Work...and play?

Locking his jaw and gritting his teeth as he heard his peer’s laughter, Koutaku took a long, deep breath, then slowly let it out. Despite the breathing technique doing wonders towards putting him in a better headspace to deal with Niko’s disrespect, Koutaku had half a mind to whirl on his heel and throw a kunai at the man’s face. Nonetheless, he kept his cool and plastered a smile onto his face--though it did nothing to hide the barely restrained annoyance and anger in his gaze. Not turning to face the puppeteer, Koutaku picked up the pace, heading for the minor construction gig he’d picked up.

“Oh, sure I see the merits of puppetry!”

He said it with a note of sarcasm, as if there was a quip he wasn’t saying, as if there was derision behind the words.

“After all, tactically it would be so much easier to maneuver someone else than to risk yourself directly. A valuable ability, a resource even, I’d say.” He glanced over his shoulder, giving Niko that same plastered-on smile, though now there was no annoyance in his gaze. Instead, the genin seemed almost genuine. Almost. His false smile cracked into a more honest smirk as he continued. “Of course, it does leave a weak link for your enemy to exploit,” at that Koutaku reversed tacts even as Niko was still continuing in the same direction. Accelerating up to 30 speed, Koutaku was suddenly walking beside Kazan, lightly jabbing him in the side with a kunai. Not enough to puncture even his clothing, but enough to be annoying.

“You,” he said, finishing his thought, before dropping the kunai back into a pouch.

Picking up the pace again, Koutaku began to let the words and actions of Niko go, knowing that to hold a grudge was a waste of his time and energy. Though he still felt a bit tense from the brief incident, the Iouchiryo recognized that there was no reason to allow such a thing to well and truly ruin his day. So it would be, after a bit more back and forth they’d arrive at the construction site, if you could call it that.

A middle aged woman, holding a cane despite everything and leaning on it quite heavily, gestured towards them and then her house when she caught Koutaku’s eye. “Ah, guess this is the place then. Hopefully this won’t take too long,” it wouldn’t.

Spoiler:

Nico kept the man's speech in the back of his head as he continued on towards the job site when he suddenly felt a sharp jab in his back. Rewinding mentally he realized that this jab was from the before mentioned Kotaku. Turning around he would see a facsimile and his own grin would fall. The man thought that as the puppeteer that he was the weakness. While he may be right overall to think that he would be able to defeat him in solo combat was just downright wrong. He would step away at (90 speed) putting two meters of distance between them. So Nico would fly through the hand seals required for Hiding With Camouflage his signature move. Holding the last hand seal so as to initiate the technique he would then speak.

"While you may be correct I have put careful consideration into the weakness. Through this consideration, I have been able to remove this weakness as so." Nico would then finish performing the jutsu instantly going invisible. His puppets which were now in front of him with one on the left of Kotaku and one on the right both two meters from the man would be seen converging on him to corner the Genin (The puppets are going 90 speed) and the wires that controlled these puppets would be undetectable via chakra suppression. All of this would be done using the chakra strings on his right hand the 5 remaining on his left hand would once again connect to Koutaku's body and keep him stone still so he could not escape. Nico would then throw his voice using ventriloquism while also making it appear demonic. Saying.

"While I may be just a genin in my travels I have killed more people than I have met. In combat, my tutors said that sometimes it was like my weapons acted on their own. The puppets were my shield. But now they have become a weapon. Soon they will become an all-devouring flame. But that is not today." Nico would time this just before the puppets touched Koutaku cause then he would suddenly become visible and the Pinnochio puppet which while not intimidating had his mouth open with a kunai tip sticking out and the Oni puppet that had held his sword hand in an aggressive demeanor would both stop in there treads and rush over to Nico's sides at max speed. Nico's now visible face would look at his fellow shinobi and smile before saying.

