Titanium On My Mind

Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:36 pm

A mission slip had been delivered to Akarui’s apartment while had been out on his daily 10km jog around the village. When Akarui jumped back up to his balcony and walked in through his usual entryway, he immediately noticed the mission slip laying on the floor before the front entrance. Usually he would go to the missions office to select a mission from the menial tasks to high risk bounties. The office had it all if you knew who to ask or what to look for. And hidden within the clutter would be a decent job with pay to match. Akarui would spend a good deal of time looking through the mission board notices and speaking with the Chuunin behind the desk about this or that building up a decent rapport with them. He knew from a tip given to him by Old man Jinzo Sensei on one of the many drinking sessions they had. He would always mention that getting a good rapport is essential with the missions office, that it would open doors for Akarui that wouldn’t be available to him otherwise. Although Akarui didn’t quite understand what Old man Jinzo Sensei meant at the time, he followed his advice anyway.

Mission slips being sent to a residence meant that the recipient was chosen for this particular mission. It usually involved assignments with other Shinobi specialized for this mission. Akarui understood that with his current skill set, he was undoubtedly the muscle. He didn’t have sensory abilities or many trapping skills like a lot of other Shinobi did so what else could he really bring to the table? Akarui thought that undertaking higher risk missions that he would be able to grow passed his current limits, this was the only way he had come up with after several weeks of contemplation. But what really lead him in this direction was the conversation he had with Snow recently. Picking up the slip, Akarui examined the mission slip that had been slide under his door. Surprisingly it was an A rank mission to head to the mines around the fire country to help in mining the hard metals that regular workers were unable to mine as efficiently without the strength of a Shinobi.

After reading over the short briefing included within the slip, Akarui got ready into his mission gear which consisted of his standard combat boots with black cargo pants and and a grey shirt with a deep blue one sleeved lucky jacket. He didn’t forget to strap on his pouches and the katana that he had never used but liked to keep around for the occasion he would actually need it. It just hadn’t been needed yet. After all that Akarui left his apartment for the forest where the mission rendezvous point was. His trip through the village was a quick one before the gates and then the Forest beyond could be seen from within. He made good time towards the mine without trouble. Upon reaching the entrance to the mine, Akarui saw a small girl in leather armour with two katana strapped to her hips. Akarui was a bit incredulous when he read the mission slip that described his partner for this mission. It said he would be working with a seven year old prodigy Kunoichi which even though it was written there, he wouldn’t believe it until he saw it. And now he did. Although he felt her to be a bit young, he was none the less impressed that she was on the same level as him. Every academy student had a standard to reach before becoming a Genin and Akarui could tell that this girl was on a higher tier than that standard.

Approaching the girl Akarui spoke up and introduced himself politely with a smile while he rested his hand on his katana pummel. “Good morning, I assume that you are to be my partner on this mission? The names Akarui Kotei, pleasure to meet you.”

(WC663)

Fri Mar 27, 2020 6:00 pm

It had been sometime since Kinzoku stepped as Hokage, giving the position up to Yensung. There were a number of reasons for Kinzoku making such a decision. Mostly because he never actually wanted the mantle. It was thrust upon him because the Mizukage deemed him as the most appropriate successor to the role. Another major factor for him demoting himself was because he was no longer doing what he loved, and that was working with the youth of the village and helping other people. Kinzoku was a very generous man and often volunteered his time to help those that needed. Some of the best moments he's ever had was the time he spent training and leading a team of Genin. Now that he was no longer Hokage, he was free to do those very things. Finally, weeks after becoming a Jounin once more, Kinzoku decided it was time to get back out there and spend some time with the younglings of the village. He had thought about finding out whether there were a group of Genin looking to form a team to potential lead them and be their sensei. But he refrained from choosing that option. Instead he decided to head to the Konoha mission post to see if there was anything currently going on and if his presence could be of any use.

Upon entering the building the Nazar was met with a number of bows and greetings. Even though he no longer held the title some offered up the same respects as though he were still the Hokage. It was probably an awkward situation for many. How should they react? Treat him with the respect a Jounin was owed, or treat him with the respect a Hokage deserved. After all, it wasn't everyday someone stepped down from Kageship. He met each display of respect by tipping the rim of his hat. It was simpler to return the courtesy than to tell everyone there was no need for the bowing. He made his way over to one of the office workers who handed him a slip with current missions in progress. There weren't that many going on in all honesty and nothing that looked very exiting to do. There was one mission however that caught his eye. It involved helping a mining corporation out in the wilderness not too far from the village mine titanium. It wasn't the mission itself that intrigued the Nazar, rather those participating in it. Though he had never met them in person, he had seen their files back when he had access to that kind of information.

