Starring:
Date: February 24, 2015
Summary:
There seems to be a rivalry between farming clans. They just don’t know when to stop arguing! A team of Konoha-nin are sent out to handle things.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Agricultural Espionage"
Land of Fire
Kasumi was waiting on a fallen tree in front of Konoha's gates. Mission cards in hand of the team she was saddled up with. Hige and Kaido. Seriously? Is the administration pulling her leg or are they just - that - uninformed… She sighed, probably the opposite. Working together, best learned with your rival. And it'll affect her mission success rating if they spy it up. Today's mission was a little unusual for her M.O. But she'll roll with it regardless. Two farming families have a dispute. And the village elder's attempts to keep the families from going at each-other with fists rather than words had been less than succesful. Her team will be mediators in the dispute while preventing further fighting. Enough farmhands and farmers had been injured in these past incidents. Enough for it to cripple the villages rice and Soy production to the point they might have to take a loan to make it through the winter. Konoha was a solution at wits end.
Kasumi greeted the two Inuzuka kinsmen as they arrived. Giving each a small mission booklet she created. She knew genin didn't respond well to a wall of text however. So she had a friend of her draw what clear is a family fighting. With Konoha ninja breaking it up. On their way to the village by the name of Tsusutomo she explained the details of the mission. "As soon as we arrive we'll need to put ourselves in a position of authority as mediators. That means we need to look in control." She looks at Hige and Kaido. Furiously almost. "If I catch you two setting the wrong example by fighting. You get a taste of Tenjin prank poison." She squinted. Before turning, smiling to herself as she made her way to the village. It was half a joke, but the message was dead serious. No fighting, no cussing, no calling each-other out. They had to be an example….
Oh snoop, this was going to be a disaster. Kasumi thought.
Kaido comes in with a surprise, he no longer has Bandit with him, instead he has a very small nin-ken pup of what looks to be Siberian Husky breed. The pup and Kaido look up at Kasumi and Kaido simply raises an eyebrow at her and says, "Uh… what in the Nine Operations are you talking about??" He glances at Hige and says, "I don't think she knows us at all, does she?" Roshi (the new nin-ken pup) yips and runs around a bit and Kaido says, "Roshi, SIT!" The pup stops then and then drops on his haunches next to Kaido by Konsho.
"I think we just carry a bad rep itoko." Hige replies with a bit of a grin, taking the mission details and flipping through them a moment before looking up at Kasumi with an odd expression. "We're not eight Kasumi. I think we can read fine." He pauses as he looks at the pictures again before adding, "Although these are kind of cool." Konsho yips at the younger pup, telling him to settle down and pay attention and acting very much like a big bad boss dog. "No fighting. We can do that. Might argue though. That's something we're more likely to do. But usually 'cause Kaido is wrong."
Kasumi stopped to grab her nose and pinch. "No arguing either." She hisses. "And if you must, you do it in private." She points at her own mission booklet. "That's how they look. Notice how the ninja look in the middle? Calm… Collected, a team. So let's be a team." She smiles at the two before they enter the village. The first thing they see however is a butch lady, about 20 years old pick up an old lady by her scruff. "You're filth!" She says. About to spit in the old woman's face. It was the old woman however who headbutted the younger woman in the face. Kasumi winced, before jogging up to the two ladies. Who were pulling each-other's hair and going at it. "Hey, hey!" She said, throwing herself between the two. Only now her hair was being pulled on one side and her shin was being kicked on the other. "Ow ow…. A little help!" She huffed at the genin.
Kaido gives Hige a look and mouths, "I can make you have incontinence and inpotence for the rest of your natural life span…" He puts two of his fingers pointing to his eyes and then at Hige, indicating that he'll be watching him. When they arrive at the village and the cat fight starts, Roshi sits down and blinks, so does Kaido for that matter before he says, "Oh… oh yeah! Here!" He reaches in his vest and pulls out a disabling sneeze bomb and tosses in between the three, well… at least it won't make things… worse?
"You're no fun Kasumi." Hige offers with a wide, fang-toothed grin before he follows along. Along the way he makes sure that Kaido can see him and kunai comes out briefly to point at the older Inuzuka's crotch. 'Castration.' he mouths in return. When they reach the village he quirks a brow at the antics that are going on. When Kasumi intervenes and then Kaido throws something at the three of them he just shakes his head and stays back. He's not walking into whatever that is, not with /his/ nose. Instead he walks around one side of the fighting trio while Konsho moves around the other, interjecting themselves between the three and any other villages that might try to get involved. The duo certainly doesn't appear all that daunting, but Hige's semi-feral stare as his arms fold over his chest should make people wary. Or they can test him or Konsho if they feel up to it. Just might not end well.
