[Yamamoto Eri]

Genbu-san

Leaving the village to do a D Rank wasn't really standard practice back before the plague, or at least that is what her uncle had said. Eri had become a Genin after that, so while it didn't seem worth the travel if they were just doing a small thing, this was a multi-day clean up mission that had Team Saitei written all over it.

Literally

No one else would take it.

Thus, Eri had gathered up her team of misfits, misbehaviours, and general neuroses, and headed off to Akazaya as quickly as possible. It was a bit slower than she was used to, but she was travelling with Genin now and that couldn't be helped. She hadn't told them what mission they had been assigned yet either, not wanting to have to deal with Yoko's.... enthusiastic complaints for the entirety of the trip. It was going to be bad enough once they got there, and for the few days they would be staying in the town. Eri had learned her lesson there, don't give Yoko time to build up steam, she could and would keep going for much longer than you would think.

Arriving at Akazaya at around midday, Eri would lead the Genin to the small hotel they were to stay at, sighing slightly at the absolutely dismal state of the place, which had a single room with four ratty futons, no bath, no place for meals, and pretty much no amenities whatsoever. It was about as bad as she had expected, at least she had Genbu-san. He was much more comfortable to be inside than most thought, it made sleeping anywhere significantly easier.

Once the team had dropped their things off, Eri led them back outside pulled out the mission scroll, the small roll of paper tiny in Genbu-san's massive hands. 

"Alright, our mission here is simple. Akazaya is an absolute mess, and we are here to clean it. Graffiti, trash on the sidewalks, clogged pipes, all of it need to be cleaned. This is a multi-day mission, so expect to cover most of the town before we're done. If there are no questions, best get started."

Genbu-san was the best, she could act much more calmly when inside of his sturdy shell. And there was no way she was spending the next few days cleaning. She was only here to supervise as the Team Leader after all.

Word Count: 400
Tags: kohana , Akamine Yoko , Murahira Hana

[Akamine Yoko]

Although Yoko wasn't the biggest fan of missions that required a lot of effort, she was actually pretty excited to be leaving the Cloud Village to go to Akazaya. She admittedly didn't no much about the place, but after having spent months and months operating out of the same place with every mission a change of scenery was most welcome. To someone who didn't know her well it might be hard to see since she perpetually looks grumpy, but for the duration of the actual trip to get there Yoko was more excited than she usually was.

''Akazaya... This is it, huh?'' Yoko snuck glances at the place while they were headed towards their hotel. She wasn't sure whether she had just grown up privileged, or her standards were too high, but compared to the Cloud Village the place looked like a shithole. Whatever they had to do here would probably be messy. Yoko really hoped she wouldn't have to get her clothes dirty.

She furrowed her eyebrows as they arrived at the hotel. Her resting grump face somehow managed to become more grumpy as she started to 'build up steam' like Eri had dreaded. ''This is where we're staying?'' There was a hint of disgust to her voice as she walked in, hands in her pockets and Wanimon on her back. Oh well, their accommodation wasn't perfect, but so long as Yoko could take a bath after their short journey everything would be forgiven...

Having wandered off on her own for a couple minutes, Yoko barged into the room with their futons, her head hanging dejectedly as she said the next words with much dread and annoyance in her voice. ''There's no bath...''

Yoko would drop most of her things off, but naturally bring Wanimon and some water to combat whatever exercise or physical activity they would be doing, pocketing her drink away inside her red hoodie pocket as she got ready for their mission briefing.

The small girl narrowed her eyes at Eri as she gave the briefing. It finally dawned on Yoko that she had known about this all along. She had lured them out here knowingly, knowing that none of them would want to make the trip back alone. Especially not Yoko since she still wanted the money.

''Question.'' She interjected a split second after Eri was done talking, raising one hand unenthusiastically. She glanced over at Hana and Kohana before her eyes settled back on Eri. ''Yamamoto-san. Is this some kind of elaborate torture? Cleaning? And a shitty hotel? We're shinobi, not maids.'' Yoko could absolutely keep going and probably rant for another five minutes, but she left room for the others to speak and for Eri to respond. Besides, the sooner they got started on this... 'mission' the wicked Eri had chosen for them, the sooner they could complete it and go back home.

