Bolts of the Black Gates (Open)

[Okada Kaji]

A heavy tidal wave crashed against the black shores of Titan’s Keep, where a storm brewed in the early noon hours. The waters were choppy facing the Port of Stone, and the currents entering the village seemed stronger this summer season. The sky was gray and the port was still rich with the aroma of cinders since the efforts to incinerate the Basilisk. In case you hadn’t heard, the hidden stone recently faced a monster attack from right out of the history books. For weeks now, Jomei carried printed photo copies he took of the creature, and never let the memory of that day fade.

Since the attack, it seemed as if life revolved around the struggle to rebuild the village. Everyone was told to do their part to help move on from what we lost when that monster arrived. The economic center of the village was the port of Titan’s Keep, which was almost paved flat, if not for the lives it took to defeat the Basilisk. Each day Jomei was sent by his unit to help rebuild. And each night his father came home from the Spire, and complained about the economic down turn the attack had caused. As a junior member in the Science Division, Jomei Matsui was dispensed to build sites on a daily basis, but today’s activity required someone with a very specific set of skills. Really for his mission, Jomei arrived at the docks equipped with special equipment for the job: a massive bow he had to carry over his shoulders, and a heavy quiver of bolts that made him walk with a lean. The bag of bolts were made to sink into the granite formations growing around the Keep; then special-made earth chakra seals would pump a mass of chakra into the rocks. The result would be an explosive expansion of rock and mortar, and the reformation of the tidal boulders that break the surf of the port. Yeah, this was more like it for Jomei. When he received the assignment this morning, he was expecting another day webbing bricks back onto the walls of the Aventurine Bakery. This Mission was quite the surprise and he welcomed the challenged until he arrived at the docks, and discovered the choppy waves awaiting him.

He was never much of a sailor, but there was always time for him to learn, living in a coastal village like the Stone. The Science Division had a single row boat entrusted to them, given it wasn’t common for scientist ninja to set out to sea. And this boat was checked out to Jomei today, along with a steward to help him with his objective. These days we had to use the next willing soul to help with our missions, and Jomei made no exceptions when it came to choosing help. He arrived at the rowboat with boxed bentos under one of his many spare arms, one for himself, and more for his company.

 

[Karafuto Kaiju]

Kai began walking around the general area of the stone village. Still surprised that a basilisk turned up and destroyed everything, especially since a basilisk fang would have made a fabulous weapons for Kai to make use of in the long run and many fights to come in his long (hopefully) life as a ninja. Even though logicaly speaking there was no way Kai would have survived against such a monstrosity untrained as he was thinking logically he knew he would've been a hinderance arriving during the attack as he would've had anotherr shinobi arriving to escort him to safety.

He was sent by the council on a mission to help one of the members of then science division apparantly, he didn't even know the name of this guy, just that he'd have a larger bow and his job was to fire piles with earth seals into the stalactites of the caves upper levels.

Having only just recently discovered how to channel and control his chakras as he wasn't sure how he could help but he wanted to try to anyways. Perhaps he could practice some Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. See if his strength could help with this task even if a little and if not see if he could get some pointers from a higher ranked individual.

Arriving after spending some time wandering around and being escorted down a different path as they thought a bunch of bodies being pulled from rubble was too much for a child to see. He carried on his merry way until he arrived at the port. Many of the actual points the boats docked were destroyed and he supposed it was somewhat comforting to see fisherman out at sea still after everything arhat happened. but the main attraction was the singles boy stood as he was at a dock with a large bow and what looked like harpoons in his boat.

Walking over slowly with his mask on as he liked I it when not dealing with faculty he said "Hello there, my name is Karafuto Kaiju, but please call me Kai or Kaifuto as my name in full I dislike. I have been sent on a mission ton assist you and would hope I could learn something along the way." He ended his monotonous monologue with a bow whilst his open palm was held against his other closed fist.

