Walking the Dogs

Mission Details:

Once more, Hiroji got assigned yet another mission and this one is based around dogs this time around... again, instead of washing the mutts this time around it's based on walking them around. He guessed that was a bit more pleasant then washing them off. He thought that with a mission like this, Ningyo would definitely come along but he was surprised to hear that she had been busy with something else, unsure of what though. It was probably better that way, considering the awkwardness between them on the last mission. It wasn't so bad when he found out that Akihiro is gonna come along, the original duo that started this little team together.

Hiroji had already gathered up the dogs and he's currently holding two dogs by a leash, waiting for Akihiro to come along so he'd pass the reins of one of them over to him. One of them was a smaller dog, it wasn't a puppy but it seemed to still be pretty young and well trained too, considering how well it's behaving and the bigger dog seems to be much older in comparison, being a bit slow here and there and you couldn't help but feel sorry for it. That's just the curse of dogs having a short lifespan sadly.

Last time, Akihiro hadn't been able to be present on the squad's mission. There had been, sadly a last minute Clan meeting under the shrine at the Uchiha clan district. The meeting had been called to discuss the future of the Uchiha Clan and its leadership. Of course, Akihiro didn't have a lot to contribute to this meeting or anything to say at all really. He was still too young to assume the leadership of the clan and most of its members didn't even taken him seriously considering he hadn't even awakened the Sharingan. To be honest, Akihiro would have preferred to have spent that time with his squad on their mission but politeness required him to be present there. Well, politeness and his father. But liked to think he agreed to be there out of politeness and not something else.

Alas, here he was arriving at the designated street. Finding Hiroji with two dog leashes on his hand, Akihiro waved at him as he approached. "Hey there!" he would cheerfully say. Then glancing around the scene a bit he noted Ningyo's absence. "Isn't Ningyo gonna come on this one as well?" Truth to be told there were only two dogs there to walk so maybe 3 people was a bit too much for this mission. Still, Akihiro enjoyed it whenever the whole squad got together. "Well, which one do you want to take?" he would ask.

Akihiro finally arrived, but compared to Ningyo, he didn't really scold him for showing up late and rather gave a greeting back as soon as he arrived, when he asked about Ningyo not coming along, he didn't want to think it was because of his behaviour, she didn't seem to be the type to be affected by it so much but he might be wrong, who knows how sensitive girls can be. "Nope, apparently she couldn't attend for some reason. I wasn't told why."

When he asked on which dog he'd like to take, he gave the leash of the bigger, yet slower dog because of it's age to Akihiro. He believed that he'd be easier to handle and it'd be a good rest on Akihiro's stamina. "No offence, but remember on the painting job of our stamina differences? you got worn out the first five minutes it, and it took me a while? I think it's better if I handle the energetic, small dog." he said, believing that his logic is sound for this to be a smooth and normal mission.

He also brought out of his pockets a bit of squashed paper, giving a few to the Uchiha. "I think it's best if we use this if the dogs end up... littering on the side or something." it's better then trying to pick it up with their bare hands, after all. After that was done, Hiroji started to walk along with the small dog he's handling, getting the mission underway. "Let's go this route, shouldn't have too much people and it's usually pretty quiet." pointing to one of the two stone roads that are open to them.

"I bet it's a clan meeting. If they have half as many meetings as we have, she'll show up here next week." Akihiro commented after Hiroji said he didn't know Ningyo wasn't coming today. He was exaggerating of course, but he was deeply convinced that if the Clan spent more time on training and less on politics, their power could be even greater. But alas, everyone had to do their part and today Akihiro's part was to walk a large, old dog.

"No objections there." Akihiro nodded at Hiroji's suggestion. It was true that the older boy could physically take heavier loads than him, or at least run around for longer. This was particularly useful on a certain dog chase mission but that is a story for another time. They wouldn't be chasing any dogs today, or at least Akihiro deeply hoped they weren't gonna do it. He examined the dog whose leash had been passed to his hand. He really seemed old, and heavy. Akihiro took the squashed paper his friend gave him and put it in his pocket. "Glad to see you came prepared." The young Uchiha noted. "Your route choice sounds solid. Let's go then!" Akihiro began walking in front, confident that this was going to be a smooth easy mission day for him. Unfortunately, he was suddenly stopped when the leash reached the maximum amount of length it could give. Akihiro glanced back. The old dog was still sitting right where it was.

