Starring:
Date: April 14, 2013
Summary:
A band of nin hired directly by the Daimyo have decided to stir up trouble!
"Struggle with no reward - Ransom!"
Land of fire
Satomi picked up Naota for a mission. "Come along, the rest is busy so it's just us." She explains, while waiting for him to get ready. "We meet in front of the gates in five minutes, you'll get your briefing. Have your equipment ready. There might be confrontation." She explains while then walking off to check her own, headed for the gate already.
Once he reaches the gate Satomi greets him with a hug and a smile. "Hey Naota, okay so here's the deal. There's three Shinobi without a headband running around the land of fire. They're carrying the Daimyo's banner and bringing money to those who keep quiet during the rebellion. However, they were also seen intimidating those who objected against his rule. And seem to behave evasive or hostile against other Shinobi. We're to go out there and find out what they're up to. The land of fire's in turmoil, we can't have the Daimyo hiring outside assets, especially not if they have their own agenda"
She nods while she waits for him to get ready before walking down a path. "It's a ten mile walk to the last village they were spotted. We'll go there and gather intell, and then we'll decide on a course of action. I want to avoid violence. So get your game-face on." She smiles while nodding down the road, starting to walk at a quick pace.
Naota blinks owlishly at Satomi in his PJs at his appartment as she'd go to pick him up. "Ahh.. err.. 5 minutes? Right.. ok.. I'll be there.." Nodding absently, he'd close the door and use that 5 minutes to get dressed quickly, gather all of his gear together and get out to that front gate. Only 10 seconds late! As Naota pushes his glasses up his nose, he'd nod slowly at Satomi as she hugged him, giving one back, although that whole emotional roller coaster is pushed out of his mind to focus on the mission at hand. "rogue nin, causing trouble by bribing those who follow the daimyo and beating those who do not. Got it." Musing, Naota shakes his head slightly as he'd catch up to walk beside Satomi. "So.. gather intel, try to aprehend the rogue nin. go from there. Got it." With hands in his pockets, he'd shift the scroll on his back as he'd follow along with Satomi, able to keep up easily enough, as long as they're walking and not running it seems.
"And no violence." She urges him, while they walk. She hums a little, it's a really warm day and she's wearing her skimpy chuunin outfit to boot. Much to probably the delight and confusion of Naota… oh well, more drawing material for later. She grins. "How are you? Been working on that technique?" She asks him, while they walk. There was no real hurry, they didn't have any sensory nin so they'd need to do this the hard way.
Once they arrived at the village trouble is soon apperant. A merchant is crying at his stand, his wares ruined. "Oh… I told him not to go!" He says while villagers gather around the bruised elder man. Satomi joining up with the ruckus. "What happened here?" She asks while observing the man, who's holding his broken wares. Sobbing quietly. The crowd quickly dispersed… were they afraid of Konoha nin!?
Naota nods in affirmative. "Minimal violence as much as possible." Musing, he'd take off his own headband, pocketing it so he didn't look like he was associated with any village. The scrolls of course, said he was a shinobi, it screamed it, but it didn't mean he was a konoha nin! Either way, he'd steal glances towards Satomi, pondering her and the conversation with Atsuro..
As they got to the village, he'd frown at spying the man whom had everything destroyed. He'd keep silent while Satomi asked around, a brow raised in curiousity at people fleeing the shinobi. Great.. this was going to make life easy, right? ha! Moving to the elder himself, he'd kneel down beside the man. "Pardon me Sir, I am only recently arrived to the village and I must say that I am having a bit of a time in confusion, dealing with this situation. Would you please help me by explaining what's going on so I understand better? Who did this to you?"
The old man also flinches. "No go away!" He says while grabbing a piece of wood, harmlessly swinging it around. "Don't worry… we're Konoha shinobi." Satomi whispers while bending through her legs, keeping a little distance. "You're safe now, your stand will be refunded. We just need to know what happened." She says softly, the man looking around himself, clearly scared. "I don't want to have anything to do with you!" He yells, clearly not intended for the Shinobi. But for potential bystanders.
