Gotta Go Fast! [Modded Mission]

[Tatsuo]

The sun was just beginning to set in Konoha, illuminating the village in beautiful hues of red and purple as the sun tucked behind the Hokage Rocks. The Red Oak District was bustling, the oma of fresh cooked meals filled the street. A crowd was gathered around a small town square, booths bordering the streets. There was a large colorful banner that read Red Oak Cook Off! There was an intense competition going off, men and women cutting vegetables, stirring soups, grills sizzling. It seemed like everyone was doing well and the heat of competition was surely blazing bright. However, in the corner was a single old man chopping slowly. He winced in pain and huffed and puffed, it was obvious the man had seemed better days. But he kept determined to participate in the cook off.

Age was getting to him and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't keep up with the younger competitors. It wasn't long before some of the other competitors would take notice and begin to laugh and mock him, some of the other competitors going as far as hunching over much like the elderly man and chop their food just as slow while laughing at his expense. The old man however kept his head high, but the flush in his cheeks betrayed him and you could see he was getting embarrassed.

 

[Senju Gaki]

Somewhere in the middle of the Red Oak District one little sad boy was sitting at the corner of the small town square, crying silently as he stared at the still sizzling strip of meat that was lying on the ground. This boy was not Juko but Juko wasnt far away, staring at the much younger kid with his dark and big eyes and giggling silently. Hah. Serves you right for having food. As if to accentuate his thoughts his belly cried out for help which resulted in a loud rumbling sound coming from somewhere below Juko's midline. His bold grin quickly turned upside down into a frustrated frown and for a few moments he contemplated stealing the dirty piece of meat like the rabid dog that he wasnt. Anymore porridge however and i might just become one... the boy lied to himself as he passed the crying boy, watching the first squad of ninja ants having a go at the greasy treasure.
Lucky you... one strip and you can live happily for... i dont know... a week maybe or so? I have literaly no clue how long it takes ants to eat a strip of meat... His thoughts trailed off into the distance and for a second he imagined a huge hive of ants, filled to the brim with bacon. He could almost smell it, thats how intense his fantasy was. Suddenly a solid piece of wood filled the air in front of him and with a light 'pang' he ran straight into the side pole of one of the many booths, crowding the edges of the town square. Ouch, goddamn! Can you not watch out where your standing you oversized piece of broccoli... Is that really the best i can do... one hell of a genin im gonna be, i cant even talk shit to a literal wooden pole.
Rubbing his nose and hissing more insults he walked around the pole and took a look at the inside of the booth. More strips of meat, grilled vegetables, omelettes and more were being prepared inside and the sheer smell hit the academy student harder than an A-Rank Jutsu could have. Ooouughhhh... Clutching his belly with one hand the boy started searching his pockets for small change or a kunai, determined to get his food in whatever way possible.
After a few moments of useless rummaging through the pockets of his pants he threw away the wadded sock he had for some reason found in there and scuffled along. He made sure to avoid looking at all the glistening and sizzling food and kept his eyes to the ground or the side of the street, thinking happy thoughts of soggy porridge when he suddenly noticed an old man, standing lonely in a small and almost as decrepit looking booth. The man was cutting onions in a speed that was sad enough to make one cry harder than the smell of the onions would have and just when the yellow-haired boy noticed the man a small group of people passed the small booth, joking at the ridiculous speed at which the wrinkly chef was preparing his food.
Oooh? When the grandfatherly man didnt respond to the passerby's Juko sensed a potential victim and strode over to the shopkeeper.
Hello there... er... grandpa? It...er looks like you could use some... He coughed to express subtle subtlety. ..help? His eyes greedily eyed the ingredients and in his mind he was already preparing all kinds of feasts consisting of porridge and meat, vegetable, eggs and more...

WC: 592​

 

[Tatsuo]

The man looked over to Juko and his nose scrunched up as he scanned the boy up and down. He had been embarrassed and half expected him to try and mess with him physically, but when the boy offered help he frowned for a moment before contemplating the idea. His age was holding him back, he knew he had the best recipe out here but with his children out of the village he wasn't able to compete alongside them. The selflessness he showed impressed him and reminded him of his son. "Alright, son, but i'll have you know that I'm the best cook in Konoha.. my hands just don't work like they used to." he said rubbing his sore and fragile knuckles. "I hope you never understand the pain of aging." he said as he rotated his wrist before looking to the pack of assorted vegetables.

