C-Rank Mission: Escort the Carpenters!

[Tensei Kaori]

Adabana Miyoko sighed, staring lazily out the window of the Hokage's office. It was now just past midmorning on the second day of the Sand mission, and she had just begun to give out assignments for missions. "Let's see..." she said lazily as the single Jounin left on his S-Rank mission. "What's next?" She surveyed the line of scrolls laid out on the desk, her legs still sprawled across the corner. "Ah, yes, the carpenter mission."

Leaning back in the chair, Miyoko sighed. Kaori had warned her about the Carpenters' demands, and she found it disconcerting. That part of the countryside had been quiet since the end of the war, what with the neverending patrols and all the shinobi traveling through there on various missions. Reports had indicated something about inclement weather, but for some reason she couldn't get a clear fix on what was happening. The last report had come in with a messenger so filthy the scouts had barely recognized him, and the report he carried had been stained almost past the point of usefulness. It seemed mud was a concern, whatever was happening.

She was cut short by a knock at the door. That'll be the first arrival, she thought. Not bothering to take her legs off the desk, she called out in response.

"Come in!"

[Kiri]

Taro smiled to himself gleefully as he darted out of the house after a hurried breakfast. Looking forward to his first opportunity to do something other than paperwork, he was eager to get to the Hokage's office as soon as possible. In spite of his long hiatus, he found himself looking forward to going on a mission with something a little more dangerous than the risk of getting a papercut.

Dashing past unsuspecting civilians, Taro nearly crashed into a cart of kumquats. Doing some fancy sidestepping and spinning, he managed to avoid it, but only by a hair. He did, however, startle the vender enough that the cart teetered dangerously, threatening to topple. A few of the small citrus fruits began to fall off of the top, and Taro yelped, moving to catch them. As the cart titled dangerously to the side, more and more began to rain down on the jounin. He did his best to juggle them, but before long the whole thing had fallen over and he was buried in a mountain of kumquats.

Surfacing, the man was met face to face with the furious expression of the kumquat peddler.

"Ah ha ha," he laughed nervously. "Just give me a moment and I'll... I'll clean it all up!" Leaping out of the pile of tiny oranges, he righted the cart and began depositing the fruit back into it by the armload. He moved at lightspeed until the slightly-dusty kumquats were all back where they belonged, although the stack seemed somewhat precarious.

"Sorry 'bout that!" Taro said quickly, running off before the man could say anything else or stop him.

It wasn't too much longer that he at last reached his destination. Heading upstairs to the Hokage's office, he knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a voice called out.

Doing just that, the jounin made his way inside. "Homura Taro reporting for duty, Adabana-san!"

[Tensei Kaori]

"A mission! A mission!" Eiji was exclaiming. "Just when we got some time off!" His exaggerated movements emphasized the fact that there was no shirt underneath his open flak jacket.

"Quit complaining," Hideko sighed as she flipped her long hair over her shoulder. "Everyone's doing their part to help the village. We need to work too."

"I know..." sighed Eiji. "But I still can't help feeling like I'm about to explode."

"Enjoy it while you can," Daichi observed calmly. "We've stayed Chuunin this long, but I doubt Hokage-sama will put up with it much longer. Konoha needs Jounin. We should be glad we're not going on the more dangerous missions."

"Though I doubt that'll last long," Hideko responded. Daichi nodded gravely.

"Yeah, you're right," sighed Eiji. "I'm still tired though." They had reached the Hokage's office by this point, and when bidden to enter, opened the door.

"Aah!" Eiji shouted, pointing at the room's other occupant. The other two just gasped.

"Sensei!" the three exclaimed together, surprised.

[Kiri]

Almost immediately after Taro had entered the room, three energetic voices echoed "Sensei!" in unison from behind him.

Whipping around to see just who was shouting, he stopped to do a double take. Slowly but surely a big grin spread across his face.

"Well whaddya know!" he exclaimed with a laugh. "If it isn't Hideko, Eiji, and Daichi! I haven't seen you three in forever!" Patting each of them on a shoulder, he went on to ask, "How have you been, anyway?" Pausing to rest his hand on Eiji's shoulder last, his expression grew just a little mischievous.

"And how's my kamikaze genin?" he joked.

[Tensei Kaori]

"Senseeeeeei!" Eiji whined, though he was grinning from ear to ear and laughing to boot. It'd been forever since he heard that nickname. "It's Kamikaze CHUUNIN now, remember?" he asked, pointing to the open flak jacket.

"He's still as kamikaze as ever, Sensei," Hideko cut in with a laugh, "and developing a flirtatious streak to boot."

"So as you can see," continued Daichi, before his siblings chimed in...

"We're all fine! How about you, Sensei?"

[Kuro Tsuta]

Kuro searched for her signature Konoha leaf symbol belt all over her small apartment.

Where the heck did I put it?! She thought she had put it where she always put it; on her dresser next to her forehead protector. She heard a small clang from the front room. She pushed the sliding door aside.

"Aha! Kaji!" Kuro pointed a warning finger at her black cat. "Give that back!"

Kaji meowed softly before picking up her belt by the end and dragging it to the kitchen. Kuro was faster, and she grabbed the buckle. Kaji hissed and ran away. Kuro rolled her eyes. Now she was late for her mission. She grabbed a piece of bread and headed out the front door, careful not to let Kaji out.


The sun was especially bright. Kuro shielded her eyes as she walked through the crowded streets of Konoha. A man dashed past her, almost knocking her over. She made a face at his quickly retreating back.

