[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

The Barrier Corps is one of those underappreciated entities in the village. A lot of faith in the organization was lost because of the failure to protect the previous two Kages, and that made it even less of an "appealing" career prospect than before. It's not a glamorous position. But it is an important one, perhaps one of the most important ones to maintaining the day-to-day safety of Konoha. The organization desperately needs an influx of new, talented, interested shinobi. So they set up some mission opportunities for genin to become acquainted with it.

Tomomi is the volunteer for helping the students today. And wouldn't they know it, it seems the first participant they've gotten is a familiar face. Today ought to be interesting.

They pick up the genin and bring them to the Barrier Corps headquarters. The building is an interesting structure. The lower level is relatively boring, with a lounge area. The Interception Team is at rest here, waiting for something to do. All the complicated stuff takes place up top.

"Welcome to Barrier Corps HQ," Tomomi says. "Before we begin on our official mission, let me give you some background. Our organization is the immune system of Konoha. We detect any unwanted intruders and act quickly to oust them, keeping the village healthy and safe. We are on call at all hours to greet any surprise visitors."

They lead Umetaro across the room towards the stairway to the upper level.

"Our team is made up of two parts. We have an Interception Team, who you just saw below. Anyone can become a part of the Interception Team. All that is required is that you're quick and ready to serve. The second component is the Detection Team. They maintain sensing barriers over the village, extending just beyond the gates so we have warning who might be approaching."

As they read the top of the stairs, the sensing room comes into view. In the center, a giant water radar sphere is hovering over a pool of water, maintained by a member of the Detection team, displaying a live "topographic" map of the village.



"All that information is displayed here. Today we've noted a strange chakra signature on the east side of the village," they motion at the water sphere to indicate the general region, "and that is what we will be investigating today. Any questions?"

---

Uchiha Umetaro  

[Uchiha Umetaro]

Umetaro had to fight back the urge to stick his fingers in the bubble. This was how they did it? Just a big bubble of water in the middle of a room? Of all the complex forms of magic that exist in this world, and they pick this to be the piece that centers their entire organization? Umetaro was a bit dissappointed, if he was being honest. He was expecting a lot more soul transference, and sympathetic magic, and perhaps kitsune. 

But Yamanaka Tomomi would never tell him who in the organization was secretly one of Kawai Niko's kitsune spies. They would never betray the village like that, even if out of a fear of retribution. Who knew what the scary Hokage would do to those who revealed her legion of vulpine spies... 

"So... what could that signature be?" Umetaro asked. The obvious question was the one that needed the more immediate answer. "A ghost? A ninja? A bear? This blip doesn't mean anything to me."

Umetaro, of course, hoped it was a ghost. But it was the middle of the day, so ghosts were unlikely to manifest so freely, especially not with such an obvious signature. It defeated the entire point of being a ghost, after all.

[@daitan]

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Umetaro's relative lack of enthusiasm wasn't all that surprising, really. He was interested in fire, in spooky things. A giant orb of water was rather different from the sort of thing that would interest him. Tomomi remembered being rather impressed when they first saw it. But they'd thought about those mechanical things about it. How much chakra it would take to maintain, the amount of ground that must have been covered by sensory barriers, carefully cultivated and maintained every day like an informational garden. The eeriness in the fact that there literally was someone in the village watching every person's move.

"It could be any of the above," Tomomi informed Umetaro. They stood beside him and pointed up at the blip on the radar. "It is making rather small waves. That means there's not much chakra output. That means if it is a shinobi, it's probably a relatively low-ranking one. It could be anything that emits chakra, though. A particularly powerful snake, another village leader's animal spies. A spirit hiding how powerful it is," Tomomi explained.

"Our job is to go track it down and figure out what it is and whether it has any harmful intent." They began to lead Umetaro back away from the giant orb of water and down the stairs.

"This is your mission, so I'm going to try to let you steer. How do you think we should begin trying to find it?"

[Uchiha Umetaro]

No no no no, that couldn't be right. Kawai Niko, have serpentine spies out in the village? That was certainly not it. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his ears. There was no way that Yamanaka Tomomi would believe such a thing. The snakes of the forest answered to none but their own, much like the spiders. Even a powerful sorcerer like Kawai Niko would be unable to press them into service. There was a reason her spy army was made up of Kitsune, beings that could easily mimic the human form. 

"My mission?" Umetaro asked, and tilted his head. "You're the leader here, not me! I don't do this as a career but. Hmmm..." 

He frowned at the sphere of water, trying to make sense of it. It wasn't really clicking, even though he could see the ripples Tomomi had described. Hmm... Seeing that which is unseen... It was interesting, but this was water. Had Indra Uchiha been able to do something similar with fire? 

