Not So Safe [C Rank]

Not So Safe

Within an old manor, not he outskirts of a moderately sized town, resided a painting that foretold a story. The story was about four young men, strong men, who were capable of almost anything they set their minds out to do; they were basically brothers. They each started out humble, their lives meaningless tot he rest until they each discovered their gifts. Each and every one of them wee gifted in the art of killing. Eventually, the four managed to find each other at the ends of another's blade. Through the dance of battle they found themselves to be kindred spirits, and thus a pact was made. Later on through the years the four manage to accumulate over millions of ryo all together. Whether it was assignations, or bank heists, they did it all. All while keeping their identities a secret from the public. The only thing known about them, was their brutal aftermath. As they all got old, unable to fight at their peak, they came together. One with a cane, one aided with crutches, another by stroller, and one saved from the consequences of old age. They each devised a method to secure their gold, and came up with a system to figure out who would inherit the money. A tontine was formed, and the locations of the gold was split in four locations. Each location would be told in the form of art, four painting, four locations. Whoever should be the last one standing, would inherit the picture frames. And thus the long game would begin, that was, until six months later the one aided by cane was taken from the world, by force.

Stories have had the unfortunate pleasure of being confused with rumors. The group was a very secret bunch, with no outside references known. They didn't even have any kids.  In fact, it's almost safe to say that the current owner of one of the four paintings didn't; have a clue of the significance of the painting. How the owner acquired it was also unknown. What was known, was the owner was very rich. He kept everything of value within a large walk in safe within his mansion.

Katsuragi was on his way to see the rip off priest, the man who he formed a good business relationship with. He supplied the jobs to Katsuragi, the priest would put in a good word with the boss, the cycle continues. So far, everything was going good. Having failed no jobs, and always gave the priest a return on his investment, he figured it was almost time to start getting the good jobs. The jobs that paid five digits. The main reason why you normally don't see contacts like that is because of two reasons. One, it's a set up by one of the major villages looking to bust some poor sap trying to make a buck; and two, those contracts are gang exclusive. A lot of time is placed into forming a job with the possibility of a high pay out. There is no way somebody is going to trust some green stick thug to carryout a 20,000 ryo contract to only end up dead and tipping off the mark. It just won't happen. Katsuragi knew the game, and knew that everyone in the game will eventually get a shot at making it big. But until then, you're a nobody if you don't have any connections.

Arriving to the scene, the large stone church  within the town eclipsing almost all the other buildings, Katsuragi stopped. He took in the grand building as the wind rushed against his body, lightly. Katsuragi is seen wearing a white short sleeved shirt, with black tight fitting jeans. His boots were also black, and big which allowed the ends of his pants to fit right into the boots. Over his white shirt, was a heavy black leather jacket. He always wore a jacket, which actually came in handy due to the time of the year. The chill, no matter how light it was, never agreed with Katsuragi. He's was from the fire country, which meant he was used to the warmer climates. Within his jacket, held man of his ninja supplies. Weapons, tools, most were inside his jacket. But all were sorted in a way to not give any notice to anyone that he was carrying; even while he moved. He entered The building through the huge wooden double doors. He sees the priest dressed in his own usual attire. The large grey hooded robe actually looked decent today. Katsuragi was used to seeing the priest in tattered robes. "I guess the services must of paid off like a motherfuka...", he said under his breath.

"That's 100 ryo please, in the silver plate next to me", he said without missing a beat. "Oh come on man..., sorry father. Forgive me for I have sinned. kek", he walked up to the silver plate and tossed 100 Ryo in the plate. It was a good thing he did a contract not so long ago. Otherwise, Katsuragi would have been a little bit more tight with his money. In all honest, Katsuragi was never that type of person to budget his money. The lavish spending was what he was used to. In his line of work, it really didn't make much sense to save money since he really never knew if he would be coming back or not. but whenever a job goes well, it paid, quick. It's just like they say, easy come easy go.

"Alright OG, what the job. I've been eyeing a jacket in the shop nearby and I gots to have it. Na mean?", the priest waves his unsteady eyes over towards him. His mindset very different from Katsuragi's own. "The joys of being young. Anyways, I have a job for you. I need you to steal a painting, from a collector. His home is on the outskirts of the town, so you shouldn't have to worry about any authority figures. The only thing you have to worry about, is the unknown", he reaches into his pockets within the robe.

