see fire in them. Your mother had a dark, bottomless pit that I couldn't fully understand up to this day. That darkness contradicts the will that her eyes should have carried." He paused, seeing that the girl is confused. "You will understand one day. My name is Kenta. But you can call me uncle Ken, or Unk". smiled the man who just named himself.
The two went inside the small office where the commanding Jounin was seated on a desk. Apparently they still do a bit of paperwork far out in the outskirts of the village. Kenta introduced the girl to the Jounin,
"My god, she does look like Nanako." the Jounin said, standing up to greet the girl.
"I've brought you the parcel sir," Satsuki replied, not letting the attention to distract her.
"Me and your mother were in the same class. It's---sad what she did."
"No sir, it's sad what it did to my father." the girl replied. This surprised both the captain and Kenta. The girl has some sense of maturity already. And bitterness, which was no surprise given the circumstances.
After handing the letter Kenta told the girl to go to the kitchen to get something to eat while he and the commander discussed things. It would go over an hour before he would see her again. Her uncle told Satsuki to stay in for the night and go back early tomorrow morning. Apparently he had sent a bird to her Gran's place to notify her that her granddaughter was safe. This would allow the two to talk and get to know each other.
-Mission Accomplished-