For What It's Worth

[The Dude]

NAME; TRAP CITY
RANK; B
DESCRIPTION; WE HAVE GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS. GOOD NEWS IS WE FINALLY FOUND A WAREHOUSE WE CAN BUILD THAT NEW GYMNASTICS TRAINING CENTER FOR OUR YOUNG NINJA’S TO TRAIN. THE BAD NEWS IS IT WAS OWNED BY A NUTJOB CONVINCED THE WORLD WOULD END AND HE’D NEED A TRAPPED OUT FORTRESS. THAT’S WHERE YOU COME IN. WE NEED YOU TO GET IN TO THE WAREHOUSE SOMEHOW, DE-ACTIVATE THE MANY TRAPS AND MOVE ALL THE SHIT IN IT, OUT OF IT.
REWARD; 100 EXPERIENCE, 2,500 RYO
MINIMUM SHINOBI; ONE
MISSION STATUS; INTERMINABLE

Takumi walked along the street distracted by the scroll in his hands. He was reading a small map from the mission scroll that would lead him to the 'fortress' he was being sent to disarm. While the mission didn't unnerve Takumi with the danger, it would prove to be an arduous taking most of the day. The only upside to the whole chore was the pay waiting for him at the end of it.

He arrived at the warehouse in question, but remained in the street waiting. He would wait for his partner before he started his mission to get inside. After all, rushing into a warehouse that had been armed and trapped so heavily could prove foolish. It was best to have at least one partner to pull your ass out of fire when the traps began. Besides this, Takumi was early so his partner still had a little time before the appointment.

Takumi turned and faced the building and studying it and the scroll in his hands at the same time. The building was no bigger than any of the other warehouses in the district, but the entire structure had clearly been reinforced through concrete support, a locked stone door, and strangely enough battlements on the roof.

[Tsuchigumo]

“Hehe..Sato-chan be a good boy and don’t tell your mama I was here, ok?” She said with a playful bat of her eyelash. “And little boys your age shouldn’t be drinking, that’s for adults.” As if to remind herself that she was his tutor the older woman left him with her best attempt at giving a stern warning. Taking in his tutor’s request with a smirk, the young genin simply watched her as she left his bedroom. Playing “doctor” with a grown woman in his parents’ home was very risky, but they were rarely around anyway. Sato would not have long to sit around, however; because today was the first day of his mission. And it was a B ranked one at that, a prospect that shook even the toughest of young shinobi, but he was unfazed. Not because Sato was some kind of badass, but at the simple fact that all he could do was man up.

“Looks like I will have to prove myself or this will be the last time I see this room.” Sato uttered with a smirk still on his face, still contemplating his situation. Shifting his eyes to the right, the young ninja spied his clothing all neatly laid out. If there was one thing Sato was it was prepared for a task. He even had Oni’s scroll on-hand for the coming battle ahead. “It’s time to go.” Planting his feet on the ground Sato quickly got dressed. The location in question was the warehouse district, which he happened to live near making the journey rather trivial.

“Oh my, you are a scary looking one.” Was Sato’s chosen reply when he laid eyes on Takumi. Sato might have been prone to sarcasm, but Takumi was quite the fearsome figure and he could have easily past for a Jounin on looks alone. “Sorry I am late. I was held up.” Following his apology up with a bow to his fellow Genin he took little time in summoning his puppet Oni.“I am only vaguely aware of our mission, would you mind handing me the scroll?”

Oni

SPOILER: Click to show

[The Dude]

Takumi took a moment more looking at his possible entrances on the scroll before handing it over to his partner. Now that his partner was here preparations for the mission could commence. The majority of his kikai began to swarm out from under his clothes massing on the ground before marching or flying over to the warehouse entrances inspecting them for any traps.

"I think our safest bet is the front door to be honest. The whole house is rigged like a haunted house with real traps from what I saw on the scrolls. We might as well walk all the way through it til the end and disarm all the traps since we are here to make sure they all are safely disarmed. I don't want my name ruined because we leave some traps in there, but I also don't care to get blown up either so we'll be playing this one safe."

Takumi glanced at the ninja's summon quizzically before he noticed the chakra threads on it's limbs. A puppeteer! Now that was a practical style of ninja. After all, puppeteers used their puppets for more things than just war tools. Many had specialties and customized weapons and techniques. They were the swiss army knives of ninja! So many methods to kill a man but you never knew for sure what was in yours till you opened it.

"How skilled are you with your puppet? Could you perhaps use it to disarm traps if my kikai are able to locate them?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Kikaichuu no Jutsu (Destruction Bug Technique)
Rank: D, C, B, A [325]
Type: Supplementary / Ninjutsu / Secret Technique
Range: 0 - 50 meters
Handseals: No.
Chakra: Mid
Special: Allows the user to control, without the need of seals, the bugs residing within. Highest rank determines strength and ability of bugs, amount of chakra that can be absorbed per turn, distance the user can control them away from their body, and finally, readiness (speed) at which they react to command). By default, it takes a full turn of exposure to the full swarm of kikaichuu, in which constant contact is created, in order for chakra leeching to occur; it takes the same amount of exposure for the user to absorb leeched chakra.

