Tidal Wave! [Mission]

[Toraono Michino]

The boat reached the furthest port on the west side of Tea by the following morning. The trip had taken a full night’s travel and had been completely uneventful despite vocal concerns of another freak tidal wave. Only a handful of the soldiers hidden among the merchants knew that Kasen had a special property that kept the waters from barring their way; not that she had been needed. The crossing had been simply calm. Yet as the large boat pulled into the country at the dawn, it was clear the group would have their work completely cut out for them.

For starters, there was no longer a pier for the boat to even dock. The small village, if it could be so called, was very much gone. Bits of house and pier bumped up against the side of the large sea vessel as it rolled in. Many of the merchants had grim looks on their faces, as there were a couple who once had business here, but the soldier disguised or otherwise were already stretching out parchment across a table and dropping the anchor.
A young man, in his late twenties, was clicking his pen over and over again, while staring down the parchment that had been rolled out. A loud call had been made up to the group to gather and begin talks on how they would proceed to rebuild. Yet, while the others talked, or bickered, the youth just kept clicking his pen until it finally touched point to the paper. Before anyone could stop him he had already stroked out the rough design for the fishing hub.
An older man, appearing to be in his early forties, snatched the page away before the youth could scribble any further and started to draw breath to scold him; until a side-way glace caught the image. It was beautiful. In the few seconds he had moved his pen the youth had drawn a detailed graphic of what he had envisioned for the village. It looked as if he had spent the previous night working on it, and perhaps he had in his head, but the older male couldn’t admit it wasn’t worth trying. It only took another ten minutes before the crowd agreed that the boy’s drawing made for a great rebuild. Before long it was being passed around to architects to begin drawing up actual blueprints and supplies needed.

While the merchants were starting to pool their knowledge and skills together to see who got to do what, some of the soldiers of Suna were already running across the surface of the water with medical supplies to see about the wounded and those stranded. It didn’t take long for them to find a group of depressed fishermen who had seen the boat and gathered at the shore in morbid curiosity. As soon as some of the veterans touched ground on the beach they knew something more than a disaster was afoot. There was a…feeling, in the air. The despair they tasted wasn’t just one of a home and life being taken away by a force of nature; something bigger weighed heavy on the fishing village’s shoulders. Two figures out of the fishermen stood out. One was a lanky teenager who looked like he was constantly haunted by ghosts with the level of paranoia in his eyes, and the other was a bear-like man with his arms crossed, giving the vessel of help a stern glare.

[Here we are! From here you can decide to begin RPing repairs or looking deeper into the mystery a couple of the soldiers are already discussing on the beach. The repairs for the village will take at least three day’s time, can you solve the mystery and help them? What of the second village? You can make up NPCs if you need to further your RPs for Merchants or Soldiers.]

 

[Ryu Hime]

The peer was gone and there was no place for them to dock. With a sigh Akazukin walks up to the front of the boat guns in hand. She shows no fear as she was confident in her actions. A sly smile could be seen on her face as she approaches the helm. Standing just a couple of feet on the figurehead of the boat she lifts her musket a points it straight at the broken peer. “Land ho.” The barrel of the gun seems to glow as she focuses quite a bit of chakra into her weapon. The clock in her one eye was spinning backwards like crazy. Whatever she is about to do was bound to be impressive. Combining the powers of her Tokeigan with her World Shatter jutsu, she does the unbelievable. Wood and metal begins to move in mysterious ways. It was like watching the great collapse in reverse. Shards of wood came back together, beams standing back up and boards would lay back down and nails would return to their places. In a minute the peer would be whole once more.

This would likely be the limit to Akazukin’s inference with the rebuilding process as just doing this much causes her to nearly faint. The young man had made such a nice design and she would hate to put his efforts to complete waste. Not to mention it would take quite a bit out of her to rebuild the whole village that way. However, if the citizens of Tea really wanted things to return to how it was she could be convinced, though she would figure that most of them would prefer something new over something old. Once the ship dropped anchor and tied to the dock a disguised soldier would lend a shoulder to Akazukin as she disembarks.

Using her musket like a cane she walks over to the two men that stood out. She address the bear-like man staring at the boat first. “I’m a medical shinobi here to help. Where do…” She pauses for a moment. “is he going to be alright?” Akazukin was clearly referring to the lanky teenager always looking behind him. She was starting to wonder if raiders found out about the villages weakened state and attacked recently. Some people love to prey on the weak and a village like this would be a sitting duck after a tidal wave.

