[Oborozuki Zura]

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A Little MAyhem NEver HURT ANyONE

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With a languid sigh that seemed to carry all the weight of his disinterest, Zura strolled towards his next mission—a task that would be as exciting as watching paint dry. The thought of climbing the ranks for a bit of spice flickered through his mind as he kicked a pebble along the path, but then there was the whole 'more responsibility' thing. He shrugged off the thought almost as quickly as it came; neither option sounded particularly thrilling. [break][break]

Bathed in the dappled light filtering through the sprawling canopy of the Great Tree, Takigakure hummed with a laid-back vibe, distinctly more chill than the frantic pace of larger ninja villages. Zura couldn't help but feel a tinge of appreciation for the calm that the Great Tree lent their village. If there's a chill spot to be lazy, it's definitely here.[break][break]

Today's 'mission'—if you could even call it that—involved helping some old-timer offload a supposedly haunted suit of armor. Haunted armor, really? Zura scoffed aloud, the absurdity of the task amusing him more than it should. It wasn’t exactly what he’d call shinobi-worthy. In fact, it was ridiculous. But then, the promise of a few extra coins for a night out was enough to tilt his scales of motivation—just slightly. [break][break]


Leisurely making his way to meet his teammate, Tokonatsu Kaoru, at the old man’s house, Zura was nonchalantly late. About forty minutes, but who was counting? Zura continued on, already plotting how he'd spend those extra coins tonight.

ulla

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SPOILER: Click to show

Cursed Metal Tidings [break]
MISSION RANK: C[break]
NPC REQUIREMENT: No[break]
PARTICIPANTS: Open, Open[break]
DESCRIPTION:[break]
A dismal, debt-ridden farmer is selling a family heirloom: but has warned to anyone who buys it that it is cursed. Armor from a previous samurai, it is known to be a relatively 'valuable' heirloom. A prospective buyer has indicated a desire to buy it, but doesn't want to deal with any 'curses' - obtain the armour and 'dispel' the curse - or figure out the source of the concern.

[Tokonatsu Kaoru]

Tokonatsu Kaoru

Kaoru might have been the casual type compared to most of his clan, but he wasn't one for a lack of punctuality. That meant that he arrived at the location for their mission on time, and when Zura didn't show up within five minutes he promptly lay himself on the ground and had himself a little nap. He wasn't going to kick up a fuss, after all this was yet another mission that didn't really appeal to his skillset or interests, and felt a bit like another punishment... probably for something Zura had done.

Fourty minutes later he opened his eyes in time to see the older Genin show up, "Ne, is this gonna be a normal thing for you? Not tryin' to judge, but would be good to know if I have this much spare time for antyhing scheduled," he asked from his lounging position. Slowly getting up and stretching out with a groan.

He was completely uninterested in the mission, the idea of a haunted set of armour was rather ridiculous in his mind. Hell, the swords at his waist were considered 'cursed' just because they were made by his father's family, chances were that this armour was the same sort of thing, made by some blacksmith that had their reputation tanked to the point that their work was maligned and 'cursed'.

"Also, maybe we should stop pissing off the paper ninja, if we keep getting these missions I'm gonna go crazy," he suggested with a yawn, gesturing for the older boy to go first.

Word Count: 257
Mission: 2/15
Combat Information:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SAs:
Strength of the Samurai
Coming from a long samurai lineage, coupled with intense physical training, Kaoru has far greater physical strength than most other people of his rank. Even amongst the Bukijutsu and Taijutsu specialists he stands amongst the top in terms of his raw physical power.

Enhanced Chakra Reserves
Kaoru's body contains a vast well of chakra, able to perform even the most chakra intensive jutsu around without having to worry about running out.

Jutsu Used:
N/A

Tags: Oborozuki Zura

[Oborozuki Zura]

[nospaces]

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A Little MAyhem NEver HURT ANyONE

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Kaoru's chill vibe was a refreshing change of pace for Zura, he was more accustomed to a lecture or a scowl due to his tardiness. He chuckled, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Ehh, probably,” he admitted nonchalantly. Timing had never been his strong suit, and honestly, in the grand scheme of things, it hardly seemed to matter to him. [break][break]

"You’ve got a point,” Zura hummed, his voice trailing off as he pondered the remark, though he knew well enough that any thoughts of change were likely fleeting. The village clerks were welcome to do some unmentionable things to him before he’d consider any real adjustment in his habits. Sure, the mission promised to be a drag, but it was easy money, and that was a motivator hard to ignore.
[break][break]
"Guess we should say hello,” Zura shrugged, ambling up to the old man’s door. He rapped on it three times. Eventually, the door swung open to reveal a rickety old man who looked as though a stiff breeze might topple him.[break][break]

