An Old Home? [Village Entrance]

Walking down the broken cobblestone road, through the grit of the cold, dark woods, there would eventually come the familiar sight. People could often call said sight a pleasantry and pure serenity even. And even for the most dastardly of folks this fact could ring true for some. But gawking at the beauty of nature and it’s surrounding environments was too…peaceful. Too overrated. Something much more preferred for the lone teenager walking down this boulevard of broken dreams was what was coming in this direction from the way he came. The oncoming storm. Thick, vaporous clouds expanded rapidly out through the sky; dark and gray. Pitter patter in the distance southward was heard as rain fell only a few hundred meters back, but for now, Hiko had seemed to break through into the eye of this chaos.

While the smoky tendrils proceeded to lash out in the back, what lie ahead was a gate. A village gate, to be more specific. One that symbolized the entrance into the village hidden in the rice. A small, quaint little place which needed to be a bit more…lively. The Tau had a plan to do such, as it was finally time to proceed to enact upon it. A revenge fantasy and plot against the heinous crimes of a village who spurned him, so now it was only a question of where to begin rather. Hiko decided it was best to probe for some information first, and figure the rest out there.

So, walking on up to the wooden hut of a guard station, the scraggly rogue would stand. And wait.

WC: 267

In the vein of improving their defenses some, the guard hut at the entrance to the village was being upgraded. In the vein of "they were already down a gate guard, trying to man two locations was difficult", the guards of Tanbogakure had accepted pulling back.

In the vein of "there is an oncoming storm threatening tornados", nobody was insane enough to stand out at the hastily thrown together fence around the road that stood at the "outer entrance" to Tanbogakure.

Here, at the official village gates, there was a strange hush, even through the storm's roiling not far enough away. The hush was broken on occasion, though. Short, quick thuds. Repeating. Not in time with each other, but close enough.

Kuruoshiki Oni noticed the newcomer not with eyes, nor with ears, but rather with a different sense. Perhaps it could be called a sixth sense, though it was a common one for ninja to bother leaning. While not a powerhouse, per say, the person approaching was not a squirt, either.

At least, from the very limited sense he had like this.

Anybody with any measure of that power often meant they had additional power, something in their body or person. An uncertainty. They could be remarkably strong. Kuruoshiki would argue that, while he certainly was not the strongest person around, he was stronger than one might think from just checking that one sense.

He looked from behind the guard box, rather than in, multiple nails still hanging out of his mouth. One hand very clearly held a hammer. Not one meant for death and destruction, but rather creation. While his other hand was still hidden off behind the guard box, the hand holding the hammer drifted up towards his mouth and collected the nails.

"Right shitty day to be a traveler. Name's Kuruoshiki. Name and purpose?"

Wind would kick up, the sound of the boards from the outpost would creak and wail as if it was a ghost. Judging from this alone, one could presume that it has seen better days; the current guard inside and what he was doing only helped solidify this notion. Eyes would peer over to this man, gazing at him with…a chaotic sense of passiveness. It wasn’t necessarily a look of disposition, nor judgement. But, the person doing the gazing didn’t have what some would call beautifully striking eyes either. There wasn’t any anger behind them, but no happiness or sorrow. Not devoid, but simply unenergetic and wanting to get this over with.

Luckily for Hiko, it would seem as if the gate guard was in somewhat of the same boat as the traveler; posing the who is he and what he’s doing here question right away. Cracking a slight grin at the man’s small first statement, he’d feel the need to add ”Only slightly; there’ve been worse that I’ve traveled through.” How he spoke was in a lower tone than expected from someone who looked young. The voice wasn’t deep, but the way it sounded was like rock moving against rock. ”But I digress,” Hiko would start to continue, ”The name is Hiko Shimada. I have business with the Kage, Asahi Yagami. A business proposal for him. He gave me a spot of land here within the country not too long ago, and I’ve been meaning to finally expand upon it.” Which was all true, in a sense.

