Is it stealing if I don't care? [Borders]

Learning the Ropes:

Theft was a victimless crime or was it a victim filled crime? Manjiro didn’t really care to much but it was still a current thought going through his mind as he pocketed a seemingly unimportant piece of metal from a nearby village. From the shouting and panic of the villagers it seemed that maybe just maybe this was some kind of sacred artifact that the people there held in great regard and very much wished for its quick return to its proper place. Manjiro looked at the hunk of metal and it was a barely humanoid looking thing that had simply caught his eye and it looked like something he could use to decorate his meager room back in the Temple.
 
There certainly was an appeal to it but if this was something so important to the village why did they keep it out in the open like that with hardly anyone around to protect it. Maybe it was because there simply wasn’t any real threats of theft around this area. These people must have thought they were to far from the temple to have to deal with anyone from there coming this far out to cause them any issues like the other towns and villages in the area.
 
The priests of the Jashinist Temple frequent their neighboring towns quite a bit when looking for appropriate sacrifices to Lord Jashin, so Manjiro had traveled quite a distance away from the temple to find a place to explore without the annoying stare of people being suspicious and wary of him when he was just walking down the road. It made him want to pluck those eyes out, but it wasn’t a true desire of his more of a moment of annoyance so he didn’t do it, though maybe he would on the way back. It was up in the air on that part of the future. Though Manjiro was brought back to the present when he heard a nearby villager yell at him pointing and hollering something about how he had the idol and to come this way and get him and all that rabble going on. It was just annoying but that’s life, now it was up to Manjiro to decide if he wanted to decimate any chaser put after him or if he simply wished to vanish into the night.
 
Manjiro activated his Ketsuryugan and looked at that group coming towards him and by the chakra flow of those in the small group he could tell they were just barely above the average person and would be more of an annoyance to deal with if he wanted to kill them all. It simply didn’t pique his interest to stick around and deal with them so he broke off into the woods, cutting line of sight from the group and put his plans into action. He would need to set a trail for them to follow and put his skills to the test, using a clone to make the group follow the wrong way and Transformation to disguise himself as some plant or rock nearby so that he could double back and get out of here scotch free.
 
So that’s what Manjiro did as he ran through the woods, leaving false markers as he went that would slow the group down as they tracked him. Once he had a sizable lead he started to double back on the trail and setting fake branch off paths, and once he had completed that it was time to pick his spot to set up the non-physical clone and disguise himself. His plan was that the clone would make them think he had lead them on another false trail and force them to double back on themselves even more and with the disguise he could continue on his way after they left.
 
With the passage of time he found the perfect spot to enact the next part of his plan and after setting many false positives he formed the needed handsigns for the Clone technique making his clone stand off in some brush but visible enough for anyone to see him and then chose a place where a tree had fallen and caused a bunch of debris and logs. Once he had formed the needed handsigns for the Transformation technique he was disguised as just another log in the pile. It wasn’t long that he had to wait for the few trackers to catch up to his trail, there was that moment of alarm as they noticed his clone. Some fanning out to encircle the clone not yet realizing what it was, one of the trackers even passed right over where Manjiro had been transformed, not noticing him solely keeping an eye on the clone that he could see.
 
There was a shout about something probably telling the clone to put his hands up and return the idol or something along those lines but when they went to grab the Manjiro they were looking at their hand went right through the clone and caused it to poof into nothing. A moment of surprise and confusion was had and then angry shouting and eventually the return to the hunt finding the false trail leading away from where they were as it doubled back on where they came from. The trackers rushed to cover the ground they had lost having stopped to deal with the clone thinking it had been Manjiro himself. Once the sounds of the pursuit quieted that’s when Manjiro dispelled his transformation and made himself scarce from the area. By the time they would be able to find his real trail he would be long gone and scot free. It looks like they will need to find a replacement for this hunk of metal of an idol.
 
Tonight was quite the enjoyable time and Manjiro thought to himself how maybe just maybe he would come back in a couple of months and see what they ended up doing in response to his theft, maybe they would have fashioned another idol for him to take back to the temple or maybe they will have replaced it with some other thing that isn’t so easily stolen. He was quite excited to see what was in store in the future.

[Exit]

WC: 1044
Claims: 
+1,000 Ryo, +5 AP, + Missing-Nin Headband
Promotion from E-rank to D-rank and the rewards that come with that

+10 Stats [+10 Vigor]
+1044 wc towards Blood Release 0/2000 > 1044/2000

Approved