A Plethora of Promising Pursuits

Missions:

Kai spent most of his morning in a secluded part of the village, a hidden spot hidden by the mists where he liked to train. Kai was uncertain precisely of the time of day but judging by the sounds being carried from the village nearby, it was still the early hours of the morning and he had been practicing his clone and transformation techniques though the latter was still something of an enigma to him. Kai could comfortably transform into basic objects once he had touched them and it was either black white or grey. His memory of other colours was less reliable he had been told and something as complex as skin tone combined with shape was particularly difficult for him. Every attempt at the genin exam the past 5 years he had failed to correctly use the transformation technique. The failure was a mental thorn in his side stag dug a little deeper with every failure. His senses had grown ever greater but as much as they made up for his lack of site they would never be strong enough to discern colour. He had puzzled over the issue for a long time.

When Hana had still been alive she had spent hours of her own free time helping Kaikos adapt and he is certain that without her help, assistance and kindness he would have given up on his path long ago. She had been a surrogate mother, sister and aunt to him and even in the later years before she died she would check in on Kaikos, frequently fussing and treating him like an unruly child. She had been the only person Kaikos tolerated treating him that way. When news of her death arrived at the village it was a surprisingly clear and lovely spring day, one expected it should have been raining or heavily covered in mist yet live did not confirm to epics and stories. Everything had been left to Kaikos and he moved in to her small home and remained there to this day. The room was one of the only ties he had left and had not yet found the resolve to let go of the final thread that tied him to a family. It was  a weakness but one he had accepted. Had Hana still been around he had no doubt he would have mastered at least some rudimentary transformations by now. He had not realised how much support she provided to him until it was gone. He considered it a great shame that he was unable to appreciate it fully at the time.

Kai shook himself free of his reverie, standing moistly in the mist as the droplets of water formed over his haori as he had remained standing like a statue, deep in thought and memory. He focused his senses towards the village, the increased ambience informing him that some time had passed, perhaps more than he would have wanted. He took a deep steady breath and banished the previous thoughts, selling them in his mind and pushing them from his thoughts and opening up his senses fully as he began to move at a jog to arrive at the chemists to help pack, weigh and store the local salt that was carefully collected from the village and its surrounds. It seemed that the salt in Kirigakure was particularly effective for use in chemical compounds though Kai admittedly knew little of the specifics. The first time he had turned up to help out the chemist had politely declined his assistance and it took no small amount of convincing from Kai to allow him to demonstrate his abilities. Kai had quickly demonstrated that he could weigh small or larger measurements in his hand with incredible accuracy, surprising the chemist with repeated testing that he could match the scale only several minutes after testing the metal weights in each hand.

Kai enjoyed the work and lost himself in the motions of weighing, bottling and ultimately packing the salt, occasionally sifting out larger grains or clumps and placing them to one side for the chemist to check or dispose of as he saw fit. The time passed quickly and once the task was complete he traced his hand over the work surface to detect if he had missed any grains of salt. He smiled despite himself at a job well done and bid his farewell before leaving the chemists workshop and beginning a series of stretches to limber up his body in order to complete his next task.

His next task was to practice being stealthy and compose his report, Kai had plenty of time to train his sneaking skills and one advantage of his exceptional senses was that he could detect even the smallest noises his body made as he moved, this made it harder for him to move completely silently but easily allowed him to measure his own progress clearly which was a luxury that many aspiring students and young genin was not afforded. Many times, he had heard students and genin ‘stealthily’ traversing the village, likely considering themselves completely hidden and completely unaware of the myriad of sounds they were making as they moved, the clink of kunai in the puch or rustle of fabric on a roof tile. There were many sounds that simply went unnoticed by most but he had no illusion that an experienced ninja on their guard would detect such noises without much more trouble than Kai himself could.

He removed the haori and folded it carefully before placing it within a small compact, waterproof bag that he wore, its low profile designed to carry less objects but hug his back closely. What’s more it could be modified with various straps to store a variety of weapons small or large within quick access should he need them. He focused on his breathing, slow and controlled to the point of being almost silent, he parted his mouth slightly wider than usual to allow the breath to flow past his teeth and lips without risk of an accidental whistle. His equipment and haori had already been secured and a series of soft clicking sounds issued form his body as he stretched slowly like a cat, softly popping all the bubbles of air in his joints to avoid unwanted clicking as he moved. Kai stood silently in the shadow of the building, clearing his mind and allowing his presence to diminish as his mottled clothing seemed to blend and fade easily in the mist. He remained this way for some time and perhaps an hour passed without anyone seeming to notice his unmoving form.

