A Simple Business Transaction

Kita's fingers drummed against his till in his new shop, patiently awaiting the arrival of his first client. Their equipment had been augmented as per their instructions, and all that was left was for the customer to deliver payment, and pick up the item. It would be a lie to say that Kita wasn't nervous about the situation. His fingers clattering against the till left behind small indentations of sweat, and he could swear that it would be obvious to anyone entering the shop. "Just calm down Kita, everything will be alright. It's just a customer, nothing more, nothing less."

It didn't exactly settle his nerves. Matters only worsened when his ninja companion Bobo wandered into the room. "Yo kid! Did that anbu guy you were telling me about come through yet? You didn't screw it up, did you? Cause if you did, that's a lot of dough that you just threw down the drain. Not to mention all the work that went to waste on it."

Kita winced at that, and his heart rate kicked up a notch. What if he didn't show? What if he didn't like his augmentations, and wanted his money back? What if he demanded that Kita replace his equipment since he had messed it up the first time? Oh lord, what if he took it without payment? It's not like Kita could stop him. Anbu were just too strong, too powerful for Genin like Kita to stand up to, and there would be nothing he could do to stop the shinobi. The loss of valuable materials used in the augmentations would be painful to say the least. Whatever the case, he couldn't let Bobo know how he was feeling, nor could he let the client do so as well. "Don't worry Bobo, he'll come. For right now, lets just do some upkeep. I don't think we've actually gone ahead and made a chakra scroll yet, have we? Let's go ahead and try it out."

Kita pulled the crass monkey into the back room before beginning. With fumbling fingers Kita weaved the hand seals necessary to perform the jutsu, and placed his hands upon the ground, where a small, 1 meter black seal appeared (Chakra Draining Seal). He motioned to Bobo to stand in the center with a nervous smile, and the young Simian frowned. "You serious kid? You want me to stand in the middle of this spooky looking thing? You must be out of your gourd. What the heck is it even supposed to do?"

Kita scratched the back of his head. "Well... it's supposed to drain your chakra."

Bobo's eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, it WHAT?"

Kita held up his hands slightly as if surrendering. "Not all of it! Just a little! Look, I know how it sounds, but I can't fill this thing with chakra on my own. You can't use your own chakra to fill it, it just won't work. You're healthy and strong, and we've trained your endurance to the point where you have plenty of chakra to spare! It's entirely painless, and you won't even notice it's gone, I promise." Bobo clearly didn't like it, but he stepped into the seal regardless. He shuddered as he did, and Kita could feel it beginning to work. "See? Painless. Once this seal's worked its magic, we're free to use it however and whenever we want. We could sell it, store it for later, use it in a seal or combat situation, whatever we want!"

Bobo flexed his fingers, feeling out the chakra that was leaving his body. "Yeah yeah, I get the point. Yeesh, I hate to think of grubby strangers using my chakra. I'm just supposed to stand here?"

Ishii rummaged around in the shop before pulling out a blank sealing scroll, and handing it to Bobo. "Once the seal stops draining your chakra, place this against it. It'll suck the seal onto the paper, and I can handle the rest from there. Don't leave the seal until I tell you to!"

He was clearly about to protest, but Kita left the room and shut the door before he could say another word. Now, all that was left was to wait for the customer.

Word Count - 704

Jutsu Used:

It was about that time today where Scyxion seemed to have a busy day ahead of him. He wasn't sure where the Mizukage had gone so he figured today was a good day to complete some personal tasks as well as catch up on performing some extra duties. Before he could get into all of that, he had to make sure he had the payments in order before travelling to various places of Kirigakure. With the Kage gone, it fell to him to tie up any loose ends he may be able to deal with while the other bodyguard known as Keita would also clear up things on his end. With everything said and done, Scyxion had finished getting ready before setting off to find that stall owner who he'd hired with the task of taking care of augmenting his armor. Leaving the Kage's estate, Scyxion went out towards the market area in hopes of running into the owner once more, or presumed owner. Wearing his hooded mantle, iot loomed over his head partially the upper portion of his head and face leaving only his mouth and nose exposed to the naked eye. Even if one couldn't tell, he could see out of it just fine as if it wasn't obstructing his vision at all.

