Squad 1 - Soeki Village

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune nodded at Haruka ”Not a bad idea. I’ll put you in charge of that.” she said before turning back to the villager. ”Yes, there has been other reported incidents. Currently we don’t have much information on those either, but between you and me, I believe it’s a coincidence” Kitsune said with a serious look on her face while actually lying through her teeth about the coincidence part. ”Now then. Could you take us to the well first? I’d like to get started on my analysis of the waters.” she finalized and nodded.

”Enjeru-san, Hebi-san, handle it however you see fit. But do not upset the villagers, or go against their wishes.” she said and handed Enjeru a rolled up piece of paper ”A checklist.” she explained and winked at Enjeru while the villager couldn’t see her face, to kinda signal to do his very best to get a bit of a corpse to examine properly. ”Oh, and you need to remember to grab samples from the survivors so we can see if there’s anything off.”

 

[Ryu Hime]

Hebi was given a difficult task. It would be hard to inspect a dead body if the villagers forbade access to them. This might call for a little puppet show. She will have to dig one up in a way that would not raise attention or in the case that it was found out would not point figures towards the group. Hebi had her puppets separate from the group and puppet disguises it into a dog. The tiny drone puppet would simply fly around the canine looking puppet disguised as flies. Dogs are known to dig holes, so she has her canine marionette dig up a grave. If there was a coffin the puppet would head bunt it until it created a hole big enough to let the nickel-sized drones get into the coffin.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

"Hai," sighed Enjeru as he trod off to attend to the survivors and examine them. Kitsune was asking him to do the impossible - get a piece of corpse to examine? Wasn't that supposed to be Hebi's job? He passed a sidelong glance at the puppetmistress. Even she had joined in on the hazing a few minutes ago, souring his opinion of her (and everyone else in Kumogakure, Lightning Country, and for that matter, the World). 3D women are all horrible, but I'm not into the whole doll scene. That's for the true sickos, he thought, shaking his head.

The thing he could do on the other hand was obtain samples from the living, which might actually turn out more useful in the future than samples from the dead. Survivors' blood would contain antibodies that would help Aesculapium researchers find an antidote for whatever pathogen was still lurking out there in the village, and potentially contain trace amounts of the pathogen itself. Some of the villagers would need intravenous lines and rehydration, so that was his opportunity to collect some sample tubes.

 

[Sanageyama Masaoko]

“Right.” Haruka nodded knowingly at Kitsune as she tasked her with radioing in. She’d figure once they had gathered all their test samples that it would then be a good time to deal out information to the other groups. This village was closest to Cloud, so they were probably still traveling. She’d be able to catch them ahead of time and deliver more information before their arrival. Hopefully they would do the same and reward the group.

Haruka winced with self-loathing as she realized how sensitive the villagers were. She just let that information slip past her mouth without censor. She really wish she could beat the man off with a stick to let them do their work, but that wouldn’t really be the humanitarian thing to do. Fortunately for her, Kitsune handled the slip up with ease, avoiding a confrontation or agitation with the man. The last thing they needed was mass hysterics about a sweeping plague that was wiping out every village in Lightning.

She found it ridiculous that they had to tip toe around these people. It was just one stupid body. Did they want more dead? She didn’t understand why people were so ignorant around these parts, always so jumpy and helpless. She tried to force the thoughts away, it wasn’t like her to be this cruel. Maybe it was the exhaustion from traveling beforehand. Whatever the case, she’d remain quiet and assist the team as best she can. She’d follow the man with Kitsune towards the well to take of the sample of water supplies first.

 

[Junan]

Although Hebi was trying to be careful she hadn't realized that at any site where the dead were buried there were people... and that six feet under literally meant six feet underground which was a very very long way down (trust me, I've helped dig a spot for a friend to be buried). So although her puppet disguised as a dog kept trying to dig things up, it wouldn't get more than a couple of inches before someone would run at it and chase it off.

The boy took them to the well and samples were taken without issue.

Of the villagers it was hard to find trusting subjects but people gave blood and soft tissue samples eventually... more a case of finding the right people than anything else. Though Enjeru had gathered some without requesting for them through more devious methods which no-one was aware of other than the mednin in his group who could see exactly what he was up to.

So the only thing they hadn't gained at this point were some samples from those who had died.

