Let's take one more breath

[heavenly_earth]

Who: Neji, Sakura, Karin, and Kushina
When: April 17th-21st
Where: Uzushio
Notes: A-Rank mission to assist in the safe transport of Uzushio's historical masks.


An A-Rank mission for a two-man team comprised of a single Jounin and Chuunin was unusual, but as far as they'd heard it, they're a small squadron among a few sent along to aid Uzushio. The probability of running into trouble was low, but as they drew closer to the village, Neji activated his bloodline just in case.

As for his Chuunin counterpart.. Haruno Sakura had recently been promoted from Genin, but she was already highly skilled. He got the sense she'd be recommended for Jounin before too long, and this was about as easy as A-rank missions got if Obito was looking to prepare or gauge her capability.

The gates of the rebuilt village were in sight of his Byakugan before long, and Neji dropped to the ground, signalling for Sakura to do the same.

"It seems there's a small team awaiting us," he mentioned offhand to his subordinate. "Uzugakure Genin by the looks of them. They're likely our escorts to Kushina-san."

Comments

[heavenly_earth]

Neji nodded an agreement and stepped forward to greet the small team, catching the red-haired girl's eye to address her directly. As the eldest, he assumed she was more or less in charge of the younger ones.

"This must be one of the first new teams of Uzushio," he said with a mild smile. "Congratulations. I'm Hyuuga Neji and this is Haruno Sakura. We've been sent from Konoha at Kushina-san's request."

[sensethis]

Karin was waiting her foot tapping away much to the unease of her new teammates. It was a little disconcerting to have them after being the villages only genin for over a year now. She'd periodically scanned for approaching chakra to see where the Konoha nin were, it was becoming something of an annoying process as her hands shifted through hand signs to do so once more, one of her teammates coughing as they had done every time before.

In the end it was unnecessary as the two came into view. Dropping her hands she shifted slightly, straightening her posture and shaking out her hair. If there was one thing she appreciated about being teamed with twelve year olds they were keen to follow her lead as they also stood up straighter though their eyes were expectant. It wasn't every day such a huge piece of village culture returned home, even she felt a buzz of excitement.

"Thank you, we're all very excited to see how the teams progress and grow," She smiles though it's a little tight around the edges having to play both the role of genin and diplomat. "Karin," she introduces herself and makes a motion to have her team introduce themselves, it would help she hoped with making them feel like they were her equals.

She nods, "Of course, Kushina-sama sends her apologies for not being here to greet you herself and escort you to the new storage temple as village business is keeping her a little longer than expected. She has arranged for us to give you a tour of the village and then escort you to the temple, is that amenable?" She pauses waiting for the inevitable interjection that they don't have time for sight-seeing, that they're only there to escort the masks and nothing else.

[notveryspecial]

It wasn't really a surprise to see the eldest was the de facto captain, given her age she was probably on the cusp of being a Chuunin herself, so she'd be given chuunin responsibilities in anticipation of her promotion (particularly if Uzu had very few Chuunin to go around).

She resisted the urge to glance over at her Jounin superior, while she was curious how he handled diplomatic situations, she suspected his expression would remain unchanged anyway (he did, after all, remind her of Shino in his general behavior). Ordinarily, on a mission like this, such a delay before going to their mission would be a test, an insult, or something to be suspicious of.

Given Uzu's relationship with Konoha, however, it seemed to her that the tour might be the opposite, and rejecting it would be rude--particularly when the wife of the former hokage was the one to arrange it.

With that in mind, she smiled and responded herself, rather than waiting for the Hyuuga to speak first. "If that's the case, I'd love to have the tour." Singular, of course. It did allow them to split up if necessary, or at least allow Konoha to appear gracious.

[heavenly_earth]

Tour were multi-faceted in his experience. A delay tactic, distraction, or otherwise. He always found himself amused however, because they always acted like he wasn't Hyuuga and couldn't map out the entire village in a matter of minutes. He never said as much of course, and he would've given in to the courtesy simply to observe the growing village and report its progress back to Obito upon their return if he hadn't known that the Hokage himself had just come through here with his team some days ago.

Sakura's acceptance surprised him, but after a moment, he appreciated her consideration. She could take a tour of the village and leave him free to do what he needed to.

"I appreciate it," he told Karin with a smile. "But if Kushina-san is occupied, I'd like to make sure the temple area remains secure until we begin our mission in earnest. As a member of Uzushio, I'm sure you understand the importance of their safety and my eyes can only be beneficial to their security."

[sensethis]

There's a long moment where Karin remains still taking in the offer of both Konoha nin before her. She can feel the little ones on either side shift waiting to see. There's a tiny part of her that wants to remind them this is by far the least tense situation with foreign ninja they'll encounter but that can wait until later. They had work to do and it would be better served by her making the best decision for all parts.

She took a quick glance at both her teammates, somehow she doubted either would really appreciate splitting up.

"We'll escort you to the temple and then commence the tour. Kushina-sama would not like it if we ignored protocol." She gives both visitors an apologetic smile. She had no doubt he could find his way without the escort, she'd heard stories of the Hyuuga when she'd lived in Konoha.

[notveryspecial]

While she might have preferred not to go on the tour at all and get straight to the mission, at least volunteering herself would keep one of them on mission while she toured the village. And, she supposed, it would be interesting to see the new village. She'd heard about it off and on, but she'd yet to have a mission that allowed her to see it until now.

At the oldest's words, she gave a small nod and a small smile of acceptance. Ideally, when they arrived at the temple they might be interrupted so that the tour didn't happen and they got right to the mission itself. If not, at least she didn't have to wait to contribute to the team.

She settled her hands behind her waist, and watched her superior, waiting for the genin and the jounin to begin moving in the direction of the temple before she would. She doubted any further prompting would be necessary to get them moving, but if there was, the Hyuuga would be the one to do the agreeing and get them moving, not her.