Arriving at the location of the stall, he quickly found that it was no longer a stall at all but a legitimate shop. He was quite impressed with how quickly the person had built up and made him feel at ease that he chose someone capable. Entering the man's shop, Scyxion had begun to pat the side of his mantle, making sure the exact amount of money was there. Looking around, he figured he'd wait and see if there was somebody around to service him rather than take Xijion's route of hollering unnecessarily. If he could, he'd locate some kind of device that he could use to signal the shopkeeper like a bell or something. 

W.C: 330

It was just as Kita was emerging that the shop bell on his till was rung. Standing before him was the same shinobi elite that he had encountered the other day. Kita put on his best smile in an effort to hide his hidden nervousness and stepped forward to the front of the till. Kita leaned slightly over the counter to look at the black warrior who had rung the bell at the other end of the stand. "Hello once again! Your armor and weapon is all ready to go. Just let me grab it real quick."

Kita leaned down below the counter, and began looking for the items that he had augmented for the man. After a few moments of searching he pulled out decently sized wooden box, 2 meters in length and 1 meter in width. It was a simple thing, being an ordinary chest with basic iron fittings and latches, yet Kita had placed a Fuinjutsu Lock on the front of it to ensure that only he could get into it. With his client having arrived, Kita pointed his index and middle fingers up towards the ceiling, where they began to turn blue. Then he placed it upon the Fuinjutsu Lock and twisted it to the side, almost as if it was a key. With a loud click, the lock dissolved. "Here we are!" Kita's eyes drifted upwards to meet the eye of his customer. "With nine materials used to augment your equipment, as well as the cost of one additional material used from my supply, that will be 100,000 Ryo."

Word Count - 264 Words

Total Word Count - 968 Words

Jutsu Used:

Scyxion needn't wait long as while he was looking around, the shopkeeper happened to appear near the counter and greet him. Nodding towards him, Scyxion had heard his weapon and armor were done and ready for pickup. This was great news for although he didn't visibly show it.  Watching him dip under the counter, Scyxion just took his time to turn his head to look around the shop in order to see if there's anything else he might be interested in procuring here. It was a nice place but he couldn't spot anything he really needed nor something he could think of buying for the time being. After his little observation, the owner of the shop had re-emerged from under the counter with a moderate sized wooden chest. This was probably where his augmented gear was being kept for the most part and it was good to know this place secured their customer's items. Watching him unlock the chest, Scyxion managed to catch a glimpse of his belongings, shining and augmented with the materials he had mostly provided. After looking, the owner had turned to him and proceeded to give him his total for services and the additional material he had purchased straight from the shop. 

Reaching into his pocket, Scyxion proceeded to pull the funds necessary, provided by the treasury, in order to pay the man his fee. He wasn't surprised it cost this much money but it was still an incredible amount that he probably wouldn't see in his lifetime all at once again. Paying the man, Scyxion waited to be given his items.

W.C: 266

The man placed the currency on the counter, which Kita quickly counted as it appeared. Once Kita identified that the correct currency was placed, he would nod his head. "Thank you sir!" Kita wondered what exactly he would even do with that much money. With this, he could easily pay for equipment for his next hundred missions. He could bring his business to new heights, and expand his stock tremendously. That however, would be for another time. For now, it was best to just deal with the transaction at hand. Kita smiled and carefully removed the items from the chest, taking care that the sword was properly sheathed and the clothes remained folded. Kita closed the chest and pulled a blank scroll from under the table. "Would you like that in a sealing scroll?"

