A MAD SCIENTIST'S RESEARCH SAGA PT. 2 (NIKOLA, HANABI, TACO)

OOC Note: The missions listed in the spoiler given below will be done herein in the order listed:

Spoiler:

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It had been a while since Nikola's latest adventures. The first of these had involved him going shopping in Konoha's marketplace and then making some financial transactions at Konoha's bank while the second one had involved him spending the rest of the day in field testing various jutsu, both from the Aburame clan and other universal ones, at the Grand Konoha Training Facility where he had met two new faces, one being Suzuya from the Nara clan and the other being Tengoku.

Since then, Nikola had once again gotten back to his usual daily routine of assisting his parents with their business ventures, accompanying them to various high society events and mingling with the other attendees of said events, and of course, his ongoing and ever-burgeoning mad science research, both of the generic sort and also more specifically of the ninja arts variety, with the latter being focused especially on the study of ever more efficient means of commanding and directing the Aburame insects dwelling inside him as well as the study of how to improve this entomological arsenal for his benefit and for that of his Aburame clan in general

Hmm...a mission notice, eh? I suppose it is that time already for me...so no sense in delaying this any longer...not to mention, I am running low on research funds, so this will be a good way to acquire them...while also field testing my ideas on modifications of my insect usage as well, two birds with one stone, as the saying goes...

Nikola mused thus silently as he stirred from beneath the veritable mountain of research notes that were current piled up high in his residence/research lab in the Aburame clan compound on this particular day. After managing to drag himself out, he rose to his feet and proceeded to review the mission notice he had discerned laying on the desk in his residence

Hmm...someone from the clan, perhaps my parents even, probably came in while I was asleep to hand over the mission notice and upon seeing me asleep, laid it here and left...oh well, let me see now...weed pulling, paint scrubbing, and sentry duty training, eh? These sound simple enough to accomplish in a single sitting...

Musing thus silently further, Nikola readied himself in his usual work attire, this being specifically comprised of his standard researcher's outfit and with his various pieces of ninja gear equipped to various strategically chosen areas on his person. Then, after informing his family's support staff of his potential whereabouts and intended destinations for the day, he set out to meet the first of the mission clients so that he could commence the day's planned mission series in earnest. Little did he know that he would be encountering two other ninja who were to be on the same missions as he was scheduled to do this day.

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OOC:

Nikola's Appearance:



[1]

Hanabi awoken from her beauty slumber due to a bird pecking on her window. It had a scroll on its leg which gave Hanabi a clue as to what it could’ve been. Missions. She rubbed her eyes and opened her window, grabbed the scroll and seeing the bird fly off before shutting it again. Three missions, one of them being a repeat of a mission with Taco previously. Again? Will the kids ever learn? Maybe it’s different kids this time. She shook her head before flinging the covers off of her and getting ready for the day. Wearing a skintight crop top, fishnetting under the shirt and high waisted shorts, accompanied by sandals. She put her hair up in a high ponytail and moved on to strapping around her thighs. Two straps located on her upper thighs that held two of her swords and one strapped to her back. She opened her door, stepping outside and firmly closing it, ensuring it’s locked as well and continuing her way to the first mission. Cleaning weeds. It should be pretty easy despite the veggies and flowers being there.


Unaware to Hanabi, this mission would be with two other Ninja who would accompany her. The previous spar she had with Peragus made her sore and so she was a bit stiff today. But she had learned some new jutsu’s in the long run which wasn’t so bad! However, this left hanabi stopping in her path for a moment and glanced down. She gritted her teeth before continuing on her path towards her destination. Now was not the time to think about that. Hanabi glanced around, now stopping upon the destination of the first mission, she looked around, seeing another person as well. Someone who she hadn’t met before. Maybe they had just graduated the academy.. No.. He seemed too old to have just don’t that. Still she waited for him to get closer to ask who he was. Her amber gold eyes staring towards him, watching his movement get closer.