"Hey. C'mon boy. Let's go." He gave a couple of pulls, but the old dog merely yawned. Akihiro approached the thing and tried to push it from behind. "I said let's gooooo!" but the dog was too heavy to push and unwilling to move.

Not even five seconds into their walking and they've already encountered a problem, and it's the old mutt refusing to move for some reason. Why was it like that? he was moving just fine a few minutes ago for the Senju, maybe the old dog didn't like Akihiro for some reason? with the Uchiha still holding the dog by the leash, Hiroji clicked his fingers a few times in the dogs face and whistled for the dog to come along, "Come here boy, let's get moving!" and suddenly, it responded to Hiroji's command and started to move along. He didn't know why some animals were a bit more obedient to him then others, though he heard of a certain saying once. "I heard that those who have Earth Nature have a better time with animals then others, but it's just a saying I think, I don't think I'm better with animals just because I have Doton." it was more of a kids story that was passed around.

He then decided to talk about another topic though, and that was about their new teammate that joined... he still had his thoughts about that, he liked it just as the Uchiha and Senju duo, it felt like she's a third wheel on the yin-yang thing that Akihiro and Hiroji had going. "What do you think of Ningyo? I honestly think we were doing fine before she came along." he didn't despite a third teammate honestly, but it just feels so odd that three members from three separate great clans are put into one team, it's like Konoha loves to put young Genin in awkward, social situations.

Akihiro admired Hiroji's ability to get the dog moving, but he was also frustrated at the dog's complete lack of respect towards him. Alas, the old thing was already moving and that was all that mattered right then and there. They walked for a bit until Hiroji asking him an odd question. Odd because Akihiro hadn't really thought about it before. He was naturally warm towards everyone in the village so being placed in whoever's squad wasn't really a problem for him. Of course, he liked his squad now and would be sad to see either Hiroji or Ningyo going away to another team, but he didn't dislike other people either. He pondered for a bit, before answering Hiroji's question.

"Hmm..." he muttered, looking upwards. "Well, I think she's nice." he would finally say. It wasn't a great answer but he didn't know Ningyo that well yet. In fact, he barely knew her, but so far she seemed to be a nice, warm person just like Akihiro. True, she had laughed at their barks but then she had accepted to bark herself for the squad. Akihiro could respect that. "It's true that we were doing fine before. But we have a great responsibility now. " the young Uchiha stated. He was beginning to see why their squad had been put together. The puzzle was really coming along. "The Uchiha and Hyuuga waged war on each other for generations. When we finally stopped, we managed to create this." he would wave his arm around, indicating the area around him. "The Hidden Leaf was born out of our capacity to work together. We barely knew each other but with a little effort to understand the people we waged war against, we created this. I wonder... what could we create if we manage to establish relationships between the three clans based on mutual trust, and with absolutely no hatred rooted in our relationships with one another? Finding that out...that's our responsibility. " Akihiro then chuckled and winked at Hiroji. "Plus, if the Byakugan has half the power the Uchiha elders claim it has, she'll definitely be an asset to the team. Give it time, you'll see!"

Hiroji loved that little topic opener, he didn't think Akihiro would get into so much about it. He wasn't wrong though, learning when to pick your battles and using diplomacy instead of pulling the trigger for a war has it's benefits, but in Hiroji's eyes, it's limited and damaging over time. He also realised that out of the entire time, the Senju has nothing in terms of abilities that change his eyes. "That's just not fair... supposedly, a very select few Senju have Mokuton hidden inside them as it's a rare gene, even if I have it, I won't know until I become like... Jounin at least, and by that time, you and Ningyo will have your eyes which is far more flashy then a bunch of wood... ugh." he did love the idea of getting Wood Release, but from how history describes it, it really just sounds like a more freeform style of Earth which is good but not as cool or flashy compared to the eyes of the Uchiha or Hyuuga.

