Starring:
Date: May 13, 2014
Summary:
Kanbei hires an expedition of fellow Kumo Shinobi to search the Kyuusen Crater for rare metals. They find something else instead.
"The Crystal Alteration - The Descent"
Kyuusen Crater
Being a weapon smith naturally lead to Kanbei trying to discover new types of material to work with. There was always something new being invented. He wanted to be the person inventing it. It would be a way to put his mark on history or his name on the proverbial map. So the boy decided to drag an entourage of shinobi out to the Kyuusen Crater. Due to its creation, he believed they might find something special there.
Kanbei takes a small look over the edge into the crater. "Here it is. The Kyuusen crater. The only crater created by chakra. I am hoping the massive event that caused this crater was massive enough to cause a new form of metal. So… we are going to search inside the crater for anything shiny or magnetic. Is that understood?" he asks. It was a little diffent giving the orders. Especially since he was a customer.
"I see something shiny!!!!" Kibiki would shout in excitement as if he might have accomplished the mission within mere moments of arriving at their destination. If this were the case, the future of this boy looked promising as this was his first mission out of the academy and with some fellow genin he had only just recently met. "I'll get it." Kibiki moved past Kanbei and rise and jumped down the edge of the crater, tilting his body to keep his weight positioned in a way that would allow him to slide down the side without needing to pick up his feet. What the boy saw though wasn't what Kanbei was looking for, in fact it was just a worthless cent someone had probably tossed in here as if to make a wish. "Oh, nevermind." Still, Kibiki wasn't going to just leave the money lying around, so he promptly picked it up and placed it in his pocket.
It was karma, or so Rise figured. Why else would she wind-up with an assignment that promised to be as exciting as watching over a house because a customary was too darn paranoid to realize that they had absoultely NOTHING any half-way decent thief would even want to bother going after? Regardless of what the case was, Rise would still put her best foot forward and try to make the most of it.
"Eh?" Rise whips her head towards Kibiki — some Yotsuki brat as far as she can tell/recall — upon hearing his outcry. She reaches out and opens her mouth to tell him to hold on, but not a word leaves her mouth before he dashes along. She grits her teeth behind closed lips, grinding them together until the Yotsuki comes up empty. A smug look is given. Then she turns to ask with an air of genuine curiosity about her, "So, ya don't like have any magnets or anything we could use to make this a tad bit easier do ya?"
Kanbei gives Kibiki an evil eye for a moment before he steps into the crater and begins to fall. He does not fall far before his feet connect with the wall of the crater and he begins his walk. He passes a few openings before he finally selects one. His finger comes together and a thin sheet of crystals form. He places them so that it reflects whatever light it coming into the tunnel into the opening of the shaft. "Lets try this one." Kanbei states to the others.
Kibiki would glance up at the other two before his eyes fall upon Kanbei and when he gives the order to try out a cave, Kibiki would shift over on the side of the crater and start his slow climb up by using his hands to help guide him. Being so new to the genin scene, it was only natural that he didn't know Tree Climbing. "I'm coming!" He'd get there, eventually, but probably be bringing up the rear.
Rise frowns, taking Kanbei's drop down into the crater as a no. Her shoulders sag in defeat at first, but after a moment or two of feeling sorry for herself, the girl straightens out and makes her way down as well. "Kibiki-kun, wanna lift?" She asks, offering her back to him so he clamor on. Although should he accept, he'll be in for a heart dropping rush to the ground from Rise racing down to more stable landing.
Kanbei did not have magnets or anything for them to use. Instead they would need to figure out their own way to light up the cavern. "I do not carry magnets, but you do have steel weapons which would pull towards anything with a magnet force in them." As the light starts to fade, Kanbei makes a few hand signs before a crystal plate forms. As he moved to set the plate up the wall begins to glow a greenish color.
Kanbei's eyes move along the wall catching the colors as the plate falls to the ground. "We need to find the source of that glow. Tell me I'm not the only one who saw it." After a moment the glow does fade. It seemed to resonate with Kanbei's chakra.
"Yes, please!" Kibiki instantly taking up Rise's offer, clambering up and heading into the tunnel behind Kanbei. Once inside, he'd jump off and glance around until seeing the green glow, "Yeah, I saw it. What does it mean?" What ever the glow meant, they still need to come up with a magnetic force so the boy reached into his pack and pulled out two kunai holding one in each hand. For a moment it looked like he was doing nothing and then suddenly lightning began to arc across the blades. "This should be magnetic!" One blade he'd throw down the tunnel just to see what would happen, while the other one he'd wave about as if using it as a compass.
Rise musses up her hair, because the darn wind always seemed to have a way of give it that wierd streak effect. She jumps at the sound of Kanbei's voice, then regards him. "Hmm, Maybe…" She murmurs as she dug into her back-up pouch for a set of kunai. She becomes distracted when she sees the greenish light just within her peripheral. But by the time she actually looks, its already long gone. "Hmm… probably not a whole lot but its a lead at least." She replies to Kibiki. "Say Kanbei-kun, ya don't think yuo could whip me up a crystal shard now would'ja?" She asks.
"It means that something in the rocks is resonating with my earth style chakra. It is like it is calling out to me." Kanbei watches as Kibiki's kunai goes flying down the tunnel into the darkness. "Guess they are not magnetic…" he mumbles before forming his own kunai from crystal. Once more the walls begin to light up. The first crystal kunai is tossed towards Rise. He moves to the wall and starts to dig into it with the second kunai.
