Merry MooseMas

The Mission:

The Wonders of this winter wonderland continued to surprise and delight Musu Uzumaki. The Jounin of the Hidden Sands would have been in the village for a little while now, enjoying the sites, and doing some work to earn some quick cash. He quite liked it here, the crisp clean air, the cheery delightful inhabitants, and an abundance of food and drink that would make any person content for the rest of their lift. What Musu loved most was all the of the gifts and goodies that he had earned along the way: Money, Equipment, and a sense that he was getting stronger all at the same time. Perhaps this place was magical, imbued with some chakra that mad everything seem better, or maybe it was something different entirely. Regardless, Musu was happy to be a part of this great place at least for a little while.

Today was a big day though, throughout the time Musu had journeyed through this Village, he had heard tales of a great being that ruled over it: Santa Claus. Musu had never met the being and wondered if he actually exists. But the tales of his greatness were spread throughout all the villagers here from the innkeeper to the children and even the elders. Musu assumed that he had to be a great ninja, how else could a being be so loved by their people, but it was amazing that he had never heard of him before. 

However, as fate would have it, Musu had learned that this Santa Claus had fallen ill. Santa had a job to do, deliver gifts to the whole of the world in one night, and now he wouldn't be able to. Musu didn't know how he could help, but somehow someway the Hidden Sand Uzumaki was put on the team to make this night happen. Musu was scared that he wouldn't be able to deliver on the promise of the night but he also wasn't going to back down from a challenge and accepted. Perhaps he would learn something new along the way!

Musu was told to meet at a barn near the center of the village. The Uzumaki wondered why there would be a barn of all things near the center of town but it wasn't his view to judge.  HE was told that he was meeting with a team of ninja to complete this task, so waiting outside in the frigid air near the doors of this barn Musu would wait, sipping what remained of the that delightful cinnamon drink he had in a to go cup.

432

Sipping on his own coffee, Katsuragi is seen within the barn located in the center of the town. The placing of the structure was odd, as too were the contents within the barn, but atleast it was warm. The cold really didn’t agree with him, being born and raised in Quarter town( Tanzaku Town) made him more agreeable to the humid climates.

Katsuragi's attire consisted of a Yakuta black leather jacket, which underneath he wears a hanley blood red hoodie. His belt is black leather, designer's choice, with an overlapping LV emblem as a buckle. The pants he wears is a fresh pair of black stretch jeans with ankle zippers located on the lower inside section of the pants. His boots on his feet also being solid black of a leather material with an emblem labeled "EU", it's made of metal stitched to the tongue of the boots. His hair, still vivid, was a solid dark purple. His hair in contrast with his pale skin, however, his arms torso and hands bore a mural of mostly assorted prison tattoos; all black ink in color. He himself stood at a height of 6'2 feet with a thin frame. His tools and such were all assorted evenly along his attire, given no hint to their whereabouts yet allowed him easy access with a little bit of technique.

Being a freelancer, he took on a job from a person who went be the name Santa Claus. No, he didnt believe in an old man dressed in a red velvet suit who broke into people houses delivering presents to all the boys and girl. It was all nonsense. However, what he didnt believe in was money. And boy was the money he was getting was quite a sizable chunk.

While thinking of the mission details, he picks up another approaching the barn; his eyes gaze towards the door. He approaches the door and opens, revealing a figure who was sipping on a drink with a sweet aroma.

“Yo, are you here for the job? The fuck are you doing? Why are you out here in the cold?”, his breath now more visable then ever.
—-
Wc/ 360

From the back, into the tigers pose, then breach the mountain. Kota was talking about some body exercises with Del. The bird was curious about some exercise to get her blood flowing. The cold climate of Santa’s village confined her to his hood often. The change in climate was a good form of training. It was different and Kota loved it. It was Del that had a harder time adjusting. She considered herself more of a tropical bird.

