Rice of Raiding

Mission Details:

Asahi had never considered himself to be the melodramatic type. Sure, he had seen such people, threatening to cut themselves on their own edginess, but he? Himself? No never that just wasn't his style. He was more akin to a flower child, a being of happiness and merriment more suited for holidays rather than holidon'ts. Still.....he had to admit this was not his best look if he wanted to keep that persona going. Sitting on the ground, back pressed to a gravestone, writing poetry. Unfortunate, but we all do what we must in times of peril and need. The blonde samurai was dressed for a mission, in the closest thing he ever came to mission type attire. This meant his body was tied tightly in linen wraps, keeping his toso hidden should his kimono open up. The prayer kanji was scripted along the linen, and though it smeared his pale skin, this would for the most part be unseen as long as he didn't find himself in a very intimate situation. His kimono, a pale pink with stylized white star bursts spread out through it. Hakama pants of black, his favorite wooden clogs sitting next to him as he was sitting legs crossed. His hair tied in a tight ponytail with the assistance of the Tanbogakure headband. He'd replaced the band with a pink sash to match his outfit. The lady in town had given him a very good deal when he'd purchased multiple spools.

His ninjato rested in its sheath beside him, multiple ninja tools hidden within the pockets of the kimono. His hands currently busying themselves with a notebook and brush, a small bottle of ink sat next to the notebook, the stopper laying in the grass. Some kanji had been scrawled across the page, the awkward seat making it difficult to showcase his usual penmanship. He'd known the mission would take place late at night, so he'd attempted to sleep late. Not wanting to through away years of dedication to following the samurai code, he was working in his bit of well roundedness now. The haiku as stubborn as Yasahiro.

It was late, or early depending on perspective. Around half past 2 in the morning, the graveyard was nearly silent. The only sound the gentle hooting of far-off owls, and the music of insects from time to time. The sky above was overcast, thick clouds hanging low. They worked to keep in the heat, and though Tanbogakure was unlikely to get as cold as other climates, it was still wintertime. Yet, this night it was brisk at the worst, and refreshing at the best of opinions. His mission was to investigate some grave robbing that had been taking place, something that particularly irked Asahi's nerves. Call it a sense of professional pride, but if someone was going to mess with the dead, he considered it to be his job, not some amateur, especially if they were just after the money. The cemetery was quite large, some head stones newer and some so weather worn the names where long lost to the winds. Yet, Asahi had always had a way to determine who rested where.

"You have too many syllables you know...." The spectral voice came over his shoulder. A slight chill moving down his spine at the close proximity of the spirit. This particular haunt was a wizened old man who said he could help the young samurai with his haikus.

"I know that I am still working on it, you have to allow for some creative process." He'd lean back turning to talk to the ghost. Waving his brush and splattering ink across the grass. He was here waiting to see if any robbers should come, hidden in the back part of the graveyard mostly obscured. He was actually waiting on a second companion to aid in the mission should there be more than one robber. If they choose this moment to walk up, they would hear Asahi talking to themselves, unless they had a sense of spiritual affinity as well to hear the ghost.

TWC - 679

It had been a while since Kato had actually been on a REAL mission, or at least, what he considered to be a real mission. His last mission was technically A Rank but it was just gathering things and he had given it all over to Hanzo anyways so it was not like he gained anything. Well, he guessed the friends he made along the way counted, but most people did not really consider that when going over someone's mission log. What was interesting about this mission was that they may actually see some combat, which he was itching to do, especially with his brand spanking new curse mark that he could still somewhat feel on his chest. Even though he had healed from it he guessed he was still getting ghost sensations that triggered every now and again. 

He wore his normal attire, headband tied around his right arm, wraps on his left arm and right leg, ninjato on his shoulder, and the robes that he had taken the Uchiha clan symbol off of. In its place was the sigil of Tanbo which is where he truly belonged. His clan had done nothing but forsake him and make him feel inferior so he there was no love lost there. 

