The Hunt For a Field Hand

[King of Cats]

As the dean of the University of Konoha, Kokou was fit for many, many tasks that the University required of the dean. From grading papers to tending to the zoo, Kokou was always busy. When he wasn't tasked with the more mundane features of the University, Kokou could be found deep in the underground laboratory. Kokou had many of his own projects being housed there. His interests were in gene splicing, Kokou wished to further the pursuit of human understanding of the body. Kokou believed that by learning about other animals, those principles evident could be used to advance the human race. Kokou had performed a variety of useful studies, from evolving the lungs of humans to breathe underwater, to developing super sensory organs inside of the brains of humans; Kokou had a hand in all sorts of studies.

Today though, those studies wouldn't be the main focus of his mission. Instead it was one of the more mundane tasks, but it was geared toward studying something fantastic. Kokou had recently been alerted of a rare band of parrot-raptors in the grasslands north of Konohagakure no Sato. It was up to him to study these unique and dangerous animals, and Kokou had plans for them. The parrot-raptor had incredibly dense bones for a flighted bird. Kokou sought to unravel the mysteries of the dinosaurs genetic sequence, and imbue his DNA altering procedure with such specifics. He believed he could make people able to fly, much better than the standard method of lightening their bones.

Standing in line at the Hokage's office, Kokou waited to fulfill his duty for the day. He had to get official village certification to recruit any field Hands. The people that he chose had to be suitable for the certain task they were given. On this day Kokou had found a perfect shinobi to fulfil the role of a field hand. Itoshii Ikigai was a remarkably well manicured ninja from Sunagakure. He was seeking refuge from his homeland that was at war with Iwagakure, and had brought wit him great talents. Kokou didn't need him for much. The mission was expected to be an easy one. Stalk the herd, record any information, and tag one with a fuuinjutsu so that the University can track when the animal comes back to town. It was a seemingly simple enough mission, and Itoshii fit the bill for a field hand. He would mostly be Kokou's gopher, but it was an important job nonetheless.

Once Kokou had all the paperwork filled out he went home to get a good night's sleep. Itoshii was scheduled to meet him at 6am the next morning. Kokou rested his eyes for a few hours and then got up to have some tea. The jounin felt a bit groggy and double steeped the tea to soak out any caffeine, Kokou had horribly bad tasting coffee which he could offer Itoshii, but he wanted to give him something nice. He set the pot at his dining room table. Itoshii was slated to knock any minute, and Kokou was excited to kick things off with his new field hand.

[hobnob]

The assignment came in promptly, not giving him a lot of time to prepare. He was busy that evening, both Itoshii and Izumi gathered up their tools and packed their equipment to be ready for the mission. As it appeared to be a simple mission of gathering information a bird for the University, the packing was mostly of edibles that would sustain them throughout the mission. Izumi as equally as excited as the boy. She had not been on a mission in eleven years. Since she was tasked with looking after Itoshii, she had not been able to undertake any other tasks. And this one seemed to be a fairly laid back one, perfect for both of them to get them started.

With all their equipment packed and ready to go, they settled in for some evening tea and went about their usual evening routine. And when they awoke, it was very early. They had a little journey to the Deans home so they left with ample time to get there with ease. It was a nice morning, no strong winds and no cloud in the sky. Hopefully the weather would remain like this throughout the mission. They arrived five minutes early, and Itoshii did not hesitate to gently bang on the door hopefully it would be enough to alert the dean, and while they waited Itoshii simply rolled backwards and forwards on his feet while Izumi stood there shaking his head at how silly he looked. With his backpack almost bigger than he was, due to his sleeping bag and mat being stuffed into the back after he refused to have it sealed within a scroll. She let out a gentle chuckle.

[King of Cats]

Sitting at his kitchen table, Kokou sipped his tea and thought about the various things he would need to accomplish during the day. There were a lot of moving parts involved in the study of live animals, and Kokou was tasked with it all for this one mission. Usually he had some kind of help in the form of a secretary, but it seemed like he was all on his own with this assignment.

While he sat and considered the possible roadblocks he would have to battle on this mission, Kokou heard a sudden knock on the door. He got up, certain that it was Itoshii. Kokou opened up the door with a smile on his face, his pink eyes looking forward ahead.

[hobnob]

‘Hello…’ Izumi let out casually as the youth bounced up and down in anticipation. ‘When are we leaving!?!’ The youth shouted rather loudly. He was keen and ready to go.