Kota got dressed and prepared to see what he could do in the village. While he was here he wanted to complete some excess work. The place paid well and it was always a joy to meet new people. Besides, he liked to compare the places he visited to Suna. Kota was the type to think if he could improve anything in his village by looking at the others. He barely got out of his temporary abode before he could hear the rumors. From what he could gather Santa was in trouble from something. Looking into it Kota found out that Santa was sick and in need of help. Various ninja could take up the job to try and help him out. Kota accepted the job and went on his merry way.

“I swear we keep running into each other like this, we should have dinner. That or some other fun meet up. Maybe a chance to get warm by the fireplace.” Kota’s voice could be heard as soon as he spotted an ever so familiar figure. Flirting was in his blood but at this point Kota was under the impression that he had some type of karma when it came to being around Musu. The man was everywhere and did Kota detect some change in the Uzumaki’s muscle mass. Kota kept his body fit but he had a thing for people that kept their body in similar shape. The hunter was just lucky that staying in shape was the shinobi way. Fat ninja usually died earlier, the fact that the Akimichi clan still held on was a mystery. The other one present was not a face he was familiar with. Kota did not feel like talking to him right away, he would do so when his nuts felt less frost bitey. “I guess that leaves us waiting for one more.”

WC: 389

Another day, another mission. Now that he was back from his extended hiatus, Asuka was expected to go on many more missions than before. Once again, he was back up to doing higher ranked missions. They simply didn’t have enough personnel to only assign jounin to higher ranked missions, here. That meant Asuka was stuck on some of these higher ranked ones. Medics were valuable, he knew, but Asuka had underestimated just how many missions he would be assigned as one. Though he supposed it was meant to be an honour, being trusted at higher levels. He could only hope he wouldn’t let him temporary teammates down. That much, he wouldn’t enjoy. Failure was not an option, even if this mission had been assigned by someone who supposedly broke into people’s houses to leave presents. Just why had he agreed to this, again?

Approaching the meeting point, he found himself looking at two people he definitely knew, and one he definitely did not. Kota was more than familiar as a sight, by now, while he’d met Musu on yet another mission. He’d never met the third shinobi before, but he bowed to all three politely regardless. He didn’t speak until spoken to, knowing he wasn’t the team leader or someone who was particularly close to any of these people. He could claim familiarity with Kota, but that was about it. Nonetheless, he stood next to the other just in time to catch the tail end of his flirting with Musu, wrinkling his nose as he did so. Did the archer really have to flirt so openly? It was unprofessional.

He didn’t state his opinion out loud though, simply waiting with his hands folded. Today he’s opted for more modern clothes than usual, hair tied neatly back and out of the way for the sake of the mission. He wanted to present himself well, and having his hair in the way would do no good in the event of needing to perform emergency measures on any of his teammates.

WC: 338

Musu was a bit shooketh when he heard the slam of the large barn door open. Before that as the Uzumaki waited he didn't see anyone else around this city center, odd for this time of day Musu thought, but thought little of it, considering how strange this town was already.

As Katsuragi came into view the jounin of the hidden sand would fear his heart skip a beat as he stepped back from his perch. A bit of sweat would come off from his brow as the figure was inspected in a brief moment: very macabre but elegant in its own way. Musu on the other hand would look bland in comparison, his long grey-brown robes covering most of his body, but also not looking to most comfortable, as though maybe it was a wool or other cheap cloth that it was made out out. The only thing that brought relief to the monotonal robes being the red silk sash around his waist, holding Musu's gourd at his side, wrapping around the middle portion of the item, and of course beyond that Musu's long brown hair that was neatly threaded into a ponytail that ended right below his waist.

"My goodness, you gave me a fright, I didn't realize this was open!" Musu would exclaim as the rouge ninja spoke. As Musu continued to review the man he inspected his clothing, attitude, and overall... presence more. "Say, have you been to the Hidden Sand Village? You look very familiar.." Musu would say as the warmth of the barn would welcome him in.

