Re: Four Hands are Better Than Two

Sun May 16, 2021 11:37 pm

After a moment of waiting, Nobutoshi heard a sharp whistle come from Fujimaru. Nobutoshi had no idea if it would work or not, but it didn’t seem like a bad idea. And surely enough, a few seconds later, the cat in question emerged, it obese belly almost touching the ground.
“How much does that lady feed this thing?” Nobutoshi wondered as he silently started creeping forwards. By chance, his positioning put him in the cat's blind spot, and with the cat distracted by the tuna, it didn’t notice the approaching man until it was too late. As soon as he was close enough, Nobutoshi shot his arms down and grabbed the cat, holding it against his chest.
“Wow, this thing is heavy,” he remarked to Fujimaru, as the cat tried to scratch him to no avail. Then, Nobutoshi turned around and started walking back towards the old lady, who was still on her porch.
“Oh wonderful, you found him!” The old lady exclaimed as she slowly made her way down to the yard. “Thank heavens, who knows what could have happened if he missed his vet appointment.”
“I think the damage has already been done,” Nobutoshi thought to himself as he eyed the massive cat in his arms, though he said nothing.
“Just place him in my arms,” the old lady continued. “Don’t worry I can carry him.“
Nobutohsi did as instructed, and true to her word, the old lady could manage the cat just fine.
“Now, your rewards,” the lady said as she fumbled around for her purse.
“No no, it’s alright,” Nobutoshi told her, holding up his hands, “we don’t need a reward.”
“Oh nonsense, I insist.” The lady was finally able to shift the cat into one of her arms and use her free one to reach into her purse, and pull out 2000 ryo.
“Here, 1000 for each of you.”
Nobutoshi reluctantly stepped forwards and took half of the money, thanking her as he did so.
Once Fujimaru took his money, the old lady told them she had to start heading for the vet now, and bid them good day.
“Well that was interesting,” Nobutoshi said once the old lady was out of earshot. “I think I’m going to head back into town now. What about you?”
Nobutoshi would wait to hear Fujimaru’s response before taking any further action, idly studying the money in his hands.
[WC=400]
[TWC=2188]

Tue May 18, 2021 4:54 pm

Mission Details:

Fujimaru let out a small laugh at the sight of Nobutoshi struggling to pick up the fat cat. "Yea, I sure bet he is" He'd finish saying before he heard the lady from earlier celebrate her cats return to her frail old arms which were somehow able to support the weight of her feline friend. Fujimaru mentally shrugged, it appeared this woman was a bit stronger than she looked.

He would also attempt to turn down the money, but the woman was simply not having it, and practically forced the boys to take it. Rather then cause a scene Fujimaru decided to quietly accept it, before telling the woman thank you and wishing her a good rest of the day. Nobutoshi called the situation interesting to which he would respond "That's one word for it" Fujimaru was about to respond to nobutoshis follow up question about where he was going when the familiar voice of the old lady returned.

"Oh dear I almost forgot!

The uchiha rolled his eyes before turning to the woman once more, what now He'd think

"I scheduled Amai's vet appointment at the same time I scheduled my grocery pickup on mainstreet. Would you Dearies mind picking them up for me and dropping them off on my porch when you're done? It's just a few vegetables and some potatoes"

She'd hesitate slightly before adding onto her earlier statement

"I'd pay you for the trouble of course"

Fujimaru thought about it for a second while looking toward the sky, it was still light out and he didn't really have anything else to do today, so he figured why not. "Sure, I can do it no problem. Nobutoshi, what about you wanna tag along?"