Murahira Hana
kohana
Yamamoto Eri

[kohana]

Leaving the village was new and exciting for Kohana too, but she made an effort to keep a relaxed and reserved demeanor during the trip. She didn't want to hype herself up or anything like that if it turned out where they were going ended up not being very pleasant, fun or interesting. Still, she hoped it would be and much like Yoko there were little signs that those who knew her well would pick up on that she was actually pretty excited to be outside the village - not that anyone on her team other than Yoko actually knew her very well yet.

While Yoko was sneaking glances at the village, Kohana was mostly looking up at the sky and chiming in with a quiet "Seems like it." as they made their way to the hotel. Which got a raised eyebrow from the taller girl too, trailing along behind Yoko and taking mental notes about the place herself. No bath sounded annoying, for sure, but Kohana did make a point of raising one finger up and offering a quick "They probably use public baths in town here." as a possibility. She wasn't really trying to look on the bright side so much as be objective, though, so her tone was pretty dry and matter-of-fact.

Dropping her own things off, keeping her walking stick with her, Kohana tucked it in the crook of her elbow and crossed her arms over her chest as their mission was explained to them. The slightly pursed scowl on her face made it clear she wasn't any happier about it than Yoko was. Not speaking up herself, she reached into the inner pocket of her vest as Yoko listed off her complaints and retrieved a small, rectangular red box and popped the top - holding it down towards Yoko next to her and giving it a gentle shake to rattle the pocky inside. If Yoko took one, she would promptly close the box and put it back inside her vest pocket.

Either way, she would finally chime in with her own thoughts by adding with a skeptical look. "Did you really need to keep a mission like this secret until now?"

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory Hana, the newest member of team Saitei, was doing her best to fit in. However, going on her first team mission since her recovery had the overwhelmingly Kumogakure-centric go-getter practically trembling with intensity and anticipation. It could be anything, and no matter what it was, Hana would be happy to be back serving the village - as any good Murahira would be! Even when they had arrived at the hotel to deposit their things, and discovered that the accommodations they had been afforded were meager at best, Hana was not discouraged. In fact, the Murahira were well acquainted with spartan living quarters, so aside from being a little dumpy it wasn't that much different than what Hana was used to. Cleaning, though? Her ears drooped slightly at that. She was secretly hoping for something far more impressive, but Hana reminded herself that she had to keep her expectations grounded in reality. This was, after all, the team of losers (her excepted, of course). So, what else could she expect? Others had made some comments. Yoko was particularly put out, but Hana knew how to cheer her up - at least this time. "Akazaya actually has some rather nice hot springs," Hana pointed out. "We could certainly go there after our duties are done. I conducted some investigations there not long ago and highly recommend it." Beyond that, Hana was ready to get to work, so she made her way and got to it without too much issue once Eri had instructed them. It might have been nice to know ahead of time that this was what they were doing. She might have prepared a little differently instead of wearing her 'combat' clothes.

TITLE:  River City Pick Up TAGS: Yamamoto Eri, Akamine Yoko. kohana WORDS: 280 Words [1/10 Posts]

[Yamamoto Eri]

Genbu-san

It seemed the Genin reacted almost exactly like she had predicted, and from deep within Genbu-san there was the smallest of sighs, a sound which did not emerge from his mouth. Eri had known this would be a difficult mission to get done, but she had hoped that she would be pleasantly surprised. No such luck it seemed, and of course the first complaint came from Yoko, no surprises there. The small blonde had been a pain in her neck since they had gotten together, some sort of inferiority complex preventing them from more than a barely working relationship. 

"Firstly, right now it is 'Genbu-san' you are talking to, please do not make me repeat that once again," the large 'man' stated as 'he' turned to look at Yoko through dark sunglasses. If the mostly completely still face could look irritated, then it would. Perhaps it even did, Eri was quite good at expressing herself through her most artistic puppet. "Secondly, it is not torture, it is a D Rank mission that you should be glad for. We have left the village, something I do not believe you have done in some time, and Genin are far quicker than hiring civilians for this sort of task." She doubted Yoko would take any of that on board, but that was not her problem after she had explained herself. What wasn't said explicitly was that Team Saitei had failed so much in the recent past that leaving the watchful eye of the village was incredibly difficult. It was only now, with a new Team Leader and member that they could argue enough of an improvement to go.

