D-Rank Mission: Race For the Title! [O]

[Inoryu]

SPOILER: Click to show

SPOILER: Click to show

Name: Mail call!
Rank: D
IIC Length: --
Difficulty: easy
Objective: Deliver mail for the village.
Description: the villages fastest mailman is participating in a race in the village. Take his place as mail man and deliver 4 parcels to various business establishments. (each parcel is one post)
Reward: 4,000 Ryo

    Inoryu had met his client at the village's mailroom. Men were jogging place with their parcels prepared to jot out of the door. There were lots of paper, lots of moving bodies, and lots of instruction. Despite this, the mail room was very organized. Inoryu could hear the directions from the lady on the other side of the desk clearly and understood it easily, "This Parcel goes to Ms. Limberman. It has to arrive by today. This one goes to Mr. Stout. This one is express and takes authority..." 
    Inoryu noticed he was spotted by a delivery man in crutches, "Hey you, you must be the shinobi that answered my call!"
    Inoryu grinned and touched his forehead protector bearing the mark of Kusagakure-nin, "Yea, that's me."
    "Oh great!, follow me!" 


    He led Inoryu outside behind the mail delivery room where they had privacy. Inoryu noticed that the delivery man's ankle was in a cast and he needed crutches to get around, "I'm glad you came, you made it before the race!" 
    "Yea, the race. So why is this race so important that you hired a shinobi to take your place?" Inoryu asked. 
    "Hmm...because, I am the fastest delivery man in the village," there seemed to be a fire in his eyes, "My name is Sanso Daishin. Every year the mailroom holds a race to congratulate the fastest deliveryman. I've won every year for the last ten years, since the races started. There are ten plaques hung up in the break room to honor my services. I could go into work and be proud of myself when I see them. But someone really wants this title this year and are willing to go to extreme lengths to get it. When the announcements of the race began, I was ambushed by a man in a black cloak and mask and he hit my foot with a club. It's broken and needs time to heal. He expected me to be unable to race, but I hired you a shinobi to stand in for me."
    "I see," Inoryu replied. 
    "You will help me, will you?" Sanso asked.
    "Of course, I will do everything in power to win this race and catch that guy!" Inoryu answered.
    "Great!" 

[Inoryu]

    "On your mark!" The lady shouted. Inoryu had used the preparation time to examine his competition. He wanted to see if there were any obvious signs as to who the culprit may be. So far, all the runners seemed uniform, including Inoryu who traded in his attire for the delivery man's get-up. He had a strap that ran diagonally across his chest to carry parcels in his back. There were three in his backpack, and everyone's fourth parcel was a parcel that was 50 lb. The first to deliver all the parcels wins. Inoryu decided to deliver the small parcels first, then the big parcel last. The crowd of mail room workers chattered with anticipation. 
    "Get set!" There were three other runners. The first parcel would have to be delivered to the opposite end of the village. Sanso gave Inoryu a single handed thumbs up and a serious nod. 
    "Go!" The four runners took off in a sprint and the crowd roared in delight. Alright. Inoryu had a fast and steady pace to his first location. He made it to the vicinity and had to find the exact address.
    "Yoohoo!" A plump old lady with a cotton cloud of hair and a round pink and flower dress was flickering her wrist at Inoryu, "Is that my mail? It was supposed to come in today."
    Inoryu looked at the name, "Ms. Plumbercheek?"
    "Thaaat's me!" 
    Inoryu ran to hand her the parcel. 

