Taking Care of Business [Missions]

Mission 1:

It was the middle of the night when Homura got the call. The moon had just newly taken its shift in the sky, providing the duty of illuminating the world while the sun clocked out for the night. The village had been spurred into a volley of commotion as shinobi tried to deal with a new set of developments.

Someone had stolen something from Johogakure's treasury. It had been a quick task for them. They broke in with silence as their weapon, then snuck out with other shinobi not having a clue. A guard had come to check on the treasury, as they were tasked to do every now and then, and immediately noticed what was missing, information on a secret technique only privy to Johogakure. The Johokage called Homura and two other shinobi in the village to find the person that took the information. They were ordered to bring them back alive for questioning.

Homura had set off with the two shinobi. Each went their different ways. They figured that there was no way the ninja could've gotten far, so there was still a chance that they could catch the thief before they escaped to another country.

Homura jumped on top of trees in the forest of the land of fire, her Sharingan active. The most beneficial skill Homura's dojutsu had for tracking was the ability to notice every little detail, no matter how small or unimportant. All she needed to see was a small distortion in the grass, maybe a snapped twig from a worried shinobi hurrying to escape, or any other slight change in the environment. She kept her perceptive eyes opened for anything. Thankfully, this proved to be her greatest advantage when she found a small trail of mud leading into a cave.

"Let's see if this leads anywhere." She added force to her legs, propelling herself forward and causing her to land at the mouth of the cave. She kept her Sharingan activated, her menacing aura blaring from the red pools in her sockets. She treaded carefully into the cave, her instincts guiding her through and protecting her from any danger. The cave was dark. The walls were stony and slick with moss and water. It smelled like a cool spring and wet fur inside of there. Homura heard a bit of chirping, which she assumed were from the bats that resided in the cave.

She walked deeper inside with careful steps. Eventually, she came upon a corner of the cave with light refracting from it. The light glowed hot with heat and illuminated the area for Homura. She silently stepped to it, leaning her head around the corner to witness the light's origins. She saw that a torch hung on the wall of the cave, and someone sat below it. They had their back turned to Homura and were digging through something in a bag. They were murmuring something, but Homura didn't know what. She would need to discover who this person was.

She moved a little bit closer to the individual to hear them. "I can't believe this! I can't believe they have me doing this!" she heard the person speak. They sounded older and male. Their voice shook with every interval given and was filled with horror over something. "For 3 years I've been working to get in good with them, but they never appreciated me. I'm a wreck. Why does this have to be the case!"

Homura's eyes glimmered as she watched the man. He furiously dug into the bag until he pulled out what he was searching for. A small scroll labeled with the word "Forbidden" on it. There was a symbol on top of it that looked similar to the Johogakure's symbol. Homura understood everything immediately.

"With this, I'm done," she heard the man say. "I'll never talk to them again. I'll start over. A new life. Yeah, a new life."

[WC: 653/600]

Mission 2:

"Temporary Paralysis Technique." Handsigns are woven by Homura which activates her spell. Immediately, the man is restricted. Invisible chains stretch around his body and hold him in place. He tries to fight out of them, but they are too tight, and Homura's power is too strong. He lets out a frustrated yell as he fidgets, which causes him to drop to the floor.

Homura steps out of her hiding spot and walks into the light. She looks down at the man who looks up at her. Her red eyes glimmer to him, which is enough to make him realize who she is and what she was doing here.

"An Uchiha," the man groaned. "Just my luck. It's an Uchiha!"

"It looks like someone had a very eventful night," Homura chuckles. She struts forward until she is hovering over the man. She leans down and grabs the scroll that was in the male's hand. He tries to fight her from taking it, but the restriction to his body makes it hard for him, and he eventually gives in. "A forbidden scroll from Johogakure? I wonder what this is for."

"I'm not telling you anything!" the man says stubbornly.

"Are you sure about that?" Homura comments. "You do know what the Uchiha are capable of, right?" She brings her hand to the collar of the man's shirt. She forces him to sit up and look into her eyes. "These are the Sharingan. With just one look, I can delve into your psyche and learn your entire history. I don't need you to talk. Of course, there's always the risk that the person I do this to suffers a lot. You might lose your mind completely. But, that's something I don't care about."

"Okay, okay, wait. Hold on, wait! Please don't! I'll tell you anything you want, just nothing but that! I don't want to go insane."

"Then start talking," Homura commands. "Who sent you to take this?"

The man pauses for a moment. He was probably weighing his decisions. "Some rogue shinobi sent me," he said. "Three of them. They have something that's important to me and they won't give it back!"

"What's so important that you would risk enraging Johogakure for?"

"My livelihood, okay?"

