Starring:
Date: Unknown (log received July 5, 2013)
Summary:
A team is sent out to investigate what caused a terrible fire to a village in the Land of Waterfalls. Though this mission would normally be granted to higher ranked individuals, it was decided that the lesser rank would participate. Though the inhabitants that stayed behind were found mostly okay, they were going to require their village to be rebuilt, adding more to the task of the investigation.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"The Flames of War - A Village Ignored"
Land of Waterfalls
Land of Waterfalls! It's so lovely here with all the greenery and the rocks and the waterfalls and oh, there's a huge fire…
Was a fire. A village in this area was lit on fire and left completely destroyed. It went unsolved because the Land of Waterfalls went largely ignored due to the level of problems that were going on in its neighboring countries. Now, a team has been sent out to figure out how to handle it. Truth be told, it appeared to be outside the scope of this team, so one has to wonder why they were called here to try and figure this out, but Etsu was determined to come back successful.
She had the help of two brothers and she could only hope they could team up together and crank out a solution for their issue at hand. "You both are aware of what we'll be doing, yes?" She questioned them as they approached the village. "We're here to investigate and report back. This should be simple enough."
Takumi, with arms crossed as usual, looked around the burnt village. "We're supposed to ask questions to get answers, right? I've got two. Where did all the people go, and where'd the fire start?" There was a lot of charcoal pits where houses once were but there was no sign of the fire spreading from the still green forest TO the village…
Satoshi nodded at Etsu. "Yeah, yeah…" He looked towards the forest trying to find where the fire began. He looked at his brother as he asked the questions, and said, "If there is no village… it is hard to see villagers in there…" He looked around saying, "And this place isn't looking much like a village anymore."
Giving Satoshi a soft smack to the back of his head, Takumi says, "Quit being a smarty-art philosopher and do some actual… looking!"
"Hmmm," Etsu hummed to herself. "This is where you all will learn how to scout. Learn about your surroundings and figure out things that look unusual. One, we were tasked with coming here, but there is no one to meet us. Two, it's difficult to say where the fire has started yet. Perhaps we should look at what remains of the place. I could look for you, but that'd be too easy." She already had her insects on the job, but it was up to them to notice certain things.
Firepits were indeed present, but there was no indication that there was a fire that spread from any of these pits to the rest of the village. One thing is certain, though. It feels humid around here, though there aren't any waterfalls near enough to create a humidity this thick.
Takumi wiped the sweat from his brow and frowned at Etsu. She gave them the order to search and search he shall, so he can go home! It's all muggy and sucky that it sucks and he's already done emotionally with this mission. FROWNEY. FACE. Takumi grumpily trudges over to a crumbled in building, peering around for anything unusual.
ooc Okay, had to check some stuff. Lol.
Satoshi nodded at Etsu and proceeded to look around. He moved close to a firepit and started to look around it and at it for anything that seemed wrong. He wiped the sweet from his forehead after a moment and continued to look around without looking very annoyed by the heat.
The village was all but burned down, though there were some walls of stone and pieces of wood structure that were still standing around here. The crumbled building didn't show anything in particular other than it used to be a living space, but within the wet dirt, there seems to be a faint outline of something in the ground.
The firepit held nothing out of the ordinary except for some paper that was used as tinder for the fire. It doesn't look like it burned very well in the humidity. "Did you all find anything that may be useful to our search?"
Shaking his head, Takumi heads back to their instructor. In his way back he slips on something in the humidity dampened soil. The thing comes loose and is stuck to the seperate toes of his jika-tabi. Takumi's grump levels grew up. "What the hamlet is this?" He reaches for the tube-like, mudcaked thing.
Satoshi takes a look at the tinder. At first, his eyes just go by it, but when they look at it again, he bends down and get it to look at it more closely. He raised the hand with the tinder and said, "Yes." He looked up and around for any signs of recent rain before walking towards Etsu while looking at the paper.
Takumi growls and cleans the tube off while approaching Etsu. "Is this important?" He hands the now clean object over.
Sounds of shuffling come from beneath the dirt and rubble when the tube-like object is removed from the ground. Etsu brought it over and looked at it. She then went over to the ground it lay on and brushed through the dirt, finding a gap where it lay at. "It would appear…" She started as she dug at the ground where the tube made a heavier indentation. "That this tube was used for ventilation," she pointed towards the ground. "You two continue to dig around this area. There may be something there…" She reached for the paper Satoshi had in his hand and relieved it of its crumpled state. "A letter… Notice. It mentions something of help, but it appears it was never sent," she shook her head. "Unfortunate…"
Satoshi nods at Etsu. He starts to dig on the selected area. He turns his head to Etsu wondering if she was also going to dig before continuing to dig.
Etsu proceeds with digging along with Satoshi and Takumi, hoping to figure out what was underneath all this dirt. What they discovered was a family who was clearly nervous of them being there. "Please, please don't hurt us!" A man shouts. Considering how he looks, he's probably the father. There are three children, two boys and a girl, a mother and two other older people who are grandparents. The male stands in front of the family, being the first to wish to be taken down should they attack.
"We're not here to hurt you," she offers to the family. "We're here to help…" She held out the letter that was found in the fire pit to the man. He seemed reluctant, but decided to trust in the shinobi.
Satoshi stopped for a moment as the nervous family asked to not be hurt. He just smiled at the kids and went back to digging to see if anything could be found. After wipping some more sweet of his forehead, he looked at the family for sometime. He then sighed and stood up. He slowly walked towards the closet one of them and asked, "Do you know what exactly happened here?"
Finished asking with a smile on his face.