The night was quiet, stars bright in the sky, and the moonlight made it to where there was quite a lot of visibility. Which, honestly, worked out better for the potential grave robbers as Kato could see quite well in the dark. Especially with his Sharingan active, so, the one advantage they might have was somewhat taken away by the illumination of the night sky. That did not stop Kato from sneaking in and using the shadows to his advantage. Activating his Sharingan he was able to sense the chakra of Asahi and get to him quickly. He moved, stealthily, trying to sneak up on him. He was shocked when he spoke and Kato nearly hung his head in shame as he assumed he was talking to him but upon closer inspection he seemed to be talking to himself. 

"Alone so long out here you are talking to yourself?" Kato whispered jokingly over to Asahi as he approached and kept himself small. They had a good vantage point at the edge of the cemetery and the two of them were pretty well covered. "What is your creative process anyways?" Kato questioned as his eyes scanned the cemetery looking for any sort of movement. "Might help me, who knows?" Kato smiled, obviously making a joke to Asahi to try and lighten the mood. 

There was not a whole lot of activity at the moment and he doubted there would be. It was late, but, he was not sure that the grave robbers would strike together so quickly. At least he wouldn't. If he was going around breaking into grave sites he would break them apart to make sure that when people began to grow suspicious they would always be looking at the wrong times. Of course that took a little more forethought than what the typical criminal was capable of so he doubted they had thought that far ahead in the first place. "How much Ryo you think a grave robber pulls in for every grave they steal from? Can't be much, right?" He was unsure why he was so curious about it but he often wondered what it took for someone to get to this point in their lives where they were defiling graves. 

WC: 584

Asahi had long been prided on his abilities of spiritual awareness. Had he been born a shinobi this likely would ahve evolved into him being a prodigy in a sensory nin corp. As it was, he was not born into the shinobi world, and he was far off from a prodigy. When he focused his senses where on par with the best of them. Able to sense the tiniest of things, seek out the small details, and utilizing different techniques discern every detail around him. This was not one of those times, and he was not paying attention to his surroundings. Not a great combination when he was supposed to be performing a mission, but Ahma was an annoying ghost to say the least, and the haiku was taking up most of his brain's energies. With a jolt his brush jumped over the page scattering through what kanji he had been able to put on the page. Clearing his throat and recovering as quickly as possible he'd let out a quite cough. "No, Ahma is just annoying me again." He'd say gesturing over his shoulder. Of course Kato would not be able to see Ahma, however if he looked at the gravestone Asahi was no longer leaning against, he'd see a fresh engraving with Ahma's name and years of life on it. As a side hobby in his free time Asahi had taken to restoring some of the more weatherworn graves when he communed with their occupants.

He would begin storing his materials as he spoke. "Creative might be a stretch, but I do my best. For these, I just look at my surroundings and write down what I see, what I am looking for." Quickly his items would be stored, and his blue eyes would begin scanning the graveyard around them. "For example.....

Graves surround me
I think all is silent here
Bang, I am not alone"

He would count on his fingers through the syllabus. The 5-7-5 rule followed precisely. He smiled, and he heard a slight whistle from the ghost that had dematerialized at the approach of Kato. "it's important to add that hook to the last part you see, for a contrast......" He would say, Still looking around he would answer the next question that came. "I don't know if it's about the money, the bodies, or something else. We hold so many secrets, and even after our physical bodies are gone, I like to think our spirit has a lot to say."

For Asahi this was a very literal statement. For a man that communed with ghosts, it was always possible to gain further information, death was merely an inconvenience endured by others. For someone else listening to him, they might consider it a poor bit of philosophy, and for a well-trained shinobi they might think of how techniques stay within the body even after death. Like many things it was all about perspective.

As if to move a plot along, a loud sound could be heard as they chatted. The sound of loud thuds and steel on stone could be heard some ways off. Reaching into one of the pockets on the inside of his kimono Asahi would pull out a small ceramic bottle. Popping the lid he'd take a drink, feeling the burn of sake down his throat. "I think they are playing our song. What do you say......Kato right?" He would say with a slight smile.

The blonde samurai was one of the higher-ranking official members of the village, yet he rarely acted like it. He didn't spend much time worrying about what others thought of this either, instead just continuing on with his life, flowing to his own musical tune. He'd begin to quietly make his way towards the noise, hopefully with Kato in tow.