"If you would like to discuss the weakness of each other's art we can do so when we are working or over tea. Not by brandishing a weapon against one's fellow ninja." Nico would smile before continuing his trek towards the tree removal mission he could tell this would be a long day indeed.
(TWC 2312)

Ah, how amusing, it seemed Niko didn’t much like being poked at, Koutaku thought as his smirk became a much more malicious smile. Raising his chin, and making one simple action as the two puppets rushed at him from either side--his hands already at his pouches--Koutaku plucked something from a pouch. As their wooden hands clamped onto his shoulders he raised that innocuous piece of paper to chest level where Niko could clearly see it.

Yet, though the puppeteer had vanished utterly, Koutaku very much had the upper hand as what he held between two fingers--which were forming the kai hand seal--was an almost innocent seeming piece of parchment. It was barely a scrap, that small thing, but upon it were a series of distinctive kanji, scrawled with an expert hand. They said only one word: Explode!

So it was that, unblinking, Koutaku addressed the invisible genin.

“Now, I wonder if you’ve ever heard the turn of phrase…’They took the bait hook, line, and sinker….’”

Exhaling slowly, Koutaku flexed his chakra, letting it slowly seep into his hand, where it spilled out. It didn’t touch the explosive tag, but it was awfully--worryingly--close.

“Well, simply put, you’re the fish and I’m the fisherman and frankly it doesn’t much matter if you and your puppets are faster than me, if all you have left is shrapnel and wounded pride.” That said, Koutaku promptly dropped to a crouch--escaping the grasp of Niko’s failed attempt to intimidate him--and continued on towards their location, pocketing both his kunai and the explosive tag he’d drawn.

Spoiler:

Daiko, sitting around, was simply doing his thing. He had retired from a group training session with Saya, as well as some other errands that he had to run. Daiko was happy with his new disciple, whom he had initially tested with spicy wings and such. That conversation had led to his first informal invitation to join the village... From a genin, no less. This was the same guy who had jumped at the mere sight of Daiko sitting on a bench... In the beginning, Daiko thought that he was just another ninja that wouldn't make the cut for chuunin, simply spending their time researching the bloodlines of Kiri that there. With a bit of guidance, however, Daiko assumed that he could turn this young ninja into a true shinobi. Though he obviously was in pain and had challenges with eating the spicy wings that Daiko had put in front of him, he wasn't deterred. Daiko was happy to see that this man could stand up to challenges that came his way, even if sometimes he was unable to actually gain anything from the lesson.

Daiko wasn't the type to actually try to be rude to those he cared about, he just decided that it would be best for them. Niko initially seemed like a jumpy kind of ninja, though had been beginning to prove himself otherwise. It wasn't that Daiko disliked the young man, it was just that he thought that he could be greater than what he was at that moment. Daiko remembered when he knew little to nothing, and Saya was there to teach him everything he needed. It was refreshing to be able to help someone else for once. 

Sitting out on the bench that he was always at, Daiko noticed that his young friend Niko was actually busy cleaning the streets, doing his due diligence. Watching this, Daiko was sure that he was just a mere paperboy in the grand scheme of the village. This was the whole reason that Daiko had decided during their training that he would end up mentoring the boy. Though he had a bright spirit, he also had a near inability to use high-level ninjutsu. It was somewhat comical, to be honest, but Daiko figured that at the very least, he would be able to train this man in the art of combat. Watching him sweeping the streets for a long while, Daiko got an idea. Getting up from his seat, he begins to sprint to the shopping district of Kirigakure, looking for something very particular. Once he finally made it, he rushed to the stall. Daiko slammed ryo on the counter and pointed to the object in question. This particular object was a bag. Not just a bag, but a bag containing the saltiest and sourest candy this side of the island nations. This wasn't your average sour candy, to say the least. Daiko thought it would be hilarious to see Niko eat it. He popped one in his mouth, just to try it out. Yuck. 

Turning to walk back towards where Niko was, Daiko blinks for a second. He legitimately made a technique so that he wouldn't have to waste the effort doing this shit. Cracking his neck, even though he doesn't have any bones, Daiko put the bag of candy under his right armpit and formed the proper hand-seals for his special technique. Dragon, Dog, Serpent, Dragon, Horse, and he held off for a second on the last one and sighed for a moment. A bit nervous about how this would go, he finishes with the seal of confrontation. After this, he felt the nature about himself shift for a moment, and he grabbed the bag of candy back and put it in his hand. Taking a step forward, he feels his chakra and his being shifting for a second, a warble of royal indigo envelops him from his core, and next thing he knew, he was 5 meters away from the chakra signature of his protege, and 10 meters away from this other man. This would happen at 95 speed.