WC: 286
TWC:1759

Thu May 20, 2021 7:57 pm

Nobutoshi gave a slight smile when he heard Fujimaru’s response, but that smile soon faded when he heard the voice of the woman call out to them once more.
“Oh boy,” Nobutoshi thought as he turned to face the woman.
Nobutoshi felt more and more annoyed as he listened to the old lady. He desperately wanted to ask her why on earth she would schedule two things at once, but he barely restrained himself. Nobutoshi glanced over at Fujimaru to see his response to the request. After a moment of seemingly pondering the offer, Fujimaru accepted. A decision Nobutoshi wasn’t opposed to. While the old lady was starting to tick him off, he didn’t blame her for it, and he had nothing better to do.
“Sure I’ll come with,” Nobutoshi told Fujimaru. “You said the grocery pickup was on mainstreet? Do you remember the name of the place, because there are several.”
“Hmmm, let’s see here,” the lady said slowly. “I don’t remember the name, but it’s a green stand, and the man running it is bald.”
Nobutoshi made a mental note of this information before continuing. “And what name is the pickup under?”
The woman thought for a few more moments before answering. “Why mine I suppose.”
Nobutoshi was starting to get exasperated. “Which is?”
“Hm? Oh! Right, yes yes my name is Nozawa.”
“Alright, thank you.” Nobutoshi said as he started to walk away, relieved that he didn’t have to interrogate her any more.
“Wait, let me give you your pay before you leave,” Nozawa called out to Nobutoshi, holding out the same amount of money she had handed them earlier. “I’ll probably still be at the vet when you return with the things, and I would hate for you to do all that work for nothing.”
Nobutoshi smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” He walked up and took his half of the money, leaving the rest for Fujimaru.
“Now, we should get going,” Nobutoshi said to Fujimaru as he once again turned and started walking back towards the village.
“This shouldn’t be too hard,” Nobutoshi thought as he walked down the road. “Just grab the groceries and bring them back.” Yet Nobutoshi still had a nagging suspicion that something was going to go wrong, so he started making plans for any grocery related problem he could think of.
[WC=390]
[TWC=2578]

Thu May 20, 2021 11:14 pm

Fujimaru sat back and listened as Nobutoshi got the rest of the information they'd need to complete the job before following the boys lead and taking his half of the ryo the woman had kindly offered to pay in advance. The young uchiha would thank her, before following nobutoshi's lead. When the two had walked far enough away to place them out of Nozawas earshot Fujimaru would jest "Man that lady might be a little crazy but she sure does pay nice" He'd tuck his pouch of ryo into his clothing for safekeeping after speaking. "This work beats working on a farm, thats for sure" he'd say delightedly.

All in all the day was going pretty well, he'd made more than enough to buy him a few weeks of stay at the inn in town, and money after the fact too. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of that. His good mood however seemed to take a hit when they turned onto mainstreet. Nobutoshi had been correct when he'd said that there were several vendors on this street, and it had been smart of him to gather more information on the one they needed to go to. The womans description of it being a green stand and run by a bald man certainly narrowed the number of stands down, but surprisingly not to one.

Both sides of the street housed a green stand, and both were run by bald men that looked astonishingly alike. "Huh, what the hell are the odds of that you think?" Fujimaru would ask rhetorically before crossing his arms. "Alright then, I guess we divide and conquer. you ask the left and I'll ask the right. It'll be quicker that way I think" He'd say waiting a moment to see if Nobutoshi had any objections.

Assuming he didn't, Fujimaru would head to the right like he'd said he would, and would wait in a short line of villagers, ahead of him seemed to be two children trying to pick up some grocerys for their parents. The man pulled out a bundle of apples and sent them on their way before turning to Fujimaru. "How can I help you kid" He'd say politely.

"I'm here to pick up an order for a lady named Nozawa, she said to get it at a green stand run by a bald man on mainstreet" Fujimaru would say before immediately realizing that the bald description could be percieved as rude. Luckily the man didn't seem to mind, unluckily it seemed fujimaru was at the wrong stand. "Sorry kid, no order for any Nozawa here. You might have better luck at my twin brothers shop across the street. Numbskull opened a shop right across from me, and now he's stealing all my customers." He'd say, before raising his middle finger in the other stands direction.

Fujimaru thanked the man, and payed him 50 ryo for the help regardless before he turned to meet nobutoshi at the correct stand.

