Starring:
Date: August 17, 2013
Summary:
Noab hears about the incident in the Zen Gardens from Fudo.
"Smokey Aftermath"
Zen Gardens - Sacred Gardens [Konohagakure]
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As the name refers, here rare and interesting flowers, trees and bushes can be found. The artificial mist spraying all over gives this area a cold moist pleasing feeling. The yellow brick road is completely surrounded and covered by the branches of trees giving perfect shade by blocking the sun out.
Animals can be found here making their homes within this moist area, further down the root the road widens slightly but the canopy of trees still provide considerable amount of shade. It is said that this is the most marvellous of sights within in the Zen Gardens and this fact might be true.
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Noab is a tough, crusty old mercenary type. He's hard on himself and others, he trains relentlessly despite his old age, war wounds, and prestige, and what he enjoys most in life seems to be putting grunts through miserable drills that he judges aren't half as miserable as real war and might save their whiny little lives should they ever find themselves in true combat — which as shinobi, they should. Oh, and also the occasional visit to the gardens.
…Is that a PROBLEM, private!? >/
Well, logistically speaking, it's a problem today, because there was apparently some incident in the gardens involving fighting. And fire. Noab leans on his axe-cum-cane, wrinkling his nose at the smokey smell where usually there's a mix of sweet flower perfumes. "Blasted collateral damage, don't they teach those academy squirts anything about minimizing casualties when fighting in civilian zones?" >.U
Having been working since the day before to rid the area of the plants that couldn't be saved so that when Konoha was able to get it, replanting and restoration would be easier, Fudo had grabbed his roommate along with him in order to help him do the same. Likely, it was more for the company, but he still was trying to make sure that it wasn't permanent damage. As they rounded the corner to start approaching this area, Fudo would of course notice Noab here, glancing around with a disgruntled look on his face. Fudo… was not sure who he was by appearances. Something seemed familiar about him still, but he was certain he'd never met the man in his life.
Akane's got her hair up in a more modest wrap today, though there's still ample hair sticks coming from the wrap of scarlet hair. She was wearing a black t-shirt and fabric pants rather than her usual attire, today was about working not fighting, after all. She followed Fudo, keeping to his left and talking with him quietly until she notices him looking at Noab. She herself had never met this man either, but something seemed….authoritative about him…. Her jade eyes flicker over him before she smiles and looks around taking a breath. She'd had a lot of experience with plants.. herbs mostly, but she could easily tell what could be saved. "Well, clear the dead things I guess. Anything seriously scorched is going to need to be removed so the others can grow better." And with one more glance at Noab she starts to head toward a patch of dead plants.
Noab glances at the youngsters working on clearing up the garden. Well, at least something's being done about it. :P "Salutations," Noab calls out to them. "Do you two have any intel on what caused this mess, or did they just hand you a mission that pointed you to the gardens and said 'get cleaning'?" Not that he'd object if they did, Noab is a firm believer in chain of command and need-to-know information, even if he knows the potential for abuse in the system.
Uprooting a few more plants than he had gotten to yesterday, Fudo wiped the sweat from his brow as he'd look up towards Noab. If he didn't have that feeling he should know whom Noab was, he might question his questioning, but… "I do." He'd say simply as he'd stand and slide his spade away on to his hip along his belt. "There was an assassination attempt here, by a Sunagakure shinobi as me and Katsurou walked around speaking of the exams and just general things. I was able to detect him, but unable to prevent him and his five clones from successfully landing the first strike. I used fire jutsu, in order to make a small section of this area start burning as a smoke signal for back up, seeing as the assassin got through all of our security measures in order to make the strike. With Katsurou down, I was lucky enough to snare the assassin and genjutsu him in to believing that the target was still within sight as I moved him out of the way. Then… I faced him. I bought time, really. Every time i used a fire jutsu, he would just deflect it… and it made the fires grow bigger and the smoke more clear from a distance. Eventually, people noticed and got here. They put out the fire and forced the assassin to try to retreat. I kept him from doing so, long enough for Katsurou to land a powerful attack, and then trapped him once again as Daisuke would have knocked him out with a coughing fit through a gas jutsu. I was then tasked with turning the assassin in as Katsurou was taken away for treatment." Fudo tried to explain relatively thoroughly.
Akane kneels down by the plants and is already starting to clear the dead things when Noab calls out to them. She glances up and offers a smile back, continuing her work. If there's a rank issue, she's oblivious to it. She seems to have no issue getting her hands dirty. As Fudo explains what happened here, she continues her work, glancing at Fudo as he takes responsibility for his own actions, however understandable. Her only real reaction is to frown darkly at the plants she's clearing away and to watch and listen closely to what Noab would do. She appears oblivious and distracted, but of course any trained eye could see the tension riding her muscles as she prepared for whatever reaction Fudo would get from this man she did not know.
Noab listens to the tale with shifted jaw. An assassin in the village? That's troublesome. "…And now you're the one repairing the damage? Good! Sounds like you handled the situation decently, but doing the right thing under the circumstances doesn't get you out of responsibility for the consequences of it." Noab sits down on the nearest bench. "What'd this Katsurou-san do to get an assassin after him?"