If he says yes, Kita would seal the items into the scroll and slide it over to him (Generic Sealing Technique). If not, Kita would simply slide the items over towards him as is. "Here you are sir! Have a nice day, and we hope to see you again!" However, there was something tickling at the back of Kita's mind as he slid the customer's items over to him. This was a member of the Anbu, one of the village elites. The memories of his fight with Murata flashed in his mind, and he felt his teeth grit underneath the smile. Maybe it was time to learn some of the village's techniques. After all, if they were so valuable and closely guarded, they had to be good. "Before you go, do you mind if I ask a question?" Kita scratched at the back of his neck. "I imagine that you've already guessed, but this isn't quite my main job. I'm a shinobi by trade. I know this might seem a bit improper, but would it be possible to request access to the village vault?" Kita would wait with bated breath for the man's response.

Word Count - 328 Words

Total Word Count - 1296 Words

Jutsu Used:

After being thanked for his patronage, Scyxion simply nodded towards Kita as he paid the man his due fee. Once the transaction was successfully done, he was also asked if he would like his armor placed in a sealing scroll to which, Scyxion declined. He felt naked without his armor and wanted to get it back on his body immediately. He'd have to test the new defensive capabilities later on when the chance would surface. When the items were handed over to him, he simply took them and placed the mask over his face first before strapping the armor back onto his body. After being full 'dressed', the anbu gave a faint smile behind his mask before thanking Kita for his service. Turning to exit the shop, the owner of the shop called to him one last time. Turning his head slightly, to listen to him. It turns out he was also a shinobi just like Scyxion was and he was asking Scyxion permission to enter the vault in order to learn some of the villages secrets. This made Scyxion tilt his head a bit as he had no idea  why he was being asked this personally. Maybe because the current Mizukage was out of town for the time being.

As much as he'd like to let him in, he couldn't for he didn't have that kind of authority. All he could do was lead the members of the village that already had clearance into the vault. With that, he decided to tell him this, "I don't have the authority to let people in and out of the vault, that's reserved for the Kage or the Deputy Kage, if we ever get one. I'll tell you what, when the Mizukage returns, I'll put in a good word for you in order to go in and learn to your heart's content." With that Scyxion nodded towards him and exited the shop.

[Exit.]

W.C: 320
T.W.C: 916

Ability Claims (Applying 25% Discount)
Using 150 words towards Soul Expulsion 
Using 750 words into B-Rank Copycat

Kita waved him off, feeling a bit foolish that he had asked the man such an obvious question. Of course he didn't have access, why would he? He began to feel a bit drained, but before Kita could think about it long he felt his chakra begin to settle. Apparently his jutsu was completed. Kita opened the door into the back room just to witness Bobo place the sealing scroll onto the ground. The black, chakra infused seal slowly seeped into the scroll, until Bobo held a chakra scroll within his hand.

"Here it is kid. A whole scroll fulla my chakra juice. I hope you're happy with it, cause I'm not doing this again today."

Kita chuckled. "Alright, you don't have to today. We're going to do this more and more however, so I would get comfortable with the idea."

Bobo sniffled once before handing the scroll over. "Whatever. How'd the meeting with the client go?"

Kita grinned with tired eyes, and held up the hefty pouch holding the ryo in his hand for his partner to see. "We not only have the money, but we might have some new techniques heading our way. No promises though."

Bobo's face mirrored his grin, and he snatched the coin pouch from Kita's hand, counting the money. "What'd I tell ya kid?! We're rich! Rich!"

Seems as though he didn't care about the latter part of what he said as he jumped up and down, fawning over the money that Kita had presented him. Still, Kita couldn't help but feel content. Truth be told, he wasn't even sure what he would find if he did gain access to the vault. Even if he did find something useful, Kita didn't know whether he could or would learn it. This was all on the belief that he would even get into the vault. Now that Kita thought about it more and more, that seemed incredibly unlikely. He was nothing more than a Genin, meaning that he likely wouldn't be allowed in, even with ANBU recommendation. Kita's face grew more and more sour as he pondered it for a while, and Bobo took notice. What's the matter kid? You got the money, didn't ya?"

A long sigh escaped Kita's lips. "Nothing. It's just the exhaustion from working on that order is catching up to me. I wouldn't worry about it."