TWC - 1313

Kato's eyes widened a bit and he tilted his head looking in the area where Asahi had pointed. He even tilted his body a bit to look behind him but saw nothing. "Uh, who is Ahma?" Kato said scratching his head wondering if someone else was supposed to be meeting them. If so, who in the hell even was Ahma? He was familiar with most of the ninja in the village and he had never heard of this person before so his confusion was certainly plastered on his face. None the less, Asahi moved on, and so did Kato but he kept his eyes peeled for another person just in case. Kato, not always the most astute of individuals, did not see the gravestone behind him and thus did not connect the dots. Ah, sweet innocent little Kato. 

He began to talk about his writing and Kato intently listened and looked down at his Haiku. He had never been the artsy fartsy type but he always enjoyed hearing it from others. His mother used to read him poems to get him to sleep, he missed that. Then Asahi went super deep on him with the whole money and bodies thing and Kato casually nodded his head and tried to relax himself as if he had conversations like this all the time. "Totally, I definitely feel that," Kato said in his coolest mimicking of what he thought a much cooler person than he would say at a moment like this. "We are all just one big secret." What the fuck? What was he even saying? 

Thank whatever Gods were in the sky that a loud noise cracked across the graveyard and the awkwardness of the situation that he had put himself in seemed to not matter any more. Kato was not some super deep art type guy, but being a ninja, he was good at that. His poetry was written in the blood of his enemies. What was he even thinking that for? He had literally never killed a guy. Being in this graveyard was certainly getting to him. "Lets dance." Okay maybe that was kind of cool? It was the one sentence he had uttered that did not sound like it was written in a lab by a 13 year old aspiring poet. 

Activating his Sharingan, he looked out at the graveyard trying his hardest to sense anything. Asahi and Kato slowly crept through the graveyard until finally he was able to spot two distinct chakra signatures. "Two peoples, about 15 meters that way." Kato pointed up ahead of them. "Pretty weak, I would say malnourished bandits. I bet they give up as soon as we show our faces. What say we give them a nice scare?" Kato smiled and hoped that Asahi might go along with their plan. He seemed the type to maybe try and get in a good joke. Maybe the two of them could jump out and scare the two bandits? 

WC: 1080

With the smallest of sighs Asahi would simply say, "Ahma is the man who lives here, obviously. Pretentious old bastard......great poet though." He would explain no more on the matter. Asahi was never one to explain the ghost gatherings he galivanted across. Instead taking for granted how few people actually had the ability to walk through those circles. "Totally......You get it." Asahi would say with an approving nod towards Kato. The lad might be young but he seemed to have a grasp for what was going on. If he was feigning his knowledge then Asahi didn't pick up on it, rather taking what the Uchiha said at face value. I don't think I was that cool at his age....Asahi would say internally. A quick flashback showed an Asahi about the same age as Kato with a wreath of sakura blossoms in his hair, shirtless running around the compound from an old woman with a broom threatening to swat him. Flashforward and present Asahi nodded again, yep not as cool.

Fuck this kid is cool....Asahi would think internally once again. He even had great one liners before the start of the action. That was usually Asahi's job. However, he thought he mostly worked with Yasahiro back in the day, and he'd done a lot of solo missions of late. perhaps his wit was beginning to dull, and he needed to put it back to the metaphorical whetstone. They'd make a crawling pace forward as Asahi sighed. He needed to recover from this and regain the upper hand in the verbal confrontation that was taking place between the mission mates.

The kid was good, Asahi thought as he announced what was ahead. Thanks to his own sensory and finally some semblance of focus he had drawn the same conclusions. He listened to the plan and smiled. "I think we can do something of the sort, but still......stay sharp my friend you never know what people will do in a situation like this." It was solid advice, and he could hear Yashiro among the words. maybe the cousin had influenced him more than he thought. Still, he liked the plan. "You take the one with the shovel, I'll sneak around back. Go on my signal."