"I would argue that we cannot let it know we are coming," he said. "If it, is, in fact, some kind of spy. That would give it time to escape. If that blip is on the ground..." He frowned, and moved a step closer to it, still trying to divine its secrets. 

"Then we could approach from the rooftops? be above it in case it turns tail and runs."

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

"I am the mission leader, but it's important for young shinobi to get experience directing the flow of a mission," he explains. "If you've never had any control over a mission, how will you handle yourself if you get separated from your teammates, or your team's leader dies on a mission?" Tomomi asks. Giving Umetaro this kind of experience is important to his development. Anyways, they trust him. The suggestion he provides is a decent idea to begin with.

"This blip is most likely on the ground," Tomomi agrees. "It's just outside of Konoha, sort of meandering about the exterior village walls. The gate guards haven't noted anyone in their area. So we could begin our mission by scaling the walls and walking around to see what we can find?" Tomomi offers.

Umetaro isn't a sensor ninja, so he probably can't read the water map. Tomomi has been gradually developing their sensing skills, so they're better at it, but not yet quite at the levels of their allies on the Detection team. They still take a moment to analyze it again. "It looks like they're probably on the west end of the village. A lot of trees around there. Might make them difficult to find, but I think you're competent enough to do it."

They lead him downstairs and outside, headed towards the wall around Konoha.

[Uchiha Umetaro]

The village felt different. Perhaps its was just due to the urgency of their mission, but Umetaro saw Konoha with fresh eyes. It was like an alien village, and he was trying to put it back together on that big sphere of water. It didn't make sense! It couldn't make sense. The village wasn't a giant sphere, it was laid flat upon the ground. Ground that, he had been taught, was a sphere. Something about advanced mathematics and being able to prove that due to shadows on the ground. None of that made any sense to Umetaro: the world was aflame! Light and shadow were just projections along that illusion. 

Even the illusion, however, did not look like a sphere, self contained. Perhaps the Senju would like it that way, suspended in their control, coated in veiling water. Thank all that was above and beyond that he didn't have to see the world that way. 

"Hmmm..." Umetaro said, as they walked along. "We have to be close..."

The two of them were perched upon the roof of a building, close to the village walls. Umetaro narrowed his eyes as he scanned the horizon. He still didn't know what they were looking for, and for once his fanciful imagination was failing him. It couldn't be a snake...

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Tomomi could open their mind's eye to track the blip down quite easily. In fact, they were actively observing it at the moment, using that technique. They had to make sure that there was no threat breaking through the walls of Konohagkure while they were working on teaching Umetaro, after all. The signature was small, meandering. It would often stop and pace back and forth. Though it could be anything at all, Tomomi got the impression of someone lost in the woods.

They allowed Umetaro a few moments of thought. They did have to be close. As Umetaro continued to contemplate, they decided to give him a little nudge.

"Look what we can see from here," they said, motioning out at the tree-line. It was very dense and mostly still. Today was not a particularly windy day, so none of the foliage was shaking about particularly much. But if someone looked with very keen eyes, they might see a figure, just narrowly, passing between two trees.

"Did you see that?" Tomomi asked. "That could be who we're after. Or it could be an animal in the woods. Do you think it's worth checking out?" Tomomi did, but they had the advantage of knowing the person was there. They wanted to continue to let Umetaro make decisions.

[Uchiha Umetaro]

Oh! Wow, this Yamanka Tomomi sure did know how to see things. Umetaro blinked twice as he searched for what his mentor was looking at. And then he did see something shuffling through the trees! Definitely not a snake, though. A kitsune, perhaps? Would they be so bold so as to be seen in this light, even with the mist in the way? Umetaro had his doubts. 

He nodded once. "Might as well, since we're already here?" he said, and wall walked his way down to the ground, intent to walk past the village walls. 

As they walked to the gates, Umetaro kept his eyes on the horizon. They clearly didn't seem to know they were coming, given their motions. Could it just be nothing? It probably was, given how little anything of note seemed to happen in Konoha. But, still, the idea that it could be something interest kept him going. Was this what Tomomi did all day, when they weren't hanging around the Hokage? 

"So, once we're past the gate, we could approach from the trees," Umetaro explains. "Staying out sight would be.. important. If our target turns out to be nothing, we can simply retreat back into the city."

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

They followed down the wall of the building. It was good to see Umetaro putting the lessons he had learned from them to good practice. He did it so casually now. How often had he practiced since their training sessions together? Frequently, Tomomi guessed. He was the type to enthusiastically add things to his repertoire. Anything to be spookier.

As they made it out the front gate, Umetaro began to give further direction. There he goes, falling into the tactical role much more easily than Tomomi expected. This wasn't a particularly complex mission, but still, seeing someone taking charge and coming up with ideas what the point of this whole thing. Think critically about how to approach.

