The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

Tue Dec 07, 2021 12:29 pm

Cicadas chirped their songs to one another, though it had been fewer as of late. The straw hat offered the minimum protection for the hot sun beating down from on high. Beneath the hat, a man with unkempt black hair stood ankle deep in a square pool of water, short sprouts of green rising above the surface. They had been planted along multiple rows, spread mere inches apart. He waded through the rows, pulling weeds as he noticed them with a solitary electric blue eye, all the while walking inside the paddy to prevent new weeds from sprouting.

It had taken quite a while to get here. After all, several years ago, the man called Komori had never even farmed a day in his life. Sweat dripped off his brow and rolled down his face, dripping off the tip of his chin and creating a small ripple in the paddy as it fell to the pond below. Now, rice was his livelihood. He was mostly self taught, though, his first few attempts were incredibly inefficient. Had it not been for the community of the nearby village during those first few harvests, he would surely have starved. At first, he thought starvation was a fitting punishment for his sins of neglecting those who depended upon him. If he was meant to die here, then so be it. However, his baser instincts kicked in and he accepted the food that was given to him to compensate for his own lack of harvest. He still wanted to live. Since then, he had observed other farmers in this small slice of the world they had cut out for themselves and their families.

He often thought back to the rot of Kumo. A state of undeath that had stopped affecting him even as a child. Perhaps it was when he had first taken lives back during his chuunin exams, killing prisoners warped in mind and body. But that was another life, long ago.

The song of the cicadas showed no sign of stopping as he neared the end of his rounds, examining the rice for disease or damage from insects.

WC 355

Wed Dec 08, 2021 12:16 am

The Komekage had said that the warehouse was in need of repairs, but as Shichiro looked at it he couldn’t help but feel he’d understated the nature of those repairs. The warehouse appeared to be ancient and covered in cobwebs, the paint on the walls had started to peel with age its corners where covered in cobwebs, and perhaps most alarmingly there was a hole in the roof of the property. “Well that’s the last time I buy a property without touring it first” He’d mutter, kicking the floor and creating a cloud of dust.

Still though, the repairs wouldn’t take long. And we can have our operation up and running in under a month if we play our cards right
None of that really mattered now anyways, his older brother Shinji would be taking care of the repairs, freeing up Shichiro’s time to secure suppliers and hire new workers. On the top of todays to do list, was perhaps the most obvious task a grocery store in the land of rice could have lined up… Finding someone to supply them with rice.

Satisfied with what he’d seen of the building Shichiro locked the door to the warehouse and made his way to the outskirts of the village, where clustered buildings would give way and one could see rice paddies for as far as the eye could see. He smiled at the sight of it, with all those fields he was sure he wouldn’t have a problem finding his supplier. A few more minutes on the main road out of tanbogakure, and a whole lotta steps later the young entrepreneur would find himself standing on the outskirts of Komori’s rice paddies.

Shichiro didn’t exactly have the look of a farmer, his typical attire was a pair of black dress shoes, dark gray slacks, a white button up and a black suit jacket. Today he’d dressed no differently and he would look entirely out of place. Ahead of him however was a man dressed entirely for the occasion, straw hat and all, exactly the kind of man he was in search of.

Not wanting to trot through the mans crops uninvited and also wishing to avoid ruining his shoes and pants in the water, Shichiro would wave his arms “Excuse me! Sir!” He’d shout as loudly as he could, easily drowning out the peaceful song of the cicada and making his presence known.

“Do you have a moment to talk!” He’d ask, hoping for a moment of the strangers time. He figured worst case scenario the man could point him in the right direction of a supplier, and best case scenario he could very well be one. Who knew really, only time could tell.

WC: 453

Wed Dec 08, 2021 4:12 pm

Conversely, Komori had done all that he could in order to look like an unassuming farmer. The straw hat was worn and clearly showed signs of use over several months if not years. His dark gray top was more akin to a traditional kosode, a favorite of the farmers. His black pants were loose and more akin to those worn by ronin, yet whatever fashion statement they held was rendered moot as the legs were rolled up to prevent becoming soaked from the pond. Utility over aesthetic. It was a stark contrast to the overdressed apparel of the man who hailed him.