With deliberate slowness he began to stretch out his limbs and feel the building in front of him, his fingers seeking the slightest ridges which he could use to climb the stone wall by applying slight pressure and shifting his weight with excruciating slowness and precision. If anyone had been watching Kai might have conjured the image a of a stalking spider or perhaps a chameleon, slowly moving in without losing their sense of balance. He climbed as carefully as he could, taking great care as he did so and monitoring every sound he made and only moving with great deliberation and care. After what seemed like hours but was closer to 10 minutes he had scaled the building and lay upon the roof, controlling his breathing against every instinct to pant and massage his burning muscles. Moving with absolute stealth and precision took a lot of energy and hard work for Kai but he was satisfied with the results and knew he could have kept climbing for longer if required.

Kai climbed carefully down unto the balcony of the building and let himself in through the window, pausing to breath in the familiar scents of his apartment room. It still had the barest scent of Hana’s presence, but it grew fainter with each passing year, the smell of plum blossom was strong in the air, a small vial of oil with several reads diffused the plum blossom scent from the centre of the room, where it lay on the bare tatami floor. The room itself was sparse and contained little amenities other than a small table and matching chair that could fold under the table and be stacked away easily. The apartment had several rooms but Kai chose to sleep in the closet nestled between several futons to block out most of the noise so he could sleep. He found a strange comfort in the pillowy pressure surrounding his body and the muted senses they provided. He would still be keenly aware on what happened in the room and the futons did not eliminate all the sound but muted everything to a nice dull white noise. He pulled out the table and moved to the single cabinet and withdrew his writing materials and sat down to complete his report with steady controlled strokes. He used a special absorbent paper that allowed the ink to dry quickly to lessen the smudges. He dipped his fingers lightly into the ink and began making the strokes of multiple characters swiftly as his hands moved across the page, each finger adding a new stroke to a character proceeding or following it as his hands danced across the page and wrote up the report. He had never written this way in public and only did so when in a rush. Once he was finished he dipped his fingers an alcohol solutions and washed them in the sink, smelling and felling his fingertips until he was sure they were clean.

He allowed the report to dry before running his now dry hands over it, checking the subtle thickness of the ink to ensure he had written it correctly and he nodded to himself as he confirmed there were no mistakes before rolling up the paper into a small scroll which he tied off and placed on the second shelf down in the cabinet.

Once he had returned his equipment, he opened his balcony door and the mist roll softly in as he took up a cross legged seating position and simply sat and listened as he circulated his chakra as well as another form of energy that had always been able to sense, hidden deep inside his core as though slumbering. When he was young he assumed this was his chakra but after a few discussions with Hana he realised it was something altogether different. She had said it may have something to do with his clan though she had no personal knowledge of their abilities or techniques the emblem on his clothing identified him as member of the Blossom clan, a scattered clan that travelled around the world much like their name sake the plum blossoms they were named for.

As the day shifted into the cool of evening and finally approached night Kai moved again, massaging stiff limbs and leaping from the balcony and jumping almost soundlessly across the roofs as he made his way to the bank for his next task. He was allowed in and set about his tasks for the evening with practiced efficiency, checking the doors, windows and deposit boxes were all locked and shut correctly. Kai did not move any of the paper work for fear of misplacing something vital or important. He finished his mission by patrolling the perimeter before handing off the duty to another genin.

On his way home he stopped by Hana’s parents home and in the darkness and wet cloying mists set about planting and repotting several choice flowers that they kept in their small garden, Kai had little personal contact with the elderly couple who had never been particular fond of him or Hana’s decision to raise him. They kept to the older traditions of the village and strongly believed that his deformity would lead to disaster and that he would be better off with a quick death or being cast into the sea. Fortunately Hana had disagreed but she remained on relatively good terms with her parents, but visited less frequently until Kai was able to look after himself. The old couple had softened some what following Hana’s death though they still did not enjoy his presence. Hana had always ensured the garden was maintained and so kai had made a habit of checking during the night and carrying out small task to assist them. It seemed the least he could do and thought it would make Hana happy for him to do so. Kai was uncertain if there was any afterlife but it made sense to hedge his bets and if he was to face Hana again in some afterlife he would at least be able to say he performed this small kindness.

[Exit]

WC: 2128

Claiming mission rewards:
- 4,000 ryo
- 20 ap
Claiming stats:
+20 speed

Claiming techs
- Chakra Sensory 2000/2000 - 1960/2128
- 168 wc towards One Handed Seals [Incomplete] 168/2000 -2128

Kaikos Blossom wrote:

Missions:

[Exit]

WC: 2128

Claiming mission rewards:
- 4,000 ryo
- 20 ap
Claiming stats:
+20 speed

Claiming techs
- Chakra Sensory 2000/2000 - 1960/2128
- 168 wc towards One Handed Seals [Incomplete] 168/2000 -2128

Approved