"You really believe there's water in these parts?" A skeptical genin. He observed the ever-shifting sands of red. He snorted at the sand stuck in his throat before spitting out. An annoyed Shinobi looked at his comrade.
"Well, would the higher-ups send us out to the middle of nowhere to search for water?" He wiped the sweat off under his cloak. He was clearly bothered by the heat and that he had been sent on a mission. They were all hot and bothered.
"It's not exactly the first time the brass has wanted something done that was ridiculous was it?" He kicked some of the dust, a fine red mist. There were legends that the very sands they stood on had been dyed by the blood of a great war. Shizuka knew better than to believe in wives' tales. The sheer amount of blood that was needed to make the region's biggest desert into a crimson cat litter was just stupid.
"There's water there." She pointed at the spit. The skeptic looked at the floor before sneering and spitting again. The grouch just snarled and kept moving forward. They have been out in the desert for a good half of the morning. The sun was gradually becoming hotter and there were no indications of any water source.
"Look, it may be just sand and piss to an idiot like you BUT there are insects and small animals. It means there is some kind of water source they're living off of." The man pulled out a tool, it was a simple stick-like apparatus which he inserted deep into the sands and put his ear onto the end.
"How does that work anyway?" Shizuka knew full well, unlike someone she had paid attention to the initial briefing for the mission. The stick was carved off chakra fed trees, attuned to water nature. It acted as a soft magnet to any large sources of water. A shinobi with progress in sensory and water chakra nature would be able to feel the suttle pulls of the apparatus.
"It's just a stick, this is why people ma-"
"Can you Bloody fucking shut up! I'm trying to hear he fucking stick thing. Imino can you gag this idiot?
"Only if he asks real nice." Shizuka snapped a leather belt and winked at him. The young shinobi flinched, unsure how to feel about the matter. There was a deep silence, only filled with grunts from the sensor and the gentle shifting of the red sands.
"There's just a hint of it, maybe another 500 meters East from here. He pulled out a flag pole and stabbed it into the ground. He etched the pole, detailing the direction and distance to their next destination. It was going to be midday soon and the heat would be unbearable.
"We have to head back for now. The heat is going to dry up most of the water that I can detect so no use. We will start again tomorrow in the morning. Come on, time to go back. Shizuka, helped him pack up his gear, blowing away some sand caught in his ear. The way she did it close up to him and done deliberately slow. He blushed heavily but he tried to hide it, grunting as he put the heavyweight on his back.
"Oh, don't carry that all by yourself." Shizuka tried to take the backpack from him. He would have normally declined the help of a woman but he had lugged that thing for hours in the heat. Reluctantly he took it off. Shizuka took him by the arm and helped him walk back in the direction of the village.
"What about the bag?"
"You fucking carry it you dipshit of a camel's dung!"
Slowly the noobie would pick up the weight and together over the course of a few hours they would return to an outpost that was recently built. Their missions might not have yielded any results that the village wanted but their mission was done none the less.
WC: 673
Name: Information gathering
Rank: C-Rank
Participants: Moon Village, Sun Village, Missing Ninja
Type: Solo
Reward: 20 EXP
Location: Any Region
Details: As a shinobi it is important to have as much knowledge as possible, weather it is about the enemy or your own area. This mission task you with gathering important information from a local area. This could be detailing the regions layout, spying on a out post or a traveling group of people, or disguising one self to eaves drop on conversations of value. This mission pays out for all kinds of information gathered, as long as you were not detected.
Requirements: Your post must be at least 600 words.