On the hunt for something stronger

Mission Details:

"My friend, you have been in this bar all night. Go out and get some sunlight, then you can come back tonight for another round, on me." The burly bartender said to the drunken Viking, the one that was barely able to see straight, let alone sit straight. Taichi leaned against the bar and he used his wood chakra to form two pillars from his back to lift him up straight. He tipped the barkeep and thanked him, slowly walking out of the bar, mentally preparing himself for the blaring sunlight that awaited him outside. As he stumbled through the door, he lifted his left hand to cover his eyes, being unable to handle the sheer amount of brightness that was behind the sun's horrid glare. 

A few steps out of the bar, and Taichi felt more able to walk. He took a few steps and he remembered a technique that he had learned many years ago. He formed the few handseals required and suddenly his chakra surged through his body, curing his terrible hangover. He released his wooden pillars from his back and he began to walk on his own two feet. A few steps were shaky, but they were straight. Then finally he was walking with only a slight sway, just enough to make it to where he was going. He had heard there was a mine just outside of town, different to that of the one he had visited once before, a titanium mine, that was looking for some contract workers. 

Taichi saw the gates of the village getting within sight, so his pace began to hasten. He wanted to hurry on over to the mine as quick as he could and make the money and possibly sneak himself a piece of that titanium, big enough to possibly make himself a reinforced blade. Taichi was realizing that he had very little to offer when it came to close quarter fighting, so he figured it would be worth it to actually fill that gap in his repertoire and he felt that a reinforced blade was just what was needed in that regard. As he exited the gate, he headed for the mine so he could get to work. 

Walking through the outskirts of the village walls, he noticed that the village definitely had a different feel outside of the village as opposed to within the village. The humidity seemed to vanish as the desert surroundings began to set in. The sun harshened in its shine, turning the ground into a blazing wasteland. He used his wood chakra to create a thick set of sandals to protect his feet from the hot ground beneath him. He saw the mine in sight, and he was prepared to finally get the work done, to finally get that hunk of metal that he had his heart set upon. When he got there, he was told to stand in the waiting area, to wait for the foreman to come and give him his assignment. He did so and he sat down on a chair, awaiting for further instruction, curious to see who else might come for this contract work.

WC: 526

To start the day Akabayashi began by applying a chakra scrambling seal onto himself. He didn't know who he would run into during the day, but with all of the extra people within the village he wanted to be careful. After applying the seal he activated it, masking his chakra for a bit. This would prevent most from being able to memorize his chakra.

As he walked he came acrose a board of help needed posters. Among the posters was a job seeking the help of ninja within a mine. The job seemed simple enough and some time outside the village seemed a good task. The reward of materials in addition to normal compensation was this big draw here.

Akabayashi had shown up after Taichi, he had heard an ingot of precious metal was an award for the task. He waited along with the viking for the return of the foreman. His Nova cloak was left at home for the day, he didn't want to bring it onto such a dirty job. Being in a mine it would be difficult to keep the thing clean, but his lab coats were regularly bleached so he chose to just wear those. 

While waiting for the foreman to return he would chat with the only other person present. "Akabayashi Terumi, it seems we will be working together for the day." He would say to the viking who was waiting just like he was for the okay.

It was no.wonder the usual workers didn't want ninja to do their work, a ninja would remove the need for tools and more metals would be mined faster. A ninja could quite literally tunnel into the earth and remove the metals, or raise the earth until the metals were visible, normal people had to work hard at crushing the rock with a pickaxe. Some, of the workers who came out of the tunnels dripped with sweat. Dirt having stuck to their foreheads from a combination of dust and sweat. They gave side glances to the people waiting for the foreman, as they knew why they were there.

WC: 350

A person needed the basics in order to live. They needed, to eat, drink, and have shelter. It had been two days for any of some of those things with Ryuzaki's empty pockets. He was able to get water by asking local shops within Hoshi. When he came across a work board looking for mining work to be done by ninja he was for it, the pay was nice and he could use the titanium to augment his next puppet.