 

[Mienai]

The trip to the village that had been hit by the tidal wave wasn't very long. In fact, most of the trip, Kasen had simple ridden upon Same sitting and watching the ocean life as it passed, occasionally glancing at the boat overhead and seeing the shimmering light of the moon as night came and went. The tides were surprisingly calm despite everything that had happened. Kasen pondered in what ways she could help the villagers as she did so. Beyond the medical expertise that she had, she felt like there was more she could do beyond just help medicinally, but the issue was figuring out what that purpose was. As the endless depths of the ocean drew into the evident shoreline, Kasen breached the surface and Same pulled up next to the boat. Kasen's cerulean eyes took in the village with a sense of shock and sadness. The small village was practically in ruin. The streets were saturated and covered in the corpses of marine life and littered with destroyed buildings. Kasen climbed off the shark, her feet making light splashes as it touched the water's surface. A moment later, the shark had disappeared from beside her with a large splash, the form dissipating as the chakra that formed her receded back into Kasen. The blue haired woman stood on top of the water for a moment, just taking everything in. She saw several members that were on the boat disperse and start to work rather quickly. She hopped onto the dock and ran up to grab her medical supplies bag from the boat.

Surveying the area once more, the mednin walked over to what looked like a small makeshift clinic that had been setup and placed her supplies down. While many citizens appeared to have minor wounds or were simply regrouping after having lost their home, some of them seemed to have more extensive wounds. Kasen would do her best to patch some of them up before moving on to more complex restoration efforts. Some people had already set up there working on the villagers, so she approached the clinic and greeted some of those there. "Hi, my name's Kasen. I just arrived with the aid they sent from Suna. I hope it's alright I assist with the medical efforts."<i></i> A couple of them nodded and pointed to a makeshift bed that she could see patients at. The first person that approached her was a young man with blonde hair and green eyes. He approached slowly, appearing to be in quite a deal of pain, clutching his side. It appeared that his home had collapsed while he was in it and one of the foundation pillars had splinted and grated a large open wound on his side. Kasen furrowed her brows. She knew a few medical practices that could potentially help with this sort of extensive injury, but nothing nearly effective as her healing waters. The blue haired woman withdrew a small vial of water and called it forth. The water moved with her chakra control and entered the wound, a light glow forming on it. Quickly, the skin started to stitch back together. "There we go, that should be feeling better soon."<i></i> Kasen smiled at the young man, but he had looked at her in an almost nervous way. In fact, Kasen hadn't noticed at the time but things had gone awkwardly quite. She looked up and noticed everyone staring at her. A few had almost frightened looks on their faces. There was some whispering that had struck up, calling attention to what had just happened. They wondered if she could control small amounts of water, if perhaps she could cause something like the tidal wave to occur. Or even worse, if others like her could do the same.

While it was more or less her specialty, Kasen didn't want to create a sense of discomfort to the villagers. She quickly placed the vial back into her bag. Things from now on would need to be done with the run of the mill stuff only. Kasen called for the next patient, and luckily, despite the exchange that had just occurred, people still seemed to value help over their suspicions. Using her knowledge of medical jutsu and overall medical practices, she was able to help a few more people that came by with more extensive injury. When a small lull in patients happened, Kasen looked over at the other two members of Suna that had come on this mission. They seemed interested in something to do with the fisherman on the docks, but Kasen couldn't exactly understand why the focus was there, but whatever it was, it seemed like they had the situation under control. "I'll be right back, but you're in good hands until then. I'll just be on the beachfront."<i></i> Perhaps her attention could better serve somewhere else.

Leaving her post at the clinic, Kasen proceeded over towards the beach where people seemed to be washing up. Many of them were not alive; having long since died of drowning or potentially worse. Kasen saw that some people had survived, but were barely managing to stay afloat on pieces of driftwood. Knowing that this task was something she could at least help with efficiently, Kasen called forth a pod of bottlenose dolphins that would be able to disperse and help those that were floating in the waters to the shoreline where several other volunteers would be waiting. This would take a while considering the vast number of people that were present; most likely due to having lived closer to the shoreline and being swept out when the tidal wave was receding back. They really had their work cut out for them. The more that they helped though, the better things would be. "Alright, let's keep up the efforts everyone."<i></i>

 

[Toraono Michino]

The Sunans and merchants leading had an idea of what to expect, but the good people of the small village did not. Help wasn’t something they were used to, being so on the outskirts. When the few survivors watched the destroyed pier realign itself all hell broke loose for a brief moment until ground troops were able to calm them back down. Kasen’s own efforts did little to assuage the fears of the people with her magnificent healing technique, but they at least seemed far more trusting of her than the person bending time and space. As far as most of the village was concerned, the gods were visiting them with a team of expert craftsmen.
The rare few men with heads on their shoulders were the group Azukin went to chat with, and upon questioning the youth’s delicate constitution, she was given a reply,
“I imagine he thinks you’ve come to punish us. After all, it was his idea to fish further upstream…”