WC: 498
TWC: 2257

Mon May 24, 2021 10:28 pm

mission:

Nobutoshi grinned at Fujimaru’s comment about money, and felt the bulge in his pocket caused by the ryo. After this day he would be able to afford living expenses for quite some time. The two of them walked down the dirt road, back into the heart of the village. As they hit main street, the duo met a rude awakening. There were two completely identical stands with two identical people manning them. And go figure, these two people perfectly matched the old lady's vague description.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Nobutoshi said as he stared at the two stalls standing across the street from each other.
“Well I had a feeling there would be something weird, but never in a million years would I guess this,” Nobutoshi thought as he continued to survey the scene.
He was just about to suggest they split up when Fujimaru said the same thing.
“Beat me to it,” Nobutoshi said jokingly. “But yeah, that’s our best option.”
So Nobutoshi turned to his left and walked over to the vendor. There was a moderately long line, consisting of mostly older women.
“What’s up with all the grannies?” Nobutoshi wondered as he glanced over to the line Fujimaru was waiting in. “It’s a totally different age group than what the other man has. Strange.” After a bit of waiting, it was Nobutoshi’s turn at the front.
“Hello good sir, what can I do for you?” The man asked with a smile so big it looked like it hurt.
“Well I guess this explains his customers.” Nobutoshi thought. The man was so overly charismatic it hurt to experience, but it was the kind of thing old ladies loved.
“You probably have an order I need to pick up.” Nobutoshi told the man. “I was sent by a lady named Nozawa to pick up some food. She said it was from a green stand manned by someone of your description.” Nobutoshi picked his words very carefully because while he seemed super friendly, and like he could just laugh off an insult, Nobutoshi figured he was actually the type of person to go ballistic over any little thing.
“Let’s see, Nozawa, Nozawa,” the man mumbled as he looked through a row of bags. “Aha! Here it is!” The man handed Nobutoshi a bag.
“Wait a minute, she didn’t give us any money to pay!” Nobutoshi thought as he took the bag.
“Don’t worry about paying,” the man said with his signature large smile. “Ms. Nozawa paid in advance.”
“Well that’s convenient,” Nobutoshi thought as he thanked the man and started to walk away. It was then that the man across the street raised his middle finger towards his twin. Nobutohsi slowly turned, to find his assessment had been correct. The man who had given him the groceries was turning beet red.
“Ignore him, just ignore him,” the man muttered to himself, his veins looking like they were about to burst. Then things took another turn for the worse. A third identical man appeared out of an alley and dashed behind the distracted man, grabbing all the money off of the stand.
“Hey!” Nobutoshi shouted, which caused the raging man to turn around and start losing his shit.
“You dirty son of a bitch!” He roared at the escaping man. “You bring shame upon our family!” All three of the apparent triplets were quite heavyset, so instead of chasing after him, the angry brother yelled “hey you there! Go after him!” Nobutoshi sighed as he put his bag down, then started sprinting after the thief. Seeing the much faster boy coming after him, the thief made a sudden turn and lept into the first brother's stall, taking them both to the ground. After a moment of fighting, both brothers got up, facing each other wearily. Due to the amount of time they were rolling around, it was now impossible to tell who was who.
“This day just keeps on getting better,” Nobutoshi sarcastically told Fujimaru, who he had ended up next to.
“Hey!” One of the brother’s yelled. “Get out of my stall!”
“Your stall!” the other yelled. “This is my stall!”
“Oh boy,” Nobutoshi thought as the arguing continued. “This will be a pain to sort out.”
So Nobutoshi stood there, studying the two men, trying to come up with a way to deduce which brother was the thief and which was the vendor.
[WC=736]
[TWC=3314]

Wed May 26, 2021 1:42 am

"and weirder. dont forget weirder" Fujimaru would chime in to the chinoikes comment.

he'd thought it odd enough that there were twins running identical shops, and now suddenly they were triplets. The situtation he seemed to have found himself in sounded like something out of a strange book. As the two argued back and forth about who the real owner of the shop was fujimaru couldn't help but chuckle. "All right, all right. Both of you shut up for a second." He'd say before waiting for the duo to focus on him. "This is an easy enough situation to solve. One of you helped me earlier, the other was too busy focusing on what he was about to steal at the other stand." The two brothers eyes began to change expression, both of them seeming to understand where this line of thought was going. "The real you should be able to describe who was in front of me in the line to the stall" He'd say while crossing his arms and staring at them both rather sternly.

"I'll have one of you tell me quietly, and the other tell my friend Nobutoshi here. If you answer incorrectly we can safely assume you're the thief"

As he said this he'd lean closer to Nobutoshi and whisper to him while covering his mouth from the brothers eyes.

