[Graded]A Merchant's Plight

[Yura]

It was mid-afternoon in Iwagakure and the village's mercantile district was alive with people, merchants and customers alike. Amongst them was a young member of the Enkouten clan, known as Mitsuo, who was standing in front of the family's business stall trying to attract customers to their shop.

"Jewelry and trinkets!" Mitsuo called out to people on the streets, "Get your jewelry and trinkets here!"

Unfortunately for Mitsuo, it seemed that business was slow today. As part of the Enkouten clan, his family's merchant stall specialized in selling forged/welded goods which usually amounted to small pieces of jewelry and metal trinkets designed and crafted by Mitsuo himself. They had, in his opinion, a little something for everybody. A lot of the young women of the village were drawn to the sparkling pieces of jewel encrusted necklaces and rings that the family sold (usually for a hefty sum) while many men and just shinobi in general were drawn to the more conservative, yet stylish, metal pendants. And if none of that caught their fancy, the family sold a select amount of weapons to those who knew how to use them or to those who were willing to pay an extra price.

"Ma'am would you be interested in this crystal floral broach?" Mitsuo said to an older woman as she walked by, to no avail. He had only made two sales today and they had been to regular customers of his who always came in and bought some of the cheap items that they sold. 'Presents for the grandkids' or something like that. He was eager to make an actual sale today though.

Making a few more attempts on the people walking by, Mitsuo sulked back to his booth and sat on the chair behind the counter. There was only a few more hours before the stall would close for the day and his replacement/closer would show up before that. It seemed he would have to resign himself to not making a decent sale that day.

[Kao]

Crowds weren't exactly Kotaru's thing. A tiny boy with bright eyes and a dark gaze, he much preferred to spend his free time alone on the outskirts of the village, drawing or daydreaming. The only reason he ventured to the merchants' district was because his money was burning a hole in his pocket, and he wasn't used to the sensation. Poverty was something he had grown up with, so surplus money that he had earned on his own and saved up was an exciting prospect and he wanted to spend it immediately.

He wandered around looking at various stalls but nothing caught his eye. Most of the goods were useless trinkets and various forms of polished garbage that weren't worth a single penny. Just as he was preparing to give up and do something else, he noticed a stall with a surprisingly large variation of goods. Jewelry, metal goods and pendants. There were even a few weapons. Curious, he shuffled around a large passerby and peered at the stall.

"Hello." Kotaru greeted the attendant, not noticing that his soft voice would barely carry over the din of the surrounding crowd. He glanced over the goods before raising his head and slightly smiling. "These are nice. But do you have something a bit more, uh," he paused to find the right words, hands gesturing vaguely, "skully? Something with skulls."

[Yura]

Mitsuo had been sitting on his stool and leaning on the stall counter, his chin resting in his hands, as the young teal haired boy approached his stall.

"Hello!" Mitsuo exclaimed, returning the boy's soft greeting perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. He had honestly doubted that he would get any other customers before the day's end, and the ones that he had gotten he had attracted to the stall by essentially screaming things at them as they walked by. Having someone approach his stall of their own volition was a good sign though; he wasn't going to let this customer get away without buying something. "Everything here is hand crafted by my family and I. If anything catches your eye, let me know."

Mitsuo eagerly watched the boy as he looked over the items that sat in the various glass cases that made up the stall. At the same time, he was trying to get a read on him in an attempt to get an idea on what items to try to market to him. The pouch on the boy's leg suggested that he was a shinobi, likely a genin given his young appearance, so maybe he would be interested in some of the weapons that were displayed. He wasn't a large boy, however, so a large sword or spear probably wouldn't interest him much.

As Mitsuo pondered what to market towards him, the boy looked up with a request. "Skulls?" he asked aloud, "Uhhh…hmmm." Mitsuo brought his hand to his chin as he tried to think of what items they had that had skulls as part of their theme. "Give me a moment." He said as he turned away from the boy and moved to another glass case that sat in the corner behind the counter. Normally, items in this case were considered to be 'less popular' and were only used to fill in the spots of items that had been sold from the main display cases.

"I don't have much, I'm afraid." Mitsuo said as he turned away from the 'backup case', a few items in his hands. "I've got a ring, a braclet, and a set of throwing knives with skulls on them." He said, placing each item down on the counter in front of the boy, "Any of these interest you?"

