Some more Missions

Mission Details:

Alu had been somewhat busy lately, he was in the need of funds for his future plans and the life of a criminal always called for more ryo than necessary. If Alu had it his way he would rather be sitting in a nicely furnished place with plenty of reserves of O type blood and plenty of old tomes to read while he enjoyed the view of the woods and life outside, but he didn’t have access to such things so he needed to be out and about mingling with those who needed his repertoire of skills and abilities. Though this did allow him the chance to interact with those in the area and gather information as he needed. No reason to remain blind and ignorant of the area he resided in currently.
 
This means that today he would be looking for some better paying jobs in the local area, though the people here didn’t really trust anyone who wasn’t born from here so getting anyone to talk with all these Jashin fanatics running around trying to sacrifice their neighbors to an uncaring god was a task that took almost to much work but there was always someone desperate enough to reach out to a stranger and that was what would get Alu’s foot in the door to getting a hand at the jobs in the area and he luckily found some people in need of help.
 
The farmers in the area had spoken to him reluctantly but once they looked in his eyes they found that they wanted to share their troubles more openly, this is where he found out about a rampaging animal that was going around destroying their crops and eating their cattle even going as far as harming the children as well. It seemed no one got a good enough look at the creature to be able to tell what it was but that was fine, if it shed as much blood as they said Alu wouldn’t have any issue finding the beast and of course it only liked to come out at night so this was perfect for the kyuketsuki.
 
The other task that he had found was from a young woman that simply wished to have help with bettering the area and the environment around them, from planting trees and picking up trash as needed. It was supposedly something called Earth day, so it was just a way to get people to actively work to keeping the world cleaner then what they were leaving it. This was something that Alu was interested in helping with because a better environment meant more variety in the prey he could enjoy and a better life they tended to lead meant that their blood tasted better compared to the people who struggled everyday.
 
Alu was moving towards the place for planting trees and the like and figured there he would be able to meet plenty of others that had signed up to help out, he might get lucky and find someone to join him in tracking down the beast later that night and maybe a snack on the way home. A smile crept onto his face.
 
WC: 528
MWC: 528 | 4000

Hara sat against the booth of the tea shop and listened in on the various conversations. He tilted his head back, sighing to himself, he was getting too attached to this town, he was even beginning to remember people's names he thought, as a man he knew to be Ito walked by.

              He distracted himself from his thoughts and absentmindedly stirred his tea as he activated his Byakugan and scanned the exits. He’d given up on concealing anything, if they wanted to hunt him down then so be it.  He gulped the rest of his tea down in restless dissatisfaction, deciding to make his way to the mission board. Maybe some hard labor could take his mind off things, if only for a short time.

                      He settled on two missions, one was a simple one, helping the town clean up and bettering the environment. Hara wasn’t a fan of people but he was a fan of nature, and a mission like this was right up his alley. He made his way to the designated spot specified in the mission slip. A small pocket of tree line near the town that needed cleaning and replanting. As he walked he looked at the second mission.

                     There were tales from the farmers of the town that a beast was attacking their cattle at night, not many details were provided but what was provided piqued Hara's interest. It had been a while since he had a chance to go up against something that might be dangerous, for the last couple of months it had been mostly shaking down low level gangsters or helping shops do renovations. He could feel the restlessness in his bones and the mission might be an opportunity to shake some rust off.

                 Upon reaching the meeting spot he would rest at the base of a tree and wait for the organizer to arrive, he would shift his bandages over his eyes and act like he was taking a nap under the shade of the tree as people filtered in. He would use the cover to activate his Byakugan each time a new person came upon the meeting spot. Normal. Normal. Normal. He would think as the people congregated. He sighed to himself, maybe he needed to spend more time in the black market, this seemed like the retirement area of the land of hot springs.

                   His thoughts would be interrupted by the next arrival, when a man standing about 6ft tall, with long black hair approached. Hara would activate his Byakugan, expecting another weak chakra signature. To his surprise the man had a chakra system that coursed with energy. He struck an intimidating visage in his long red trench coat and pristine white gloves.