"It was a little boy and girl picking up grocerys for their parents"

After that he'd motion to one of the brothers to walk to him, and direct the other to nobutoshi.

The man seemed a little nervous for someone trying to present himself as innocent, but Fujimaru was fairly confident in his plan to discover the thief so he chose not to make an assumption based off of that observation. When the man approached, he whispered the correct answer, which caused Fujimaru to look in the direction of the other brother who had just gotten close enough to speak to Nobutoshi. He wondered, would his plan work? Or had the theif been paying attention to his other brothers stand as well.
WC 347
TWC 2604

Sat May 29, 2021 12:06 am

As Nobutoshi was thinking, Fujimaru tried to figure out who was who by quizzing them about who was in front of him in line, a decent way to start off the interrogation. However the plan was not without its faults.
“Chances are the thief was waiting and watching before he ran in and grabbed the money,” Nobutoshi thought as he listened to Fujimaru’s instructions to the two men.
“Got it,” Nobutoshi whispered back to Fujimaru when he was told who was in front of him in line.
As one of the brothers walked up to Nobutoshi as instructed by Fujimaru, Nobutohsi examined him for any clues as to who he was. Unfortunately due to the scuffle, it was impossible to distinguish them from any prior appearance. And seemingly just to make things more difficult, the two were wearing identical outfits. The man arrived at Nobutoshi’s side and whispered into his ear.
“The people I was serving before your friend arrived were a little boy and girl picking up groceries.”
Nobutoshi glanced over at Fujimaru and saw him looking back at him.
Nobutoshi sighed.
“Judging from the fact Fujimaru hasn’t done anything yet I can assume his man gave the right answer as well. Which means we need a new plan.”
“Alright, the two of you stand next to each other and face us.” Nobutoshi told the brothers. He had come up with a couple ways to deduce who was who, so he was hoping at least one of them would work.
“Empty your pockets,” Nobutoshi commanded the men, speaking strictly. Both men did as told and their pockets came up empty.
“Huh, where’d the money go?” Nobutoshi wondered, looking around. After a moment he spotted it laying on the ground behind the stall. It must have fallen out during the brief fight.
“Hey Fujimaru, would you mind grabbing the money?” Nobutoshi asked, pointing at the scattered bills.
“Excuse me,” Nobutoshi said, turning towards the other triplet. "Could you come over here?”
The heavy man nodded and slowly made his way over, his face still significantly more crimson than usual.
“Can you tell which brother is which?” Nobutoshi inquired, gesturing to the two men.
“‘Course I can,” the man told Gonk.
The man who had given his answer to Fujimaru started to shift nervously.
“That one right there’s the son of a bitch who did it.”
The thief, who was indeed the one who had given his answer to Fujimaru bolted, or at least as much of a bolt as someone of his size could do.
Nobutoshi sighed.
“Should we go after him?” Nobutoshi asked Fujimaru, a bit annoyed. It wasn’t their job to be policing the village but they had already gotten this tangled up in the mess. With another sigh, Nobutoshi started running after the man, easily starting to make up for the headstart the thief had.
[WC=478]
[TWC=3792]

Mon May 31, 2021 4:28 am

Fujimaru sighed as he realized this was going to be a little more complicated then he'd initially guessed. It seemed the thief more astute than the average criminal. He'd no sooner finished his sigh when Nobutoshi asked him to pick up the money. "Sure I guess" He'd say with a shrug before crouching to the ground and picking up the scattered coins behind the stand. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't tempted to pocket a portion of it then and there, but his morality won that mental battle and he placed all the ryo in a pouch which he'd return to it's rightful owner.

Besides He'd made more then enough today, if there was one good thing about being in a developing village, it was that there seemed to be no shortage of work.

He was about to walk over to the third triplet and return the pouch when he heard his friend call the man over, saving him the walk. Fujimaru handed the pouch over to the man shortly before he pointed out which of his brothers was the imposter. He wasn't exactly surprised to find out that the nervous one that had originally answered him was the one who'd committed the crime, but he was surprised to see him take off yet again. Nobutoshi had caught up to him so quickly last time, it seemed rather pointless to try another get away.

