Meerkats [Mission/Private]

Men moved like ants in the sun. In pairs of two they carried a length of wood. All were lined up like a rail way as they moved back and forth transporting logs. The Senju compound had been long due its maintenance. Some parts had been eaten by bugs while other areas had become simply too old from all the weathering. Of course some parts simply being destroyed by battle was as real as the bodily injuries they all carried. As such the village elders had requested a guard detail to oversee that the repairs went smoothly without any disruptions. In these difficult times it wouldn't be strange for neighboring clans to launch a skirmish upon them. Why it was the perfect time to attack, while they all worked they expended energy and at some point they would become tired. Attacking your enemy at a vulnerable stage was not cowardice but a tactic of war. Well, that aside there was one who had accepted the role of look out. It was not out of respect for the elder nor for the love of the clan. In fact it wasn't even for the hatred against the other outside clans. It was simply because the pay was good. 6 big ones!

Suji sat in the cool shade of a tree. The spot giving her a good view of the worker ants as well as the hills below her. If anyone were to approach the work crew, sneaky or not would be spotted easily. Her legs swung like pendulums for a moment but finding it distracting she fished them up and let them rest on a length of a branch. Suji brought out a small porcelain bottle, burnt black by design. She uncorked the cap and the whiff of alcohol was unmistakable. The weather was good, the sun just warm and the winds just enough to be cool on the skin. What better way to enjoy yourself than a drink? Suji gave the rice wine a slow chug.

"Kaa~~ Its good wine~"

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, her face turning slightly red and in general in a good mood. The workers below looked up at her. Some shouted out that they too wanted a drink. Others who were grumpy from the load of their work muttered under their breaths. Suji ignored the lot. There was barely enough for her to drink so sharing this would be out of the question. Also drinking on the job would be bad! What if the workers began to stumble on each other? As for the grumpy ones? They should have studied hard and practiced even harder and become a higher ranked warrior within the clan. Their job was to carry wood and do repairs, her job was to be a warrior and protect them. Suji took another smaller gulp from her bottle. This time letting the flavor sit in her mouth before letting it run down her throat. It was that sweet sensation, sometimes it felt like burning fire other times it went smoothly down your throat. Today the drink was sweeter than ever.

For a while Suji watched the perimeter with her pearl black eyes. Even under the influence of alcohol she was functional enough to keep a look out. Not even a rabbit escaped her hawk like eye sights. If she wanted to she could have probably pegged an arrow through a rabbits eye 200 meters away. But gradually her day dreaming began to pull slowly towards reality as the sloshing inside the bottle became lighter and lighter. Eventually her drink had run out and boredom had slowly began to fill her thirst. Maybe she would help these workers with the repairs? She considered it, it would be a good work out but it would probably leave her sweating. Nah, she didn't feel like sweating today and besides! She was under influence she could endanger the other workers. She pushed away the thought of doing manual labor. She was too old for something like that, the younger of her siblings could very well do with that type of training.

The fact that she was bored however did not leave her. She picked an acorn of the tree she was in and her mind quickly began to look for a target. The workers? No, her job was to keep a look out for them, hurting them would be the opposite of what she was being paid to do. Besides she was an ass enough not to help them but she wasn't a complete ass enough to annoy them. Instead her eyes found small movements within the work site. Not those of the working men but those of small rodents. Pulling out roof tiles and stripping out floors had disturbed the rodents.

"Ara ara, good things come to those who wait. "

She smiled to herself as she found something to occupy her time with. She gave a scan on the horizons to check if anyone had been silly enough to try and attack them. Once she made sure they were in the clear her pearl eyes tracked the first victim. With a simple snap of her fingers she sent the acorn flying like a pebble from a sling shot. The acorn clacked right next to the rat causing it to scurry off away. She picked another acorn from the tree and scanned the horizons once more. All good. She chose her second target and flicked another acorn, this time hitting it on the tail. It squeaked as quietly as they did and with its little feet scurried off away. She had no intention of killing them, not mice. She just occupied her time with a little game. Hopefully the rats she chased away would not come back. A scan on the horizon, an acorn picked a target chosen, flick and a squeak. She continued this activity each time changing up the pattern.