A story was then told to the woman with the Tokeigan, rather she wanted to hear it or not. The bear-like man explained simply that a great deal of their small fishing village felt this was an act of the gods in punishment for their law breaking. As it was, this village was very young in comparison to the river fishing village a normal day’s travel North. This one was created in contempt for the one above them with the dream that having access to both river and sea would grant the creator a far more bountiful profit and without the greed of the other village’s leaders. It had started out as a novel idea, and sure enough held more profit. What started out as a single shack had turned into a small village of about twelve families, and life had gone on sweetly for some three decades. Then the village up North elected a new official, and with him came all sorts of paranormal events. Random children started going missing, thick washes of blood would flow out into the sea, and strange laws were being posted throughout the area declaring outrages things; such as when they were allowed to sleep and fish. Many of the youth were outraged and felt that the posted signs had to be a work of the new leader, and yet…of all the families that defied the laws, they were the ones dead or missing. Of the original twelve, only five remained, with one entire family having been taken away by the tsunami.
Now, the tidal wave itself was a tragic accident, however it coincided perfectly with the act of the pale youth having gone to fish up in the river where they were no longer allowed to tread.
“...and so basically, the kid thinks its his fault that the Inosukes’ house was washed away. Of course, I’m not from around here, and to me this looks like something along the lines of…well, that,” the fisherman pointed to the pier that was reverted back into a fixed state.

Kasen’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed either. Though the remaining families regarded her suspiciously, it wasn’t long before some of the elders were on the beach, pulling in the dead and trying to separate the wounded. Then after awhile a woman in her late sixties braved the waters to wade out to where the water-bender was and gently placed a hand on her shoulder to get the girl’s attention. When she turned her eyes would see an old thankful face. In her hand, in offering, was a charm. It was long and in the style of an old sealing technique. A trained eye could spot that, with just a few touches, the seal would actually do its job in warding off dark energy. As it was, right now, only aided in superstition. Yet the elder insisted that Kasen take it, speaking lowly,

“Please, take it, and be careful. The forces that run our lands are angry beings, do not let them see you…”

As she walked away one of the summoned sea creatures bumped its caller’s hip and lead her towards a corpse that was dead and bloated; but not by sea. It had stab wounds and a slit neck, the clear signs of an execution…but for what reasons?

 

[Ryu Hime]

When the bear-like man explains that the other guy feared hear divine punishment, she was not too surprised. The man then points to the peer as a reason for that she did not fully comprehend, “Yeah that the peer I brought back together, what is your point?” Instead of having the man try to explain himself she quickly changes back to the subject at hand. “You said ‘all the families that defied the laws, they were the ones dead or missing’ correct? Where were they killed or disappeared?” If these people fished at a forbidden location and ended up dead or missing, then perhaps the laws are meant to warn people. If they were killed or abducted in their homes after the fact, then that would suggest that this is the serving of punishment for a crime. She expects the answer relates to the latter but she wants to be sure. “I require someone to escort me to one of these locations.” One of the random villagers that seem to survive the event without suffering much injury does just that and takes her to a building that was destroyed in the tsunami. In this building one such person died after committing a crime against the new laws.

To find out what exactly happened Akazukin goes into her sage mode or what she likes to refer to her avatar of the divine form. Sage Mode is an empowered state that can be entered by blending natural energy with one's chakra. Unlike most sages that draw Natural energy from the environment, Akazukin pulls such energy from time itself. This influx of temporal energy causes her Tokeigan to evolve. This allows her to tap into the natural forces of time, opening up new techniques to her. In order to enter Sage Mode, she must remain absolutely still in order to be one with nature and balance the natural energy with their own physical and spiritual energies. If she puts too little natural energy into using senjutsu, the technique will not work. Conversely, if too much natural energy is taken in, her body will be lost in the river of time forever.

Within clear view of many villagers Akazukin does this. She then changes before the eyes of anyone around. Her hair is no longer tied into twin tails, but instead let loose and rolls down her back. Her hair seems to growl in length as it is freed from it’s bound. As she feels herself beginning filled with nature energy, the color she once had seems to flow out of her; Her hair transitions to a soft white and her skin becomes deathly pale. Her Tokeigan, no longer restricted, can now be visible in both eyes as she stares upon her target. Her clothes also changes along with her body. Instead of the elegant dress like she normally wears, a traditional kimono now adorns her form. However the most unnerving thing about her was likely the giant ethereal clock that floated above her. This might be delusions of grandeur, but in this form Akazukin truly believe she is a Goddess of Time.

WIth this form she now has an ability called Identity: With a touch, they can understand any object's quality, traits, and history, and can even, as the Tsukumogami like to put it, 'persuade' said objects to not work against them. The clocks with in her eyes spin and she could see the full history of the structure. She reviews the events that happen both within and outside the building and watches as the murder was carried out. When she exists this trance she noticed many of the villagers around her (and even some of the people that came on the boat with her) in a bowing position with their foreheads against the ground. Despite this Akazukin did not find anything amiss with this response.

