Rat Town Rumble [Private]

Mission Name: Rat Race
Mission Type: chore
Mission Rank: C
Mission Goal: Solve the rat infestation
Description: The village has been struck by a serious infestation, hungry rats have emerged from the sewers and are destroying homes, food stores and the most important granaries and fish stocks. Seek out the four nests and destroy every rat you can find before they manage to eat up all the food meant for trade and stocking.
Payment: 15,000 ryo
Requirements: Chuunin

Note: Satori has been given permission by the Mizukage to perform up to B-Rank Missions that have higher than Genin Rank Requirements.

---

Satori glanced over the papers decorating the walls, holding his chin before he nudged Riku lightly and nodded at the wall. Hanging from it was a scroll depicting a job no one seemed very inclined to perform: rat hunting. Moving toward it he pulled it down for a better view, analyzing the information quietly as his head tilted to the side.

“Looks like some of the herb and food stores are eaten by the rats and taken back to their nests for storage,” Satori pondered. Idly tapping a fingertip against the page he offered it to Riku to read and arched a brow.

“They’d be good free test subjects for you. Plus it’d give you some experience dealing with agile targets that are hard to see. Decent training for more serious missions in the future,” as he explained this his hands went to his hips as he offered a grin. “Up for it?”

Riku perked up at the mission, especially once Satori mentioned gaining free test subjects. The rats she’d gotten in Ota were already dead from her experiments and she wasn’t planning on harming her starfish.

More rats were in need to test her experimental compounds, drugs, and poisons.

The blue-haired girl nodded and took the scroll, scanning the instructions before rolling it up and stowing it in her hip pouch. She glanced up at Satori, raising a questioning brow.

“Should we grab another mission to complete afterwards, or do this one first and then return for more?”

[1]

Satori gave a hum of thought at her question. Leaning back and examining the roof as he contemplated her question. Generally it was in bad taste to just take multiple scrolls, as if something happened you could be ensuring that the village had no one else to take the job for a few days for no reason. But, considering the fact they’d have no problem with this one…

“Sure, let’s look around,” he stated simply with a slight smile before his gaze trailed along the other scrolls for a few moments in thought. After a bit of examination, one popped out at him that was closely linked to the mission in his hand. Gathering herbs to help replenish a lost stock of them, as well the owner of the mission had been injured due to the rats as well.

All in all it was a good combination, so Satori nodded to it and tugged Riku’s shirt gently to get her attention. Her skillset would come in quite handy for it as well. He knew many herbs, but she knew more. Ijutsu only focused so much on chemistry on its own.

Riku nodded in approval at Satori’s choice before turning to leave the administration building. Her mind set to figuring out the rat problem right away. First, they needed to find the rats’ nest. Killing a few of the creatures caught scurrying the streets would be a futile exercise. More would replace any rodent the managed to get rid of. They needed to strike at the home base, so to speak.

Tracking the rats might be difficult, considering how small and agile the creatures were. Riku rummaged around her bag and pulled out a jar of powdered marigold.

“This should do the trick,” she informed her partner.

Before he could ask what she planned to do with that, Riku pressed the jar into his hands and formed water whips.

The blue-haired nin lashed out ay pair of squealing rats and pulled them in.

“Dust them with the powder before I let them go. We can track the scent once they run to see where they go.”

[2]

Satori tilted his head as he watched the girl pull out a jar, not that this surprised him. Riku always had a set of jars, vials and herbs on her person. Once she mastered her ability he wouldn’t be surprised if she stored them inside herself. As she explained what she wanted to do, holding the screaming rats, Satori blinked once and allowed a bemused smile to form on his lips.

She was forgetting how keen his own nose was. He could have tracked them down without any help if she’d asked. But, this wasn’t something he’d comment on. She was thinking of ways to do this relying on her own skillset, he could never barrate her for that since it was a legitimate strategy.

Instead, he would simply nod his head and pop open the cork, careful not to breathe through his nose, and carefully dust both the rotends with the mixture for her. He’d then cap it off, and offer the jar back to her once she’d let the rats down to scurry off.

She dropped the now smelly rats and accepted her jar back, tucking it away. Riku watched them for awhile before following their general direction. Her own nose was relatively sensitive, although nowhere near as keen as Satori’s.