The farmer was just finishing his rounds when the stranger walked up. In the corner of the paddy, the rice plants were damaged slightly. It was not beyond repair, as they should stand back up once more, but it would require looking into further all the same.

At the cry for his attention, Komori stood up and faced him, tilting his hat up slightly in order to get a better view of the source of this disturbance. On the other side of the modest fence that surrounded this particular field, stood a man with a square face who was obviously well groomed. Despite that, he apparently had manners. Komori stared at him as he asked his next question and sighed. He slowly trudged towards the fence posts that separated the two. A shinobi might think to just walk along the surface with chakra control, but he no longer felt like such a title befit him.

Komori wiped his damp hands off on his pant legs as he approached, his guard always up from years of it needing to be.The man was several years younger than Komori and by no means looked like an outstanding citizen. "How can I help you?" He asked calmly, not wanting to come off as too abrasive. Abrasion breeds suspicion and suspicion is something he did not need cast towards him.

WC: 683

Sat Dec 11, 2021 7:51 pm

The man already seemed annoyed by Shichiro's presence sighing as he came to greet him, a reaction that Shichiro understood, afterall nobody liked being interrupted in their place of work, legal or otherwise. A few steps later and the man would be across from him, where he'd at least attempt to look friendly. "How can I help you" He'd ask.

Shichiro would smile at the question before extending his hand. It wouldn't do to talk business without first introducing ones self. "Hello stranger, my names Shichiro" He'd give the man his real name, although it wasn't as if it mattered, and records painting him in a bad light had long since disappeared. He'd then wait for the stranger to give his name, looking him over while he waited. His hat was worn down, his pants were rolled, and his feet were soaked. Whoever the man was, it was clear he'd been hard at work.

Shichiro would shake the mans hand if he obliged and listen to the name, if the man was not feeling talkative he'd simply drop it after a few seconds before continuing. "Me and my brother just moved to the residential district, we come from the land of hotsprings, and we have plans to open up a grocery store" He'd say while glancing at the mans eyes to try and make out how he was reacting to the pitch.

"He's currently working on repairing the property we bought and I was feeling kinda useless so I decided I should get out and see if I can meet a few of the local farmers, maybe see if any of them would be interested in selling product to our store" He'd say still glancing at the man.

"So what do you say, got any interest? You've got quite the nice rice paddy over here". He'd say pointing his finger over the fence, as if there was any question which field he was speaking of.

WC: 325
TWC: 778

Tue Dec 14, 2021 6:53 pm

Komori listened to the introduction of the man before him, not quite grasping what the point of it all was. Regardless, he extended his hand in turn and introduced himself. "Suki." He would grasp the hand firmly and shake it once with a grip strength that would hopefully get him out of his hair. "Mori Suki. Means 'lover of the forest' if I recall. I'd say ask my folks for certain, but they're not around any more." The grocery store was almost an aside, his thoughts betraying him. Brothers, eh?Yet he kept his voice steady and his gaze firm. “You should be careful mixing family with business,” he said at last. It was a decent enough piece of advice, but his visitor had not come here for mere words.

His eye scanned the man before him. Nice clothing, hair that was well kempt enough, starting a business. “The rice I grow here is really only enough to feed myself. If I’m meant to sell to you, I’d have to expand out another paddy or two,” he said, gesturing to the unplowed ground beyond the main paddy field. “That’s a lot of work for someone of your… caliber," he continued dryly and for lack of a better word. “If you want to get my faith in this matter, I’ll need you to prove that you can roll up your sleeves-” He paused, pointing with an absent thumb at the farmland behind him. “-and help out where it counts.” Komori turned from the wannabe grocery store tycoon, his legs seeping back into the waters. “You said you were feeling useless, ya?” He called out, stepping atop the ridge on the other end of the paddy. “If you can help me t’ clear out another field, you’ve got yourself a deal.” With that, a mild smirk, long since believed to have faded away, appeared on his face. Should the boy decide to help, Komori would begin to mark out the square width of land that would need to be cleared and gesture for Shichiro to began clearing away the earth. A time riddled hoe rested next to Komori’s humble abode.

