The Hunter №6: Lofty Heights [SSM]

[Okada Kaji]

"Despite so many adventures, my love for travel has never diminished. 'Till this very day, no one can say that Kaji Okada is not a man who loves the open road. I have spent years in the wind, and all of my travels have brought me to a new place that I now call home: the village hidden in the clouds. The journey has been an impeccable one, and now as I uphold my duties to the Leaf by serving the Cloud, and find new hope in what might be a greater bond; I have been called to stave off the call of the road in favor of settling down for a spell. I never really bothered to do any house hunting during my time in Konoha, but a few months of living the good life in Kumogakure have given me a taste for a bit more comfortable living. Today, I am on a quest to find a new home capable of storing the spoils of my adventures, and a place to lay my head, while being worthy of sharing with esteemed company. Oh, and there has to be a stable nearby for my horse, of course.”</I></FONTFACE>

-- Kaji Okada​

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In all honesty, Kaji expected his search to take longer than a single day. It was around noon, and he was seated on a barstool at the very same inn where he stayed since coming to Kumogakure. The Hokage’s traveling party had left weeks ago, and now his stay was coming out of his own pocket. While the Inn was certainly a nice place, it was a bit too steep for Kaji, who had to start volunteering in the evenings to boot out drunks for the barkeeper to keep his room. Today, Kaji was asking around and checking the local newspaper, trying to find some listings for suitable apartments or homes where he’d have room for his horse, Kukki. Most of the people he asked laughed in his face or recommended that he sell his steed to a merchant while the shipping season was in full swing. Of course, he refused, as he’d never sell out his dearest friend, the horse who remained by his side through thick and thin.

With his hopes dwindling, Kaji decided to take the horse out for a ride and a casual tour of the city— something he might as well have gotten the steed acclimated for, as the mountainous village was a major change from the flat terrain of Konoha. And seeking a break from the rising slopes and busy city setting, Kaji’s horseback excursion led him back to the ancient forest— a setting he had come to enjoy since coming to the mountainous metropolis of Kumogakure.

He had already taken this trail more times than he could count, but the spectacle of nature never bored Kaji Okada. Out near the border of the forest, he noticed a lonely looking home, nearly enshrouded by overgrown nature. It was daisy yellow, moderately-sized with a vintage feel and a curving roof with a windowed attic. The place was covered in vines as a symbol of its poor upkeep, and the exterior was lined with old decorative artifacts and broken things. Something about the place spoke out to Kaji; well, that or the sound of a frustrated elderly woman trying to uproot a for sale sign caught his attention. Fairly intrigued by the place, Kaji figured it was worth his while to ask the elder about the place, or even if she might have known of others like it. She was instantly smitten by his horse and said that she could sense how he must have had a kind heart from how happy the steed seemed to be. To Kaji’s surprise, the elder went on to explain that she was selling the house, but couldn’t find any takers willing to buy it due to a few issues with it. Kaji rebutted that he wasn’t a picky man and was in the market for a home where he could live comfortably, with room for a small barn to house his horse. Judging him as a competent shinobi, the frazzled homeowner decided to offer Kaji a tour of the home instead of rejecting him with the same horror story that scared away most who came with an interest in buying a home.

It didn’t take long for Kaji to understand the practical reasons that no one wanted the home; it was structurally sound, but nothing worth throwing years of savings or hearty helpings of a paycheck at for gods knew how long. There was damage throughout the place and not the kind any insurance might cover: these were incidental damages more in line with the scenarios Kaji would have encountered while on the job. Random holes in the walls and ceiling with poorly done patch jobs were abundant, as well as repaired fire damage. This house had seen it all, time and time again. None of the strange damage seemed to disturb Kaji all that much, after all, the owner had at least attempted to repair it. She put on a reluctant smile when he expressed interest in making an offer for the place, but her honesty got the better of her and she explained that the property was appraised as worthless. Kaji was obviously not a well-off visitor and would end up throwing money away on the place, by the owner’s estimate. But when Kaji persisted, even calling the place a “fixer upper”, the elder went on to explain that a number of extenuating circumstances drove the value of the property down to nothing, not just the general shape and location of it. She explained that it was a host to paranormal hauntings, that creatures from the surrounding forest often made the area unsafe, and whenever she managed to fix something outside, some ne’er-do-wells would come along in due time, take the place for an abandoned site, and destroy things just to practice their jutsu. But none of that seemed to be of concern to Kaji, he still liked the place and was used to all matters of trouble.

Perplexed but charmed by Kaji, the troubled homeowner made a deal with him. Since he was having trouble finding a home for his adorable horse, he could have the yellow house for free… but only if he could survive a week there without the place getting destroyed. The second condition was that he’d have to exorcise the spirits haunting it. If he could accomplish these things in one week's time, she’d be sure that her gift would not be wasted in his hands. She said that in her old age, she no longer wanted the trouble of keeping up the place, and her heirs wanted nothing to do with it.

Kaji then shook on the deal with the elderly homeowner, and she passed him the key in an envelope. She said she’d keep the deed until the week was through, and proceeded to show him around one more time, so that’d he’d have an easier time getting situated. With the deal done, the old lady reluctantly left Kaji to his devices on the property. She was relieved to have such a troublesome place out of her hands but felt as if she was damning the man by leaving it to him… At least he asked for what was coming.