The faint stink of the marigolds was getting buried under all the other smells of the village, but it was still present if not obvious.

The pair tracked the rats, with a lot of help from Satori’s senses where hers failed, to a manhole cover. Riku grimaced, but rolled up her sleeves and pulled back the cover so she could climb down into the sewer.

The smell there was awful; the wide tunnels helped prevent floods, carried waste, and even had various kinds of trash and litter thrown into them. A complicated system of seal work and water jutsu kept the tunnels relatively clear, but it wasn’t enough to make the stale smell of rot go away.

Riku pulled out a pair of bandanas that smelled strongly of coffee and offered Satori one. She tied the other around her face. The powerful scent of the bandanas would help mute the stench of the sewers, though it couldn’t nullify it completely.

Riku climbed down into the sewers using the metal ladder extending along the side of the tunnel the manhole cover normally hid.

It was damp, smelly, and the lighting was dim. Torches kept the place lit in case maintenance was needed, providing just enough flickering light to see.

[3]

As they found the sewer, Satori wasn’t surprised but still grimaced. The fact was that if they wanted to track them, he’d have to endure the suffering he was going to go through. Refusing the mask silently with a shake of his head he muttered about his choice in missions, before jumping down after her.

Luckily due to the technology level of the village, they weren’t drowning in sludge. The sewers were filtered and controlled with properly maintained walkways to stay out of the muck. But the smell was still horrid, especially for his sensitive nose. But he toughed it out, though he was clearly distracted, it wasn’t quite painful at least. Just severely unpleasant.

Relying on his keen nose he took time trying to track the rodents down, the other scents often throwing him off, but after about half an hour of work, the sounds of the rodents squeaking began to fill the air. Satori halted and glanced at Riku, arching a brow. A silent inquiry on how she wanted to handle them. Rodents weren’t a major threat, but in mass nests, they could pose some risks of injury.

Though her bloodline would help nullify that risk quite a bit, these missions were more for her, than him.

Riku followed Satori until they were near the nest. The skittering of the rats and their squeaks sounded disturbing when it was multiplied by hundreds of the furry rodents. The female genin suppressed a shudder.

“Let’s draw them out and then trap them,” she suggested in response to Satori’s raised brow. “I learned a new technique that should prove useful here.”

Without waiting for further confirmation she formed some hand signs and then spit several water bullets towards the rat nest.

Several squeaks and shrieks sounded, but Riku was already forming more hand seals. Her cheeks bulged before thick, sticky fluid burst forth from her mouth to capture the approaching wave of rodents. She made sure to slick the walkway before them, the tunnel below, and the sides of the walls, cutting off any route around the trap.

Unable to go around it, the rats tried to charge through it but found themselves stuck, as though they had charged straight into a glue trap.

The survivors began to turn and run, and Riku threw kunai after them.

[4]

Satori glanced over at her as she commented on having learned a few techniques, and couldn’t help but smile. In that way, she was far more independent a grower than Midori was. Midori needed a hand guiding her, and though Satori didn’t mind that he wished he could see her say and do something similar.

So, when Riku used what appeared to by the variant of the starch syrup field technique, he grinned. A new technique indeed. This was emphasized even further as the rodents scattered and tried to escape only for many of their numbers to then be trapped as Satori glanced at the fleeing rodents and leaped over the liquid. Taking in a breath, before releasing a blast of chakra from his mouth that washed over the barrage of rodents.

The force was weak enough to cause no damage to the sewers, but the shockwave still slaughtered them all like lemmings. There was no way they could capture all of them for Riku after all. The amount she caught with her technique each time would have to do the trick. They had three more nests after this after all. Landing amongst the twitching corpses of the rats, their insides pulverized by the shockwave, Satori glanced toward the nest itself.

The soft squeaks of babies filled the air, so he idly moved over and grasped the entire nest before glancing toward Riku and offering it to her.

“Coat it in the syrup so it stays together and seals it aside from some air holes. If you do this properly you’ll be able to raise an infinite supply of them for experimentation.”

When Satori offered her the nest of baby rats, she decided they would be easier than the adults. She released another layer of sticky fluid onto the rats from her mouth until their squeaks were muffled by the syrupy liquid filling their mouths and noses.

