For the Sake of the New Tower [M|P]

[Yamanaka Sayu]

After Sayu walked out of the village's gates, she pushed her hand inside her butt bag and took out her compass that she has bought specially for this mission. Her mission would begin the moment she would make it to Yokoburi and to make it there, Sayu had to head north-west. And this is what she did, however, before heading out to complete her mission, before it was too late, Sayu wanted to double check her equipment and items because this would be what she would be mostly depending on. She detached her butt bags from her belt and placed them on the ground, kneeing down above them. She first checked the contents of her first butt bag - the bigger one. In one of the sections of the butt bags, there were ten kunai and two knives. On another section, there were thirty Hira-Shuriken, sixteen makibishi and a deck of fake exploding tags, looking exactly like real exploding tags. In another section of the butt bag, there were two smoke grenades, two incendiary grenades and two stun grenades. The other butt bag, the smaller one, wasn't as full as there was a lot of free space inside it. There, Sayu kept the compass, using which she just checked which direction north-west was. In a different section, there were ten lighters that were placed there carefully and precisely, making sure they wouldn't accidentally set fire inside her butt bag. There were also three D-Class shooters inside that butt bag that she planned on using for this mission. "Okay, all checks up." Of course, Sayu also had her short sword attached decently on her belt, not allowing it to move except for the times when Sayu would want to draw it out or detach it.

Sayu checked which way north-west was once again and after making sure she was facing the right way, she put the compass back inside her butt bag. She was now ready to. According to the information the receptionist back in the Sky Spire gave her, Sayu would have to accompany the caravan from the capital to the rain village in a fairly straight forward bath with almost no obstacles in the way except a small forest that would be there in the center of the path between the two destinations. As Sayu was running her way to the capital, she also let her deductive abilities run wild and help her form a strategy. 'It appears that the forest in the center of the path is going to be a key point in the whole missions as it is going to be the point that holds most risks between the two points as it can be a good hideout for both enemies and animals which would be getting in the way of the caravan. Setting traps now would be meaningless as I don't know how things will escalate, however, the fact that this key point exists cannot be ignored.' As Sayu thought about possible strategies, she saw that she was getting closer and closer to the said forest and that just before the first trees of the forest, the main path split in two. The first path was obvious - straight forward and led directly through the forest while the second one took a left turn and probably went around the forest. Sayu didn't know about any village in that direction so that was the only logical reason for a splitting path. Sayu has went through the forest path before, however, never actually went through the around bath and this time, decided to take it.

It would take her a longer while to reach the capital but it was worth it because she would get to study an alternate path that could help her build a strategy for the mission. Just as the violet haired girl thought, the path indeed went around the forest and probably doubled the time it took her to get past the forest than it would take her to go through it, however, Sayu thought of a very good method to escort the caravan to the rain village safely. After a couple of more minutes or actually, about half a hour, Sayu could finally see the tallest of buildings of the capital city of the rain country. After a minute or so more running, Sayu could also see a the caravan, still waiting for her. "Yamanaka Sayu - I am here to escort this caravan to the rain village. What time is it?" Even as a Genin, Sayu had to prove herself as a leader to these people that were obviously not shinobi. "19:45. The sun will set soon. Tell us how we will proceed." The large man that was obviously in charge of the whole group spoke. He was well informed about the situation and knew that Sayu had to be in charge of the whole process. Sayu kneed down and waited for the others to do so too. She placed her hand inside her butt bag and took out a kunai - she would use it to draw over the ground surface.

"Just a moment..." Sayu said. She first wanted to take a look at the caravan as well as the people that would be with her through the whole escort process. The caravan mainly had bags on it that probably contained materials for the build of the tower like cement and other things like that - fairly heavy things, probably that's why a whole caravan was needed. There were four horses whose purpose would be to drag the single caravan - this could only prove how heavy the caravan was. There were sixteen men, the leader of the group included and among them, the leader was the largest and probably the most physically powerful of them all. Some of the men were tying the baggage to the caravan at the moment, others were giving a hand or just helping with necessities, however, there was one of them that seemed distracted. He was looking at the hills near the capital. Sayu would normally not bother with other people, but it seemed a little weird to her that this man was lazying around while the other fifteen were packing and preparing for the long travel. Sayu was just about to go and greet him when she saw something odd. The man took a mirror out of his pocket and began looking himself in it, however, the movements of the man's hands were odd. "Interesting..." Sayu said quietly, making sure no one heard her. She was still kneeing down and the others were also starting to gather around. The one who came last, just as Sayu expected was the somewhat distracted person with the mirror that was now back in his pocket.

"We will set off for the rain village at 22:00PM. We have a little time until then. Hey you, what's your name?" Sayu asked the large man. "Curt." The man would answer calmly, yet, with a deep voice. "Okay, Curt. How long will it take you to organize the others here to build up another caravan?" Sayu didn't need to be answered - Curt instantly mobilized the whole group and they began building up a second caravan. It was done within less than a hour. During that hour, the man looked at the hills a couple of times and performed the same action with his mirror. Sayu was starting to get the idea of what was going on and knew how she should proceed.