The children shy away from Satoshi and the mother grips them all in her arms in a protective manner. "We…don't exactly know. I remember us being attacked. We didn't want any part of the fighting going on here and as a result we were attacked, but I…can't remember what started the fire. We didn't even know there was a fire until we tried to escape from our attackers and found that the village was ablaze. So, we took refuge in this cellar and placed this tube out of the cellar door to ensure we could breathe…" The mother explained. "I tried to fight off the men and they ran off. With the state the village was in, we couldn't have possibly run. The ground was thick with mud, it was raining and lightning flashed as fast as you could blink. If we would've tried to get our wagon together, I'm sure we would've been stuck in the inferno…" Etsu took all the information in and nodded. "Do you think some others survived?" The father shook his head. "We don't know, yet. We've been down here for a couple of days. We can only hope that the rest of the villagers are alright…"
Satoshi nods at the mother, and scratches his head before looking at Etsu. He looks at the firepits and scratches his head again. He walks to Etsu and asks, "So they were basically attacked by an unknown group of assailant, had their village set ablaze… though they don't know who did it… and then there was an overly powerful lightning storm…" He tries to confirm the facts, "…so… what are we supposed to do now? Any trace of whomever was around should be gone because of the storm…"
"That may be," Etsu stated. "But I think we need to look into this further. We should try and seek out others who may need help or are in need of assistance," she gestured to the family. "I would suggest that the father come with us. We'll need help trying to lift things out of the way and get to others if they're in need." The man agreed and began to gather some tools from around the cellar to help.
Eventually, the team plus one man would leave the cellar and go to other homes in the area to search out people. Names were called and abilities were used to find any life that may be in the area. There were signs picked up on all accounts and people began to emerge from their homes. Some wounded, others not.
He nodded at Etsu. As more and more people started to emerge, he asked every and each one of them if they were alright before asking if they knew what happened… despite the answer for the previous question. He'd look a bit sad every time he saw a wounded person though he still recovered fast enough to ask them about what they knew about what happened and smile at their cooperation… if they happened to answer.
ooc :is just moving slow in the scene. It don't have anything to do with you. XD
Each person gave their account on the events that took place here in the village. Some admitted to hiding away while other spoke of fighting off the enemies. For all of those that speak of fighting, they mention a particularly bright flash that eventually sparked a fire. It was pretty powerful and looked like it was an explosion, but no one ever went to investigate what happened. Everyone scattered, including the attackers, finding places to seek refuge and or hide. No sooner than the flash departed, there was a fire left behind by it and it spread through the village, unable to be stopped by anyone or thing. They point out the area in which the flash took place and any searching around would indicate an explosion, but it wasn't an ordinary explosion. This one left behind pieces of glass. The only thing standing here was once a small shrine that had since burned away. Where this shrine stood is where the fire spread from as evidenced by the blackened ground that stretched across to other parts of the town.
"We may just about have this all solved…" Etsu spoke as she pointed out the ground. "What do you see there," she spoke to Satoshi as they observed the remnants of the shrine and the pieces of glass left behind. "What can you discern from the stories you were told and this area here?"
Satoshi scratches his head as Etsu asks him. "The villagers say that there was an explosion before the fire…" He pauses and looks more carefully to the ground, "And that this was probably where the explosion happened." He gets a shard of glass from the ground before tossing it to the ground, "The villagers said there was a flash… so it might have been lightning hitting the ground… and making the sand into glass…" He pauses and scratches his head, "Though I was thinking from the first things people said that it was a bomb… but since the attackers ran away I marked that out."
Etsu nodded as she picked up a piece of glass and looked it over. "I'm glad you were able to make that observation," she stated while flipping the piece between her fingers. "As well as explain reasoning behind what you have deduced," she kneeled down and placed the glass back with the rest in the pit. "So, this village was met with lightning. Of course, that means conditions would have had to be dry in order for the fire to spread in the manner it did." She patted Satoshi on the shoulder. "You and your brother will be paid well for what you both have managed to do here, but our work isn't done. Now that we have solved the problem, we must report what happened to the villagers and then issue a notice for rescue in this area. There may be people that are still trapped and in need of assistance. You've done well today. What should I reward you with on account of a successful mission?" She inquired while gathering all her insects back up into her coat. From how many there were, it's clear she had this place scoured, but she wanted to see what her team would figure out on their own.
Satoshi nods and says, "Alright." He looks at Etsu as she asks him about a reward. His eyes brighten as countless things pass through his mind. He squints his eyes for some moments… then stops and starts to scratch his head for an idea, "Well… I want you to help me learn things… like awesome things that won't blow up things…" He makes the sound effect of a small explosion as he moves his hand with the shape of one.
Etsu considers Satoshi's proposal of learning things that won't blow up things. She takes particular note of the 'awesome' part. "I can…help you learn Acceleration Ninjutsu. Body Flicker Technique is a type of acceleration ninjutsu. We can learn of and develop many more together," she offered to him. "I am guessing this also includes your brother?"
Satoshi looks around, "Brothers… Yoshomaru didn't come around today…" He whisper loudly, "No… it will be no fun if they try to copy me for everything… it was already hard to learn Combustion Cyclone without them…" He makes a sadish childish looking face, "Only me… please…" He sighs after looking around, "You can also teach them things… but not everything though."
"Brothers. I see," Etsu nodded. "We can keep things between ourselves, then. What is for you is for you and whatever is for them is for them. No need to share. Not as if I share with my brother and he doesn't share with me. I understand the sentiment. We will learn what we learn together."
Satoshi smiles and cheers quietly. He looks around and stops to cheer before nodding at himself, "Nice." He puts his hand on his stomach and says, "We should finish things here… I'm starting to starve." He sighs before proceeding to do the procediments.