None of the words were twisted at the base of their core. It’s just, the more defined and elaborate form of this was something he didn’t necessarily feel like sharing in this moment. What was he supposed to say; I’m looking to starting a smuggling ring to get more ryo to hire more missing ninja and help take down most of the world as they knew it? That would be one way to immediately get turned away, so it was something that went left unsaid. Nor was there any indication of hiding this, the body language would read as open, eye contact would be properly maintained and broken at what would be considered a normal pace throughout a conversation.

WC: 400
TWC: 645

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news," Kuruoshiki began, "but Asahi stepped down awhile back. I can't say one way or another if there is some record of his deal with you, With the recent spurts in activity here, though, if it was forgotten, it may have even been built over."

Kuruoshiki said this very matter of factly. Much as he was building a new guard station, even with the imminent threat of dangerous weather, he knew several places outside the village had started being built, especially as the Northern Rice and Sake Trading Company had started expanding trade routes. Whole villages had sprung up along those, seemingly out of nowhere. The only real possible like was about Asahi's departure. It was still... largely a mystery. To put it kindly.

Kuruoshiki continued "We could probably set you up with a meeting with the current Kage, find out if the deal, and the land, still remain."

Kuruoshiki looked up to the sky, with the storm approaching ever nearer.

"Likely not today, though. Too much to deal with with the storm prep."

Ah…

That was unfortunate to the person he relayed information to about Tanbo then, seeing as it was now rendered null and void. However, this did call for even better things in regards to Hiko’s future. The plan could be further accelerated into action, plus. There was no need to worry about the faulty info, for it wasn’t meant to be that way. Besides that, the Scorpion would be able to talk to the Demon of the Leaf next; whenever he’d be summoned. None of this inner machinations would visibly read on the stoic face. The visage would remain passive, as if simply taking it all in.

”Hmmph. This is rather urgent business, so perhaps the next in line will do. If there’s no one currently residing in that position, or if they’d be open to sharing the role; consider this being me throwing my name into the ring.” There wouldn’t be much pause between this sentence in the next, but enough to give the guard a moment to ponder upon that. ”To quell any questions of what exactly I could bring to the table; quite simply my allies. Anonymous for now, but powerful ones. Do me this favor, and I’ll see to it you be rewarded for not only this moment, but also the clear hard work you’re putting in.” The last words uttered were undoubtedly sweet talking, but, genuine. It wasn’t as if it was being said to just gain without giving, it was offering a promise of you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.

For even Hiko knew; chaos wasn’t evil. But nor was it good. The most chaotic things one could do sometimes are tinged with little niceties, especially for a scoundrel.

WC: 287
TWC: 1032

"Leave."

Simple.
Straight.
To the point.

Kuruoshiki had waited for the individual to finish talking. For this person he had no really knowledge of, or any reason to trust, talk so simply of meeting, even being, the 'second in command' of an entire village. He first thought it to be a simple joke. A poor one, a joke that would have gotten him higher scrutiny no matter the exact situation.

The pause, which seemed to be the perfect length to let someone start thinking, but not have enough time to truly ponder, was followed by confirmation that this was not, in fact, a joke. Speaking of anonymous 'allies' as if that was a statement worth any consideration. Then, plainly and simply trying to bribe Kuruoshiki.

'Leave' was the good ending.

With nothing else to say but "Well, in that case. Tell the person in charge I'll send a letter to them when I'm available." Hiko would leave.

Almost straight and to the point. The only thing throwing this off was his eye being caught by another random village member, someone who just appeared to be a town crier of sorts with no distinguishable rank in the village itself. They put up a poster near the gate, and the scorpion would take a quick peak at it before leaving. He'd make it clear that he was only looking at it to see that there was apparently elections being previously held for a leadership spot. And now they weren't. This was all the info in which he had needed, so the 17 year old wandered back towards the borders of Rice Country.

[Thread Exit]

WC: 140
TWC: 1172

Will be making claims at a later date

618 words, will make claim later

NPC 'exit', thread closed

12 AP
618 words towards A Rank Taijutsu Infusion (956/1000, previous words from here: https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t54388p10-the-zukumiki-strike-again-missions#408445)

Approved