"Okay, here's the deal. The second caravan is a decoy. A fluff! We are going to load it with empty bags and I'm gonna send one of you guys, together with a clone of myself through the forest path while the original group will get the long path around the forest. All clear?" The men seemed to be okay with the idea. A decoy was not that bad of an idea actually. The person who Sayu chose to lead the decoy caravan was the, what she called him, mirror man. She instructed him how to take the through-forest path and that he should be cautious at all times. After he left together with Sayu's clone, Sayu gathered the group of now fifteen men and began instructing them again. "Change of plan. We are not taking the around-forest path. We are going to go through the forest but not going to take a path - going to go through the trees and bushes in camouflage... a caravan will of course ruin the camouflage so we are going to use it as a decoy as well, together with one of the horses. The plan is simple. I will go through the around-forest path together with half of the baggage and the caravan while you are going to take two of the horses, loaded up with as much as baggage as possible while you are going to take the remains on your own backs. Trust me, I know what I am doing." Sayu put her arm inside her butt bag and took out one of the three shooters she had, handing it to Curt. "What is this for?"

"That's the exact reason why I decided that we should travel during the night. If something happens, I want you to light the powdered tip of this and aim it in the air - I will see the signal and come as quick as possible. I am also holding onto two of those. Until you receive my signal, keep yourself hidden and walk as quietly as it is possible with the horses."

And their ways parted.

If the whole process was drawn on a map, Sayu would be in the far left with her caravan, having half of the baggage with herself. In the center, there would be the decoy with the mirror man and in the very right, hidden inside the forest, there were the the fifteen men that were carrying the other half of the baggage. 'Okay, all is going well. If my theory is correct, the decoy I sent was also a traitor that would be most likely going to be the first one to encounter the enemies for a logical reason - to send them to me. The decoy had no idea that I sent the original group to travel hidden through the forest and he only knew about me going through the round-way.' Sayu's thoughts were building inside her head as she began putting some of her fake explosion tags over the caravan she was escorting alone. These fake explosion tags would work like a bluff against the attackers that were probably one-hundred percept to show. She placed all eighty of them on visible spots of the caravan over the bags, the horse and even over her own self.

The nightfall held one more advantage Sayu could use. The man could send signals like he did earlier using his mirror, meaning that he had no way of calling for backup if their plans failed. On Max-Speed, it took Sayu a hour to get to the capital which meant that this escort would take two to three hours, minimum. The man with the mirror already sent signals that he was taking the center path earlier and the bandits, whoever they were should have already gained knowledge over the situation, which meant that it was time for Sayu to get to action now. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" After performing the handseals for the technique, Sayu created another duplication of herself and made it sit on the caravan while Sayu hid in the bushes near the path. From this point, she would have to follow the caravan in stealth. After a while, a short while, all Sayu's theories turned to be true as there were indeed bandits that have decided to cross the path of Sayu's caravan. The explosion tags worked as a bluff but also looked like proof that something really important was being on this caravan and it would do no less than simply attract them to it and Sayu's Bunshin that would allow her to perform a quick attack while being hidden, completely destroying the enemy forces.

The bandits were simply underestimating Sayu, even if it was her clone. They simply stood there in the center of the path. Three of them. Sayu looked around. There was a fourth one approaching from the behind of the clone. A rain of moonlight got through one of the night clouds and flashed over the Bunshin and the whole caravan that was covered whole in explosion tags. The Bunshin, well informed with the plan smiled and performed the half ram handseal, making it seem like she was ready to activate the explosion tags at any moment. The bandits took the message and stood still - they would wait for the assaulter to attack Sayu's clone from the back before robbing the caravan. The bandit attacking from the back sneaked behind the caravan and jumped up, however, fell down after a second, just as if he was taken out by something - it were the three shuriken that Sayu sent flying towards the bandit's head. The girl, with a ground roll, exited her cover and ended up behind the caravan where the corpse was. Sayu took her shuriken back and waited to see what the other three bandits would do.

And they withdrew.

Taking it that there was no signal in the sky, Sayu assumed that the group of men didn't encounter any trouble on their way through the forest and after she made it to the point where the forest path and the round path made a connection, Sayu took out one of the two Shooters, lit her lighter on and heated the gun-powdered tip of the Shooter, aiming it for the sky. The shooter shot five shining colorful balls in the air - this was Sayu's signal to the men, telling them that they were good to go out of their cover. It also gave them Sayu's location and told them what paths to follow to make it to Sayu. After a while, they made it to Sayu and from that point on, there was no more cover for bandits and the road to the rain village was pretty much straight forward. There was about a kilometer more to the rain village and the group soon made it to the village. They encountered the decoy caravan empty in the middle of their way to the rain village, sleeping on the road, without the mirror man abroad. After half a hour walking, Sayu and the group made it to the gates of the rain village.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Protect the Supply Caravan - Amegakure Tower
Rank: C
IIC Length: Two days
Difficulty: Moderate
Objective: Protect a supply caravan on its route from Yokoburi to Amegakure.
Description: The village can't produce all the materials it needs to build the new tower on its own, so they have ordered some from the capital of Ame no Kuni. As a precaution, the village wants to hire shinobi to guard it from possible bandit attacks or wild animals or whatever else may come.
Reward: 2,000 Ryo