Starring:
Suzu, Tatsuo, Kurome, Daichi, Yasuo
Date: December 26, 2015
Summary:
Unnatural weather patterns have resulted in the town of Makuzaimachi having to deal with the threat of violent flooding! A team of ninja respond to evacuate the civilians, to control the flood waters, and investigate the source of the storm! An ultra high-level C-Rank mission begins!
"Thunder On Water Pt. 1"
Makuzaimachi, Land of Fire
An urgent sudden mission request has been given to an assembly of various individuals. The team was assembled based not just upon who was available but upon their unique talents. It seems there's some unusual weather happening a significant distance away from Konohagakure, near a town by a river. It's relatively clear skies and bright sun in many other places throughout the Land of Fire this morning, but at this town, it's not just overcast, but has dense storm clouds gathered over it and is raining intensely. It's raining so much, infact, that an enormous beaver dam upstream has become dislodged and a rush of flood waters is endangering the settlement of Mokuzaimachi and its residents.
Evacuating the villagers, trying to put a stop to the flood, and to discern the cause behind the unusual weather are all objectives of the mission, in more or less that priority. If the cause of the unusual weather is determined to be a method of resolving one or both of the other problems, then great. Otherwise, investigation should take place incidentally, while the actual current crisis is the focus of their attention.
As they have a Jounin and two Chuunin here, the accompanying Genin should probably follow the lead of the more experienced shinobi, but they were chosen for this mission for a reason. There has to be something they can contribute as well!
After a run to the town at ninja speeds, leaping through the treetops, and eventually entering the storm zone, they should be well aware that the clouds they saw from a distance are unusual in their placement and concentration, seeming to be staying in this one place and not moving with the wind. They are also probably soaked already by the deluge, as wooden houses and shacks are pounded by the storm, and men, women, children, and the elderly all attempt to conduct an evacuation while putting up sandbag barricades.
That probably isn't going to be enough, and Suzu realizes it perfectly well as she watches with a worried expression, and then looks to the others present to see if they have any ideas of what to do next.
Tatsuo had read was the mission one and was ready to roll as soon as possible. He would do his best to fend off the flood if nothing else. "Kurome-sama, I will try and keep the water away while the rest of you help with evacuation." It only makes sense as the water user of the group that it's what he'd be doing, at least to start. And…well, he had a large power to work with.
Kurome nods lightly to Tatsuo when he says what he'd be doing. "Good," she says. It was the most obvious place to put him, after all. "Just work on diverting it. Don't try to keep it held up like you're a dam, Tatsuo-kun," she advises, thinking that diverting might be easier on the Chuunin. In all likelihood, he'd have to keep it up for a long time. "Daichi-kun, use your speed to warn as many people as possible. Yasuo-san, I need you to keep an eye out for friend and foe alike. This weather is obviously unnatural…" She frowns a bit, Sharingan activating so that she can look around for any form of people controlling the weather.
Daichi would without asking start running around the place to evacuate people. He glanced at Tatsuo a moment when he spoke with Kurome and figured having Isobu would help a lot with moving water and not getting tired. Kurome then addressed him, so he nods quickly to her and flickers from view. He would make his way quickly from person to person and alerts each of them to gather in a certain area that he figures is the safest before moving them all.
"I could also throw up a giant Heavenly Spin and try to push the water aside for as long as possible in conjunction with Tatsuo if you like," Yasuo offers with a nod as they move along toward their destination. He brings his hands into a seal, activating his Byakugan as well to keep an eye out as they move along. His face moves ahead to sort of focus the direction of his angle of sight since what they've already passed isn't fully pertinent.
Suzu thinks about it, and then decides the best thing she can do to help is to join Daichi in evacuating people. She can't imagine anyone doesn't KNOW yet what's going on, though checking for senile people who have gone uninformed is still a valid course of action Daichi, but some of the residents of Mokuzaimachi may not have the same mobility as a normal person, or the abilities of a ninja might help them get to safety sooner. So she says, "I'll help with the evacuation!" in lieu of other instructions, and moves to start carrying people on her back if she must!
Tatsuo spreading mist around doesn't appear to have contributed anything except make it harder for normal people to see what's going on and hamper evacuation efforts. Kurome as well doesn't appear to be detecting anything like a weather controller nearby. But both Tatsuo and Kurome may notice the overflowing river up ahead is certainly demanding attention, and quickly! Taking immediate action to prevent it from continuing to wear away at the muddy, clay-rich banks, and taking the very ground the town is built upon out from under it is critical!
