[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

A  S H A D O W  H E R E,
A  S H A D O W  T H E R E

---

”Oh... ok” Shun let out while getting distracted by her new friends. Some of the deer would become more and more curious about her – and the food. They would nibble at her hand and one sneezed after sniffing around her in a way that startled the rest (including Shun). There was a slight moment of silence and the sneezing culprit shook his head before letting out a snort. The girl couldn’t help but giggle and handed a snack to the animal with her palm relatively flat. This excited the others and she would give a bit to all of them while trying to count out all and understand how many she would need.

Over the moments, some of the deer would just casually pass her and find something interesting in the trail behind her, it seemed. Others would stay facing the girl and let her pet them. One nibbled on her sleeve for a bit till Shun gave into the tug and pulled the fabric back. Occasionally, she would offer a treat here and there and time passed quickly.

”I think I’ll name you Shikaichi.” the young Nara spoke to the deer she was stroking – a large stag – and then looked to the others that were around. ”Then you’ll be Shikanii. It’ll be like Shika-nii (Shikajin) but different. You have a similar look in your eye.” she was talking to a deer that had a darker colour under its eyes and looked like it was constantly tired... then she looked at a few other animals around, ”then you can be Shikasan, Shikayou, Shikagou, Shikaroku, Shikanana...” she would count out slowly while pointing towards the seventh and final deer. It looked like all of them. At least, it had been all of them until a surprising interruption.

Something tugged at Shun’s pant-leg and the Nara girl looked down to see a small fawn. It was a bit rounder than a regular one but, most importantly, it was wearing a red top-hat and a red cape. ”Hey, you!” Suddenly, a voice came from the deer and the animal lifted up on its hind legs and stood quite comfortably in a bipedal pose. Shun had no idea that it was one of the deer contract animals named Mukei-Mukei. All of this was taking the girl very much by surprise.

”Where’s my treat?” the deer extended one of its extremities forward and made a beckoning gesture. ”Well? Hurry up!” the little deer that only came up to Shun’s chest barked.

”Er... I don’t have any more...” The girl responded weakly while slowly patting her pockets... ”Unbelievable... am I dreaming?" The scene was hard to believe.

---

Tag: Nara Shikajin
Shun: 496b36

[Nara Shikajin]

the worst case scenario is you

Shikajin didn't imagine Shun being able to get herself into too much trouble by herself. Some of the deer could be a bit needy but if there was anyone with enough energy and child like wonder to deal with them it was... a child. Besides, if she ran out of treats the deer would wander off after a bit but they'd at least be familiar with her presence. The one thing the chunin hadn't expected, however, was the appearance of one of the most spoiled deer in the bunch; one who wouldn't take no for an answer.

Thankfully the forest was calm today so even though the two were a bit apart the unmistakable voice of a certain summon rang through the trees loud as rain. Looking up from his work, Shikajin took a moment to confirm what he thought he was hearing before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Really didn't want to have to deal with this today..." He muttered before rising to his feet and making his way back over to Shun.

When he arrived his suspicions had been confirmed and Mukei-Mukei was accosting Shun for some treats. Being the youngest of the summons he never wanted to be left out of stuff, and just like human kids when they saw candy he wanted some too. "Here, Mukei-Mukei, take these and leave the girl alone." Shikajin spoke as he pulled a fistful of treats out of his pocket. "What are you doing out here? I didn't summon you." He'd ask with a blank expression on his face. This one was known for getting into mischief here and there and the last thing he needed was a distraction from his work. Well, another one.

"Oh. Shun, this is Mukei-Mukei, one of the summons the clan has a contract with." He supposed now was a better time than none to get introductions out of the way. If Shun ever found her way to signing the deer contract this would be the one she'd call upon the most early on, and while it was a bit of unexpected serendipity it still didn't answer why he had come this way.

Nara Shun @two @three | ### | whoop whoop

KRATOS

[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

A  S H A D O W  H E R E,
A  S H A D O W  T H E R E

---

*Contract summon?* Shun blinked twice and curiously looked back down at the small deer. She had heard about contracts and there had been a class or two about them at the academy but she had never met a summoned animal before. Theory was vastly different from practice apparently. The girl had thought summon animals were more like aides in combat - weapons - not creatures with voices and vivid personalities. A feeling of guilt crept up on her for thinking that. It felt wrong to view living beings only as weapons even in hindsight. "It's nice to meet you..."

”Oi! Old man!” Mukei-Mukei was flapping his cape around with a full mouth of treats, ”CLEARLY, I have a cape! This means I deserve some respect!” he commanded with some bits of food spraying out of his mouth and while pointing his nose to the sky. It looked like something Shikajin said might have touched Mukei-Mukei’s pride.