Bobo chuckled. He set the money pouch to the side and sat down criss cross on the ground. "C'mon kid, I ain't stupid. I get that this is a work relationship, and it didn't start out too good neither, but I still wanna know what you're thinking. You were acting all happy just a second ago, so what's the matter?"

Kita slumped to the ground himself. "Oh it really is nothing. I asked that customer if I could have access to the vault, and he said he'd put in a good word. Now that I'm thinking about it though, I don't think it's likely I'll get in."

Bobo cocked his head. "The vault? What's that? You mean like the bank vault?"

Kita scratched his neck. "Right, you wouldn't know about that. The vault is an area of our village where we keep top secret village techniques and information. It gives us an edge over other villages. Without it, we'd be at a severe disadvantage. Only top level shinobi can learn the techniques from within that vault, just because of how powerful they are. If they fall into the wrong hands, our village could be done for."

"You're fibbing with me kid. They can't be that powerful."

Kita shrugged. "It might be a slight exaggeration, but it's still a very big deal. Knowing our techniques allows opponents to scope out our weaknesses. That's something that we just can't allow."

"Well why do you even want to get in? From what I've seen, you're plenty strong. Seems to me as though you don't even need those techniques or whatnot."

Kita winced. "Truth be told Bobo, I kinda do need those techniques. Remember the fight with Murata? I lost because I didn't have the techniques or the knowhow to bring her down. Weak shinobi are worthless, and I was too weak to win that fight. If I can't win a simple sparring match like that, what'll stop me from losing to stronger opponents in the future? How long before a real fight comes up, and I lose my life? I have to get stronger, to ensure that doesn't happen."

Bobo's furry brow furrowed in confusion. "What? Kid, that was a sparring match. It wasn't anything personal, it doesn't mean she's better than you, or that you're any weaker because of it. You just got a bad matchup, that's all. Plus, you're a lot stronger since that point. I doubt you're the same kid you were before."

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I need to be more powerful. There are hundreds of shinobi that are all stronger than me, and if I don't pick up the pace, I'll get left behind."

Bobo shook his head. "I mean, that is true kid, but it's fine to take it one step at a time. Nobody's expecting you to become powerful overnight. Just look at me! I used to be practically useless before I met you. Now, I'm more stronger than all of the other monkeys from the Kirigakure R&D Team! Just give it some time, and eventually you'll get it."

True as it may be, Kita still couldn't shake the feeling that he had further to go. He tossed the scroll up and down in his hand, feeling its weight shift in his palm. It wasn't just techniques that he needed to invest in. Tools, Weapons, Armors, all of them were useful in increasing his effectiveness as a shinobi. How strange that he hadn't invested in such things yet. Time to change that he supposed. With this much money in the palm of his hand, such things were now within his grasp. Of course, it would still take lots of time, money, and resources, but that wouldn't stop him from turning himself into the most dangerous shinobi he could possibly be. That however, was for later. For now, he would focus on growing his business. However, a thought crossed Kita's mind. "Now that I think about it. I don't think that I'm the one that we need to focus on Bobo. We've been partners for a while, and we still haven't gotten you any stronger. You need to learn a couple of techniques if you want to be part of the team."

Bobo's face contorted into one of nervousness. "Hey now kid, this ain't exactly about me you know? I just think that it would probably healthier to focus on our successes and accomplishments instead of our failures. I think it's time for us to just relax and take a chill pill."

Kita grinned and shook his head. "Oh no Bobo. It's time for you to finally pull your weight. I'll take a little break, but we're gonna train you up. I can't have you being a slouch forever. Besides, I thought that you wanted to learn jutsu? Trust me, I know it seems like hard work right now, but you'll thank me once we're done and over with it."

Kita watched with joy as Bobo slowly realized his mistake, and the hope left his eyes. Kita wasn't on his own anymore. Now, he was part of a team, and it was his duty to make sure that the team was strong. Even if one of its members didn't want to put in the work.

Word Count - 1277 Words

Total Word Count - 2573 Words

Jutsu Used:

Items:

Exit Claims:

Approved