Plague Spreading 101 [Closed]

Name: Escort Mission
Rank: C-Rank
Participants: Moon Village, Sun Village
Type: Group Mission
Reward: 25 EXP, 10 Ryo
Details: A villager, local merchant or business man is in need of company on the road while heading to the next village. While they do not believe any danger is involved, the world is full of wild animals and bandits, and would feel safer if a couple of shinobi tagged along. The mission is simple, escort the client to the other village safely.
Requirements: Each person must make at least 2, 400 word post.



Beautiful but deadly…

It was probably a truth he would not know. One that could only be grasped by clear eyes, Lunar Light Jungle had an exoticism to it that drew many individuals. It was known for having lots of plant life that reached skyward so high that the sun never hoped to reach the ground. It was said some of the wildlife was so rampant that numbers were less fearsome than their nature. Sometimes, the stories would cross as they had barbaric tales about one consuming the other and vice versa. It was said to be nothing short of a beautiful and unyielding nightmare that stretched from one end to the next.

Hikari Usagi simply saw it all a different way.

At the forefront of the entrance, he could make out the open maw of the jungle ready to consume him. There were horrid sounds within akin to breaths of a beast. He knew just where to wait as he would take notice of the nearby wooden plan that had kanji carved into it. There were spots that were freshly etched so long ago from his own ancestors that would be a message from voices in the past. He ran his fingers over the smooth piercings as he would caress the sign slowly but surely.

“Beware.”

That is what it said for his kind. The Usagi were quite far from being prey. However, there were some predators that even the clan itself would fear with their natural abilities. The boy’s lips twisted as a bit of confidence was lost just observing the sign with his touch. Though, he would not have to worry, or at least, that is what he thought as he waited with a smile upon his face. His feet would kick one after another in a playful manner as he mused a little melody to himself and stood by patiently.

Hikari had worn another one of his clan’s signature kimonos today. The previous one was still dirty from the other day as he explored with the puppet master that he journeyed with. It was a fruitful event that taught him not to be fearful as he had experience working along with fellow shinobi now. He had a nice cloth just for someone to see him in as he had chosen a dark wine purple that draped from his shoulders to his higher thighs. His feet were exposed revealing the mallet-like heels that accented his feet that his clan was known for. Then, there was also his signature cottontail stitched to the backside and his faux rabbit ears on his head. No worry was along his face as a smile would be a part of his appealing attire. His flak jacket with the moon’s insignia and headband were on display as it hung around his neck readily to identify him as a shinobi for his fellow crew and the client.

“Okay! This time, I am ready!” He preached to himself, “Got dressed, a bunch of people told me I looked pretty...a few handsy.” His foggy eyes lifted as he seemed to get that as of late since he had been more frequent in the village in his shinobi gear. “But...that is not what matters!” His gentle voice in a high-spirited tone as he revved himself up with excitement. “Time to put on a smile and show! A Usagi’s job is to make sure everyone has a smile on their face...and make sure to win their heart while doing it!”

The pep talk was done and he would pose with his leg’s squared as he stood at the mouth of the wooden entrance. It was breathing on him with the sounds to discourage him. In truth...it was working to an extent. His lips would become a wrinkle as he tried to keep himself from becoming deterred. The forestry was not as thick as that behind him. The clearing was perhaps one of the last traces of sunlight he would feel along his flesh before he walked straight into the thicket that was behind him with the client and other shinobi that would be with him.

It was a fascinating mission! One he had not thought would put him in danger! He had not seen these woodlands since he was a young bunny told to keep clinging to the legs of the matriarchs that walked the Earth. Picking the herbs, mushrooms, and poisonous paralytics from plants the Usagi would use; he would be close by and often there would be danger. This time, he revisited with someone other than family. Not only that, but someone would be counting to keep them safe this time.

A turn of events that rattled his nerves a bit.

“Y-Yes…” He swallowed with a half of heart. “...Keep them smiling!”

130|130 CP
100|100 SP

A jungle is so much more different than an ice flow but was just as deadly, the environment could easily kill the unprepared extremely quickly and easily meaning one should never relax fully inside of them. Instead like usual, Plague would remain vigilant even though they would soon have quite much more of a guard than they were used to. To be honest it was far, far more protection than what had been afforded to them prior in life and this would soon bring great joy to them.


'Oh yes, quite needed for anyone that can read, if one can read, one should have the common sense to see or hell, feel the danger to themselves' Plague Uzumaki thought as they read the sign for themselves the first time a while back when first coming to the village hidden under the moon. Surprised at first at the braille, but luckily knowing it from their childhood studies, the Uzumaki read it wondering what caused it before finding out that an influential clan of the region had been the reasoning behind it. That had been quite some time ago now, though also only just a scant year, still it felt like a new lifetime to the person hidden under the black cloak and raven like white mask.

