Side hustle [Open]

[Legacy]

Life as a Shinobi had been fulfilling in many aspects but there were still areas where knowing how to hunt & kill weren't exactly beneficial. For a fifteen year old teenage boy, it actually worked against him. With skill and poise came a certain kind of discussion: There were the Prodigal son talks and the "It's that boy again" which for Gene served as just another reminder of how tight a rope he'd walked. What good was protecting and serving if the villagers began to fear you? While he held no intention of ever giving up his profession for a measly way of life and average living Gene had held several conversations with his father and...After much convincing, he'd come to the conclusion that it would be best to get a normal job to balance out the other skills he had.

And so, here he was. Still much too young to serve any kind of Alcohol the shop keep; a retired Jounin who'd both understood Gene's predicament & knew the ropes of business, had the boy acting as a server & dish washer. Taking orders was easy enough, getting the order back to the cooks was also easy but doing Dishes was just down right disgusting! "Yuck!" Gene complained to himself mentally knowing better than to voice any kind of displeasure his first day on the job. Scrubbing a porcelain plate until it sparkled with cleanly & refreshed beauty Gene admired his work only to move on to the next dish. About half way through the third set of steam line cups, plates, forks & spoons the Jounin manager had come back to give him a new task. "Hey kid," that was the name the Jounin had called him. "We're approaching rush hour and the hosts and servers will be overwhelmed - go out there and act as both. I need you to take orders and then bring the food out to as many people that you can, can you handle that?" Gene nodded and snatched off the clear latex gloves and sanitized his hands. After changing the dirty white apron for a clean white one, Gene headed out into the sea of people: Laughter and shouts of merriment assaulted his senses, the smell of smoke, perfume and various other scents clogged his nose but he hadn't reacted to them, he couldn't.

Swiftly approaching a table near the window area of the tavern Gene took a deep breath and put on that host like charm. "Welcome to the Konoholic. My name is Mitsurugi, Gene how may I be of assistance today? The Patron's, two of them, looked rugged & smelled of pre-game liquor which had Gene not been in the professional mindset, would have caused the boy to vomit. Between the two rough looking men Gene wondered only if they realized where exactly they'd been; sure it was the Konoholic, a place for merriment and good cheer but it was in the Heart of one of the most prestigious of villages ever known to man. Even as he smiled Gene spat on the two several times in his head, disgusting.

One of the men turned toward Gene and looked him up and down, as if to evaluate the boy or size him up for whatever reason. "Ya' ain't nun' but a hair older than yer' father's scrotum sack boy! But I'll have a nice house brew if you can handle that. What about you Nishikawa?" Gene's eyes diverted from the foul breathed man to his friend, Nishikawa & and he waited. "Hmmmm.... Nothing wrong with making an honest living," said Nishikawa in a matter of fact tone which seemed more directed at his friend than anything. "I'll have the Stir fry and the house brew, thank you."

Personally, Gene hadn't liked the friend but Nishikawa seemed level enough by comparison. Jotting down the orders of both men he'd soon found himself zipping about out of sight toward the back where other cooks had been working away like their lives depended on it. "Two house brews and one stir fry!" The shout was loud, loud enough to be heard by every kitchen worker in fact, but the music drowned out the sound of Gene's voice to the patrons in front. While the order was being worked on he'd left to go and tend to yet another table - a small group of people whom he thought were recognizable from a distance. As he neared them, Gene again put on his best host voice and smile then said "Hello, my name is Mitsurugi, Gene and I will be your host for today. How may I help you?"

[Mino]

What was once Minoru entered the bar at his usual time (when it opened) and asked for his usual drink. (Sake- in a glass, not a cup.) He downed the first, and sipped his second glass, keeping his head down and his eyes lowered. He sat in the same stool his father, Kau, sat- he spoke to the same drunkards his father cavorted with.

To the outside onlooker, it would appear the man was simply a layabout: however there was a bit of deception tied in with his current station. Minoru would have been a drinking fool, a shamed failure for his past- and yet the elemental body that kept his mind intact left absolutely no room for such an emotion. What he did, was survey the bar. Looking for clues as to Kau's whereabouts. He'd been edging himself toward the small group of older men whose party had been lessened by one since Kau's disappearance, his acting was impeccable as he swayed at right moment- stifled a burp and so on.

"He was a quiet man- stopped coming around as much a while back.." The man speaking was more than half way into the bottle, his words slurred and his eyes seemed glossed over. "Around noon-time he'd tell us the story.."

"God that story.." A second man, head down on the table burped loudly and shifted in his chair. "I hated that story."

