Welcome to Gaia! ::

The door closed behind Hakare, almost inaudibly over the sound of the bells attached to the top of the door which swayed from the force of the door as it opened and closed. After a few moments the noise died down and Hakare began glancing about the small building. There were a rather large assortment of knick knacks and oddities of every shape, size, and colour. As there didn't seem to be anyone present at the counter Hakare decided to wander about the shop and look at the random objects scattered therein. Passing his finger along the shelves Hakare noted how dusty everything was "Guess he doesn't get much business with the random assorted objects he's amassed here" Hakare thought to himself. Pausing as his hand ran over a small dragon figurine made entirely of bone. Hakare inspected the miniature and felt as though he should remember something more about this. After thinking for what seemed like a few minutes Hakare resigned himself to it just being a trick his mind played on him. However it still irritated him to a rather large extent that there was something that he felt he should know, but was unable to remember. Whilst brooding in his thoughts Hakare was startled as he bumped into a plump man about a foot taller than he was "Daydreaming is it, and you are the one they sent to solve my problems. My how far our village ninjas have fallen" The robust man sighed as he clicked his tongue in disapproval. "According to my mission statement, I have been sent because there is a problem with a magical box, that has been outwitting you" Hakare mocked and noticed a slight tint a red grow to the mans cheeks "Indeed, however I still see not how a little child such as yourself would be able to do anything about this" The man scoffed as his hands disappeared into opposite sleeves that extended a good couple of inches past his hands. After a few moments the produced a small object with a number of different sides each referencing a different element of chakra on one of the sides. Hakare held out his hand in anticipation as he watched the man turn the puzzle box over in his hands as if attempting to solve it and save himself the embarrassment of retracting his words should the 'child' in front of him actually succeed in solving where he had failed. After a few moments the man let out an angry sigh and gingerly handed the box to Hakare.

As Hakares' hands touched the puzzle box his mind began working feverishly. Looking at each of the sides he noted that while the majority of them had writing denoting a certain realm of chakra. There was one side left completely blank. Hakare rolled the box in his hands a few times, always seeming to stop when the blank side made it's way to the top. "interesting, this is such a fun little puzzle at work. Without clues and yet it seems to be mocking me with how easy it should be." Hakare muttered to himself as he smiled and continued rolling the box around in his hands, enjoying the weight of it and feeling that as he turned in this way and that each side became heavier. "The object within must be rounded" Hakamre said to himself almost forgetting that his contractor was standing right in front him, a scowl on his face that was very reminiscent of his former instructor at the academy. "Well yes, that much was obvious by the way the weight shifted upon rotating the puzzle box" The rotund man scoffed in an attempt to regain some of his composure as he fidgeted with his hands in his sleeves and bounced from one foot to the other. It appeared as though he half hoped that Hakare would finish quickly, and half prayed that he would fail and as such give him a reason to dismiss the obviously intelligent genin from his midst. "If you can't solve it I'm sure they can just go ahead and send me someone smarter and solve it for me" The man said a sly smile appearing upon his face. "No that won't do" hakare mumbled only half listening as he became entranced by the puzzle before him. "And why is that young child" The man scoffed haughtily as he awaited a response that in his mind would never do justice to the answer he received. Pausing only long enough to look up and see the mans face beaming as he finally attained Hakares attention "Sir do you realize, that of all the genin I am more likely than not the smartest, and at that rate. Do you think they would send anyone else here to solve your stupid little puzzle box?" Hakare answered and was satisfied to note that the smile was immediately replaced by the scowl he had grow so accustomed to. "And just what do you mean by stupid, boy?" The chubby man questioned, anger on his tongue as the words slipped out between gritted teeth. "Only that it's a mere child's plaything that you couldn't solve on your own, and required a 'child' such as myself to solve for you" Hakare said putting extra emphasis on the word child in order to further demean the man who couldn't solve such an easy toy.