Walking to the site he had to leave the gates of the village. With his average looks and low chakra most people didn't look twice at him. The desert outside the village was scorching, he remembered the feeling of almost collapsing during his journey to the place. At least now he had some water in his body and a purpose.

When he finally got to the mine, he wiped the sweat from his brow and entered the mine where two people seemed to be waiting. Both much older than himself. Oddly, one of them was wearing a lab coat with what appeared to be a suit underneath, how that guy wasn't sweating to death underneath was beyond the Nara. Hell, the dude even seemed to be comfortable in the hot temperature.

The other guy was almost as tall as the doctor, but more muscular. His skin tone made it clear he wasn't used to thr intense heat outside. "Hello, I'm here for the mining job." He would say to the clearly older of the two being the red head in the lab coat.
WC: 253

Taichi was not disappointed when he saw there were two individuals that were going to be joining him in the mines to attempt to gather some titanium for themselves. He leaned back in the chair he was sitting in and he introduced himself to the individuals that had just joined him in the waiting area, waiting for the foreman to give them there go ahead to enter the mines. "Hey there. Name is Taichi. How you guys doing?" Taichi would be respectful to their responses, but they would soon be approached by the foreman himself, who must have remembered Taichi from their last encounter. He spoke in a soft tone, being sure not to yell at the three, "Thank you for joining us. You three will be in shaft number seven. The equipment is behind you and you are welcome to it. Thank you again." The foreman would then turn away quickly before rushing off to another location in the mine.

Taichi smiled and got up from his chair, he placed his hands together and he formed a pickaxe with his wood chakra, as he remembered it was far stronger than the normal picks that they were providing for their contract workers to use. After he created one pick for each hand, he began walking down to shaft seven and he readied himself to begin the work that would take probably a good half of the day. He would wait for his newfound teammates, ensuring that they were all going to the same place. After the three would get to the same place, he would go ahead and start swinging the picks, awaiting the conversation that would start as they would work.

After he had arrived a rather yound person had entered and addressed him asking about the mining job. He would of course respond to the child who seemed rather young to be allowed to leave his village. "I am as well myself, we are waiting on the foreman to see if he accepts us or something of that nature." The Terumi would walk about the room, but not far off from the others there to do the contract.

The one sitting would then introduce himself as Taichi and ask how they were doing. "Okay, just looking to see what this metal being offered is capable of." After a few moments of the group speaking they were told their work would be in mine shaft 7. Taichi seemed to be ready to begin as his hands formed into wooden axes, before the even neared what they'd be digging. Well he is excited to begin.


Akabayashi would wait until he found one of the places indicated for ore extraction before using the chakra scalpel technique to cut into the rock with precision. Around his hands was a hardened layer of chakra that could carve through Kaguya bone. He would cut into the rock and remove the deposits of ore and place them into a cart for easy removal.

The mine workers covered in dirt and sweat didn't seem to like that Taichi and Akabayashi were having such an easy time with ore removal. Their faces made it clear and the air of the shaft not only felt hot and humid, but also unwelcoming. "I don't think they like us." The doctor would whisper to Taichi and the child that had come with them. 

The sounds of metal hitting rock blasted throughout the mine shaft, but it seemed like some of the miners were on a break to watch the ninja '"work". At least thats how a few of the non-shinobi employees termed it. 

WC: 321
TWC: 771/1333

It seemed the red head in the doctor's outfit was not a normal worker of the place, but had an idea of what was happening. The man sitting introduced himself as Taichi. The guy seemed much more welcoming than the doctor who hadn't introduced himself and was now pacing about the room waiting for something to happen. "I am Ryuzaki. I've been better, but this is a good chance to make some money." The former ninja of Konoha would say taking note of the mutiple directions the mine shafts split into. Its probably like a maze inside.