Kasumi weaved seals just as the bomb rolls up. Leaving a clone in her wake as she dips out. Causing the two ladies to, as expected, sneeze and break up. "What the camera.." She sneezes. Again, and again. The other lady backs up and flees into an alleyway. Out of the town hall, the Mayor shows up. "Ah, I see the ninja have arrived." The old man with the silly hat says. Nodding at Kasumi and her team. "You must be the Tenjin the village spoke so highly of. And the Inuzuka, fearsome individuals that would surely temper the fires of my villages population." He sighs, as he headed back inside. "Come, join me and the families for tea." He said. "They're already inside…"
Kasumi straightened out her hair and looked at her team. "Let's go guys." She says. Heading in the direction the elder went. She's not in the habit of punching civilians. But this got pretty secret agent close!
Kaido shrugs and cracks his neck and starts to follow Kasumi as Roshi jumps up and starts to follow along, yipping and growling in the direction of where the one woman had fleed into the alleyway. Kaido just says, "Roshi, it's not worth it… c'mon boy, let's go see what the Mayor has to say about this." He's already got a bad feeling about this one, and somehow he thinks this is going to be a disaster, just like Kasumi believes. What the sabotage is going on in this village?
Hige looks around the area as the two ladies split and the town elder comes out. The boy falls into his normal state of silence when older people are talking and just remains observant for the time being. As they head into the building Hige and Konsho exchange a glance before the pup posts just outside of the door to watch things. If something else happens he'll be able to let them know inside. Hige follows after for now while ensuring to keep an ear out if Konsho howls.
Kasumi entered the townhall. There was noise on he left and the right side of the building. And the Mayor was down the hall through the middle at the small table. "Apologies about the walls between us and the families. They don't see eye to eye very well." The man says, as he pours tea. "Without jabbing them out that is." He says, while handing all three of them a cup of tea. Kasumi looked at her team and nodded. "Hige, Kaido, go talk to a family each." She says, while sitting down with the Mayor. "So tell me about the issues." She says while she listens to them an explain about one wanting the other family to convert their entire crop to the same thing. All rice, or all Soy beans.
Kaido meets the Hojo family. The family seems to be mostly older people. Between the age of fourty and sixty. "My boy, you need to understand that rice is cheap. And it exhausts the land to create. Soy may not be primary food. But if we sell it was can buy twice the rice we produce. Without destroying our own lands. Our Soy production has been going further and further down each-year because of those rice loving Ichis!
The Ichi family however, tells Hige the exact opposite story! How soy is the true evil to all crops. How it and all it's loyal following must convert to rice! "What else do you need in life." The younger family even quoted.
Even a strategist like Kaido has limits to what he can do. Listening to the Hojo family would give anybody a headache and Kaido's no exception. It's a good thing that Bandit isn't here because Kasumi's prediction of something happening would be reality. If Bandit were here, he'd probably make a few snarky comments, maybe insult one of the men's sexual prowess or even sexually harrass the harridans. Thankfully, he's not here, which means that Kaido doesn't have that to worry about, sadly… might be better than this.
He listens carefully to the family and then says, "Ok… does it have to be all or nothing? Couldn't we rotate crops every year? One year rice and one year soy? That way you're not using up all the nutrients in the soil?" Privately he wonders if he should just kill them all and be done with it.
Great he has to go talk to people? How annoying. It wasn't one of Hige's strong suits and while be might be a shinobi his small size and youthful appearance doesn't often earn him respect. Still they talk to him and the boy listens, reaching up to rub the back of his neck while he does so. "Don't you all own separate lands? Why doesn't each family grow what they want?" Silly farmers. Konsho is still patrolling the city proper, prepared to alert the world if something bad happens.
After a while Kasumi calls for her team back. She had heard the story about the conflict as well. The neighbor explained how he thought it was odd. Sure, the farms are connected. But it's been like this for decades. And only recently it became an issue. He believes there's something more going on. And Kasumi agrees. "Guys.." She says, as she turns towards the team. "I don't think the crops are failing bexause of the nature of the other family's crop. I think something or someone else is harming the production." She looked at the two Inuzuka and smiled. "My idea is to hit the fields. Maybe you and your Ninken can sniff out if something is off." She says, nodding while standing up. Heading in the direction of the door. "No worries, we'll fix your town sir." Kasumi says as they head out of the door.
When they reached the farm Kasumi spent her time with her herbal knowledge with the crops themselves. While she lets Kaido and Hige do their thing.