Tatsuo and Kurome, along with Yasuo, are likely to be able to spot all the people in the area, identify how many of them there are, where, and in what condition. Some have fallen in this troublesome weather, and a few people may be injured and muddy. Medical attention would probably be useful. Maybe Yasuo could provide it?
Alternately, detecting where the civilians are could allow Yasuo to direct Daichi and Suzu in finding people to help expedite the evacuation of. While it shouldn't require any special effort to navigate through the small town of rather rustic wooden towers and log cabins and such, the faster the residents are gotten out of here in case the river cannot be dealt with, the better. That's priority one after all, and dealing with the river is priority two. If they can take on both at once, all the better.
Daichi's attempts to warn people wind up being unnecessary, though the sight of him, Kurome, Tatsuo, Yasuo, and even Suzu coming to help them inspires them and helps to give frightened people clearer heads. Everyone is already evacuating, but they can be organized to do so, carried out, the terrain possibly rendered more stable, or whatever else the ninja have in their arsenal, getting these folks out of the area faster so that more attention can be paid to the threat of the flood waters.
The rumbling of water can be heard from upstream, like thunder, and entire trees are floating past in plain sight. What else is coming…? Maybe ninja could avoid it, but these people couldn't. They need out of here, and fast!
As Tatsuo moves ahead he shouts out of the location he feels of the people moving the slowest to let Suzu and Daichi know, then he lets the mist fade somewhat though he keeps it up partially to watch for extra trouble as well as the location of the water and where it's moving. He doesn't hesitate as he moves to the side of the village the water is coming towards and stands, closing his eyes to focus himself and use the mist for the best place to move the water. Diversion would definitely be easier. When his eyes open they've changed from their normal black to a dark red as he draws on that sickening chakra to give him some extra strength. The water would be diverted heavily to the side by an invisible wall though it took a great effort just to begin manuevering so much…
Kurome glances over to Yasuo to see what he has to report. Some of the more obvious people with injuries, she would organize some of the stronger of the villagers to help them escape. She needs them all to move quickly, ratcheting that the civilians be safe before they deal with the water overflow. Which is obviously still an issue. The woman notices the change in Tatsuo's chakra, too, and she keeps that in the back of her mind. Just in case. "Daichi-kun. Suzu-san. Make sure to find any kids. Yasuo-San can direct you to them if need be," she says before moving away to gather more villagers that don't seem to be wanting to move.
Daichi kept on doing what he was told even if it wasn't needed. He would make sure that everyone was together before looking at Suzu. "Hey Suzu. Could you use your sharingan to see if anyone is trapped under rubble maybe? The others might see it, but you are here with me. You find people and I can at least help them out or something." He does look to Yasuo as well if he begins directing them. And now he would start looking for kids himself like Kurome asked. If any were injured he would carry them to someone that could hold them or carry them back to the group while he looked for more.
As they arrive, Yasuo squints slightly as he takes note of all the people and their various conditions. He points out which ones can be helped without medical attention as well as where the kids are and any that are trapped that Suzu hasn't pointed out before looking over to Kurome. "I'll move quickly to the ones that need medical attention before they can be moved. Don't want anyone to die during transport," he says before moving to do just that.
Tatsuo is doing a great job of keeping the river from causing further damage to the town. Sure, the OTHER side of the river is probably getting thrashed, but people don't live over there. There aren't houses there. Just mud and clay, with most of the trees on that side having been cleared for the logging that goes on in Mokuzaimachi. Time is being bought, and the surging waters are being turned away. And still the rumble from upstream grows and grows in volume…
Thankfully, with the directions being given by Tatsuo, Kurome, and Yasuo, the evacuation is running smoothly. People are getting out of here at least twice as fast as before, and those who might not have originally are being carried by those around them, helped up, or directed to the path out of here in the confusion of the storm. "But all of my belongings are here!" "My life's savings!" "My grandmother's ring is still in the house! It's my only keepsake of her!" People insistent upon taking their property with them are confronted by Kurome, who is just as insistent that they get out.
Suzu's response to Daichi as he organizes people, alerts the infirm to what's happening in the event they were left in the dark, is to hesitate briefly. "My Sharingan can't see through rubble. I'm sorry. It hasn't developed that far yet. I'll do what I can to find and evacuate the children though, and if you need help moving things, let me know! I'm at least getting physically stronger!" Then she sets about doing as ordered, just like Daichi. Gathering up kids, and using her pleasant demeanor and kindness to convince frightened families they're better off leaving than staying here.