Nobutoshi asked seemingly annoyed if they should give chase. Fujimaru simply shrugged. "You can if you want" Fujimaru would say, farmwork and grocery shopping was all well and good, but he hadn't signed up to become a shinobi. Beside's he'd already gotten his ass kicked by one criminal since arriving in the village not so long ago, he wasn't in any rush to repeat that encounter. "I'll help from a distance" He'd call out to nobutoshi while reaching for a paper weight which one of the triplets had used to keep the paper which held records of sale from blowing away in the wind. He'd gotten plenty of practice with shuriken at shimatas the other night, and felt fairly confident in his aim.

As Nobutoshi gained ground on the fat man before him he'd see that paper weight wiz past his right eye and smack into the back of the theifs head, causing him to loose his balance and faceplant into the ground unconcious with a newly formed welt on the back of his head, that would surely hurt when he woke up. The man was no longer in a state to resist and would be easy enough for nobutoshi to apprehend. "HELL YEAH! BULLSEYE!" He'd shout with enthusiasm and a fist pump in the air.

WC: 452
TWC: 3056

Wed Jun 02, 2021 4:12 pm

Fujimaru didn’t seem keen on chasing after the criminal, so Gonk chased the man alone. But on the bright side, Fujimaru made the job a lot easier by knocking the man out cold with a killer fast ball.
“Goddamn,” Nobutoshi called back to Fujimaru, “nice throw!”
Nobutoshi attempted to pick the man and sling him over his shoulder, but his knees buckled under the man’s weight.
“Well that didn’t work,” Nobutoshi thought. Then something occurred to him.
“Wait a minute, why am I doing anything with this man?” Nobutoshi asked Fujimaru. “He’s not really our problem is he?” Shrugging, Nobutoshi grabbed a piece of rope from a nearby table and tied the man up, leaving him sitting in the middle of the street.
“Well that takes care of that!” Nobutohsi called out cheerfully, dusting off his hands. “You can call the village Shinobi or whatever to deal with him, I don’t care,” Nobutoshi told the two conscious brothers. Nobutoshi walked over to the bag he had dropped earlier and picked it back up.
“Hey Fujimaru, are you coming with me to drop these off?” Nobutoshi asked as he started walking back to Nozawa’s house.
“Well that was certainly something,” Nobutoshi thought as he walked down the road. “Who would have thought I’d be apprehending criminals. It’s a bit ironic.”
When Nobutoshi reached the house he placed the bag at the woman’s doorstep then turned and started heading home. If Fujimaru had chosen to come with him, Nobuthoshi would pause and say, “It was nice meeting you Fujimaru. Who knows maybe we’ll get to work together sometime in the future.”
With those final words, Nobutoshi started walking back to the inn where he would be able to afford room for quite some time now without a problem.
[WC=296]
[TWC=4088]
[Exit]

claims:

Thu Jun 03, 2021 3:42 am

Fujimaru would tuck his hands in his pockets and nod in response to his friends question about whether he'd accompany him. After all, he had accepted the chore it was only right he saw it through. "Of course, wouldn't wanna let the old woman down" He'd say, accompanying his words with a small laugh, before following nobutoshi down mainstreet and back to the womans house.

When they arrived at the womans doorstep Nobutoshi would place the bags down gently and turn to the young Uchiha, before exchanging goodbyes, and acknowledging a want to work with one another in the future. Fujimaru found himself nodding in agreement. "It was nice meeting you as well, we make a good team it seems" He'd say before gazing to the horizon, the sun was setting and night was soon to follow.

"Anyways, I should get going. I've still gotta pay the innkeeper for this morning He'd say laughing nervously, before turning to run back to his run down inn.

WC: 165
TWC: 3221

EXIT
Claiming:
Completed C Rank Mission - Find the Imposter
4000 Ryo & 20 AP
Completed E Rank Mission - The Sneaky Cat
1000 Ryo & 5 AP
Completed E Rank Mission - Farmhand for the day
1000 Ryo & 5 AP
Completed E Rank Mission - Food Shopping
1000 Ryo & 5 AP

untrain 20 stats to strength (2000 words)
train 12 stats to chakra (1200 words)

apply 500 words to finish Ninken Summoning Contract
apply 2700 words towards Sitka S Rank Ninken