Once the foreman came out and thanked the ninja he would direct them to shaft 7. Before leaving the place theu began the Nara would grab a pickaxe from behind himself as the foreman directed. The thing was heavy, but not so heavy he couldn't lift it. The walk was worse than outside, the difference between dry heat and humid heat was obvious. As the group walked people tended to look at them with rage.

As they neared their digging location Ryuzaki would heft his pickaxe over his shoulder and swing it down. The other two were using techniques to remove the titanium which was pretty incredible Taichi using his wooden pickaxes to smash through rock and the doctor cutting the rocks to retrieve the ore.

Ryuzaki was digging into the rock at the same speed as the miners, which left most of the focus from the miner's off of the Nara and on the other two using abilities. It seemed one had caught onto the glances as he whispered to the other man. "Maybe they think you'll replace them." Ryuzaki would whisper.

If a ninja could mine more ore, faster, more efficiently, and safer it wouldn't be out there to think they would replace the miners. From the looks of Taichi and the red head it looked like they could cut diamonds if they needed to. Regular rock mixed with metal ore was below their pay grade.

At this moment in time the Nara was glad all eyes weren't on him. Ryuzaki never liked being the center of attentiom preferring the shadows, but not anti-social. The more ore the group took the more miners would sarcastically reference the "hard working" ninja. It wasn't the words as much as the tone that made their displeasure with the group clear.
WC: 396
TWC: 649/1333

The group headed into the mine, all ready to begin their time of work. Taichi had his two pickaxes made from his wood chakra, but he noticed that one of the individuals had not picked up a pick axe at all. He was curious as to what kind of skills this guy would have, and what his method of extraction would be. He was curious if he was just going to punch the walls out, but he did notice the lab coat that he wore, similar to that of Stein. "Maybe he will use a refined chakra layer on his hands to enhance his strength, but keep the workload low, that would be quite interesting." Taichi thought to himself as he thought of what a good idea that would be, wouldn't even have to worry about dealing with brute strength, but instead you could just simply cut the ore directly from the walls. 

The other member of their three man group seemed a bit more "normal". He had no other abilities that he chose to cut into the mine's wall, he instead just used the analog tools at hand, keeping the same pace as the other miners. Taichi was unsure why he would go about doing something with so much extra work, but he didn't pay too much attention to it, until the child spoke. He spoke on how the miner's were reacting to their work, being far faster than any group of them combined being done by a single person in a fraction of the time. "Maybe they are worried that we would replace them, but they haven't thought of the most important aspect of us doing this. This is not something any shinobi worth his salt would do for living. This is merely something we do for our own benefit for a short amount of time. If any shinobi actually aspired to work in this hot, dark, and toxic place, then I would be deeply concerned for their mental wellbeing."

Taichi would continue striking at the walls of the mine, feeling the burst of rock explode from the impact that he was creating on the wall's surface. Each strike would produce more and more dust, but would take out more and more of the ore that he was searching for. He would turn his head, continuing to swing and he would ask the one wearing the lab coat a question. "So, what's your story friend? I have seen others wearing a lab coat that looked very similar to that one. If you're a medical shinobi, what brings you to the mines?" He would then listen for the answer given to him by the one in the lab coat, then he would ask the child a question. "Same question to you, what bring a kid like you to the mines?" 

Taichi would wait for the answers to his question, continuing to transfer the ore to the cart on rails behind them, being excited for the possibility of getting something to craft the perfect weapon out of.

Keeping his wits about him he would keep his ears focused on the conversations happening around him. It was clear these miners weren't fan of ninja, but they would be insane to attack three of them as normal civilians. Taichi seemed to know what he was talking about. Whoever would choose to do this work long term would be terrible for their health. The workers didn't even seem to mind all the dust and dirt in the air. The doctor was sure after cutting more rock that he would likely not be doing this work ever again let alone long term.