There doesn't appear to be any rubble yet, thankfully. The buildings are intact, and some that might have been in danger of having the ground worn away and toppling have been spared such a fate with considerable terrain remaining, thanks to Tatsuo's redirection of the river. As some people have still wound up injured, particularly those who may have fallen in the initial panic and been trampled, Yasuo arrives at their locations while calling out directions to the others, and applies his medical skills to tending to their injuries.
Though the wounded may groan at first, soon enough, with his healing abilities, they're back on their feet. Maybe full recovery will take time, but they are in surprisingly good condition, in their estimation. Enough to walk, or to be helped out by others, like Daichi.
With the efforts of the ninja, all seems to be going well. Almost the whole town is evacuated within the frantic minutes after their arrival. And yet, in this situation, with the storm raging and throwing senses into disarray, it may feel like it's been going on for an hour or so instead. By the time everyone is out of there, just the pace set by the evacuation efforts may have left some of them tired. Suzu, at least, is panting for breath.
But the river now needs to be dealt with. Better barricades than a Jinchuuriki's considerable strength are needed here. More permanent ones. Suzu chews her lip as she regroups with the others once the last of the civilians is on their way down the road, and asks, "I don't suppose anyone here has any Earth Release Ninjutsu?"
The sounds from upstream continue to become more violent, and it almost sounds like huge explosions are going off. A sudden wall of trees, partial and whole, come tumbling over the sloping horizon, bunching up and stacking upon each other. All that wood is going to be coming their way soon.
Wood and water both.
As the water continues to not only build in strength but also more debris flows down Tatsuo can only draw on more strength. As he does so and the blue cloak of chakra starts to exude from him the teen also tightens the mist between him and the village to keep the villagers from seeing him. He doesn't need them panicking. It gives him the strength to continue to divert the water for now but it was only going to be a matter of time before something else would need to happen.
Tatsuo is diverting it for now and has gone up to Two-Tailed TF, but there's a lot of trees coming down the river towards us. There are multiple courses of action if none of us has Earth. Yasuo could break apart the trees with his Taijutsu and Kurome could incinerate them. Tatsuo could use his Water Release to pound the trees into place where there's presently an empty river bed, putting a water breaker there so he doesn't have to keep holding the river in place. Either of these would allow us to then go upstream and find out what's causing all this."
Kurome notices that a majority of the civilians, if not all, have managed to get evacuated, and it looks like Tatsuo is struggling. Especially with trees coming at him now. The woman makes a few handseals, and huge fireballs would expel from her mouth to incinerate the trees and maybe evaporate some of the water. "Tatsuo-kun, we need to go. As soon as you notice an opening, take it and flee," she orders. "Everyone else, move so that we can start going and investigating this broken dam and figure out the source of this issue."
Daichi would make sure everyone was safe before meeting with the rest of the group. "Kurome… What do we do about the water… What if some still floods the village some?" Moments where he wished he could do anything, and with a wave of his hand just slap the water to the side. "Alright Kurome…moving out." He would then flicker from view already quickly going to wherever Kurome wanted them to meet.
Hearing the orders after he's tended to the direly wounded, Yasuo looks over to Kurome and nods. While she incinerates some of the trees, he leaps forward and spins, creating an enormous spiraling dome of chakra around himself that he uses to try and divert both timber and water as well as possible while also moving toward their destination to try and figure out who exactly is trying to demolish this place.
Tatsuo's increasing Chakra is setting Suzu's hair on end, and she doesn't know why. Something in the air just feels… Odd. She's not a sensor-nin though, so she isn't sure what it is, and her attention is centered up-river, so she doesn't spot all the turtle insanity going on, as Tatsuo keeps huge volumes of water from sweeping them and the town away. Kurome's fireballs destroy the piles of wet wood handily, and Yasuo's Chakra emission also lightens some of the burden on Tatsuo.
Just as the order is given to abandon the efforts to control the river, which would have resulted in an unfortunate partial mission failure, they may all notice the rain stopping and the storm dissipating with unnatural quickness. There was no sign of someone controlling the weather earlier, so how is this now going away with no indication of powerful Chakra or similar in the area? Very suspicious. Right before the clouds vanish completely, it almost seems like… There's a hole in the sky? No. It's gone, whatever it was. And Tatsuo's plan to dig a trench to divert the water more long-term succeeds, before he joins the others in moving north.
This, combined with the flood waters receding, though gradually, seems to have been sufficient to save the town. The river that was raging moments prior is already starting to calm and lower its water level. Whenever the ninja start to head upstream, however, their collective sensory abilities alert them not to any malicious ninja but to something entirely different.