Blinking for a second, Daiko noticed that... Niko seemed to look a bit different. He was much shorter, hunched down like he was about to have a bowel movement, seemingly ready to attack. Daiko wasn't entirely sure why, but... It was fascinating nonetheless. He had somehow managed to change his appearance, and make his height a few inches shorter. Heh. Who was the short ninja now? "Niko. What the fuck are you doing. The hell are you doing crouching around? And why are you built like that?" Daiko tilts his head, pointing into the direction of this man who obviously wasn't Niko. "You look like you came out of one of those damn bloodline books, with a clan history of bad haircuts. I don't know what kind of 'mission' you're on now but change back to your normal self. It hurts less to look at." Daiko shook his head, tossing the sack of candy in the man's direction. "Anyways. I saw you sweeping the streets and shit. Nice job man." Daiko nodded his head, remnants of the sour-ass candy still plaguing his tastebuds. Coughing a slight bit, he hacks a loogie into the wind, and it traveled on its own. "Anyways. Did you learn anything from our training? Or you just out here making a fool of yourself?" Daiko gave the man who he kept calling 'Niko' a thumbs up.

[914]

(AP Reduced by 20% due to Chakra stat)
-80 AP [100]
-80 AP [100] 

[1776/1926 AP]

[170/170] Clean up the Sand
[340/340] Troubled Tree
[340/340] Construction

While Nico had planned to walk away after turning visible he then noticed that his fellow ninja Kotaku had pulled an explosive tag and threatened to blow his puppets up. While this irked Nico it was not enough to warrant an aggressive response instead he would send his puppets flying away from the man at 90 speed outrunning any potential blast that he might activate. He also took the time to lock down his opponent's hands so he could not throw the tag at all. If he was to activate the tag he would only hurt himself. The response was quite stupid as not only did he threaten another shinobi but he also threatened others as Nico and the other Ninja were currently in the heart of Kiri. Nico even noticed some onlookers taking note in shock at what was occurring. Seeing the other ninja crouching with a tag yelling at thin air about blowing up the square.

"You know that was quite a dumb right. Explosive tags cant match my speed." Nico would say ready to mock the man when suddenly a slightly shorter figure would appear out of nowhere at a speed that outmatched his own. Alarmed Nico would move to the left of the man staying behind him to not reveal himself even though Nico was still invisible. Taking a brief moment to look at the man he would notice that it was his teacher Daiko. The man who had tried to 'kill' him on numerous occasions. Though that may be an overstatement, Nico was not irked by the fact at all and took it as a gesture of tough love. Seeing his appearance he wanted to talk to the man when suddenly he started speaking to the now crouched Koutaku. The verbal attack that Daiko launched was easily recognizable further confirming the identity of the other ninja.

After listening to Daiko Nico's facial expression that was invisible was flabbergasted. Seeing as Daiko had mistaken Koutaku for Nico and proceeded to insult him. Though a small, small part of him thought that the mistake and the attack verbally on the aggravating ninja were hilarious though he would not let his mentor know of the fact. He would just sit there in silence when suddenly Daiko would spit. The wind would carry this spit and it would land on Nico's chest. Which caused Nico to become visibly disgusted and lose concentration on his jutsu revealing himself. Though he would still be behind Daiko any onlookers that were watching would now notice him.
(2734)

Quite happy with himself at first, Koutaku’s smug amusement was rather rudely interrupted by a complete stranger’s rather sudden appearance. One moment he wasn’t present, and in the next he simply just popped into existence. Part of his brain catalogued the significant speed of the individual, while other portions noted the puppeteers' honest late reaction to his explosive tags. Brushing off his shoulders, chakra vanishing in an instant, Koutaku dropped the tag into his pouch as the strange interloper began to address...one of the puppets?