Shaking his cane with more vigour than seemed feasible, the old man grumbled, "Yer’ late, get in here.” He then shuffled back into the depths of his home. Zura, with another noncommittal shrug, followed him inside.[break][break]

The house opened into a modest tatami room, centered around a simple rectangular chabudai. A pot of tea sat on the table, flanked by several waiting cups. In the corner of the room, a glass container showcased the samurai armor. It was a classic set—gleaming dark lacquered plates tied together with silken cords. The helmet was boasted a menacing oni mask, complete with horns and everything.[break][break]
"So this is it, eh?” Zura asked, stepping closer to the display and nearly pressing his face against the glass. "Doesn’t look very haunted,” he remarked with a skeptical raise of his eyebrows.

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[Tokonatsu Kaoru]

Tokonatsu Kaoru

Vowing to himself to tell Zura to meet at least fifty minutes earlier than they actually had to, in order to at least eliminate this waste of his time. Figuring out how to appease the admin ninja was a whole other beast, and one that he really wasn't sure how to address. He'd have to figure it out eventually though, otherwise they were gonna be stuck doing boring missions for the rest of forever.

Following his teammate into the house behind the old man, Kaoru yawned slightly at the comment of their timing, overall unconcerned and not particularly pleased to be here in the first place. Glancing over at the suit of armour, he settled himself at the table by the cups of tea after waiting for the old man to take his own seat. He might not act like it, but he was trained by his clan to act in a diplomatic fashion and he figured this old guy was the one who would decide when their mission was done.

It wouldn't hurt to butter him up and get a seal of approval sooner rather than later.

"Tell us about the armour Ojii-san," he asked politely, not looking in its direction for the moment instead giving the old man his full attention. Old people liked being at the center of attention and telling their stories, so this shouldn't be too hard to get out of him.

He was currently working on the theory that it was an armour made by some out of favour armoursmith and thus was considered cursed. That's what happened with his father's clan after all.

Word Count: 270
Mission: 4/15
Combat Information:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SAs:
Strength of the Samurai
Coming from a long samurai lineage, coupled with intense physical training, Kaoru has far greater physical strength than most other people of his rank. Even amongst the Bukijutsu and Taijutsu specialists he stands amongst the top in terms of his raw physical power.

Enhanced Chakra Reserves
Kaoru's body contains a vast well of chakra, able to perform even the most chakra intensive jutsu around without having to worry about running out.

Jutsu Used:
N/A

Tags: Oborozuki Zura

[Ronin]

OOC: Taking over for Oborozuki Zura

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A swing of the old man's cane narrowly missed Zura's head, even as the tall Genin swung his body backwards, avoiding the blow that would have surely caused a welt, if it had landed on his head. "Hey, you withered geezer! The hell's your problem?" he asked, a mixture of surprise and annoyance etched on his features. Zura would not deny that he was surprised at the hidden strength of someone who looked, for all intents and purposes, like some frail old man. Seemed like there was more to this fellow than he looked.

"Stop disrespecting such an esteemed heirloom and take this case seriously, you annoying brat!" the old man wheezed as he shook his cane at the glaring Zura, before turning slightly to glance out of the corner of his eye at Kaoru. "At least, someone here has some level of manners." This fellow was irritating, Zura thought, as he grimaced at the seated old man, before sitting himself down beside Kaoru. Well, irritating or no, he was the mission client.

"Pour yourselves some tea if you want," the man began, before giving a wet cough and clearing his throat. "It's been in my family for maybe nine generations," he said, finally getting to Kaoru's question. "But I've fallen on hard times, and what's the point of keeping a valuable item when one can barely afford food? I've tried to sell it, but every time I did, it was returned the next day with the customer angrily demanding a refund and stating that the armor is cursed. Maybe it's even the reason for my hard times. I really have to sell that dratted thing!"

Tokonatsu Kaoru

[Tokonatsu Kaoru]

Tokonatsu Kaoru

Kaoru's eyes narrowed slightly at the old man's movements, the action far quicker and stronger than he would have expected from the withered looking fellow. Well, that certainly made things at least a little more interesting. Bowing before taking a seat at the table, he poured himself a cup of tea and listened as the old man spoke, trying to figure out exactly what he was getting himself into in this mission.

"Why hire shinobi, Ojii-san?" he asked, "and not an exorcist or kannushi or something? It'd also help to know more about the nature of this curse. What happens? What do the buyers say about it that makes them give it back?" Honestly, at this point he didn't really know what he was going to be able to do about this whole thing, because a cursed set of armour really wasn't something he knew how to handle.