 

[Ryu Hime]

Okay the dog plan did not work and she was running out of options. So it was time to come into the village personally. The behemoth reactivates and the others deactivated. Her appearance might cause a little of a stir, but at this point she did not care. The behemoth walks to the graveyard and placing a few feet above a gravesite. She had one last ace up her sleeve, but it takes quite some skill to pull it off. Chakra strings are invisible to the common eye, only able to be seen by those with advanced doujutsu, and pass through all materials and substances without harm to the flow of chakra. A dead body is nothing but an empty shell. She might not be able to puppeteer the body but she at least be able to connect her strings and pour in her chakra. You see Hebi does not puppeteer like normal people. She does not have her strings push and pull the doll around. No, she has her chakra flow into the puppet and create a chakra system within the doll and moves it from within, thus giving it smooth and flawless movements. Since the dead body already has a chakra system. The chakra she is pouring would flow into the pour and fill up it bodies existing system. If at the very least she will be able to tell if the is any discrepancy in the persons chakra system. It probably going to be a long shot. For what would be the chances of a problem in the chakra system; however her options were severely limited and by the gods she is going to find out something about these bodies even if it doesn't help in there investigation.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

In general, most concepts of modern Public Health as researched by the greats at Lightning National University were all but unknown to small, isolated hamlets like this, and so the villagers' state of health was deplorable at baseline. These people had it all - rickets, scurvy, pellagra; nearly all of those attributable to nutritional deficiencies that could be easily corrected if only they weren't unwashed peasants in the third world. The passing epidemic had only made things worse, leaving a great many of them near death.

Enjeru had done all he could for now - his stock of normal saline and IV tubing had been depleted, he had used nearly all of his antibiotics to treat several cases of dysentery that were threatening to blossom, and of course many of the sundries - bandages, gauze, and antiseptic, had been applied. In return, he had managed to make off with a few vials of heparinized blood, urine, and sputum which could be analysed back at Kumo. Several of the villagers had thanked him, which he always felt vaguely uncomfortable with, but it was a far cry from the hostility he had initially expected.

He emerged from one of the medical tents, wishing with all of his might that he could take off the damnable respirator and wipe his sweaty brow. PPE had never been built with comfort in mind, sadly. He walked up to Kitsune and Haruka, who were presumably taking environmental samples.

"Uggh, I hate patient care. Anyway, what's next? Have you guys found anything? Has Hebi?"

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune sighed and gathered up all the samples that had been gathered so far. ”We still need to analyze all of these samples. Hopefully they yield information about what the heck happened here. I hope you got something useful out of the villagers, and I’ve got no idea what Hebi’s up to” she said and looked at Enjeru ”Fortunately, I’ve got just the thing for analyzing it. I can get the molecular makeup of everything we’ve gathered, and from there I can deduce if there’s anything out of order with it.” she continued before readying the samples on the table and then cracking her knuckles before forming one-hand handseals within the suit but with both hands, only to have archaic symbols and runes and circles appear by her hands, and on the samples that Kitsune were scanning.

The runes and symbols began appearing on the samples and then the information flowed from the samples, and back to Kitsune through her chakra, at first the information was a bit overwhelming, but she adjusted to it and kept on scanning everything, trying to figure out what was not normal for the samples. It was straining for her concentration, and if any of the others were to poke her, her concentration would be broken and all the information she had gathered would be incomplete.Water: Components: Hydrogen… Oxygen… Calcium… Trace elements… was the thoughts rolling through her head as all the information flowed into her. I need… To put all this information into order… she thought to herself.

[WC: 254; MFT]

 

[Junan]

[ooc: sorry this is short, thought I'd get something down while I had a moment, just busy with job applications and work stuff]

Anii managed to get her strands down and attach them to a body. Her chakra was flowing through the body and yet she found she was unable to make it move... not only because it was buried not in a coffin but surrounded by packed dirt and rock, but it couldn't move at all. It was as though her connection to the body was incomplete.

Enjeru wondered what to do next though that was up to Kitsune who was trying to self-analyze a bunch of stuff.

Kitsune analyzed the molecular makeup of the samples and found a whole crapload of information flow through her mind. With the number of quantities being different from the amount which was taken in, and the different ways that they could be combined Kitsune was able to deduct that many chemicals were used. However that didn't actually explain diddly squat... so they'd need to go back to Kumo to go through the system, perhaps there more than a simple stream of names would be recovered and something of actual value would be found.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune grumbled a bit at not gaining any truly important information. ”Well Haruka-san, it seems we need to take the samples back to Kumo for further analysis.” she remarked and sighed as Enjeru sondered over ”Well Enjeru-san. We’ve gotten the necessary samples, but no discernable usable information, we’ll have to take them all back to Kumo for further analysis. However, I’d prefer not to leave until we got a sample from a corpse. And I’ve got no idea if Hebi-san has managed to obtain one yet. Would you mind checking up on her?” Kitsune asked of the other mednin and sighed as she rubbed her temples. That jutsu gave one hell of a headache.