 

[Okada Kaji]

As Jomei proceeded to inspect the seaworthiness of the little dingy the Science Division provided him, he felt the presence of a youngling ninja-to-be stalking his lane of the dock. As Kai approached he met the likes of Jomei and the special tools he couldn’t wait to set down in the boat. The heavy boat fell like heavy lumber, and his bolts were dense enough to make the boat quake when the fell onto the floor. The reality of his task’s toughness set in when he laid eyes on the assistance sent his way. “Ah, this wasn’t what I was expecting, but you’ll be plenty enough help” Jomei suggested as he reviewed his youthful acquaintance, mister Karafuto. He then approached Kaiju with his typical grinning face, and upbeat persona. Jomei wrapped one of his arms around his new sailing mate, and ushered him towards their new vessel. He pointed with a flat, presentation palm: “I think we’ve met before, haven’t we... At the council. The name’s Jomei, remember Kai, buddy?” Jomei then climbed into the vessel, and welcomed Kai on-board as well. “Here’s our mode of transportation for today. Her name is The Going Dolly, but I’ve been calling her Boat since I got here.” A sudden choppy wave caused Jomei to lose his balance till he almost fell overboard. He found his balance and made a nervous smile. “All hands on deck, we’ve got work to do.”

With his deckhand present and accounted for, Jomei was ready to embark on his task. The two young ninja were ready to roll out onto the waves, and locate rock formations laid out on a map provided by the Division. Given his new company lacked experience, Jomei intended to do the firing himself, and use Kaiju’s help to reach each target on the map. “Could you untie us from the dock?” Jomei issued his first order in a busy but polite fashion, and unveiled a small machine uncommon to most villages who saw it. It was a camera; one of Jomei’s favorite tools and his main method for scanning the horizon. Jomei took a seat to the rear of the boat, and began swapping the lenses on his machine. He put away the small round lens he revealed at first, and clasped a massive oblong lens instead. Now the machine was equipped with the range he needed to see the storm as it rolled in. “We can take turns doing the rowing, but I’d like you to take the first shift. We’re headed for Samsara Rock, the first of the tidal stones we need to restore today… It’s not even a mile out from here.”

 

[Karafuto Kaiju]

Kaiju was stunned that his great if not perfect memory forgot Jomei. He said with an exasperated voice "Oh my. I do sincerely apologise for not recognising you sooner." It was strange for Kaiju, especially since he had forgotten but also because he had not seen this person since the meeting in the middle of the hall.

Dropping down into the boat it rocked a little at his landing however he was a nine year old and skinny so he did not appear to do much to rock it that badly. So he sat down in the boat quickly to try and center the gravity that much faster regardless, he counted up the harpoons and checked the oars before hearing his partner ordering the cast off, that is when he got out of the boat and untied the rope from the post. But before pushing off he pulle the boat towards him with a strained tug to give him the time to climb in.

Once on board once more he planted a foot on the side of the dock and channeled his chakra into it to stick it to the wall. Pushing off from it he actually attempted to force the chakra through his foot to act as a small boost to the set off and while not major did mean that the boat didn't slow down until tey were around ten meters from te dock which Kai was fairly impressed by.

Once they had set off Kai moved into the middle of the boat and took up the paddles. Setting them up took around two minutes since he hadn't done this before and he was unsure of exactly how to but e got there in the end and began to make some headway. While he moved methodically, rowing he began to feel strain in his arms but he kept going. The choppy waters affecting his ability to row. He figured he could forget his arms by making conversation since for around ten minutes it had been rather quiet.

"So ... What is that contraption?" Kai said rather slowly and bluntly since it was the only thing that popped into his head. Desperately hoping the more social le one would continue the silence only broken by the not so methodical sloshing of water.

 

[Okada Kaji]

As his shipmate got the Going Dolly adrift, Jomei regained his bearings from his seat and scanned the horizon for a photo opportunity. A single ship could be seen far into the distance, chased by dark clouds rolling in from the east. It was a cargo vessel, and wore the clean white sails of merchants ships who came to the stone being vital supplies from lands beyond the endless blue sea. The interesting sight made quite the distraction until a question from his company snapped Jomei back to here and now. He lowered his camera and let it hang from a strap around his neck long enough to answer Kai’s curiosity. “Oh, this is called a camera.” He raised the machine at Kaiju and snapped the shutter once. The camera made a loud reactive sound, and an copy of the student manning the oars was saved for all time. “This is my camera, it’s a machine that uses light to copy-” another heavy wave provoked their boat, and Jomei paused his explanation while concerned with guarding his camera from splashes of devastating salt water. “I use it to duplicate memories.”