As he had spoken the last couple words, he brought a single hand up, making several ornate gestures. Unlike most handseals that a shinobi would utilize, his one-handed seals sought to pull out his spiritual energies and put them to a purpose. At the completion of his seal and his words Asahi would completely vanish. Even should Kato look directly at him with his sharingon the dustless cover would hold, as if Asahi had vanished from all existence. Taking his leave, he would sneak around and way from Kato. With the technique, it wasn't so much a sneak as a stand up straight and walk to where he wanted to be.

Along the way he noted that each bandit carried a shovel, and both had tantos on their hips. Armed enough.... he wasn't so sure that they would simply run away, but still he was willing to see the plan through. As he took up position behind the band he saw a bag on the ground. Bending low and looking at it, he noted that it was full of dirt-stained skulls. Only skulls.....that seemed ominous. Hand resting on his ninjato's hilt, he would stand facing the back of the bandit, releasing the technique, he'd let out a loud shout..."BOOO!"

To the bandit's credit, they did not react in a scared run-away way. Instead, they each shouted shovels dropping before blades where pulled. When they turned Asahi saw the look in their eyes, and it was something that had taken him aback. Their eyes where not that of a starved bandit, but instead of a zealot. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he wasn't pleased at what he saw. Presumably Kato would make his own entrance, further startling the two. However, even at this there was not a runaway, but instead an attack. One bandit towards each of them.

Two steps forward, one motion and a downward flick, red spattering the grass and graves. The quickdraw had occurred quickly and efficiently. The short blade of the bandits tanto wielded in a blind rage was not a match for the practiced blade of a samurai. Anti-climactic perhaps, but in true duels of life and death the story didn't matter, just the outcome. Anyone who said otherwise was dead or boasting.

His blue eyes flitted to watch Kato, prepared to step in should he need too. Still.....he hadn't liked that look.

TWC - 2085

Who lived there? Kato still had no clue who he was talking to. Was Asahi messing with him? It was entirely possible. None the less he did seem to take what Kato had said and accepted it? Maybe he was pretty cool after all despite what he thought of himself. But still he could be patronizing him but Kato could not quite tell. He hoped that Asahi liked him because he surely thought Asahi was a great ninja. The way he carried himself was a bit different from the other ninja in the village, though. It was probably due to his maturity and experience. The two of them were extremely different people at this juncture in their careers. Asahi was older, wiser, and seemingly more battle hardened where as Kato was just the young, inexperienced, shinobi who was still trying to prove himself worthy. 

As the two approached, Kato nodded his head, he got assigned the one with the shovel. "I will, see you on the other side!" Kato nodded to him and then made his way onto the opposite side. He watched as Asahi sleuthed into the shadows and then was caught way off guard when his chakra vanished from his vision. Confused, Kato realized he must have activated some sort of Jutsu, something he definitely did not know about. He was still learning how to properly use his Sharingan and he had not come across any jutsu that could hide from his eyes but he knew it was possible. He had always considered those techniques to be useable by high level ninja. So this only reinforced his belief that Asahi was a very competent shinobi. 

Waiting for his mark, he watched as Asahi jumped out, and Kato did the same. "Gotcha!" Kato shouted as the men screamed and dropped their shovels and pulled out swords. 

Kato was taken aback by this and was unsure of how to react. One of the men ran directly at Kato and, with his Sharingan active, time seemed to slow down for him. He remembered when he had been at the ninja academy and a conversation seemed to pop into his head. A bunch of the students had been sitting around talking about if they would ever kill someone. It was mostly macho talk but they all seemed so certain that taking a life would be easy for them. Killing was just another day in the office. Kato remembered not being so sure. Back then, he was innocent, he always thought he could become formidable without having to kill people. But now, in that moment, he felt odd. The man was charging him, fully intending on killing him, he was not sure how he knew but he knew. The way his eyes screamed at him even louder than his own voice. He had the look of a man filled with desperation. This was the only way he knew how to live and he could not let that way of life be interrupted by some village ninja who were sticking their noses where they did not belong. 

