Loser's Monsters [mission, nk]

Spoiler:

http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t20781-s-rank-there-be-monsters-in-these-waters-shima]

Kozata woke up very early that morning, but not on his own. In fact, he woke up because of DIO.
-GET UP BOY. THERE IS WORK TO DO-.
What the... it was then that Kozata noticed the thing on his night stand. He got up, yawning and stretching, resenting whatever or whoever it was that had sent him this object that had gotten him cut off from his sleepy dreamland. Angirly, he took up the manila folder, for that was indeed what it was, and opened it, spilling its contents onto his bed. Whoa, what was this... a mission? And it was of the highest rank...
Well, what a surprise. Kozata had never expected in his life to receive one of these. He thought that he was just too low tier to get one, and too incapable, although the dimension thingy was something to the contrary. Then again, that hadn't really been of his doing, so... why was he even thinking about this? At any rate, there he was, simply staring at the paper. Shaking his head to clear the fog of drowsiness from his mind, he examined it more closely. It contained orders, yes, orders concerning this top tier mission.
Well, what were they about?
...
Rumors of monsters? In the sea? Well, sea monsters weren't really something that Kozata knew a lot about, but for sure, he could deal with them. He was reasonably powerful enough to deal with such beings. Of course, he knew very well (yes, even he knew this) that his katon wouldn't work well against creatures of the ocean. Nevertheless, he still had other ways to deal with beasts like those. They probably didn't have that much chakra, so a mere touch from him, and the beasts would be gone. The fact that they were sinking commecial water craft was somewhat disturbing, however. Kozata didn't know much about economics, but he knew that people would get unhappy if their boats and the boats of their family members were being sunk all the time. Naturally, his brain didn't comprehend the economic consqeunces of this, but that didn't matter. He knew the significance of the mission he was about to undertake. He understood how important it was, and how dangerous it could possibly be. This was a step for Kozata, as he hadn't been one to think things through so far. However, he was growing up. Unexpectedly, he had been made a chunin, and he didn't plan on slacking off.
Time to go down to the sea. There was a good post in the middle of the water; a small outpost island that the fishermen used. He'd start his investigation there. Of course, he actually had to find a way to get there first. He didn't want to go by boat, not for the first part of his journey. He tended to get sea sick, and wanted to avoid sea journeys if at all possible. If the success of his mission depended on his physical and mental state, then going on these boats was a bad idea.
Conveniently enough, however, another way to get to the island did exist. A while ago, some guy had created a business venture and didnt do very well with it. This was a cable car thing that went from a spot on the main body of Shima, and had gone to that outlying island, the one that the fishermen tended to use as an outpost, or whatever fishermen did with small outlying islands. The place was too small and rocky to really settle down there, so any arrangments made on the outpost had to be temporary.
At any rate, back to the story. When the dude from Shima had gone out of business, he had sold his cable car to the village. It quickly became a method of public transit between the two islands, as it was much more dry than the boats. Now, in these days of Kiri, it had also become more safe, due to the actions of these "sea monsters" or whatever they were. Maybe, Kozata thought at random, maybe they were mermaids, who were hungry for-
-FOCUS.-
Right, he had been walking in the wrong direction. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he started jogging the other way. He hadn't even gotten there, yet, and was already having diffculties. Even if he was kind of not a loser (not really, right?), he was still occasinoally wrekked by his own stupidity. This wasn't even the real mission yet, and it was already turning into some strange, bizarre adventure with his mind. Oh well, what was life without a little weirdness? Kozata wasn't the philosophical type, due to his low brain power (he simple couldn't understand things like that, due to his stupidity), but he did get a few things. He may be a little dimwitted, but certainly not retarded.
The day itself was even cooler than normal, due to the fact that it was still morning. Early morning, too. People were only just now starting to come out of their slumber and begin life, as Kiri slowly hummed into activity. Shops opened, beggars began to call, so on and so forth. Kozata wondered if the weird asshole who ran the cable car was awake yet. Probably not. He'd have to do it himself, which would be quite the pain in the butt. He'd actually have to waste time there...
Also, he didn't like interacting with the guy. He was... strange. Kozata thought about the last time they had met... Kozata himself had just been trying out the cable car, and had met this guy. Rubber Soul, his name had been. When he heard Rubber's name, he thought that something was off... and he still thought that. THis guy wasn't even a ninja of the village, and had somehow gained stewardship over a business. How? Why? Questions like these still remained to be answered. Well, he hoped that Rubber didn't talk to him much today. What a weird guy.