"Shirayuki… Katsurou. He is a Kirigakure defector." Fudo would say, which was not hard information to come by, so even if for some reason this was someone fishing for info for ill means, it wouldn't be anything truly important. "And Kirigakure seems to have separation issues." Fudo having cleared out this area would bag his damaged plants and head towards Akane to start picking hers up as well, holding out the bag for her as she continued while looking back towards Noab. "I am…Fudo. And you are?"
Akane looks up as Fudo comes over, putting her dead plants int he bag as well before crawling forward and inspecting one that appears close to dead. Rather than let it be thrown away she uses a spade and uproots it gently before slipping it into a small bag for later. Fudo would then give his name and ask for Noab's while Akane simply looked up from her work in the soil, curious who the man was as well…..
Noab raises an eyebrow. "Intriguing. Wasn't aware we were giving asylum to someone like that." Sheesh, these clans and their uptight retention. -.U Noab spent his whole youth wandering around, though he admittedly kept in communication with his clan. Yeah, yeah, we know all that stuff about bloodline limits and clan secrets and stuff, but honestly, do they really expect they'll be able to keep it to themselves forever, especially by suppressing their own kin? e.U "Akimichi Noab, jounin," Noab introduces. "I'm not here in any official capacity, just wanted to sit in the garden for a while. Seems like it won't be the relaxing experience I anticipated." e.U
Akimichi Noab…. Noab… Fudo would rub his chin at the name. It seemed rather familiar… Still, he would simply shake his head, all that truly needed to be known was that he is a Jounin. "I see. Well, I apologize for the inconvenience. As far as how he came to be here, I am still not certain about that. He was concerned about assassination attempts however, and at least now we know he was not bluffing. Though, he is a contestant in the exams, so we may want to increase security for the survival portion, I would imagine."
Akane reaches forward, aiming for a section where there's a healthy plant surrounded by dead ones and her reaching hesitates when Noab pronounces his rank. She looks over, offers a sheepish expression and lowers her head, acknowledging the rank difference… and then returns to her plants, gently removing the dead foliage around the living buds. Sitting back on her heels she grabs a water bottle and pours just a little around the base of the healthy plant before lightly packing down the earth again.
Noab snorts. "Oh, that'll be rich. Here y'go kids, go throw knives at each other in a big dark forest full of giant predators and venomous bugs, but don't worry, we're beefing up security to keep any nasty assassins out so you'll be safe." :P Noab leans back on the bench, making it creak slightly. "More efficient solution, if we're really worried, would be to keep this Katsurou-san out of the exams. If he's so valuable, why put him out there in the first place? Are we hoping he'll get killed on his own so we don't have to deal with Kiri's demands?" -.U
Fudo would tilt his head a bit towards Noab. "You would have to ask the Hokage…" he said at first, but then he'd continue, "…However, it is not about him being important. It is simply about him being in danger of personal assassination from other countries. The man who came after him is one of the best assassins in the world, from what I understand. The fact that he is alive at all is miraculous. The weakest moment for Katsurou will be during the exams due to there being few people of significant power within the area. There is usually security to prevent people from cheating or infiltrating, I am simply suggesting that there be more than usual given that fact that he was in fact almost killed. Just like there is more security around him at the hospital at the moment for that very same reason. But disqualifying him from the exams is damaging also, as it not only displays that we are incapable of protecting our /own/, which he is officially, but that strikes like this can effect our judgement." Fudo would pat Akane for a moment as he knelt down to help her reset some of the plantings and shuffle the soil a bit.
Akane had been doing well, listening in and not reacting for the most part.. until Noab takes an entirely complicated and serious problem and applies God Logic to it…. She loses her balance on a hand and knee and ends up falling on her rump, crushing a few — thankfully dead — plants in the process. Jade eyes turn to look at Noab with an expression of either wonder or she's simply stunned. So when Fudo pats her on the shoulder she shakes herself once before accepting his help and takes a moment to brush the dirt from her butt, flushing at her slip.
Noab eyes Fudo. "If this assassin was really so formidable, it's unlikely he'd have been foiled by a single novice ninja. There are mercs out there who can destroy entire companies on their own, some even if those companies consist of journeyman shinobi. I don't doubt this one was talented, seeing as he got in somehow, but one of the best? You wouldn't be around to tell the tale." Noab pushes himself upright with a grunt. "Throwing extra security on the perimeter is having our judgment affected too. For that matter, being affected isn't something to be so quick to hide. If we didn't allow ourselves to be affected by other parties do, we couldn't react and deal with their actions. But, what to do about this case most likely isn't your decision or mine anyway." Noab starts hobbling off. "At ease, carry on."
Fudo narrowed his gaze at Noab as he would essentially berate him for his success when he himself knew very little of the situation and was informed by this same novice ninja of the entire event in the first place. "I am probably only around because I was not the target and I made sure people who could actually handle him were signaled to come." Fudo would say, not challenging him directly in his assumptions of the situation due to his experience speaking before the evidence. Though in the ninja world, there are people who can destroy entire villages, but that doesn't make them particularly good assassins. "Well, hopefully there will be a… proper reaction." Fudo stated, remaining neutral about which he felt was as it didn't really matter what he thought as a novice ninja after all.
Akane watched as the Jounin stood and apparently got bored of them… As Fudo couldn't help but make a final remark at the older man she would 'slip' while digging up a dead plant and fling dirt at Fudo's chest, followed closely by a look that he would recognize well, though anyone else would think she appeared bored. Then she smiles. "Oops, sorry. Good bye, Noab-san."
