Manual Labor And An Exciting Rescue

Missions:

Hara would yawn as he approached the clearing he was assigned to. The village had recently scraped together enough funds to make a wall, and while Hara knew it wouldn’t do much to stop a determined individual, it was a sorely needed defensive upgrade for the village nonetheless. As he arrived at his assigned area, he wondered if he would see any of the shinobi he had recently made acquaintances with. Activating his Byakugan, Hara would scan the group of people that were slowly congregating, unimpressed with the current group in front of him he would walk up to the seeming organizer of the labor.

“Hara Hyuuga, here to work.” He would say simply.

The man would turn around as Hara spoke and take a couple steps back at the intimidating visage of the Hyuuga in front of him.

“Holy, you are a big guy, excellent, we need help lifting some of the bigger support pieces of the wall. Head over there.”He would point to a pile of large logs that looked to be the main buttresses of the wall. “If you could start moving those to each designated area, that would be appreciated”. To the man's credit, he showed no signs of fear in delegating the work, something Hara respected. He nodded at the man respectfully and made his way to his particular area.

With there still being some time until the work was required to begin, Hara would test out his strength with the logs, quickly realizing he could lift both in each arm. He smirked to himself at the sight of the other villagers' mouths dropping as he picked up what was easily 500 lbs in each arm, despite generally not caring about others opinions, it still gave him some satisfaction to impress people.

He would set the logs down, using one as a seat as he waited for the rest of the workers to arrive, occasionally activating his Byakugan, half paranoia and half hopeful to see someone he knew. He would pop open his bottomless flask, drinking some Sake from it and letting the liquid warm his body. In his down time he would uncharacteristically daydream about his previous meeting with Kyoko, the electric feeling he felt around her was like a craving he couldn’t shake, the image of her vibrant green eyes sat in his vision every time he closed his eyes, and the alluring ring of her voice echoed in his ears.

A part of Hara was afraid of this feeling, he worried it dulled him. A fact evident by Hara forgetting to do his usual scan with his Byakugan, which he had gotten in the habit of doing in regular intervals. He shrugged to himself, drinking some more Sake. It’s worth it. He thought to himself.

With the need to get to work fast approaching, Hara would shelve those frightening thoughts and rise, as he did, the last few people would begin congregating at their assigned spots. Hara would watch for anyone he knew, while beginning to haul the logs to their assigned spots.

WC: 500

(Alu has Chakra Suppression Activated)

Ryo and Blood were the two things that Alu needed to continue to live his life of freedom, well freedom of indulgence outside simply hiding in the woods and feeding on animal blood and making everything he needed himself. Which isn’t to say he couldn’t do such a thing but it felt beneath him in the current time, after all there were plenty of people to taste and even more offering their Ryo to others for some simple labor and help. Somedays Alu committed crimes as one would be expected to from those of the criminal lifestyle but often than not Alu simply worked for the things he got, not in some way to make up for his moral grey and sometimes outright black nature but because it made the day move quicker while additionally giving him easy connections with others while he went about his day.

It was much easier to approach the prey when you have lulled them into a false sense of security with your kindness and gentle touch. This was proven by the many farmers and hunters that have tamed beasts of the wild to work their fields or beside them while they hunt the others. That’s all Alu was doing after all, building his farm one act of kindness at a time.

Today Alu had found a new place to work and this time it was a village that was putting together a much needed wall for defense of those who lived there. It wouldn’t be like the walls of the major villages but it was at least something that gave the lowly bandits and thugs that roamed the lands enough pause to choose another target with a much easier security to deal with. Though for Alu working on a defense of the village would simply allow him to know the inner workings and any weaknesses that were made by so many different hands on the project. His face wore his traditional smile that welcomed all people to approach him and his clothing were of a traveler with its bright red color and largely brimmed hat and glasses. Though as he approached his senses told him someone familiar was nearby and without much work he navigated his way towards a man covered in bandages. It was Hara, another Shinobi that Alu had previously met during some prior work in another village, one where they planted trees and cleaned up the environment along with dispatching a large ram who had been causing issues for the locals of the town.

He approached the man, though if the man had tried searching for him with any sensory ability he would see him just as any other person. Though he could visibly see him otherwise, Alu had taken to constantly using the ability of Chakra Suppression to mask his signature from anyone that could be looking for him. It added a layer of defense from tracking though he still could very much be seen as any other person he had plans on how to fix that part of problem later on for now this was enough to allow him some peace of mind.

“So in your free time, I see you like to show off that strength of yours.” Alu teased as he approached, taking off his hat and glasses his crimson eyes studying the man in front of him. There was an air of ease that was not there in their prior interaction and strangely the typical bursts of chakra that came from the man from last time weren’t as frequent. Alu was sure Hara was one of those people with a Dojutsu or hailed from a clan with a sensory ability. It intrigued the man.

“The other day it was planting trees and cleaning the town up, now we work to build a defense for the meager village.” He said as he looked over the area, “Doesn’t this only add to the peace that you detest? Or do you hope that the idea of a wall will draw more trouble then deter?” He questioned as Hara had expressed a disdain for anything peace related, seeing it as a plague on the world.

WC: 695
MWC: 1195 | 5000

The work on the wall was going smoothly if not slowly. While Hara had the brute strength, the villagers were not very knowledgeable in where to put the heaviest defenses- or how to construct a wall with tactical defense in mind- And the work was frustrating as they constantly changed their minds on the design.

Hara grunted slightly as he lifted the two logs with each arm, shifting them to rest on his shoulders. As he began to turn around he could see the tell tale signs of his new acquaintance Alu. His red hat and coat stood out from the usual drab garb that most of the citizens of the village wore. He would look at him as he approached, nodding with a relaxed demeanor due to the familiarity.

As he set the logs down the crimson clad shinobi would chide in a friendly manner, causing Hara to give a hardened look at the man before breaking the tension with a smirk, his own joke of sorts. “Hello Alu, It is good to see you.” He would stop and glance at the incompetent villagers, motioning to the slow work. “These people could use your help in the design.” He would stop for a second to drink from his water jug. “They have been trying their best, but they know next to nothing about battle.”

He would pause as Alu continued the slight prodding although this time with more curiosity than anything else. Hara had to admit to himself the paradox of what he was doing, and the questions made him pause and think a bit. Hara not being the one for social grace, would think for quite a while on the subject. On one hand he did think peace was an insidious poison pill, on the other hand he felt no allegiance or obligation to dissuade them from ingesting it. If they were going to pay him ryo to build a wall, he would do it for no other reason than he needed the money. After some more thought he would shrug and look at Alu “Ryo is Ryo. Let them flail.”

Leaving it at that he would begin to lift the heavy logs near him, motioning with a nod of his head towards the man and then to the failing villagers “I could use your aid actually designing this to be worth a damn.” If Alu agreed Hara would lead the way toward the main leader of the operation, a smaller rotund man way in over his head.

“You.” Hara would say with the two logs over his shoulders, staring down at the man with an indifferent but menacing look. He would motion his head to Alu.“He will be designing this wall from now on, so make it known to the other workers.” He wouldn’t be asking, and the man was smart enough to know what that meant. He would nod, almost grateful for the relief.

If Alu agreed to all of this, Hara would begin to use his brute strength with Alus cerebral approach, able to place heavy logs in odd places or create structures that would normally have taken more time. He would follow the crimson clad shinobis direction, confident in his new acquaintances abilities and knowledge.

WC: 542
TWC:1042
MWC:1737 | | 5000