He arrived at the shack from which some cables, arranged in a stable, safe manner, rose up from a large gap in its roof. The shack (well, more like a dilapidated mansion) was situated on the northeastern part of town, and was quite the wonder to kids of the area. Of course, he hadn't come from this part of the original Shimagakure, so Kozata really wasn't that impressed by the building's size and stature. In actuality, however, its arrangement reminded him of a certain other mansion... one that existed in his mind. The voice that had first spoken from it had been his yuumei...
What a shock it had been for him, when, in the other world that he now owned, he had found out that the voice actually did not come from the mansion itself, but actually from the being within. He had gone down into its basement, and found a coffin, within which was his yuumei. The being took on the appearance of a well-built man, who could not be described as anything but "beautiful". Kozata didn't swing that way, but it was at that point that he realized just how much above humans this thing was. He wondered if any other Shinkou clan members out there had the same sort of entities within them. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that the mansion had implied that such a thing was true. In that case, he should probably try to find one. Maybe, just maybe, he could find another member in his village. Naturally, he'd have to ask Xyxer to see if there were any others in the village. Maybe he'd be able to get some advice or training from one. He clearly needed it pretty badly, so he needed to meet someone who could train him well enough.
The yuumei had approved of his use of the clan seals that he had discovered, the Evil Matrix seals. These were the ones that he had created from the yuumei's knowledge of the clan, which had been in his memories. Oddly enough, they weren't complete, which was a mystery to both of them. Where had Dio come from? Surely, he wasn't just something that had been in the boy since the beginning, right? He felt that he was missing out on something. What place had Dio originated in? He almost certainly hadn't been an internal inherent entity.
Regardless of these thoughts, however, he was confident that Dio had come from somewhere nice. He didn't have any memories as a baby, and didn't remember Dio really talking to him until he started developing his chakra. So, perhaps it was some kind of being that had been placed inside of him, and was only just now beginning to feed off of his chakra to give him more power? The power that he possessed, the clarity through the eye of the void, was a testament to this, being that it allowed him to sacrifice his chakra, paying it as a tribute of sorts to feed Dio. In return, he received some of that dark power that Dio possessed.
He thought, perhaps, that the chakra he had given to it was a kind of food, sort of like the blood that he had seen while in the other world. It puzzled him as to how Dio could taste this chakra. How could he tell the differences in the flavors? Or whatever they were... different natures of chakra... hold on, now. Kozata thought about something else that was related to this... could it be that that thing... his doujutsu, the Naien form of the Meigan... was related to it?
Well, if it was, Kozata had no way of knowing. It was at the moment that he was distracted by five cute girls doing some crazy dance to some peppy music. When he finally got his mind back on focus and looked up, there he was.... Rubber Soul. THe man was tall and shirtless, and the definition of an ugly mug. Kozata had a faint memory of the name of this man being some kind of famous music album, but he didn't remember if this was true or not. Rubber Soul was, of course, his actual name. How this was possible, Kozata would never be able to tell, but if it was true, then he was more than willing to accept it. One never knew when strange parents would name their children strange things. For example, Goon. What kind of mad hatter parents did he have to name him that? The very idea boggled him to the core of his cerebral cortex, if that made any sense at all. It kinda did, since, even though the cortex didn't really have an actual center, it had an innermost part, and to Kozata, that was all that mattered.
Naturally, however, he didn't know anything about the workings or structure of the brain. The only thing that he knew of the brain, was that it was what he used to think. Being himself, however, this meant that his brain was somewhat weak. The only reason that he probably hadn't fallen into a random genjutsu yet was that his chakra was so high. His mind itself was easily boggled, and he was easily confused. If one couldn't tell already, Kozata was kind of an idiot, and DIo had a hard time keeping up with Kozata's random fancies and terrible decisions.
This naturally made their relationship a lot more fraught with stress and arguments, but in the end, either Kozata's determination or DIO's common sense and intelligence won the day. Their mental battles would probably give anyone else a headache, but to Kozata's dull mind, it was just an annoying buzz. Dio could be sinister and manipulative, but at the end of the day, all he was was just a big bully. Kozata knew what to do to bullies... stand up to them and hurt their feelings! Yes, that was definitely the right way to deal with inner entities.