As the influence of her drink faded away so did the sun, slowly she began to feel more tired than bored. She had done nothing but flick acorns at rats all day and she could not help but feel tired. With the whistle blowing the workers began to finish up the last of their jobs. The repairs weren't quite done but they had made a lot of progress. She remained in the tree until the last of them had returned to their homes. She eye the bottom of her drink, it was going to be a full moon tonight, pity she had no drink to watch it. Suji jumped off the from the tree and touched grass. Another day, another job and another good pay. She herself began to walk home, throwing and catching an acorn in her hand while the other twirled the empty bottle.
[Mission Complete]
[Word Count : 1139 Words]
[Exit Thread]

The market place was always noisy. From vendors calling out the quality of their goods to customers walking about an looking for friends and goods alike. During the weekdays only the regulars were about doing their grocery shopping. Bit of rice, perhaps some beans, fresh greens for the night and if they could afford it some meat for their tables. Now during the weekend the market was more packed. People came out to eat with friends and family, some people had come from a far to buy in bulk or spoil themselves with expensive goods. Such a day today was, people bumping into one another and squeezing past people who stood at the goods the merchants offered. Now this was always a good opportunity for a under handed tricks. Charging customers double the usual price, giving them sub-par goods or even pretending a common item was rare. The merchants had no mercy, people from far away would most likely not return to the market anytime soon and probably did not know the prices in the local areas. However among some of the merchants were thieves who were a tad more innocent and more discrete in their thieving ways.

"MY WALLET!"

A fat man had called out in middle of the market. He patted himself on every pocket he possessed but no amount of searching brought his wallet out from the void. Poor fellow, the riches he had might have given him status and fine clothes but they had not given him caution to the streets. Yet another man's losses meant an opportunity for a young woman. Suji of the Senju clan stood up from her table, leaving behind a few coins for the drink and food she had bought. A bottle of Rice wine as well as three bite sized dumplings. Oh how delicious it had been, prawn stuffed dumpling lightly fried to give it a crispy exterior and to wash it down a good local brewed Rice wine. Food and drink was definitely one of Suji's guilty pleasures. She patted her stomach and burped into her hand, it smelled of Alcohol but it wasn't noticeable unless you specifically had your nose in her mouth.

"Can't conduct business while drunk."

Suji straightened her outfit and put on a professional voice and face. Looking like a humble servant, she would rip a few coins from this rich snob for a weekend of fine food and even finer booze. She pushed her way past a few people, ignoring their complaints as she did. Locals knew better than to stand in the way of S.S. Coconut but the outsiders knew little of her repertoire. Known to have quite the temper prone to explode if things did not go her way. Yet today she came as a concerned citizen who only wanted to help a man of excellence who was in need of justice.

"Ahem~ Excuse me Sir, I could not help but see your wallet has been taken from you. This is unjust and I will make it my mission to return your valuable back to you. Of course for a price. "

Her last words were clear, almost snickering. This would be an easy job. The fat man looked at her then at his apparent body guards. Giving her a nod he opened up his fatty lips and began to describe his wallet. A deep blue, patterned with golden fish and stringed with horse bound hair and balled with two black pearls. It wasn't the most luxurious wallet around but it wasn't a common one either. Black Pearls? Bingo, easy and good game.

"The contents of the wallet are not important to me. Whatever money left in the wallet after you have found it will be yours. However the wallet itself holds sentimental value to me. It belonged to my late grandmother who was very fond of me and I of her. Retrieve my wallet and I shall be grateful for your service. "

Suji quickly set about her work. Now, who were the local pick pockets here? There was that poor kid who did it to get by. It couldn't have been him since he was much too young and scared to do anything big. Then there were the two teenage turds who picked pockets for a small gang. Now they could have definitely had the balls to try and pick a wallet of that size. Suji would start there. She made her way out of central market and towards the outskirts where some of the locals took residence. There she found the group of misfits. Two teenagers looking smug and as badass as pre-pubescent boys can appear. Leading them was an older kid who could have been no older than 19 himself.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of having Miss Suji of the Senju herself visit us?"