Hakare tossed quickly applied pressure to 3 of the sides simultaneously as he quickly twisted and rearranged the location at which they were previously at upon the sides of the puzzle box. As the sides twisted a small popping sound could be heard as the side with nothing upon its face slide open and revealed a small round object. Upon opening the box Hakare noted that the mans face had drained of all colour, seeing this Hakare couldn't help but laugh heartily as he lifted the small object out of it's place. Hakare held up the round object and inspected it, turning it too and fro "This? This is what all the fuss was about? You must be joking" Hakare said as he popped the object into his mouth and began chewing. Hakare noted the horror growing on the mans face which was quickly replaced by anger "What have done!" The flabby mans arms jiggled as he raced towards the boy and grabbed him by the throat "That was a priceless artifact that took me quite a bit of effort to acquire. Hakare could only smile and continue chewing. After a few moments Hakares' smile withdrew and his lips pursed as he began blowing air out which was caught by the object he had been chewing. Soon a large bubble began to form and when it had reached the mans faces, Hakare let out one large final bit of air and watched it pop and explode all over the mans face "there's your priceless artifact, a solitary piece of chewing gum. Held in a child's lockbox that you were too stupid to figure out" Hakare laughed as he turned on his heel and left the man to clean himself up and deal with his shame. Once outside Hakare breathed in deeply and felt surprisingly good about himself "Who knew helping others could be so rewarding" Hakare chuckled to himself as he walked back to the assignment building.
108/100 lines for mission

As Hakares hand reached the door knob he realized that he had not actually received confirmation on whether his mission had been a success or not. "I mean, he did put it away, but he never actually told me whether the mission was a success or not, I could leave it as such and think that I have completed my mission. But assuming is not a generally good idea in this line of work so I better go make sure" Hakare thought to himself as he promptly turned on his heel and made a 180 degree turn only to be met by the face of the old man. Hakare jumped at the unexpected sight "Ahh! you scared me, how are you so quick and quiet" Hakare exclaimed and inquired of the man "Years of practice my boy, one day you will be as good as I am, and then another day you will be greater" The man responded with a smile on his face as if he were expecting a question to come.

159/100
edit: I hate my ******** rolls -.-

(hoping for lower than a 57 *crosses fingers*)

Hakare looked at the man for a few moments gathering his thoughts before beginning "I have yet to be informed of your name" Hakare started as he continued looking into the elderly man's eyes "I find it rather rude that you know my name but not the other way around" Hakare said in a lightly mocking tone as a smile appeared upon his face. "AH! That is very true I hadn't even realized it Hakare" The old man exclaimed as he threw his hands into the air "I have been getting far to forgetful as of late" THe man continued as he tapped the side of his forehead with his index finger. "The name is Hanadamus, at your service" the now not so nameless man said with a flourished bow. As he returned back to his normal small stature, having lost some by bowing, the man smiled and waved his arms ina shooing manner towards Hakare "now be off with you if that was all, I'm still a rather busy old man and you should focus on trying to get another mission by tomorrow" as the old man began his attempt to shoo he noticed that Hakare hadn't began to move towards the door "So this means that I did in fact fail my mission" Hakare said with a slight tinge of sadness lingering almost imperceptibly upon his tongue. "Indeed you did, what of it? Scared that you can't do everything right the first time around are you?" Hanadamus questioned hoping that he wouldn't have to see another prospective young ninja lose hope because of their first mission. "Not at all, in fact thinking about it a little more. I think that it's probably for the best that I didn't succeed on my first attempt, it would make it feel like being a ninja is far too easy of a job. This way at least I know now that I will need to continue my training so that my progression never falls too far behind the requirements of being an asset to the village" Hakare finished his long winded explanation with a smile as he finally took the old mans urging and turned on his heel to walk out the door. Hanadamus stood and watched as Hakare left the building "Looks like there are a few out there who still have the drive to succeed" he said to himself as he turned and disappeared once again beyond the archway.

