[Graded][Plotboard] They Don't Know About Us

[Nick]

Oh, drat.

That was the second person to decline his invitation. At least this time it had been a polite no thank you, rather than the first home he had visited which had so rudely shut the door in his face and yelled at him to leave. He pulled a pad of paper and a pencil out of a pocket in his robes, and checked a name off, looking at the next one, and sighing. Zekka had spent a lot of time making this list, even going so far as to list them in order of who he thought would be most likely to accept; He had spent a lot of time going through personnel files to make sure he had at least some kind of idea who these people were, but so far, he hadn't been correct.

The boy looked down at the next time, quickly recalled the address listed in his file, and took off walking. It was for one Henrin, Tsuken, and it made Zekka smile lightly; He'd had good luck with Henrin before, between Akio and Kiyori, maybe this would be the one. It didn't take him long to speedwalk to the address, and as the camera panned up to the sun, and then back down, Zekka was in front of the door. Nervously, the blonde licked his lips, slowly reaching a hand out towards the wood blocking his path, and knocked at precise intervals three times. He had been taught this was the optimal way to show one was there for business, and also that salesmen often didn't knock like that. "Henrin-san? Are you home?" He called out after a short moment of impatient waiting, hoping for some kind of response.

[Kao]

Tsuken stood on his small balcony with his arms propped atop the railing, cigarette smoke wafting heavily around him. The narrow street below him was relatively empty with only a few people and a stray cat wandering around. He had taken up the habit of going onto his balcony to smoke and people watch whenever his thoughts tried to venture to darker places. It seemed to work for him, as he hadn't had any severe mood swings for a few weeks and he was managing to do the bare minimum required to function. He wasn't doing better by any means; he was merely getting by, living his days one at a time without putting much thought into what he was doing. He was merely existing, and he was fine with it.

A knock came at the door and he turned his head towards the sound. No one was scheduled to visit him that day and no one had contacted him about any upcoming evaluations. With a slight sigh, he doused his cigarette and flicked it to the huge ashtray beside him. When he answered the door, he blinked and dipped his head to look down. The boy before him was unfamiliar and stared up at him with milky white eyes.

Confusion crept into the chuunin's features and his lips and brows contorted into a quizzical grimace. "Uhhh, he started as he straightened his back and crossed his arms. "Yeah, can I help you?

[Nick]

The Shuudoushi boy waited patiently, hands folded inside his sleeves, and fingers tapping on his wrists, hidden by the folds of his cloth. As the door opened, the boys eyes slowly trailed up from stomach level to meet the Henrin's gaze, and he blinked twice, his eyes flashing to a gentle turquoise color for a moment, before returning to their milky white hues. Their stare remained for a moment as a blank expression crossed Zekka's face. The man was much taller than his profile stated. Out of date information was a bane to all, and he made a mental note to petition that be changed. As Tsuken spoke, the boy tilted his head for a moment.

"Err... You are... Henrin, Tsuken-san, yes?" The boy quirked a brow, before bowing his head deeply. "I am Shuudoushi, Zekka." It was quite clear that the boys young features betrayed his otherwise mature mannerisms, almost comically so as he spoke with the tone of the diplomat he was being made in to. As his head raised back up, his eyes turned to a bright green color, nearly white where his schlera would be if it weren't for the spirit effecting his eyes so. "I've come to request your aid on an... approved, but unofficial mission for the village. May I come inside?"

[Kao]

He grunted his affirmation to the boy's inquiry about his identity, and then responded to Zekka's deep bow with a shallow dip of his head. The young boy's frequent eye color changes didn't escape Tsuken's notice, but he made no indication that it startled him or even interested him much. There were stranger things going on in the village, especially among the shinobi population, but Tsuken typically remained willfully ignorant of his fellow villagers' quirks and abnormalities. He briefly wondered what was going on there, but his curiosity quickly faded when the boy revealed he was there to ask Tsuken for help. It wasn't often that people asked him for assistance, and even less often did anyone come directly to his home without prior notice. Not many people knew he had recently moved out of his family's home, but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised that the village, in its typical Big Brother fashion, already had his new address on paper.

A year ago Tsuken might have cursed at Zekka and told him to go through the proper means of requesting his assistance. The current Tsuken, however, was a man who put effort into engaging in relatively subdued interactions with others. With a one-shouldered shrug, he stepped back and opened the door wider so that the boy could enter and mumbled, "Yeah, sure, come in." He led his guest to his dining area and, with a sweeping wave of his arm, gestured for the boy to have a seat on one of the cushions in front of a low table. Once the boy sat down, Tsuken would follow suit and look him in the eyes.

"Alright then," he began as he simultaneously outstretched his hand to offer Zekka a cold bottle of water he had grabbed from the fridge, "what exactly are you asking me to do?"

[Nick]

Zekka inclined his head in thanks to the man, taking careful steps inside after knocking sand loose from his sandals, and taking them off at the door, his bare feet patting along the ground as he followed the Henrin's request, taking a seat at one of the cushions. He took quick mental notes of the house around him, noting the smell of smoke coming from somewhere, and wrinkling his nose; The smell of smoke was even worse thanks to the enhanced senses from Rei no Kami. "Thank you for having me, Henrin-san, and sorry for coming unannounced, I figured a more casual visit was in order."