Long ago however in the lifetime before the village Plague had left a depot of various chemicals, medicines and other valuable equipment on the other side of this jungle. The last time they had simply sprinted through the thing with various means of regenerating their stamina in a very last ditch effort brought about by a panic to find a place to call home. Now they very much wanted to get this back and had chartered a few ninja from the village to meet with them and discuss moving through the jungle.

Plague Uzumaki thus made their way to the mouth of the place, where the foliage of the jungle would spill out and show it's dominance over the other parts of the landscape. Besides the place that would no doubt be excellent for their later chemical harvesting, the Uzumaki's eyes would be drawn to something else.

They only recognized them as a fellow Genin, but also from the same clan that had set up the sign that had confused them so much at first. It seemed as though their other senses made up for the lack of eye sight? They were uncertain, more observation was needed before an evaluation could be assessed but Plague delighted at the idea of finding more knowledge that was previously hidden behind a veil of ignorance. To fully explore and expand their knowledge was quite a high goal but one that had stayed with them throughout their entire life.

"Hail! Hikari Usagi is it? I believe we were in academy together, are you responding to my message about a side mission? I am Plague if you don't remember me" the voice was muffled but the polite, curious, and happy tones would be much clearer than say the pitch of their voice. It came out as just more than monotone for the purposes of telling anything other than emotion however and was purposefully done so, one must always be cautious when one was on the run from the mafia in a sense after all.

Another day, another mission and another person to meet. Seems to be an all too familiar trend for the the "lazy" shinobi who wasn't living up to his self imposed namesake considering how often he's been going on missions. At least if he could get the money and figure out how exactly to make it work, he wouldn't have to worry about himself being his own weakness during combat anymore.

Still, doesn't mean he was happy to do these missions, sure he met a cute bunny on one mission, but his next mission had him work closely with snakes and nearly get knocked out by his own creepy partner. He shuddered at the memory of the snake crawling his shirt. Grabbing a candy stick from his interior pocket and placing it in his mouth, Kenji simply focused on the cherry flavor of the candy stick.

Here's hoping his new partners for this mission would be far better than Yami, he really didn't want to get punched in the stomach again. Or deal with snakes, if thing went by without a single snake popping up, that would be just fine for him. Although he had to wonder why this "Plague" person needed three shinobi to accompany them? The jungle wasn't exactly the safest of places, he knew that more than anyone else but three shinobi just seemed overkill at this point.

Still it gave him an excuse to leave his blades at home and pack lightly, the shinobi only having placed some kunai in his flak jacket in case he needs to cut some vines along the way. Plus if worst happens then he'll have something other than Lingchi to defend himself, his last mission really showed that he couldn't access Lingchi every time he'd need to.

Although once he approached the rendezvous, he noticed the familiar sight of the bunny but strange enough there seemed to be some sort of... Plague... Doctor... That must be Plague. Kenji could only grin as he realized why they were called Plague now. "Well if it isn't the adorable bunny herself..." Kenji would comment as he approached the two, but his attention was more focused on the mystery Plague rather than the bunny.

"You must be Plague, name's Kenji Haruka, pleasure to meet ya." Kenji would introduce himself with a grin as he offered his hand to the stranger, a bit unsure why they were wearing the plague doctor outfit. "I take it you two haven't been waiting here too long?" Kenji asked as he noticed the lack of a third shinobi being present. He would've guessed he'd be the last one here truthfully, but then again he didn't really need to grab anything except his headband, flak jacket, kunai and the paper containing Lingchi.

---

Active Gear:

The chemist kept an eye upon Hikari as they circled them, moving as little as possible out of habit an old lesson from his father to always keep someone within the range of one's senses. The failure for that practice was a fierce blow from someone twice their size, Plague very much doubted they would act like their father had but the body reacted to certain things regardless of how the brain felt. Lucikily it had only triggered a following pattern so the Uzumaki could reply in a cheerful tone, "I'll hold you to that promise then honored member of the Usagi clan. Is that a new way to form hand signs? Very creative!" Proud of their peer for a perceived progress in the push towards a breakthrough with jutsu and ignorant of the courtship factor to the display the cloaked person would continue happily along. "It is good to see you again I must admit I missed the feeling of your presence, such a tireless energy you have, I am glad you are coming along with me on this day, you see there are numerous reasons for this endeavor." Before they could complete their thought they were distracted by the sound of someone approaching and shifted slightly and instantly to be able to perceive the person coming towards them.

Accepting the outstretched hand with both hands and heartily giving it two shakes the masked Uzumaki would chirp in reply, "Ah how wonderful to meet you Kenji, just got here myself." Plague was not one to let another think they were left waiting when they were in fact not, while they did like being sarcastic and pulling legs, the truth was an important thing to keep sacred to them. It simply made sense coming from one who treasured the truth of their very being with a ferocious grip, tight iron wrapped around the knowledge of self they subdued to help themselves and others from consequences of it being revealed and brought to light.