Nikola had been deeply immersed in silently mulling over how best to approach the first of the missions, namely the weed pulling he was assigned to do for one Ms. Hasegawa so that he could accomplish said mission objective most efficiently when, he noticed that the shokaichu inside him were agitated, a sign that they were sensing the presence of other chakra signatures near their host, aka Nikola himself, and wanted to alert him of it, so he turned his attention to that info and then began looking about to see if he could locate the sources of said chakra signatures

Could it be the two other ninja who were assigned to this mission with me?...Perhaps, but I suppose it is still too early to discern one way or another...

Nikola thought silently as he kept looking this way and that and as he did, he began to feel the vague sensation that someone or something was watching him for whatever reason. That was when he glanced behind him as much as he could, and sure enough, there was a strange girl he had not seen or met now watching him from a distance but though she seemed to be headed in the same general direction as he was, aka to Ms. Hasegawa's house, she had not approached him. So, he waited for her to come closer within earshot and then he called out

"Greetings, might you be one of the other two ninja who have been assigned to this weed pulling mission alongside me, perchance?"

No sooner than Nikola had finished saying that, he noticed another ninja, this one also being an unfamiliar face, but this time being a man instead, so he called out to him as well once said man was within earshot

"Greetings, might you be second of the other two ninja who have been assigned to this weed pulling mission alongside me, perchance?"

With that, Nikola fell silent and waited for the two coming towards him to reach his location, aka Ms. Hasegawa's doorstep, and to respond in some way to his greeting if they so desired as well. While he did, he resumed thinking about how best to divide up the workload so that they could all complete it efficiently and quickly.

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OOC:

[2]

Hanabi looked to the side of her while she walked towards the destination of her mission, seeing someone who had looked familiar… was it Taco? She scratched the side of her head for a second before walking a bit faster, just to see that at the end, everyone was the same destination. She glanced to the others and waved to Taco, giving him a friendly hello and bowing somewhat to Nikola. “Y-yes. My name is Hanabi Inuzaka. I don’t think I’ve seen you around.. You are..?” She asked as she looked around a bit more, seeing the plants and weeds. Everything seem to be spaced out enough so if any damage did occur, not much would have happened. However with the amount of room, they shouldn’t damage any plants. The mission statement was true… This yard needed a make over.

Nikola adjusted the darkly tinted goggles which were concealing his eyes briefly with one hand and mused silently on how best to respond, whether with the truth about his background or whether to keep it a secret for the time being since this was his first encounter with him. In the end, he went with the secrecy option since it seemed to be the simplest

"Very good then, my name is Faust. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hanabi and Taco...now then, since we are all present and accounted for, let us meet our client, Ms. Hasegawa so that we can begin work on this task."

With that said in his well-practiced cordial businessman's tone, Nikola then headed up to the door of their client's house and knocked on it to alert said client to their presence and readiness to do the yard cleanup and in response, Ms. Hasegawa came out to greet them and start them off

"Ah, you're finally here, then. These weeds just do not seem to stay down no matter how many times I have the village's ninja assist me with cleaning them up. So, I guess I'll be counting on your help again. Thanks in advance, you three."

Nikola nodded to Ms. Hasegawa and then, he remarked briefly in response to her comments as well

"Understood, ma'am, we three shall endeavor to clean up the weeds polluting your yard more thoroughly so that this problem will not be likely to occur too frequently henceforth."

Then, after Ms. Hasegawa let all three of them into the yard so that they could begin its clean up and after she left, Nikola turned to Hanabi and Taco to suggest his idea on how to handle it

"Since there are three of us, I suppose the simplest option would just be to divide the field up into thirds and then, each of us can handle a third of the workload. Does that sound acceptable to you both, perhaps?"

Nikola proposed thus and after inquiring whether his idea was acceptable to them, he fell silent and waited to behold Hanabi's and Taco's responses and/or reactions to his suggestions and the situation over all as well.

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OOC:

[3]

Hanabi looked to Nikola and raised a brow when he mentioned his name. “Faust?” She thought about it for a moment and she didn’t remember anyone in the academy with that name. Would that mean he’s older? She looked to the other two while they approached the door. The woman came out and greeted them, expressing gratitude for helping her out with the landscape. Hanabi gave a bow and smiled to her. “Not a problem, Ma’am. Happy to help.” She gave an affirmative nod and followed her into the yard. Once she left, she looked over the yard and looked to Nikola, hearing his plan out. “I think that should be easy to do. 3 parts divided equally, we should be able to get it done in an hour or two. I can get the front of the house and you guys can get the sides if that’s alright.” Hanabi asked while her eyes shifted between the two men. “We should be mindful of her flowers too.” She stated while waiting for any other ideas.