"Damn.." She curses while looking around, understanding the man's fear. "They took my son! My son YOU were supposed to protect! You sons of .." His speech breaks down and he begins crying. "He traded with Konoha… and now LOOK … LOOK what you have done!" He cries while smacking Satomi across the face with the wooden board. She takes it, she was too shocked to respond to it, staring out in front of her while that's clearly going to bruise. "Material damage is NOTHING." The man cries out while waving the wood at Satomi again, who manages to dodge it this time.
Naota frowns at the outburst, shaking his head before he'd sigh and after a small flinch from Satomi getting smacked, Naota takes the hunk of wood away. "Fine. I get it. However, you should not lash out at those whom are trying to help you. Now, you said your son is missing. What's a description of him? hair, eyes, clothes. We are willing and able to get your son back for you. But you have to work with us at least partially." Naota tosses the hunk of wood into the pile of wrecked stuff, then watch the man. "Do not hit us again. I would really rather wish this to go a lot more fluidly." He'd pull that tablet out then, a paper latched on to it, while he'd pick his pen up. Ready for the description to draw it out.
The man describes his son, black hair, five foot nine, tender build… what clothing he wore that day and a whole lot of other details. Enough to let Naota sketch him. Satomi was just too shocked to respond to him hitting her, and frankly didn't mind nor care. He had the right to be angry… "Oh and what are you going to do if I hit her again? Kill me like you did my cousin!?" He says, while spitting at Naota before the old man gets up, mixed emotions… He wanted his son back. He wanted help, but not from there Konoha monsters.
He was refering to the incident where Naru burned down dissidents. Of which one was his cousin. Satomi pushes Naota back as he gets spat at, trying to avoid him getting hit while simultaniously avoiding a possible retaliation. "Let it be.." She hisses, while gazing at the roadsigns. "He doesn't know where they went, if he did he would have tried to rescue his son." She explains, nodding… yes, for a man who so desperatly asks for help from the ones he hates… That can only mean he loves his son enough to persue him if he only knew. "Lets head for the next village, it's a five minute walk and there haven't been any reports." She explains, getting her back, nodding at the man who doesn't even give her a second glance. Starting to walk down the road again, making sure Naota follows.
"I would stop it before you could. We're not the enemy and we're hardly monsters." Naota pulls a headband out of a pocket to show him the Kemurigakure symbol. "We're seeking the people who are causing problems, together, for the betterment and protection of those whom do not have the ability to do such." Putting the headband away, Satomi getting him out of the way of the spit was enough for him to not get hit. He'd simply shake his head, looking at the drawing made and showing it to Satomi. With a nod at her suggestion, Naota would follow along with her to the next village, lost in thought.
"Don't blame the man. In his mind Shinobi caused all this." She says, while also realizing who his cousin must have been. Cursing the squad who did that in her mind. "And in essence it's true. Shinobi did cause all this." She sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Lets just stay focussed, I doubt we'll be able to find these Shinobi, so lets just find out who they are and why they are… and more importantly. What they want.
"So because one farmer sold his corn lower than the rest, I should expect all of them to. Because one bar tender flubbed a drink, I should expect all of them to." Naota shakes his head firmly. "No. It is no excuse. Unless he has seen someone do it, smacking you, does nothing but cause frustration and irritation to us and does not help us with the goal of aiding him." Sighing softly, he'd frown then. "We've got to figure it out and fast. For them to be this disrupting is very bad. For all involved." Naota eyes Satomi for a moment, then shakes his head and keeps walking to the next village.
Satomi rubs the sore spot on her cheek, yep… it's already turning a little black. And is swelling. "We need to be the bigger man in this case Naota. He has a reason to be angry… Trust me." She sighs.. "I don't like it, but it's the best we can do. Don't condemn him. It's not his fault." She sighs, realizing he probably doesn't know what Konoha had done in this conflict recently, probably best to keep it that way.
As they approach the next village Satomi suddenly stops Naota. "Wait.." She says while looking at the trees. "Why is there nobody on this road? It should be packed at this hour." She remarks… slowly continuing. And there's their answer, a sudden kunai with what looks like a piece of paper attached to it (might be a paperomb) flies off towards Satomi. Who manages to dodge it by an inch… but no explosion. She leans in and picks it up.. "A ransom demand." She whispers … Looking back. "I need to get this to the Hokage immidiatly!" And then she speeds off, waiting for Naota to catch up to her. But she is moving at high speed… whatever was on that paper, apperently it's urgent.