“Thank you,” she told her friend before forming a large pool of sticky liquid and shaping it with chakra from her hands to wrap the nest up and seal it, save for some small vents for air as Satori suggested.

“That should be enough for my experiments.” She pulled out a sack and stowed away the sticky ball inside.

“I’ll clean this up before we go.” More water poured from her mouth to hose down the mess, leaving behind nothing but drowned and sticky rats. They would likely be flushed out with the next flood; those were common enough that Riku wasn’t worried about it.

The continued through the sewers to find the other nests in relative silence. Riku contemplated how to improve her rat killing technique.

[5]

Satori glanced over and tilted his head slightly as they walked, the nest of rats was a good idea. It’d be much easier to steadily domesticate the rats themselves so that she could have more workable test subjects. The comment on cleaning up earned a nod, and he watched her spray down the surroundings before his gaze slid toward her as she moved on. Following easily as she fell into silence.

“Have you tried creating acidic compounds, yet?” he inquired idly as they ran. His own toxins had been primarily based on greatly hampering the targets, but he also understood the benefits such things would offer the user. Especially for someone that was of a weaker physical constitution and strength, such as Riku. It'd give her more options, and perhaps she could even incorporate it into her medical and water techniques.

Releasing a spray of toxin, acidic liquid at a target was even more terrifying than the jets of pressurized water she could shoot at the moment.

Riku shook her head. “Not yet. I need to increase my immunity to harmful substances first.”

Her main focus so far was irritants and substances that could cause mild to moderate illness. She could easily incorporate those into her body using her Poison Dart Frog Technique without getting too ill. Riku still suffered side effects, though. She needed a way to improve her resistance to toxic substances other than eating them in small doses.

“I’ve been working on ways to help boost my immunity more than anything, lately.”

They reached the next nest a few moments later.

Riku formed the hand seals for the Starch Syrup Capturing Field and leapt across the tunnel to reach the nest, spitting sticky fluid directly into the nest. Rats screamed and tried to flee, but the blue-haired nin cornered them, spewing syrup until nearly all of them were trapped and suffocating.

[6]

Satori contemplated this and gave a low hum of thought, before glancing up while they traveled the sewers. His nose was getting more acclimated to the scents now, though it was still horrible.

“Perhaps you should practice with your bloodline more, then. If you master the form properly, in theory, you could ensure that the toxins had no effect on you at all. Your water-form has no cells for the toxins to irritate or effect after all. If any is left in you, you can push it out and cover your body with natural water as you shift back into a solid state so its never in contact with you.” As he stated this he idly glanced over toward her with a tilted brow.

“I finished my first toxins, made all three forms,” he stated with a slight smile. “They’re relatively high end, but about the limit of my knowledge really,” as he explained this he examined the next target, letting Riku do as she wished to end them. It wouldn’t take long to wrap this up at their current rate.

Riku nodded, at Satori’s advice. “I think I may need some help from Kaa-san or your mothers for that. I’ve heard of a medical technique that uses liquid to remove poisons from a person’s body.”

Once most of the rats were drowned, Riku spat small, compressed water bullets at the stragglers, punching holes straight through them. Once this nest was cleared, Riku used a modified water bullet technique to hose away the remains of the slaughter.

“I should be able to use that concept to isolate toxins within my body using my water form.” Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, she re-tied the bandanna to protect her nose from the stink of the sewers. “Maybe even use toxins I absorb against my enemies.”

[7]

Satori nodded once in agreement. “Yeah. I can use it. It’s called the ‘Delicate Illness Extraction’ technique. It’s pretty useful but useless mid-combat, more of a surgery technique. But learning it could allow you to branch off of it and use it to superior effects,” lifting a hand up to his chin he contemplated this before blinking and glancing down at her with a smile as she worked.

The next nest was easier to locate as it was nearby, following along and directing her occasionally with points as they walked, relying on his nose primarily. Her clarification made him nod once in agreement as they came upon the third nest.

“It’d definitely be useful. It’d take a bit of mental focus, but the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks, especially for a Hydrification bloodline user,” bemused he would hold his chin for a moment in thought as he eyed the next.