WC: 1041

Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:34 pm

Mori’s handshake was firm, a bit too firm, some might even say an unwarranted amount of firm Shichiro couldn’t help but think to himself as he endured the duration of the mans grip. When Shichiro’s hand was finally allowed to be free, the man would explain his name and its meaning suggesting that it meant lover of the forest. A name which seemed fitting for a farmer, it seemed whoever this mans parents were had a pretty good idea about the man their son would grow to become.

There seemed to be more to the mans comments about family, but that seemed like a loaded question after he’d just mentioned his parents were no longer in the picture, so Shichrio chose not to comment on it and instead listened to the man talk about his limited supply, and in turn to his offer, clearing a new field, in exchange for setting up supplies.

Shichiro quickly glanced to his own shined shoes, his carefully tailored pants and the sleeves of his fitted jacket. Was this Mori guy serious? The entire outfit was designer! The man however did not appear to be joking and had already begun to wade back into the waters of his rice field.

“…Um, you mean like right now”? He’d ask quietly still in a minor state of disbelief.

The farmers answer was of course already evident, and the question served no purpose. Realizing this Shichiro would resist the urge to groan, and instead kick off his shoes before placing them beside the mans farm, thinking to himself that at the very least he’d save that part of the outfit. “Alright fine!” He’d say while slipping off his jacket and hanging it on the fencepost. “You’ve got me for the day”

Now wearing just his white button up shirt, and grey dress pants, he’d roll up the sleeves of both before following Mori into the rice field. “But can I get that in writing?” He’d say jokingly as he grabbed the ho and walked to the area the man had marked. It was at this point that he would begin to look a bit like a lost puppy. “…Right then. I’ll just start …Farming?” He’d half question, looking to the mysterious farmer for guidance. It seemed this man was going to at least temporarily make an honest worker out of Shichiro.

WC: 392
TWC: 1170

Thu Dec 16, 2021 11:07 pm

People are often a bit too much. You can live your life for people, devoted to protecting them from others, but at the end of the day the greatest threat to someone is simply someone else. It does not matter how well adjusted one is in their life, it can be shattered all too easily by someone next door. People are animalistic by nature, they want what they want, and they often do not care how they get it as long as they do. Plants on the other hand, are far simpler. They just want to live and sometimes they need a little help to do so. The farmer wades through the water of his own creation in an artificial square that he dug with his own hands. His little corner of the world where he is content to be who he is without worry of foreign interference. At least, that is how it had been until now.

Shichiro seemed to prove the point for him. The young man had obviously never worked an honest day in his life and it showed in the way that he carried himself. “You can get it in writing when you've done your part.” Komori had always tried to be a man of his word after all. “Here,” came the cry from the one-eyed man. “I've measured out the land that needs to be cleared.” He gestured to the square that he had just finished marking with stakes that tiptoed the line between usable and rotten. The man hated rot, as he had grown up with it since one of these aforementioned people infested his village, his home, with it. While he might not have been the one to clear away the rot, he thought of this as he used these stakes, which had been improperly taken care of back when he first started this life.

“You grabbed the hoe did you not?” Komori extended his index finger towards the head of the tool. “Use the pointy end to strike the ground and tear up the land. You carve divots into the ground to plant the seeds and rid the land of unnecessary rocks. We also need to get rid of these plants along the surface that would take away the vital nutrients more rice plants would need.” He had more to say, and if Shichiro raised the hoe in order to begin already, the farmer would call out to him to halt him midair. “And be careful not to strike the earth so as to kill it.”

WC: 1465

Fri Dec 24, 2021 2:11 pm

It was just Shichiro’s luck that Mori turned out to be the most stuck-up man in this village. The rest of the small population were easygoing. Easy to work with. Easy to work for. Easy to fool. Why couldn’t Mori just let Shichiro hang around for a little bit, look useful, leave and get paid? This was not what Shichiro was focused on, after all. The kind of work he was usually up to no doubt would have been out of Mori’s league, he would not have understood the subtlety and planning that went into it. The eye-patched man was the type of person to assume their field was all there was to the world. Blind to the rest of it, how hard some really had it.
Now that Mori had put him on the spot, Shichiro had to make appearances. Yet there was no need to rush. "I get the writing… After I’m done? How does that work exactly?". Surely he was within his rights to inquire about his labor. Mori should have had to clarify things for him, judging by how seriously this village took everything farming. "You measured the land how? What are the regulations? I just want to make sure I’m learning things correctly, you know? Don’t wanna… Do too little work by fault.". He held his hoe straight. "Grabbed and ready… Just as soon as we clarify the finer details.". Shichiro was almost starting to feel like he couldn’t save any more time when Mori hit him with a perfect set-up line. "Wait. What do you mean? I can kill the earth if I strike in the wrong manner?". He presented Mori with his hoe. "You have to show me the correct way, Mori. Otherwise I might kill the earth. What happens then?".
WC: 298
TWC: 1468