Shun couldn’t help but chuckle but put a hand over her mouth because there was still some tension in the air despite it being a hilarious situation and she didn’t want to accidentally offend the young animal. It was too funny. The contrast between the serious and nonchalant Shikajin versus the over-emotional Muke-Mukei was too much. Shun watched as the small deer swallowed the remains of the food it got given and started striking muscle-man poses. ”I can go where I want. You can’t control the great me!” Was he impersonating someone or just had a really big ego? Shun couldn’t tell but the continuous pose striking made it extremely hard not to laugh.The girl was slowly turning red and could feel a vein pulsating in her forehead.

After striking yet another pose and flexing his… fur… he stopped with one arm/leg extended up and the other bent behind his neck. His brown eyes darted to Shikajin and he spoke in a stern, lower voice: ”Fight me, old man.”

Shun gasped and now kept switching between looking at Mukei-Mukei and then back at Shikajin. Was he going to do it? A challenge had been made? What would happen next? The situation was getting exciting!

The surrounding deer seemed pretty unphased by the situation thus far.

---

Tag: Nara Shikajin
Shun: 496b36

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

Shikajin could do little more than roll his eyes at MM's antics and though he wanted to further accost the deer for being a nuisance while he was trying to give one of the younger clan members some valuable lessons it seemed that would have to wait. Being the youngest and least experienced deer in their contract MM had a great need to prove himself whenever he was called upon --or even when he wasn't like right now-- which usually caused more problems than it did help but given that the deer held respect in high regard it would have been in poor taste to send the young creature running back home with a less than flattering story to tell. Thankfully his antics hadn't scared off the other deer and Shun seemed to be stifling quite the laugh so at least one of them was having fun.

Eventually the galavanting would run its course and bribed with enough treats MM would settle down yet perhaps because there was an audience today he had let bravado take over and in the end challenged the chunin to a fight. Dark hues locked onto the small deer as Shikajin weighed the options. Refusing to fight would probably be the wise move and allow the two Nara to get back to the task at hand, but a demonstration of their abilities would also be a good lesson for Shun. The man had not planned for any kind of sparring today but the life of a shinobi was that of adaptability.

"Do you really want to have to explain to Mukeikan and your older brothers that you scared the other deer off because you wanted to fight? The choice is yours." Words of warning. Wise words. But not an outright refusal to fight if one were paying attention, Shikajin was simply letting the young deer know that his fun now would have lasting consequences.

### | Nara Shun | notes

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[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

A  S H A D O W  H E R E,
A  S H A D O W  T H E R E

---

The young deer froze for a moment and seemed to be considering Shikajin’s words. Maybe he feared some repercussion or judgement from his peers later but still decided to follow through with his challenge. ”A man doesn’t back down! Bring it!” he spoke while ploping his hide legs apart and taking something that Shun could only assume was a battle stance.

*You’re not a man though…* the young girl thought but a part of her started to empathise with the young animal in front of her. A sudden realisation came to her that maybe the term ‘man’ was more of a state of pride. She had heard about this. The girl looked at Shikajin and asked: ”Shika-nii, is this was they call a fated battle between men?” Some movies and novels had epic battles between men so maybe this was a real life situation. Maybe Mukei-Mukei had something to prove? Also, it would be interesting to see what would happen. Maybe Shun could learn something from the experience.

”Prepare yourself” MM spoke up before running towards Shikajin and leaping up in the air to try and deliver a kick to his core. It wasn’t too fast and actually looked kind of cute to the young girl spectating. ”AAAAAAAAAARGH!” One could truly feel MMs spirit coming through the notion.

The surrounding deer started to disperse very calmly. They showed no fear, just looked like they were avoiding the commotion. Were antics from the summon contract deer common?

---

Tag: Nara Shikajin
Shun: 496b36

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

Shikajin had hoped his words would strike a chord within the young deer to reconsider his actions and he had been sure to emphasize the part about MM getting in trouble with his family instead of some rebuttal of bravado. In truth the man had no desire to tussle with the small creature and he definitely didn't want to hurt it as that would have landed him in more trouble than anyone else and would have led to a conversation that the Nara desperately wanted to avoid. Alas, the deer had decided against heeding the warning instead spouting off some nonsense about not backing down.

Worse yet, the MM's antics had drawn Shun into the fold who seemed far too eager about watching what was to come, even going so far as to ask if this fight was fate manifest. "No, it's just a kid trying to impress company." Shikajin replied calmly as his attention shifted back to MM, noting the deer's battle stance if it could even be called such. In a breath the deer would begin charging for him before leaping into the air trying to catch him in the midsection with a kick. "Fine, don't say I didn't warn you."