Minoru had heard this tens of times before. He shook his head slightly, as he did each time this conversation came about. The first man continued as if these questions had never been asked before. "We all did. His team.. them dying. Everybody knows. But he stopped coming around.. said you were doing better. You were going to be better. He was high in his feelings back then. He'd come by and share a laugh, you know.. but nothing like it was. Then Konoha got invaded, and he never came back." The man turned bloodshot eyes to regard Minoru. "Time passes- he's gone and you're in his spot. Ain't life a great goddamned joke."

Mino didn't laugh.

He sipped the drink, appearing unsteady as he did so, awaiting for any signs from the table of old drunks that was new or unusual in any way.

[Legacy]

Meanwhile, Gene continued to serve from table to table until at last it had appeared that the sudden influx of patrons was coming to an end. Occasionally there were new people entering the bar & always a plethora of things to do but Konoholics hustle and bustle wasn't so unmanageable to the young boy now. Between zipping from table to table & shouting out orders from beyond the back doors threshold, he'd believed that in his heart the job would never end. At times, he'd even found himself wishing he could return to standard Shinobi work but then realized that perhaps his experience here would aid him in future assignments - he just didn't know how.

He'd heard several comments about his youthful appearance over time and considered the potential perks of using a minor transformation to appear older but shied away from it. There was no reason to utilize a transformation when over half of the patrons had already seen what he looked like. Besides, nearly 95% of the people were drunk and wouldn't recall what they'd seen or heard by the time sunrise came and by then Gene would have been long gone. However, as he'd been serving the customers at one table Gene couldn't help but hear the drunken babbles of a group of men sitting not so far away. Apparently, some person had stopped coming around and left his friends to feel the burden afterwards. Gene shrugged, their troubles hadn't involved him and eavesdropping now wouldn't have done anything for him. Collecting several dirty plates and glasses the young silver-haired boy headed back to the kitchen where they were to be washed.

Oblivious to the fact that now more than ever, was a perfect opportunity to learn more about someone very close to him.

[Mino]

But where did he go? The question sat in Minoru's mind, waiting to be asked, begging to be let free. Kau shared more with these men than his own family. It was, in fact, Kau's family that he ran from. Even before the incident, during his daily life, alcohol was nothing more than a vehicle used to travel away from those close to him. Minoru had worked out that much, but he never thought about how important the passengers alongside him were. How many times had he shared "a laugh" or shed tears before these men? He'd never told Minoru "the story" that he seemed to repeat on the daily here in this very establishment.

Minoru should have felt hurt at that. He felt nothing.

"The last time he came in. When was it?" Minoru's gravely voice added to the theatrics of his ruse. He leaned forward, sipping his glass and propping himself on his elbows to mimic the difficulty one would have dealing with holding his head up- he was currently faking a head rush.

One of the men walked up to Mino a laid a hand on his back. "He's gone, lad. He's gone now. The last time I saw him, it was a day or two before the invasion. I remember he looked like he'd seen a ghost. It was different. He took a few strong drinks back-to-back like he used to and was pretty incoherent. I thought he'd returned to us then- but in the middle of it all he just got up and walked out. I couldn't make out anything he said- I was..well you understand.. " The Awai did understand, or at least he nodded in silence, indicating that he did. Minoru didn't react to being touched, eventually the man settled back in his seat, withdrawing his hand. A few of the other men grumbled around his area, but incoherently.

Mino would have some more digging to do..

[Legacy]

"That group comes in almost every weekend, said one of the workers to a cook who'd been preparing another dish. "Don't they get tired of being drunk all the time? The cook, a heavy set brusque looking man with a spotted mustache, looked up from his uncooked Steak and quirked a brow. "Let the drunkards be drunkards! Besides, it's because of people like them that we're still employed.
" Gene slipped past the two men and placed a saucer on the rack where it was supposed to go, "Yeah I guess you're right about that. But they're short a body -
what was his name? That Awai that used to visit and tell those horrible stories?! You know the one - kind of tall but not menacing looking." Awai? Gene felt bad for eavesdropping but his curiosity had been peaked; as he continued to "wash" dishes, he listened to the two conversing like a fly on the wall.

"Yes I remember that one. Always spending his hard earned money here instead of going home to that family he supposedly had - I think that was just a story he told to make himself look like less of a drunkard, still a drunkard nonetheless. Haven't seen him around since those two troublemakers were drove out of the village." The cook mulled to himself for a while but Gene understood well enough. The two trouble makers as the man had worded it, were Enma and Yaku Fushinkou of the Mist. But who was the missing link, the Awai? In hopes that he could learn more Gene stuck around but he knew that the two were beginning to question his appearance. Remaining around for much longer would be detrimental and then he would find out nothing. Washing another dish, he continued to remain silent.