"Wait hol up, the unknown? That's how ninjas get caught up in some BS. You know, the shit that comes with a 20 year sentence", the priest interjects. "If you can't do it, leave. Do not come back, do not pass go, do not collec-"

"Whoah whoah, I ain't say all that now. Ima do it, just give me the directions, and um, the details to how the painting looks like", the priest nods and gives him a workout scroll. He nods, and makes his way towards his office. He didn't say it, but he took notice the fact that Katsuragi wasn't just a sword for hire. He was street smart, and didn't just do things without thinking things through. The thug gained a few more favor points with the priest. A few more noticeable qualities like that, and he might just end up in the big leagues.

Grabbing the scroll, he lessens the tie straps and opens it to reveal the information pertaining to the job. The frame was just over five feet, and about 40 years old. Katsuragi wasn't too knowledgable about valuable paintings,  be he figured that due to his apparent value to the priest, he couldn't just run off with it and risk damaging it while on the run. He'd have to figure out how to not only open the safe, get pass the guards that probably gonna be guarding the house, but also figure out a means to transport the art. But what really made him a bit uneasy was the unknown variables in the equation. Are there guards, how many points on entry are there, is the owner trained, are there traps, etc... Katsuragi wasn't kidding about the set up for failure bit. But he had to do this if he wanted to get in good with the family the priest represented.

Moments later, Katsuragi is seen in a different attire, for he now as wearing a black long sleeve turtle neck, long black pants, a pair of black boots, and a back ski mask. he arrives towards the house, his figure hidden by the wide trees that surrounded the house. He peeks through the many over lapping branches to scope out the house. To his surprise, and relief, there were no guards present at the time. He continues to survey he field. The fresh cut wide lawn, that was accompanied by the cliche grass maze. The high arches on top of the tow story mansion was free of any defenses. "..., really? nah this can't be right... oh shit maybe he has dogs.", he moves through the shadows of the trees, watching. closely, and listening for any signs of movement. After a few minutes, there was no signs of dogs. "Damn..., instead of wasting my my time with that I should have used Jackal for that. Next time. guess", he said while running towards the house. As he ran he looked toward the large windows and saw no movement which meant nobody saw him by the time he reached the walls of the house.

"Alright, lets see get to wor- Fuck. I down even know where this shit is, moaning, he weaves a set of hand signs and uses the transformation technique to turn into a rat. He scurried around the house to he managed to get in, like all vermin do. Upon entering the decor caught his attention, the mark was clearly rich. But he wasn't here for the furniture, he was here for the painting. Using his rat body, he ran around the house until he found the safe.

"Rats huh.., I've never seen a rat drawn to a safe before", the owner said with the raspy voice. Katsuragi deactivated his transformation jutsu and turned back into his normal form. "There we go *coughs*, you aren't the person I'd thought you'd be. Must beeee *cough*, a common thief for hire", Katsuragi finally turns around to see the man who was aid with a stroller. "Don't fucking my OLD Man!"

"Easy now son, I'm too old to do anythin-", Katsuragi interjects. "Bull shit! you can never be too young for too old to not cause problems", the old man let out a harsh raspy laugh, agreeing with the thief. "That is a wise, I suppose..., I take it you are here for the painting? Please, what ever you do, don't take the painting. You can have anything else but the painting. I believe there is 2000 Ryo in cash in the safe."

"Oh, so it is in here... Right", Katsuragi reaches for a kunai within his jacket. "43,21,20, is the combination to the safe. If you take that painting, you'll be signing ur death certificate. There are others o-", interrupted once more Katsuragi speaks. "Motherfuka do I look like I care about that. I want the Monet, da money!", he said after turning towards the safe and unlocking it. The old man stood there , shaking his head side to side in disappointment. Opening the safe, he sees the painting leaning off to the side, as well as a few bills of rye laying around. Instinctively, he grabs the money first counting the money. 2000 ryo just like the old man said, then, he went for the painting. "I may not know your face, but the other individual who's interested in that painting will find out eventually...", Katsuragi walk off. "Ye might", Katsuragi waved off all the warnings of the old man, and made his way towards the entrance. All this money, with no security. It was almost as if he was waiting for someone to steal the painting. None of that mattered to him, except the money and the painting. Katsuragi was now seen walking away from the manor with the precious painting. in hand. Once he gave the painting to the rip off priest the next day, Katsuragi was seen wearing his new black leather jacket that he bought from the shop.

((Total Word Count: 2011/ 5 Stats, 2000 ryo, 5 Ap. Also training this and this.))