Steel Yourself

Mission:

Kita stood outside of the steel mine, patiently waiting for the foreman to return with Kita's assignment. He had been standing outside for quite a while, and it was still rather chilly outside. Bobo was currently clinging to Kita's back and complaining about how frozen he was. "Come on kid! I'm freezing out here! Don't you have any clothes for a poor monkey? I know that you have a ton of them at home. Don't you have any in that little storage thingy of yours?" Kita sighed. "No, I don't. I promise you that I'm just as cold as you Bobo, just wait a little bit longer and we'll be in a warmer place, I promise." Bobo scoffed. "Easy for you to say kid! You have a full winter coat on! What does poor old Bobo have? Nothing, that's what." Kita looked incredulously over his shoulder. While Kita was wearing his standard winter gear, there was one fact that Bobo had neglected to mention. "Don't you have an entire fur coat? I think that that's honestly better than what I'm wearing." Bobo snorted. "Well yeah, but monkeys don't do well in the cold." Kita shook his head as he thought back to how he got onto this mission.

Almost a month ago, Kita finally finished learning how to forge on his own by testing his prowess on kunai and shuriken and the like, learning to craft and augment them from scratch. A while after that he had gotten his blade. Now however, Kita needed materials to augment it. Kita had found this mission in particular on a mission board located near his apartment. In exchange for assisting the miners with their duties, Kita was supposed to receive a small amount of the steel that he mined up. Something that would be incredibly useful in the honing of his weapon.

Kita was brought out of his memories by the arrival of the foreman. He was a large muscular man with a thick black beard, and a strange accent that Kita couldn't quite place. "Alright. Kita, right? Kita Hajime? So you're ready to do a hard day's work mining huh? Alright, I've got your tasks lined up. Follow me." He gestured back towards the location of the mine, and Kita gladly followed, hoping that he could get himself out of the cold. To his luck, the deeper that they traversed into the mines, the warmer it got. Bobo sighed with relief. "Finally! Took ya long enough to get us outta there! I was freezing my poor tail off!" The foreman looked back in shock. "That thing can talk?!" Kita scratched the back of his head. "Yes, he can. This is my companion Bobo. He's going to be helping me in this job." Kita bit his lip. Knowing Bobo, he probably wouldn't be assisting, but he wasn't about to be saying that out loud. The foreman shrugged. "Just so long as he doesn't expect to get paid." Eventually they reached the bottom of their descent to the bottom, and the foreman held up his hand. "Alright kid. Wait here for just a minute. There's actually going to be another ninja joining you here. Lemme go get him, and we'll get you started on your tasks. Sound good?" He left before Kita could give a response, leaving the young ninja with one question in mind. "Who's my partner?"

Word Count - 564 Words

The sun was starting to peak over the topography of the island, the rays were starting to shine through the rows of corn Shinji was in the middle of investigating. Shinji's task this morning was one he had been doing for the past few days, he was investigating for weebels and other dangerous insects to this year's newly planted crop. After he finished making this pass he headed back from the small fields and into the family home. He showered and then started to dress for the day, he began by wrapping compression bandages around his toes and feet, the continuing to wrap it around his feet and ankles, then all the way around his legs and knees until they reached the end of the roll around his upper thigh, he then secured the velcro fastening to keep them in place. Shinji then selected a pair of dark jeans from his drawer and pulled them over his feet and legs and secured the button around his waist and pulled the zipper up to the top. He then picked out a light leather belt and wrapped it around his waist, looping through each hoop on the waistline of the jeans, securing the two ends of the belt together and tucking the overlap to one of the loops. Unrolling another pair of compression bandages Shinji wrapped them around his fingers and around his knuckles and wrist three times and then wrapped any gaps on his hands and then wound the bandages up his forearm and past his elbows, once again securing the fastening when the bandage reached its limit halfway up his bicep. Shinji then selected a dark red and black checkered shirt, he put his arms through and pulled it across his back, then putting his other arm through the armhole, then he brought the front two edges of the shirt together and buttoned them together until it reached the top, he then folded the collar down and neatly flattened it down to the rest of the shirt. Shinji then unbuttoned the end of the sleeves on either arm and folded the sleeves up until they reached just below his elbows. Shinji then wrapped the Kiri headband around his forehead. Moving over to a desk at the far side of his room he then unhooked the latch on his weapon pouch and weapon holster, he then checked the number of tools in each, he had 2 kunai and 5 shurikens in his weapon holster which he then secured around his right leg for easy access. In his weapon pouch, he had 3 kunai, 2 smoke bombs and 2 paper bombs, after checking each item he then secured the pouch to the back of his left hip. Shinji made his way downstairs and put on his clunky, thick-soled, dark blue trainers. Rising he clapped his fist and open palm together "YOSH" he exclaimed and left his family home.