D: 10 meters // 1 meter per second
C: 20 meters // 2 meters per second
B: 30 meters // 3 meters per second
A: 40 meters // 4 meters per second
S: 50 meters // 5 meters per second

Description: Kikaichuu no Jutsu is a core ninjutsu technique central to all Aburame clan jutsu. After being born, the clan member forms a pact with the kikai, allowing them to serve as the host nest for the bugs. In return for feeding on the chakra the hosts' body provides, the insects will do the bidding of the clan member. The host can use the bugs to seek out the chakra of the opponent and attack them, allowing them to leech victim's energies and even create large figures. As a bonus, because the bug makes a bond with the user, they adopt all of their innate traites, including speed!
Domain: Aburame.

[Tsuchigumo]

After taking the scroll from Takumi, Sato took a moment to reflect on its contents. Reading over the scrolls contents it didn’t seem as if he would be facing any powerful foes, just some traps to be disabled. His only concern was helping to make sure he nor his young friend were harmed or worse. Luckily, his partner was a clever fellow and not a hot head. Of course being an Abrume tact and strategy comes with the territory. He even concocted a rather clever plan using the insects that poured from his body. Strangely, he wasn’t alarmed by such a sight, although; he attributed this to being desensitized to the many weird fellows in Mist village.

“Sounds simple enough, but then I suppose if it were that simple it wouldn’t be a B ranked mission. Anyway, Oni here should be able to handle the job. He was built with a greater focus on combat, but disabling traps shouldn’t be too large a task. The name is Sato, btw. ” Patting his puppets head, the young genin was ready and willing to play his part. Oni was also very small and nimble, which would greatly help their chances of disabling the traps. "Just tell me when and I will send this guy on his way."

[The Dude]

The kikai crawled along the way up the walk way to the great stone door inspecting for traps and anything out of the ordinary. Digging through the earth, creeping along cracks, and even buzzing along all the walls. As they continued their search of the property Takumi turned his attention to his partner.

"Most missions aren't what they seem. I don't like it, but it's why we need to be prepared. I mean it's not exactly unusual for things to get escalated violently in Kiri affairs."

The kikai reached the stone door crawling into what few vulnerabilities it offered and into the inside. Once through the door they scuttled about investigated the other side of the door for traps that were obviously awaiting. On the other side they found a pile of strange shaped pieces of wood with lines running all down their sides. Crawling into the cracks of the wood lead to a cavern of black dirt that smudged and sullied even the bugs.

Takumi thought back to the one person in Kiri who he would consider anything close to a friend. He tried to remember the mission and how they started talking to begin with. Takumi was horrible with social skills, but maybe he could borrow one his friend's. The aburame asked Sato the question as though he were reading from a cue card.

"So 'Sato', whats your story?"

[Tsuchigumo]

With little else to add Sato just nodded his head in agreement. Ninja missions often turned out to pose greater danger than orgionally expected and this would be no different. Thankfully Sato had the luxury of getting partner up with an Aburme. His plan seemed smart and straight forward and with the attachments lining Oni’s body he was sure the puppet could do the job. The only thing that mattered was seeing to it that he didn’t lose his creation to an explosion, or himself for that matter. All Sato needed to do was guide his puppet carefully to the exposed traps and disarm them.

“What is my story?” Sato waited a bit before replying as he thought of the best way to answer Takumi’s question. Not wanting to look too strange, he simply told him that he was a genin, all the while making sure to avoid admitting how little experience he had. There was no need to shake his partner’s confidence in him, and besides, discretion was the better part of valor. Instead he just told the lad a few vague things such as him being a puppeteer, his rank, his family and younger brother. If things progressed in a more favorable direction he could perhaps open up a bit more. “Since we are sharing what’s yours? Your appearance suggest a meaner personality , but you are quiet pleasant and professional.”

[The Dude]

"Well sir, for the time we are allies so for the time I will be 'quite pleasant and professional.' If there is a fight I will not censor my violence when lethal points such as eyes and necks are exposed and it makes a mess of the streets."

There was a loud boom from the warehouse as an explosion blew across the stairway to the door. Almost on cue just afterwards a small swarm of the kikai flew out of the house through the air back to the ninja and hovered in the air before takumi in formation to make a map of the entrance with strange motions to symbolize different things for the Aburame ninja to decipher. Just like the mission scroll had emphasized the guy had been a nutjob and a dangerous one.

While Takumi was marveling at seemingly endless surplus of explosions that had gone into the place he noticed discolored kikai that were just behind the door on the map. Reaching up and wiping his finger on the bugs he wiped some of the black dirt off of them and sniffed it. He sighed a heavy sigh from the work that was going to go into this place before relaying the information to his partner.