He handed the papers back to the worker before saluting him and disappearing with a golden flash. Luckily for Kinzoku he had placed a Flying Thunder God seal out in the forests surrounding the village a while back during one of his encounters with another Genin. This only helped facilitate the ease of his travel. He made quick work of the rest, locating the mouth of the mine surrounded by the equipment brought by the miners. Dressed in his all black clothing mostly hidden beneath his black coat, topped of with his hat and crossbow fastened onto his back, Kinzoku pulled up beside the two Genin with a burning cigar hanging from his mouth. "Akarui. Hanabi" he said tipping the rim of his hat to each of them as he spoke. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Mon Apr 06, 2020 8:50 pm

[It appears that I'll be NPC'ing your mission ^-^]

Irritated and bored were words that perfectly summarized how Tetsuya felt today, struggling to keep his stomach not rumbling in hunger to conceal his presence. The young man was perched on a tree, 10 meters tall and a meter wide as he was covered and hidden by the abundance of leaves around Konoha Forest so that people couldn't see him normally. During this time, Chakra Suppression was active on him, so that anyone who could sense chakra wouldn't detect the Yuki. Ordered by his contractor to mine titanium in the Konoha Forest, his mission was to mine as many of it as he could; but since titanium was so coveted these days, Tetsuya was ordered to deter anyone who'd come in his way of mining titanium, miners and ninja included. Trying to talk the ninja and miners out of mining in the area was encouraged by his contractor, but fighting was an option, albeit a last resort for anyone foolish enough to fight the dark-haired Yuki. Observing the mining area for hours and reviewing every single person who entered the area, Tetsuya deduced that the mining clearing was approximately 50 meters in radius of fertile soil, holding a great abundance but titanium ore underneath before leaving nothing but trees around the clearing. The trees and the one he buried himself in were 10 meters tall and a meter wide, being 1 meter between each other. He'd make a mental note on who'd entered the clearing and left, being nothing but miners and Ninja who'd simply walk around it like buffoons, but what truly caught his eye were a group of shinobi who just entered, standing at the center of the clearing. Tetsuya initially thought that they would walk away with each other, presuming that the shinobi were using the mining clearing as a rendezvous point for another mission. However, it appeared that it wasn't the case, seeing that the group was staying here for their mission. "A toddler bitch, a generic ninja #2, and a cowboy." The Yuki pondered in his thoughts upon scanning the group's facial features. Tetsuya would give a devilish smirk at the sight of them preparing to begin their mission,

"Fools, you lot scurried into the wrong territory." The young Yuki thought, still suppressing his chakra to give off the impression that he was fairly weak to catch the enemies off guard. He'd check that his weapons and equipment were arranged correctly. He didn't bother adorning any Flak Jacket, seeing as though the thrill of battle was created through the possibility of death; not having any armor heightened that feeling. Therefore, he sported a black shirt and black pants as well as ninja shoes. On his back held his Refined Katana that was angled diagonally right since he was right-hand dominant. On his left Weapon Pouch on his left thigh held 3 Shuriken, 3 Kunai, 1 Smoke Ball, and 1 Explosive Tag. On his right Weapon pouch on his right thigh was similar, having 2 Shuriken, 2 Kunai, a Smoke Ball, and an Explosive Tag. He was prepared for combat, but knew to talk was the correct choice. This mission was the difference between eating and living for another day or dying from starvation.

With a small sigh, he'd drop down from the tree (Let's say 50 speed), prepared to react to anything the group would do to him in the air. Should the group not pull any tricks, he'd walk towards them at the center of the clearing at the same speed he dropped down at (so 50.) Tetsuya would stop at 10 meters in front of the group before clearing his throat,

"Salutations shinobi, but I do believe that we have a...misunderstanding here. But I'll summarize so that rats as foolish as you can understand. My contractor said to mine all of the titanium in the area and bring it to him, so if you could kindly fuck off and leave this area at once with heads on your shoulders, that will be much appreciated. If you don't..then the tone of the conversation could change greatly." Tetsuya stated in a matter-of-factly manner with a fake smile on his face. In truth, he wanted to upset the group as much as he could so they could think irrationally, and therefore, be easier to fight when their thoughts are clouded. Yes, his contractor said to "play nice", but in the shinobi world, there was no such thing as "nice" or "playing."