The oldest of them all stood up and took a mock bow, this made the younger stooges snicker. They were pre-occupied with a game of dice, betting small bronze coins between themselves. The eldest of the teens had the most coins and was clearly in a good mood. Suji, would put up with their childish adult wannabe antics for now.

" You boys working the market today?"
"What's init for us?"
[color=blue]" I don't tell your dear mothers that you have been pick pocketing and gambling. Now unless everyone wants to go home with swollen eyes? I thought so, blue bag, fat noble."[color]
"Naught, old man told us to lay off the market this week. Something about letting the fish be calm again and stuff."

So it wasn't the turds then there was only one answer. Outsiders. People from the outside were stepping on her turf. Suji would have none of that. She quickly made a deal with the street rats. They would go into the market and look for the pick pocket who was not from their community. Their incentive? Keep safe their territory and Suji would buy them each a big bowl of Noodles with 3 slices of meat. Kids were always hungry and they would never pass up a free meal. Why not offer them money? Then they would have to pay taxes to the old man who ran their outfit. So for them a free meal was worth more.

It only took the kids about an hour to return with the blue wallet. It was old and tattered, as if it was handmade many generations ago. The wallet seemed lighter than it should be, she suspected the kids had pulled a few coins out but they feigned innocence saying the original thief must have used some of the money. She'd bite, fine whatever she was about to make easy 600 Ryo. Before the sun had begun to set Suji returned the old wallet to the fat man and was well on her way to spoil herself with good drink and buy some hungry teens a big bowl of noodles.

[Mission Complete]
[Word Count : 1162]
[Exit Thread]

Local gangs? Suji could not believe what she was reading. Upon a wooden bulletin board there were many pieces of paper stuck onto it. Some were just local news or people advertising their wares. What Suji currently read was a notice for the presence of local gangs. Now, the Senju Clan made it a point of making sure no illegal gangs roamed the communities. The only 'gang' she knew about would be the 3 teens under an old geezer who claimed to be an old sage teaching the young how to survive. Really he was a two bit Rogue Shinobi who taxed kids who pick pocketed Merchants in the markets. None the less it was a problem and if there was pay involved in getting rid of such a problem then Suji was game. If you were good at something you should never do it for free. Her feet found her outside the house of the elders. There the old Shinobi was seen sitting on a wooden bench of his own craft. He puffed slowly away on a pipe of his own design. Twisted branches leading into a chimney of smoke and tobacco. It was said that once he was a strong and respected Shinobi of the Senju Clan, now he was too old and only held respect of the clan.

There she would strike a deal with him. If she got rid of the gangs the community would pay her 200 Ryo for each gang member that went away. 3 Kids meant 600 easy Ryo once again. Now she knew these kids, the same pick pocketing kids that not so long ago she had used to make another 600 Ryo. They were good kids, just on the wrong path. Fueled by their fear of starvation, the ignorance of a young mind as well the motivation of false purpose. Perhaps if she gave the kids a new sense of pride and purpose the kids would stop being street hoodlums and hooligans. After all, getting rid of them today would only mean they would be a gang member tomorrow, somewhere else if not here. Setting them correctly would make the 600 Ryo feel less heavier than it should.

So once again she was on the outskirts of the Market where the locals of the market took residence. The boys hanged out in an alley way between two houses. It was their so called head quarters and they took great care in cleaning it of rubbish and general trash. Her figure blocked the small entrance and the boys looked up to see who had cut off their only entrance and exit. They grinned at her, remembering the belly full of noodles they had eaten a few days ago. They were playing a game of dice and once again the eldest kid had the most coins. She watched them play for a while, The youngest of them had no idea how the game worked and kept losing money, the eldest of the child appeared to be good with maths and kept betting money on the most frequent out come. As for the child in the middle he appeared to be more fascinated with the dice itself than anything. How they were evenly shaped on each end.

