As Above, So Below

The unfortunate part about staying in a village was that things were typically a little more expensive than the smaller settlements one might pass on the road. This meant that one couldn't simply do a day's worth of work to afford a meal and a bed- it meant having to take handfuls of jobs and living in squalor if one wasn't a resident or a part of the village shinobi, and as charming as it had been to take on the role of a homeless person within the village hidden in the stars, it was time to get prepared to take the show on the road once more. What did this mean? It meant taking on jobs that would put some extra script in the hands of the traveler to make his way towards the east. Even this, however, had proven to be something of a problem, as even the most menial tasks have been offered to the village shinobi in the form of missions; mundane tasks like cutting the plants or picking up groceries were typically claimed by the students or the Genin of the village, and something like working a restaurant or a cafe typically meant more long term work than Joski was willing to accommodate. So, naturally, this meant the young man had to get creative in how he would put some money in his pocket while remaining under the proverbial radar of the village ninja.

Enter Sadu Kozika. A curiosity shop owner who had a standing order for curios from a very particular location. This location, he would reveal, was a set of tunnels that ran under the village in all directions. It was believed, even, that the tunnels could provide a means into and out of the village, but no one had gone to the trouble of mapping out the expansive network beneath the city. A number of interesting items had been recovered from the depths of these tunnels, though the matter of 'interest' was something Mr. Kozika couldn't quite explain fully. At different points during the conversation, the man had offered examples such as a broken pen, a torn and illegible document covered in filth, a blank jutsu scroll, and- perhaps most interesting of all- a specimen in a jar that was supposedly taken from a laboratory found deep within the labyrinthine tunnels. In the opinion of Joski, this man had likely just been handed a collection of garbage that others had found and given a tale as to how they had come across it- a method that he, himself, had considered employing to get the task complete with as minimal effort as possible. Yet, something called to him to at least take a look. Even if he found nothing, the thought of rooting around in mysterious tunnels beneath a powerful village was an incredibly tempting expedition.

There was another catch, however, as Kozika informed him that another man had also accepted the job offer though the elderly collector was unwilling to part with any details as to who the man was. A confidence that Joski appreciated, as it meant the same courtesy would be passed along to him if others meant to inquire about him. This also meant, however, that Joski was meant to await an appointment of a person he only knew to be a man at the corner of a dilapidated building in the slums of Hoshi. Apparently, the building was one of the more well-known but least explored entrances into the tunnels given that the house had almost collapsed down into the earth after the jutsu used to fend off an invading force a little over a year ago caused a great enough shift for a hole to open up. And so, with his hands wedged deeply into his pockets and the sun rising near noon, Joski simply sat idly by, leaning against the wall of a building opposite their entrance and making no effort to conceal himself. Not many people passed this way as an alleyway ran alongside the building; surely anyone who approached from either direction of the alley would notice him, and less they made a particularly strong effort to conceal their life sense, he would recognize them as well. The end of a candied sucker flicked back and forth over his bottom lip, the treat rolling along his lower row of teeth in a mark of time passing that dabbled his tongue with the honied treat that took the place of his breakfast.

After all, who needed to eat properly when you were trying to save money, right?

WC - 762

Exiting.

Putting all WC towards mastering Instant Transmission [3,000/3000 M1]. Previous progress Here.

Overflow WC is getting chucked into the aether.