Hakare found himself once again draw back to the forest. As he roamed, not following the path in the slightest, Hakare stepped over fallen trees and in between standing ones. He felt a great sense of peace wash over him as he let his mind wander and just meandered through the place that had been his home for nearly as long as he could remember. Hakare smiled mournfully as he tried remembering what his mother had looked like, unable to remember anything save for an out of focus view of her eyes. Abruptly Hakare was drawn out of his thoughts as he found himself once again back at the clearing near the river where he always preferred to take refuge. "Guess I must be tired" Hakare said to himself with a sigh as he lay down on his back in the grass and looked up towards the stars. The wind blew softly through the trees as Hakare closed his eyes and slowed his breathing to match it's rhythm. Before long his breathing evened out to his own bodies rhythm and he fell into a deep sleep.

31/130 lines for mission.

”You want o WHAT?!” Even though he couldn’t see it, Isuko could guess that Hashimura’s eyes were wide with surprise.

”I would like to set up a sting operation here in your store. If you make a show of restocking your shop, hopefully the thieves will attack again. However, this time they’ll find a surprise waiting for them because I’ll be waiting, hidden in the shop. I’ll be able to apprehend them and bring them to justice. It could even result in the recovery of your previous inventory.”

Gaping at Isuko, Hashimura spluttered with indignation. However, the last clause about recovering his previous inventory appeared to have caught his interest and he began seriously considering the suggestion. ” That could work. There’s enough room in here for you to hide. And I’d really like to recover my missing inventory. My restock shipment isn’t scheduled to arrive for a few more days. I was having it brought secretly, but I’ll make sure I get the delivery company to bring it by publicly.”

”One more thing. You CANNOT tell anyone about this. Not family, not friends, not anyone. If this is going to work, the thieves cannot have any word that I’ll be waiting here. I have to be unexpected for them. Can I stick around in your shop to try to set traps and whatnot for the thieves during these couple days before your shipment arrives?”

Hashimura took a moment to consider the business expected for the next couple of days as well as his personal appointments, even consulting a pocket-sized calendar with notes before answering. ”Tomorrow is not good. I have a meeting with a prospective trading partner in Fire Country to attend which will take most of the day. The rest of the time before the shipment arrives is fine for you to set up. However, if you need this to be a surprise, shouldn’t you not be seen here more than is necessary?”

”You’re right of course. I shouldn’t be seen too much around here. While most bandits will discredit a blind man stumbling into and out of shops, I still should stay cautions. I’ll make my entrances more discreet from here on out. In fact, it might be better for me to make my preparations at night. Just to be safe.”

Hashimura took a key out of his apron and handed it to Isuko. ”Sounds good. Here’s a key which will let you in the back door. I hope to not see you until you have the jerks that broke into my store and stole my stuff.”

Isuko reached out and took the key handed to him. ”Thanks. I’ll leave you to it and come back this evening and start making preparations. Nothing should interfere with your daily business. I’ll make sure everything is ready when your restock shipment is here.”

Isuko unlocked the shop door and left, taking a circuitous route through the slums, buying some small goods and food to keep up appearances of being an ordinary consumer. Isuko slowly made his way out of the slums. Isuko circled back to the mission office.

Entering back through the front door, Isuko waited his turn in line until the chuunin on duty was ready to help him. ”Isuko Riwomu, I’ve been assigned to the vandalism case and would like to request supplies to set up a sting operation to attempt to catch the thieves. I would need some basic trap components to set up non-lethal traps.”

The chuunin nodded and turned to search through some records. The chuunin turned back to Isuko, handing him a small bundle of papers. ”You are authorized to use the supplies you need from the armory. Here is your pass and authorization. Please proceed to the armory to collect your supplies.”

Isuko took the pass, nodded to the chuunin in charge. ”Thank you very much.” Isuko turned and left the mission office. He turned left after leaving the office to head towards the armory a few blocks away, but still in the shinobi office complex.

Isuko caraefully concealed himself in the shop, preparing for a confrontation with anyone who might try and break in and steal the new stock. He activated his Echo Locate jutsu to detect any movement in the store, in the event the thieves were better at keeping silent than he anticipated. The low frequency echoes were comforting to Isuko. Having never used the jutsu in the store, Isuko was able to augment his mental map that he had created while preparing the shop. ”While I can’t see, they can’t hear these sounds and I’m going to be way more comfortable in the dark than they ever will be, especially here.

