I kinda lost a kid

[ThatGuy]

Mission ContractShow

Rank D-Rank
For 1-2 Genin
From Kotone of Konohagakure no Sato
Requesting I'm babysitting my nephew, eight years old. He seems to have...disappeared this morning. I was hoping he would come back but night will fall soon and I'm getting worried. Please, find him and bring him home safely. His parents will be back tomorrow afternoon and I don't want to have to explain to them that I lost their child...Bring him to me safely before then and you'll be rewarded greatly!]

"I'm so dead"

The girl who could be no older than sixteen was pacing back and forth outside of her house. She was waiting for a ninja to show up in response for her mission request. What was wrong? Well she kind of sorta lost a kid. Not hers! Well that really doesn't justify it. Makes it worse really. How was there not a ninja here already? Didn't they understand that this was serious!? DIDN'T THEY UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH TROUBLE SHE WOULD BE IN. With a groan the girl fell onto the grass and covered her face with her hands.

"Literally... Actually dead"

The house she was in front of was average at best. A white two story house with a broken window on the second floor. Classy. The only feature that really set the house apart was it's large yard. The front lawn alone could fit another house in it. But the back yard opened up into a small woods. Though this backyard was shared with the neighboring houses. The girl was laying under a large tree with a treehouse in it. Going on and on about how screwed she was. Just waiting for a ninja to arrive. The chosen one. Our savior.

[Legacy]

Alright, that about wraps this one up then - right? Came a dull yet somehow ear catching voice followed quickly after by the sound of footsteps. In what was supposed to be a typical day in the hidden leaf village wound up as an extremely chaotic one for one individual, turned into an extenuated process of transitioning from one task to the next. Washing dishes, grooming animals, finding pets , walking dogs & worst yet - grocery shopping. All relatively simple yet somehow required a ridiculous amount of patience to go through without complaining. Still, Gene had managed to pull through.

Yep - that's it, thank you for your help. Another voice replied, this one higher in pitch and extremely feminine. Good, time to go and make my report. See ya. Gene replied back before taking off to what he'd thought was his last assignment of the day. However, when he arrived the young Genin was met with more work! This is the most missions I've gotten in a single day - so much for having time to relax....And I was the one complaining about not getting any missions. Gene thought to himself as he stood in front of several Chunin. It was here that his report had been dished out in stead of the Hokage due to the guy being busy with whatever it was that he did.

Here's my report on the last mission - Gene was cut off, Actually before you give your report, we've received a request from someone claiming to have lost a child. Most of the other Genin are already on other missions while you have been carrying out tasks in the village at a steady rate so here's your assignment: Go and see what the disturbance is and do all that you can to help. Just peachy. With the situation practically out of his hands the Genin headed off to see just what needed to be done this time. It hadn't taken long to reach the location in the briefing, Gene was very fond of taking short cuts rather than go the initial street routes. When he arrived the first thing that caught his attention was a girl laid out on the ground.

Oi. He called out, though she was too busy sulking to hear him - so he waited a moment. After a moment of waiting, he tried again. O! Are you the one who filed the missing persons request?

[ThatGuy]

The girl's moping session was interrupted by someone yelling. Asking if they were the one who filed the missing persons request. Excitedly sitting up she looked at the person in front of them. A ninja! She was saved! Maybe she wasn't as dead as she thought. Though despite the fact the ninja finally arrived she wasn't happy. She was still very scared and mad at herself for losing her nephew. The girl was in a panic as she explained the incident. Talking way faster than she normally does.

"So I kinda lost a kid and I'm going to be in really really really big trouble he's like eight and I let him play for a minute I took my eye off him for one second not even a minute and when I look back he's gone and I checked everywhere I checked the treehouse I checked the woods I checked all the rooms in the house twice and I yelled stuff and I bribed him and I tried everything but he's gone and I'm really scared and I'm going to die if he's not found before his parents get back so please please please find him I know you're probably only a few years older than him but you're a ninja and ninjas do this kind of thing so like you could find him really fast and stuff."

Taking a deep breath the girl tried to compose herself. She said way too much way too fast. After catching her breath she stood up and looked at the shinobi with a frown. She didn't know what to do. How did these guys take care of things like this? Did they need a scent? Wait no that was Inuzuka. Right. Ninjas are not dogs. But the Inuzuka are pretty close. Though they do have ninja dogs. What was she thinking about? She's in the middle of an important situation she couldn't be thinking about dogs!

"Last I saw him he was in his treehouse. I went to check on him and he wasn't there. I just really don't know where he is."