           

[Inoryu]

    Inoryu pulled out the next parcel in his bag and realized it was on the opposite end of the village. So was the other parcel. He chose one without thought and returned the other to his bag. He had to make it to the other side of the village quickly. He leaped up the railings of a house and ran along the rooftops of the village, This may be cheating...but... 
    Inoryu hopped along a few more rooftops and was surprised to find another runner doing the same. The other runner threw shuriken at Inoryu and he dodged it gracefully turning his run into a halting airborne somersault. When Inoryu tried to get a visual, the other runner was gone. Odd... Inoryu started again in the same direction. As he ran, another runner ran beside him on the trail
    "You won't beat me ninja! I have been working here for 5 years and I have be exercising my speed to the~" the runner stopped mid sentence. He had tripped on his own feet and landed face first in the dirt.
    "Hey are you okay?!" Inoryu shouted but kept running.
    "Yea, I'm okay!"
    This gave Inoryu the advantage he needed to deliver the parcel. Mr. Goodthumb was waiting outside his door, "Hey thanks a lot, finally it came in! My ne~eeeeeew socks! And black too..." 
    Inoryu took out the last parcel. This one was close. And after that one, just one more to go, the 50 lb parcel.                      

[Inoryu]

    Inoryu hopped over a few houses. This delivery took the least amount of effort, "Here you go Mr. Franburger." He was an old, frail man.
    "Why don't you come in for some tea?" he asked.
    "No thank, I don't drink tea."
     "How about some cake? I still have some birthday cake left over... Wait right here."
    "Excuse me, sir, I'm going to have to pass on the birthday cake, I am in a hurry."
    "Oh, well how about a cookie then, for the road," the old man had already gone back into his house.
    "Umm...okay!" 
    Inoryu waited for the cookie. He wasn't sure how much time was slipping through his fingers, but the cookie sounded awesome, "Thanks!" Inoryu took off with the cookie in his mouth and the old man was waving him away with a friendly smile on his face. This cookie really is delicious...so soft... so delectable... He stopped to really enjoy the cookie when he realized all four of the 50 lb parcels were still there. I'm the first. In the distance he could see the runner who had attacked him with shuriken running towards him for his parcel.  
     You... Inoryu suddenly took this race to a new level of urgency. He dropped down and grabbed his 50 lb parcel and took off in the direction towards the last client running passed his adversary. Inoryu would deliver the parcel and win this race. It was his mission. And nothing would get in his way. 
    "RAHHHH!!!! He was running down the village with the parcel over his head, "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" he shouted to the citizens although they had seen him coming first and already cleared him a passage. He could see a young lady standing outside of her home down the path, That's gotta be her.
    "Delivery," Inoryu said as he placed the package in front of her.
    "A delivery? Why I didn't deliver anything?" A cat purred and was rubbing herself long Inoryu's leg. Another cat was walking along the windowsill of her home. Another curiously looked at the parcel before making its way across the street. 
    "This is your address right?" Inoryu asked. He had a strong sense of urgency but did the best he could to keep his voice calm.
    "Why yes, this is my address."
    A frustration surged through Inoryu, "And this is your name, right?" 
    "Hmm...no not my name. That's my roommate's name." 
    Inoryu sighed, "Now we're getting somewhere."
    The young lady opened the door, "Yoohoo, Ms. Alleyway!" Hundreds of cats poured out of her house and Inoryu's jaw dropped in disbelief.
    "Who's Ms. Alleyway?" 
    "Why they're all Ms. Alleyway." She lifted one up and examined its paw, "This one is Ms. Alleyway 13," she examined another by its orange stripes, "This one is Ms. Alleyway 4," she examined another by its white spot of fur around its eye, "This one is Ms. Alley 47..."
    "This is gonna take forever!" Inoryu shouted. 
    Then he noticed one of the cats purring and and clawing at the parcel, "Ms. Alleyway," he addressed her, "Did you order this?" 
    "Meow," she replied. 
    "Okay, please sign here," and the cat put a stamp of its paw.
    "Oh Ms. Alleyway, what did you order?"
    The feline opened the parcel with its claw to reveal a new scratch post. The other cats meowed excited and immediately began scratching and purring. 
    "Okay, gotta go!" 
     



