Learning From the Past [Open]

Sun Dec 13, 2020 3:24 am

Mission:

Kita lay in his bed with a blank, tired expression on his face. He turned to the left, and faced the moonlight entering into his room in his apartment. As the beams of light flickered across Kita's face, growing and fading with the passing of copious fog over the path of the moon, Kita felt dejected. No matter what he did, he would always be brought back to the same wintery landscape when he went to sleep. It didn't matter whether or not he tried to fend it off. By this point Kita had given up trying. With a final sigh, Kita gave into his exhaustion, and let the light of the moon and the gentle settling of the apartment lull him to sleep.

As the black faded away, and Kita's consciousness returned, he felt as though he wasn't in a dream. The haze of fantasy still blanketed his mind, but something about this place seemed too real. Kita stood inside of a small, square room. White, snowy powder covered the floor, but Kita felt no cold. Trees of pine dotted the location of the room, and bright artificial stars were suspended in the air, casting the room in a soft white glow. Painted on the walls were various images of what Kita knew to be major villages in the past. Konohagakure. Sunagakure. Kumogakure. Iwagakure. However, Kirigakure was nowhere to be seen on the four walls. In front of Kita, an old man sat in an old and ornate wooden rocking chair. He possessed a large stomach, and a red coat with a white trim. Spectacles sat on a reddened nose, and a sad smile sat on his face. Kita turned to him, feeling like he knew this man. Kita opened his mouth to speak, but not a single word came out. The old man smiled, and spoke in a low, calming voice. "Hello Kita. How are you tonight?"

Kita finally found the words to speak. "Who are you?" The man laughed a strange, soft laugh in response to Kita's question. "Ho ho ho! I keep forgetting that you don't remember me! I don't remember why you react so strangely when compared to some of your other peers Kita, but that's okay. I don't mind reminding you." The man rocked back and forth in his chair, pulling a pipe from within the folds of his red winter coat. Kita saw no lighter or match, yet the man snapped his fingers, fire appearing on the end of his index finger as he lit his pipe, the smell of smoke filling the room. "I hope you don't mind if I smoke a bit. The missus doesn't like the smell." Kita nodded as the man took a large huff from the pipe, exhaling the smoke back into the air. "You asked who I was, yes? I'm the one who delivers presents to those ninja who I decide are good. You Kita, are one of the good ones." The man puffed his pipe once again, and leaned in closer. "I've decided to give you an early reward Kita. I think that it's time that you knew some things about Kirigakure. You've never been a very politically knowledgable person Kita, and it's about time that you changed that. I'm going to send you to the ruins of the Old Kirigakure. There's some poisonous pufferfish and hemlock that I want you to get for me. Specifically, those found in the ruins of Old Kirigakure. You see, the kinds that I need can only be found in that village specifically. The wife wants to use it in some fancy dish of some kind. All I want you to do, is bring them to me. Do that, and I'll make sure to pay you." Kita's jaw felt locked in place. Old Kirigakure? He was only barely aware of the fact that the ruins of the old village were a thing. Furthermore, why did this man choose Kita? What does he mean he delivers presents to 'good' ninja? What village does this man even belong to? So many questions flowed through Kita's mind, but he found himself choked up. Kita had no idea why this was happening to him. Normally he didn't feel so bizarre around stagers like this, but for some reason, when Kita looked in the mans eyes, deep sorrow filled his heart. Kita looked back up at the man. "Why do I have to become, 'politically knowledgable?' While we're at it, what do you mean that there're things that I need to know about Kirigakure?" The man smiled at Kita sadly once more. "You'll find out. Good luck Kita. Once you find the items, just hold them close, and close your eyes. After that, your job is done." With that, Kita's eyes grew impossibly heavy, and he slipped into slumber once more.

When Kita awoke, he found himself laying with his head buried in his arms in an abandoned ramen shop. The windows behind him had shattered inwards, and a light mist poured inside of the building, barely illuminating the shattered bowls and pots that littered the floor. Kita himself was wearing his normal shinobi clothes, and two small pouches embroidered with the words 'Pufferfish' and 'Hemlock' respectively sat on the countertop. Kita whipped around in a frenzied panic, startled by his sudden awakening from the place far from home, hoping to find someone, anyone who knew what was going on. There wasn't a single sound. Not a single voice, or footstep, or even a breeze of wind. There was nothing. Kita grabbed the bags, attaching them hesitantly to his waist, whispering softly to himself under his breath, "Where am I?"