Behind the man, Asahi had cut his bandit down with ease, meanwhile Kato had not even unsheathed his ninjato. He was standing there like a deer in a headlight. Was he capable of doing this and would the story of Kato Uchiha end with him getting stabbed in a graveyard by some bandit? Oh that would serve to reinforce what a useless Uchiha he truly was. The runt. The scared little Uchiha who was afraid of confrontation. Was everything he had been doing all for nothing? All of that training, getting the curse mark, everything he had put himself through seemed like it was useless now in that moment. 

Then, in a flash, he snapped out of it. His training paid off because his body reacted without him even needing to do anything. The man sloppily slashed his sword at Kato who simply leaned backwards out of the swords reach. He could feel the steel whiz right past his nose and the man, expecting to hit something, was caught off guard and off balance. The sword pulled his body forward and Kato side stepped the man while pulling out his own Ninjato. The bandit did not give up, however, as he quickly rebounded with another powerful swing. Kato easily parried the blade upwards and then smashed the mans nose with the hilt of his ninjato with so much force that the mans nose broke and he let out a howl. 

"Enough!" Kato shouted at the man but, he refused to relent, and he came at Kato again. Instinctually, and without any hesitation, he buried his ninjato deep into the mans gut. The look of surprise was only matched by the look of surprise on Kato's face at what he had just done. The man grunted and blood began to seep out of his mouth and the sword hit the ground. Kato, trying to compose himself, ripped the blade from the mans gut and quickly he took a step back. His first instinct was to drop the sword, cry, and run back to the village, but he met eyes with Asahi and he could not do that. He cleared his throat and he did what his father had always taught him to get blood off his weapon. He lifted his left arm and ran the blade through his robes and then he casually put the ninjato back in its sheath. 

"Well," Kato croaked the words out and he held back the emotion he was feeling. "That did not work out the way I envisioned it." It was true, he did not imagine he would take a life this evening. He felt sick. He wanted to vomit. But also, he felt like he had finally gotten something out of the way. He now knew, in a pinch, he was capable of killing. If his life was in danger he had what it took to end a life. A fear he had in the back of his head for as long as he could remember. Well, he would have new things to worry about, mostly how he was going to process what he had just done when he got home. 

WC: 2120

Asahi watched the confrontation take place in front of him. His own blade still unsheathed and ready. He was far enough away that he wasn't sure if he could rush forward quickly enough, but the technique of the monks would get the job done if need be. Still, he felt it important to give Kato his due. He'd seen the hesitation and had almost acted before Kato had even a chance to recover. In the last minutes however, he needn't have worried. The boy handled himself well, with reflexes that surprised the blonde samurai. He knew the ninja academy trained shinobi one weapon usage, but still he hadn't seen it in much action. His fights being with either informally trained men, or in the case of his cousin other samurai. He held the blade wrong, and he was a bit wasteful of movement, but still he did all right.

When the deed was done, and the fire that had been in the men's eyes had truly faded, there wasn't much to say. The quick battle had caused Asahi's vision to narrow, to take in the world with greater focus. You didn't need to be a detective Yamato to see that the boy was having feelings about what he had done. Killing wasn't part of Asahi's normally day. It wasn't something he reveled in, and the action would now require much prayer and fasting in the days to come. Still, it was something that was part of his life. Even if just a small part. He was not sure how Kato's views or experiences where, but...........He didn't really care about that. Instead, all of his thoughts on the boy's disappointment was that he had not done a proper scare. "gotcha" he asked in his mind......the kid had waisted comedic gold.

"Some things never do. I don't think they were just grave robbers though." He would say cryptically, his first comment relating to Kato's poor attempt at scaring. Now that the threat was gone, he pulled up his blade giving it another flick, a red mist moving off the steel. Carefully sliding the blunt side of the ninjato against the top of its sheath, he'd then return the blade to his hip. "That wasn't a normal look in their eyes I mean." he'd say offering some clarity. Walking back over towards the sack, he'd inspect it more properly. 12 skulls where inside, the thirteenth surely meant to be drawn from the grave they had been at. An auspicious number by some accounts, though numerology wasn't something he'd spent much time on. Moving to each bandit, he'd search them. If Kato wasn't shell shocked, he'd in trust his aid on the task. Should he not move forward, Asahi would simply begin talking about finds.