Shinji was also starting a new job today, he had decided he would gain a secondary profession that linked in with his ninja duties. Shinji approached the outdoor smithy that he had gained an apprenticeship at, under a wooden roof with no walls a big, burly and bald man dressed in a pair of dark trousers, a white vest and a brown apron was swinging a hammer at a piece of metal on an anvil. Shinji raised his hand and started to wave as he was about to introduce himself when the man spoke before he could "You are late" his voice was gruff and had an air of no-nonsense about it. "I'm 5 minutes early" Shinji replied a puzzled look on his voice, but his tone still energetic. "If you are not here 15 minutes before the start time you will not be able to get ready in time to start" The man replied with a base tone as he continued to hammer on the piece of metal. The attitude of the man was something Shinji was not used to, he had only ever worked for ninja and his own family, timekeeping was not a big part f either of those roles. "You will not be working in this smithy today. I have arranged for materials to be delivered from a local steel mine, you are to go there and do whatever they need to deliver my materials, the map is on the table" The man turned away from Shinji and dumped the heated metal into a cooling pit of water, he then put down the tools and walked off, their interaction apparently complete. Shinji collected the piece of paper, read the details and then took off towards his destination. 

Shinji arrived at the mine and saw a familiar face, it was a ninja he had completed a mission with previously "Hey, Hey, Hey" Shinji exclaimed energetically as he approached Kita. Shinji froze in place as he saw the monkey "Excellent" he said out loud extending his arm down for a low five at the monkey "Hi, I'm Shinji".

WC: 838

Bobo looked down at the outstretched hand of Shinji and gave a wide grin, slapping his hand in a low five. "Nice to meet ya Shinji! I'm Bobo. I'm gonna be joining you two today for your little mission!" Kita chuckled slightly. "Good to see you again Shinji. This is my new partner, Bobo. I'm currently training him in the art of medical ninjutsu as well, just like you. Maybe you could show him the ropes sometime, huh?" It was at that moment that the foreman came back with two clipboards in hand. "Alright then you two. I got your tasks here. They ain't too complicated, so you don't gotta worry about doing nothing that'll hurt the old noggin by thinking too hard. Now feel free to divvy them up however you want between the two of yourselves. Don't matter much to me who does it just so long as it gets done. Now we have a steel quota that we gotta meet real quick, so you gotta extract some of it real quick like. We already got an ore vein picked out, so all you gotta do is extract it. After that, you gotta get it over to the smelter and melt it down. Last things last, you gotta fold it properly. We want it folded into ingots, got it? Now ain't the time to do any fancy art." He handed the clipboards to the two shinobi, and without another word he was gone.

Bobo reached out for Kita's clipboard. "Mind if I see that, kid?" Kita shrugged. "Be my guest Bobo. I've pretty much got it memorized already." He handed it over, and the little simian began to read through it, squinting at the nearly illegible handwriting on the paper. "Kid, there's no way you're gonna be able to get this done with just two people, much less in a day. That's a massive amount of ore you gotta take out and move, how on earth do you plan to do that?" Kita gave another chuckle. "That Bobo, is where ninjutsu comes in. Follow me, and I'll show you just how I intend to dig it up." Kita turned to his new companion. "You wanna come with? I'm gonna need some help moving it. I'm not the strongest shinobi around."