The chunin would drop to a knee as he held a single seal, his shadow springing to life as it shot out ahead of him before splitting into a multitude of needle like projections aimed at MM. Normally the technique was used to pierce opponents but Shikajin would instead attempt to have them wrap around the animal's appendages and midsection and if he was lucky then he'd have caught MM in mid-air and leaving him suspended.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kage Nui no Jutsu [Shadow Sewing Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, etc.
ELEMENT: N/A
DESCRIPTION:
The user is capable of splitting their shadow into tendril sharp enough to pierce flesh. They are able to control each needle-like tendril separately, able of using them to bind opponents. The range is equal to the user's Kage Mane and the tendrils are strong enough to bind most average adult shinobi.

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[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

A  S H A D O W  H E R E,
A  S H A D O W  T H E R E

---

”Woooow….” Shun was in awe as she watched the older Nara control the shadow in front of him. It looked so smooth and cool to Shun, and she wondered if she would be able to do that, too. This was so distracting, that she completely missed the outcome of that move. The tendrils slithered around all of Mukei-Mukei's extremities and the fawn stayed mid-air. He attempted to squirm out while uttering a variety of grunts, huffs and heaves but to no luck.

*He's… stuck…* for a moment, it felt like everyone was taking a moment to take in the uneventful outcome of the match. And somehow Shun was expecting there to be some epic spar but that was probably just the dreamer in her being hopeful.

”Ha-” the deer started with a nervous stutter, ”I went easy on you this time, Shikajin! Hahaha” his words were one thing but the tone of his voice just sounded defeated. Shun thought this deer was one of the most colourful characters she had thus met in her life and it was very entertaining to watch him.

”Just… don't tell dad, ok?” MM asked sincerely at first but then still tried to be intimidating after: ”O-otherwise I'll show you what a real fight is next time!” It wasn't hard to imagine MM felt pretty vulnerable at the moment.

The raven-haired girl walked over, seeing that the battle was over and would help the deer get back on his feet when and if Shikajin would let him loose. ”I think that was kind of cool, you know, Mukei-Mukei. Shika-nii's just stronger, that's all…” Shun told honestly. She liked the ability to follow through with intent - to the girl that was an important part of life.

”Don't patronize me!” the deer barked at the girl at first but then, after a moment of consideration, muttered ”Thank you” at her, which made the girl giggle.

”Can I… have more snacks?”

---

Tag: Nara Shikajin
Shun: 496b36

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

The 'battle' was over as quickly as it had started and in the end the small deer found himself tangled in a mess of shadowy tendrils suspended in mid-air. The look on Shikajin's face hadn't changed from moments ago even as he stood from his kneeled position, eyes remaining affixed to MM to drive home the point that the deer was out of his league and against someone who was less forgiving he would have probably gotten himself hurt, or worse. Eventually however the small deer would take to heart the chunin's earlier words and plead for him not to tell his father which the Nara never had any intention of doing but had hoped that the thought would have prevented the momentary dust up.

For a moment Shikajin considered leaving the small deer suspended as he and Shun continued their duties in the forest but not wanting to set a bad example for the younger Nara he would release the technique and let gravity do the rest. Dark hues would scan the immediate area to see that a good number of the deer had walked off due to all the commotion and getting them back together to collect the needed specimens would take time. He was already behind schedule as is and the latest interruption only made matters worse. No matter, he had at least been able to introduce Shun to the deer and get her started on the road to being comfortable around them, which was necessary for the work they did with them.

"Causing problems and then asking for more food in return? ... If it will keep you quiet then fine." Shikajin replied as he fished for another bag of treats in his pack before tossing it over to Shun. She would have final say on if MM deserved them or not --and how many he got-- and if he was lucky they'd keep each other occupied long enough for the chunin to get some work done.

### | Nara Shun | notes

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[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

A  S H A D O W  H E R E,
A  S H A D O W  T H E R E

---

It must have been hard to be young. Shun thought it must have been hard to be young and feel to constantly have to prove themself. Then again, the Nara girl did like to prove herself, too, it's juts that she had never challenged authority to fight her.

”There you go,” she said as she dusted the little deer off and gave him a couple of the treats. ”Are you ok?” Shun figured showing kindness to the little guy was probably the best way to go. Shikajin was already stern and Shun knew the contract summons were a part of their clan.

MM looked kind of phased by the girl - as if he didn't expect her to be nice to him at all and bashfully took the pallets from her. ”I'll… go give some of these to the other deer.” he muttered, now feeling some guilt about the commotion he had caused. ”Oh! That's a great idea! I'll help!” Shun chimed in and both kids would go around feeding some of the deer nearby which, in turn, brought some of the dispersed ones back.