Of course, Kozata accepted without a single doubt in his mind that Dio was smarter. However, he was more than willing to bet that Dio didn't always know what was best for him in every situation. After all, even though it chose to take a human form in his mind, it most certainly was not human, and could never possibly know what it could mean to be human. Even though his brain was a bit fogged, this was one thing that Kozata knew for sure. It wasn't like he was an animal, he was just a sub-average human with too much spare time on his hands.
Well, sub-average in terms of intelligence. He himself was somewhat above par, especially in terms of chakra. Even the other genin he knew were now far outclassed in terms of sheer energy. Sure, he wasn't the most physically strong yet, but he could definitely work toward that goal. It would take a lot of work, he knew, but it was effort that he was stubbornly committed to do. No matter what, his dull mind didn't really perceive danger as well as the minds of much smarter people (average people, that is), so he possessed the unique characteristic of rushing into situations that no sane person would get themselves into. Like attacking that man Kozai, for instance. No one he knew of would have done such a thing. Naturally, of course, his own fire stream had merely been dissipated by Kozai's lab coat. What was that thing made out of, anyway? Kozata marveled at the inventiveness of mankind. He didn't think about it too much, because his attention span was so short, but what he did think about was something else. Yes, indeed, Kozata's mind had turned to something else entirely, and it most definitely wasn't Rubber Soul standing in front of him.
No, Kozata had started to think about his own ability, his doujutsu. A whille ago, Dio had told him that his eye power, the Meigan, was one of three types. What the other two were called, Kozata had no idea, but he had most certainly learned what his was called: Naien, the inner flame. Did this mean that there were other Shinkou out there who possessed not just Naien, but the other two varieties as well? Was the Naien the weakest one? (It would make sense if it was, Kozata was a "loser", after all).
Now, Kozata was all worried and angsty about encountering another, perhaps potentially stronger Shinkou clan member. Would they peer pressure him? Would they beat him up? Most likely, Kozata would become the shame of the clan if he were to meet up with any. Better to avoid them, in that case, his idiotic mind thought. He couldn't see Dio's mental facepalm, but of course, it didn't really mean anything to Kozata. Dio could make whatever rude inner gestures he pleased, and Kozata wouldn't know a thing. That was one of the disadvantages of the fact that Dio could just hide out in his mansion all the time.
Dio's mansion... what a dangerous place. He had heard strange revving noises from it, as if someone was preparing some kind of mechanism for use, but whenever he got close, the wall and gate around it always deterred him. If Dio wanted to face him directly, then he would come out, but he would never let Kozata in. He remembered that the first two gates had been opened by the fact that Kozata had attained various levels of his doujutsu. Maybe there was a third, final level of the eyes that he was as of yet unable to achieve. As far as he could see, there were only three gates. So... this meant that perhaps the third level was the most difficult to achieve? Despite his increases in power, he had not yet been able to acquire any kind of new doujutsu powers. Well, it mattered a lot to Kozata, but he supposed that the eye might have specific requirements to unlock. If that was the case, it was better to wait, he thought, for the answer to come to him, if it ever did. It was complete and utter bullshit, but it wasn't something that he could control.
At this point, Kozata would be basically staring into space as he face Rubber Soul. The winged-haired man (that was how to describe him, yes) was staring back, with a faint smile on his face. He knew how Kozata was, and how low of an IQ Kozata really had. In essence, he was not just a trolley car owner, he was also an information broker. He gathered information from the people who traversed the skies in his lift, which Kozata supposed was quite the way to get what he needed to know.
Whether it gave him more common knowledge than the village had or not was something that Kozata didn't know. He had briefly considered joining the ANbU intelligence division if he were to prove himself to the kage. Lord Xyxer was a hard man to impress, Kozata had heard, which would make things very difficult for him should things turn out poorly. He'd have to do something really, really big... like maybe complete an S-rank mission? Maybe more than one? Who knew? Kozata really didn't have the courage to ask Xyxer himself, so he thought that he'd once again go after things passively.
Not a good idea from a smart person's standpoint, but at the very least, he'd have something to do. Life in Kiri was never boring, especially if you were an inadequate loser. It meant that you'd always have someone to look up to, that you'd always have a standard to work towards. Thus, you'd also have a chance at getting stronger every so often. Yes, Kiri was a good place to live in. Even though it could get really mist and chilly, it never failed to be engaging and good for a ninja.
[Not done yet, 3000/6000 ]

