The young kunoichi-hopeful walked slowly along the edge of the building, a long-handled brush in one hand, and a water-hose in the other. Scrapping at the sun-baked mud - the combination of dust and the seasonal rains - Shiori was not happy about her position. Under the hot sun for the last hour, her relief from the heat singeing her feet was by occasionally spraying them while washing the freed dirt out of the gutter. The water channels that collected rainwater for use in crops had become clogged… So now it was a Academy Students job. Shiori was used to the missions now, but on days like this she could not help but think the people down of the Spire were just making sure they used their cheap labor for tasks the adult ‘did not have time for’. Why not, right? Shiori was certain that someone, or someones, sat around reading these requests and making up excuse of how this could be considered training. “It is water-training, strength building, balance practice and heights… the perfect thing for the kids to do!” Quietly declaring in a mock voice of the Mission’s Office clerk, as she stabbed at the big clod of dirt with her broom.
Shiori was moving into the next phase of classes. Her lessons changing from theory to practice. Combat was getting more intense, jutsu and chakra manipulations becoming more complex, and the tests getting harder. She dreamed of being finished with the Academy - with classes and classrooms - and was sure that with her Hitai-ate she would be travelling with a small group and completing interesting assignments. She dreamed of a team of bright young ninja and a super-cool leader that taught them awesome moves. The illusions continued, distractedly going about her work on the roof, in the Sun. An unfocused step and a bit of a wobble, the young girl had to stop herself with the handle of the brush to keep from falling over, and wiping the sweat from her brow and neck, she realized she maybe in need of a break.
Dropping the items to return to her open parasol, the dark-haired girl crawled into the shadow it made to drink water and hide from the light as best she could, pulling her toes in last to keep them from burning. She did not look good in red, she decided, and though she had a soft tan she was careful not to stay in the light for too long at a time. If the Sun could fry an egg up here, it certainly could bake her skin, or her brain. Staring at the rising steam from where she had just sprayed the hose, she drank from a water bottle and smiled to herself. “There were worse jobs to receive...”, she mused, “... Somewhere I bet a group of student are chasing a missing cat.” This way, she was basically alone. From the roof she had a view, and a little bit of a breeze.
She hauled herself up after a few more minutes of cooling off, brushing the dirt from her shorts and tugging her top back into shape, the soft straps settling against her shoulders. If she had had the energy to mope and muse, she would surely have the energy to finish her very simple E ranked mission. She was marked with mud, splashed with water and a little pink by the end of the afternoon, but with the gutters and pipes cleared out she reconnected the tubes that recollected the water for use in the medical plant greenhouse. So in a way she was making sure people had medicine; and with that at least she could smile.
Shiori was moving into the next phase of classes. Her lessons changing from theory to practice. Combat was getting more intense, jutsu and chakra manipulations becoming more complex, and the tests getting harder. She dreamed of being finished with the Academy - with classes and classrooms - and was sure that with her Hitai-ate she would be travelling with a small group and completing interesting assignments. She dreamed of a team of bright young ninja and a super-cool leader that taught them awesome moves. The illusions continued, distractedly going about her work on the roof, in the Sun. An unfocused step and a bit of a wobble, the young girl had to stop herself with the handle of the brush to keep from falling over, and wiping the sweat from her brow and neck, she realized she maybe in need of a break.
Dropping the items to return to her open parasol, the dark-haired girl crawled into the shadow it made to drink water and hide from the light as best she could, pulling her toes in last to keep them from burning. She did not look good in red, she decided, and though she had a soft tan she was careful not to stay in the light for too long at a time. If the Sun could fry an egg up here, it certainly could bake her skin, or her brain. Staring at the rising steam from where she had just sprayed the hose, she drank from a water bottle and smiled to herself. “There were worse jobs to receive...”, she mused, “... Somewhere I bet a group of student are chasing a missing cat.” This way, she was basically alone. From the roof she had a view, and a little bit of a breeze.
She hauled herself up after a few more minutes of cooling off, brushing the dirt from her shorts and tugging her top back into shape, the soft straps settling against her shoulders. If she had had the energy to mope and muse, she would surely have the energy to finish her very simple E ranked mission. She was marked with mud, splashed with water and a little pink by the end of the afternoon, but with the gutters and pipes cleared out she reconnected the tubes that recollected the water for use in the medical plant greenhouse. So in a way she was making sure people had medicine; and with that at least she could smile.