Finally having had enough Suji approached the table and confiscated the dice and crushed them in her hands. The wooden cubes splintered and were reduced to nothing but saw dust. They stood up complaining at her sudden hostility towards them. The youngest of them pulled out a wooden stick to defend himself. Cute but Suji felt the need to establish definite dominance over these street rats. She glared at the kid who taken a defensive attitude and while maintaining eye contact she crushed his puny stick with a finger. Her eyes read, do that again and I will crush your god damn fucking skull. The child backed away hiding behind his dice loving older brother.

She dragged the kids out of the stinking piss alley way. The middle child was first, she took him to a carpenter. There he watched the master go to work, shaping a beautiful chair from each stroke of his tools. He sat there fascinated, engrossed the way the hands rhythmically moved back and forth, each time the chair giving birth to more shape and more character. While he sat there entranced by the craftsmanship she would strike a deal with the owner of the business. The child would be taken into apprenticeship. He would not receive pay but he would be given 2 meals a day and learn the trade of the wood works. She left him there trusting he would do good.

The youngest child she would take where it was appropriate, to a school that thought how to read and write. There he was curious to see kids his age and socializing with one another. She explained to him and his wee mind that learning how to read and write would open doors for him. He didn't quite seem to understand it. So she explained it to him in easier terms. If he were to master reading and writing he would be able to win all the game of dice he wanted against his brothers. That got through to him and he ran into the school. Suji had no way of striking a deal with the head master there, she had money but enough to support the education and well being of a child. The school master was willing to educate him free for the first year but Suji needed a more solid solution to this.
Lastly came the eldest of them all. He was literate and was good with maths. This one she took the village elder. He would work under the village elder and help manage the stocks that came into the market for the elder's business. He would take stock and manage petty cash and in return would be given a place to house all his brothers and enough pay to feed himself and his youngest brother. The eldest of them all had a different reaction to his younger siblings. There was defiance in him and disbelief. He had been so used to stealing and taking that being given an opportunity felt foreign to him. With skeptical eyes he disappeared with the elder to learn the ropes of the trade.

Suji patted herself on the back and patted the 600 Ryo she had received. Another job well done and of course a bit of social service towards humanity. She would most likely spend the money of good drink for the night.

[Mission Complete]
[Word Count : 1104]
[Exit Thread]