The only thing left to do now, of course, was for Dio to shake Kozata into attention. At that moment, Kozata felt a rather intense mental slap from the yuumei, which felt more like a black wave of sudden anger and resentment rather than an actual slap. Was this what the yuumei felt every day, trapped inside Kozata's somewhat sub par body? Did it make Dio wish that Kozata was stronger? Was that why he ridiculed Kozata every day, goading him on while calling him weak? That would make sense. Kozata supposed that the more he thought about it, the more he would be able to see how each of Dio's actions thus far had made sense.
It seemed, though that he had other things to deal with. The only thing that remained, therefore, was to confront Rubber Soul. The guy was shirtless, as mentioned before, and possessed a tanned and toned body that any aspiring athlete would be jealous of. The guy was tanned indeed. Not too much to the point where it seemed unnatural, but instead, to the point where it looked like he had been around since the hot days of Old shima, before the mist started to roll in.
Yes, he had quite the beach body. One that Kozata wasn't jealous of at all. No... no, resist the urge! He wasn't a vain person, right? He didn't want these kind of things to consume him. Kozata was occasionally self-concious, sometimes, but not to this extent. No, he had to keep his mind off of those beautifully dark areolae that Rubber Soul had... They were like submarines in a perfect sea, placed in the midst of the medium, alone, but yet connected by the plane of symmetry that ran bileratelly along Rubbeer Soul's enviable male dominant body.
[3300/6000 choo choo]

The weirdest thing was, of course, that he was smiling. What did this mean? Kozata had no clue, but of course, he was going to find out. Then, the thought struck him. Of course. Rubber Soul was almost always smiling. Even when the cable car had its rare malfunciton, Kozata was among the few who had seen him repair it, and he had always worn that annoying smile on his face. It was like he was biting down on something... err... perhaps, Kozata thought through the thick fog of his mind, the symbol of his mental disadvantage, he was biting down into a lemon sandwich all the time.
It was that kind of maniacal smile that made you think of acidic material just like lemon sandwiches. Acidic materials, thought Kozata, as he looked at the man's rather calmly insane smile (if that made any sense at all whatsoever). He, being a dunce, didn't know that what exactly acids were. All he thought of when he heard the word "acid" was either a burning sensation that he didn't really like (one probably shouldn't ask Kozata about this, he hadn't had much fun with that shit when he was younger), or the drug, "acid".
[3502/6000, crawling along]

