Starring:
Nori, Sosuke, Naru
Date: January 29, 2013
Summary:
The group gets to Nori's family's farm. Nori's father meets them at the gate with an issue. The cows are sick and he needs their help to figure out which cows to quarantine. Nori learns how to descern between the sick and healthy cows with his chakra sensitivity.
"Headed Home - Mad Cows"
Nori's family's farm in Kadomai
Nori was heading home to Kadomai for the first time since he had become a Genin. It was a special journey, and as such, he had invited several friends along. The group of friends was also travelling with merchants, villagers, and several other shinobi towards Kadomai. It is safer in numbers, despite the Land of Fire being fairly safe anyway.
So far, the journey has experienced a few bumps along the way. The main bridge across the river had flooded out due to the thawing snow…thank Spring…so they took the long way around through the back-country.
Finally they have entered Kadomai and the various members of the travelling circus have gone their own ways. The only travellers left are Nori and his friends. Nori says, "My family's farm is just up the road. In fact, you can see the stone-wall separating our property from the next farm from here." He points not too far ahead and says, "See!"
It was interesting that Narusegawa could finally "see" her eyes were glowing a vibrant citrine, perhaps even more brillant as the crystaline gleam had been obscured from the sunlight for such a long time. The trip to Kadomai was definitely bumpy along the way, but also enlightening and offering Narusegawa a way to readjust to her sight before being tossed on a high level mission. " Just up ahead? Perhaps it isn't as far as I thought it was going to be," Naru commented as she trailed quietly from behind, her steps lead her forward as they beelined in the direction of his house…She truly didn't know what to expect, but apart of her thought that many kids would come bursting out of the household once they arrived… " Um, Nori-kun… How many sibilings did you have again?" Naru asked curiously, hopeing his answer would indirectly answer her question. "And how are you holding up? Sosuke-san?" She reeled back to peer at him as while, an honest smile loomed along her lips. Things were so much better with her eyes no longer blind.
Sosuke was silently looking forward to meeting Nori's family it would help him to better understand the young man. According to Atsuro this was a good way to make friends. Was Sosuke didn't expect was to be accompanied by another. Naru he had met once before at the poker tournament but there is something different about her now. Before she appeared to be blind, now it seems as though she has perfect vision. Sosuke was at the back of the group as he often found himself too lost in thought to be in front of anyone. WHen Naru asks how he's holding up looks up and nods to her. "I'm fine." his answer was quick as he was a little startled at first. "Sorry I was thinking about something else." he admits before looking towards Nori. "You said it is just up ahead?"
Nori grins, "It's far enough, especially when you haven't been home in so long." Truth be told, it has been more than a year. For an 11 year old, that's a life time. The young Yamanaka laughs as Naru asks how many siblings he has again, "There are eight of us total…but only my two oldest and two youngest are still home. My two older twin sisters are kunoichi brawlers, and my older brother is a mednin. They are back in Konohagakure…I think."
The farm is fairly large. Even as they walk past the stone wall, the farm house can only barely be seen, and only because of the pillar of smoke rising from it. The nearest field has a whole lot of cows in it; an entire herd in fact. From the herd a head pops up and out. "Nori? Is that you?" The head belongs to an old man, but it is easy to tell that he is a relation of Nori's…probably his father.
Nori bursts into a smile and calls out, "Father!" (confirmed) "What are you doing in the middle of the herd?" Nori looks back to Sosuke and Naru, "Father, these are my friends…Sosuke-san and Narusegawa-sama. Likewise, this is Father."
Both Sosuke and Nori seemed to be thinkers of their own merit, and it did interest Narusegawa to a degree as they ventured along the farm ground and moving further off into the distance, following towards the smoke stack bellowing into the air before them. SHe paused briefly as Nori began to explain the situation. " So 4 siblings here hmmm?" She questioned… 4 was still a bit too much but she figured this would be interesting to get used to, she just prayed that it wasn't going to be entirely overwhelming. It wasn't long until finally they reached their destination and stood before Nori's father. The Uchiha smiled lightly as they both set their sights along one another, her fingers ran through her raven locks as she bowed forward in greeting. "It's nice to meet you, Yamanaka-san. You definitely have a really nice place, and I haven't even seen the inside yet," Naru commented with a lingering smile.