With all of Kaiju’s efforts getting them substantially closer to the first marker, Jomei turned his attention back to the mission and pointed to Samsara Rock, which resembled every other protruding formation in the sea, but usually had a traditional decoration tied tightly around it. It was hardly recognizable, but Jomei used the map provided to make an absolute determination. He unfurled the map to double check, and glanced at his rowing partner: “there she is, Samsara Rock. Now, if you can get us closer, I’ll prep the first bolt and we’ll be one step closer to dry land.”

The storm was begin to grow heavy, and the rocking of their little boat didn’t seem to be coming to a stop any time soon. Accepting this challenge, Jomei arose and lifted the massive bow along with him. A burst of wind lifted his guise, pushing the cloak aside and revealing his multitude of arms as Jomei took hold of his giant bow.

 

[Karafuto Kaiju]

As the billowing wind took up his allies cloak, it revealed several arms that human beings should not have. This did not mean that Kai retched or anything but instead began to look at how they met at the shoulder in a somewhat triangular pattern. Seeing if there were drawbacks as well as positives.

"Positives include pre-preparing jutsus with hand forms whilst still employing 4 arms for fighting or being able to focus more on offense which with Taijutsu would be immense. I hope to get a sword soon. I do not know why. But one calls to me, like I'm supposed to inherit one and it's my birthright or something?" He said flatly, but it was strange. When in deep thought about himself he seemed to gain cadence. Also he couldn't stop thinking about himself weilding a katana of some description as it was like a repeated dream of him receiving one.

He snapped back into perspective and looked back up at Jomei who just finished talking about the rock itself. Now they were about to crumble it. He didn't think much on the matter apart from the decoration around the rock "Should we retrieve it? It looks like it is some sort of heritage. We can destroy the rock when we leave it can we not?". Unsure of why he said such a thing, not that he cared per se. But he believed he should respect the stone village. After all they took him in and were willing totes in him even after the attack. This meant that they were a hardy nation and if Kaiju could be a part of it he most certainly would want to.

He looked to Jomei and said slowly "My father named me Kaiju, I mean most fathers would name their sons something honourable, but after my mother died giving birth to me the first word my father uttered to me was monster." Although his expressionless face didn't alter, not that it could be seen behind the mask. His eyes showed pain. Pain none too someone to a man losing his entire life in the blink of an eye. Kaiju lost his family before he was born after all.

 

[Okada Kaji]

As Kaiju watched on with concern, Jomei continued to hold his aim until the rocking waves broke. Their conversation became background noise as Jomei focused on a precise shot, and uncurled every finger holding back his mighty bolt. His bowstring snapped with a thunderous quake, and the projectile took flight through the rising surf. It collided into the decimated monument, and a seal inscribed along the body of the bolt began to emit a soft green glow. “Just wait” Jomei insisted as he turned to Kaiju, and then back to the broken spire.

A thunderbolt illuminated the sky that very moment when the latent chakra within Samsara Rock was ignited, and a mountainous spire grew from the sea, anew. The previous monument was now enhanced into a denser, crystalline build that glowed an intense green light, even through the darkness of the storm. “A new and improved Tidal Stone, courtesy of the Research Divi- whoa” Jomei’s excitement was interrupted as a vengeful wave nearly capsized their boat in an instant. The rickety wood was creaking as if their vessel would fall apart at any moment. Jomei hunkered down and grabbed his weaponry, knowing their mission would be for nothing if they fell overboard. “Those bolts are infused with chakra; I actually helped design them myself. What do you think?” Jomei took a seat and regained his composure. THe adrenaline was rushing through him, filling him with the intensity that came with an adventure such as this. It was then that he snapped back to reality, and the company he kept. “I’m sorry,” Jomei admitted on a whim, “You were saying something about your father a moment ago, and I just… I was very wrapped up in our task.”

Meanwhile, as Jomei referred to his map again, the spire continued to grow into the sky behind them, and the glowing light grew brighter until it was strong enough to be of use in guiding ships during the night. “But for what it’s worth, daddy issues seem to be a theme for ninja. It’s like a rite of passage, I swear.” Despite the crashing waves and their small boat gliding along the surface like a puck in the hockey rink, Jomei did his best to decipher the next spire, and pointed to the west using the index fingers of two left hands. “We need to head that way, to Shibe Rock.” Just like the first spire, Jomei needed Kaiju to row them to the second landmark. But the longer the surf carried them away from their destination, the more danger was destined for ships attempting to enter the harbour during the rising storm.