Of course, in thinking of the drug, Kozata thought about all those sneaky drug dealing students who had eventually gotten expelled from the academy. Ok, sure, there had only been two (maybe three, if you counted that one guy who sold paint chips and only pretended that they were some kind of sick narcotic), but you get the point. At any rate, he nodded to Rubber Soul, whose grin, (if at all possible), grew even wider. He knew what Kozata wanted, and it wasn't sexual in nature. It was that long, hard, and possibly bitter thing that was... the feeling of disappointment in his stomach.
Kozata knew that feeling well, Dio thought, as the two humans began to walk toward the station where the lift was scheduled to leave for the island soon, Dio had an uneasy feeling. He had had Kozata hone his chakra senses in on every being in his radius, and there appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary so far, but Dio still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong with this human, this "rubber sole" or whatever his name was. He knew full well, even better than Kozata (though that was no real feat) that human ninja could suppress their chakra.
So, the greatest yuumei on earth bided his time and waited for the right moment to strike. He knew full well, also, that this was an S-ranked mission. A long time ago, he had gained the meaning of this term, and now realised it to be the most difficult of tasks in a ninja village, entrusted to only the best of the best. Reluctantly, he knew that Kozata was not one of those among the elite. Sure, he had powerful chakra and seals, but his mind had not yet been tuned to the stresses of ninja life. He'd have to speed that up in order to get things moving. The more the days rolled by, the more he felt a desire to return to his home, wherever that was. He still hadn't been able to locate it, which was why he had been sending subliminal mental signals to Kozata through his neuron network. However, he was taking a while to respond. Oh well, he had waited this long, another few months were nothing.
Still, this Rubber Soul fellow was disturbing... Dio didn't trust him one bit. That smile was weird too.
They walked into the shack, where they both stepped into the lift. It was a red ish color, a little lighter than blood. Kozata leaned against a wall, and followed Dio's instructions: never take your eyes off him. He's not one to be trusted. Kozata was now a little freaked out by this warning, but he would just have to tank it for the short ride there, with Rubber Soul's strange eyes and weird smile looming in front of his face the whole time. It was definitely not the most comfortable situation in the world, he thought, as they traversed the wire in the car, transfixed twixt heaven and sea.
[4012/6000 ugh ugh]

They were dangling there alright, as the car moved slowly across its tenuous wire. Suddenly, Rubber Soul moved, drawing a kunai from his belt while cackling softly. Inwardly, Dio sighed. See, he had been right all along! It was things like that that merely proved his point: he was better at thinking than Kozata was. Sure, the boy was stubborn and willful and all, but what use was that in a fight like this? Willpower wasn't good against many ninja, and the legendary will of fire did not belong to the Kiri ninja, but to the Konoha ninja instead. It wasn't some thing that Kozata had nor needed.
Naturally, it was an easy attack to dodge, and Kozata slide to the side, kicking open the door to the lift. Leaping out, he used the surface walking technique to attach himself upside down to the wire and began running on it over to the island. This was a neat trick that he totally hadn't just made up on the fly... no, he had. Despite Dio's admonitions to stay back and fight Rubber Soul, Kozata thought that it would be too risky to do. It was an enclosed space, he thought to himself.
Of course, he had forgotten two very important factors. The first was that he was actually good in enclosed spaces, something that his rather dull mind had forgotten. The second was that he was running toward the island, which might not be the best place to fight. It was rocky and such, and Kozata hadnt memorized its topography yet, and would most likely be at a disadvantage against Rubber, who most certainly had. Well, whatever. Kozata didn't realize either of these factors, so was probably about to lose a big fight. Dio had to help him out, right now.
[4312/6000]

And that Dio did. Reluctantly, he began to give Kozata lightning fast adjustments in reflexes and mental function, allowing him to think faster. When Dio cooperated with Kozata, it seemed that his idiocy disappeared, to be replaced with a strange kind of genius. His somewhat ditzy attitude disappeared, and while he didn't become cold and analytical like that guy with the lab coat, he became much more serious and competent in combat. His actions became much more efficient, and much more focused. Not a single movement of his was wasted as he dashed down the line (at the same speed, but yet he seemed faster) toward the island.
Just as he reached the end of the line (cue soundtrack), he heard a soft sound behind him.
-MOVE, BOY!-
Kozata leaped off the wire and turned in mid air as per the momentum applied on the wire moments before he had actually jumped off, narrowly avoiding two kunai that passed by, whizzing close to his left ear. Damn, that was close. Had he been a moment too late or too soon, me might have sustained any kind of a variety of damage. He might even be bleeding now, which would have been pretty bad.
[4515/6000]