"8 siblings? Wow." Sosuke comments blinking in remark. He was surprised Nori came from such a large family but then again when he thought about how well Nori delt with others in public in comparison it starts to make sense. Sosuke can't stop looking around once they set foot on Nori's Family's farm. He'd never been on a farm before and had only read or seen depictions of them. Sosuke's nose crinkles getting a peculiar smell. "This is different." He comments. Sosuke is silent from there on until he is introduced to Nori's father. Sosuke is at a loss for words and is rather stiff until Naru bows. Sosuke follows suit soon after. "Nice to meet you. Tsukinamida 'Gansao' Sosuke." He bows at the waist and remains that way wondering when it would be acceptable to rise back up again.
Nori states, "Different is good…different makes life interesting." Nori's father pushes his way through the cows, and it is clear that he is up there in age. His face is wrinkled, his back is hunched slightly, and his hands look arthritic. Still, the old man has a skip to his step and a spark in his eyes. Tending to the land must have been a good, yet hard life from the looks of him.
As Naru and Sosuke both greet Nori's father, the father bows his head, "Thank you thank you. I'd invite you over to the house, but I could actually use all of your help right now." Nori blurts out immediately, "Sure thing!" The boy is eager to please apparently. Nori's father turns and points to the cows, "The cows are getting sick…and before I can tell they've come down with the disease, they go mad and beat the other healthy cows up…to the point where they are almost dead too. Thing is, I can't figure out which ones are sick until they start getting violent. Think you can help?" Almost as soon as he says this, a cow goes crazy in the middle of the herd.
It was definitely an interesting request, nothing Narusegawa herself had ever attempted to try. Normally her missions involved catching animals rather than investigating them, nevertheless she did train her eyes on one of the violent cows from afar, going crazy right in the middle of the herd and undoubtly going to cause problems in the near future. "How many of them have been going crazy? A few out of the herd or is this thing spreading?" Narusegawa couldn't help but to question… Naru didn't know much about wild life but considering Nori was use to the place already she felt like it may have been best to follow his lead. " Do you have any experiences with lifestock? Sosuke?" She asks him curiously, obviously stating that she didn't have entirely too much about them. Even if her Sharingan could look into their blood stream she wouldn't know what to look for. " What do you think about this Nori? I think you would know these cows better than anyone else here," From what Nori had been telling her he had taken over a few animals…Maybe a cow was one of the many.
Sosuke rises and nearly agrees to help at the same time Nori does. He glances over to Nori then back ahead to hear what it is that the father as going to request of them. Sosuke blinks as he listens to the nature of this request. "I don't think I'd know as much as Nori or someone who raises cattle. But when did you notice this bizarre behavior?" Sosuke looks back to the father. "Have you perhaps started fertilizing the grass with something different than usually or anything like that?" Sosuke questions before he notices the cow going crazy. Sosuke observes for a moment or two before looking to Nori. "Any thoughts?" Sosuke was easily calmed when he was given an objective or task. In any case they should probably stop this cow before it infects the others as the father explained.
Nori's father states to Naru, "It is spreading, albeit slowly. If I could somehow figure out what cows are sick and which are healthy, then I could quarantine the sick ones and save the healthy ones." The old man then looks to Sosuke, "It started last month and has slowly been building in intensity. This week alone I've lost three already…and this makes four. The only thing new is the feed I was giving them, but I stopped that immediately when the first cow got sick." Nori looks to Naru; she is the leader of this team after all. When she looks to Sosuke and then him, Nori blinks. "Oh, eh…well, I've taken them over before, but once I push their mind out, I don't get much of a reading from them." He shrugs…"I mean, I can maybe try practicing my sensing and see if I can figure out which ones are sick, but first thing's first…Sosuke-san, can you stop that cow, preferably with it not hurting the other cows?"