Finally, Kuro found the right door. She heard excited voices behind the door. She knocked softly.

[Kiri]

The jounin chuckled as Eiji whined a reminder that he was no longer a genin; he was, in fact, a chuunin. "Ahh, I know!" Taro admitted. It was a little hard to believe that the three he had mentored as genin were getting so grown up. A proud smile crossed his face as he looked at them. They had become the strong and respectable Konoha shinobi he had always known they could be.

"He's still as kamikaze as ever, Sensei," Hideko began, interrupting his thoughts, "and developing a flirtatious streak to boot."

Taro laughed. "Doesn't surprise me!" he replied, grinning in amusement.

"So as you can see," Daichi began, before the the other two joined him and the three went on in unison, "we're all fine! How about you, Sensei?"

"I'm doing alright," he answered. "Though if Nada doesn't come home soon, I may poison myself with my own cooking," he added under his breath.

At the sound of a knock, he turned his head to glance toward the door. "Well," he murmured, "seems like we have yet another arrival." Moving to open the door, he smiled brightly. "What are you standing out in the hallway for?" he asked jovially, stepping to the side. "Come on in!" he invited, as if it was his office and not the Hokage's.

[Kuro Tsuta]

The door opened, revealing the man that had run past her in a mad dash. She scowled on the inside as she stepped into the Hokage's office. She noticed also three other people, and Miyoko.

"Gomenasai, sorry I am late," Kuro apologized quietly, as the jounin closed the door. "I had to take a detour from my home due to the reconstruction."

[Tensei Kaori]

"Taaaaaroooooo!" Miyoko whined, leaning on her desk, her full lips formed in a pout. "That's my job! Still, the deed's been done." Sitting up to rest her chin on a fist, she turned to survey the newcomer. "One more," she announced with a grin, "and I'll be able to give you your mission."

[Hatake Hiroshi]

Kohaku panted heavily, her bare feet pounding hard against the floor as she chased Goro, one of her older brothers, through the house. "Give me back my sandals, Goro!" she screamed.

The handsome 18-year-old Chuunin laughed, waving his sister's black shinobi sandals over his head as he ran. "You'll have to catch me first," he taunted. "Let's see if you can!"

With a tremendous burst of speed, Kohaku caught up to her obnoxious older brother. "Baka! Give 'em to me!" she snapped, leaping forward and tackling him with such a force that they both toppled over onto the floor with a loud thud. Then the two siblings began a wrestling match for the sandals.

Goro was on his back on the floor, his feet up in the air, his arms stretched out over his head, his sister's sandals in hand. Kohaku was rested over her brother's feet, reaching towards his outstretched arms with one hand while balancing herself with the other. The young genin flailed her feet around until she found something to push off of. With just enough force, she propelled herself forward and over her brother's feet and scrambled to grab hold of her sandals.

"A-ha!" she sang as she pulled them on. "I won! Now if you'l excuse me. I'm late."

Goro got up and walked over to his sister. "That was a good warm-up wasn't it? Good luck with your mission," he said as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Be safe!"

"I will!" Kohaku answered as she hurried to the door. "See you later!"

After leaving home, she headed for the Ninja Administration Building in a steady jog, still out of breath from all the rough-housing she had just done with her older brother. She finally reached her destination and made her way towards the Hokage's office. She knocked on the door and waited for an invitation inside.

[Tensei Kaori]

"Right on cue!" announced Miyoko with a satisfied grin, leaning back so she could stretch her legs out across the desk, crossed at the ankles. "Come iiiinn~!" she called.

[Hatake Hiroshi]

Hearing the call to enter the room, Kohaku opened the door and stepped inside. "Sorry I'm late!" she blurted, her chest heaving. She took a glance around the room and noticed the other shinobi standing there with her... and suddenly felt very embarassed. "Um... I hope you all weren't waiting for me very long."

[Tensei Kaori]

"Not at all, not at all!" Miyoko declared in her singsong voice, waving her hand to dismiss the idea. "You're right on time. And now.... I can tell you why your here." Pausing, she ruffled through some papers on her desk until she found the right one.

"Aha!" she announced triumphantly, waving the document in the air before bringing it down to eye level so she could read from it. "In the northern provinces of the Fire Country live a group of carpenters who are very skilled at what they do. They've been hired to come here and help with the rebuilding so more of our shinobi can get back to doing what they do best. But for whatever reason, the builders would only accept the job - which pays quite well, I should add - if a group of Konoha shinobi would come escort them safely to the village.

"Now, I've heard rumors of inclement weather in the north, but nothing that should be able to stop a dedicated craftsman from taking a job. Scouts say there's a possibility of bandit activity, but Konoha is in such desperate need of shinobi now that our intelligence network has no time for such trivial tasks as monitoring which bandits are going where. Anyways, the head carpenter's name is Isoda Heizo. The villagers there will obviously recognize you as Konoha Shinobi, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding him. Be careful, though; this soon after the war, you never know what could be lurking out there."

As she drummed her fingernails on the table, she fixed each person in the office with her keen red gaze. "Do you all understand?" she asked.

[Kuro Tsuta]

Kuro nodded, contemplating the tasks ahead. She already wasn't too keen on working with this group, but she had already accepted, which was her loss.

[Tensei Kaori]

"We understand, Miyoko-sama!" the three Tensei replied in their usual perfect unison, each flashing a thumbs-up. "We're ready to give it our all!"