                    He waited another while before sitting up from his napping spot and joining the main group, conveniently just as the organizer was arriving. He would listen intently as the woman described their job, they were to help cut down any dead trees or “widowmakers” as she called them, as well as pick up any trash we could find. Then, once that was done, another group would follow closely behind to plant tree saplings throughout the sparse patch of woods.

                      With their jobs laid out, Hara would make sure to join the same group as Alu, it wasn’t often he ran across someone who had a chakra like his. He would keep to himself for most of the mission, offering simple words of advice when moving or helping carry things from one point to another. He would nod and say thanks to Alu a few times, trying to get a read on the man as they worked.

            “I’m Hara.” He would say bluntly at one point during a break, putting his hand out and shaking it if Alu accepted the handshake. “It’s good to meet a fellow shinobi.” He would say, giving him a nod, his face stoic and stone faced.

“Any word from outside the land of hot springs?” He would ask at one point in their conversation, desperate for some sort of interesting news. Hara would listen intently and simply nod to Alu’s response, leaving an awkward silence in the air before Hara simply started going back to work, unaware of his unusual lack of social skills.

As they finished working he would look to Alu with a respectful nod “It was good working with you, I should probably get going, I have a late night ahead of me.” He would motion to leave before stopping and turning “Actually, you haven't heard anything about some beast attacking at night have you?”

WC: 766
MWC: 1294 | 4000

AP spent:

The “Earth Day” tasks were simple, plant some trees, clean some trash and get rid of the dead trees affectionally named Windowmakers from the area. Its interesting what people will nickname based on tragedy, after all the only reason they were nicknamed as such is because the tree would be damaged in such a way it would hang dangerously as if waiting for some unsuspecting individual to wander underneath it or mess with the damaged tree and cause it to become free from whatever kept it hanging and drop disastrously onto said person killing them and as the name suggest make their spouse a widow.

As if the tree itself has decided that if it was to be harmed it would take out its rage and frustration onto some innocent person. Some philosophical people would say that it was nature’s way at getting back at the people who harmed the forest in their delusions of being the master of the world around them. Alu thought that was dumb to think as it wasn’t like people were the ones to call down the lightning and strike that tree and cause the issue. Not to say there weren’t individuals out there that could wield such power but rarely did those same people met the end of their lives at the hands of some pointed wood. The more Alu got lost in the thought on karma and how the world seemed to pick on those that were powerless to defend themselves he was reminded that the law of nature was that it was unfair and unjust and simply was.

Alu had been tracking everyone within 10 meters of himself though it was a passive decision and one that he had taken years of training his clan’s bloodline to work with. When you could hear the heartbeat of everything that possessed one or could smell everything to finely it made for a hectic and stressful childhood adapting to such a massive amount of information, though now with his age he was able to manage the information as he needed. He could hear who had a weak heart from the elderly and sick and the strong from the youthful and strong, he could smell the iron scent of blood off those who were prone to spilling it from sources. A more natural woody scent came from the blood from beasts while humans had a scent of a sickly sweet iron smell and it lost its sweetness when it coated their body and items unable to fully wash off the more it was spilt.

A man with a strong scent and a strong heart approached him his Chakra Sensory skill allowing him to sense how much Chakra the man had which was meager but higher than a normal citizen. He wore bandages on his body but didn’t have any open or healing wounds, so Alu figured it was used as a cover of some sort. Alu worked silently his movements refined and deft. Then the man introduced himself as Hara mentioning how it was good to meet a fellow shinobi, Alu figured this man was either a Vagabond or a Missing-nin like himself as he highly doubted any shinobi from the proper villages would be here in Hotsprings on their own.

“Alu.” He replied to the man as he continued to work, “To much peace for any news to be spread.” He said as it had seemed the world had entered an almost unnatural period of peace and kindness. That was the most of their interaction as they both understood that the other was simply trying to finish some jobs and get on their way though Alu kept an eye on the man as anyone with any factor of ability was someone to take note of out here.