WC: 754

Skills Active:

Your NPC:

Mon Apr 06, 2020 9:33 pm

Tue Apr 07, 2020 4:03 pm

Not long after Akarui showed up and introduced himself, another figure approached the duo standing at the center of the clearing confidently before stopping to stand beside them, this other Shinobi had to be their third for the mission today at the mines. He was an older man with a cowboy hat and was smoking a cigar. His crossbow stripped to his back over his black jacket. Something about the man was familiar. It tugged at that the back of his mind where he kept his memories of his time spent with his old genin squad and his experiences during these days. Before long, he realized this man was none other than the Lord Hokage of that time period. He had stepped down recently for unknown reasons to Akarui giving that over to Lord Aburame. Akarui didn’t know what position Lord Kinzoku took after that but he was still Jonin at least as well as a man Akarui respected and still was to be treated with such. Cigar smoke swirled with every word he spoke as Lord Kinzoku greeted the two genin with a dip of his hat.

“Lord Kinzoku, it’s an honour to have you join us today. It’s great to have a man of experience leading this mission. As commanding officer, what are you’re orders sir, I’ll follow by your lead.” Akarui made a quick salute with his hand before returning it to his side. Akarui was going to stand there and wait for Lord Kinzoku’s orders but Akarui saw something from the corner off his eyes drop down from a tree at the edge of the clearing, at roughly 25 meters by his quick survey of the area upon arrival. Akarui turned to face this person for thats want it was approached them at rather fast pace which was the same as the one he dropped from the tree, the man made his was over and stopped 10 meters away from them with obvious ill intent. This miner, no, this Shinobi by the Katana he carried cleared his throat and called out to them in a mocking tone it seemed to Akarui and rather rudely told them some tale meant to intimidate them about his employer telling him to mine everything and take it all back before threating them to leave.

‘He stopped about 10 meters away, smart. I would have done the same. Close but not too close yet. He is threating us and not coming to blows straight away which is good. Maybe we could reason with him though judging by the tone and threat, it won’t be easy. What to do? First let’s see if he can get him talking. I don’t feel anything dangerous about the man but that makes my caution rise even more.’ Akarui quickly ran his analyses of the situation while he glanced at his companions. He saw Hanabi had tears in her eyes and her Byakugan active and the pulsating veins to show it. Well she was a little kid after all. That man wasn’t nice so it’s Not surprising she would be a little upset about it. Suddenly she shouted at the man about mining all he wanted and bolted off toward the village with haste surprising Akarui before anyone got to say a word.

“Wait, Hanabi! Where are you going?” Akarui called out confused after the fleeing Hanabi in hopes to bring her back. If things went south, 3 against 1 would be a better advantage than 2 but if Akarui could help it, they shouldn’t. Maybe she was too young to be an effective Shinobi just yet. What real control over ones self and discipline could one expect at her age. Perhaps in a few years she will learn to hold her emotions in check to get the mission done. One needed to trust his fellow Shinobi and know they can depend on them during difficult missions or a deadly situation. Akarui turned his head back the the man before speaking up.

“Hey now, let’s take it easy. No need to come to blows. We are only here to mine some of the titanium. Not all of it. Look, your boss wants it all? Well he doesn’t know how much there out here so how about this; We will only take what we need and you can take the rest. Say that it was all of it and thats it. You get paid and so do we. It’s a win win right? And besides. Now you won’t have to mine as much. What do you say?” He posed the order politely to the man in hopes he was take the easy route. Unless he was looking for trouble but Akarui hoped not.

(WC786)
(TWC1449)

Wed Apr 08, 2020 3:46 pm

The young male greeted Kinzoku, saying it was an honor to have him join the mission. He was waiting for Kinzoku to give his orders for the mission. He surprised the Nazar a little as this mission did not require much planning. All they had to do was go into the mine and being mining for some titanium. But he had no problem helping them out with where to begin if it was needed. Before Hanabi even had the chance to greet Kinzoku, and before he could even reply to young Akarui, someone came walking out from the tree line. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for someone to be making their way from the tree line towards the mine. It's what everyone had to do. But this particular fellow was suspicious. Besides the fact he was fully decked with shinobi gear, he was making his way right towards the group of Konoha shinobi. Kinzoku watched him calmly as the burning cigar remained comfortable hanging from his mouth.

The kid stopped at about the 10 meter mark, keeping his distance from the crew before addressing them. First observations, he was cocky little brat. Though confident in his skills. Kinzoku had never seen him before. He was no konoha shinobi. Was a from another village? Unlikely, he wasn't carrying any village sigil to suggest so. If Kinzoku had to guess, he was likely a missing-nin. He mentioned something about a "contractor". Kinzoku was fully aware that the miners would worrisome of shinobi coming in and potentially stealing their jobs. But he would never expected them to hire a rogue shinobi to protect them. Not one like this, telling them to run with their tails between their legs. No, this guy was definitely hired by an outside source, someone who was trying to screw over both the Konoha shinobi as well as the mining enterprise.