Watching as Hikari bounced around their new partner on this journey Plague would smile under their mask, this was shaping up to be a delightful time after all, "Well seeing as we both were late I do not feel like waiting for whomever else responded to the call, they will simply be snoozing and losing as I believe the saying go, snoozey loozey, maybe it was loser snozers? Anyways, regardless we just have to make it through the jungle, should be simple enough. I have a cache I buried across from it that I would like to uncover and synthesize more for a business venture I am planning out." The masked and cloaked figure would cheerful forge forward into the frantic jungle that chirped with insects and wildlife, the many fragrances floating out of it and into all but Plague's nostrils.

"So what's been new Hikari? Tell me about yourself Kenji, what are your specialties for example?" the doctor would continue to look forward as they gentle moved the flowers, branches, and occasional animal that got in their way as they continued on ignorant of the path that was twenty feet to the left of where they had entered, even now after going in roughly fifty meters into the green growth.

Kenji was a bit surprised to hear Usagi call Plague their school crush, most people would try to keep their feelings a bit hidden. Then again, the two basically had a date during their last mission... Or was it a date? Eh, probably doesn't matter. Regardless Kenji examined Plague a bit, his silver eye taking in the details of the plague doctor wearing person, wondering if this was a guy or a girl before him. The fact their voice was muffled wasn't helping him try to pin them down as either gender.

Then again, Hikari had a crush on them so assuming Hikari is straight, then it was probably a guy, but what could a bunny like her see in a guy like this? Even then Hikari might not know their gender either. Man, that would be awkward if Hikari found out Plague was the same gender after so long. Oh well, it wasn't his problem, instead his attention went to the mission they'd be going on.

"Alright, seems simple enough just go and get the box on the other side of the jungle." Kenji outlined out loud to ensure he wasn't misunderstanding the task given to him. However, he did have a question himself for the plague doctor that was now walking ahead, so the one eyed shinobi begun to walk by their side. Alas he didn't get the shot to ask his question as Plague asked theirs first, would be a bit rude to just ignore it to ask his own.

"Oh, not much to say about me really... I focused almost exclusively in puppetry but I'm also not half bad with a sword or making said sword." Kenji explained with a simple shrug. "Although I got a question for you as well." Kenji would tell Plague as he looked toward the mystery person. "If you're a shinobi, why try to bring three extra shinobi to get a box?" Kenji asked them a bit curious about the reasoning behind it. Not that he was going to complain about getting more ryo from an easy mission or that he was working with Hikari again but it was a bit strange for so much shinobi to go grab what Kenji assumed to be some sort of box from just a small part of the jungle.

"Why of course I have not changed, do you not remember, wait I suppose I never told you, I am over twenty Hikari I have hit my maximum size. Naturally, you are quite a glorious spirit to have along with on this dark venture, a light to help mine hobble through" Plague ended the verbal thoughts with a hearty laugh as their erstwhile fellow student met up with them excitedly for the first time in around a year. Thinking about it from a human perspective that was a rather long time but the masked person had ruined their perception of time in that regard thanks to a copious amount of soul searching on hallucinogens.

Plague made a mental note to try and not meet Hikari's grandmother, they doubted very much any good would come from the interaction the two would have with each other. While it did not happen often, the Uzumaki was not free from the curse of a bad first impression and oft when one was the opposite color of their soul, a person would take an immediate dislike to the masked person as they expected the elder Usagi would do.

The task would be anything but simple, still Plague found themselves unable to pour water on Kenji's parade and thus lower his spirits so they said nothing to the detriment of their beliefs.

Plague felt a ping of guilt run through them when they realized Hikari probably wanted to 'see' them to communicate with them in a social manner, while it was to the detriment of the whole laying low thing, the chemist foresaw revealing a bit to the odd rabbity ninja in order to placate them in a diplomatic manner befitting humans. "The whole outfit is designed to hide my identity, I cannot let those outside of the village know I am here, it would cause problems" pain could not be hid in these tones, the Uzumaki oft went out at night with just a simple face mask to allow their hair to be free and even that was so much of a risk they would have panic attacks afterwards preventing sleep from coming for the next several days. Yet unlogicially, they still did so.

"How big is your sword Kenji, can one handle it with one or both hands?" Plague would ask innocently shifting their mood to fit the flow of the conversation and use the open entrendre left by Hikari. "I ask because it would be better if you had something light and quick, if my hunch is correct and one of my clan has sniffed out my depot this could go quite terribly with just one shinobi. It's not that we have to just put down whoever is there, but also ensure they do not get the information out. Aside from that as Hikari said, the Usagi are no fools, the local wildlife are enough to make it smarter to have at least one extra person with you. Still, even lacking one person we should get there just fine" Plague became a bit more serious as the group continued into the jungle, running perpendicular to a river so as to not lose direction too badly they had made it a further seventy meters in by now.