Once the task was done Hara gave some parting words about a late night ahead of him though Alu thought the same though most nights were long for him as it was when he truly felt alive. Though the man asked him some questions that lined up with a job he had decided to undertake, the rampaging beast that was hassling the local area.

“I have only heard the details given from the people in the area, attacks at night, kills cattle, children and destroys crop, no one seems to have seen it properly but with that much blood split it won’t be hard to track.” He mentioned as he looked at the man. “I plan to take care of the beast as soon as the sun starts to drop below the horizon.” Alu said as he adjusted his coat, He had already been smelling as trace of blood while working on the edge of the woods while he was planting the trees and cleaning up. So he had a starting point of where to go when it came to at least the direction of the beast.

“If you plan to undertake the job as well, I plan to meet over there at the forest’s edge as it darkens.” Pointing to the spot he meant Alu started to walk away with a wave of his hand till the time was appropriate to return. He did not know if the man would show up or not but for now he needed to find a nice juicy piece of meat to order barely cooked.

WC: 894
TWC: 1422
MWC: 2188 | 4000

Hara would give an audible and visual reaction of disgust and chagrin at the mention of peace. Like it was a dirty word to Hara, he would shake his head. He refrained from ranting, he had learned a while ago that his ideas were… off-putting to say the least. He simply scoffed and shrugged “Typical.” He said with some venom in his words. He struggled to keep his thoughts in, referencing the conversation later in their work. “People think Peace is good, it's not. It’s a sickness, and it's making us shinobi weak.” He would shake his head in disdain, and then shake his head to himself at allowing himself to rant. He just couldn’t help himself at a certain point.

           He would continue to work with Alu until the job was done, sharing a few words here and there. As he left he asked about the rampaging animal that had been plaguing the farmers. To no surprise, the man knew exactly what he was referring to. As they talked Hara was thankful for the man's invitation to work together on the mission, and he nodded quietly at Alu’s offer to meet him at the appointed spot. “I will see you there later tonight Alu” He would say respectfully before returning to his camp to prepare for the night ahead.

His preparation was simple, a few scraps of smelly food to perhaps entice the monster out, a small waterskin, and some rewrapping of his wraps. Hara was ready to hunt.

He made his way back to the meeting spot, the sun was quickly setting and the eerie fog of the land of hot springs was beginning to permeate the air. He stood silently at the meeting spot, occasionally using his Byakugan to scan the tree line they were near, already on the lookout for the beast as he waited for his new acquaintance.

Upon Alu arriving, he would nod to him, listening to anything the man had to say but clearly eager to make his way into the woods. He would show the man what he brought. “It might not matter, judging on the stories, but we have some bait if needed.” He said. “What do you recommend the plan is?” He would ask, trying to get a read on what type of hunter Alu was, while simultaneously beginning to feel the thrill of the hunt coming on.

After listening intently to the plan he would nod along, nodding curtly at the end.“That sounds good. We should make our way into the woods.” He would say, used to taking the lead on hunts, he would start to track. The adrenaline and thrill of hunting now completely occupying Haras mind.

Surprisingly, it seemed there was an even better hunter amongst this duo, and it was evident to Hara that Alu had some impressive tracking abilities, the roles would quickly reverse as Hara began following Alu as he tracked the beast. Hara didn’t know how he was doing it, but it was impressive to say the least and he was happy to follow. He would occasionally activate his Byakugan, like the regular intervals of a lighthouse he would keep an eye on their surroundings as Alu followed the scent.

He would be tempted to ask questions, learn more about this new acquaintance. A sign of his rust, he thought. It was a hunt right now, and there was no time for discussion. He would shelve any thoughts of socializing until the job was done. Still, in the back of Hara's mind, he was gauging whether this person could be a valuable ally. Time would tell.

WC: 604
TWC: 1370
MWC: 2792 | 4000

This Hara character seemed very much against the idea of peace viewing it as a sickness that only makes shinobi’s weak, Alu could empathize with this mindset as it had a bit of truth to that facet of whole thing. Peace was certainly something that made the warriors of the world become lax and lazy as with no fear of danger what was the point of training or why bother keep up their strict vigilance on threats? The ones that had to deal with the aftermath of this kind of thinking tended to keep training and stressing the point of being ready for anything as something as fragile as peace was always going to break at some point it just depended on how long till it did.