"Alright, we've only got twenty minutes.. i've already got the water ready and all the stuff that takes a long time, but because how slow I was before we won't have a ton of time so you're gonna have to listen and be quick." He pointed over to the vegetables mentioned before, "Alright chop all of those into small slices no thicker than this." he said holding up his fingers in a small square. "I'll start getting the meat.." the man walked over to the back of the tent, to get the meat from the small portable freezer. Leaving Juko to get to cutting.

 

[Senju Gaki]

Best cook, yes yes, of course. Juko nodded along the old mans talking while he was taking in the interior of the shabby little booth. Slowly he began realizing that this might not end as happily as he had hoped it would. The mental image of him running away with tons of food slowly dissipated as he saw that the old man had barely any fresh meat in the tent and when he was hit with the fact that he would probably be stuck here cutting onions and leeks and what not for all eternity or atleast an hour his facial expression turned sour. Only when his new "employer" mentioned the twenty minutes deadline Juko's eyes got some of their usual shininess back. Twenty Minutes? Old man, we are going to do this in barely 10 minutes with MY Help! For a moment he looked bigger than reality as he pushed his chest out as far as he could and smiled his typical big smile at the old geezer.
Dont you worry, im the very best cutter youll ever have and once im done dont forget to reward me with meat and money and all that other good thingys i like! He shouted as the man slowly shuffled back towards that mystical place where the meat grew and the honey flowed rich... Or something like that... probably just an old fridge but eh... 20 minutes is totally worth it....
With a confident expression he positioned himself at the small table and eyed the vegetables lying there. Yikes, better get this over with fast, this aint meat. Ayyy lets do this! His hand grabbed the biggest knife he could find in the tent and with all the energy and might of his youth he accidently threw it through the roof of the booth. The gaping hole in the cloth above his head shook in clear disappointment. Yeaah.... that one was old and rusty anyway... His confidence shrinked slightly as he picked a smaller knife and cautiously and slowly started pressing a dent into the side of the vegetable in front of him. I just hope nobody gets hit...what is that old man even thinking having such an old and dangerous knife lying around... The knife had already reached the middle of the carrot he was currently cutting when he decided to go on a small break. After all he had been cutting for what, surely 10 minutes or so? Sitting down on the small wooden bench he made sure to check whether the geezer had already returned before stuffing his pockets with two healthy looking carrots. Those will go perfect with the porridge i think...
His belly growled in agreement.

WC: 449​

 

[Tatsuo]

The old man gathered some of the meat from the back while another thing lurked in the front. Even after Juko was stuffing his pockets with carrots and dreaming of food one of the competitors had laid their eyes on their booth. The elderly man was known for his skill in the tournaments, he had won the last ten every year. This year seemed like he would lose from his injuries earlier that year and everyone was excited to see the champ finally be taken down. But with the addition of Juko the old man still stood a chance. That just couldn't do for this one competitor in particular. Walking up to the table casually he glanced around watching as Juko was distracted and grabbed the bowl of vegetables. The man kept his head down and began to run off with them, the old man had noticed but he was in no condition to chase after him. He rested a hand on the side of the tent and roared, "Thief! Someone help!" He glared at Juko, "Go! GO! If you get the food back and we win.. i'll let you take back as much of the soup as you want!"

Whether it was the offering of food, or the sense of justice some shinobi had, he hoped that Juko would spring into action and catch the man who had already gotten a sizable lead on the academy student. He would need to be more than just fast if he was going to make it.

 

[Senju Gaki]

Having stuffed his pockets with borrowed carrots, Juko was just about to continue chopping vegetables when a fly caught his attention. The small animal was crawling up and down on one of the walls of the booth desperately trying to escape through one of the holes in the cloth. Hah! Look at you, small fry. Haha, small fry, that sounds almost like small fly! Im so funny...hehe... His face turned into a wide grin as he followed the insect with curious eyes, watching it fly in loops, barrelrolls and landing on the wooden pole. Boy would it be awesome if i could fly like that too. Just lift off the ground and zooooom..... zoooooom..... His daydreaming was rudely disrupted when the vegetable-filled bowl next to him rattled loudly. Aaah old man, im almost done dont wor... Turning his head lazily to the side he glanced at the slowly shrinking back of the thief before reality struck him hard.
He stole the vegetables. No vegetables means no cutting. That means i dont have to chop vegetables anymore. Awww yeas, time to leave this moldy place and get back to practice! Rising from his seat he did a little victory dance before eventually noticing the old man looking at him and shouting a rather surprising yet pleasing bargain at the boy. As much soup as i want?... No vegetables means no soup. His thoughts raced and he turned back to check the distance the thief had made. The man was sprinting at a rather high speed, nothing Jukos child legs were possible of imitating. Unless...
Smiling he turned back to the old man. What a coincidence geez.. old man! You just happen to have come across the fastest ninja in town! Endless Soup for my porridge, thats the deal! He smirked. And now, to top things off, do the finger guns! He did the finger guns at the shopkeeper.
Without awaiting a reaction he then turned around and took aim at the small figure that was just about to vanish between two booths at the other end of the town square. Then he began running, first slowly, then going faster and then even faster until he almost seemed to move at the speed of a regular running adult. And now...
He felt the tingling of energy coursing through his body and entering his legs and suddenly the ground seemed to turn into a brownish strip of color, passing underneath him. Dust was whirling up two steps behind him and the thief suddenly seemed to grow in size. For soup and porridge! Juko saw the man stop, turn around and open his mouth to shout a warning when the ninja academy student crashed into the body, sending both the man and the boy tumbling through the dirt.
Miraculously Juko managed to catch half of the bowl in midflight without dropping more than a few carrots to the ground. Yikes, cant let him change his mind... With a quick flick of his hands he threw the borrowed carrots from his pockets into the pot before rising on wonky legs and waving to the old man.