[NPC System]: Clue for Kaido roll(s) (Senses) from 10 to 35 and get(s) a 15. - Rolled by: Kasumi
[NPC System]: Clue for Hige roll(s) (Senses) from 10 to 30 and get(s) a 27. - Rolled by: Kasumi
RPCOMBAT: Kaido defends against with a PERCEPTION…22
RPCOMBAT: Hige defends against with a INUZUKA-SENSES…40
Kaido blinks and narrows his eyes and says, "I think I know what's happened here…" Roshi takes one whiff and runs away, the smell being too strong for the pup's poor nose. Kaido covers his nose and mouth and kneels down where a dead rodent is decomposing and says, "Someone's been using a form of poison on these crops… strong enough that not only is it killing the crops, it's killing the soil and everything else around it."
Hige and Konsho branch a little ways off from Kaido to do their own exploring, sniffing the air while letting their eyes scan carefully as well. The scent comes first and Hige frowns deeply as he follows the strongest one to the stick in the ground. He has no clue what it's all about but it doesn't smell good. "Itoko. Kasumi." He calls to get the attention of the older two before motioning for them to join him so he can point out the item. He doesn't touch it since he doesn't know it's properties. Plus they should see it how he found it.
Kasumi didn't see much other than what the farmers claimed. The crops was far from thriving. She looked at the two who after some quick investigative work. It seems they found something. She nodded when Hige offered the rat. "That's poison alright." She says. Something she does know. It was Hige's discovery however that made her frown. Not this would be quite tragic. If they planted these things on their own farms and blamed each-other. "Come on, let's go ask if they've seen these things before." Kasumi says while squatting. Putting on a glove and picking out one of the poisonous sticks.
When they arrived back in the townhall later that day to announce their findings the families, or their represnation were still nearly stuck in their boxes. Again, the three split evenly to ask about the sticks. Both the families had never seen them before however. And furiously pointed to the other side. It was all their fault! They claimed with hiss. The Mayor however was the voice of reason. He told of hearing similar reports throughout the region. But he didn't believe them. Someone was trying to drive the food prices up. And ruin people's crops!
Kasumi looked at Hige, then Kaido. "Alright, well we'll need to report this poison issue back home. Maybe we'll get sent out on a follow up to check out who's behind this sick joke. For now, we need to solve this fighting first." Kasumi looks at the two and smirks. "You two, are going to talk to them in a language they understand." She smiles. "You'll have a fight, about this poison. Kaido, you'll claim you found it in the Mayor's pocket. With more…. Hige, you'll do the opposite. Saying you know of this poison and that it's used by rivalling farms to drive up the prices. Eventually you'll demand checking the Mayor's pockets. Proofing Hige correct, and allowing them to turn their anger away from their own. But this will need to be convincing!"
Kaido raises an eyebrow, "You want them to turn their anger onto the Mayor? That's… that's…" He stops and then gets a smile, "A covert good strategy… Ok, Hige, back me up on this one…" He motions Hige to follow him as he opens the door, putting on an angry face and then yells at Hige, "Hige! You know we can't keep this from them… I found this in the Mayor's pocket! They deserve to know that their own Mayor's poisoning their farms!"
Hige isn't much of an actor. What's more he isn't a fan of turning people's anger against someone else unless it was himself. But he didn't really have much of a choice in this and so after a few moments he nods, moving after Kaido. Yelling at his cousin was something he /was/ good at. "I think you're full of shit Kaido. I've seen these used before by rivaling farmlands. They use it to drive up food prices in the village they're using it in so they can charge more for less!" The boy growls loudly, eyes flashing with an apparent anger.
Kasumi waited, she waited and waited… It wasn't until a minute into the fight that curious heads started peeking through the door. Look at the apparent outrage. Kasumi acted just as shocked by the findings. Shaking her head as she focused on the Mayor. "You, empty your pockets…" The people now all came streaming out. They were curious, more than curious. Was the the fault behind all this. They were just about ready to linch the man who was genuinly concerned! "G… Guys that's not true. The ninja are lying." One of the younger men stood up. "You paid them. Why would they lie against you? Empty your pockets…" The man demanded.
Yes, the villagers were angry, a united front against the mayor. Kasumi counted on this however, the Mayor was quick to empty his pockets, showing nothing but dust. "See!" The man said, throwing Kasumi an angry glare. Kasumi this time interjects. "If not you, then who was it!?" She says, looking at the villagers who blinked at each-other. They started naming ten surrounding villages, one after the other. Surely one of them must have done it! They agreed to tripple check their crops from here on. And to work together to punish them by outgrowing them!
When everyone finally left the building Kasumi smirks. Pulling Kaido and Hige into a small group hug. "Mission accomplished!" She said with a big smile. Phew, that was one of the most challenging D-rank missions she's ever had. She turned to the Mayor, who was still red with anger. Though he bowed in gratitude regardless. "Unconventional. But you did your job.." He hissed.