<I>To be continued...

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Kaji Okada has entered the story

 

[Okada Kaji]

The Hunter №7: Homecoming

How hard could it be to withstand a week in this place, especially if he wanted to make a home out of it? The matter of making repairs on the property would make it feel more like home, rather than just another place to lay his head. Well, there was still the matter of performing an exorcism, but he had resources and friends to help with that. Unfortunately, in order to remove the spirits haunting the house, he’d first have to identify them. All the talk of spirits mentioned in plural by the former owner was a cause for suspicion, but Kaji knew full well what he signed up for.

After he shook on the deal with that elderly owner, she gave him a key and a spare. He then offered to walk her home from the forest— in truth, it was the least he could do. The village proper was not far from the forest trail, but escorting her was the gentlemanly thing to do, and Kaji would have to head back into town to retrieve the last of his things from the inn, regardless of whether he assisted the landlord or not. Together, the duo made a slow pace through the wintry woods— the elder was shuffling along the best she could, with Kaji strolling beside her. Walking with her, and talking about her simple inquiries reminded Kaji of how simple life could be if he allowed it. This elderly woman knew and cared nothing about the problems of the Hidden Cloud, the enemies that lurked beyond its limits, or the fiendish harbingers who’d turn the entire prime material plane to smoldering ash if they had the chance. To her, life was as simple as what she’d prepare for her meals that day, how her offspring and their own new families fared, and making sure they gave her a decent casket when her days came to an end.

Despite living so dangerously from day to day, Kaji honestly rarely considered his own mortality. Life was really a short thing compared to the concept of time itself. Every hidden village he came to was full of countless people. Many lived great lives, but much more never reached beyond the meager trappings of a life lived safely, often with a risk of squalor from not taking a chance to find something better. Walking with the elderly woman through the mire served as a reminder to him of the normalcy life could be— that his existence was like a fantasy compared to the one he left behind. He was now thirty-four years of age; at the age of thirteen Kaji first made his decision to leave the life of normalcy behind. In their travels and small talk, his company noticed the peculiarity of his accent, and Kaji admitted that he was an immigrant from the Land of Earth, far away. He was born to a family of rice farmers who lived meagerly in the Akatsuchi region, but his parents chose him apart from his two siblings to be the smart child of the trio. They made him a book worm from the time he learned to read, and by the time he could aspire for more, Kaji found tales of shinobi legends and ran away from home. Most people had a hard time believing that origin tale when he told them, but this wise woman merely nodded and smiled. She noted that he seemed like an independent man; no wonder he had a similar beginning. But as she considered him, he considered her in turn and wondered if his own parents had grown so old and wise over the years. Kaji was suddenly guilt ridden for casting away the Okada family so long ago— he felt guilty in a way he had never felt for over a decade.

Feeling a bit open with his present company, Kaji shared this realization and naturally, the woman suggested that he make an effort to get in touch with his family. She had him consider what he’d have to lose by contacting them and just telling them about the amazing life he had been living. She thought it was amazing, but only by assumption. To Kaji, it was anything but. He was The Hunter by reputation; a man who had once done terrible things in the life his parents would have never meant for him. They would have found horror in knowing of the acts he committed while operating as one of the pupils of Redacted. You can’t simply share all the good without admitting the bad as well, can you? He held out his hands with the palms up and fingers straight, and looked at them, wondering if there was still any blood on them. As an adult, he spent his days working tirelessly, trying to atone for the things he did as a misguided youth. For the actions of his past, Kaji was, and would always be a murderer.

The remainder of the stroll seemed to speed by, and Kaji had arrived at the penthouse complex the elderly woman now lived it. The current place was leagues above the yellow house she gave Kaji, which made him feel a better for taking it off of her hands. She explained that it was a comfortable and secure place, and ensure him that the staff would see her the rest of the way to her home. Kaji waved her off from the entrance and turned about his way with new thoughts on his mind. Was it worth his time to reach out to the Okada family? Would they really want to hear from him, or would his return be nothing but a new burden on the family who spent so long moving on without him? The idea of having a family now felt so foreign to him, but when he stumbled around this new land, he began to feel a different kind of loneliness than he knew as a shinobi.

As you may know, the lives of shinobi are often filled with repressed emotions. It’s just something you need to survive, like a sharp blade or some sturdy padded armor. His days as an ANBU of stone were ones where he was deprived of real friends in fear of them backstabbing him, or being a spy. They were taught with divisive ways in order to be controlled more efficiently by their sensei and captains. But, as Kaji came to this newest land, he noticed greater differences in appearance— these people were lighter in tone, with vivid colors of hair, eyes, and different physical features. It seemed that wherever Kaji went, he seemed to stand out as someone different from the land’s natives. Everything from his accent to his caramel skin and raven hair stood out like an oddity to these people. And with the nature of cloud’s aristocracy, his lowly origin as a farmer’s son only widened the gap further. He had never experienced discrimination before unless it was a laugh because he could not manifest the earth natured chakra as a child. In the stone, molding earth chakra was the only mark that made you one with the land, and Kaji found that as a barricade, but this was very different. Once the elder was ushered into her building, Kaji continued along his way with a lot to think about.

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