"That's a good idea," Tomomi agreed. "We could make too much noise if we approached by ground. It'll give us a better chance of surprising them if we go through the trees."

That said, they approached the woods and climbed up into a tree. Making their way from branch to branch, they explored the woods. They could lead the path quite easily, but they tried to defer to Umetaro's direction, only occasionally steering the both of them if they felt Umetaro's direction might cause them to stray.

When they were deep enough into the forest to begin approaching the signature, a small sniffing sound became apparent. Someone crying. That would explain why the chakra signature was so small; it was a lost child.

Soon enough, they were almost directly overhead of the lost kid. Tomomi motioned to Umetaro- this was the "target," it was his choice how to proceed.

[Uchiha Umetaro]

A... a child? Oh! Yuki-onna left children out in the snow as lures for unwary travelers and passerby. You'd pick up the child to bring them to safety and bam! They'd grow infinitely heavy and you'd get buried in a snow bank. But a yokai like that would have a higher energy reading or whatever, right? Surely this must be a real child... 

Oh. How did this child end up out here? Did their parents get lost in the woods? Did they just... wander out of the city? Did nobody notice that? There were too many questions and not nearly enough answers. Umetaro put one finger to his lips to tell Tomomi that quietness was the main aim of the maneuver, and then he walked across the trees so he was some distance away, and then hopped down.

He walked toward the child and attempted to do his best to look friendly. It was a difficult act to pull off, and he wasn't really sure how to do it. He did have his protector around his neck, though, so at least he was dressed like a Konoha shinobi. 

"Uhh... Excuse me? Are you lost, little one?" He asked, but kept his distance. He put his hands on his hips and leaned down a little. "The woods aren't exactly the safest place to wander, you know."

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Following Umetaro's direction, Tomomi stayed silent, staying up in the tree for now. They could hop down to help if they thought it particularly necessary, but they wanted to give Umetaro the chance to handle it on his own. From his talk at the Academy, Tomomi got the impression that he had a tendency to startle kids a little. This would hopefully show him that even though he was spooky, he wasn't inherently untrustworthy or anything.

The child was a bit startled by the sound of Umetaro's voice, and quickly hid around the trunk of a tree, gripping onto it and peeking out to watch Umetaro approach. He definitely seemed to notice Umetaro's shinobi band, though, and relaxed more quickly than he otherwise wood. He still seemed a bit nervous, nose runny and eyes red. He wiped his face. He had a skinned knee, like maybe he'd fallen. He was about eight or nine.

"I- I didn't mean to wander off," he let Umetaro know. "I was with my daddy. He was taking a nap in our cart, and I decided to play with my kite," he explained. "But the wind blew it off... I tried to chase it, but I ended up falling down a hill and rolled in here."

It was good news that the situation wasn't more tragic, at least.

[Uchiha Umetaro]

Umetaro quickly turned his head towards where he remembered Tomomi being. When he saw that they were still roughly there, he nodded once. All clear, more or less. So this really did seem to be regular, human child, lost in the woods. They must have come from near the village. 

"Oh, I understand," he said. "Why don't you walk with me back to the village? Maybe if we're quick, you can make it back to your dad before he wakes up! And then he'll be none the wiser."

He didn't want this kid to get in trouble, and hopefully this kid would see that time was wasting. It was still daytime, so they weren't threatened by darkness, but his family would be worried sick if they couldn't find their child all of a sudden. Or, well, he hoped that was the case. It'd be a little unfortunate otherwise. At least this kid seemed to have parents. 

"I'm a genin, so I'm very qualified to lead you back," Umetaro said, and stood straight up, hands balled into fists on each hip. He was trying his best to look trustworthy and confident. That's what people did, right? "And we're not that far away! It'll be a cinch."

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

The kid wiped his eyes again and nodded quickly. Fully trusting in Umetaro now, he stepped out from behind the tree and came over to join him. Umetaro had a really concerned air, and had managed not to seem intimidating, so it wasn't a problem at all for him to trust them.

"Thank you, Mr. shinobi," the kid said, fussing with his shirt as he started to follow Umetaro out of the woods.

After that, it was as simple as Umetaro had said. Tomomi's senses certainly helped with delivering the child back to where he belonged. All before the child's father had woken up, meaning the fortunate kid didn't even have to get into trouble. If Tomomi had been alone, they might've woken the father up to chide him for not being more mindful, but Umetaro was steering the mission, so they let him make that decision.

As they walked back towards the village, Tomomi said,

"You handled that very well. That's another important function of our group that isn't considered very often. Young children can get curious and wander off. Without our sensing barrier to indicate where they are, it would probably be harder to recover as many of them. I hope you're not too disappointed that it wasn't something more frightful, though. Thank you for helping me with this mission."