Then the man turned to him, made a comment about his hair and demeanor, before moving on. Koutaku’s eyelids lowered slightly as he deadpanned, his amusement draining away to be replaced by unimpressed annoyance. Further, he considered Niko’s prior words about spectators, causing Koutaku simply to shake his head--then roll his eyes at the stranger--before he promptly began walking towards their destination almost as if he hadn’t just threatened to blow a crater in the street. It had never been a true threat, just proof that he was fully capable of counter attacking despite Niko’s “overwhelming advantage.” Of course, his peer seemed to have entirely missed the point, but it mattered little to him.

As he passed Daiko, he spoke up, “You know you’re just talking to one of Niko’s puppets, right?” As he said it he met the stranger’s gaze, before passing him by. After all, he had a mission to complete.

Spoiler:

Daiko finishes his speech and was met with attitude from this ninja who turned out to not be Niko. "I--" Daiko continued looking at this man, taking a second to get his bearings around him. Niko was... Behind him. Funnily enough, since the moment he had actually appeared, he could sense Niko's chakra, though he was a bit too far away to actually detect this other dude. For all he knew... He was one of Niko's puppets. The next words that he spoke... Confirmed this suspicion. Turning his head back once again, he noticed that Niko's mouth wasn't moving. For a moment, Daiko's eyes widened. For a moment, he wondered if this was just Saya playing some sort of trick on him for taking forever to talk to her about the things that had been going on. No, that couldn't be it... Maybe Daiko just found himself in the middle of an awkward situation that he wasn't entirely sure how to handle. In any case, that wasn't really something that Daiko knew how to respond to, so he just decided to take it at face value. 

Daiko yawned for a second, before peaking over at Niko. "Anyways, I saw you over here sweeping. Anything else you have to do?" Daiko puts his arms over his head as if to stretch, this other ninja that Daiko had awkwardly harrassed seemingly turning his nose up at the two of them, and heading on his way. He walked within 5 meters of Daiko at this moment, and he got a feel for his chakra for a bit longer than a second. He definitely wasn't one of Niko's puppets, and at this moment Daiko had the feeling that he had interrupted something important. He wasn't really too concerned with what it turned out to be, though he mainly was concerned about whether or not they were actually going to finish the mission. "Ehhh-- My bad. Were you two doing missions together...? Or..." Daiko looked at the two of them to see what they had to say to each other. "I've been to quite a few places in this village... Even gave a guided tour a time or two... If there's somewhere that you're trying to get... I could probably get you there pretty fast." Daiko then pointed at the grouch whom's name he still hadn't learned. "Maybe it'll make up for some of the time I wasted, giving you some good fashion advice." 

Daiko nodded his head for a final time, bringing his arms down into an idle position, still feeling his chakra flowing throughout his body. "Just let me know where you need to go, and I'll try to be out of your hair in no time." Daiko yawned once again, though he figured that if he would make an entrance, he could at the very least be useful to these ninja. He might even be able to teach at least one of them a thing or two about some jutsu while they finished their tasks. 

[500]
{1414}

-40 AP [50]

[1736/1926 AP]

Niko would watch as the smaller ninja looked confused for the first time in his admittedly short time of learning under Daiko. Niko if one looked they would see Niko pull out a camera take a photo snicker and rush the camera back into his pouch. Though Niko would try and make this action low-key. After taking a moment he would then say.

"Hello, Daiko. How are you doing on this fine evening? You are talking to Koutaku by the way, he is a rather fresh genin if I do say so myself." Niko was still not impressed by the I'm gonna blow myself up to move that Koutaku tried pulling as dealing with the collateral would have been annoying. Though he was impressed by the young man's determination. Maybe he had upset him to the point of suicide. Niko would chuckle slightly at the thought. Listening as Daiko made fun of the other genin's hair Niko would take a moment to compare the two's hair and he was forced to admit that his abusive teacher was correct the fresh genin did not have the best fashion.

"Yes, we were doing missions together before you just appeared out of thin air, or at least trying to before all of this happened. Though I must ask how did you pull off that appear out of thin air trick. Is it some kind of invisibility or teleportation?" Niko would ponder. Though it was most likely that Daiko would not expose his secrets it was at least good to know his teacher's skill set. Though once he had heard the man offer transportation his assumption moved to teleportation.