Sat Dec 25, 2021 7:58 pm

Rather annoyed at the constant questioning, Komori closed his eye and pinched the bridge of his nose. The farmer had imagined this boy to be on the quieter side, and to work through his ignorance. Instead, he was met with eight, count them, eight different questions scattered among a barrage of words. “It’s not hard, son. You finish expanding my field, I use the extra product to supply your store.” It was a simple tit for tat arrangement, not that there was much to be explained. This farm was a one man operation, and one man alone would not be able to keep supply up with such an increase in demand. He measured the land by his own experience of growing rice, what size fields have been the most efficient, and by having been a farmer here for several years by now. Of course, this was not verbalized, because there was not a need to explain all the machinations of rice farming to a boy who, after today, would primarily only be responsible for the distribution. It seemed like Shichiro was doing all he could, including being a nuisance, in order to escape his own responsibilities that had been hoisted upon his shoulders.

The farmer made no effort to conceal his sigh of frustration as he grabbed the hoe from the imbecile. “You’re meant to till the land and remove the grass here.” He struck the earth in the corner of the new field, gently guiding the tool and allowing the dirt to be parted on either side. “But the earth is like a living, breathing thing. If you just hack at the ground with a blade, you’re just going to make her bleed.” The soil rifted, grains of dirt parting ways as the roots of the grass were torn asunder. “Get rid of the rocks, they’ll only be an obstacle to the roots.” He kept his course steady, using the hoe to push larger rocks to the side. Continuing down a single row, the divot he cut was not too deep, only serving to be the first among several more. Wordlessly, he finished his craft and walked towards Shichiro, rather abruptly shoving the handle of the tool into his arms regardless of whether or not he was prepared.

WC: 379
TWC: 1844

Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:25 pm

Mori didn’t seem to appreciate Shichiro’s endless questions, as was made apparent by the rather cartoonish facial expressions. Frustratingly he’d finally verbally agree to the terms they’d set out upon from the start of their encounter, which was all Shichiro had wanted. He’d smile leaning against the hoe as Mori grabbed it from him, causing the young entrepreneur to stumble awkwardly only regaining his balance moments before what would have been a faceplant. It was around this time that he realized Mori was in the middle of ranting an answer to one of the questions he’d asked.

He figured it would be best to at least feign an attempt at paying attention, and began to nod after each of the farmers sentences ended, repeating a word from each one.

”Mhm, till land
Mhm, don’t make her bleed
Mhm, no rocks, rocks bad
Got it. ”

He’d say, non-convincingly before catching the hoe that Komori had shoved at him, this time not losing his balance. The work itself didn’t seem all that complicated from Shichiro’s perspective, seemed to basically just be boring repetitive nonsense like most legitimate jobs in the world. Nothing he could ever see himself enjoying in the long run. Seriously, who would wanna carve lines in dirt all day for pennies and scraps.

He much preferred his line of work, but desperate times called for desperate measures and he didn’t see a way he could weasel himself out of this one. He needed Mori’s end of the deal to come through, so he’d give his best shot at tilling a line parallel to the one Mori had just made, and he did what he thought was a pretty good job for a first timer, sure it wasn’t as straight as the farmers, and a few rocks lingered in his divot but it seemed passable to him.

“So how long have you been doing this kind of work, you been a farmer your whole life?” He’d say curious as to how a man could work a job like this for so long without going mentally insane.

WC: 347
TWC: 1815

The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

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Re: The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

Re: The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

Re: The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

Re: The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

Re: The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

Re: The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

Re: The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]

Re: The Least Suspicious Paddy Farm Around [Shichiro]