He could cut it up, but that wouldn't solve the problem, and right now the only thing he could really think of was to try and market it as a cursed item to attract a certain kind of buyer... well, that or take the armour to some trade town far away and the leave before the new owner figured anything out about it.

Neither of them were particularly good ideas.

Word Count: 218
Mission: 6/15
Combat Information:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SAs:
Strength of the Samurai
Coming from a long samurai lineage, coupled with intense physical training, Kaoru has far greater physical strength than most other people of his rank. Even amongst the Bukijutsu and Taijutsu specialists he stands amongst the top in terms of his raw physical power.

Enhanced Chakra Reserves
Kaoru's body contains a vast well of chakra, able to perform even the most chakra intensive jutsu around without having to worry about running out.

Jutsu Used:
N/A

Tags: Ronin

[Ronin]

Zura neither bowed before seating himself, nor did he pour himself some tea, instead choosing to languidly recline on the floor, his eyes on the old man with a stare that suggested both curiosity and defiance. Kaoru seemed to have some gift for interacting with people, so Zura decided he would let his partner do the heavy lifting in that regard. Diplomacy wasn't his thing.

The old man sneered at the taller youth, an expression Zura made an obvious show of ignoring. "Exactly like an urban hooligan," the geezer stated, before turning his attention to Kaoru. There seemed to be some change in his expression, though, when the burgundy-haired boy asked why he had chosen to employ shinobi, as opposed to people with a more professional understanding of spiritual matters."I'll just be honest and say this," he replied, looking a bit crestfallen, "it's because I don't have enough money to employ the services of an onmyōji. Your rates are more affordable, even if they earn me the services of that rude larrikin. But if you couldn't solve the problem, why would your village take the job, and give it to you?"

Zura rolled his eyes. "Maybe to teach younger ninja what cheapskates look like." A thrown geta narrowly missed his head. "To your second question, kid," the old man said, turning back to Kaoru again, "the buyers always complained about the armor making strange sounds at night, and things being missing from their houses. But it makes no sounds when it has been returned. I'd initially thought the first buyer was lying; after all, it does sound quite preposterous. But after getting the same complaint three more times, I'm at my wits' end."

Tokonatsu Kaoru

[Tokonatsu Kaoru]

Tokonatsu Kaoru

Shrugging slightly at the initial question and tactfully ignoring both Zura's comment and the thrown sandal, Kaoru couldn't help but ponder the situation. It was an odd one to be sure, why would the village accept the contract and then send the two of them to complete it? A kannushi or onmyouji would definitely be better equipped to deal with any spiritual matter, so there had to be something that spoke 'shinobi' to whoever had accepted the mission.

Random thefts and odd noises... well, those did sound like something shinobi might be able to help with, especially when it seemed unlikely in Kaoru's mind that some sort of cursed armour would do something so, well, mundane. What would it want with stolen stuff? A cursed bottle or something maybe, but armour? No, that didn't track with the sort of stories his father had told him about cursed objects. Armour might attack someone, or drain their lifeforce, or maybe fail in the worst possible moment.

Not take things from people.

"May I take a closer look at the armour Ojii-san? They might have sent me because my family has some knowledge of samurai equipment and I have a little skill at forging myself, so I might be able to figure something out at least." He was, despite his name, a Muramasa, and that meant learning to tend a forge and shape metal.

Word Count: 231
Mission: 8/15
Combat Information:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SAs:
Strength of the Samurai
Coming from a long samurai lineage, coupled with intense physical training, Kaoru has far greater physical strength than most other people of his rank. Even amongst the Bukijutsu and Taijutsu specialists he stands amongst the top in terms of his raw physical power.

Enhanced Chakra Reserves
Kaoru's body contains a vast well of chakra, able to perform even the most chakra intensive jutsu around without having to worry about running out.

Jutsu Used:
N/A

Tags: Ronin

[Ronin]

The old man rose to his feet and hobbled round the low table, glaring at Zura as he passed, while the latter made a derisive scoffing sound. As far as Zura was concerned, a mission such as this was absolutely no fun. It was likely that Kaoru could do this task all by himself, so why on earth did Zura have to be included in something like this? He glanced with a sidelong look at his partner, as the latter asked to examine the armor, but said nothing.

The old man, for his part, retrieved the flung sandal, and cleared his throat. "I think that would be a most excellent idea," the man stated, "although I have examined it myself multiple times and seen nothing. But you are ninja; maybe you can use your ninja-eyes or whatever strange things you ninja do, and find the problem." Although there was a slightly offhand tone in the man's voice, there was a largely recognizable amount of respect in his voice for the strange things that ninja did. He gestured with his walking cane at the show glass.