           

[Inoryu]

    Inoryu raced for the finish line and was attacked head on. The runner had aimed a kick for Inoryu's face but Inoryu somersaulted to avoid the kick and kept running while stringing together handseals. He knew that the runner wouldn't give up there. Shuriken were thrown and they struck Inoryu's back only to reveal that it wasn't Inoryu but a thick tree branch with branches that exuded outward with lively leaves. There was no stopping him now. He saw the finish line. He sprinted further and harder and he crossed with the roar of the crowd. Sanso's face lit in celebration.
    "You did it Inoryu!" Sanso said!
    "We're not out of the woods yet," Inoryu whispered. 
    He leaped back onto the path to block the other runner from finishing the race. The other runner stopped at the site of Inoryu 35 meters away. Inoryu pulled out a kunai to show him that he meant business, "You're not going to finish this race." 
    "You wanna bet on that?" the runner said. 
    "Yea, I do. After this I'm still gonna owe 1,000 Ryo to the hospital!" 
    The runner looked at him dumbfounded, "It was an expression you jerk!"
    The runner jumped and threw a series of shuriken. Inoryu leaped backwards and blocked the remaining with his kunai leaving him unharmed. Inoryu held his ground and watched him steadily.     

[Inoryu]

    Inoryu had regained some of his chakra since using the substitution technique and was ready to answer. The runner had run towards Inoryu again. Inoryu through another kunai to meet him but the shinobi skillfully sidestepped and continued his run. Inoryu blocked a kick and responded with a back handed slash of his kunai that would have slashed the ninja's face if he hadn't backed off in a series of handsprings. The shinobi threw more shuriken and at the close of range Inoryu couldn't dodge them. He had three shuriken dug into him. One in his arm, and two in his chest. He pulled them out and held the shuriken ready in his right hand. 
    "By the looks of it, you are a taijutsu specialist. It appears you have the upper hand here. But I'm still not letting you finish this race," Inoryu stated. The crowd roared as another runner finished in second. 
    "I'll finish this race alright. Doesn't matter as third or fourth," the ninja replied.
    "No you won't. You were the one who injured my client, weren't you? So he wouldn't be able to race." 
    The ninja chuckled, "Maybe, maybe not."
    "Why else would another ninja be in this race? You were hired to take out my client and you broke his foot so he couldn't race. But when he found out that he was hiring a shinobi to run in his place, your new mission was to win the race. Well, you've already lost."
    "Hahaha, you got me. But I'm not just gonna walk away. You've annoyed me and I think you deserve some~" Inoryu shot back the shuriken and the hits gave Inoryu just enough time to sift through the 6 necessary handseals, "Ninja Art: Phantasmal Force Jutsu." 
    A ghostly demon appeared to be floating before the ninja, "Wah~ What is this? Stop this." The phantom ghoul laughed in marvel of the ninja's terror. The ninja swung wildly with his kicks and punches but the ghoul always hovered just out of his reach, mocking him, tormenting him. Mimicking Inoryu's movements, the phantom swooped in and slashed the ninja with his claw. The phantom laughed manically at the helpless ninja. The ninja stood up and the phantom rushed in with a powerful tackle, striking the ninja at his torso leaving his hunched over and afraid. The phantom ghoul then slammed him to the ground with his two fists like a hammer. The crowd roared as another runner finished the race.
    Inoryu's voice rang in the ninja's head, "Just tell me who hired you and this will stop." The ninja pointed distinctly at a man and the demonic phantom vanished." Inoryu ran over to Sanso and pointed out the person who hired the ninja to break his foot. 
    "So, it was Fuujin."
    "Call the police, make sure he doesn't go anywhere. I'll do the same with the ninja."
     Eventually the police came and questioned Fuujin and the mysterious ninja and they were taken in by the shinobi.
    After that, Inoryu got to participate in a celebration. Not only was it a fun competition between the runners, it was also a festive time for all the mail room workers. There was chips and dip. Sandwhiches. Inoryu was most glad that he had made his client proud by winning the race and even going as far to uncover the crime. After all the thanks, there was one more thing. 
    "A picture," Sanso said. They smiled for the camera and the series of trophy pictures that lined along the wall of Sanso being the fastest delivery man now had a new picture that followed: Sanso smiling jovially with Inoryu who also smiled for the camera. He was proud of that picture like any of the rest he had but he was most proud of that one. 

[Exit]