[Legacy]

He hadn't even been on the scene for a full five minutes and already Gene found himself in a maelstrom of panic, concern & Ebonics. Seriously, she sounded more like courage the dog than anything but - that wasn't why he was here. Personal feelings aside, Gene made sure to catch the details of what had occurred before his arrival and piece together a possible scenario based upon that. Well, her reaction is typical of someone who lost someone elses kid but - I'm not exactly sure that her story adds up. If she looked away for a second then it shouldn't have been possible for an eight year old to travel very far...I wonder if she knows this. Probably not considering how frantic she is...Talk about an unlucky day. Gene thought to himself, mentally scowling & cursing the mission altogether because of how bothersome it was to handle.

Though outwardly, the young Genin had been completely composed, leveled out even. That was because he understood the gravity of this situation more than anything - it had been listed a D-ranked mission but; a missing person no, a missing person in a village THIS BIG, could have easily become a problem in more ways than one. Alright, alright. Calm down; I'll need you to start from the top nice and slow, what exactly were you doing before you lost the kid? Gene asked, wanting to get a clear picture on what he had been dealing with here before beginning his search. The question in itself was basic though it hadn't been the only one off the top of his head. Also, could you describe their appearance for me? Anything at all can help. Things like clothing, hair color, eye color, height and weight, skin complexion - that sort of thing. The Genin continued. He may have looked young but Gene was well beyond his peers in the mind - that would serve to be his greatest asset in this race against time.

[ThatGuy]

The girl slowed her breathing when he told her to calm down. Okay maybe she was talking a little too fast. But he needed to know how serious this was! She could be in so much trouble. But she eventually convinced herself that the calmer and more level headed she got the better chance the ninja had of finding her lost nephew. So with a deep breath she told the boy everything he needed to know.

"He was complaining that he was hungry so I went inside to grab him something to eat. It didn't take long I literally only had to walk to the kitchen and grab an apple then walk back. No time at all. But when I was calling his name I got no response. I checked the treehouse and he wasn't there. Then I just checked everywhere I could think of before I finally decided to put in a mission request. He's wearing a white T-shirt with the konoha symbol on it. I don't remember what shorts he was wearing today I think they were blue. He has red hair the really noticeable kind. Oh and brown eyes. He's about up to here and has to weigh less than a hundred pounds. Konda is his name. His skin complexion is a lot like mine just a tad more tan."

The girl held up her hand to show how tall the boy was. Slightly taller than average for his age. There. That was enough information right? She sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. Trying to figure out what to do. Where could he have gone? He was in his treehouse so it wasn't likely he got abducted. Unless it was by a ninja. But c'mon what kind of ninja would steal a kid!? This isn't Kiri!

"I can tell you for a fact that he isn't in the house. Obviously. But there might be a clue in the treehouse. If I'm going to be honest I just glanced and kept looking for him."

[Legacy]

As he listened to her explanation Gene disassembled pieces of her story and pieced them together once he could deduce logical conclusions behind them. Starting of course, with the main subject matter - Hunger. So he was hungry and likely wandered off in search of something to eat on his own because she'd been taking too long. Kids tend to do things without thinking about it so it's not illogical. However, there were variables that would come into play as far as how far into the house the Kitchen was - that alone would determine the amount of time that Konda had to get away and possibly how far he'd been at this point.

But.. these were things well out of her league since the average person wouldn't have even considered such a thing. Anyway, focusing on the next subject of relative importance; Konda' last known location prior to disappearing was the treehouse and unfortunately, she'd admitted to not conducting a thorough search before hand. The young Genin hadn't actually been looking at her while she was talking, his attention was more so directed at the ground though he hadn't given an explanation as to why. To her, it may have appeared that Gene was not paying attention but the truth was; he'd been observing the ground for signs of disturbance in the form of but not limited to: bent grass, foot prints, broken twigs, that sort of thing.

Unfortunately for her, Gene was one who liked to take things slowly - piece together information in slides, gain the utmost fullest capacity of detail before actually making a decision. Obviously though, in this instance he hadn't been able to utilize most of his usual methods of deduction thanks to the time stamp looming over their heads. Therefore, while he hadn't quite gained "all" the information he'd been looking for, Gene did collect a "Substantial" portion by regular ninja standards to proceed with his operation. Alright, let's check the Treehouse then. Please, lead the way. His tone, dreary yet somehow comforting as it bared some semblance of maturity. This was in kind not due to experience surprisingly but rather Gene's extensive knowledge gained through studying and firmly learning concepts and techniques of critical problems solving - though he did have experience to back it up. Whereas she seemed more scatter brained, Gene was the stark contrast displaying a calm collection that made him come off as slightly endearing.

Alas, he would allow her to lead the way and follow behind in kind.