Kinzoku put his hand on to his left where Hanabi was, signaling her to stop. There was no need for her to run. He was not going to restrain her. If she felt the need to leave it was her prerogative. Before he could speak, young Akarui spoke up. Gathering from what he was seeing, they both acted rather quickly on their emotions. But he couldn't hold that against them. They were both young and inexperienced. In time they would learn to keep their emotions in check, control them and use them to their own advantage. Kinzoku would wait for Akarui before speaking. Unfortunately, they couldn't afford to do was Akarui was suggesting.

"Name's Kinzoku, pleasure to meet you" he said with a friendly grin as he courteously tipped his hat once more before his right hand slipped comfortably into his jacket pocket, his left arm remaining free to take his cigar from time to time. "I'm not sure who your contractor is, but ours is the company who currently owns the rights to work in this mine. We have an... agreement to give everything we mine over to them, except for an ingot we keep for ourselves. I'm afraid we can't hand over everything, these miners need their jobs. So how bout we go about our business, you take what you've mined over to your boss, we do the same and we'll all go on our merry ways. I'll even give you my share of the titanium for you to keep as extra profit. It's as my friend here said, how will your boss know the difference between having it all, or actually having it all" he finished, friendly smile always.

Mon Apr 13, 2020 5:15 pm

Physically unheeded in her attempt to escape, Hanabi made off into the forest and went all the way back home. She'd tell her parents about the bad man she encountered and ask for advice on how to deal with bullies. She hoped that her comrades would be in good enough shape dealing with the resource poacher on their own.

[claiming exit - 72 hours]

Mon Apr 13, 2020 8:21 pm

Tetsuya smirked in utter delight as the snowy-haired girl fled from the scenes, proving his assertion about her and the other shinobi being rats in human clothing. There was no need for unnecessary fighting especially against weaklings like them, however, the young Yuki wouldn't object for combat to complete his mission. The mission was the difference between starving to death or living, so getting to business about mining the area was the best plan. As Hanabi fearfully fled from the area, Tetsuya would put his hands in his pockets. He, surprisingly, listened to the words of the other two shinobi attentively. They appeared to be much more polite than the girl who just left....yet, they still didn't heed his words about leaving the area at once. Growing more impatient the more they spoke, the hands in Tetsuya's pockets would clench in irritation. "You privileged lot...They can't take "no" for an answer no matter how hard I try... You don't realize that I'm trying to help you all from getting your asses kicked?!" The young Yuki thought. The two were shinobi, living lavishly and performing high-paying jobs. Once you leave the comforts of your village, you start seeing the true world and how difficult it was to prosper in it. Petty agreements and companies meant nothing to Tetsuya, only the will to live, and that meant concluding the mission. If Tetsuya were, to be honest, he would be glad about mining with the shinobi, but alas, his contractor was also a miner. A miner who was jealous of all of the ninja getting jobs for mining high-grade titanium, which led to fewer jobs for miners. His contractor had already calculated the amount of titanium in the area, therefore, it would be evident if Tetsuya "accidentally missed" pounds of titanium if that was the scenario. Tetsuya had already failed many Missing Ninja Contracts due to his complaint nature in the missions. The young Yuki took a deep, chilling breath, making up his mind in what he was going to state. However, his expression was resolute and firm, contrasting his previous expression. As a form of respect, he took the hands off of his pockets and unclenched them. Tetsuya couldn't imagine a means to resolve the issue, not even a way to trick his contractor into believing that he got all of the titanium. Tetsuya would open his mouth after the two shinobi spoke their point of view,

"...My statement still stands... Unfortunately, my contractor has calculated the exact amount of titanium that should be in this area at this point, so even a clever manner of tricking him wouldn't work in the slightest." He responded to the shinobi with the less potent chakra signature, being Akarui. His words weren't volatile but weren't kind either. Simply, blank. Tetsuya would then respond to the cowboy-shinobi with the far more potent chakra signature, which caught his attention. "As I've stated to the boy right next to you, my contractor calculated how many titanium there is in the area. Alas, your plan doesn't work, and you can also shove that agreement right down the throat you spewed that crap out." Tetsuya responded, more forcefully than how he replied to Akarui. Suddenly, an imaginary lightbulb "lit" above him, as the young Yuki figured out a way to thwart his contractor's plans. He grinned for a moment before reverting to his casual smirk.

"I think I know a way to make us both satisfied. Can any of you guys make titanium, or at least, something that gives the impression of real titanium? Like, some sort of metal that will make my contractor believe that he got actual titanium, whereas it's actually false. If you all can make enough of that stuff, then I won't have to mine the area, and you guys can have the whole area for yourselves. Does that work with your plans?" The Yuki explained, wondering whether the girl who just left would have been that easy to handle like the two shinobi in front of him.

WC: 672
TWC: 1426