With a smooth finesse that he normally didn't have, Kozata landed on the rocky ground of the island, completely untouched. The rock was a black ish color, and not too rough. Kozata didn't know this, but this rock was called basalt. This rock, basalt, composed almost the entirety of the island, it black color standing out against the deep blue of the sea. Little did the boy know, but that basalt was an igneous rock. This meant that at some point in the far past, some tectonic plates had shifted around somewhere around the area. Perhaps one had shifted under the other. Regardless, lava had seeped up through the ground, and was cooled by the environment that it was in.
Most likely water. Water tended to cool lava pretty quickly, which was something that Kozata actually knew, surprisingly enough. He had remembered something from his lessons, after all. What he didn't know, though, was that water had hydrogen bonds. This enabled it to have a high specific heat, which meant that it could absorb a lot of heat before actually boiling over and turning into steam vapor. Thus, it could probably tank a lot of the heat form the lava, which was basically nothing more than molten rock.
The entire world, as a matter of fact, was covered in seventy percent of such a liquid, water. This was something Kozata vaguely remembered, and couldn't worry about. At that instant, Dio was giving him commands. Kozata calmly removed a kunai from his pouch, and cut the line to the lift. It boggled him, suddenly, as to why he had even taken the lift over here when he could have just walked on the water. He was a ninja after all, and had learned the surface walking technique. It was a decision that he had come to regret slightly... but still, there was nothing like the thrill of combat to Dio. It helped him test Kozata's body and abilities as well.
Still, he had no idea how strong this Rubber Soul guy was. From the speed of his throws so far, he wasn't half bad. But Kozata could take him... this he knew. He had worked very hard to prepare him for this kind of mission... wait, hold on... where were the sea monsters anyway? Before he could think about that, however, Rubber Soul leaped from the lift and onto the sea. That's right, he knew the surface walking technique as well.
So, he had received some training with chakra. But what else could he do? Time to test this guy. He had Kozata scoop up a small rock and throw it, shuriken style toward the guy. Rubber Soul made a handseal, and vanished, to appear slightly closer, that eerie grin still on his face. Great, so he could body flicker as well. Definitely signs of ninja training, which meant that Kozata had to take him out.
[5000/6000]

As the man approached, Kozata could see him making hand signs. Hey, weren't those the signs for...
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
Contrary to his appearance and his facial expression, his voice wasn't smooth or deep or whatever would attract men of that type. Instead, it was gravelly and screechy, like some phillips head screwdrivers being scraped across a rather unkempt chalkboard. NO... he was summoning something... somethings... and whatever they were, they were big.
-MOVE, BOY! AND BY THAT, I MEAN NOW!-
Dio practically threw Kozata around mentally, forcing him to moving himself to a high spot. Because, as Dio had suspected...
Rubber Soul summoned three large sea monsters.
Immediately, Kozata knew the meaning of this. Those monster that had turned up were this guy's summons... and as a result, he had used them to wipe out competition, and anyone who bothered to piss him off. Well, he had found his culprit, and by the law of the village, this man must be eliminated. Death, or at least a fast one, was too good for him, Kozata and Dio thought simultaneously. It was time for the Shinkou to reveal his true power. The power that would destroy the world's entire chakra.
[waka waka 5200/6000]

First, time to take out Rubber Soul. With a mere body flicker, Kozata would be there, right behind Rubber Soul. Perhaps not the best of options, but it would do. Maybe, he thought, if he knocked out he summoner, the sea beasts would disappear forever. This was definitely not a bad plan, as far as Kozata was concerned, but since he had never acquired a summons before, he no clue how they worked or what they did exactly. So, in that aspect, Kozata could still use a little bit more work. Still, taking things a step at a time wasn't really a bad idea, now was it?
Kozata pressed his hand against the back of Rubber Soul's neck, and instantly, the man crumpled, sinking slowly into the water. He would soon suffer a horrible death by drowning. In a few seconds, his lungs would completely fill with water, and his tissue would die from lack of oxygen. Cardiac failure would then set in, stopping his heart and killing him. Just the kind of death the guy deserved... a death by drowning, and by being too weak and ennervated to help himself or even so much as keep afloat. His corpse would float, alright... long after he was dead. That was what dead drowned bodies did, after all.
With this done, the only thing left to do was for Kozata to actually take on the remaining monsters. Contrary to what he had assumed before, they had not simply disappeared in a poof of smoke like he had wanted them to. Oh well, so this mission would be a little harder than he had expected. So what? He was capable enough... he could take them on. He wasn't the most physcially strong, but with wilyness, he could definitely complete this tough mission.
[TWC 5500/6000]