"There's a mine field to the door, that's lovely. Just pay close attention to the ground as we make our way through and you'll see a ring of kikai on the ground around each mine so just don't step in the rings. The stairs had a trip string but the kikai have chewed through the string so the explosion triggered. The door itself though seems to have but one trap to it. A trap triggered by the act of even opening the doors. Unless I've completely missed the point of stacking 15 barrels of what smells alarmingly similar to black powder behind the door wired to the hinges."

"But you know what? As for as much time and effort we'll be putting into this at least it's a challenge and the pay is good. It's a much better feeling than running the lowly errands for minimum pay they give most ninja. These missions are reviewed on our performance, and it can't hurt to remind the military why it's time for a promotion!"

He laughed uncontrollably as he lead the way through the yard towards the warehouse. Along the ground were several rings of kikai in formation as markers to mines. Takumi weaved through the field quite confidently dodging the perilous circles before springing up the steps and standing before the doorway cautiously.

[Tsuchigumo]

“Oh my, so you do have a darker side to you, eh? Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to liberating my enemy’s heads from their bodies.” The idea of running his puppet through another human body inspired a smirk. Still, Sato knew he’d have to leash his more sadistic instincts for the time being. “Oh and no need to worry about making a mess, we are ninja after all.” Smirk intact Sato was starting to enjoy this Takumi fellow the more they spoke with each other. Thinking back to his days in the academy, he’d never encountered fellows as complicated as Takumi. He was clearly much more ruthless than his demeanor implied, but had the sense to know when and when not to let it show. “By the way, mind telling me some things about you? We are friends now after all.” Unique men like Takumi interested Sato the most.

Before Sato could receive an answer from his partner, a deafening boom within the warehouse stole his attention. No doubt it was the work of Takumi’s bugs. With an eyebrow pushed up, Sato could only wonder what surprises awaited him within. “I wonder what they found.”’ He queried inwardly, a curled finger resting comfortably on his chin. He wouldn’t have to wait much longer thanks to quick reporting of the bugs. Of course since he lacked the abilities of his partner the bugs message left him puzzled, but Sato wouldn’t show it. No need to ask questions that Takumi would answer for him. He would just stand and wait patiently for the insect’s revelation.

“There is a mine field in there? At least we know what we are dealing with.” More interested than anything else, Sato secretly wished he had this guy designing his puppets, at least their weaponry. Sadly, he had no time to daydream about the possibilities because just as the genin informed him about the minefield, he was bombarded with even more information. These bugs were even cleverer than he originally thought. Not only could they detect traps, but they were capable of creating complex maps like this on their own. “Clever bugs”. Sato whispered to himself after Takumi told the genin of his plan.

The young boy’s scheme seemed simple enough and while Sato was more than capable of sneaking around. Suddenly a thought occurred to him, namely weren’t they supposed to disable all of the traps? “I assume when we pass this little minefield I will be expected to have my puppet disarm, correct? ” Sato reminded Takumi, but no doubt the boy genius had already taken this into account. Still, there was no harm in asking, right?

"But you know what? As for as much time and effort we'll be putting into this at least it's a challenge and the pay is good. It's a much better feeling than running the lowly errands for minimum pay they give most ninja. These missions are reviewed on our performance, and it can't hurt to remind the military why it's time for a promotion!"

“Indeed” He said with a grin. The idea of a promotion was always nice to hear, especially when it meant advancing to Chunin. And if he were capable of making such a leap in so little time he’d be one step closer to the infamy he so desired. Of course this would wait until after he passed the minefield. Much like Takumi, Sato and his puppet easily dodged the mines waiting to blast them both into nonexistence. “Well, this was fun.” This was quite the change of pace from the majority of assignments Genin were normally given. Such menial bullshit task were for dullards and if he had no desire to take part in them even if it meant risking his life.

[The Dude]

"The mines can wait for now, the second part of the mission is to clear out everything inside. It doesn't specify where so I don't think they mind us jettisoning some of it onto the yard to get rid of the minefield on our way out. The real problem is this door is wired to go off if anything should try to open it from this side short of being blown into a neighboring building most likely. I just need to be inside."

Even as Takumi spoke kikai were filing into the few gaps and spaces through the stone door to the other side where they coalesced in a swarm that rose up from the ground taking form and shape. As the figure stood straight the last of the kikai merged with the whole to take on the exact physical persona of Takumi. The clone careful not to take any false steps turned his head in any and all directions looking for something obvious to use. Sure enough he found a lever he pulled timidly. The stone door swung open and the clone walked out beckoning the two ninja inside.

"Building's all concrete and the traps are too intricate for the kikai to distinguish and identify properly from here on sir. My bug clone can be used if you need to detonate a trap without damaging your puppet but from here on, it's your show. If there's anything my kikai do find though I will make sure to inform you immediately."

Takumi followed the clone in through the door way stepping through into a large concrete warehouse. The remainder of his swarm dispersed into the air buzzing about the room looking for anything out of the ordinary as Takumi looked about for some form of lights. Upon finding a switch he gave a slight nod and to his bug clone who walked over cautiously before flipping the switch turning on the lights to the vacant warehouse.