Beavers.
Really, really, really big beavers. Like, 'bigger than a house, with their tails about as big as a front yard and back yard combined. They are facing off with a lot of much smaller beavers, who are either looking terrifiedly from the side-lines of a huge lake that is still emptying downstream, though at a reduced rate, or sniffing noses with their larger cousins. Those huge tails… Those would definitely explain the 'explosions' heard if they were hitting the water.
…And a lot of trees knocked down and scattered around the area indicate it may not have just been water hit. There's about five or six of these giant beavers just gathered around. One of them sniffs at the approaching ninja, grumbles a bit, and then says in a voice a bit more high-pitched than might be expected from a giant beaver, assuming that anyone had expected it to talk in the first place, "Oiiiii! Are you the ones who summoned us here? You did a really sloppy job of it!"
"This is what happens when you don't form a contract first, foolish fools!" another interjects in a more gravelly voice. "Though usually it would be the summoner who winds up somewhere else, not the summonees!"
"Summonees? Is that even a word?" a third beaver says, in a rather nasal voice.
"I don't care! I want to go home! I was on my honeymoon!" a beaver with a ribbon on its head says. It may be a female beaver, or maybe beavers just like wearing ribbons.
"I'm hungry," a fifth, smaller one whines.
The sixth is half-submerged and just burbles into the water instead of forming intelligible speech.
Suzu stands there awkwardly and then says, "Um. Did one of us summon them?"
Tatsuo doesn't respond verbally but more of the sickly chakra is pulled out. He drops the mist completely with the villagers gone and in the place of Tatsuo is…a turtle. A very weird looking turtle. More water erupts but in a rather odd fashion as some bursts out of the ground and some of the river itself starts digging into the earth. It takes a few minutes of work but in the end he's made a decent diversion. Some water will likely still come into the village but besides some water damage hopefully none of the houses are going to be destroyed. Only then does the turtle revert back to a tired looking Tatsuo. He takes a moment to catch his breath before moving after the others.
When the group finds the beavers…he's kind of at a loss. Suzu's question gets a shake of the head from him but he doesn't speak, not even sure he'd know what to say at the moment. Best to let Kurome deal with it…
"No, none of us summoned you. I'm sorry that someone seemed to interrupt your business, though." Kurome says. "We're you the ones that made this whole area flood, or did you just help us stop it?"
Daichi looks at the beavers for a moment and shakes his head a bit. "I didn't summon you! I can't even summon something." He then just shrugs and moves towards Kurome. "Kurome…. What do we do now? If they didn't cause this I mean?" He just frowns and looks at everyone else here to see their thoughts on this whole situation as well.
As they come upon the fight, Yasuo blinks several times. THIS is what caused all this destruction? He looks over to Kurome as she asks her questions of the beasts, remaining silent for now and allowing her to handle it since she's the team captain and all.
One of the beavers, the one that was half-submerged, trundles up to Tatsuo and sniff-sniffs him repeatedly, while the one being spoken to says, "We fell from the sky. Someone botched up that summoning right properly. A dimensional tear is no way to make an entrance!"
The nasal-voiced one says, "I think a large volume of water from our home came through with us. Sorry about that."
The grumpy one responds, "Why are you apologizing? The one who failed their jutsu is to blame!"
The ribbon-wearing beaver says, "Hey, if the summoner isn't here, can't we just go home? My new spouse must be worried!" …Stillll unclear if this is a boy beaver or a girl beaver.
The small one continues to whine, "Yeah, let's go hooooome! I'm huuuuungry!"
The sniffing one turns his attention to sniffing the others with a big, wet, black nose before mumbling something incoherent. The others act like they all understand him perfectly though.
The spokesbeaver says, "That's right! We did try to build a new dam to stop the flooding, but I'm not sure how much help we provided. Either way, if you could catch this reckless summoner and make sure they don't try this again, it'd be appreciated! I'm sure none of us want to have to deal with this again!" Then he sits up on his haunches, waves a paw, and says, "Sayonara!"
Then eruptions of smoke and blasts of air currents wash over everyone, and the area is suddenly devoid of giant beavers. Though their paw prints, tail prints, and the path of destruction from their sudden deposit into this area and their haphazard attempts to help will probably remain a bit longer.
Suzu just stands there kind of like =_= with her hair blown back by the de-summoning. "At least it wasn't a tracking mission. Though I think this might lead to one if we need to find the one responsible."
Town saved, civilians saved, source of the storm discovered! Mission complete for now! …Though as the young Uchiha pointed out, this likely isn't the end.