Genbu-san's impassive gaze turned onto Kohana next, head tilting slightly to the side in the closest thing he was able to do to raising an eyebrow, "it would have been bad for morale to reveal the mission objective sooner," was the answer that the tallest of the girls received, a blunt and unapologetic statement. It would have lead to a grumpy Yoko, and an irritated Eri at the very least after all, "I cannot imagine you expected anything grand and sweeping... well, I suppose there will be sweeping," and with a shrug Genbu-san reached behind his back to pull out a large-ish scroll, unrolling it to unseal a variety of cleaning equipment as well as aprons and gloves for all of them.

"Perhaps if you complete the mission quickly enough, there will be time for the hotsprings. For now, the mission is simple. All trash, all graffiti, and all major stains are to be cleaned up from the town. We have multiple days to do this, so pace yourselves."

And with that Genbu-san gestured to the equipment before plopping down on his backside with a thud, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for the Genin to get to it.

Word Count: 476
Tags: kohana , Akamine Yoko , Murahira Hana

[Akamine Yoko]

''I hate it.'' Yoko grumbled with a scowl at Kohana's comment about public baths. Why not have both options, a private and a public? Why force people together like that? It sounded like something that belonged in an ancient society, not modern ninja society.

Yoko got embarrassed as Eri corrected, especially because she knew she was in the wrong. ''Genbu-san...'' she repeated, crossing her arms and looking to the side with a 'hmpf'. She had gotten careless and so wrapped up in her own anger and frustrations that she had completely forgotten to treat Eri's puppet with respect. It might not seem like it was that important, but treating puppets well mattered to the short blonde girl, so she saw this as a personal self-goal against her own pride. Not the best way to start your mission. Without even looking over at Kohana, Yoko heard the rattle of the box and was already grabbing a pocky and angrily popping it in her mouth like a farmer would a straw.

''W-Whatever...'' She muttered, hating that all of Eri's points were more reasonable than she had expected. ''We did leave the village.'' At this point she was just repeating what her team leader had already said. As Yoko was left to stew in her own anger for a little bit she still looked up at 'Genbu-san' and listened, both to actually understand why her team leader had gone about things the way she had, but also because she was just waiting for her to stop talking so she could start working.

Hana's comment about the hot springs prompted a less hostile look from Yoko. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all, maybe they could really turn this mission around and have a nice relaxing evening to reward themselves with after. ''That sounds better.'' She commented, of course only for Danchou Buzzkill to come in and say that there MIGHT be time for hot springs if they finished the mission quick enough. ''Well then that settles it, let's start cleaning.'' She said in the least enthusiastic she could intentionally muster as she walked over and grabbed a bucket of water, a soap and a broom.

Yoko would start cleaning doing one of the tasks she deemed least physically taxing, scrubbing graffiti off the walls of buildings. However, she quickly learned that it wasn't exactly easy work either, as she quickly found herself putting her red hood down to cool off and wipe the sweat from her brow.

kohana
Yamamoto Eri
Murahira Hana

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory Hana, in a very Hana-like fashion, wandered off on her own. There was no benefit to sticking together, but not much of an advantage of splitting off from the group, either. It was just the way she was going to do things.  She had a handful of bags with her to put trash in, as well as a basket of cleaning supplies that could be used to remove graffiti and other things. It was a batch of supplies that would serve her well over the next few days because the city was an absolute dump. Cleaning it up would take time, time that her teammates maybe weren't interested in. However, for Hana, this was different. It wasn't training but having one of the cities of the nation be such a disaster as it currently was reflected poorly upon Kaminari no Kuni, and on Kumogakure, and thus, on Hana's views. This was clearly unacceptable! She began by filling several bags with trash taken from ditches and roadsides. It was staggering how much stuff people just threw away, and for how long some of it had clearly been there. This was not a new problem here. It had been ongoing for years! No one had taken the time to make the change that needed to be made... Hana was disgusted, but the job needed to be done, and she would do it well!

