Gate Guarding

Mission:

The streets of the village were bustling with people as Kiryu prepared himself for his tasks for the day. He had received a trio of assignments, all E-rank again, that he was given an indefinite amount of time to complete. On one hand, he was glad that he was receiving missions more regularly now. It gave him something to do on behalf of the village and its people rather than simply train for his own benefit. On the other hand, he was a little underwhelmed with these missions. Manning the front gates, providing traffic directions, and one was even “explore the city and report your findings.” He had lived in the city for years, what was there for him to explore?

He sighed as he pushed the negative thoughts from his mind. This was the way that the village system worked. Shinobi started at E-ranked missions to ensure that they could follow orders and build confidence in themselves before moving up to more demanding assignments. As he tightened the Hoshigakure headband around his forehead, he eyed the assignments again. ”Well,” he said to himself as he came to a decision and swept all three of them up, ”I suppose I’ll start with the gate assignment first. Might as well work inward.”

When he arrived at the gates, he signed the logbook showing that he would be taking this particular shift. He took his post by the gate, relieving the current guard, and kept his eyes peeled for any sort of suspicious movement on the road ahead. While it was generally considered to be a very boring posting, there was always the chance that someone would try to smuggle something into the village.

There were three classes of thoroughfare that the village generally received on a daily basis: Caravans bringing supplies to the village, individual visitors, and returning shinobi. A handful of caravans were scheduled for the day, which weren’t much of a problem for the Genin, although it certainly took a lot longer to search through a group of carts than it did to simply search individual people. None of those caravans had anything other than what had been reported on their manifest, so Kiryu stamped their paperwork and let them through.

With the civilians, there was a much higher flow of traffic. Many of them were simple farmers bringing some of their produce into the city, or civilians who were coming back from visiting the water gardens or the wildlife reserve. This is where most of the harmless contraband came from. Simple things like stones or plants from the wildlife reserve were confiscated so that they could be returned to the locations they had been taken from. A few of the villagers chatted with him, but he had to push them along to keep the line moving.

Finally, the returning shinobi were an entirely different case. For the most part, they were aware of the restrictions and complied with Kiryu’s requests. They had all done their own time as a gate guard. One Chuunin, however, gave him more trouble. ”Buzz off, kid,” he said as he tried to push past Kiryu.

A flash of doubt went through his head, but after going on a mission where a comrade had been killed, he wasn’t exactly scared of an obnoxious Chuunin from his own village anymore. He held his ground and stood in front of him. ”I need to search you. You know the drill.”

The Chuunin sneered at him. ”You think you can boss me around, Genin?” The way he had said his rank told Kiryu that he clearly had no respect for anyone who was his subordinate. This was not behavior becoming a shinobi of Hoshigakure.


”I think you’re behaving in a way that brings dishonor to you and to the shinobi of Hoshigakure,” he responded calmly, with only a hint of the anger he felt appearing in his voice. ”And you’re just as bound by the rules of the village as I am.”

The Chuunin’s face flushed with anger as he glared at Kiryu. ”Why you little-“


”Is there a problem here?”

Both Kiryu and the Chuunin glanced over at the direction from which the voice had come. Standing there was a Jounin, one of the elite shinobi of the village. He had an expression of mild amusement, but it was clear that he wasn’t about to tolerate any funny business. The Chuunin swallowed nervously, his anger turning to fear in an instant.


”No, sir.” His voice was much meeker now, and Kiryu took the opportunity to search him down quickly. He wasn’t carrying anything suspicious, which made Kiryu wonder why he had been so against being searched in the first place.


”You’re free to go.” The Chuunin nodded toward the Jounin before hurrying off into the city. The elite shinobi walked toward Kiryu. 


”Good work in not letting him just walk all over you, kid. Even if you’re only a Genin, you’re still a part of the shinobi forces of this village and you deserve the respect that comes with that.”


Kiryu gave a slight bow of respect. ”Thank you, sir. I appreciate your assistance in the matter.”


The Jounin grinned. ”Oh, right. I’m actually your replacement.” He grinned as Kiryu’s mouth opened, already knowing what he was going to say. ”Yeah, I know gate guarding is an E-rank level job, but sometimes I like to come out here and just keep an eye on the gates.”


Kiryu nodded in understanding. With his mission “complete” he signed out of the logbook and started to walk back into the bustling village, trying to determine if he had enough time to accomplish any of his other missions today.
 
[exit]

[TWC: 952]

Claiming:
6 stats (+6 Speed)
195 words towards Wind Release: Air Bullets(1000/1000)
757 words towards Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings (757/1000)
+600 Ryo (+500 for E-rank base, +100 for Genin Bonus)
+1 Bonus AP

Approved.