Leafy Greens

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With a grunt, Ryō heaved a bag of leaves off his shoulder and into the growing pile. In one of the least exciting missions he could comprehend, the young Senju found himself collecting fallen leaves from one of the parks within the village. It was mindless work, and it was not anywhere approaching the kind of stimulation he craved or the opportunity to learn new jutsu. But after pausing and surveying the revitalized appearance of things after had had collected the detritus and liter, Ryō had a hard time denying that he felt good about the effort expended on it all. 

There in the back of his mind, haunting him, was the spectre of Konoha's near collapse following the war with Kirigakure. Even all these years later, it was plain to see the suffering of the people and the village itself. Even within the park, in more than a few places, Ryō could see the faded lines of scorch marks and places where trees grew at unnatural angles, desperately growing against the damage that had been inflicted upon them so long ago. Such stark reminders of things were unsightly and unpleasant, but Ryō knew that they couldn't forget what had happened. But that didn't mean they had to leave things out to fester in the air.

Gathering more leaves, he pondered what might be done to help the village. That something would need to be done about the Village Hidden in the Mist seemed an obvious thing, but he knew that such a notion was far from easy. They couldn't just rise up and kick the Hidden Mist out of the Hidden Leaf affairs; that would just invite another round of reprisals and increased taxation once again. It seemed an endless struggle, doomed to repeat itself like the leaves falling each year.

Was there was a way to see Konoha free again without inviting death and revenge? He wondered about that. It seemed absurd, such a lowly Genin thinking about the village in such ways, but Ryō had always had within him that dream of seeing his face carved upon the stone mountain face overlooking the village, and it seemed like there were many things he would have to consider and do if he wanted to see that dream made a reality. After all, he could hardly call himself the leader of the village if there was no village for him to watch over.

A cry signaling that the job was done, Ryō collected his final bag of leaves and hoisted it onto the cart before jumping on the back with several other genin and civilians to ride back to the building where they processed the leaves into fertilizer. The leaves may have fallen, their time at an end, but Ryō thought on how their essence would be used to help more plants grow in the future. Perhaps there was something to that thought, that death need not end in misery but perhaps a promise of a better future. It further fueled the burning hope and dream he carried with him. The village could be whole once again, one day. He just needed to believe. 
 
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WC: 523

Claiming mission rewards [500 ryo after Kiri tax, 5 AP] plus 5 stats into Chakra. As well, 500 WC (out of 1,000 required) to learn Summoning Technique.

Approved