Homura is confused. She looks at the man with a tilted head.

"You don't know how hard it's been being a chuunin all your life. I've tried to raise my ranks to special jounin, but every time I've tried I've always failed. It was torture for me. Absolute torture! So they offered me some help. If I just did a few things they asked, I would be able to rank up. They would help me!"

"So you did all of this just to rise in the ranks?!"

"At first, yeah," said the man. "But then the jobs they asked of me kept getting dangerous, and before I knew it they started blackmailing me if I didn't do what they wanted. The stuff they had me do, it'll ruin me if it gets out."

Homura found herself rolling her eyes at this person. She never met a human anymore conceited than him. "I've heard enough," she scoffed in disgust. She pulled the man to his feet as she stood up. "You have a lot of things to answer for. I'm bringing you back to Johogakure."

"Please don't," he started to protest. "I'm not a bad person, I swear. I'm just-"

"Selfish," Homura interrupted him. "You were going to give away a dangerous forbidden technique to save your own ass. I don't want to hear it from you."

"And you're not selfish too? We all do things to protect ourselves. You're no different than me, no one is!"

"I'm far more different than you can possibly imagine."

[WC: 643/600]

Mission 3:

"I'm bringing you back to Johogakure." Homura grabbed the man by the arm.

"I think you'll do no such thing." As she geared to take the man out of the cave, she saw three men standing at the exit. They were what typical shinobi were meant to look like. They had on an all-black attire with masks covering their lower faces to hide their identity. While two of the shinobi looked small and frail, one of them stood tall and oppressive over Homura with a sword that seemed impressively made. "Hand him over, little girl. We aren't going to ask you twice."

"Why is it that every time I face off against bad guys, they think I'll suddenly comply if they stare at me threateningly?"

"Hammerhead!" the thief that Homura had captured blurted out. "It's so wonderful to see you! Have you been working out more? Your muscles get bulkier and bulkier by the day."

"Cut the crap, Hideo. Do you have the scroll?" The man that looked menacing, the one that Homura figured was named Hammerhead, glared at the one named Hideo. Hideo immediately flinched in fear.

"Eeep! Yeah, yeah. Of course I did. It's me you're talking about! I just ran into one complication..."

"And what complication is that?"

"Me." Homura cut in the conversation. She placed one hand on her hip as she looked at the elder rogue nin. One of the less menacing shinobi started roaring with laughter. Clearly, Homura had said something he thought was funny.

"You?" The laughing shinobi spoke with condescension. "You're just a little girl! How old are you anyway?"

"15," Homura hissed. "About to turn 16 soon."

"And you think this is a complication?!" The shinobi laughed more.

"S-she's not one to mess with!" Hideo stuttered. "She's an Uchiha. They're some bad clansmen!"

"Enough with the foolishness," said Hammerhead, finally speaking up after having his nerves tested. Homura could see the hardness of his jaw tighten more and more. "Give us the scroll, girl, and get out of here. I'm not going to ask a second time."

"This is the second time you said that you're not going to ask a second time." Homura sassed at the shinobi. "Boy, what type of super-villain comic book did you get your dialogue from?" The bold Uchiha gave a sigh. She stuffed the scroll in her pocket and stepped forward to face the three shinobi. "Listen here, I'm not giving this scroll to you, so you guys can just leave this cave and fuck off before I get heated. And trust me, when I get heated, people tend to melt right before me."

"I gave you my warning, girl," Hammerhead spoke. "Now face the consequences." He looked at the two shinobi that stood at each of his sides. "Get her," he ordered them. The shinobi brandished their kunais and rushed after Homura.

"I gave you my warning too," she said.

Homura shoved Hideo behind her so that he'd get out of the way. She moved her hands to make handsigns. As the first shinobi came to slash at her, she breathed out with a mighty breath "Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"

The battle was over immediately. The flames spewed from her mouth and engulfed all three of the rogue shinobi. Their bodies were eaten by the fire. They screamed for a second before the flames melted their lungs and charred their skin. All three were reduced to ash before Homura.

When her attack was over, all that was left was three burnt bodies that collapsed on the floor. The air smelled thick of ember and heated skin. Homura was used to the sight and the smell by now. It brought her comfort that nothing else could bring.

"Well, that's taken care of," Homura said. She walked over to Hideo and grabbed him by his shirt. "Now, you have some questions to answer, so it's time you come along with me. Don't try to fight me or you'll end up like them."

Hideo slowly nodded to Homura, his eyes clearly expressed shocked by how quick she just burned those people. She wasn't at all phased by the look of terror he gave her. She liked watching those below her fear for their own life. "That's a good boy," she said to Hideo as she dragged him over the dead bodies and out of the cave.

[WC: 745/600]