A Feast of Kings (D-rank)

Mission Info:

Ashitaka's stats:

It seemed word of the successful delivery of the meat rations to the Inuzuka clan a few days ago had gotten around the village, reigniting hope and life in the Minor Clans that at least some members of the Major ones were still around and looking out for them. A cascade effect had started and was building and sweeping throughout the city as ninja and the people who relied on them for protection found their sense of pride again. To that end, the Akimichi took their response to this newfound hope to its logical extreme and began their more typical celebrations as though a liberation war had already been fought and won. So for their Head Family heir Yoshiro's birthday, they threw a feast the likes of which hadn't been seen since the old days, when Konoha was a strong, vibrant and independent village.

Ashitaka was surprised to find himself invited to the party in question. Sure, he'd shared a class with the heir in question, but the two barely spoke to one another. The former had been one of the "popular guys" which meant he spent most of his social interaction opportunities fending off small crowds of annoying girls who either were -or were merely exceptional at acting- vapid and shallow. The latter was... well, not. Now though, the tides had been turned and the Akimichi was the belle of the ball, or whatever the male equivalent of that was, whereas the young Prince of the Forest had been more or less sidelined. Frankly, Ashitaka was probably about as close as he could get to being happy with his social situation. Being the center of attention of multiple people always made him feel nervous, in no small part due to his having experienced just how ugly of a monster envy made a person.

But now wasn't the time for such disheartened thoughts. The Akimichi were sharing their food, and they not only ate a lot, but they ate well. The various spreads available were nothing short of monuments to gluttony, and they all smelled as good as, if not better than they looked. Noting this, Ashitaka was glad that he helped make sure the Inuzuka's dogs had already been adequately fed beforehand, or they'd either be tearing the place apart or suffering in hunger while people ate. As things were, he felt no guilt in helping himself out to sizeable portions of the various entrees offered on display. He was pretty sure he ate more than he should have, but he didn't care, confident he would burn off the fat with training and work.

He'd politely declined any sake or wine when it was offered him, but he still couldn't fight off the food coma for long. As was as much typical of the Akimichi feasts as the abundance of food, the "afterparty" of everyone suddenly being overcome with the urge to take a nap resulted in the vast majority of revelers clearing out as much space as they could manage before crashing. The process was hasty and sloppy, and it was only by virtue of everyone being as hungry as they were that there was hardly enough left for the ants and flies. Still, there was going to be quite the mess to deal with as soon as the whole deal was over.

Ashitaka was handed a rude awakening an hour or so later when a ladle of ice water was slung in the general direction of his face. He snapped into consciousness so hard that he couldn't even make the effort of trying to process or remember whatever it was that he'd been dreaming about. He was immediately greeted by the scowling face of Yoshiro's mother, or another Akimichi woman of similar age, he couldn't be sure. Either way, the fat in her cheeks made her expression extra scowly, and her beady little eyes were deeply unsettling in a way that reminded him of the wild boar sow who almost caught him taking off with one of the herd's sucklings.

"Get up, you. You've got some work to do." she demanded, then went about waking up several other Genin in the same manner as she had him. As he got to his feet and wiped the frigid water away from his face, he noticed that she was one of half a dozen or so middle-aged women assaulting various teenagers in a similar manner. He also noticed that most everyone else had left, meaning that the process of "volunteering" for whatever work lay ahead probably involved napping to the point that the other potential recruits had already left. That added a factor of embarrassment to the already unpleasant labor of having to clean up.

Luckily, there had to be somewhere around eighty nin who had been ensnared in the net of kitchen duty, so at least this debacle was going to go quickly. They were organized into teams with an efficiency that reminded everyone that this was something the Akimichi used to do regularly, and went about their shares of the cleanup. Ashitaka was on dish collection duty, so at least he didn't have to worry about his hands coming out looking like prunes, although there were a lot of dishes, to the point that even with his great strength and balance and the help of numerous other shinobi, he still had to make multiple trips.

Still, he was the kind of guy who dedicated himself fully to task no matter how minor, since he grew up in conditions where the smallest lapse into laziness could result in a brutal death. So he set about his share of the chores with diligence, moving among the tables like a professional waiter as he collected used dishes from them row by row, stacking those he could and balancing them on his hands, arms, and even head. It was easy to mistake him for showing off, but what he was really doing was training his coordination, posture, and gait so that he could bring out the best in all of them. By the time he was finished, his neck and arms were sore, but on his last trip the stacked dishes didn't even rattle as he carried them to the sinks where the washers were working.





[Mission Complete. WC 1045/1000. Training 10 points in Vigor (New Total 25). Training D-rank Elemental Arrows (+Mastery) 1000/1000, Chakra Infusion 367/2000. Claiming 2100 Ryo (Base + Genin Bonus, 50%/1050 to Kiri, total doubled by Beloved Presence). Claiming 10 AP. Total Bonus AP: 15]

Approved.

Approved of fixing AP claims.