However, the tone shifted a bit when Hiroji started to give his opinion about the peace between the great clans. "Perhaps, but peace is fragile for a long-lasting period, even though we weren't involved in that war, the Senju were still powerful at the time and were still considered one of the three great clans, you know why in my opinion?" he'd give a light pause to let Akihiro process what he said so far before continuing. "It's because we were militaristic at the time, we knew when to pick our battles, when to stay out of them and to use diplomacy when it worked. That's how we didn't get mixed up in the war, peace can be good but too much of it can lead to weakening one's forces, I honestly think it's the reason why the Senju's Wood Release are so rare among us now, we relied too much on peace instead of focusing on our own strengths. It's important when to know to project force to protect one's way of life."

After letting that piece of mind out, he sighed, letting out a deep breath while continuing to walk with him. "Sorry... didn't mean to get all political, but I think that's the first time I shared my viewpoint with someone." it was mostly his father's viewpoint that he inherited, but it got grafted into Hiroji as well basically henceforth, it's his viewpoint as well.

Akihiro raised an eyebrow at Hiroji's first comment. He didn't know that only a few Senju had the ability to awaken the Wood Release element, but apparently the Senju didn't know the whole story behind the Sharingan either. "Don't you know?" Akihiro asked, with his usual warm smile. "Not all Uchihas can awaken the Sharingan. Heck, I haven't even been able to use Fire Release techniques. So as far as I know, I may not have even inherited the Kekkei Genkai." Akihiro shrugged. He had given this topic long hours of thought and usually always arrived at the same conclusion. "But it doesn't matter. I'll become with greatest ninja who ever lived with or without the Sharingan. I refuse to be bound by that doubt." He sounded determined, and he really was. For a very long time Akihiro struggled with the possibility that he hadn't inherited the Sharingan- but recently he had come to terms with it. The absence of sharingan would *not* be an obstacle on his path!

"As for the Wood Release...Mokuton is the reason we were able to build up the village so fast. Maybe it isn't "flashy", but it has certainly helped the village. That commands respect."

The other Genin went on to speak about his political views, and about his opinion on the current political approach of the Senju clan. Somehow, Akihiro couldn't help but think these weren't Hiroji's opinions, but someone else's. Having nothing to confirm this, however, he was left with no choice but to let that feeling slide and reply.

"I think you're wrong." He would bluntly say. "The Senju had the luxury to pick whether they waged war or not. The Senju had the luxury to decide whether they wanted peace or not. We didn't. The Uchiha were hunted down and massacred merely because our eyes were different. That's when all of those bloody wars and cycle of hatred started. War or Peace isn't always a choice. Peace is a luxury, remember that Hiroji. Wars will start whenever we please but they won't end the same way. The Senju weren't a Great Clan because they chose to wage many wars. They were a Great Clan because you managed to stay alive, same as us, but by understanding the strategical value of peace. More than that, the Senju were, and are, a Great Clan because they were able to mediate peace. Peace breeds strength. It was the Senju's mediation that allows us to have this village today. It was the Senju's mediation that allows us to be here walking dogs instead of outside in the forest attempting to murder each other. " Akihiro would look his friend in the eyes. "If not for your clan's leadership's choices, one of us would have probably been dead after our first encounter."

Akihiro was so entertained discussing politics that he didn't even notice the large old dog slowing down. Once again, he was stopped. Glancing back, he saw what the dog was doing. "Great. It's pooping." And damn, that was on large pile of sh-

Hiroji didn't know that the sharingan were somewhat scarce within the Uchiha as well, he had heard tales and legends of all the great figures of the great clans using their signature Kekkei Genkai and you'd be led to believe everyone in the great clans are capable of using their unique abilities, but apparently it never awakens in a few select people of each clan, it'd suck to be born to such a great clan only to find out later on that you didn't inherit the genes of that great clan. "Oh... well, I wasn't aware of that. I thought you might be capable of awakening the sharingan after given enough training. The more common part of the Senju bloodline is our incredible regeneration, which is only awakened after intensive, superhuman physical training. I'm only a young kid at the moment as you can see, so I can't really do training like that yet." though the talks of their Kekkei Genkai's were shut down as Akihiro started to enforce his opinion once more.