Time seemed to stretch on with no one appearing. Each time someone would walk past the store, Isuko would tense up, ready to spring into action should they break in. However, no one attempted to do so. ”I know I thought I was prepared to wait this out for several nights if I needed to, but this is really boring. But, I can’t afford to let my vigilance slip by experimenting with new jutsu or trying to entertain myself. I must maintain constant vigilance.”

As each hour passed, Isuko was less hopeful that the thieves would show up this evening. As the first rays of the new dawn began to show through the windows, Isuko’s internal clock was ringing the start of the new day. ”Clearly the thieves haven’t appeared this night, and won’t as the new day is starting.”

Isuko left the arranged signal for “no success will continue next night” at the arranged place for Hashimura to find. He waited until he could hear consumers moving around the market outside before very carefully and quietly exiting the shop and making his way to a concealed locale on a rooftop in the slums where he could keep an eye on the shop without being easily seen himself.

Isuko pulled out some of the trail rations he had grabbed before leaving the armory. While mostly tasteless, the meal was high-calorie and filling, the perfect food for a shinobi involved in highly draining actions who may need to eat quick.

Isuko turned back to his observations. ”Wait a moment. That guy with the cirppled foot has circled the block twice and was definitely present yesterday when the restock shipment arrived, I remember his walking pattern. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for him.” Isuko noticed the same man pass by several times throughout the day, appearing unobtrusive and just part of the crowd, but Isuko’s vantage point allowed him to mark the man’s passage.

Eventually, the time came for Isuko to retake his position in the shop and begin his evening vigil for the second night. Isuko carefully made his way to his entry point for the shop, avoiding the roads and common alleys, making sure he stayed hidden from the crowds.

Isuko quietly entered the shop and made his way through the interior, arming the traps he had set. ”However, since I think I know who one of the thieves is, I may be able to put a trap into place that will be tailored for him. But, I may not be able to hide it sufficiently in the time I have before they show up, so I think I’ll just leave the traps the way they are.” He finished arming and priming the traps spread throughout the shop and returned to his spot from the night before, ready for another night’s vigil. Three hours had passed when the sound of soft voices outside came to Isuko’s attention. He waited and was shortly rewarded with the sound of footsteps approaching the store and the sound of glass breaking.

”I made sure that there weren’t any traps right under the points of entry. Therefore, they should get a ways into the shop before encountering my first surprise for them. I should circle behind them to make sure I get them captured.” Isuko formed some hand seals and activated the Bone Sword justu, drawing a sword from his upper arm. He carefully and quietly circled the opposite way from the direction the thieves were taking. He had just settled himself in front of the broken window when the thieves reached his first trap.

”GEAH! What the heck is this?! I’m caught! Get out before someone gets here!” The other thieves began running back towards the busted window to make their escape. As they rounded the last aisle and began running towards the window, they spotted Isuko. Sword and kunai in hand, he made an imposing sight.

”Halt and you will not be harmed. Lay down your weapons and get on the floor.”

”Like hell I will!” The bandit rushed Isuko, swinging at his head with the backsword he carried. Isuko neatly ducked and with a quick flick of his sword, disarmed the man. A follow-up stroke slapped the man on the back of the knee, causing him to collapse to the floor. Isuko turned back to the rest of the thieves.

”Any of the rest of you want to try?” Isuko read the echoes and the other men lay down their weapons and knelt on the ground. Isuko took some manacles from the inside of his coat and slid them to the bandits. ”Put those on and stay on the ground.” Once the thieves had bound themselves, Isuko collected the man stuck in the snare trap and similarly bound him. Chaining each of the men together, Isuko waited until Hashimura arrived in the morning. Isuko went out to meet Hashimura.

”They broke my window! I hope you caught them!”

”I did. They are bound inside, but I didn’t want to leave the shop with a window broken to take them in for processing. You can communicate with the shinobi office to track the progress on recovering your inventory. Have a good day.” With that sentiment, Isuko took the bound prisoners and led them back through the village to the shinobi offices, directly to the assignment office. The jounin on duty took possession of the prisoners. Isuko collected his payment from the chuunin on duty at the assignment office, and left.