A few moments would pass before Kota appeared, walking towards the village center with Del, a new addition. Musu and Kota had grown close over the year or so that they've known each other, definitely one of the most familiar faces in Suna, and one the few that Musu could consider a friend.

"Good to see you too Kota... and Del." Musu would say with a smile, hoping to match the tone Kota initiated with... "I see they got you on this mission huh?" Musu would continue.

At last arriving would be the also well dress Asuka. Musu remembered the young genin from a recent mission the two went on and was excited to have the chance once again to view the medical ninja's abilities more carefully. Considering this was a S Rank mission with a very important task needing completion the Uzumaki Jounin knew he needed to provide more than just support here and instead bring a more active measure.

"Ah, Asuka, good to see you again." Musu would greet with a smile.

Musu would quickly walk his way into the barn after making introductions and take note of the elegant, near pristine interior that it was in. Despite this, the smell of hay and dung would still linger in the air.

"Right, so how we going to do this?" Musu asked the group.

495/927

Before the others would arrive, Katsuragi would continue to stare down the Sand shinobi. Much after hearing him ask if Katsuragi knew him, katsuragi nodded. It was indeed true, he remembered doing an odd job with him in the land of Iron. It had been quite some time; Katsuragi was rather shocked he remembered this as well. “Oooh yeah, that was an odd job wasn’t it? Gawd damn!”, he shivers noticeably due to the chilling cold. The wind chill surged throughout his body with each brush of nature against his body.

Moments later, two others would arrive to the scene. Katsuragi didn’t know either of them. He narrowed his eyes upon the two closing in. However, with Musu speaking as if he knew them, he went along with it… Including the flirting bit.

“Yo…, I think he wants… you”, he states ever so bluntly towards Musu.

With the whole gang here, Katsuragi started off with how the group should handle the mission. “Maaan, I know how we gonna do this. We pull up to spots deep as hell, strapped! We get the money, drop off the product, rinse and repeat…. Easy as fuck! Show the old fat jolly fuck how we do it, Quarter Town(Tanzaku Town) style!”, it was like a reverse smash and grab. But, it also made sure that the buyers on the other end would pay up and not try to trick any of the group.

Katsuragi takes a peek behind him in search of the bag of product they were suppose to deliver.
—-
Tw/ 617

Kota was fully relaxed given the current situation. He was not the type to worry about why a person was rogue or not. Usually his only focus was to see if someone had an urge to kill him or not. If it was not wasting energy worrying would not be worth his time. Del was happy to be acknowledged; she gave a chirp and attempted to land on Musu’s head. Kota gave a smile as it was rare for the proud bird to take a liking to others.

“Of course I do. Have you seen his body?” When he realized the reply he simply gave a thumbs up at the comment. The sharpshooter was as straightforward as an arrow to the face. The comment barely came out his mouth when the last of them showed up. Kota was not thrilled to be running into Asuka so often these days. It could have been worse so he kept the displeasure and annoyance of his face.

Listening to how the man spoke, Kota gave him the nickname Sticks. The voice gave him a reminder of how some people used to speak out in the boonies. Sticks did make a valid point. It was easier to just drop and run. Kota was hoping to gain some insight from the abilities of Santa.

BOOM!

A loud sound of something hitting the ground could be heard. A large sac filled to the brim with toys and other goodies had appeared near them as if summoned. If it was not for the fact that it made a loud sound as it hit the ground, Kota would have questioned how long it had been there.

“Holy Hell! This is awesome!” Kota was excited and started flying to the top of the sac. It was fifteen meters tall and about ten meters round. He dove into the toys and pulled out a list. “Looks like we have a list of what goes where.” His voice could not withhold all the excitement. Growing up as a migrant hunter, toys and the like were a luxury he could not have. Closest he ever got was a new boy or some other similar thing used for practical work. “Smaller than I thought it would be.” It was folded as if it was one sheet of paper in half. When Kota fully opened it the list of names reached to the bottom of the sac with some more names to spare.