[Kao]

Kotaru recoiled from the merchant's almost overbearing eagerness, his face scrunched briefly in poorly concealed irritation. He never understood why merchants were often so perky and superficially friendly when everyone involved in a sales exchange knew they only cared about the profit. Still, the boy seemed to truly want to help him and make his sale, so Kotaru crossed his arms and waited to see what he would pull out.

The items he came up with were disappointing. The Akari was never one to wear jewelry on his wrist or fingers, so the ring and bracelet were immediately disregarded as options. He picked up one of the knives, choosing one that was completely black save for the white skull engraved on the blade. He held it up to his face, pressing his left finger on the sharpest point of the blade, and twisted it with his other hand to examine it closely. He was unconcerned that holding it in that manner risked pricking his finger, more interested in the craftsmanship of the small weapon. It was rather nice and beautifully made, and the smooth black blade was attractive to him. Still, something about the knives weren't quite right, and Kotaru shook his head with a small sigh and set it down.

"There are nice, but they don't really speak to me." Already losing interest, Kotaru's eyes wandered to neighboring stalls, but he could tell he wouldn't have luck there, either. "I'm not really into jewelry unless it's a necklace. Even then, I don't wear things that are flashy." He looked back to the young merchant, sulking. There wasn't much more to look at if that was all there was to offer. "Do you think someone in your family could make something that suits my tastes more?"

[Yura]

Mitsuo couldn't say that he was surprised that the boy wasn't particularly interested in any of the items that he had shown him. He had thought for a moment that the boy may be interested in the set of knives, but ultimately they didn’t seem to be the right fit.

"I could do it actually." Mitsuo stated in response to the boy's request, "I don't often get to do custom orders for customers so I'd be glad to." He added as he gathered up the items that he had previously laid out, "Just give me a moment to put these away." Moving back to the glass case behind the counter, he placed the previous items back where they belonged and moved to the shelf to gather up some forms and a pad of blank paper.

"Alright so to start, I'm going to have you fill out the first part of this little form for me." He said, sliding the form and a pencil across to the counter to the boy, "It's basically just asking for your name, address in the village, etc. Just your basic identification information. Once you're done with that you can just slide it back over to me."

"Now while you do that, I'm just going to explain the process for this." He said while the boy filled out the form, "Basically, I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions to get an idea of what you want me to make, and then I'm going to attempt to draw it for you so that you can confirm the design. After that, it will be a few days before it is completed. Possibly a few weeks depending on the complexity."

"So why don't we start with the obvious question: What would you like me to make for you?" He asked pen in hand, ready to record the boy's request, "I know the design is going to incorporate skulls, or at least a skull, in some way, but are you looking for a necklace? A weapon? A piece of armor perhaps?"

[Kao]

When the young merchant offered a custom order, Kotaru's brow lifted in curiosity. The thought of having a custom item intrigued him, especially since the craftsmanship was, overall, very well done. Kotaru filled out the short paperwork, taking care to write his name and address in small, neat characters and then slid it back to him.

"We can start with something simple. I don't like flashy things, so maybe a small necklace pendant for now." He turned to the side and crossed his arms, directing his eyes towards the crowds creeping ahead. He wasn't expecting to have to come up with an idea on the spot, but the genin was pretty creative when it came to this kind of imagery. "I don't want just a regular human skull, yanno? I'm thinking more of like...an animal skull. Maybe a bird....a crow? No, a raven. How about a raven skull? Not too big, not too small. That shouldn't take too long, right?." He turned back to the merchant and glanced at the pen in his hand as he took notes. He seemed serious about the commission, which was a good sign.

"A few weeks, huh? That's fine, I guess, but how will I know when you're done? I'm rarely home so that's out." Although he wrote down his address, he typically only went to that place to eat, bathe, and sleep. If he could avoid that house, he did. "Is there somewhere else we could meet? Here, maybe?"

[Yura]

Mitsuo took the paperwork back from the boy and began filling in the areas that he need to. Kotaru he thought to himself, noting the name at the top. "I'm Mitsuo, by the way." He mentioned as he put the filled out paperwork down and picked up his pad of paper.

