Play To Win || Naruto Fanfic

Missions and Exams

It was approximately 0400 when she arrived at the Village Entrance. She nodded at the Chunin on duty and took a seat on the bench, shuffling her linen cloak closer to her body. "Early mission?" The Chunin asked, taking a bite out of a ration bar.

"Welfare check." She grumbled, flexing her chakra around her body to encourage more heat generation. 

The Chunin narrowed his eyes. "My condolences. I heard your team was slotted for the longer route. All the way to the boarder towns by Claw, am I right?"

Tamako nodded back, her neck careening at the Chunin with interest. "Will it take long?"

The Chunin replied with a gruff voice. "Six days of travelling, not including the actual checking. Sometimes you'll be posted by to actually help out the village if the situation is dire enough." He chuckled darkly. "Before I was promoted, my Genin team had to do a welfare check too, south from the Village to the coastal towns." He grimaced. "This was right before Suna joined the War, and those Iwa bastards allied with Kiri and released a toxic variant of the south sea bass to get both us and Konoha. They mated like crazy and the civilians couldn't tell the difference. Six villages wiped out, another four poisoned and on the cusp of dying. It was only thanks to Chiyo-sama's apprentice stationed to the east by Land of Rivers that we could save the remaining."

The Chunin took out a herbal cigarette and lit it with a weak katon. "Kid, word of advice." He took a dry drag, releasing the puff of smoke into the air. "When you see the dead bodies, burn them." His face turned grim. "By the time you tally how many are dead, you'll realize that there just isn't enough time to dig em' graves." He breathed out through his nose, smoke filling out like an angry steam engine. "Not if you want to help the rest."

Tamako opened her mouth to respond, but the words just couldn't escape her throat. It felt dry and hoarse, it almost hurt to keep her mouth open.

He dropped the cigarette and stomped on it. "Looks like the rest of your team is here. Kaito, huh?" The Chunin crossed his arms and nodded at the Jounin, giving Tamako one last look. "I'll see you around kid."

. . .

"Sensei, what exactly are we suppose to do? I mean, for the welfare checks." Aneko asked with a hint of wariness in her voice. This was the first of the many that would come in their career.

Kaito raised an eyebrow, "They don't teach that in the Academy anymore?"

Raidon shrugged, "We did a basic overview of the process. Tally the current population, note any dangers, relieve the village if need be. That sort of stuff."

"This sort of work is generally pushed onto Genin with a Jounin leader. Depending on the circumstances at least. If the threat is Shinobi leveled, then they'll probably send out a group of Chunin and a Jounin leader but seemingly how its just a drought, just us should be fine." He flatten the cloth around his face, adjusting his eyeholes before staring straight ahead. "All we have to do is report back the current population and estimation of damage. Anything else is just extra." 

The sand seemed to weight her down with each step she took, it was still cold out since the Sun hadn't rise yet  and it didn't help the chill that rose from the back of her spine. Usually she liked missions that took her out the stuffy highly-dense village, but after what that Chunin said to her, she wasn't so sure.

"Ah, there it is. The Kyokoku Village."

Tamako eyed the small ravine village, tucked away from the the soon-to-be harsh sun. The village was in a safe spot, between two large canyons and was decently shaded. She could spot a dusty old well at the center, with much of the village built around in pueblo-like buildings. Sun-dried stone masonry with red clay accent marks, it was a quaint little village.