TITLE: River City Pick Up TAGS: N/A WORDS: 231 Words [7/10 Posts]

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory After Hana had cleared up her area of the ditches and streets she turned to a new offender of public appearance: graffiti.  Those who loved to make their names and deeds known loved graffiti. It could become a semi-permanent testament to their misdeeds and claims to fame. It could be a way to mark their territory. It could be many things, but for Hana it was just another thing that needed to be cleaned up. Unfortunately, most of it wouldn't come off easily. Some might scrub away with enough work, but other tags would need to be painted over and redone entirely. It was a labor-intensive job and Hana could easily empathize with anyone who didn't want to do it because it was not fun at all. But it needed to be done! So, Hana set out to painting over some of the old graffiti to help the walls of the city look a little bit like they might have in the past when they were new. Some people passed her as she worked. Some complimented her for her efforts and made sure to let her know they appreciated her work, but most just went along without a thought at all. One group, however, had other things on their mind. A trio of young men not a year or so older than Hana herself stopped to watch for a moment until she became curious enough that she turned to address them. "Can I help you?" Hana asked. "We're just waiting for you to be done so we can put up some new art." "Huuuh?" Hana was not pleased with that statement. "You got a problem with that? You're ruining all our work as it is. Be glad we don't throw you out of town!" Hana fully turned to face them now and narrowed her eyes slightly. These were some of the miscreants responsible for this blight on the city. These were the cretins that were responsible for her being forced into this mission.  Hana was about to make a comment when one of the trio tossed the bottle he had been drinking from over his shoulder into the ditch. Littering. He was going to do that right in front of her after she spent hours cleaning that ditch and others like it. Hana's eye twitched. "You're going to pick that up..." "Nah, I don't think so." Hana gently set her paint supplies down and let out a sigh. "Then we're going to have some problems..."

TITLE: River City Pick Up TAGS: N/A WORDS: 415 Words [8/10 Posts]

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory "Oohh?" The lead miscreant shoved his hands into his pockets and glared at Hana. "You think some squirrel like you is gonna make us pick up your trash? Hah!" "This is your city, you should take more pride in its appearance," Hana replied as she took a step closer. "Either pick it up willingly, or I will see to it that you do." The thug pulled one hand free from his pocket and flipped open a pocketknife which he brandished in her direction. "I don't thin-" Hana darted forward and kicked upwards at his hand. With a yelp, he let go of the knife and it spiraled up into the air. Without missing a beat, Hana pivoted slightly, dropped her foot down to shift her balance, and twisted her body to drive the bottom of her other foot into his torso and knocked him clean off his feet. With a loud grunt, the bully flopped backwards and rolled into the ditch. As he tumbled away, Hana lowered her foot back down and caught the knife as it dropped back to the ground. After a quirk flourish, she folded it back up and flicked it down at the first gang member and bonked him square in the forehead with it as he tried to get up. The impact left him stunned for the moment.  "Why yoou...!"  The second didn't manage to throw the haymaker he was winding up before Hana thrust a palm out and struck him hard in the solar plexus, which blasted his breath right from his lungs. His buddy thought to take advantage of Hana not focusing on him, but as he began to move her sensitive ears picked up on his attempt to grab her from behind. Before he could get close enough, she thrust her left foot back and into his stomach.  As he stumbled back, she took hold of the other boy's arm and pulled him closer. Hana lowered herself slightly and slammed her hip into him before pulling him up and over top of her to bodily chuck him into the third boy, putting them down in a heap. As the lie about trying to recover, Hana stood over them with her arms crossed and a very stern look on her face. "This city doesn't have any place for troublemakers, but... I think we can figure something out..."

TITLE: River City Pick Up TAGS: N/A WORDS: 394 [9/10 Words]

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory Hana's attempt to clean up the city was drastically improved by the addition of helping hands - not necessarily happily helping hands, but helping, nonetheless. Three village troublemakers had run afoul the rather aggressive young Murahira and had learned the hard and rather painful way that crime doesn't pay on her watch, and that littering the streets with trash and tagging the walls with obscene or garish art was unacceptable! They may have complained early on, but they learned quickly that she wasn't about to put up with that nonsense and kept their mouths shut about it.  The streets were picked up. The walls were cleaned. Trash was removed and put where it belonged. By the time they were all done the city was in a much better state. It had been a long couple of days, but it was worth it in the end, and so when all was said and done, Hana gave the three troublemakers a little monetary reward for their hard work and to show them that doing the right thing could pay. After that, well... There was only one thing left to do when a job was done, and you found yourself in a place famous for its hot springs... you go to the hot springs!

TITLE: River City Pick up TAGS: N/A WORDS: 210 Words [10/10 Posts - Complete]