A cold sweat started breaking down his neck when he looked at all the names on the list. There were only four of them present. Even moving at his full speed Kota was not sure he could finish 25% of the names on the list. Not unless he started using his movement skill to grab people. That would waste so much of his energy.

“To be clear. Can anyone else here warp? This may be too many names for us to take care of otherwise.”


WC: 494
TWC: 883

-100 AP

Asuka wasn’t quite sure what the unfamiliar nin was even saying, but he nodded politely to both the strange man and Musu. Kota he quirked an eyebrow at, not sure how to take the fact that he was running into the man so often. He was distracted fairly fast though, by the deafening sound of a giant sack hitting the ground in front of them. Kota was quick to check it out, eventually pulling out a list of names for delivery. This was… a lot of presents. They’d be slowed down by the fact that going through the chimneys with all their equipment was unlikely, so most of them probably wouldn’t be able to fit. Though Asuka might, he was quite small and rarely carried weapons.

Kota’s question brought him back out of his mental speculation, eyeing the man with some trepidation. “I’m quite slow at the moment, I’m afraid. Given my specialties, I rarely have cause to move very fast, and have neglected my speed somewhat. Though Santa is supposed to go down the chimneys, yes? I’ll ruin my shirt most likely, but at least my size will be an advantage in that sense.” he commented, gesturing to his petite 5’3” frame. He was far from the epitome of manly bulk, all slender lines and lean muscle. That was something he could use to his advantage here though, no matter how slow he might be compared to the archer.

”Is nobody else capable of what Kota is, in this group? I know I’m probably the slowest here, so I doubt I’ll be able to deliver as many as some of you can.” he asked, brown furrowing as he tried to think of a solution. He didn’t know any jutsu that could reasonably enhance his speed at this except for surface walking, which would only really help him get to and stay on top of the rooftops.

WC: 317
TWC: 655

"Ha, well at least I know I'm cute to somebody in this world of ninja." Ninja would say, blushing a little as heard the flirting the the two. Musu was really quite flattered as he continued to go on missions with Kota the flirts from the hunter would get more and more intense, as the two had indeed grown a close connection since they began their learning back in Sunagakure, but Musu didn't really know how to flirt back. All he knew was that he could tell there was... intensity growing between the two ninja but he wasn't quite sure what that was, just a connection of a close friend or comrade, so something more.

"Well, I could be stronger, I'm much more like a stick than anything, maybe if I carried some weights on me, or maybe if I jumped so elegantly like you Kota, I'd have a bit more refinement. But I'm getting off topic."

Suddenly a large sack would appear in the center of the well lit barn. The might chakra of Santa would continue to impress the young Uzumaki for he knew that the man was well versed in Space-Time ninjutsu. As the group began to investigate the bag the Uzumaki would turn towards Katsuragi. The cool looking dude acting as cool as ever as they continued to discuss their plans.

"If it only it were so simple, or is it? What even is a 'Smash and Grab' anyways? sound rather harsh." The Uzumaki would ask.

"Quite a Conundrum indeed..." Musu would begin. The four of them would begin to gather around the sack, it was true the sack was large, but Musu had seen larger. Looking around the sack musu could sense the quiet tones of seals humming from the bag. Musu wondered if the seals were what kept the bag together, or perhaps they were what kept the goodies inside. For now, Musu thought it best to avoid messing with the sack and move onto different issues.

As he reviewed the rag tag group and their said abilities, Musu was still wondering exactly how the four of them were supposed to save the day here. There were so many gifts and no reliable way to transport all of these presents without the use of Space Time Ninjutsu, which Musu had very little working knowledge of. Sure he could see about creating a space time seal to teleport people, but the chakra to create such a powerful seal formula and maintain it for as many trips that would be required would make it impossible for the amount of time they had. Musu would turn back towards Asuka, elegantly dressed as always, concerned for the intensity of the task required of them.

