In Search of an Expert [Open; Searching for Uri]

[Kendori Shuu]

As the crowds of murderers and chaos revellers filled the streets, there was another that had taken to the rooftops. She wore a mask suspiciously similar to the village ANBU--a neat trick she'd picked up in Mist, how to make an ANBU mask, hers bore a golden fox design--she wanted a departure from her usual preferences so no one could link it back to her--and wore a thick, heavy hooded cloak. Beneath that was a transformation that gave her a completely different appearance--An alias she'd created a long time ago named Asakura Hitomi, and used several times in her travels and missions--but perhaps the most surprising bit was that she rode astride her E-Rank Canine contract summon, a huge white direwolf that she used as a mount who was the fastest of his pack, even though he had no worthwhile combat ability. Speed was her best ally right now, and Suri could provide that so she could focus on searching. As Suri sped over the rooftops, darting expertly to avoid any possible complications as his lack of combat instincts had instead bread superior survival instincts, Shuu's eyes glanced around, constantly scanning. She needed to find Uri, and soon. She would search wherever needed, but the information she'd gleaned meant his expertise on explosives was absolutely necessary. As they sped across the rooftops and away from the general chaos, Shuu allowed her bird's eye view to help her in her search, though the real aid in the chaos was her penetrative Hakumai Byakugan, allowing her to see distances and details one might normally consider impossible for any but a Hyuuga, but Shuu had spend a long time training how to use her eyes with a Hyuuga master--the mother of her late best friend.

The woman, who'd been like a mother to Shuu herself given how close the two children had been, had been ruthless in her training, never relenting any more than she might have her own child, her same exacting expectations drawing out Shuu's doujutsu as capably as any Hyuuga thanks to the woman's harsh but effective methods. Now she, just like the rest of those she knew and loved, were frozen in time, forever stuck in Mist's cage of ice. The few civilians she'd managed to save and bring to Suna had become corpses in the collapsed Kage Tower. Aside from the very small handful of shinobi like herself that managed to evade the whole mess and scatter to the four winds, she knew of no other survivors. It was as though with the loss of those she saved it finally clicked into place and she could deny it no longer. Her people were gone. Her home was no more. She was a mercenary...a soldier without a country; skills available to any she chose to offer them to for whatever cost she decided.

A ghost of a smile danced across her face as she recalled that many people had died fleeing the gates of Kiri for just such a freedom...and here she was granted it without desire of it. But she was nothing if not a survivor so she would carry on...but in some respects she was not the same person she had been, and she idly wondered if she ever would be again. She had no idea how deeply the whole thing had affected her; it still remained to be seen. In the meantime she would do what she could for Suna, who was facing a crisis all their own. A Medical Chief who'd been barely holding the branch together stood and protected the hospital for her, allowing her to go investigate in search of the man who had a chance at shedding light on this whole disaster, and how to prevent further bloodshed and damage.

She needed to find Kuroda Uri,....the lives of those in Suna were dependent upon it. As she did, she let her gaze flicker across the chaos taking place in the streets with a sigh. She wished there was more she could do for the people, but there really wasn't anything she could do; not without getting drawn into every petty conflict down there, and that brought it's own complications even if she survived and won...it would garner her the wrong kind of attention. She wanted to end this whole fiasco, but to do that she needed more information. Right now the one to provide that was Uri...if he could be located.

[MFT]
WC: 766

((OOC:Searching the Grand Palais for Uri, a section at a time, starting in the housing district as that's where he said his family was located and that was her first guess.))

 

[Sand Council]

[Event Moderation:

While the Palais had the most dense population during all the Anarchy, it was still surprisingly composed considering all of the chaos that overtaken the village. Many prisoners and criminals had gone back to a place that was the closest thing to home; the bars, brothels, and organization houses they had been a part of at one point or another. Here they found comfort in their lives ruled by illegal and malicious activities. In a village that was governed by someone who sought to elevate all of Sunagakure's people to greatness, a caste system had developed and been allowed to flourish. The Palais was the lowest of the low and the deeper you got, the more seedy it became.

As Shuu would dash through this gigantic marvel of architecture, the glass cube would refract beams of light that originated from the thousands of chakra crystals used to illuminate the place. The super-enhanced vision of the Mist Sennin would allow her to see chakra signatures for and wide, but the artificial light played hell with that specific means of detection as it colored everything in a similar bright hue. If she took the time to examine any of the buildings closely enough however, she would notice a similar chakra signature that she had seen at the tower. In fact it would be everywhere. Upon a finer inspection, it would always have a point where it began, where it would be brightest, and then it would outwardly grow to anything it was attached to. Almost like an infection.

On the back of her wolf companion, she would eventually find a street where there had been clear signs of battle. Gore-filled blood smears and pulped remains of anarchists would pop up occasionally. Upon following this trail, she would be led to a small residential area and to an even smaller abode that was at the end of its row. Outside stood guard two towering figures composed of rock, moss, and sand. Their fists were caked in red and bits of flesh stuck in their studded appendages. The culprits responsible for crushing the numerous remains she had spotted on the way there. They too bared the same chakra signature she had seen all across the village.