"Not a bad description, but there will always be hatred in the world regardless of it being in our village or not, our clans or not. I think that's why it's important we remain milarisitic in order to... in order... ugh... what's that smell?" he had been interrupted on his views because of smelling the dog's litter. "Oh no." he didn't know why, but the pile of crap had gotten a laugh out of Hiroji. "It's almost like the dog is crapping on our views." they hadn't even noticed the dog going to work like that while they were describing their views to each other, Hiroji decided to leave the topic for now. "For now, let's just agree to disagree, hm?" bringing in the old saying before bringing out squashed pieces of paper from his pocket, starting to open them up so they can pick up the litter, luckily there was a bin nearby so they would use that. "Oh Sage, what did the owner feed this dog before he passed it to me?" that just wasn't fair, was the owner intentionally sabotaging their otherwise peaceful walk?

Hiroji grabbed the piece of paper from one side, and used the other side with his fingers gently placed on the other side to start picking up the pieces of crap, getting the larger pieces first and slowly walking to the bin, lightening his grip on the paper and letting the poop fall in the bin. He'd repeat the process over and over each time he'd walk back to the pile of crap and back towards the bin.

Akihiro chuckled at Hiroji's comment regarding their political views and...well... Crapping. Despite the laughter, the situation at hand wasn't all that funny. The thought of having to take care of such an amount of litter disgusted Akihiro to a point where he was hesitant to do his assigned job. Luckily, Hiroji proved to once again be a man of action and began taking care of it himself. This pushed Akihiro to help him with the litter, mostly because he didn't want his friend to be doing all the work alone. It was no less disgusting, but now he was doing it with a friend to at least it was tolerable. He grabbed his own piece of paper and began helping.

The two of them quickly got the job done while the two dogs merely sat there, looking at them and probably wondering why the hell did humans like picking up their crap. "It's not like they can judge us. They just xrap on the street. My cat at least cleans up after himself..." Akihiro's thoughts echoed throughout his mind after he was done with work. He wished they could just have buried the litter.

"Next time let's try to pick a non paved road and then you can just find a way to bury all of this with your Doton". Akihiro suggested. He could only hope the smaller dog wouldn't give them so much trouble.

With their combined efforts, the pile of crap was cleaned up well enough. Luckily the smaller dog hadn't tried to do anything similar to the big dog and kept himself clean well enough. "Okay, I think that's the last of it." He said, chucking the piece of paper along with the crap inside it into the bin, heading back to the large dog who's just sitting down patiently. He grabbed the leash of the smaller dog once more and started to walk on the road once more, it seems that such a simple mission of walking the dog just had to grow so complicated, they couldn't have a single, smooth mission at all.

When Akihiro mentioned about Hiroji using his Doton to create a hole next time for when the dogs crap, he saw a few errors with it. "That wouldn't really work... that technique works on Earth, not stone... and I have to carry my body with the technique in order to dive into the ground like that, and I'm not diving or sitting on a pile of crap for that." it wasn't such an idea that he'd appeal with so much.

After that little incident though, the walk proved to be pretty quiet afterwards with not much trouble from anything else or from the dogs themselves. It was pretty peaceful and it was nice to occasional greet passing by people who had a go at petting the dogs, the mission was going smoothly so far after the dog let out that pile.

"Oh, that's too bad..." Akihiro would end up commenting. He had really been hoping they could use Hiroji's Doton to make their lives easier, but it seemed it wouldn't be that simple. Maybe in the future, when Hiroji had perfect his Earth Release, this would be possible. But by then they most likely wouldn't be out walking dogs anymore. This made Akihiro appreciate the current moment. It was true that they had to take care of the dog's crap, but as their ninja careers progressed further it was unlikely that they'd found such peaceful moments again during their missions.