The young diplomat smiled his thanks for the water, undoing the cap and taking a quick sip, before setting it down on the table in front of him. His eyes lowered for a moment as he gathered his thoughts, almost surprised to have gotten this far, before returning his eyes back up to the Tsuken. "Well, the short version is that I have a lead on an artifact that used to belong to one of the nomadic tribes of Wind Country..." He started, taking a deep breath before continuing. "And after my last mission in Pebble Country by myself, the council doesn't want me going by myself. They also wont ask anyone to come with me, meaning I have to find my own... volunteer." He shrugged his shoulders, showing his palms before tucking his hands back inside his sleeves. "I would be happy to pay you personally for your time, of course, but we'd be gone for about a month with you as my... escort." He took a moment before settling on the right word, smiling at the man once more. "I would also consider it a personal favor to myself, and the Shuudoushi clan, if that means anything to you."

[Kao]

"An artifact...." he echoed, noting that the boy was being a bit vague considering he was asking for his help. He chalked it up to the boy not wanting to reveal too much information before Tsuken even committed to the mission, but it still made him apprehensive, if not suspicious. "Pay goes without saying, and we can discuss that later. I'm more concerned about the details of this mission of yours, and about what happened in your previous mission that the council doesn't want you to go at it alone anymore."

He chose not to mention it, but Tsuken had never been on an extended mission outside of the village before. He wasn't particularly nervous about it, but a month-long mission was nothing to sneeze at or go into without the proper information and consideration. "If you really want my help, then give me the long version. Cause I don't know about committing myself to something like this without knowing what happened in Pebble Country and what kind of 'artifact' you're trying to get your hands on. So please, explain this all to me. And while you're at it," he added with a slight smirk, and twirled his finger in between them in a quick circular motion, "tell me what it is about me in particular that made you choose me rather than someone else."

[Nick]

"Right, yes, well..." He reached a hand out of his sleeves once more, grabbing the water, and taking another short sip, before licking his lip. He at least had Tsukens curiosity piqued, and that might be enough to get him to come along, with some coaxing. "Pebble Country was... Difficult. I was not the only one tipped off to the information, evidently, as I had come across ninja from the other four hidden villages." He said frankly, and his eyes became purple around the edges, with red in the middle.

"The encounter started off nonviolent, but one of the ninja from Kiri had dispatched with the arm of one of the ninja from Konoha." Some of the color drained from his face as he thought back to the bloody mess, his gaze drifting off into the distance as the memory replayed before him. His eyes became more purple for a moment. "I was able to staunch the bleeding, but..." He drifted off, before sighing. "Well, my medical ninjutsu isn't good enough to replace a missing arm." He admitted, shaking his head and taking another drink of water. "There was also a guardian of the artifact... It was... Well, a dragon." He spoke plainly, as though it were no big deal, but internally it made his stomach roll thinking about it. "Luckily, a few of the ninja were... bigger than I, and were able to deal with the situation... But you see why they requested I have a guide."

He explained a bit more, about how he had befriended one of the Kiri ninja, and one of the Iwa ninja, but didn't go into too much detail about the adventure aside from the high points. "As for why you?" He shrugged. Tsuken clearly wasn't Zekka's first choice, as there had been others of higher rank on his roster for recruitment, but he spoke the truth regardless. "Your taijutsu scores are higher than most of your skill level. I've got more invested into my Ninjutsu, and could use someone to make up for that weakness."

[Kao]

Tsuken licked the inside of his lip as he listened to Zekka's story. At first it was a typical tale of a mission gone awry, complete with major injuries and foes from the other great ninja villages. He took note of not only the dangers of the mission itself, but also the small bits of information about Zekka's skills. The boy's medical jutsu, though he only knew a limited amount, could prove useful in sticky situations and provided Tsuken with a bit of assurance that the mission wasn't doomed before it even started.

The story took a turn when he mentioned a dragon. Tsuken's face paled and his frown deepened. His mind went blank and it took his thoughts a moment to catch up. He didn't fuck with large animals and dangerous beasts; he'd never even seen a real dragon, and he intended to keep it that way. Zekka was much too casual about the dragon and glossed over the subject almost as if it were a normal occurrence that should be expected on these types of missions. But dragon guardians were a serious obstacle that Tsuken wasn't sure he was wiling to deal with.

Still, he felt a bit sorry for the kid to have had to witness and experience something like that at such a young age. Sure, he was a shinobi, but when Tsuken was that age the scariest thing he had to deal with was venturing underground in search of a lost pet.

"Well. That's a bit...that's interesting." It wasn't often that Tsuken found himself at a lost for words, but it was the only way he could describe the situation without betraying the fact that he was terrified of dragons and the like. "Yeah, I see why you need an escort, but I'm not sure if I'm the right guy for the job. My taijutsu is alright, but I doubt I'd be able to punch a dragon to death.

"You skipped a part though." He crossed his arms scrutinized the boy in front of him. Zekka was still withholding crucial information. "What are these artifacts you and other people are risking your lives for?"