Word Count - 945

Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:00 pm

Travin sat in his chair waiting. It had been every night this week that crazy old fat man had shown up to teleport him somewhere. Tonight Travin was ready for it sitting in his comfy chair just case the Hollykage didn’t show he would still sleep well. He had done it before in this chair and he would probably do it again at some point. Just like he thought the old man appeared out of nowhere and offered Travin a hand. “Prepared this time,” the Hollykage said noticing that Travin had a bag packed sitting in his lap while being in full combat gear.

“I don’t know what you will have me do now last time you had me kill a bunch of elves that stole from you,” Travin told the Hollykage. Who looked a little sad about it. “So who you want me to kill now since we went that far” Travin added standing up refusing the man’s hand.

“That was a necessary evil and it pains me that they would betray me like that, but surely a shinobi from Kiri studied in the old ways descended from a clan of the old days of Kiri would understand the need for violence sometimes.” The Hollykage would wait for Travin to respond before adding anything.

“Sure I know about the old day’s stories passed down through the clan. I know about the blood games and why we were called the bloody mist, but we have moved past that now, so let’s just get this over with what’s the job.” Travin would ask while walking over to the window and throwing his pack over his shoulder.

The Hollykage would sigh before walking over and placing a hand on Travins shoulder. “I thought you would understand out of all the young genin in your village. The mission is simple to go to old Kiri and collect some pufferfish and hemlock. I’m hoping you will explain a little about old Kiri to the others that will be with you on this mission.” The Hollykage would remove his hand once done speaking and Travin would find himself in the kitchen of an old ramen shop.

Walking out the door he would see Kita a guy he had done a mission or two with now and was a pretty good guy by Travins standards anyway. “You’re in an old ramen shop on the west side of the ruins of old Kiri” Travin would tell Kita as he walked through the once working double doors to the back. “So I’m guessing you’re my partner for this one, you think we should wait a few minutes to see if anyone else shows up or just get to it” Travin would ask Kita walking up to him.

(WC-459)

Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:39 am

Kita's hand darted to the weapons pouch on his hip as he spun around to face the new voice in the ramen shop. His fingers grazed the tip of a kunai as Kita saw the face of Travin. Kita had worked with the shinobi before, and he seemed a decent enough fellow. He certainly wasn't anyone hostile that Kita needed to worry about. Kita breathed a sigh of relief, and removed his hand from the weapon's pouch. "You scared me there." Kita relaxed, and turned his head to observe the mist blanketed streets outside the shop. "You're Travin, right? Nice to see you again. I don't know if anyone else is coming. Waiting couldn't hurt though. After all, I didn't know that you would show up." Kita grabbed hold of a nearby tipped over chair, and sat it upright before sitting down himself.

Kita waited for others to come, but they never did. Minutes ticked by, and not a single soul came. The eerie mist rolled in through the windows, leaving Kita's skin feeling slightly cold and damp. He took a deep sigh and sat up from his chair. "There's nobody coming. I think that we're the only two." Kita turned around, and lightly kicked the chair, just enough to send it back to the spot that it had been in before he had picked it up. "The old man sent you as well right Travin? He mentioned learning something about Kirigakure. Do you know what he meant by that?" Kita would pause, waiting for a response. There was time. After that however, it would be time to get going. If there wasn't any help coming, why waste time standing around an empty shop?

Kita stepped out from the entrance of the shop into the old ruins. Several buildings lined either side of the broken street, with each having sustained some form of damage. Nearly every pane of glass was shattered, and many of the buildings had been blacked by soot. Most were missing bits and pieces of themselves as they had fallen apart from whatever initially attacked them. Some buildings didn't even stand anymore, and were nothing more than scattered piles of rubble. Kita looked about, soaking in the aftermath of the destruction that had happened so long ago. He felt... sadness? The word didn't exactly fit, but he didn't have any better words to describe it. "What happened here?"

Word Count - 401

Total Word Count - 1346

Sun Dec 20, 2020 9:01 pm

“Yea it’s Travin,” he told Kita as he walked on out from the back room. However, where Kita put his kunai away Travin held on to his keeping it in his hand at all times. Kita sat down to wait to see if anyone else was going to pop in, but Travin didn’t relax in the slightest he knew about this place and the dangers that roamed inside of the ruins. He made his way over to the window putting his back into the corner and keeping an eye out in the streets and nearby rooftops. Once they were both sure that no one else was going to arrive Kita stood up and kicked the chair he had been sitting in, back against the wall. The chair screeched and made a slight bang as it hit the wall. Travin turned to look at Kita and moved one finger over his lips to shoosh him. When Kita started to talk he was more quite moving closer. Asking if the old man sent Travin and if Travin knew what he meant by learning about Kiri.