The mountains were truly a beautiful place. Every angle of it was like an artwork. What with the brilliant greens to its solid browns. It was hard to imagine that war had once torn the place apart leaving behind deep scars of splintered trees and burrows of unearthed terrain. Yet time and a bit of care brought the mountain back to its innocent state. Birds sang in almost all the trees, not in their masses, but a few birds ranging in 2 to 3 would tweet and lute among each other. Small rodents would scurry along the ground in search of straggling and lone insects. Green moss would creep towards the most damp areas, crawling and searching with their furry green fingers. The mountain was alive, each root setting deep into its foundations, entwining their fates together. The trees would hold the earth together like glue and the earth in turn would feed the trees.
A footstep, not of animal, but a human was existent among all this. It was quite, barely audible even for someone with the keenest ear. It was not trying to be silent, the footstep wasn't a stranger or a disturbance. In fact it was one with the environment, a part of it. The birds greeted the footstep with the same lute and toot. The rodents paused their search for food as they raised their heads up too look at it. Time healed all, at least the ones that remained behind. Suji Senju slipped quitely down a little ditch and crouched down low. Her pearl eyes scanned around her, looking for any signs of foreign activity. Finally her head dropped down as her hands moved over a footprint. It was clearly an animal with antlers, the local deer to be exact. She poked her finger into the earth where the footprint lay, it was the correct depth and compression.
Suji Senju was on a scouting mission to the mountain sides, checking for any intruders that wanted to slip by. What she checked now was if the footprint size matched the weight of the animal. If it did not then she would have suspected a human pretending to be an animal. She was dressed in her usual outfit, black dress and grey top. However today she was bare feet, enjoying the earth cool between her toes. Her boots were slung on her backpack, containing rations, simple medicine and general survival gear. She also wore a dark green cloak to keep her melded with the surroundings. To hide her identity she had chosen a black cloth to cover her face from nose down and her hair was tied away in a pony.
Scouting missions to the Woods and Mountains was one of Suji's favorite missions. They were the type of missions Suji would have forgo a payment if it was not available. It was also one of the few missions that directly benefitted the clan as well. The routine checks and patrols was to watch for bandits and of course enemy clans trying to sneak in for attacks. Suji had already been patrolling the mountain side for a few days and a few nights. Living up here on the rations she had brought and the food that mother nature had provided. She crawled out of the small ditched and peered over a small hill, the deer tracks led towards what she knew was a water source.
This only confirmed that the footsteps belonged to an animal. An intruder would have either gone straight towards the compounds or back home, but tracking sideways to look for water was unlikely. However she would still track it to the last and make sure nothing was a foot. (Get it?). Walking as one with the green vegetation, Suji found herself just on the tree line hiding a well known drinking spot for the animals. A clean stream running downhill. There she observed for a long time before crawling out of hiding.
Her hands dipped into the crystal clear water. The water was so pure and untainted that only the reflections of green around told her there was water in her hand, visually that is. She took a light sip, testing it. It was crisp, cold and was absent of any sour or bitter taste. A little downstream a buck was seen drinking the same water. It's Antlers were thick and forked in many different directions. Heavy enough to leave a sizeable mark on the earth. Suji cupped her hands together and filled it with water. The cold water was refreshing as she drank some and rubbed some on her face and neck. She would have loved a good drink of wine by now but when she was out in the wild drinking was strictly self forbidden.
Having made sure that no intruder was sneaking through the woods, Suji felt it was time that she would make her way back towards the Senju compound. Taking a last drink from the stream Suji would re-mask herself and creep back the way she came from. Revisiting the ditch she would cover up the Animal's footprint with her mark on it and so she did with her footprints as well, at least the ones she had left behind. She returned to her various campsites, making sure she had properly put out the fires she had started. These ashes she scattered around the floor, she didn't need to completely hide that there had been a campfire, she just needed to hide how recent it had been.
Back at the compound she was dying for a hot bath and some real food. Camping was fun and all but it was only a part of life. The outdoors gave you quiet and simple living but sometimes you just wanted the luxury of heated water, hot meals instead of washing yourself in freezing streams and finding food on the under belly of rotting tree trunks. She reported first however to the village elder, explaining the scouting mission, how there was nothing wrong, the migration of animals and such. Everything was normal, yet as they spoke another scouting team was in the process of leaving for the mountains. It was never not guarded. The closest mountain ranges always had a clan member hiding and waiting. The outer most mountain ranges had at least one scout roaming around and checking for signs of intruders.
Was she was home the first thing she did was run a hot bath and fetch some food and of course a whole bottle of Rice Wine. She wood first wash herself before allowing her inner pig eat and drink inside the steaming waters. Ah yes, there was nothing like coming home after a week longs scouting mission.


[Mission Complete]
[Word Count : 1120]
[Exit Thread]

Suji ignoreThere was another mission on the agenda today. Suji was never the type to pass on a good paying mission even if it meant a bit of an inconvenient matter. The mission today was a bit different. Two Senju children had been killed in their territory. Out there gathering wood for their survival training. Supposedly 3 Uzumaki Shinobi had intruded and put quick work to the young kids. Today's mission was about vengence as much as it was about retrieving the kids back. Yet Suji wasn't flooded with anger, these things happened from time to time. Such was their life. Yet there was a emotion of pity for a the children. They had died young before getting to experience the better things in life. Suji didn't harbour any ill feelings for those responsible. It wasn't as if she had any personal vendetta against them for harming children or a fellow Senju member. What she felt was nessecity. It needed to be done. There was the point of superiority. One needed to show that the clan was not weak and that there was a price to pay if the line was crossed. Then there were the parents of the two children. No parents wants to stand at their children grave if they could help it. Seeing your younger kin go before you, it never sat right within Suji's mind. Suji closed the parchments which had the children's pictures etched on with a coal ink solution. She then began to pick a team in her mind. Her usual partner Sasuto had gone missing after their last mission. No doubt he had been quietly excommunicated for supporting a terrorist agenda.