If Kaoru came over to the armor, he would observe that the glass which surrounded the armor consisted of detachable panels which could all be removed so that the armor could be observed and handled from all sides. "You may handle it if you wish," the old man said, returning to his place at the table, while throwing one more dirty look at Zura, who looked the image of uninterested. Kaoru would notice nothing specifically odd about the armor, except, if he handled the helmet, based on his natural proclivity for weapons, that something seemed off with the horns. One seemed lighter than the other.

Tokonatsu Kaoru

[Tokonatsu Kaoru]

Tokonatsu Kaoru

"Right, my ninja eyes..." he murmured, rolling his eyes in Zura's direction while the old man was distracted, "I'll give it my best shot Ojii-san." With that he headed over to the case containing the armour and looked it over, at first glance it seemed like a pretty standard set of Samurai armour, old fashioned to be sure, but nothing particularly stood out to him in terms of style or ornamentation that would place it as being anything particularly important or grand.

Opening up the case, he reached out for the armour and began to remove it carefully, placing it on the ground in a somewhat practiced order, though he wasn't as smooth with it as an actual samurai might have been. Still, it wasn't until he got to the helmet that he found something interesting, the armor unbalanced due to one of the horns being distinctly lighter than the other despite their size being, at least superficially, the same.

Frowning slightly at this discovery, Kaoru began examining the helmet in greater detail, focusing his attention on the lighter horn as he tried to figure out what caused the difference. Was it a different material? Or perhaps it was hollow? What this might tell him about the whole problem he wasn't entirely sure, but it was definitely a starting point.

Word Count: 220
Mission: 10/15
Combat Information:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SAs:
Strength of the Samurai
Coming from a long samurai lineage, coupled with intense physical training, Kaoru has far greater physical strength than most other people of his rank. Even amongst the Bukijutsu and Taijutsu specialists he stands amongst the top in terms of his raw physical power.

Enhanced Chakra Reserves
Kaoru's body contains a vast well of chakra, able to perform even the most chakra intensive jutsu around without having to worry about running out.

Jutsu Used:
N/A

Tags: Ronin

[Ronin]

Zura had just finished a similar gesture to the one Kaoru was currently doing, when the old geezer spoke of ninja eyes, and responded with an amused grin, when their eyes met. Fortunately, the old man was staring at the armor when he was talking, so he missed what he would have most likely interpreted as a gesture of rudeness, and may have been inspired to throw another sandal.

As the taller Takigakure ninja spent his time being the target of all sorts of dirty looks from the old man, Kaoru would observe that the horn of interest indeed was hollow, but not because there was an issue with the horn; after all, while there was nothing wrong with mounting filled horns on helmets, hollow horns would be lighter and thus more preferable as less weight on the head. That meant something was wrong, not with the lighter horn, but with the other one.

Interestingly, it was something someone without experience with weapons and armor would have missed; so slight was the imbalance that the heavier horn created. It suggested that the heavier horn itself was hollow, but there was probably something inside it. To lend some level of credence to such a hypothesis, Kaoru would observe, if he studied the heavier horn, that where it connected with the helmet, there was a tiny bubble of resin which looked a little recent for an armor set that old. It seemed someone may have, in the recent past, removed the horn, and replaced it.

Tokonatsu Kaoru

[Tokonatsu Kaoru]

Tokonatsu Kaoru

Further investigation of the helmet had him realising he was considering the horn situation the wrong way around, and the one that was unusual was the heavier of the two. "I think I might have something Ojii-san, but I'm going to take the helmet outside for a moment, just in case there's something dangerous," he declared as he got to his feet and headed for the door. It probably wasn't anything like that, but if there was some sort of toxin or gas within the horn then releasing it within the confines of the house right near the client was a terrible idea.

Once outside he sat himself back down and pulled out a kunai, very carefully running it along the seam of the unbalanced horn while keeping his face away from it, making sure to try and break the seal of resin without so much as scratching the armour itself. He didn't want to give the client a chance to get upset at him after all, the penalty he'd have to deal with for a bad mission review just wasn't worth it.

Once he was sure he'd be able to remove the horn, he'd firmly grasp it and begin to apply pressure to disconnect it from the helmet itself, making no real sudden moves in his attempt not to do something silly with what could potentially be fragile and/or dangerous. Was he being overly cautious? Prolly. Still, he wasn't going to let himself be killed by being dumb... death by helmet would be very, very lame.

Word Count: 257
Mission: 12/15
Combat Information:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SAs:
Strength of the Samurai
Coming from a long samurai lineage, coupled with intense physical training, Kaoru has far greater physical strength than most other people of his rank. Even amongst the Bukijutsu and Taijutsu specialists he stands amongst the top in terms of his raw physical power.

