[Uzumaki Atagi]

Create with the heart

A crisp, clear day had dawned in the Land of Fields, idyllic weather for outdoor activities. The village of Hirata was only a hop and a skin away from Kusagakure, relatively speaking, so Atagi's part of the bargain was easy enough; meet the builders in Hirata itself, escort them to the meeting spot on the village's outskirts, and await the builders from the Land of Lightning. If you ask me, that seems a little unfair, doesn't it? I don't even gotta leave the border, but my poor counterpart's gotta come all the way from like three countries over. Of course, he never stops to think that it might precisely be the point. The Uzumaki has little experience on record and has shown himself, more than likely, to be far less competent than his impromptu partner from Kumogakure.

In fact, his part of the mission is so easy that he finds himself growing bored. Even if he's dressed up in mission attire, shoulder adorned with sode and all, it seems doubtful that he'd have to use it on a simply 'babysit the builders' mission. Maybe they were supposed to help out with the actual building of the structure itself? Whatever the case, he finds himself pacing a particular patch of grass, occasionally throwing his glance about to check for any potential threats, enemies, or incoming natural disasters. Giving a slow run over to someone who appears to be the foreman of the Kusa side of the deal, Atagi flags him down with two fingers, even while his workers are going about taking measurements and double-checking supplies in the wagons they've brought along with them.

”Oi, Masuyo-san! Are you sure we shouldn't just be starting on our own? If we're here early and all, maybe getting a headstart'd be a good idea.” The maroon-haired shinobi suggests, before turning around to peer out into the distance. The middle-aged civilian with his light brown hair and matching goatee, regards the shinobi with narrowed eyes. "There's an old saying about this kind of job: draft three times, construct once. Unless you volunteer to break it down when it's not up to the specifications and suggestions of our foreign co-workers?” The voice is deep, and while not exactly condescending, it belies that the genin I way out of his depth in suggesting how people outside of his space get things done.

Atagi scratches at his cheek, slightly embarrassed about bringing up the prospect at all, giving a singular nod. ”...yeah, that. Makes sense. My bad, my bad! I'll stick to what I'm good at, yeah?”

He returns to the waiting game, just as bored as before. Ah, man. I should've brought some snacks, or sommat.



(Murahira Hana)

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[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory Hana had been chosen to defend and guide a batch of architects, engineers, and assorted carpenters from Kaminari no Kuni over to one of the nearby countries that had agreed to work together and build... something. Whatever it was, the actual thing wasn't important to Hana. The mission was important, the people were important, and succeeding was important - but the little details like that weren't. But it was a long walk. She'd have been a lot faster on her own, but that wasn't going to do anyone any good. These hardy tradesmen could walk a good distance in a day, but they weren't quick about it, so getting to the village of Hirata wasn't achieved in just a day. That part was rather frustrating to Hana who was doing her best to temper her urge to spend the day training with her desire to succeed for Kumogakure. Thus far, it was working. But she was still very anxious because of it. Hana looked back at the others in her little group and considered their predicament. However, one of the architects seemed to catch her looking back. "Is everything alright, Murahira-chan?" He inquired. "You've been looking back a lot lately." His concern wasn't warranted but it was appreciated.  Hana nodded. "I was just thinking. I've never built anything before. I've worked hard all my life to become a shinobi, but I could have done something else." "You have an interest in construction, then?" "Perhaps somewhat, but not as a profession," Hana answered. "I'm a little too far into being a shinobi to change now, I think." The older architect let out a loud laugh. "I think I am too old to learn a new trick, too. However, we'll be meeting with great minds and craftsmen from another country far from home - I'm certain even I will have a chance to learn something new. Perhaps you will too." Hana looked off into the distance. Hirata was on the horizon, and they'd be arriving very soon. She was certain she could see the construction site and the other crew, in fact, she was positive that was who it was considering the stacks of materials spread around. They had arrived. Now it was just a matter of figuring out what to do next.