The doctor would look to Taichi and then Ryuzaki, but it seemed the kid would not answer first. "I kind of just wanted to check out the metal they were offering. I don't have a current use for it, but maybe one will come later." The Terumi would answer addressing the question, he would then wait for Ryuzaki to speak.

After the kid was done speaking the Terumi would make two shadow clones that would aid the kid in moving ore out of his way to pick faster. "They should be able to help you." He would say before returning to cutting the ore from the rocks. It also had a second purpose to anger the people of the mines by showing that one of him could be three people. It would also make them more wary of doing something stupid.
WC: 242
TWC: 1,013/1333

This guy was definitely right. Ryuzaki was only doing this work because the mine was paying and was willing to take him. They likely didn't know he wasn't much more capable their the workers they currently had. The heat was getting to him as Taichi said his face was dripping with sweat from the manual labor and all the hate these workers clearly had for ninja working here long term would not be good mentally. "Yeah, buts its still weird how much they don't like us."


After Taichi's question the guy in the lab coat would look to the Nara as if expecting him to answer first, but doctor man was asked first and he also wanted to know why a medical ninja would come to a mine. The answer wasn't all that interesting he just wanted to see what titanium was for. 

Ryuzaki would answer after Akabayashi. "I'm building a new puppet, my old one got destroyed and I can use the titanium to make a sharper blade for it and I need money. How about you, what did you come to the mines for?"


After he answered the unfriendly seeming doctor made two clones who began movimg ore for Ryuzaki. Perhaps he was going too slow and the red head knew they would try to underpay him if he didn't keep up. "Thanks." He would say hefting his axe and swinging into more ore.

The lights of the place flickered from time to time as the vibrations of metal hitting rock shook the strewn up lights connected to a loud generator. "I definitely wouldn't want to work here long term its kind of loud." The Nara would say thinking of their earlier conversation. If he thought of his current tasks then it got really boring it was funner to do with some sort of conversation. Which is likely what Taichi was trying to do, by asking why they had come to such a place.
WC: 326
TWC: 975/1,333

OOC:

The miners had been working in the mines for years, there were very few new people in the last year or so, as a lot of the young people were trying to become ninja instead of manual laborers. This annoyance, when ricocheted off the walls of the metaphorical and literal echo chamber the miners were in, slowly festered, turning into a dislike of the nina that occasionally came down into the mines and took their jobs. At first, the miners thought that the ninjas were nice and helping, but soon this sort of outsourced job was taking money away from the miners themselves. The leader of the mining company would simply have these ninja, who were incredible at mining, come in and simply grab a large amount of ore, enough for the whole day, and so the miners that were working would get a drastic pay cut for that day, as their work and quota would be reached far faster than the hours that they needed to actually upkeep their daily lives, and when this compounded over and over again over the months and months of the ninjas taking these jobs, the miners were slowly lowering their quality of living, and so the dislike and annoyance turned into hatred. 

The miners were not super smart, and once the echo chamber started to do what it did best, they stopped thinking about complaining to their boss about the ninja and the cut pay checks, as it was much easier to blame it on these outsiders. They unionized in a way, but not in the way that would make them more  money and proitect their rights as employees. The miners had been standing around, marignally doing their work, but mostly staring daggers at the ninja that had been doing their job, and it looked like they were doing it liexsurely, which the miners thought they were doing on purpose. The discontented whispers were spreading through the mine shaft they were working. 

"Ugh, these damned ninjas, thinking they're better than us."

"I really wish they did the job a little too well, maybe the mine would collapse."

"Ha, that would be great for their high and mighty attitude."

"They think our livelihood is a liesuerly job that they can just do on the weekend for some benefits."

The miners hushed voices and whispers throughout the ninja working on the walls of the mines, but eventually the miners were getting bolder and bolder, eventually where the whispers were more of normal talking, some of the miners actively spitting on the ground when their eyes met with the ninja and then immediately looked away in disgust.
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WC 441