Travin kept looking out the window as he talked to Kita while motioning for him to get against a wall. “First the Ruins of Old Kiri is a haunting ground for missing-nin as well as a wild beast that would have no problem ripping our heads off, so let’s try and go unnoticed if we can while we’re here.” Travin would give Kita a minute to process what Travin had just told him. He was pretty sure that Kita didn’t know much about the Ruins of Old Kiri based on how he was acting. “I don’t know much about the history of old Kiri except that it was known as the blood mist village. Due to its sear violence of not only strangers but its own people. However, it is a treasure trove of ancient and powerful artifacts of days long passed. My Great Grandfather found a sword here that was made by the same smith that crafted several of the legendary seven swords of the mist.” He would let that sink in as he quickly scanned the streets to make sure that no one was nearby to overhear them before continuing. “I used to come here sometimes with my Grandfather to look for more artifacts or lost jutsu or just treasure in general, but it was never safe and we were always on guard. My first kill was in this very area” Travin’s voice would trail off with the last bit as memories flowed back.

“Anyway if you look hard enough you will see signs of battle some old some new, but we are here for Hemlock and Pufferfish. Both can be found on the east side of the island to which I’m glad we are on and should be able to find some just down the street ways. However, once we leave this shelter we will be open for an attack so if you have any questions ask now before we head out. I’m afraid that this will be a quiet mission with little talk when we leave and a lot of hoping that if anything shows up we will be able to handle it.” Travin would give Kita a glance to see if he wanted to ask anything. If not he would slide out the window into the alley and wait for Kita to follow knowing that they would need to stick together to get through this mission.

(WC-584 TWC-1043)

Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:17 am

Kita listened carefully to what Travin had to say, his mouth feeling more and more dry as he continued explaining just how dangerous that this place was. Kita felt slightly sick. "Now you tell me. I wish that I hadn't kicked that stupid chair." His eyes drifted into the mist and scanned through them, searching for any missing ninja that could be lurking in the mist. Unfortunately, the fog over the land was thick, and Kita couldn't see a thing. He remembered the tales that his father had told him about missing ninja. He had heard stories of some of the worst, defectors from other villages who would butcher their own people for money or sport. They were nasty business, and Kita was nowhere near ready to fight with one. That wasn't even considering the possibility of being eaten by a beast. The ruins of Old Kirigakure were going to be far more dangerous than Kita expected.

Kita pressed himself up against a wall as Travin continued explaining exactly what it was that the two ninja had stumbled into. Kita listened closely to his tales of powerful artifacts, and his time with his grandfather. However, Travin mentioned something that stopped the young shinobi in his tracks. He continued speaking, but Kita's mind was elsewhere. It was something that he mentioned while he was discussing his journeys into the ruins with his grandfather. It probably shouldn't have resonated with him as much as it did, but just a few weeks ago Kita was in the same position. Travin glanced at him, silently asking if the boy had any questions. Kita looked at him, one question on his mind before he went. "I had never realized that the mist was so violent. They didn't teach us that in my history class." He was stalling. He didn't really know how to ask. Kita debated what the best way to ask would be. Should he just come out and say it? Should he soften the blow somehow? Kita stood there for a moment, doubt and nerves visible on his face. Maybe being direct would be the best approach. "Travin, I do have a question for you. You mentioned something when you were talking about coming here with your grandfather when you were younger. I want to know. What happened with your grandpa when you were younger? Why were you digging through these ruins if it was that dangerous? And..." Kita hesitated. "What do you mean that this was where you had your first kill?"

After the conversation would finish, Kita would follow Travin as silently as he could. He didn't have a clue what to expect inside this village, and Travin did. It would only be natural to let him take the lead on this mission. "If he weren't here, I might be a goner. I almost just walked straight out into the open." All that was left now was to put trust in Travin, and hope that he was able to lead the two of them to their mission, and to safety.

Word Count - 509

Total Word Count - 1855

Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:03 pm

Travin was afraid that Kita would ask that question, but he had hoped that he would just gloss over that small bit of information. Turning to look at Kita “I’ll give you the short story” he would say knowing that they didn’t want to stay too long in the same place as it would make them easier targets. “Long ago before the wars and everything the Rentei clan was a part of old Kiri. For some reason or another depending on who you ask we were kicked out and wandered the seas till we came across Hanshagakure. A small village on an island but they excepted people from all walks of life as long as you could live in peace with the other people on the island. It was a shinobi village but a minor one that not many people knew about.” Travin would stop and make sure that Kita was listening as he didn’t want to repeat what he was saying. Plus it gave him time to scan the area for intruders.

