Part I:
‘Missions’ had been a rare thing for Shizuka so far and that was exactly why she felt so excited about this one. Going on one alone wasn’t exactly a good or a bad thing. She felt like it could be fun as well, to head out on her own. It would definitely give her the opportunity to show her teachers that she could handle things without others’ help, even if having no back up at all did make her somewhat nervous. That bit of stress expressed itself through her usually very calm self being a bit jumpy. Jade colored eyes went through the bushes as she walked over the path toward her destination.
According to the scroll the house wasn’t too far out. A shop kept by an older pair had been attacked by bandits who’ve caused a mess in the process. It was still a bit unsure if they had been tourists coming from the Hot Springs or a bunch of angry drunks happy with an easy target to rob. In any case she felt a bit bad for the old couple. They had a peaceful store with vegetables, fruits, spices, and some other basic goods to provide for themselves and now it was a pile of damaged goods. Hopefully not all of the merchandise had been taken or destroyed, that way they could recuperate some of the loss after the store’s been cleaned up and the damages repaired.
Silently continuing down the road she felt slightly surprise to only cross paths with two other travelers. Neither of them paid much attention to her, but she still studied them carefully. Who knew what else this mission entailed. Besides, a side note did mention that should the bandits reappear she was to deal with them. According to the sources none of them was a shinobi, so binding them should it become necessary wouldn’t be a problem. In fact, she hoped that it would be the case, that way they could pay for the damage they’ve done.
With her little backpack tightly strapped to her shoulders as always, she followed the road as it started to curl toward the left. After a couple of more minutes her eyes settled onto a good sized wooden structure with one of the sidewalls damaged. Clearly this was the place she had to be at. And now that it was in the range of her sight she quickened her pace. The sun had been up for a bit now, so it was better to get this mission over with before the evening, and certainly before the night would fall. Cleaning, dusting, and shaping some wood shouldn’t be hard enough, but she didn’t want to underestimate the task given to her. Certainly not now that her scores had been going up. Not that she really cared about the points, but she did want to get that forehead protector without being held back a year.
“Good morning! Anyone here?” The knocks faded, and before anyone could enter she slipped inside of the store. From the sight of it most of the vegetables and other products had been either cleaned or moved, but the hole in the wall, splinters of wood, glass shards, and mud were still clearly present. From behind one of the undamaged shelves an old lady appeared. There was a bandage around her arm, a small cut on her cheek, and she appeared to be limping slightly. Shizuka wasn’t sure if that last part was caused by the bandits or the old age.
“Hi, dear. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to help you, we’ve had some bad luck, so the choices have shrunk dramatically. You can come by next week, hopefully the store will be back to its old self by then.” The old woman nodded, wrinkles curling as she smiled gently toward the young Senju. It took a moment for the latter to realized that this lady wasn’t taking her as the help, but as a customer.
“Oh, no, no, I’m the help.” The ten year old proudly said, offering the scroll to the woman whose eyes widened a little with confusion and curiosity.
“My, my,” reading the scroll, she smiled. “you guys grow younger every year, don’t you?” Regardless of her potential distrust toward Shizuka’s skills, she didn’t let anything of that kind show through. Instead, she nodded, offered a drink to the girl before explaining to her what had to be done. The husband, who turned out to be away for the moment, had already done a part, but his age was taking its toll. So, it was up to the future kunoichi to solve the matter entirely.
“Thank you for the directions, ma’am, I’ll start in a minute.”
With bags for the shards and splinters, hammers, nails, and wooden planks for the wall, Shizuka went to work, eyes shiny at the opportunity to use some of her jutsu whenever it would become necessary. Water to clean with came from the palm of her hands, some of the wood was quickly generated through the means of chakra as well. She scrubbed, hammered away, and threw out the necessary trash. The only thing that was yet to be fixed were the two, little, broken windows, but glass wasn’t in her arsenal, and she knew that someone else would have to come by to finish off her work. Not that it bothered her, the lady appeared quite happy with the results.
At the end of it, she really wanted to go home to shower and get rid of the dust, but Naoko - the owner of the store - convinced her to have a drink with her first. By the time the two had settled down, the husband returned from his trip to a nearby market place.
