Maintaining the Leafy Greens

The Missions:

Ayane was already up and had completed three missions that day. The young Uchiha was beaming with joy as she walked back home from the Inuzuka clan compound, where she had completed the last two missions, the caged squirrel had become angry and restless following its capture, but could not cause any issues from within its confinement. The hounds had given her a respectful bow after she walked away, it took all of her might and self control to not pet them. Taking a detour on her way home, Ayane stopped by at the butcher’s shop that she had commenced her last two missions, Balthazar’s Bone Breaking Butchery. She could not help but give out yet another giggle at the name as she walked in. This time she was prepared for the smell that assaulted her nose upon entry, although it was still quite overpowering. The big gruff butcher gave her a pleasant wave as she walked in and spoke. “Little missy! Welcome back, I hope your mission was success?” She gave him a big smile and responded. “Yup! All done, I’m actually here to get some meat for tonight’s family dinner. My siblings and I really like the big tomahawk steaks if you have any?” His eyes lit up at her words. “Oh but of course, those are my favourite as well. For the help you gave me today, I’ll even sell them at half price. How does that sound?”

Although she was hoping to get them for free, half price on such large steaks was still a great deal, she nodded happily. “That would be amazing, Tenshi and Kaya will be so happy with tonight’s meal!” The man’s jaw opened slightly in shock. “Did you say Tenshi? As in Tenshi Uchiha? In that case the steaks are on the house! I’ll even throw in a free delivery as well. Your brother has helped out my two boys in their training as Genin many times. Consider it a thank you to both of you for your work in helping my family!” He began packaging the three large steaks before he looked up at her once more and spoke. “If you have some more free time, I have a couple more missions for you to finish your day with.” Ayane tilted her head and listened in. “My family also work in forestry and maintenance and there are a couple of jobs that we just do not have the time to complete. The first is very simple, we just need to collect as many leaves in the park around the corner and ship them off to process for fertilizer. The second is an easy repair job of an information board at the front of that park. Are you interested?”

Ayane spent some time thinking to herself on the matter, she had already completed three missions today and was already planning on resting after all. But then she thought about the fact that she was already out and in her uniform, it would save her the hassle of having to return at a later date to complete the missions. It would definitely be worth it… She finally spoke up. “Alright Mister, you have got yourself a deal! Point me in the right direction and I’ll be on it!” The butcher let out a barking laugh and punched the air in glee. “That’s more like it! You’re as good as your brother! Give me a minute to go grab a sack for you to fill with the leaves.” He disappeared into his back room for several minutes. Ayane used the time to look around the shop some more, but besides the large catalogue of meat, there was nothing really of note. He returned with a large sack that had two straps attached to the back of it. “Here, place all the leaves you find inside, it even has shoulder straps so you can wear it like a backpack! I would recommend going straight from the first job to the second, that way you can save some time on your journey.” She gave him a smile and donned it like a backpack. With a final wave, Ayane left the butcher shop and proceeded towards the park around the corner.

The streets were very much bustling now, villagers were everywhere. Ayane noted that there was a much larger portion of villagers compared to Shinobi than usual, it was something that concerned her slightly. In the past, there were far more Shinobi than this, the new development may bode ill for Konoha… After a couple of minutes, the young Uchiha arrived at the park and sighed in dismay as she noticed just how many leaves were littering the area. It took Ayane the better part of an hour before the sack started to get heavy with the leaves within it. She looked back and noticed that it was about three quarters full, grumbling to herself, she continued with her work. The girl helped pass the time by occasionally singing and humming to herself, using this as a method to distract her from boredom of her mundane job. After another half an hour, she looked back to the joyful sight of a full sack. She wrapped the top up, ensuring that no leaves would fall out, before making her way to the front of the park. She had to look around for several minutes before she finally found the sign. The butcher was not joking when he told her that it was in a dire situation. It was barely standing at this point, with several screws loose and moss covering half of it. Ayane let out another sigh before placing the sack on the ground next to her and beginning the final job of the day.

The young Uchiha spent another hour on this mission, as it required a lot of delicate care and handling. First, she started by tightening the screws that held the board to its legs. This was easy at first due to how loose they were, but once it came to tightening them as far as they would go, she had to improvise. She finally settled on the idea of pulling out a kunai and using that to force the screws to tighten. After giving herself a literal pat on the back, she looked to her next task, removing the moss from covering the sign itself. Not wanting to touch the gross substance herself, she grabbed several more leaves from the surrounding area, she was quite a pro at this now. Using the leaves as if they were tea towels, she began gently rubbing the moss off the sign. This took up a large portion of her time due to how delicate she was being with it, not wanting to accidentally break the sign by applying too much force. When it was finally complete, Ayane stepped back and let out a giggle of joy, all of her missions were finally complete. She returned to the butcher with the sack full of leaves and informed him of the outcomes. He took the sack and promised to double his delivery of meat to her house before the two finally parted. Ayane skipped back home in joy, eager to tell her siblings of their delicious incoming dinner.


TWC: 1211

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