Enhanced Chakra Reserves
Kaoru's body contains a vast well of chakra, able to perform even the most chakra intensive jutsu around without having to worry about running out.

Jutsu Used:
N/A

Tags: Ronin

[Ronin]

The old man looked a little bit surprised, but mostly expectant, when Kaoru said that he might have found something. Even Zura, who was trying to pretend as though he didn't really care about the proceedings, turned to give his partner a curious look. Kaoru had mentioned something about there being something possibly dangerous about the mask. Now that was interesting. Besides, it was likely that if he remained where he was, the geezer would throw something at him again.

Feigning disinterest again, and with a pretended yawn, Zura rose to his feet and stretched. "About time something cool happened," he muttered, as he followed Kaoru outside, while the old man leered at him, even as the latter struggled to rise to his feet with his cane. ""You haven't even done anything since coming here, and you're complaining about cool stuff not happening, you immature lout, he said, before mumbling something about his knees.

As he hobbled over towards the two ninja, the geezer noticed Kaoru trying to remove the horn and cried out in protest, stepping forward, only to be stopped by Zura. "He knows what he's doing, Grandpa," the taller youth said. "Let's let him work." The old man glared at Zura, but did not attempt to continue advancing towards Kaoru.

For his part, Kaoru would find no strange traps that would present any threat to his well-being, and the horn readily gave when he pulled it. And there the secret of its extra weight was revealed: there was a thick block of resin inside the horn, with a seal inscribed on it. It did look like the sort of seal associated with summoning, and the kanji for 'kourogi', or 'cricket' was in the center of the inscriptions.

Tokonatsu Kaoru

[Tokonatsu Kaoru]

Tokonatsu Kaoru

"Aha!" Kaoru cried as the horn came loose, carefully putting the rest of the helmet down before examining the resin block within the removed extremity. Looking at the seal within the resin, he considered it for a few moments, able to recognise the basics that indicated that this was some sort of summoning seal. He might not have learned Kuchiyose yet, but he had signed a contract and was working on the jutsu itself, so he could recognise the key seals well enough.

Carefully taking his Kunai, Kaoru would begin to try and pry the resin from within the horn, hoping to remove it so that he could free the armour of its 'curse' before he further explored the object itself. His movements were slow and delicate, not wanting to break either the horn or the resin seal, a slight frown the only indication of how careful he was actually being.

If he succeeded in prying the resin free he would then carefully place the horn near the helmet and take the lump of resin away from the building before running chakra through it in hopes to activate whatever it was it summoned. 

Was that smart? No, but he was too curious not to try and summon the potential cricket that the kanji suggested.

Word Count: 214
Mission: 14/15
Combat Information:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SAs:
Strength of the Samurai
Coming from a long samurai lineage, coupled with intense physical training, Kaoru has far greater physical strength than most other people of his rank. Even amongst the Bukijutsu and Taijutsu specialists he stands amongst the top in terms of his raw physical power.

Enhanced Chakra Reserves
Kaoru's body contains a vast well of chakra, able to perform even the most chakra intensive jutsu around without having to worry about running out.

Jutsu Used:
N/A

Tags: Ronin

[Ronin]

Both old man and fellow Genin turned to look at Kaoru as he cried in exultation at having removed the horn. Both of them, out of curiosity, gathered round to see what was the reason for his attempting to dislodge the horn from the helmet. On seeing the block of resin, the old man frowned in confusion. "Is that supposed to be there?" he asked in bemusement. "It doesn't look... I've never seen such a thing before."

Zura said nothing, squinting as he looked closer at it. As someone who had a summoning contract, he immediately recognized the seal pattern, although it wasn't for any creature he was familiar with. Kaoru would find that the resin was quite tough, and almost impossible to remove without damaging the horn. But an idea struck Zura, as he watched his mission partner struggle with the horn. "Yo, lemme try something,” he said, taking the horn. With a little application of his Futton chakra, he was sure he would be able to dislodge the resin block more easily than trying to cut through it with a metal tool. After a little moment of careful application, the resin block came free, and Zura handed the horn and block back to Kaoru.

Watching Kaoru, Zura suddenly realized what his partner was trying to do, and a smile turned up his lips. "This should be fun,” he muttered, though he prepared himself to use a jutsu if necessary. Kaoru's chakra resulted in a plume of smoke, and when it cleared, a huge cricket, standing about two feet tall, had appeared. It turned its head to look at Kaoru. "Sup? You don't look like the last guy that summoned me. What'chu want?”

Tokonatsu Kaoru