Eventualy a small rock falls from the wall. It was very similar in size and shape to that of a tooth pick. Kanbei quickly takes the rock and holds it up into the air. "I got one. Lets get a few more. Then I can try to find someone to study them." the crystal user states.
Seeing that the flying electrified kunai had turned up no results, Kibiki took the one in has hand and stabbed it into the side of the tunnel to disperse the lightning before placing it back into his pack. "I guess I could be the pack mule. I don't mind" He'd hold out his hands expecting to get the one Kanbei had just retrieved and any more the rest find as they continue on.
Rise snatches the kunai out of the air, and then idly tries to get a fill for it while drifting a ways from the others for the search. She stops at Kibiki's comment and turns to regard the Yotsuki. Even if his tone didn't betray him, there was no way in the world he didn't at least fill a little bit annoyed about get bumped down to pack mule duty. She looks to the crystal kunai, giving it a few turns as she mulls over her decision, then clasp the handle tightly and lets out a sigh. "Kibiki, catch." She tosses the kunai to him with hardly another warning or waiting for a response. So long as he doesn't get injuried in the process, she'd motion for him to toss her the bag before going back about her way.
After coming into contact with so many different chakra natures, she figured her sixth sense was sharp enough to pick up on a few weird rocks without aid… Or so she hoped.
Not wanting to break the rock, Kanbei walks it over to Kibiki. "I am not sure how delicate they might be. So lets try to keep them in tact. We need a few more of them if we can get them. I would like at least five of them. That way if one or two are broken when they are studied, there are still some natural ones left." Kanbei then builds his chakra again allowing them to light up. "Find a spot and dig one out." he states. He wanted Hibiki to feel like part of the mission. Kanbei was already working on his second stone. Of course he was unsure if Kibiki was going to give the bag to Rise or not.
"Sure, makes sense to me." Kibiki would smile as Kanbei handed over the crystal toothpick. Once in hand, he'd gingerly place it within the pack as to not destroy it. He'd start to follow Kanbei expecting the man to find more, but then heard a call from Rise, "Huh?" He'd see the crystal kunai flying his way and worried that it might destroy the crystal they had already recovered he'd respond accordingly, "Karate Chop!" Slapping at the kunai and sending it careening into the ground. "That was close…Oh, but if you want the bag, here." Walking the bag over toward where Rise was and handing it over, "Careful, they're fragile." Once the bag is handed over, Kibiki would run back over toward Kanbei and start digging into the wall. Using his hands to be more careful and precise against the stone in hopes of not breaking anything.
Rise sweatdroips at Kibiki's response. So flabbergasted she is, that she doesn't even realize the bag has been handed over until Kibiki goes running off. She lets out a groan and facepalms lightly as soon as the feeling wears off. Then, she lets out a defeated sigh, slips the backpack in place, and makes her way over to snatch up the crystal kunai she tried to pass earlier before making her way to another vialbe spot. Aside from a bit of murmured curses, the girl opts to work in silence for now.
That was a first. Kanbei had never actually seen Rise be quiet. She was normally loud and obnoxious. Pretty much the exact opposite any man had actually thought of girls. Now she seemed to be at a loss for words. "Chisel this day in stone." Kanbei states as he uncovers another one. It is similar in size to the other. "I wonder how these were formed. I think they may have a bit of chakra in them. This is truly a neat find. Not sure I can make a weapon of it, but neat none the less."
Kibiki wasn't sure why, but he began to scratch the date into the stone. He wasn't going to question why, just did so with a smile. When he got to the last number is when his finger pricked against the tip of a crystal, "Oh! Ouch." Instantly putting it into his mouth to suck the blood. "I fron ome" The boy would begin to slowly scratch around the crystal until it was finally free and he'd hand it over to Rise, "Another one for ya, my lady."
Rise was a little less careful about the digging process, but >did< make up for it when she actually found something substantial. "Hmm.." She emits, eyeing the hunk of stone in one hand with the crystal kunai held up by it. Seeing the two resonated sent an odd chill down her spine. "Now I'm get'tin paranoid too." She murmurs, slipping the stone into the pack. A guttural growl emanates from her being almost on reflex when Kibiki approaches. Although shocked for a moment after, Rise merely plucks the stone from Kibiki's hand without so much as a thank you before going back to work.
As the group comes up with the final tooth pick-like rock, Kanbei makes sure it is wrapped nicely in paper before it is placed into the pack. Now he simply has to find a medical professional. At the end of the track, Kanbei extends his hand. "May I have the pack? The two of you have done well and can return home. I need to do the rest of this on my own."
Kibiki pulled his finger from his mouth and turned to smile at Kanbei as they had finished what they had came out here to do. "Happy to help. Call on me any time and I'll definitely be there for you, Kanbei." He assured with a smile and thumbs up before turning back to Rise. "Can I get a lift?" It only made sense since she brought him down here in the first place.
Rise chews on her lips, hesitating for a brief few moments before shedding the pack and passing it over. "Just… Just try not to get yourself trapped down here, alright?" She asks, masking her concern with cheekiness. As for Kibiki's request, well, there's hesitation there to, though not one of concern, but instead, mischief.
She could just throw him up there…
"Heh, C'mon." She says, turning about and lowering herself just enough for Kibiki to climb aboard again. Next, she silently promised.