[ThatGuy]

"Sure thing"

The girl walked over to the nearest tree and began to climb up the rope ladder made for the treehouse. After they both got to the top and inside the treehouse she spread her arms in a 'welcome to my home' sort of gesture. There wasn't much. But it was pretty big compared to your average treehouse. There was enough room to fit a couple full grown adults. Which meant probably six kids of the boy's size. Maybe he had a group of friends? There were carvings on the wall. Pointless stuff really. Just going to show that he definitely brought friends up there. There was a bed in the treehouse surprisingly enough along with some bean bag chairs. In the center of the room there were cards laid out. They were in the middle of some childrens card game. One where you battle it out with some of the most famous ninja in the world. Cards like Enma and Tousha being the most noticeable of the bunch. But there was something even more suspicious. Empty candy wrappers along with some uneaten ones.

"Why was he asking for food when he had some?"

The girl didn't quite understand. Nearby there was a calendar on the wall. It had a big red circle around today's date. But no further information. Something was up. But what exactly? If the shinobi had paid enough attention earlier he'd see tiny footprints in the grass. Very feint however showing that they were light. A kid maybe?

[Legacy]

Gene followed behind silently as the two headed toward the Tree house and tried not to think about all the things he could have been doing right now instead. This whole mission to him was well, troublesome. As they drew closer and closer something captured his attention - there were thin foot prints in the grass. Was someone here? The thought was put up on a mental shelve for Gene to come back to for later but for now, he'd ascended the rope ladder behind the girl and took had a look around.

Interesting... There was definitely obvious signs that someone had been here, multiple people in fact. And while the girl had been focused on food, Gene instead had been drawn to the circled date on the calendar. Excuse me, Gene began. He'd leisurely turned himself around to face the woman though as he spoke, Gene lifted his right hand up and pointed back towards the calendar with his thumb. In the past few days, did Konda say anything about any events or something? I noticed that there is a date circled here on the calendar and underneath it there is something written although I can't read this writing. It was truthfully the most awful handwriting Gene had ever seen, typical of those young and with other things to spend their time on.

Depending on the girl's answer, Gene might have actually been able to build something solid to work off of which meant, they'd be that much closer to bringing the boy back.

[ThatGuy]

The girl cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. Anything going on today? Hmm. Nothing came to mind. But there had to be something! It was important enough to put on the calendar. What could it be?

"I can't really think of anything"

She walked over to the calendar to try and read the handwriting. It was definitely her nephew's but it was still really sloppy and hard to read. Sure she was watching Konda now but honestly she didn't know too much about the kid. There were a couple words she could make out and a look of revelation popped on her face. Looking over at the cards on the floor she realized what had happened.

"This is the card game his parents were talking about. They don't support it. 'The life of a Shinobi is not a game' they always say. I'm supposed to punish him if I find him playing this game. The calendar says something about a tournament. It's for the card game. He snuck away because he knew I wouldn't allow him to go. Little brat... I have no idea where this tournament would be. But that narrows down the possibilities a bit at least right? Apparently he had friends over in his tree house. They were being rather quiet at least. Maybe they went together?"

Climbing down the ladder the girl thought about how she might have never had to call for a ninja if she had just looked in the treehouse a bit. Oh well. They were already here and she already spent money on the mission. Might as well have them do the rest of the work right?

[Legacy]

Gene waited patiently and silently for the girl to decipher Konda's writing though his eyes continued to dance around the room from as if to be connecting the dots. There were posters hung up all over the treehouse along with a stray flier that had been half way sticking out from underneath one of the small beds. It'd caught Gene's interest only because it didn't seem like it was meant to be found, like someone had been trying to hide it.

"This is the card game his parents were talking about. They don't support it. 'The life of a Shinobi is not a game' they always say. I'm supposed to punish him if I find him playing this game. The calendar says something about a tournament. It's for the card game. He snuck away because he knew I wouldn't allow him to go. Little brat... I have no idea where this tournament would be. But that narrows down the possibilities a bit at least right? Apparently he had friends over in his tree house. They were being rather quiet at least. Maybe they went together?"

Gene could hear her talking to him though his leisure paced stride would not be halted by her words as he moved toward where the small peace of paper had been hanging out. Let's see now, he thought to himself while crouching down on one knee and extending his hand out to grab it. That makes sense, especially with this little bit of information. According to the flier, the Tournament was located somewhere called Komora which, if Gene recalled correctly, was a popular event holding place here in the leaf. I've got all that I need. Thanks for your help this far, I'll take it from here. He proclaimed, already climbing out of the tree house descending to the hard dirt and green grass below.

Found in the Thirteenth district, Komora wasn't exactly the most friendly place in the Hidden leaf village due to how out of the way it was to any guard posts. However, it certainly was not anywhere near as bad as it could have been and what with it still being day light out, the problems should have been kept to a minimum. There wasn't really any leisure time here however, Gene needed to have that kid back before his parents returned home - that was the challenge.

Walking through several parks as "Short cuts" Gene found himself wandering through a thin gangway only to exit out in the village shopping district. Man, how'd I get stuck on child recover services? This is so troublesome.. Gene complained, sighing afterward.