Taco waited after introducing himself to the other ninja. He said his name was Faust taco and did not remember anyone by that name in the academy. This proved his suspicions that he was an older ninja than hanabi and himself. Taco walked up to the door with Faust, but he stood behind him. The customer opened the door and directed them toward the back, and told them thanks in advance " no problem, miss, we are here to help ." she told them to mind the flowers while they were cleaning up the yard taco took a look around " I think we could finish this quickly it's not much I think splitting it is a good idea to do I'll take one of the sides since you're taking the front hanabi Faust you can pick a place to start yourself once we finish a side go help each other guys to make this go by fast ." taco waited a few minutes to sew what they would say then he would head to the left side and begin pulling weeds.

Nikola was waiting to see what would happen next in the situation when he heard Hanabi offer to take the front part of Ms. Hasegawa's lawn, so he nodded and remarked briefly

"Understood, I suppose I shall take charge of cleaning the right side, then."

No sooner than he had said that, he heard Taco agree as well to the proposed plan of action for the lawn cleanup from earlier just as Hanabi had and heard him suggest that he pick a side to get started to which he remarked

"Excellent, and yes, as you both said, this should not take long at all. Now then, let us begin the lawn cleanup in earnest."

After that, Nikola saw Taco go towards the left side to begin the mission, so Nikola proceeded to heard over to the right-hand side of the lawn and once there, he called forth his kikaichu and commanded them to start mowing down only the weeds in the lawn, one cluster after another in a precise and accurate manner, while avoiding the flowers and other important looking plants. While doing so, he ensured to be methodical and systematic as well by starting at the top right corner of his section of the lawn and working his way down and then to the left in a Z-track fashion before repeating the same thing while moving to the left half of said lawn section.

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OOC:

[4]

Hanabi took initiative to focus on the flowers in the front of the house, working around them and to pull weeds with manual labor than to use any sort of jutsu. The front is to be precise and definitely to be careful. No flowers must get hurt. Hanabi carefully stepped around the flowers, occasionally stopping to feel the soft petals, admiring at how healthy they were. A small smile crept on her face, continuing on with her work. Every weed she pulled, she would put aside, placing it away from the flowers so they would not contaminate any more. “Everyone doing okay?” She called out, checking up on her team mates. It was a particularly nice day out in Konoha but the sun shines brighter than all three of their futures most likely, the heat making Hanabi sweat at least. She rubbed the sweat off of her forehead and continued to pull the weeds on one side of the house.


Once one side of the front was done, she would place the weeds in a safe place, moving carefully to the next side and starting their, repeating the process. “Be sure to take care of the vegetables if there are any on your sides.” She called out once more to her team. It was weed pulling and a few more missions after this. Maybe a small break for some drinks would be called for after this mission or even after all of their missions. Hanabi would be sure to bring it up after they were done.

As taco went to the left side to begin his duties, he peeks over at the others. They seemed to be doing very productive work. The other shinobi seemed to be going reasonably fast, but taco didn't know how he could not place a finger on whatever he was doing 'strange, this man is pretty quick. Whatever he is doing is just too fast or too small for me to see as taco said this, he smirked as he looked around for a source of water that he could use 'if he's going at this incredible speed, I won't let him beat me I have to try and pick up my face without destroying everything. ' as he looked around he found a tiny puddle more than enough for two water clones.

As the day dragged on, taco certainly picked up his pace with his two eater clones. He wasn't as bad as the other guy, but it was okay at this rate. They would be done in no time when all of a sudden, he heard hanabi from her side ask us if we were okay. Without thinking, taco answered her, but his clone also responded simultaneously. This may have caught hanabi by surprise, which made tago giggle a little bit under his breath. "At this rate, I think we could finish this pretty fast, guys. Keep up the good work ," taco would shout back after he had giggled a second ago. After he had finished most of his side, he ordered the clone to clean it up neatly as he was making sure not to ruin the customer's yardage heard hanabi once again inform them to be careful with the vegetables if there were any on their sides. This made taco look back for a second to ensure he had not ruined anything. After taco had checked nothing more than weeds were pilled up on a side, he went to the side that still needed clearing and began on it, ordering his clones to come to him after they cleaned up the other side better.