As Kotaru spoke, Mituso began jotting down key words on the edge of his paper that the boy was saying while describing his desired item. Not Flashy, Necklace Pendant, Raven Skull, Not Too Big/Small, he listed, making sure that he took note of all of the relevant data. "Well depending on how intricate of a design you want with this pendant, I could probably get it done in a few days. A week max." Mitsuo said as he finished making notes, "I know you said that you aren't at home much, but I could just send a note of completion to your address to let you know that you can come pick it up if that works for you. Otherwise you could probably drop in in like a week and check on it."

Having completed his notes on Kotaru's requests, Mitsuo was now curious on some of the finer details relevant to the design of the pendant. Turning away from the counter for a moment, Mituso opened a cabinet drawer and removed several different blocks of metal. "Now that you have told me the design," Mitsuo said turning back to the counter, "What kind of metal would you like it crafted out of?" he asked as he placed each of the blocks on the counter. From left to right, blocks of Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Brass, Nickle, Platinum were laid out in front of Kotaru. "These are the most common materials that we use when crafting our jewelry items." Mitsuo explained before identifying each one for Kotaru. "I assume that since you don't want the piece to be too flashy that you won't want it to be done in gold, but I thought I would give you the option anyways." While many of the materials had similar colors and finishes, it was the quality of the metal that mattered. It would also, obviously, have an effect on the price. "You should also probably think about what kind of chain you want to use." He added.

While Kotaru evaluated the different materials, Mitsuo began sketching out the design of the pendant. He was going to have to do some research into the exact shape and design of a raven's skull when he went to craft the final piece, but for now he knew enough that he should be able to make a rough sketch for the boy.

[Kao]

Kotaru craned his neck to read Mitsuo's notes, ensuring that he got all the small details correct. "That's fine," he murmured in regards to the proposed time frame. "I'm not in any hurry. If I don't see a note at their house I'll just drop by." His eyes widened at the sample blocks, immediately drawn to the silver, bronze, and platinum blocks. He picked them up one by one, noting the platinum one was quite heavy compared to the others. He didn't know much about metals, but he was familiar with the fact that platinum was pretty expensive. "This one's nice. But platinum would be out of my price range. Looks cool, though."

Relucantly, he decided on the silver metal and a snake with bead chain. Although he had money to spend, he was on sort of a budget and needed to make sure he had enough money left over for a few days worth of food. He took a long look at Mitsuo's sketch. Despite his apparent age, he seemed to know what he was doing. He was impressed, really, though the genin didn't exactly show in his face. Instead, he crossed his arms with a cocked brow and asked, "You're kinda young. How many of these did you make? Do you go out and find the materials yourself?"

[Yura]

"Platinum is, indeed, expensive." Mitsuo replied without looking up from his sketchbook. He was focused on getting the shape and features of the skull just right. "The sterling silver will look great though." He added, erasing a small portion of his sketch and redrawing it, "I tend to favor the silver myself, honestly. In fact the necklace that I'm wearing right now is made of it." He said, taking a moment to pull the necklace out from under his shirt. It was simple necklace in the shape of his clan symbol, but it was an important necklace to him as it had been the first item he had ever forged completely on his own. "The silver is a lot less expensive, but it still has good durability so long as you make sure to clean it." Stuffing his necklace back into his shirt, Mitsuo went back to the sketch, finishing the part that he had started to redraw.

Having finished the general shape of features of the skull, Mitsuo began drawing the necklace as well as he continued answering Kotaru's questions. "I may be young, but I've been helping my family forge items like these since I was 4 years old." He said with a little chuckle, "By the time I entered the academy, I was forging small items all on my own that were sold right here at this stall."

"A lot of what you see here is made by other members of my family, unfortunately." Mitsuo said, gesturing to the glass case of jewelry, "I don’t mean for that to sound negative, my family members do amazing work, but I haven't gotten the chance to do a lot of items myself lately, being a chuunin for the village and all." He explained, "As for the materials, we have trade deals with a lot of villages throughout the country who mine the metals for us. That way, we always have some on hand to keep up with our orders."

"Do you want me to etch any sort of design into the pendant?" He asked, nearly finished with the sketch.

[Kao]

"Oh, you're an Enkouten," he noted when Mitsuo showed off his necklace. If he could make the commissioned necklace anything like his own, then the money and the wait would be worth it. It would be nice, Kotaru thought, to have something unique to him that no one else had.