“Once you start mastering higher levels of toxins, I may go shopping with you and put in a few requests,” he chuckled softly.

The female genin nodded, a thoughtful frown crossing her face as she considered the limitations of the technique. Perhaps borrowing the concept but not copying the technique exactly would be helpful. Until then, Riku needed to be careful and probably needed to develop some antidotes.

She blushed at Satori's suggestion of asking her to make toxins for him. Riku knew he respected her, but hadn't realized it was to this extent, especially since she wasn't very strong yet. She did train and take missions to improve herself, but it was slow going and her experiments had needed to take a back seat. Perhaps after earning enough to support her research Riku could dedicate more time to studying and adopting new skills as opposed to expanding her existing ones.

The last rat nest was easy to dispose of. Riku shot several with water bullets to scatter them and then used yet another Starch Syrup Capturing Field to drown them. She caught the stragglers with various kunai and senbon.

Afterwards, Riku panted, sides heaving from chakra use.

"Let's get out of here… it stinks."

[8]

Satori smiled softly and nodded in agreement as she commented on the smell. He was inclined to agree, really. Heavily so. His nose wasn’t built for this kind of abuse. Despite that he placed a hand on her shoulder to help her ease a bit, before offering her a small orb, a chakra pill with a slight smile.

“We’ll wash up and go eat too, it’ll help you recover your stamina,” he stated shortly with a nod. Once she’d eaten the pill to recover herself a bit, he followed her along. Watching her carefully to make sure she didn’t topple over and instead led the way up toward the grate they’d entered from. Climbing back out, he ignored the people giving them a wide berth from the scent and glanced down at her.

“Bathhouse? Your place is a bit far, and the baths are closer to the training grounds anyway,” he stated idly, glancing at the pouch that held the second missions scroll.

Riku accepted the chakra pill gratefully and eagerly began the trek to exit the sewers.

"A bath sounds lovely," she agreed, looking somewhat relieved. The shorter genin replaced the manhole cover and grasped her partner's hand.

"Can we…" her face reddened, "go to one of the co-ed ones?" Riku asked quietly. "We can help each other wash off… it should be fine I don't… you know…" she stuttered, "look too much different from a boy yet." As she stumbled through her request, Riku's grasp on Satori tightened.

Part of the reason for the request was pure clinginess, the other was that Riku didn't really want to bathe alone at the Onsen. She had managed okay at his home and at Midori and Miyu's house, but it felt uncomfortable to bathe alone with strangers. She'd rather stay by Satori's side.

[9]

Satori smiled softly at her request and chuckled softly at her reddening face and embarrassment. Arching a brow as he lowered his nose down to nuzzle her lightly.

“Of course we can. What do you mean you look like a boy? You’re way too pretty to be a boy,” he snorted softly, hand idly wacking her backside as if to prove that wasn’t all of her that was effeminate. He then took her hand firmly and started toward the Onsen. They’d bath and eat, and then head off to the next mission.

There was plenty more for them to do today, but no reason they couldn’t take a break. Half the reason he was with her was to spend time with her anyway. He always felt busy nowdays, it was nice to just spend some time with her.

The nuzzles helped relax Riku, but the didn't prepare her for the smack on her rear. The female genin yelped and jumped. She looked away from Satori.

"I know but…" she shook her head. "Let's get to the baths." Riku began pulling Satori along, trying to put the past few moments from her mind.

There was no point in saying she was flat, because the spiky haired teen had never cared about that. He'd said so numerous times himself. It still didn't change how she felt whenever she was near a curvier woman. Only time would fix her body.

[10]

[//Exit]

Satori smiled softly as she tugged him alone, bemused as his fingertips interlaced with her own while she pulled. Falling into step beside her his hand wrapped around her, pulling her closer to ease her worries he knew she had. She likely would for quite a while. There was little he could do about it but encourage her to let time take its course.

He’d seen her family. She wasn’t going to be flat and small forever. Was she going to be like Midori? Unlikely. But that was fine. Petting her head as they walked, he meandered toward the baths so that they could settle in and get clean. It was empty, which was nice at least.

He’d look forward to enjoying his time with her all the more.

// Thread Exit.