[Nick]

Zekka sighed as Tsuken stated the obvious, neither of them was really fit to take down a dragon, but then again, neither of them really needed to be. "I'm not asking you to punch a dragon. In fact, the first temple I went to visit had no guardian at all, I simply walked in, took it, and walked out." He shrugged, sagging back a bit in disappointment. He didn't have any leverage on the man to convince him, really, so it truly was a matter of finding an honest volunteer. Or an honest mercenary, whichever came first. "If anything, I expect us both to run if something like that shows up again. I certainly ran and hid when it showed up the first time."

When the man inquired further about the nature of the artifacts, Zekka's hands had to reach up in an innocent pose, shaking his head. "There's the problem. Each of these 'temples' has text in a language nobody has heard of before, not even the oldest member of the Scribes." He put his hands down, resting on his knees now as he sat back straight up, excited to let his small amount of knowledge shine. "They're all across the world, and yet the text is all the same, and the weapons all appear powered in similar fashions. I've been looking into deciphering what they were made for, why they exist, but its been difficult without more samples to draw from. All I know for sure is that they're powerful, and they'd be a great boon to the village if we secured them."

[Kao]

As Zekka described the mysterious text, Tsuken propped his elbow atop the table and lowered his head to rest it in his left hand. His fingers drummed slowly against his cheek, and after the boy stopped speaking there would be a long silence as Tsuken contemplated everything. The artifacts themselves didn't interest Tsuken much, seeing as neither of them knew much about the artifacts or the temples. No, it was everything else that was fascinating to the chuunin. Not many people outside of his family and handful of friends knew of his penchant for reading. An unknown text drew him in more than some enigmatic artifact, no matter how powerful it may be.

Truth be told, he would love to take a look at the texts and try to decipher them. He lifted his head and gave the boy a slight smile. "Alright, Shuudoshi Zekka. You've got my attention. But before I say yes, I need to know something else." He lowered his hand from his face and laced his hands together, both elbows now resting on the table. Peering at the boy from above his fingers, he asked, "What's your personal reason for doing this? Since you said it's an unofficial mission and they're not helping you with finding help, it doesn't seem like you can say this was something that was just assigned to you."

He raised an eyebrow and added, "Doing something for the sake of the village is great and all, but there's gotta be more to it. So what's up? Why is this so important to you, personally?"

[Nick]

Internally, Zekka made a sign of victory at the first grab of interest he could get, grabbing interest was one of the hardest things on such requests, and while he had clan jutsu to help deal with such things, it felt dirty to do it on a fellow Suna shinobi. Sure, he had forced a draw during his Chuunin exam by using the clan techniques, but that was a different scenario altogether, and as it stood, Tsuken was far more 'innocent.' He did sigh when confronted with his personal reasoning, it was something he wasn't a huge fan of talking about, but had been asked by the council on more than one occasion.

"I... Well, to put it frankly, I have something to prove." It was hard for the young Shuudoushi to admit it, mostly because it sounded childish, but then again, Zekka was a child. "You may not know much of my clan, but they are not easily amused. I was promoted to Chuunin, and as far as I'm aware, I'm the youngest to ever have been promoted just shortly after my last birthday. I don't know that I've necessarily earned the title, though the council obviously thinks I have, I almost wonder if some of it was due to influence from my family." He admitted with a sigh, sliding his hands onto the table in front of him, taking a moment of silence to let his own thoughts sink in to himself. "I feel like I need to deserve it. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I really did earn it, but... Well, the more hard work I do, the more I can prove that I did, right?"

[Kao]

As Zekka explained himself, Tsuken stared unblinkingly at him and took in what he was saying. Zekka's honesty was refreshing, to say the least. Tsuken appreciated someone who was confident in their abilities, but someone who could recognize and admit their weaknesses was infinitely more respectable in Tsuken's eyes. When he was younger, he had once been overconfident and had paid a heavy price, so seeing humility and self-awareness in someone so young made Zekka more likable.

His reasoning behind taking up this endeavor wasn't necessarily the most important thing Tsuken wanted to hear, but he still wanted to know if the boy even had a good enough personal reason to do venture out and find the artifacts. If his answer wasn't satisfactory, the man might have declined or pointed Zekka in the direction of someone who wouldn't mind taking up a dangerous, meaningless mission. However, having something to prove at his young age resonated with Tsuken, and he gave a slight nod of approval when the boy finished speaking.

"That's as good a reason as any, I think." He lowered his hands to lay flat on the table. "I don't know if I would consider it childish or not, but I guess that doesn't matter." With that, he stood and grabbed his half empty bottle of water and returned it to the refrigerator. "But uh, the council doesn't usually make mistakes when it comes to stuff like promotions. They watch us too closely; they know who's earned it and who hasn't."

He turned and leaned against the counter, a smile creeping into his features. Hopefully this mission would be interesting enough to keep him out of his own head too much. Plus, it'd be good for him to leave the confines of the village and pursue something he was interested in. "I suppose I'll help you then, boss. Just tell me when you'll be ready to go so I can prepare, alright?"