"Oh, so it is teleportation. Geez and I thought puppets were cool. Now people nonchalantly grow branches from their hands and teleport. What's next, let me guess you're not even human, or maybe you will tell me your some kind of fish teenage girl hybrid." Niko just let the words flow out of his mouth. Though some of his numerous guesses were outlandish.
(TWC 3073)

Still more than slightly annoyed at the interruption, Koutaku continued walking until he heard Niko start going on about this...Daiko had just appeared out of thin air. This and the strange shinobi’s apologies somewhat softened his annoyance and so he turned, watching the two. If he was being honest, he didn’t really need the help terribly much, the exercise was good after all. Still, maybe he could learn a thing or two from this Daiko or at least hasten this process somewhat. He had training to do after all, and this was a poor substitute.

So it was that he walked back towards the pair and piped up, ignoring Niko’s comment about him being a fresh genin. It was true, but he didn’t like being reminded….

“Well, we had two missions left on the docket. Taking care of a troublesome tree near here, and helping finish a bit of construction work.” Koutaku shrugged, a neutral expression on his features. Evidently, he didn’t seem at all curious about the precise technique that Daiko had used to find them--let alone arrive out of nowhere. Simply put, Koutaku figured that he could easily just ask one of his relatives or read about it elsewhere rather than ask this...strange shinobi.

(OOC: I think we should just have Daiko transport us between mission locations, then we describe completing the missions. Then we can dip to turn in the missions then separate. We’ve definitely got more than enough WC for the mission completions lol)

Spoiler:

After hearing the man speak, Daiko turns his gaze over to Niko. He squints his eyes slightly, not quite sure how to respond to all the different things he was saying. "Teenage... What?" Daiko tilts his head, utterly confused as to who the hell this shark-boy and lava-girl type character that Niko was referring to were. Maybe someone who had been trapped in faraway lands for months that he wasn't able to meet? Daiko wasn't entirely sure. In any case, Daiko would be sure to help as best as he could. "Oh, nice to meet you Taku. I actually passed that tree earlier whenever I was coming over here to harass little Niko here. I apologize if he mouths off, he's a little bit jumpy at times." Daiko laughs a bit, before putting his hands out. "Alright, so. Uhhhhh---" Daiko blinks, and looks in the direction of the two shinobi, expecting them to grab his hand or something like that. As soon as they were both in contact, they would be transported to 15 meters away from the tree.

Once they were there, it was obvious why the tree was a problem. It seemed like someone had been trying to cut it down before, and failed. There was a mess of branches and roots coming out of the ground, and it was starting to tear up some of the concrete around it. Man. This was a wack-looking tree. Daiko silently wondered if he could just leave now, grab someone who could actually use wood release and just have them do it. He wasn't exactly trying to show off ALL of the tricks up his sleeve to simply rip a tree from the ground, though if he had to he very well would. He wondered if Niko or Taku had explosive tags that they would be able to use.

Walking away towards the tree slightly, Daiko finds a bench and sits down at it, stretching out and yawning a bit. "Alright guys soooo.... You got this one. This is uhh-- Part of your training Niko. Show me that you know how to work with this dude to take out this mighty tree." Slouching down on the bench, Daiko makes it seem like he's not paying too much attention, even though he is. He's watching both of the ninjas and was curious to see how they would solve this problem. It was pretty simple on the surface, though it seemed like it would be required of them to actually make sure not to damage the surrounding properties. If they did, it would've been just as well that they never took on this tree to begin with. He wondered what route they would take... It could be cut down with sheer effort, blown up, or burnt down with ninjutsu. Daiko had a few ideas on what he would do to take it down, but this wasn't exactly his mission. Well, it was now, considering he decided to agree on helping them. He figured he'd be able to make some excuse as to why he didn't feel like helping unless they actually were able to complete the task.

[525]
{1939}

-40 AP [50]
-80 AP [100]
-40 AP [50]
-40 AP [50]

[1536/1926 AP]