Preserving Wildlife [Solo]

Ami took the mission scroll from the secretary at the administration building of Gekkousato, her eyes quickly scanning its contents. She knew pretty much what the mission entailed, having done countless ones dealing with wild animals. She secretly hoped that it wasn't going to be bears, shuddering at the fact that she had almost killed thirty bears since becoming a shinobi. It unsettled her greatly, her wanting to preserve wildlife clashing with her nindo. She had wanted to let the bears go, but each time she found herself having to kill them, for the safety of the civilian population in her village. The secretary behind the desk had noticed the troubled expression on the girl's face, and would give her an understanding smile. Even she knew that Ami had turned in one too many missions having killed bears. "Don't worry, it's not bears, that much I know." The Hyuuga would smile, a little more relaxed now that she knew she wasn't going to have to slay another one of those creatures.

But she still wondered what kind of animal would be disturbing the peace this time. The girl remembered that she had done a mission similar before in the Sun Village, where she had chased some pigs out of the village. She wondered if she could do the same with this animal. Perhaps she should prepare some food just in case, since she recalled giving the pigs apples so that they could get away from the village easily. It was also one of the very few missions she had done where she didn't have to kill an animal, and so it left an imprint on her mind. Ami would put the mission scroll inside her pocket and make her way back to the compounds. She was just about to enter her house when she was stopped by a boy, a messenger boy that carried another scroll. Another mission? The village had never done this to her before, giving her two missions in one. "Thank you..." she would say to the boy, patting him on the head and giving him a piece of chocolate from her bag. She always had a bag of sweets with her to keep her energy going.

The scroll was separated into two parts, the first one was the scroll itself, which was a new mission that her village had requested she do after the one that she just took. Another part was a piece of paper, a handwritten memo it seemed, from the secretary at the office. It seemed that she had forgotten to tell Ami information about her wild animal mission and had decided to just write the details down for her on paper. Penguins? She thought to herself in amazement. The girl had seen penguins only two times in her life, both times having been at a young age. She was very fond of them, finding them cute and beautiful. To her, they were definitely not violent creatures. The penguins had come from some water source, perhaps the ocean, and had found their way in Gekkousato. From what the note told her, there were a group of ten penguins, and they had been searching for food in and around the business district. Although there were no violent accounts detailed, she could imagine how they could be a little bit of a nuisance if not taken care of. She rolled up the scroll and memo and put them in her pocket, ignoring her second mission until this first time was finished. The girl would enter her compounds, all the while thinking about what kind of food penguins ate. "What are you doing?" came the voice of her mother as she was scrounging to see if they had any raw fish in the house. Because her parents enjoyed eating fish, the chef in their compounds always bought lots of raw fish. Ami told her mother her plan and the woman chuckled, although she also decided to help her daughter in her efforts.

Mother and daughter would spend quite some time preparing the little fish that she was going to use as bait, in hopes of steering the penguins away from the village. By mid-afternoon she would have a bucket full of fish, requiring the help of her servant to carry it with her to her mission. The penguins were last seen by Lake Biwan, which seemed like a reasonable place since the lake often had fish, which would make easy prey. Ami set off to the place, unsure of what to do if her plan didn't work. She was dead set on not harming a single one of the penguins though, even if they somehow attacked her. From her understanding of them, they didn't attack humans. As she drew near the lake she would dismiss her servant, so as not to scare the poor boy, taking the bucket of fish in her hands and lugging it close to the water. The Hyuuga would sit by the lake, looking out at the clear blue waters, enjoying its beauty while she waited for her targets. For once she was neither edgy or impatient, simply listening to the birds chirping above her and looking out into the beauty of the lake. A blissful mission, she hoped. After an hour or so waiting, she would hear muffled sounds. It came from a trail that she had passed along the way to get to the lake, the sound of voices. The pink haired girl stood up, taking the bucket of fish with her as she made her way carefully over.

"Look, aren't those penguins?!" a young woman would say as Ami drew near. And sure enough, about three meters away from where they were standing were a group of penguins, standing around in a circle. They looked cute and somewhat funny at first glance. The woman who spoke had been with her boyfriend, most likely enjoying a date when they happened on the penguins. The Hyuuga would motion for them to keep moving, simply because she didn't want to startle the creatures. As the couple moved away she would stand there for awhile, watching her targets. They seemed so peaceful and delicate, just standing there. The girl would put her hand into the bucket and grab a small fish, tossing it at the group. Her aim perfect, it would land at the center of the circle they had formed. At first none of the penguins moved, They seemed to be careful creatures, she thought to herself. Ami would dig her hand into the bucket once more, retrieving three more fish and throwing them at the animals. This time at least two of them moved, recognizing that it was food that was being tossed to them. One of the penguins would even go and eat one, her eyes watching as another two did the same. Soon they were all hungry, their eyes looking about to see if there were more fish. The girl would use this as a chance to set up a trail of fish, starting from close to them, as she threw one more fish a little bit shorter distance, so that it landed outside of their circle.

She continued to throw fish, in a form of a line, from where they were to where she was, backing up slowly to create the distance she needed to make the trail. From the lake to the village gates was pretty far, but if she could hold the penguins' attention long enough, there was a chance that they would follow her. Ami lured them, and they bit the bait, following the trail of fish quietly. All ten penguins followed, and as time went on, she would throw one fish and then another a little farther away from the first. She admired how innocent they were, and smiled. Although the process took a couple of hours, she would finally get them all to the village gates, attracting many stares of the locals along the way. It wasn't every day that you got to see a shinobi feeding a pack of penguins. Ami would then throw the remaining fish outside of the village gates, and once they were all out of the village would tell the guards to close the gates. She had prepared a lot of fish for them, enough to last the ten of them at least a day or two. She had managed to lure them out of the village without killing or harming them. A job well done, she thought to herself.