Narusegawa nodded to Nori's father and then once more to Nori himself as he had come to his own conclusion. It was a good idea and definitely a good start. " A diseased cow should definitely feel different than a normal cow. If it it slowly increasing one by one then there should just be a few cows infected by now. Once Sosuke-san takes down that cow you can see what you feel differently about it compared to the others…after that we can track them down and round them up swiftly," Naru informed, thinking on the matter though the plan had already been devised. "I can take a closer look once they are captured to make sure there isn't any odd similiarties…"
"Do you still have any of that fed? It might shed some light on this situation." Sosuke asks after taking what the father has said into the thought. Sosuke glances back over to the cow. "How long do they last?" he asks. "Sorry for all the questions just trying to get as much information as I can." Nori's idea seemed rather effective. His mind transfer could be the key. But first the cow would have to be subdued harmlessly. Sosuke nods to Nori. "On it." he starts to cast his chakra towards the cow in question. Since it's a mammal with pituitary glands and what not his genjutsu should be effective on it. He didn't want to send the cow into shock so he used a genjutsu that would calm it down and send it into a docile trance. "So who wants to go get it?" he asks Naru and Nori looking to them.
Nori smiles as Naru fleshes out the plan even further. "That sounds perfect." Nori looks to his father, "We've got this covered Father." With that, Nori asks his father, "Is the gate to the north field still working? We can get the sick ones moved to that field." Father nods and Nori runs off to open the gate.
With Nori off, it looks like Naru is going to have to help Sosuke with pushing the violent cow towards the north field. Luckily, the Genjutsu looks like it is working, but the cow is stil foaming at the mouth. Nori's father points to an iron stick on the rock wall, "You can prod her with that to get her to move in the direction you want." It is old school and mean, but it is effective. Father replies to Sosuke, "No, I burned the rest of the feed and gave the other bags back to the merchant that sold it to me." He grumbles under his breath about something concerning ryo. "The cows don't last for more than a day or two once they go all crazy."
"Nice work, Sosuke-kun. Perhaps we can figure out what is wrong in order to make sure that this doesn't happen again…" Naru stated, her attention had turned towards Nori's father, more so willing to push the cow along with the hot prod rather than pushing it herself or even with Sosuke. " How about we just move this along then hmmm? She spoke up while taking the prod and very lightly pressing it forward against the cow… As she peered over it she didn't notice anything weird about them just yet, she needed to see a bit more of the actual diseased cows before coming to any conclusions on her own, not that she was an expert or anything. After some time of pushing it on eventually Naru came back to join the group, waiting to see where next Nori might be able to sense some tension within the cows chakra. Sensing met feeling the area all about them after all.
With Nori off, it looks like Naru is going to have to help Sosuke with pushing the violent cow towards the north field. Luckily, the Genjutsu looks like it is working, but the cow is stil foaming at the mouth. Nori's father points to an iron stick on the rock wall, "You can prod her with that to get her to move in the direction you want." It is old school and mean, but it is effective. Father replies to Sosuke, "No, I burned the rest of the feed and gave the other bags back to the merchant that sold it to me." He grumbles under his breath about something concerning ryo. "The cows don't last for more than a day or two once they go all crazy."
"We don't have long then." Sosuke states. Sosuke follows alongside Naru as she prods the cow forward. Sosuke knew the genjutsu wouldn't last too long so he was at the ready just in case the mad cow became violent again. Sosuke glances to Naru from time to time. "Well wasn't expecting this sort of excitement." Sosuke comments as he tries to force a little small talk. "Hopefully it doesn't get too exciting. How fortunate it was that we arrived when we did." Sosuke mentions before moving around to look at the cow from a different angle. Sosuke tries to get a look at the eyes of the cow. "Hmmm foaming at the mouth….well I guess we'll just have to wait for Nori to start getting some answers."
Nori's father nods, "We don't have time, no. I can tell you the merchant's name by the way. He is usually found at the Fort in Kusagakure." Details are given to track the merchant down. The cow meanwhile takes to the prodding just fine, and in no time Naru has the heffer in the northern field. Nori closes the gate behind them and walks up to the cow.