Some occult materials and other items he recognized to be used in spirit summoning. He'd take a bag off the bandit storing the goods. He'd also take the skull sack with him. "You're going to want to clean that when you get home you know." He would say gesturing to the ninjato the shinobi wore. "A quick wipe isn't enough. People get that wrong, and then they wonder why they can't keep a fine blade." The advice was sound, and only touched on the physical. He wasn't sure how Kato felt, and though Asahi could shine in social interactions, those of a more serious nature eluded him. How was he suppsoed to tell someone they weren't funny? "I won't say you did good, but I won't say you did bad either. Take that how you like." He'd pause letting the seriousness of the conversation fall around them, before busting out with a laugh, "I mean come on...."gotcha"" he would mimick the action kato had taken. "At least I went with a classic Boo, and it fits even better cause hello." Gesturing wildly around, "Graveyard. I mean its just perfect. We have got to work on your comedic timing, I mean you killed it obviously, but I think you can "Kill" it." He would surround the second kill with air quotes. Some people just needed to work on their comedic timing.

TWC - 2776

Kato seemed to just be standing without much emotion and the silence was broken by Asahi. "What do you mean?" Kato said, himself slowly reforming at his core as he took a step towards Asahi. He thought back to the look in their eyes and he did remember that they looked... odd. He thought that was just the bloodlust inside of them coming out but now that he thought about it something did seem a bit off. Asahi began to search the bandits so Kato did the same. He felt weird reaching around the pockets of a dead man but he was trying his best to remain calm given the circumstances. He was idly searching around when he felt a slip of paper. Kato slowly pulled it out and on the page was a bunch of writing he did not recognize. Was this code? Hm, something did seem to be up but Kato was not smart enough to figure out what it could be. "Hey, I found this." Kato said handing the piece of paper over to Asahi. 

He commented on his sword and Kato nodded his head. "Yeah, that makes sense, but it looked cool right?" He was coming back to his senses at least. The note had definitely picked up a bit of his attention and the fact that he had just killed a man was slowly, but surely, being repressed right to the back of his brain where it would turn into sleepless nights and nightmares. You know, like it was supposed to be. 

His feelings were quickly deflated as he listened to what Asahi said. "Well.... I thought you did great." He was obviously disappointed but he very clearly did not handle his weapon as well as Asahi. He did not get to showcase his talents with his Jutsu because if it came down to who could make a bigger fireball then Kato was sure he could win that. But he felt like lighting a whole graveyard on fire was not the most conspicuous of moves. Then, unexpectedly, he began to mock the way Kato had tried to scare the men. For a moment, Kato could only stare at him, but then he let out a laugh. "I know! I mean, how lame, not going to lie I couldn't think of much. I mean, how do you follow up BOO? I was just hoping the loud noise would scare them if I am being completely honest." He smiled and the thought of what he did was still fading in the background. 

"Alright, so listen, next time we are stalking crazy bandits in the graveyard I wont let you down. On my honor as a ninja!" Kato made an eccentric gesture by slamming his balled up fist onto his chest and then wincing as he realized he hit his curse mark. There was not much left to do and Kato could not find any further clues. He was also starting to get tired. 

"Hey, if that note turns up anything interesting, let me know alright? I may not be the best swordsman but I haven't gotten to showcase what I can really do. I let you down with my scare so I gotta make it up to you anyways." Kato smiled and then gave Asahi a pat on the back before he made his exit and returned home. 

WC: 2681

EXIT

CLAIMS: 

Training jutsu at 25% discount due to max stats

675 towards 3 Tomoe Sharingan 

1875/1875 towards A Rank Copycat Jutsu

131 towards Curse Mark Transformation Stage 2 

6k Ryo

30AP

There walk back towards the village would be a good one. Asahi had placed the paper in his back pocket for the time being as they discussed the pros and cons of good and back jokes for surprises. Then it came time to depart. Kato went his way and Asahi went his own. He would review the paper thinking on what it could mean, but that was a problem for a future night.

TWC 2849

(Exit)
Claims

6k Ryo and 30ap for the mission rewards

1828 towards Partial transformation CM
1000 towards Disparity on earth

+56ap from training with max stats

Approved to all!