Kita brought Bobo along to the area that the foreman had sectioned off for the shinobi to mine up. It was clear where the ore itself was located. In fact, it was perfectly proportioned for what Kita had in mind. It was a slightly shiny nugget lodged in the wall, approximately 30 meters in diameter, an unknown distance within the wall, likely the remaining ore deposit from an ancient meteor. Impossible for a normal miner to get in a day, but not for a shinobi. Kita grinned as he formed the necessary hand seal, and a shadow clone popped into existence at the other side of himself (Shadow Clone). Kita turned back to his watching audience as he and the shadow clone weaved their seals, still grinning wildly. "Check this out! I've been meaning to use this technique for a while. It puts even S-Rank jutsu to shame. I'll get this ore out of the wall in no time." As he turned back to the ore, both his and the clone's cheeks puffed up. Their jutsu was ready (Water Release: Spiraling Water Dragon). A small stream of water streamed from the two Kita's mouths, rapidly converging into one massively growing point. It swelled larger and larger, until it was positively massive in scope. It was 35 meters in diameter, taking the form of a watery serpentine dragon with long whiskers. It rushed forward in a mighty spiral towards the ore in the wall, and with a mighty roar it collided with the wall, sending rocky debris shattering outward from the point of impact and engulfing the ore. Kita let it go on for a moment, before ending the technique, letting the water fall to the floor. At the area of the wall where Kita had fired, the massive ore slid calmly out, Kita having blasted out the rocky prison that it had been entombed in. Bobo stood trembling for a moment in awe of the power that he just witnessed. "Kid, you're telling me that THAT'S the kinda power you have under the hood? When can I learn to do that?!" Kita didn't respond as he turned back to his other partner Shinji. "You've got it from here, right?"

Word Count - 751

Total Word Count - 1315

Exit Claims:

"Good to meet you, Bobo," Shinji said with a wide smile on his face "Nothing would please me more than teaching him medical techniques". Then a man appeared and began to explain what the pair would bedoing, Shinji nodded along with the man as he talked, his tongue slowly started to poke out of the side of his mouth, the thought of a good days work always excited him, especially in a new environment, although it was down a mine shaft he did not consider it inside a building. Shinji scanned the clipboard reading about a third of the actual words "Got it" Shinji said as he dropped the clipboard and tapped his temple with his index finger. Shinji was slightly confused when he mentioned strength, Shinji was stocky and well built, but he was not actually that strong, but he was however used to hard labour. "Go on ahead," Shinji said towards Kita and Bobo.

Shinji began to unbutton his shirt and take off his accessories, he neatly folded the items and stored them on a nearby table that he had thrown the clipboard on "We will get up a good sweat," Shinji said to himself. Shinji then made his way over to a wooden cart that held several ores inside and also a couple of pickaxes, he hoisted one up and span it round in his hands a couple of times, testing the weight and dimension of it. Shinji headed over to the mine shaft and began to descend down into it when he heard a lot of commotion followed by what sounded like a maelstrom, but that could not be correct as they were entering a mine. Shinji pressed on inwards, as he did he felt the air pressure drop and water started to stream towards him, it was not very high but covered up to his ankles. Shinji moved forward until he was next to Kita "Unfortunately this is not the worst working conditions I've been in" he said with a smile as Kita exited the mind, Shinji held his hand out for a goodbye low five as bobo exited with Kita.

Shinji got to work, he hoisted the pickaxe up and down for several hours neatly sectioning off bits of the ore into manageable chunks and then used the carts to wheel it up and out of the mine, the water had mostly drained away in the well-constructed mine. Shinji then took to putting the ores into the smelter and allowing the ore to melt into a semi-liquid state, it then flowed from the smelter into bar-shaped moulds, quickly cooling into bars. The work was hard and took a long time but Shinji was sued to it and always felt like his day had meaning when it was complete. Putting his clothes back on Shinji picked up a cart with his master's section of the materials and placed it back near the admin building so they could deliver it the next day. Shinji was given a bar of high-grade steel for himself as semi payment for completing the job, he then began the journey back to the village where he was paid again for the job by his master. Hopefully, he would now start to learn actually blacksmithing instead of being sent on al these errands to acquire materials for his master.

After he had gotten back to the village and reported to his master he then returned to his home and completed his evening chores. Shinji was well and truly spent by the time the end of the day came. Shinji returned home and ate dinner with his family and then returned to his bedroom, he undressed and completed his nightly ritual for getting a good nights sleep, including showering, brushing his teeth and meditating for a few minutes, a practice that was very opposite to his nature, but he had been able to improve the time in which he id mental training by ten minutes at this point.

WC: 665
TWC: 1503
Claiming +2100 ryo & +5 Ap, High-Grade Steel, +15 Chakra, 1500 for 2500/2500 Multiple Earth-Style Wall A.

Approved