Her team consisted of 1 sensory type, a specialist in their ability to both track and hide. Suji and this person were not really close but they would surely part take in this mission. Then there was a crazy man, clean up good at hiding bodies or making them go away. He would be there to chop up the Uzumaki and spread them across the land and then bring back the two children. The last, other than Suji herself, would be a shinobi who would help her in the actual combat aspect of the mission. The crazy one could fight as well, but he was also a specialist. Suji quickly set out to prepare her team, a small child delivered the mission request to the members she had chosen. If they wanted an open casket funeral then the bodies would need to be recovered before they began to rot. There was the factor of mutilation but they would deal with that problem when they got there. Most Shinobi, especially their clan were cremated for multiple reasons but it didn't mean their parents couldn't see them one final time before they were gone forever.

Within the next hour her team had fully geared up and fully assembled. Soon the 4m an team walked out the wooden gates of the compound and quickly made their way towards the river that seperated Uzumaki and the Senju. As they made their way fellow clan members nodded with grim faces knowing for what mission they left for. The different shinobi clans across the world were never friendly with each other and seldom skipped a chance to have a go at each other. Some even shouted angry words for the mission party to relay to the Uzumaki. Suji ignored all their shouts. She didn't feel anger or hatred, she just felt what needed to be felt right now. To be in control and to be calm. Politicans could make mistakes, even mistakes that ended their career and live on. Warriors? Mistakes meant death, you were lucky enough to get out with just your life. Heck, even those who made it out alive but had to quit the life looked miserable.

Suji ignored the usual trees she stopped to inspect and enjoy. Today the green coolness of the trees were in the back of her mind. Kill, that was her agenda today. She let out a sigh, its not like she was scared or hated killing. She was fine with ending another person's life but she would have preferred not to. Bickering on small plots of land that no one really lived on. Pieces of land that nothing really grew on. The team stopped a short while away from the scene. They did a final mission check as well as geat check. The sensor type already began to set up his gig, cloaking their current position while he probed for the enemy sneaky beaky like. The rest of the team, checked their weapon and armour. All was in placem not a single knick in their blades or a lose rope to hinder them.

The plan was simple enough. Though there were two real fighters against three, they had the element of surprise. Suji would catch one off guard and dispatch quickly leaving the situation at 2 versus 2, but they would have the advantage of having a 3rd auxiliary member. So really the fight would be 3 against 2 and if her her second fighter could also get rid of one it would be even better. Numbers played a big role in war. No matter how strong one person was they could not be in two places at once ( of course there were clones but the expression's meaning was not lost).

Suji formed a few handseals and instantly she disappeared into the ground. She travelled underneath the ground, digging through the earth as if she was a mole. Her sensor would guide her roughly to the position they were and the Jutsu she used would give her the precise location. No sooner had she arrived she would pop out of the ground behind an unsuspecting Uzumaki. QUickly she plunged a Kunai into his throat right after she had covered his mouth. As quickly as she had appeared she disappeared dragging the Uzumaki into the earth with her, One down two more to go. The remaining Uzumaki seemed unaware for the time being that one of their comrades had gone missing. A wayward arm popped out of the ground and cut the ankles of another Uzumaki. WIth a scream he fell to the floor and quickly alerting his friend with it.

Suji popped out of the ground, engaging the last standing Uzumaki fast and hard. The one who screamed on the ground was quickly silenced by the whacko on their team. He need not look twice at the situation he got quickly to work, working first by cutting his neck, wrists and feet up. Meanwhile Suji engaged the last Uzumaki, pressuring him hard with both superiority in speed and skill. However the element of surprise was nearly over and Suji wouldn't take chances. The last combatant on her team popped out of the ground as well, slashing at his legs and causing him to fall on the floor. Suji quickly ended him by running past and stamping on his throat as he fell. The job was now half done.

The two children were relatively untouched. Save for strange paints on their body, they were still intact. THere were of course the stab marks and slashes of wounds that had killed them but they were still in tact. Suji and her team would take them home to their parents to be buried. The uzumaki would find their three clansmen spread across their lands. Hands would be found in one corner, feet in another, heads in wells and parts of their bodies sowed into their field.

1229/1200

Mission Complete