For Alu this weird peace time that was going on meant that he had more freedom to move about which he took full advantage of as, if the world wants to be safe and sound and not go after anyone that included those that broke the law and caused problems so Alu had no real worry in the world for his actions and it made his hunting for his unique diet that much easier, it also allowed him to continue his growth in strength, like a giant middle finger to those who hide in their villages. After all for whatever reason they couldn’t hunt him down at the moment. It brought a smile to his face when he thought about having this small taste of freedom.

Bringing his train of thought back to the present and of the beast they needed to hunt down, Hara had agreed to meet him at the place he had discovered to be where the beast had most likely used to travel back and forth from the village to its den or lair. The sun made its way past the horizon and the pair met where agreed upon, Hara having brought with him some old meat that with Alu’s strong sense of smell could smell long before Hara had come into view. Hara mentioned about bringing in case they needed it to draw the beast to them which wasn’t bad planning if Alu wasn’t able to just follow the blood in the air to the beast. Humans had to use whatever available to them when they didn’t have the same resources as others.

“The plan is to simply catch the beast in its lair or hopefully near it before it goes out and about to prowl, though honestly I’m confident that I’ll be able to track it if they were to roam a bit.” Alu said as he started to follow Hara who was tracking the old-fashion way but seemed decently skilled at it. Alu only offered his help as needed though eventually the signs started to wane and Alu took the lead with his ability to smell the blood from the beast and hear the heartbeat of living things. Hara followed behind the man keeping alert and it felt like there were random bursts of chakra from the man but it was minor and Alu wasn’t sure if they were using some technique or ability but was interested in finding out.

Within time, Alu and Hara found the beast’s home and they could hear the beast still inside but clearly waking up and moving about. Most likely getting ready to leave and head out, Alu planned to suffocate the beast with fire and smoke and collapse the entrance of the den. With Hara’s help they scouted out the place and made sure there wasn’t any additional exits which there wasn’t so that was helpful and at least spoke that the beast wasn’t intelligent beyond a being of destruction. This is what happens when something thinks its more powerful than those around them they don’t think of being attacked or hunted themselves. There was something thrilling about flipping that dynamic on the prideful.

With Hara’s help Alu gathered plenty of wood, kindling and stuff to help produce plenty of smoke, when that was done he lit the fire and with the wind blowing properly into the den the smoke started to fill the area quickly, with that Alu active a technique called Chakra Enhanced Strength and another one called Cherry Blossom Impact, punching the wall of the den and causing the entrance to start to cave in. Once that was finished it was simply time to wait till he couldn’t hear the beast’s heartbeat anymore.

“Now we wait, don’t worry I’ll be able to tell when the beast has perished and this way it should be decently intact so we can prove to the village that it has been taken care of.” Alu said as he listened and watched the entrance. “We will also be able to tell what kind of beast it is, maybe a mutated boar of some sort.” He offered as a guess, seeing if Hara had a guess themselves.

AP Usage:
Chakra Enhanced Strength: 40 AP
Cherry Blossom Impact: 40 AP
AP: 1075 > 995

WC: 825
TWC: 2247
MWC: 3617 | 4000

With Alu’s near supernatural tracking, the beast's home was found in no time. Hara was no doubt impressed.

He would happily oblige and begin to help with Alu’s plan. Soon, the cave was filled with heat and smoke. Hara wondered how he was going to knock the rocks down, but before he could react, the powerful reverberation of Alu’s impact against the wall interrupted his thoughts. Hara stepped back a bit at the commotion of the flowing debris.

Hara waited with Alu, the silence was tense, and he stared at the entrance to the cave. This type of hunting was less direct than he was used to, but he had to respect the efficiency of it. He began to speak to Alu, but the red coated man put his hand up quickly, his ears seeming to pick up something from inside the cave. Another impressive feat, thought Hara.

“We got fried pork incoming,” Alu said, his voice more joking than anything.