Touching the cow, Nori tries to utilize the lessons taught to him by Naru last time. "Don't focus on the searching for the cow's disease," he says speaking to himself. "Feel the world around the cow and slowly pull the sense into the cow and then deeper. Use all of your senses Nori." The Yamanaka brushes his hand along the cow's neck as he breaths in deeply. He raises his voice to alert Naru to what he is feeling, "The farm smells calm with Mother's cooking, the field holds more tension." So far anyone could have figured that much out. "The cow feels thirsty, the heart is beating quickly, the hair is standing up in goose-bumps, and its chakra is fuzzy, like the hair on a peach." Okay, that was a little more focused. Nori blinks, almost as if he were snapping out of a trance-state, "Hey, that might have worked. I can't push deeper than that yet, but that might be a good enough start." Nori runs off towards the rest of the herd to see if he can tell a difference between the sick cow, healthy cows, and any that might be inbetween. As he runs off, he calls to Sosuke, "Welcome to farm life, excitement around every corner." It is hard to tell if he is being serious or sarcastic.
If Sosuke leaves the cow alone, the Genjutsu will wear off and it will start acting violently again, but at least it is alone now.
"Perhaps that Genjutsu is a little too potent for it's own good…You are going to have to show me what you know in those regards sometime soon, Sosuke-kun," Naru spoke softly to him, actually quite surprised that his genjuts uworked so well, it still took practice to be able to have claims over an animal. After awhile though she turned her attention to Nori who appeared to be doing just as she had asked him to try out earlier during their adventure, and apparently it seemed to be working. His senses had opened up well beyond than just the cow and as he focused he was definitely starting to get a more acurate reading. "Looks like you are getting pretty good at this… We will need you to focus on a healthy cow now… once you figured that out we can just test all of the cows but I don't want you to continue to touch them… Touching is merely to guide you in the right direction, eventually you need to be able to sense with just that one sense alone," Naru informed Nori, soon following after him.
<Weather> The wind sends fluffy white clouds tumbling across the sky as warm breezes sigh gently through new buds that paint the trees with a green tint.
"Your chakra sensitivity has improved." Sosuke compliments Nori. "Already becoming a sensor." Sosuke nods to Naru "Uh thank you Naru-san." he looks away briefly "It's nothing really. But I have no qualms about showing you one day if you want." Sosuke turns his attention towards Nori as he departs "Indeed." Sosuke replies to Nori as he runs off. Sosuke figures he'd keep the cow docile in hopes that it would slow the rate at which it would undo itself. Sosuke would also muse over the information given to them by Nori's father. "A merchant in Kusagakure. I know that place. Fort Kyuusen…or something." Sosuke crosses his legs and looks back to the cow to make sure ti wasn't going mad. "Kusagakure…many skilled in poisons and herbs reside there." Sosuke sighs "Well it's not like this is a mission or anything."
Nori listens and nods, "Okay, I'll try it without my hands, but if I fail…I will revert to what just worked for the sake of helping Father." Nori knows that these cows are his family's food, so while working on his training is important, his family's stability is even more important.
Nori makes his way back to the herd and just starts walking through them slowly. His hand is held out, but he's trying not to actually touch them. He is using his hand as a focus for now to feel through it. From the looks of it, he's not focusing on any one cow, but rather an area. He cuts back and forth between the herd, stops at one cow, then moves forward, then returns and looks over to Naru, "I think this one might be sick too…and not quite there yet." He hmms and asks, "Father, do you have a piece of charcoal to mark the side of this cow?" The old man pulls out some chalk and tosses it to Nori saying, "We may be old fashioned, but we do have chalk." Nori misses the toss and picks it up from a pile of cow manure. He brushes it off and blushes a bit, "Whoops." With that he does his best to mark the sick cow to be. "I think that is it for now. We'll have to wait and see though. Maybe we can come back tomorrow morning and see if this cow became sick or if there were any additonal cows that became sick too?"