“Anyway my grate grandfather would come here after Kiri was destroyed looking for signs of my clan. There was a legend that a powerful artifact was left here and he wanted to find it. When I started training at 5 years old like is customary in my clan in the ways of water style and genjutsu. My grandfather used to bring me here to help him look for it, as a bonding experience. Everyone thought it would be fine since my grandfather was once an S rank Shinobi of Hanshagakure, but no one thought about him getting old and his body failing him.” Travin would take another short break to catch his breath and give Kita another moment plus to add suspense to the story.

“My grandfather and I were walking just a few blocks down that way” Travin would point in the opposite direction from where he told Kita the hemlock and pufferfish were. “When a strong shinobi attacked us thinking we were easy prey. My grandfather was injured in the fight, but so to was the man, so in order to get back at my grandfather for hurting him he was going to kill me. He kicked me around a bit trying to make my grandfather suffer while he killed me slowly, but when he picked me up by the collar of my shirt I stuck the knife my grandfather gave me every time we came here into the man’s throat. Needlessly to say he died right there a few moments later as I stood and watched.” Travin showed no sign of caring about the man that he had killed instead of showing signs of anger.

“When I went back to my grandfather he was dying as well the wound had hit him in the chest, and he had lost too much blood. I didn’t have anything to bandage him with, so I had to watch my grandfather die too. I quickly made my way back and found my father but by the time we had gotten here, both bodies were gone. My father figured that someone had taken them for their DNA.” Travin would wait a moment reaching into his weapon pouch and pulling out a ceremonial looking dagger, and holding it in his bandaged right hand. “That’s why I keep my hand bandaged up so I will always have them, and I keep the dagger with me at all times to remind me of what the world is really like outside of the villages.” Travin would give Kita some time to process what he had just told him.

If Kita didn’t have any more questions Travin would leap out the window and head down the ally with Kita following him.

(WC-627 TWC-1670)

Wed Dec 23, 2020 9:35 pm

mid topic claim
1500 WC to event skip ticket
15 stats

Wed Dec 23, 2020 9:47 pm

Approved

Thu Dec 24, 2020 11:13 pm

Kita listened to the tale of Travin's first kill with laser focus. As much as he knew that he needed to keep watch of the streets and watch out for threats, he couldn't pry his eyes away from the other youth. Before today, Kita had never heard of the Rentei clan. How many other ninja clans had been pushed to the dirt by the people of Old Kirigakure? How many others ended up in the position of the Rentei clan? Kita didn't even want to think about it. He almost opened his mouth to proclaim that the new Kirigakure was better than the old, that they would never do something like that again. Then Kita paused once more. Was it? Their criminal sentencing laws were incredibly harsh, with nearly every crime being punishable by lengthy jail time and death. Was it better? Kita didn't know.

As Travin completed his story, it was shocking to consider what he had been through. Perhaps the most egregious part for Kita was that he didn't even get to bury his grandfather. He had heard tales of ninja who would harvest the organs of fallen ninja to gain their powers, but he almost hadn't believed it. It made sense, a lot of ninja were born with strange and unique powers, and wanting them for yourself was entirely natural. Seeing the damage that these shinobi bring though, it was haunting. "I'm so sorry Travin. I had no idea that that had happened to you..." It was the only thing he could think to say. There weren't any words that Kita could speak to change the past, and he knew that. Whatever the case, they had spent too long dwelling on it, and Travin was ready to go. Kita didn't have any more questions for the fellow ninja, and he didn't want the to be found. He nodded once. "I'm ready to go." After that, all that was left was to follow Travin out of the window and follow along, hoping that Travin remembered the way from all those years ago.

Word Count - 344

Total Word Count - 2199

Fri Dec 25, 2020 8:24 am

Travin collected himself and gave a nod to Kita after apologizing for what Travin had been through. It was something that he was used to as he was sure a lot of shinobi was as well. Since our lives are a giant battle of sad events. Travin leaped out of the window in the corner that the two were standing in. making his way down the alleyway staying to one side to help keep him out of sight to those on the nearby roofs. Making a few turns here and there it wouldn’t take them long to make it to the water and field.

Stopping at the edge of the alleyway Travin would turn to see Kita still with him. “We’ve made it. The Hemlock is in the old paster and the puffer fish is in the water off the shore. You have to be careful not to touch either one or they will poison you, and you may die as i don’t have anyway to cure you of it.” Travin would tell Kita making sure that he understood not to touch them with his bare hands. Before pulling out two sacks and handing one to Kita. “Use this to carry them and I would recommend using clones to pick them up and you holding the bag” with that Travin would wait to see what Kita chose or if he had a better plan.

(WC- 233 TWC-1903)

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