Well. Looks like I’ll be using that on smaller samples in the future. Ow my poor head. she thought to herself as she relieved her pain with a swift usage of Mystical Hand. ”I don’t know if we should all head back to Kumo, or if only one of us should do it. But fact is that we need these samples analysed. Preferrably sooner rather than later.”

 

[Takaki Saeko]

Kitsune was also feeling the strain of the mission - no matter how nonchalantly she attempted to do it, she couldn't hide her use of the Mystical Hand from Enjeru's eyes. The party was no doubt getting tired, and had worked a full day up until now. Doubly so for their leader, who was in charge of overseeing everyone's safety and would be the first to blame if things went south. Seeing her like that almost made Enjeru feel something unwelcome: sympathy.

How unpleasant, he sighed to himself, shaking his head.

"We shouldn't split the party, Shinrya-sensei. I say we all come back to Kumo together. Let's go and help Hebi if we're done here," he said, turning to go and check up on the puppeteer.

A bit later​

From what he could tell, Hebi was constrained by the fact that her targets were buried a fair distance underground. That alone wasn't a problem save for the fact that she was also trying not to attract any untoward attention from the villagers. Enjeru pondered this for a moment, and them clapped Hebi on the shoulder.

"If we hide you with a illusion, can you try to do some core biopsies on one of the corpses from up here? All we need is probably some brain matter and marrow - the rest will be too decomposed at this point to be useful."

Note: When Enjeru suggests a core biopsy he is recommending drilling small holes into the dirt to reach the bodies, then using a (long) needle to essentially aspirate up the tissue of interest. Most earth jutsu should be able to do this handily.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

A sigh escaped Kitsunes lips and she nodded ”That does indeed seem to be the best course of action.” she said and looked at Enjeru. ”Let me just pack up these samples in a more convenient fashion.” she added and gestured for Enjeru to wait for her, as she put all the samples in sealed containers, that she then stuffed into a summoning scroll, safely storing the contents within. ”That should prevent the samples from getting contaminated or spoiled on our way to Kumo.” she said and then went to check on Hebi with Enjeru and Haruka. Hopefully there would be good news when they got there.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like that’d be the case, as Hebi had hit a snag in obtaining the sample. She had discovered the issue that the corpse felt empty of sorts, and she had also discovered that dogs weren’t allowed to dig much. Though that might’ve just been because the dog-puppet was digging right on top of the mass grave. Enjeru suggested a rather brilliant method of accomplishing their objective, and Kitsune nodded. ”I could give the genjutsu an extra boost thanks to my ocular abilities.” she said and removed her left contact lens and put it in the case she carried around for them. ”That way, it should be nigh unbreakable unless someone here is super skilled in genjutsu, which shouldn’t be the case as the villagers aren’t really chakra attuned at all.” Kitsune would say before removing the other contact lens, and forming her Sharingan eyes into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, to boost any genjutsu cast by the party.

[MFT]

 

[Ryu Hime]

[i'm sorry forgot to post I wasn't even sure what "her connection to the body was incomplete" even means. I wish I could have gotten more detail.]

Shinrya Kitsune offered to help with a genjutsu and at this point Hebi would be more than happy to accept her aid. To get the body and not upset the the people just was not happening for her. The one test she did preform came out with vague results. When Kitsune takes out her contacts Hebi sees her Sharingan eyes. "You are Uchiha? I understand you have the ability to see chakra. You need to look at this one. There is something odd about his chakra system." If Kitsune casts some sort of visual genjutsu to hide what they are doing, she can use her behemoth to dig up the grave in no time flat. Six feet might be a lot to dig for a dog, but to a being bigger than a house it would be no trouble at all.

 

[Junan]

Through the use of Genjutsu and Enjeru's idea they managed to obtain a sample from the dead. Hebi also pointed Kitsune to look at the chakra system of a dead person after filling the corpse with her own chakra. It was as though the chakra system was still in place... but the chakra wasn't getting out of the chakra system. With no ability to bring it closer for better inspection and without the zoom capability of the Hyuuga that was all that Kitsune could discern.

The group then headed back to Kumo, samples ready for analysis and more questions than answers.

[Mission Completed - Success]

 

[Ryu Hime]

Okay they had what they came for and now it was time to go back. Hebi was so glad to go home for she had an appointment with Titan that she cannot miss. She packs up her puppets and summons her Kamikaze Bomber and flew back to the village of cloud.
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