>>5802161>>5802168>>5802169>>5802240>>5802252>>5802500>>5804163The following morning you wake up early, 5:40am, as was your custom. You immediately get to work organizing for the mission ahead. As far as gear went, you double and triple check that you had an ample amount of kunai and shuriken. That was… Basically all that was required. Ninja had a habit of traveling light and making due without large amounts of supplies.
You do get a small backpack and put some snacks and water inside. Not strictly necessary, but it was going to be a 4 hour walk to the destination followed by another 4 hour walk back on the following day. It was extremely unlikely that you would be involved in anything approaching conflict, and even if you did get into a confrontation with wolves you very seriously doubted that some water and snack bars would make a difference in your combat effectiveness.
What would make a difference if you were attacked was your gameplan with Masami and Naoki. You knew for a fact that there was zero chance of failure with Hotaru supervising your team on such an easy job, but if she had to step in and prevent Kenji Sato from getting hurt for some reason it would be a really damning view on your team’s effectiveness. Not going to happen. Hotaru was going to be BORED.
As you’re waiting impatiently for Masami to get up, Naoki arrives first, letting himself in without knocking through the front door. He catches you making slices of grilled salmon and a small amount of miso soup for breakfast. He doesn’t hesitate at all to start eating.
“Naoki, I’ve been thinking about getting a rickshaw carriage so we can-”
“Who’s pulling it? You?”
“Well, you’re stronger.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know, Otomo. My sense of basic dignity? Make a crab pull it.”
“No way!” Masami adds, walking into the room. She looked irritatingly awake and well-kempt for someone who just got up after keeping you waiting for two hours. “My crabs are too slow! I’d be spending a bunch of chakra just so we could go slightly faster and look like a circus. Count me out.”
You take a deep breath. “The faster we go the more we’ll be able to minimize our traveling time, which minimizes the chances of something going wrong. Also, we’d be providing service to our VIP that would ensure that our mission was completed above and beyond his expectations.”
“Okay, counterpoint.” Naoki interjects, cutting off the rest of your presentation. “If I’m holding a rickshaw carriage and running with it, do you have any idea how debilitated I’d be if someone tried to ambush us? I couldn’t just let it go at the drop of a hat because Kenji would also just stop on a dime, he might fall out. I couldn’t even dodge rapidly or jump hard because I have a normal civilian getting tossed around back there. I’d rather just move at a regular pace so I could keep an eye out and react without being encumbered by dead weight. Not to mention, yeah, despite being genin I think pulling a rickshaw is beneath me.”