It looked like there was potential for Mukei-Mukei and Shun to get along swimmingly…

After a while it looked like MM had decided to go home and Shun would wonder back to Shikajin. They were nearby for the whole time, of course, but Shun let the older Nara work. In the meantime, Shun and MM had talked about a lot of things - his family, what he wanted to do (the answer to that was "become strong”), what their favourite colours were and why, what kind of food they liked, what they were afraid of, which season was the best and which parts of the forest were the nicest.

Shun felt like she had made a new friend from this ordeal but now it was time to return to helping Shikajin. The girl had yet to actually help him besides distracting the animals. ”So, Shika-nii, how can I help?”

---

Tag: Nara Shikajin
Shun: 496b36

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

With the dust up complete and Shun helping MM tend to his broken pride there was now enough quiet for Shikajin to get back to the work he and the younger Nara had initially set out to do. The job the clan was tasked with had timetables for a reason so that they could ascertain the health of the deer that called these forests home, and if something was up with the deer then that meant the byproducts they used for various medicines and remedies would falter in quality which made it paramount to collect data and specimens in a timely manner.

When Shun would eventually make her way over to her clanmate she would see him standing over a small pile of discarded antlers. In addition to the shedding that they did throughout the year they would also completely fall off of the animal to make way for a bigger, more defined set similar to that of human teeth. It was a curious sight to see so many in one place which would beget further study but that would be for a later date. "You can help me carry some of these back to the clan compound. Similar to the sheddings you saw earlier we use the antlers themselves in various ways and we can also get a good idea about the deer's health from studying them. Be careful not to poke yourself."

The chunin would pick up a few of the multi-angled antlers while making sure Shun was not having any issues before beginning to head back to the compound. They had enough work here to last them for a few days at the very least but he wouldn't bore the student with the tedious work of categorizing, labeling, and data entry; one day she would be burdened with these tasks but that day was not today. "Thank you for your help today. It's not the most exciting work in the world but it is crucial for both our clan and our relationship with the deer.."

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[Nara Shun]

NARA SHUN CHRONICLES

-  t h e  t a l e  o f  -

A  S H A D O W  H E R E,
A  S H A D O W  T H E R E

---

Just as Shikajin instructed, Shun would head over and pick up as many antlers as she could. The girl had some safety in mind because getting stabbed would, most probably, be unpleasant, but she still wanted to help a lot so she took a pile and carried them in front of her like a stack of firewood.

The smaller Nara could partially see through the pile that was higher than her face and she would walk back carefully. ”You got it, Shika-nii!” Seeing partially was better than seeing nothing so that was progress.

On the way back she couldn't help but think about the little deer she met. She thought about all the deer, actually. Mukei-Mukei had certainly made an impression. Shun didn't even know that animals could talk, let alone challenge shinobi to fights. He seemed like a good kid though. Shun knew he was the youngest in his family so he must have been very eager to grow up like his siblings… being an only child Shun had no idea what that's like - her cousins were much older so she never grew up with clansmen her age. Even Iniko she met just recently.

Eventually they would come back to the compound and Shun would set the antlers down wherever she was instructed to.

”Shika-nii, can anyone sign a contract to summon the deer? Even me?” she asked after wiping her hands in her trousers. ”It might be really cool to be able to summon a talking deer during a mission. We could chat and play if it gets boring.” she giggled.

”Also, I should head back now - it's getting dark.” She would wait for an answer to her question and then bid farewell. Tomorrow would start at sunrise again and Shun had training to look forward to.

---

Tag: Nara Shikajin
Shun: 496b36

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

Shun's question was an interesting one and no doubt fueled by her chance meeting with MM. Summons were a powerful and often practical ally in all manner of situations but their assistance was neither guaranteed nor completely controllable. Some like Mukei Mukei would be eager to help out in any way they could while other summons were a bit more difficult to get along with, and if they didn't see you as someone worthy enough to call upon them there was a chance they'd not listen to you assuming they didn't de-summon themselves first.

"Everyone can sign a contract, but not everyone is able to. A summoning contract is a mutual understanding between you and whatever the summon is so if they do not see you as worthy enough to call upon them they will not let you sign the contract. Not all the deer are as... friendly as Mukei Mukei and depending on how strong they are they may only respond to someone of equal or greater strength." Shikajin replied. He had not most of the stronger deer on the contract but had heard stories of their great power and stature. What situation would call for him to call upon them he hoped to never encounter but it was nice to know that he had allies that could be called upon in a pinch.

"But that is why it's so important we take care of all the deer that call these forests home, to show that we care for their species and to honor the summoning contract. I'm sure one day they'll let you sign it as well." With that the two had arrived back at the clan compound where a hefty stack of antlers lay, days worth of work ahead of him but work that had to be done nonetheless. The day had taken a turn from how the chunin initially envisioned but he was glad to get the opportunity to educate one of the younger clan members about the responsibilities of the Nara.

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