This time, the large dog complied with Akihiro's will and decided to go along with him. Finally, things were going their way even if for just a little while. And everything seemed to continue to be fine for quite a while, in fact Akihiro was hoping they would be able to finish this mission without anymore trouble and it almost seemed like it could happen. Until...they took a turn around a corner, and there they were. A girl holding two other dogs by a leash. Two other....bitches. The female dogs raised their ears and barked immediately, to which Akihiro's response was "Oh shi-AAAH!" while being dragged by the older dog towards the two female ones. It seemed like the dog was old, but never too old for that. As the girl saw the large dog running towards her, she panicked and bolted in the opposite direction, her two bitches coming right behind her. This would only prolong the chase.

It looked like their little peaceful walk was over when the large dog saw two other dogs, females ones. The larger one started to run at them which forced Akihiro to either get dragged along or try to keep up with the pace the dog is running at. The smaller dog that Hiroji was handling remained obedient the entire time, he walked over to a pole on the side and re-clipped the leash to that pole, so the obedient dog would stay there. "Sorry buddy, just stay here for a bit. I'll come back to get you." with that worry out of the way, Hiroji started to run alongside the chase, the big dog running after the two female mutts.

Hiroji used his body flicker technique to catch up to Akihiro, just a few meters ahead though as he grabbed onto the leash as well, to enforce both of their strengths together in order to stop back the dog but it didn't seem to be enough as the chase started to go off the paved road. "Perfect!" Hiroji said, he then slightly buried his feet in the ground and held on tightly to the leash, surprisingly the dog forced Hiroji to move his feet across the ground quite a bit but the force was ultimately won on Hiroji's and Akihiro's side, and the old dog finally stopped. The lady with the two female dogs were nowhere to be seen now.

"I gotta get the little dog back, just wait here." Hiroji would use his body flicker technique to make this process quicker, returning back to the small dog well enough and un-doing the leash on the pole, getting him once more and without much trouble, returned back to Akihiro and the bigger dog. "You want to return these dogs back anytime soon? I think they're too much trouble... well, the big one anyway. The small ones been a good dog so far."

Had it not been for the two Genin's combined efforts to stop the big dog, they would have probably been doomed to yet another dog chase around the village. Which, to be honest, was not really what Akihiro wanted to do after hunting that other small dog two times. At least this one would be easier to spot if it ran away, considering its size. After a bit of combined effort, the two of them managed to finally stop the dog. "Whew that was close... I swear I've had enough of dog missions for a lifetime!" Akihiro confessed. Then he nodded at his friend while he explained he had to go get his own dog. Hopefully that one wouldn't have ran away either. After a while, Hiroji showed up with the smaller dog which had given them absolutely no trouble at all. Man Akihiro had the worst luck.

"Yeah, let's turn them back. We've walked quite a bit with them and took care of their litter. I think that should do it for today...hopefully they'll find someone else to do the job tomorrow." The due would then proceed to walk back to the house where they gave them the dogs, finding an old man with a strangely creepy smile at the door waiting for the dogs to be returned. "I bet he knew this would happen from the very start..." Despite the old man's looks the dogs seemed to like him a lot, and jumped in joy at the sight of him. Alas, Akihiro passed the leash he was holding, and after Hiroji did the same they both went home.

[Exit]

Hiroji was glad that he had gotten the better, more obedient dog compared to the most lustful, trouble-making big dog that Akihiro had to deal with. He honestly thought that the bigger dog who's slow would be less trouble but it seemed to be the exact opposite. Oh well, it was all over now and they could focus on finally getting the dogs back, since they had managed to walk a fair distance with the dogs.

Making their way back to the owners home, he noticed the creepy smile but it didn't trouble him too much at the sight of the dogs excited to see their owner once more. After that was all said and done, the Senju waved goodbye to Akihiro before heading back home. He really didn't like these sort of missions where they make it sound like a simple dog walk and it turns out to be a bit more complicated then that. Either way, the deed was done.

(Exit.)