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jutsu used:

Tech:

cp before jutsu: 110
CP after: 110-22=88
Clones 1 and 2:
Clone 1 (11 CP)
Clone 2 (11 CP)

Nikola was nearly finished with mowing down all the weeds that were polluting the left-hand section of his assigned right side of Ms. Hasegawa's lawn by this point when he heard Hanabi call out with a reminder to not damage the useful parts of their client's lawn, such as flowers and vegetables, and so he called back to her

"Indeed, I am. I am actually about to finish up my side, so if either, or perhaps, both of you need any assistance with expediting our work here, I should be able to head over to provide it. Regarding your reminder, I have already taken all requisite precautions to avoid damaging the useful portions of the client's lawn, namely the flowers, vegetables, and other such components."

Just as Nikola had finished replying thus to Hanabi, he then heard Taco call out to him as well with some words of encouragement, and so, he called back to Taco as well as part of his facade of being a friendly and harmless Konoha genin and not the budding mad scientist he was underneath said veneer

"Of course, since we have ensured to implement division of labor in our mission here today, it is proceeding both smoothly and swiftly. Now then, I am finished with my portion of the work, so I shall be awaiting you both to come meet me in front of the client's residence so that we can report in and collect proof of mission completion from said client."

Nikola called back to Hanabi and Taco thusly and now that his kikaichu were finished mowing down all the weeds in all parts of his assigned portion of the lawn, he then stepped over the small fence surrounding it and made his way over to the doorstep of the client's residence to wait for both Hanabi and Taco to finish cleaning up their lawn sections and come to meet him for undertaking the official completion of this specific mission. Since he did not know how much longer they would take, he sat down on the steps to the residence of their client, aka Ms. Hasegawa in a position that would allow him to monitor as much of his surroundings as possible, even calling out 100 of his shokaichu and instructing them to station themselves just beneath the ground around the area to form a security net with a 300 m diameter with him as the epicenter as an additional source of sensory data receipt.

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OOC:

[5]

Hanabi wiped her forehead again, exhaling after taking all the weeds out by hand, seeing as it was the best way to go in her eyes. Being able to take out the weeds by hand meant she could be extra careful around the vegetation and flowers. With sweat dripping down her body, she put her hair from what once a ponytail, now into a bun. “Better..” Her amber eyes looked around to see Nikola’s side practically done and Taco’s side almost there. Carefully stepping over everything, she went next to Taco and gave him a cheery smile and decided to help out on his side. “Doesn’t hurt to get a bit of extra help, yeah?” Her eyes showed a bit of sadness but nothing her smile couldn’t cover. She wanted to keep herself busy as it had been a rough week for herself. With a few more minutes going by and with Hanabi’s help, Taco’s side should have been cleared within a timely manner.


Now with Hanabi in the walk way of the house, she gathered all the weeds into a bag to properly dispose of them, getting ready to leave for the next mission. “I’ve got the weeds. We should dispose of these and head to the next mission. Or we could go and get something eat really quick.” She asked, coughing a little bit, her throat kind of dry. It would be nice to get a drink at least.

OOC NOTE: SKIPPING TACO'S TURN TO GO TO NIKOLA'S POST AND GOING TO FINISH BOTH OF THE REMAINING TWO MISSIONS IN THIS POST.

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Nikola had been waiting patiently for his two mission partners, Hanabi and Taco, to finish up their work and finally, they seemed to be done with their respective sections of Ms. Hasegawa's lawn. So, Nikola watched as said mission partners came back to meet him where he was currently sitting on Ms. Hasegawa's doorstep.

"Now then, since this mission has required us to perform grueling physical labor, I propose that we indeed pause for a brief respite in accordance with Hanabi's suggestion from earlier, and while we are at it, I shall treat all of us to a meal and a drink...for, as the saying goes, an army marches on its stomach."