TITLE: A Grassy Respite (Pt.1) TAGS: Uzumaki Atagi WORDS: 379 Words [2/15 Posts]

[Uzumaki Atagi]

Create with the heart

It wasn't too much longer, all told, before sight of the crew from Kumogakure made themselves visible on the horizon, and the Uzumaki perked up immediately. Orienting himself to slide off the large rock he had perched himself upon, he pops up onto his feet, reaching behind himself to brush the bit of dust and dirt that had accumulated at his rear. A bright smile etches itself onto his features and he waves jovially at them, even from a distance, doing so in a wide, theatrical manner to account for how far away they were. He's running on over, throwing out a two-fingered salute at both those in the lead, both Hana, and the older fellow who appeared to be the de-facto leader of their group.

”Yo! Morning, yeah? Welcome to the Land of Fields! The area-- at least generally-- is right over here! I have no clue how big a trading post's supposed to be myself, but I imagine it's a fairly grand undertaking, if it's taking two distinct groups of civilians and two of the best n' brightest shinobi our countries have to offer, bahaha!” It seems like he's having great fun just existing. Gesturing outward around them as they trekked on forth, he gives a single gesticulation towards the build site, and the craftsmen from his own country. When they get a little closer, he flags down 'Masuyo-san', acquainting the two 'leads' of their respective parties.

As the two groups link up proper, and even a little bit before that, Atagi can't help but let curious auric irises float over to the most distinct member among the group-- Hana herself. There was no information provided to him in the briefing aside from her name, but she stood out like a sore thumb; it was functionally impossible to not notice the distinctive tail and ears. Nor how pretty she is aside from that, yeah? suggests an unprompted thought that occurs almost in spite of himself. Beaming, he greets her with his usual level of over-enthusiasm.

”You must be my counterpart from Lightning Country, yeah? I'm Atagi Uzumaki-- future great person, potential paragon of virtue. Nice to make your acquaintance, and be working with you in general, really!”

(Murahira Hana)

aeron at thq

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory As Hana's group approached, a young man came out to meet them. He seemed excited and upbeat, but unlike Hana and her group he hadn't been walking for days, so that might have helped him keep in a good mood. He was also very chatty... "Good morning," Hana greeted with a slight bow. "Building isn't my thing - I was just the escort. But I assume that these fellows will know how to get things put together in the proper order." Hana was for protection. Building was out of her area of expertise. She wasn't sure she could build anything at all. She had never done so before and didn't figure she'd ever really have a need to, either. However, these men and women were experts at that craft, much in the same way she was trying to be an expert shinobi. The two groups began to do their mingling either way. Which left Hana with little to do. However, the shinobi from the other team seemed more than happy to talk to her. He seemed nice enough. Maybe a little overly friendly, but Hana wasn't going to criticize anyone because of that. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Uzumaki-san," Hana replied with a slight bow. "I am Murahira Hana. It will be nice to work together, I think. I can't imagine anyone would show up and cause trouble with this many people around, but there are some desperate sorts out there."

TITLE: A Grassy Respite Pt.1 TAGS: Uzumaki Atagi WORDS: 241 Words [4/15 Posts]

[Uzumaki Atagi]

Create with the heart

The goofy grin slapped onto his face widens, slightly, when Hana gives him the bare minimum of a bow, a serious, straightforward greeting. Bright eyes, full of energy, roll down her form then back up again...two times. Once, as a matter of course-- shinobi were always sizing up people of interest, both for their proficiency as potential allies, but also in the chance that they might be enemies. The second time they flit downward, before going back up to settle at her face, could on the whole be attributed to her lack of modesty. ”You're cute, yeah?” He remarks, voice still a notch too loud even when it's more subdued like at the moment, a winning smile flashed her way. It was straightforward and guileless, but that was his modus operandi. ”If you're even half as competent as you are easy on the eyes, then I'd say I've lucked out with my working-partner assignment yet again.”

Eyes close, briefly, even as he's still beaming her way, nodding emphatically in triplicate. The candor of his voice indicates that he most assuredly believes her to be competent on first impressions alone, even his silly like aside. It seemed, first of all, that he had no issues whatsoever with speaking whatever thoughts came to mind, no matter how uncouth or stupid. At least in this particular scenario. And second of all, that he saw no problem with shamelessly flirting with the foreign nin, even 'on the clock'.