Hara tilted his head as he looked at the crumbled entrance. A large slam ensued, causing a spray of rocks but not forming an opening. Finally, with his curiosity peaking, he decided to trust his new companion somewhat, activating his Byakugan for an extended period of time. The veins around his eyes were swelling and spreading out as he looked through the rocks and into the cave. “Not pork.” Hara said as he hunched down and dashed forward bracing himself for the escape of the beast inside.

As he reached his positioning in front of the cave, he was prepared. Inside the cave was not a boar, but a behemoth of a Ram, its skin burned and smouldering from their trap. It charged, bursting through rocks, Hara could tell it was weak, lucky for him Alu’s plan was so effective, otherwise Hara might have been impaled on the spot as the ram's horns burst through the rocks in a desperate charge.

Hara grabbed onto the horns, bracing himself and sliding backwards before being able to stop the beast with his strength. He activated his Jotun Grip, tearing at the horns violently and breaking them, fluidly grabbing the broken horn, spinning with the form of a Gentle Fist and slamming the horn down into the center of the back of the beast's neck. It groaned once before slumping over, Hara briefly stood in a fighting stance before taking a deep breath and returning to his standing position, the horn still in his hand as he looked down at the beast.

He deactivated his Byakugan, staring up at Alu sharply to read his reaction to his abilities. After a brief moment he would relax, motioning to the beast. “That was an effective plan, if I had been alone I think I would have been much worse for wear.” He would take a water skin out, taking a drink before holding it out to him, regardless of if it was accepted, he would continue. “I will be in the hot springs for a short time, if you wish to work again on missions.”

He would wait for Alu’s answer, and listen intently as he spoke. Nodding curtly but respectfully, he would answer any question Alu had- save for where he was staying- if asked he would deflect a bit, offering to meet at a tea house in the black market.

With that, he would give his goodbyes to his new acquaintance, making sure to grab the broken piece of horn from the great beast and handing it to Alu, before going to the other horn and breaking it as well so they both had proof of its death. With that, he would make his way back to his camp, activating his Byakugan to ensure he wasn’t followed. A habit he was beginning to think he’d never shake.

AP use:
Starting: 517
Byakugan activation 5AP
Jotun Grip 40
Ending:472

---

[exit]

WC: 633
TWC: 2003
MWC: 4250 | 4000

Claims:

Hara wrote:

Claims:

Approved

Alu heard the beast charging and moved out of the way, he figured that the beast was weak now due to the sound of its heartbeat. It crashed through the rocks in a desperate final charge, Hara was in the way but Alu didn’t move to help he simply watched as he had done most of the work so far he figured he would take this chance to see what his companion could do. Hara caught the horns of the giant beast and broke them off stabbing the beast in the neck with its own broken horn. It seemed that the man he was working with had a high physical ability and from the stance he had taken was somewhat adept in fighting with his hands in comparison to Alu’s own ability to affect his strength through his chakra control.

Hara offered his thanks and gave Alu one of the horns so that they may present them to the village and claim their reward. The man spoke of meeting up some where in hotsprings if he so inclined and Alu agreed that he would come find him sometime later he didn’t need to know where he was as he had been memorizing the man’s chakra signature and had a good track on what his heart sounded like though it would only help in close proximity either way he was more than equipped to find this Hara once more if he so decided too.

Once they had finished their claims and separated Alu was happy with the increase of his wealth as he needed a good amount to make some purchases he needed to make at the black market later on.

[Exit]

WC: 280
TWC:
Claims:
+8000 Ryo for completion of missions
+40 AP for completion of missions
Using 2500 WC to train purely AP at 4 AP per 100 WC
+100 AP
+Hara Hyuuga’s Chakra Signature due to Charka Sensory and reaching 2000 wc in the thread

Alu wrote:Claims:
+8000 Ryo for completion of missions
+40 AP for completion of missions
Using 2500 WC to train purely AP at 4 AP per 100 WC
+100 AP
+Hara Hyuuga’s Chakra Signature due to Charka Sensory and reaching 2000 wc in the thread

Approved