Once that was done, Nikola contacted Ms. Hasegawa who then came out and after surveying the work done by Nikola, Hanabi, and Taco on her lawn cleanup request, she thanked them all for the hard work, though in Nikola's case, it was his insects that had done the hard work, not him. After that, Nikola collected the proof of mission completion from Ms. Hasegawa on behalf of him, Hanabi, and Taco, and then, bowed to her. Once that was over, Nikola headed off with the two of them to a moderately classy restaurant where they sat down for their promised meal and drink combo treat so that they could all rest and refresh themselves for the remaining two missions.

"After this break, we have two more missions, so let us ensure that we pace ourselves properly such that we do not become so thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day when we will have finished said missions."

Nikola spoke thus briefly at the beginning of their meal and then fell silent for the rest of it. It took them a while to recover since Hanabi and Taco had clearly put in more physical labor than Nikola had done for his part, but in the end, all three of them ended up being well rested from this much needed break. Once that was over, Nikola then led them off to meet the client for the second mission which was to clean up the graffiti depicting crude pictures and choice words that some random kids had plastered all over the Hokage Rock which said client apparently cared for very much since it was such an integral part of the Leaf Village's history. Additionally, the client, one Mr. Eguchi, also instructed Nikola, Hanabi, and Taco to reprimand the culprits about their actions in an effort to prevent such an occurrence from transpiring again

"Now that we are here, I propose we split up the work with one face for each of us...and then repeat this process in sets of three faces until we finish the assignment. That way, we will not need to exert so much effort and will still have done this in a timely fashion. After that, I can track those kids down for us and then you both can reprimand them."

Nikola suggested and then, in accordance with the plan, the three of them got to work on cleaning up the Hokage Rock. Unfortunately, this not only took a good deal of time to complete due to the size of the monument, but the time the three of them were finished with the entirety of this portion of the assignment, it was rather late in the day. Then, Nikola tracked down the kids responsible for the graffiti incident with the use of his insects and reprimanded them alongside Hanabi and Taco before going to report back to Mr. Eguchi for mission completion and collected the proof for this mission as well. Finally, there was only the gate guard training duty with Hibiki the Chuunin left for which, Nikola led Hanabi and Taco to him for that

Finally...one last mission...and I can call this multipart assignment complete at last...how irksome this is...truly...

Nikola grumbled silently in his mind while he listened to Hibiki's lecture on proper protocols to follow for sentry duty from how to check visitor's belongings for anything suspicious, to how to verify and authorize visitor passports to writing up gate sentry duty reports to send to the Hokage as well as everything in between. Naturally, however, since he knew the importance of outward appearances to those around him and the rest of society, Nikola ensured to keep his face perfectly neutral and calm too. It took a while for Hibiki to finish his lesson, but in the end, he did manage to finish and then, he assigned Nikola and the others he was with, Hanabi and Taco, to their respective sentry posts so that they could put what they learned into practice in preparation for future such calls to action that they would all undoubtedly have to answer from time to time. Fortunately, however, nothing too complicated arose over the course of this last mission and so, Nikola was able to bring his portion of the sentry duty to a close as presumably Hanabi and Taco had been able to do as well.

Well now, the Norns have seen fit to smile upon me, eh? How very fortuitous for me...

Once all three of them were finished, while thinking thus silently, Nikola then collected the proof of mission completion from Hibiki the Chuunin and then, he led Hanabi and Taco to the mission report desk at the Hokage's Office to submit the proofs that the three of them had collected for the each of the three missions they had finished over the course of the day. When they did that, they each received the designated mission payment in accordance with the rules set forth by the village's administration and once that was over, Nikola bade farewell to Hanabi and Taco and headed off back to the Aburame Clan compound where both his residence and lab lay waiting for his return.

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OOC:

(6)

(NIKOLA'S EXIT)

Hanabi followed Nikola through and through to the ramen shop and to the rest of the missions. By the end of everything, it was late and Hanabi was exhausted. She was ready to go home. She said her goodbyes to her temporary team and to her knowledge, that would be the last time she saw Nikola. Taco however was another story in which she would see him again soon. Hanabi went home and got herself into bed and fell asleep, the next day shortly coming, only feeling like she had slept for 20 minutes.



-exit thread-

taco is exiting this thread