Part I: 966/1,600
‘Missions’ had been a rare thing for Shizuka so far and that was exactly why she felt so excited about this one. Going on one alone wasn’t exactly a good or a bad thing. She felt like it could be fun as well, to head out on her own. It would definitely give her the opportunity to show her teachers that she could handle things without others’ help, even if having no back up at all did make her somewhat nervous. That bit of stress expressed itself through her usually very calm self being a bit jumpy. Jade colored eyes went through the bushes as she walked over the path toward her destination.
According to the scroll the house wasn’t too far out. A shop kept by an older pair had been attacked by bandits who’ve caused a mess in the process. It was still a bit unsure if they had been tourists coming from the Hot Springs or a bunch of angry drunks happy with an easy target to rob. In any case she felt a bit bad for the old couple. They had a peaceful store with vegetables, fruits, spices, and some other basic goods to provide for themselves and now it was a pile of damaged goods. Hopefully not all of the merchandise had been taken or destroyed, that way they could recuperate some of the loss after the store’s been cleaned up and the damages repaired.
Silently continuing down the road she felt slightly surprise to only cross paths with two other travelers. Neither of them paid much attention to her, but she still studied them carefully. Who knew what else this mission entailed. Besides, a side note did mention that should the bandits reappear she was to deal with them. According to the sources none of them was a shinobi, so binding them should it become necessary wouldn’t be a problem. In fact, she hoped that it would be the case, that way they could pay for the damage they’ve done.
With her little backpack tightly strapped to her shoulders as always, she followed the road as it started to curl toward the left. After a couple of more minutes her eyes settled onto a good sized wooden structure with one of the sidewalls damaged. Clearly this was the place she had to be at. And now that it was in the range of her sight she quickened her pace. The sun had been up for a bit now, so it was better to get this mission over with before the evening, and certainly before the night would fall. Cleaning, dusting, and shaping some wood shouldn’t be hard enough, but she didn’t want to underestimate the task given to her. Certainly not now that her scores had been going up. Not that she really cared about the points, but she did want to get that forehead protector without being held back a year.
*
“Good morning! Anyone here?” The knocks faded, and before anyone could enter she slipped inside of the store. From the sight of it most of the vegetables and other products had been either cleaned or moved, but the hole in the wall, splinters of wood, glass shards, and mud were still clearly present. From behind one of the undamaged shelves an old lady appeared. There was a bandage around her arm, a small cut on her cheek, and she appeared to be limping slightly. Shizuka wasn’t sure if that last part was caused by the bandits or the old age.
“Hi, dear. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to help you, we’ve had some bad luck, so the choices have shrunk dramatically. You can come by next week, hopefully the store will be back to its old self by then.” The old woman nodded, wrinkles curling as she smiled gently toward the young Senju. It took a moment for the latter to realized that this lady wasn’t taking her as the help, but as a customer.
“Oh, no, no, I’m the help.” The ten year old proudly said, offering the scroll to the woman whose eyes widened a little with confusion and curiosity.
“My, my,” reading the scroll, she smiled. “you guys grow younger every year, don’t you?” Regardless of her potential distrust toward Shizuka’s skills, she didn’t let anything of that kind show through. Instead, she nodded, offered a drink to the girl before explaining to her what had to be done. The husband, who turned out to be away for the moment, had already done a part, but his age was taking its toll. So, it was up to the future kunoichi to solve the matter entirely.
“Thank you for the directions, ma’am, I’ll start in a minute.”
With bags for the shards and splinters, hammers, nails, and wooden planks for the wall, Shizuka went to work, eyes shiny at the opportunity to use some of her jutsu whenever it would become necessary. Water to clean with came from the palm of her hands, some of the wood was quickly generated through the means of chakra as well. She scrubbed, hammered away, and threw out the necessary trash. The only thing that was yet to be fixed were the two, little, broken windows, but glass wasn’t in her arsenal, and she knew that someone else would have to come by to finish off her work. Not that it bothered her, the lady appeared quite happy with the results.
At the end of it, she really wanted to go home to shower and get rid of the dust, but Naoko - the owner of the store - convinced her to have a drink with her first. By the time the two had settled down, the husband returned from his trip to a nearby market place.
***
Part I: 966/1,600