Still, momentary diversions and playful banter aside, he intends on doing a good job, so he turns to take another look at the builders, Masuyo-san holding up and unfurled blueprint and the other architect from the cloud pointing at this or that on it, then looking out towards the patch of field itself where they were to build. ”I'm inclined to agree. You can't be too certain, because we're not exactly the most prosperous of countries, bandits aren't as uncommon as I'd like. This arrangement between the Kumogakure and us oughta help out on that front, though! The prosperity part-- I suppose brigands will always be around, as long as there's something to plunder.” Occasionally, he throws a glance around. It was completely true that nefarious parties would be suicidal to attack a crowd with anything less than an organized force. Wild animals, they might have to worry about...but it seemed the vast majority of their 'mission' was just keeping an eye on the civilians in their charge.

Well, that and maybe helping setup the foundations and defenses of the post itself. But if he wanted to ascertain exactly how best to do that, he'd first need to...

”Gimmie the rundown on 'Murahira Hana', yeah? As brisk or sluggish as you prefer.”

(Murahira Hana)

aeron at thq

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory "Hmm...?" Hana furrowed her brow when he called her cute.  It wasn't that it had necessarily caught her off guard. It wasn't the first time someone had called her cute, but it was one of the first times a complete stranger had basically led a conversation with it. She wasn't exactly unaccustomed to being looked at, either. She was cute enough, but she was also very eye-catching in other ways. Her fox-like traits tend to draw the stares of foreigners, and her coloration definitely stuck out. Not to mention Hana did not dress the most conservatively, but some of her female peers were significantly worse about it than she was. Either way, it was nothing new. "I do not think those two things are correlated in any way," Hana replied matter-of-factly. "My appearance and my skill as a shinobi are mostly unrelated." When he asked for a rundown on her, Hana was already not paying much attention. She was more focused on everything else, as was their job. They were there as security, and though she hadn't run into any trouble on the way, there was no guarantee that something wouldn't come up, whether it be some brigands or perhaps conflict between the builders themselves spurred by cultural differences. Eventually, though, she turned her head to look at him as if she hadn't bothered paying attention at all - but her ears didn't miss anything. "Rundown?" Hana inquired. "What does that even mean?"

TITLE: A Grassy Respite (Pt.1) TAGS: Uzumaki Atagi WORDS: 242 Words [6/15 Posts]

[Uzumaki Atagi]

Create with the heart

While her deadpan delivery might take the wind out of a normal person's sails, Atagi has a way of just trucking along anyway and taking it in stride, canting his head to one side as if there was a great weight placed upon an earlobe, brows furrowed. ”I'm aware that they're not correlated, yeah? That was like half the point of drawing the comparison.” Clicking his tongue, he looks up and to the left in thought, before continuing. ”You must get that a lot, then, if it didn't immediately fluster you, or better yet, win you over.” He says it in such a transparently candid fashion as though it was supposed to be the most obvious thing in the world, the grin on his face taking a lopsided shape to it.

”And it means, ah. What're you about, yeah? Skills, mostly. In lieu of anything better to do, I'd suggest that we could help them out.” He gestures out at the builders, who are going about planting markers in the ground where the outer walls of the trading post to be, 5 points on the ground signifying where the outer edges of the wall would end up, something like a pentagon shape where the points of it would be extended out for the lookout-spots.

Flexing an arm dramatically, he flashes her a cocky look, brows raised. ”On top of being exceedingly charming, I'm stronger than I look, so I know how how my assets'd be best put to use. But what about you?” It's an honest enough question, even if in another context it might seem accusatory or antagonistic in nature.