"It is going to be a tough challenge for sure, Asuka, but things seem to work out in this crazy town, somehow any problem that I have had been fixed. So I believe that somehow we are gonna make this work!" Musu would say with a smile.

Just then, as Musu was done talking, the barn would rattle and shake for a moment and Musu could sense and enormous amount of chakra starting to manifest itself within the halls of the barn.

"Careful, I sense a large amount of chakra! Brace yourself!" Musu would yell, ready to respond to whatever was about to happen next, seals beginning to form around Musu's body, ready to release sealing chains if needed. A moment later, the barn would fill with a audible "puff" and fill with quickly dissipating smoke. A few moments later, four creatures would appear in stalls on the sides of the barn. The Uzumaki had never seen these type of creatures before; they were like moose, but slender, taller, and looked to be more majestic than sturdy. Each one would display streaks of different colors on their fur with various other features.

"Yo" The one closest to Musu would speak, his antlers were long but spread out more horizontially, almost like a T Shape, covered in bright purple fur.

"The name's Dancer, da boss man sendin us to be helping ya, eh." The beast would say, dragging his front hoof on the ground.

"Dont go thinkin we some pet tho, dis a onetime offa, eh. We fly, we run, hells wes even teleportin to and fro, eh. So whatcha need, eh"

[743/1670]

Katsuragi dropped his shoulders, as too his head, upon hearing Musu ask what a smash and grab was. He was in the wrong group, that was for sure. “Oh, come on Maaan, it’s whe-“, he was then cut off by a loud sound. It nearly vibrated the very ground he stood on. He junped a bit, but not to noticable. The sound of something heavy dropping to the floor, like a sack a bricks almost. He quickly turns behind him, searching the inside of the barn to find a large brown leather sack.

“Jackpot boys!”, he yelled as he joined Kota, searching the sack for anything valuable. He was a bit reluctant to hop in the sack with Kota, but the allure ofcthe mysterious Santa sack was all too mich to ignore. Who knew what the old far bastard had in the bag.

He found a few trinkets here and there. He even found a silver flask, with the packaging ripped off…

“No way, is that real?!…aww shit”, it wasn’t like Katsuragi was on Santa’s good list. The shit he’s done to put food on the table. But looking at the long list as he resided next to Kota made him all the more lazier. There was no way the four of them could do all this in one night. He streches the lower right side of his jaw in upon realizing who else joined the party.

Four, hairy reindeer appear on the scene. Each clicking away as they revealed themselves. Getting free from the temptation, he saunters over to the four reindeer. His eyes widen upon what he gazed.

“Whoa! Turn down the highbeams slim, you’ve never seen reindeer?”, the most built one out of the group stood out, meets Katsuragi head. They were quite bigger than Katsuragi’s expected, especially the one he was talking to. After Dancer spoke, Katsuragi chimed in. “Holly bells ya’ll are real! Who are you? Cupid?”

“Do I look like that fuckin incel idiot?! I’m Comet! The strongest of the team, and I should be leading the goddamn team too! But nooooo, that red nosed fuck of a brown nosing prancing bitch stole that from me, and no- “

“Yeah! Fuck that Rudolph! He took my spot and bump me back to junior varsity. Me!? Dasher! I’m the fastest of the fastest. Nobody can beat me in a race!”

“Uh not here guys, wes workin…”, Dancer said, calming the two down by placing a caring hoof on Comet and Dasher.

“Oh that reminds me, Hey Cupid! Vixen called, she wants you to come over!”, Comet said while leaning over towards cupid.

A lone reindeer steps out of line in joy, bucking around in excitement. “REALLY!? Wait, shut up!!!”, Cupid yelled.

Katsuragi stood there, wondering which reindeer he should pick to help. “Alright…, who’s taking who?”, the madkat asked.
—-
Twc/1094