At first glance, the home seemed to be rather ordinary for the area --save for the two earth golem protecting it-- and nothing appeared to be out of place. Except if Shuu would risk getting near. The large metallic and black stone door of the lodging was seamless, as if it had been made a whole part of the front wall; this would disallow entrance and exit. If Shuu had put herself in danger to be able to make this obsveration, she would eventually notice the non-aggression from the two hulking protectors...

...And most importantly, would remark on the chakra signature embedded into the home.

It was Uri's.

Same for the golem, the buildings she had passed, the tower dust, and the small metallic orb in her pocket.]

 

[Kendori Shuu]

As she rode in she noticed the chakra everywhere, and the patterning of it. There had been something familiar about it earlier that she had felt, but hadn't recognized. Now, was she was observing the home she realized the truth of it. All the sickly hanging particles were Uri's. It was less obvious in some places, but the reason it had been so prevalent at the downing of the tower was it took all that unstable chakra and scattered it everywhere. Uri's residue was scattered everywhere. She wished she could automatically discount him, but she couldn't. The well-trained sennin in her simply couldn't allow herself to discount all possibilities, and she knew full well that anyone was capable of anything under the right circumstances...or perhaps the wrong ones. A double-tap to the mane of the direwolf and she dismounted with a leaping forward flip, and in the same instance Suriyoru gave a giant leap just afterwards and form-shifted, landing sleekly on her shoulder even as she landed on one knee, an arm coming to rest on her upright knee, gazing down at the locale. People were steering well clear of the abode with the giant golems. They were big and powerful, but so was she. She didn't fear them, and suspected she didn't have need to anyway. She reached up and ruffled the canine's fur between his ears for a moment over her shoulder before descending with a quiet and unobtrusive slip down the side of the building.

As she descended, she molded some of the gravity chakra she'd been playing with as of late, even as she stretched her body out she re-oriented her reality to make the black seamless door 'down'. Her fall shifted mid-flight so that instead of falling to the ground she fell to the door right between the large stone sentinels, her boots clicking quietly as she knelt, observing the seams of the doorway...or lack thereof, as it were. Releasing her jutsu she re-oriented her body, descending to land with another quiet click from her footwear as she landed in front of the door. She took a long slow breath before closing her eyes...not that it mattered, her Byakugan--to be fair though they functioned identically to Hakumei Byakugan, one could argue that they were uniquely hers and thus she could easily self-title the ability as 'Aoigan'--could see through her own eyelids anyway. She did an in-depth Scan of the area, looking for Uri's chakra signature. She recognized the sickly presence that had been at the tower. It meant nothing conclusive, as there was nowhere in the city Uri didn't go, and his uniquely problematic chakra could have easily been stirred up by the toppling of the tower and still had nothing to do with it.

Regardless, his signature was gone. She did not find him here. Whomever was behind the door--his family, of that she did not doubt--he'd already seen to them and left. While she could rip the door off the wall--literally--it served no real purpose other than to expose those he worked so hard to protect. She took a deep sigh and stood. She grabbed Suri from off her shoulder as she ran up the side of a nearby building. He had been here and done his bit to keep his family safe. She would not disrupt that. As she reached the roof she whispered into Suri's ear and tossed him, and he morphed into his full-sized form, already running, her running towards him to leap upon his back. She leaned in and whispered once more as she rode astride the wolf, and he nodded before letting out a guttural "Unn" and took off, shifting direction as they raced along the rooftops once more. He was not here, but he had been, though it might have been some time ago. She looked for shifting patterns in the chaotic chakra even as she looked for his actual signature itself, the pair of them racing towards their next target.

The Red Lights would be next. She would check everywhere for him...she needed to talk to him, the obviousness of that becoming more and more prevalent the more she learned about the unstable nature of his power. Once again she raced along the rooftops, hoping to understand the mutated chakra that ate away at everything, and perhaps using it's concentration patterns to track his whereabouts, while checking the city section by section otherwise.

She needed to find him.

Now.

 

[Sand Council]

[Event Moderation:

As Shuu rode she would see that the Palais was drenched in the unusual chakra signature she now associated with Uri. Businesses, homes, and utilities all bore his mark. Since his return to Sunagakure, the chuunin had sought to repair what he could in the village as penance for being gone for so long. While being underground would protect them from some things, the inevitable burden bearing down on the village would cause cracks. These wounds the stone worker healed with his gifts. After about thirty seconds, it would become clear that he had nearly visited every other building for some maintenance at some point or another. It was especially prevalent in the residential area. As she neared the red lights district, she would see less of it, but the occasional spot would flare up. A storefront of a humble shop here or there. The owners the type of people to keep it above the cuff despite being the one of the less savory areas of the village. Uri didn't charge for his work if the people were good.

Residual spots would pulsate with his rampant chakra, but it had been there for quite some time, reminiscent of a patch job he had performed weeks or months prior. In all the chaos, where would one such as Uri be? If he was like any other Sunan shinobi, he would have donned a less assuming outfit and blended into the crowds. Since The Palais was where he had grown up, he knew how to do just that.

Then Shuu would see her first sign of a fresh trail --hours old at that point-- at an intersection where numerous footsteps had passed through. A high traffic area where staying out of the eyes of anyone watching would have been simple. The pathway would lead he out of the Palais and towards the Desert Crown. A place most familiar to the Mist Sennin by now.]