Of course, no one was exactly thrilled to put on the hideous hazmat suits, but they were necessary. The male MiT, Keiji, at least seemed to think it was "the right idea," though the way he said it somehow made it seem like he was still criticizing something. Despite any objections that may have been made, they all began to suit up, helping one another with sealing the suits with tape. Keiji assisted Ayumu with his tape, which briefly had him thinking perhaps he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Kahako expressed concern about the men of the group. She was right about the danger. It was unfortunate that a team mostly made up of men was sent to the village where mostly men died, but these teams were hastily made. They would have to hope that the hazmat suits would protect them.
Once the plan was explained, Ayumu's squad began to provide their own input one by one. Asuchi had an idea that perhaps the cause had come up the river. That seemed possible, and it was something to keep in mind during their investigation. They would need to see if they were led to the port itself. He also suggested that the surviving villagers might have resistance. It was either that, or the illness was targeted at the ones that died, but considering the variety of the people that died in the three villages, there didn't seem to be a particularly targeted group. Maybe they did have some resistance. It was certainly true that the intel provided by the army was sketchy at best, they would need to find things out on their own.
"Yes, I hope everyone has a headset in case we need to split up," he said briefly before Kahako began providing her input. She had the idea to check livestock, which sounded like a good idea. She suggested that perhaps they were dealing with something different than the other villages. It was too much of a coincident, in Ayumu's opinion, that the three villages were hit at the same time with three different illnesses. Too much, that is, unless it was perpetrated by a person or group that developed three different biological weapons to use. "You may be right about that. It seems likely that this was unnatural, so it's possible whoever started this used three different kinds of attacks. We'll have to see what the other squads come up with to know for sure," he responded to her before she asked Keiji what he thought.
Keiji echoed some of what Ayumu himself had said. The hazard was indeed unknown, and it seemed the best idea was to look at the deceased. Naturally, as a Med-nin, he knew more about the process. He seemed to have a mocking tone as he finished his disagreement with himself. Ayumu could not exactly figure out why, considering he had basically repeated what Ayumu had suggested to begin with, but he had no time to concern himself with the ego of a Med-nin in Training. Regardless, the group moved in to the village to begin their investigation.
As they entered the village, they naturally attracted stares with their odd suits. Some even fled indoors, and one ran to knock on a door. Suddenly, an older looking woman came out shooed the rest away leaving only herself and the shinobi present, or at least she was the only one visible currently. She boldly walked up to the group and lifted up her cane, demanding that they explain their presence. It was a bit comical to see this middle aged woman threatening a group of shinobi, but Ayumu certainly wasn't going to mock her bravery. She clearly didn't know who they were and was attempting to protect the town. Keiji approached the woman, apparently trying to intimidate her, then turned to Ayumu asking if he wanted him to kill her.
'Ugh, what are you doing? We want their cooperation,' Ayumu thought, shaking his head. "Pfft, what are you, some kind of barbarian? We're here to saving lives, not inflict more casualties," he said in response, approaching the woman in a non-threatening manner, but keeping a respectable distance. Of course, it was not as though he was afraid, she was most likely a simple woman, though it was not unheard of to have shinobi her age. The point was, if he showed some respect, perhaps she would be more cooperative. She seemed to be in charge here, for whatever reason, and would probably make decisions for all those present. They needed information, and while they could gather some from the dead, the living had their own information to give. "Besides, I don't know if you could take her," he jabbed, though it was mostly a joke to try to lighten the mood and perhaps gain some favor with the woman. Hopefully Keiji would recognize that and not take it as an insult. He didn't think the boy really intended to kill anybody, but was more attempting to intimidate. It was a valid tactic at times, but this didn't seem the time to Ayumu.
"Miss, we are shinobi from Kumogakure, with Medical-nin among us. We're here to find out what happened and prevent whatever this is from causing more damage, but we need more information. We need your cooperation, so that we can get this sorted out quickly before more people come to harm by this illness," he explained, hoping that the villager's fear would not override their reason. This would be very difficult if the villagers were going to be hostile. Especially if they turned out to be a secret sect of shinobi posing as villagers, or something ridiculous like that. He could only hope the woman was wise enough to see that their presence was needed here.
[MFT]