He also noticed that Mitsuo was a bit chatty, and he talked to Kotaru in a way that was much friendlier than what the genin was used to. As Mitsuo talked, Kotaru's eyes wandered to look at all the various trinkets and shiny objects, but he listened to every word the auburn-haired boy said. Mitsuo seemed to work closely with his family, though Kotaru couldn't exactly relate to that. He wondered what it was like to be close to one's family, to work side-by-side with them in a hot forge or at a merchant's stall. It was something he knew he would never experience, and though that fact didn't make him sad or wish he had a relationship with his parents, at that moment he knew for sure he didn't want Mitsuo anywhere near them or their house. They weren't the type of people someone with a seemingly healthy family relationship would want to meet.

As Mitsuo finisheded up the sketch, Kotaru shook his head. "No, it's fine without anything else. Maybe for my next order you can do something like that and I'll have enough money for platinum." He drummed his fingers on the counter, growing a bit impatient to see the final sketch. "If you're a chuunin, you must be busy in and out of the village. I'm only a genin. Don't get out much. I wouldn't mind going out to find fancy gems and metals though.

[Yura]

"Yeah being a chuunin is quite the step up from being a genin." Mitsuo replied, "You actually get to go on missions outside of the village, but they usually take longer and are much more involved than anything that you will do as a genin." Mitsuo explained, "It's definitely something that you should look forward to though."

The conversation made Mitsuo think back to his time as a genin as compared to his current position as a chuunin. Back then he had been teamed with Shiha as they worked their way through monotonous mission after monotonous mission trying to build their skills. When they had finally reached chuunin, they had been so proud of each other and excited for their new roles, but they hadn't seen much of each other since their rank up. Lately he had been paired with Tatsuo instead, helping the genin prepare for chuunin while they explored the art of Kouton. He'd have to check in with Shiha one day, see how she was.

Back in reality, Mitsuo had finished the sketch of Kotaru's necklace and pendant. With one final look, Mitsuo turned the sketchbook towards the boy to show him the finished sketch. "Does this look about right?" He asked, "I'll probably redraw it more accurately before actually making it, but I just want to make sure that this is the general idea of what you wanted." He explained, hoping Kotaru would have some faith in his ability to make the pendant despite the rough sketch.

[Kao]

"Eh. Those kinds of missions sound like a lot of trouble to me," he mumbled in response to working outside of the village on longer and more dangerous missions. "Not that I'm entirely against exerting myself." Kotaru just didn't like to fight, but he wasn't going to tell his new acquaintance that. He wondered briefly if Mitsuo had ever been in a life or death situation, and if he had, what he had done to get out of it alive.

Kotaru had never personally encountered any extreme danger, but he was sure that, sooner or later, he would have to face death. He started to ask Mitsuo what his chuunin exams were like, but he stopped himself. That would be a topic for another time if the two of them ever actually had an interaction besides a merchant-buyer one.

He checked out Mitsuo's drawing and nodded his head. "Looks great. Details look right to me. It's fine if you redraw it, I'm sure it'll turn out fine." Kotaru allowed a small smile to grace his lips before he continued, "I'll check up on it in a few days. That way you won't have to go out of your way to find my address." With that, Kotaru said his goodbye and disappeared into the crowd.

[Yura]

Mitsuo was relieved to learn that his sketch of the necklace was accurate enough for Kotaru to approve. While he hadn't necessarily been 'worried' that it wouldn't, it was always pleasing to learn that his vision for a product lined up with that of the person that requested it. He even noticed that the genin seemed to crack a smile, the first and only one that he had noticed come from the otherwise reserved genin.

Gently tearing the sketch off of his sketchpad, Mitsuo took the sketch and attacked it to the necklace's order form so that they would be easier to reference later. "This copy is for you." Mitsuo said, holding out a copy of the order form, "If I'm not here when you come looking, you'll need that in order to pick it up." He explained as the genin took it from him. "I'll see you back here in a few days."

Mitsuo watched as the genin left his stall and disappeared into the crowd. Interesting kid that one. he thought to himself. A few moments later, Mitsuo was back out in front of his stall, trying to coax new customers to come have a look at his wares.

[END]