(Murahira Hana)

aeron at thq

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory Hana blinked a couple of times at Atagi. It was almost as if she wasn't quite following his train of thought. Was he trying to flirt with her? Was that what flirting was like? Hana wasn't sure. Was she supposed to feel something? She didn't remember anyone ever trying to flirt with her, but it was certainly possible she had been too oblivious to realize. She was cute, there was no doubt about that. She even looked like the type of girl that took care of her appearance to some degree, and she certainly dressed like someone looking to be provocative. Hana's kimono looked like it was held in place around her chest by sheer willpower and one wrong move could see it fall to the ground, and it was short enough to be suspicious - granted, she hadn't designed it herself, but that wasn't important to her. This was guy was an odd one. She was sure of that. His other question was more pressing, though. "I don't have any skills that can help with construction, except maybe carrying things." Hana looked Atagi over. Was he charming? She didn't know. He brain was filled with ideas of how to train, not how to appreciate or flirt with boys.  "Maybe we should just help them carry things for now, at least until something else happens," Hana added. "Not that I am expecting someone to try and disrupt the project."

TITLE: A Grassy Respite (Pt.1) TAGS: Uzumaki Atagi WORDS: 238 [8/15 Posts]

[Uzumaki Atagi]

Create with the heart

It was impossible to get a read on the fox-girl, Atagi had decided. That, or his inability to keep his eyes from wandering over her-- and it's not like it was just sheer lechery, either. His brain struggled to figure out how the heck that kimono remained practically affixed to her when it appeared as if a gentle spring breeze would blow it away. Imagination drifts to many stories he's read involving living or symbiotic weapons and armour, or both, and a squint forms around those amber irises of his while he thinks about it a tiny bit longer.

Ah, well. Now wasn't the time to be probing Hana, anyway, much as he might've liked to learn all he could about a new person upon first meeting. They had a job to see finished, unfortunately for his intensely curious mind. Thankfully, his ever-moving body was ready to pick up the slack. Rolling up at his sleeves, Atagi nods twice at his compatriot. "If that's the case, then just leave it to me, yeah? I can lift things for hours n' still have plenty of energy-- and aside from that, you're probably tired from a long journey! I've just been sitting around here most of the mornin', so I'll help out with the project. You just use those wolf-ears of yours and lemme know if you hear anything suspect.”

He didn't leave much room for argument, but he wasn't about to forcibly stop Hana from helping out if she so insisted on trying, either. Trotting on over to the workers, Atagi briefly chatters with 'Masuyo-san', then gets to work assisting with hauling materials to where they needed to be. Even small acts of kindness and minute good deeds were apart of the crimson-haired fellow's heroic ambitions, it seemed, and he tackled the mundane tasks with all the energy and enthusiasm he did everything else, something that enamored some of the craftsmen while annoying the rest.


A handful of hours into the afternoon, and the Uzumaki has worked up a sweat, wiping at his brow with an arm. It's only an outline of a foundation, all in all-- this was supposed to be a multi day job, so it was bound to be slow going-- but Atagi is proud of the efforts they've put forth. The sun's crested the midpoint of the sky, and it's probably getting close to being time for lunch. The grass genin was starting to think to himself that there'd never been an easier job, as far as jobs for C-Ranked shinobi went.

Of course, never is precisely the word that the gods look for when they want to have a laugh, as one of his favourite authors'd put it.

Hana would, unless otherwise indisposed, be unable to miss the distinct sounds of beating hooves in the fields. Six horses, twelve people atop them, divvied up two to a horse. Attached to the saddles were, predictably enough, sacks and other containers for looting. Bandits, brigands, ruffians-- whatever one'd call them, they were practiacally unmistakable. Not armed 'to the teeth', but each of them had either a crossbow or longbow handy, as well as something to swing around; swords, hatchets, and the ilk. Why they were en route to rob the in-progress trading post was anyone's guess. Happenstance? They seemed too organized for that. But if they knew what was being built, did they assume there were things of value for them to grab? Maybe one or both of the groups had been spotted earlier in the day and were mistaken for a merchant caravan or other suitably lucrative target.

Regardless of why it was they were rapidly approaching their position, the fact of the matter was that they were. The crew would begin panicking, left to their own devices, once they spotted the brigands. Atagi was likely to shout for Hana's help, before committing himself to protecting the crew-- though, they were simple highwaymen, more interested it pillaging and looting as opposed to riding around slicing up every random civilian they'd come across.

Of course, with the Cloud nin's superior senses, it was more than likely things wouldn't devolve into chaos so quickly, if the shinobi and civillians alike had some advance warning of the incoming raiding party.
(Murahira Hana)

aeron at thq