WC: 521​

 

[Tatsuo]

The old man face palmed at Juko's exaggerated behavior regarding saving the soup, he nearly considered the contest a lost cause until he saw the boy increase speed. With the encouragement of food, Juko got faster and faster cutting through the crowd like a hot knife through butter he quickly caught up to the thief. The man was tackled and scrambled away hoping to not get caught, as he ran into the alley ways of Konoha. But it didn't matter, Juko even gave up his carrots which went unnoticed by the old man who was now cheering him on! "C'mon! You must hurry the water is almost the right temperature!"

As Juko would come near and give him the vegetables he slid it into the pot and put the top on. "Alright, all we gotta do is cut up and grill the steaks cuts and we're good to go." he said looking at the watch on his wrist, we've got ten minutes so enough time to get a good brown on all of them. The old man said as he rushed to hand Juko the slabs of meat for cutting, "Remember boy if we win you get whatever's left after the competition. So don't let an old man down in his time of need!"

 

[Senju Gaki]

Juko frowned when the old man took the pot from him, seeing how at that time he was already contemplating running off with the pot of luck instead of returning to the man. However running off without his treasured pile of food made little sense for him and seeing how he had been promised quite a lot of soup upon bringing back the pot. Sheeesh, this is taking longer and longer... i wonder when ill get my soup. His feet dragged over the ground as he followed the shopkeeper thinking about the escaped opportunity to steal all of the vegetables. People all around them had gathered when Juko had caught the thief and were now silently watching the unequal pair walk back to their broken little booth with the pot full of vegetables in hand.
With all the pressure coming from their suddenly rising audience Juko found himself unable to just run off and escape the duty of cutting vegetables and meat for the old man. Damn that sly fox, he tricked me into slavery! I will get my revenge on you yet, you old hairy spider! He shook his fist at the bent back of the man in front of him but quickly waved shily at some villagers that were smiling at him and talking on the quiet about his "youthful energy" and that "spirit of fire" that he had already heard some time before.
Tch, that soup and meat better taste heavenly... he whispered as they entered the tent and Juko was handed several slabs of meat and a knife. This time he handled the knife with greater care than last time, his eyes suspiciously eyeing the slit in the roof of the booth where the first knife had disappeared. Might aswell have me cut potatoes like a lowly ship prisoner...
Juko snarled silently.
The knife was going up and down in a repetetive motion and with the old man looking over Juko's work the boy didnt even get another chance to snatch anything or take another undeserved break and thus the cutting continued with more speed than ever before. I cant wait to get me some good old porridge after this... Old maaaan, were almost done here now. Is there no good heart in your chest? Juko moaned loudly as they were about to cut the last piece of meat into thin slices. Do you want me to starve? Do you want me to die? Spare me some of the meat along with the soup pleeeeaseee... He sighted loudly and looked at the ceiling. I cant wait to practice once im done with this... i dont wanna cut vegetables ever again!

WC: 444
TWC: 2006​

 

[Tatsuo]

They barely had a second left as they finished plating the soup for the judges, the old man smirked and waited for them to taste. After the judges took a bite they grinned and smiled, everyone knew he had already won.

After a small ceremony congratulation both Juko and the old man on their victory. And good to his word the old man gave him the rest of the soup and meat. "Here you go, kid, thanks for the win." The old man grinned ear to ear, happy he could keep up his win streak.

Mission Complete!