 

[Mienai]

After several moments of the pod of dolphins herding in those that were both claimed by the watery depths and struggling to stay alive, it was good to see some of the villagers aiding in the efforts. Kasen was worried that she might have been overstepping. Many of them seemed cautious, if not completely against the presence they had here. Perhaps they did not understand that their intents were to assist and not to cause more harm. Either way, she appreciated the help and thought that perhaps it meant they could all start working together by her demonstrating that she did not intend to add any additional grievances to this already tragic event.

After Kasen had helped retrieve several more bodies from the water and the people that were being brought in were starting to dwindled to only a few here and there, Kasen wiped her brow and gave one of the dolphins a small pat on the head as a good job. Aiming to return the medical tent, Kasen started to turn around only to stop in her tracks when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Turning her head, Kasen took notice of a small elderly woman that must have made her way into the shallows staring up at her. Kasen regarded her face with a soft kindness. "Oh, hello, ma'am, can I help you with something?"<i></i> The woman only seemed to smile back at her. Looking down when she saw the woman reach for something from her pocket, she noticed that she had withdrawn something. It initially did not look like much, but Kasen had to admit she found it somewhat pretty. Markings were written on it that clearly indicated it was more than just some trinket. The elderly woman took Kasen's hand and placed the charm into it, curling her hand over it as she passed it to the blue haired woman. What came next was something that slightly chilled Kasen. “Please, take it, and be careful. The forces that run our lands are angry beings, do not let them see you…” A moment later, the woman turned and headed back towards the beach, leaving Kasen staring as the waves drifted past her. "Um...thank...you?"<i></i>

Kasen uncruled her fingers from around the charm, laying it flat in her palm. She took a few moments to look it over. Now, Kasen wasn't the most superstitious woman in the world, but she did believe that there is always some amount of truth in every superstition. The woman had clearly taken the time to gift her this, whether the warning would hold true, or just as a precaution because of village traditions. Either way, Kasen would slip the charm onto a piece of cord that she had on her and fashion it into a makeshift necklace before slipping it over her head.

Another nudge was felt on the woman's thigh, but this time it was not a person she took notice of, but instead, one of the dolphins. Kasen smiled and gave it another pat. "Yes, you did an amazing job. Thank you for your help!"<i></i> However, the dolphin did not seem to bother much with the praise. The dolphin kept lightly tapping Kasen with it's nose. After a few more taps, Kasen got that hint that the dolphin wanted her attention for some reason and allowed it to escort her towards what it had found.

It did not take long for Kasen to realize that what the dolphin wanted her to see was something quite foul, both in appearance and smell. As Kasen grew closer what appeared to be a body on the ground, the smell hit her before the sight did. The smell of rotting flesh, something clearly not as recent as the deaths from the tidal wave, hit her nose, causing her to gag slightly. She managed to hold her breath long enough to look the body over, seeing as the body was riddled with numerous holes and the head had a very deep cut in the neck. "What in Mother Suna...What happened to this person?"<i></i> Kasen looked back down the beach line where some of the villagers were still helping sort through those that had been brought in from the sea. "They have to know something...but, this is not going to be pleasant."<i></i> Taking a deep breath, Kasen hoisted the body up as best she could and carried it down towards where the people were. The feeling and weight of the body alone was almost unbearable for the water hybrid to stand, but this was the only way to actually get some answers. Something didn't feel right about this.

She finally managed to get the body close enough that she could wave over a few of the villagers as some had some to take what they thought was another lost soul to the tidal wave. They stopped when they noticed what she was actually carrying. "Does anyone know who this person is? Or what may have happened? Has someone been attacking members of your village?"<i></i> Kasen wasn't sure why the body was in the condition that it was, but the villagers walked on eggshells and the elderly woman had told her that the "forces" here were angry. Well, forces could mean more than just vengeful spirits. Someone had to know something about this person, else they would not have been floating just off the shoreline with the other bodies...someone had to be trying to cover this up.

 

[Toraono Michino]

As Akazukin channeled her divinity to warp the time around the area to gain lost knowledge, a strange thing began to happen. Some of the villagers began to walk towards the small woman and her divine powers, each chanting the same thing about ‘the gods walk among them’. Stranger be it though, the language was not one commonly spoken and would be easy to miss, save missing the reactions of the remaining villagers who did not walk towards the mistress of time.
Slowly, one at first then two and finally in a panic of stampeding humans, the rest of the village began to scramble towards their homes and fish shacks to quickly begin removing personal things. Some people looked calm as they did this, as if it wasn’t their first, while others were in a straight panic as to what they should strive to save; all shared the look of abject fear.

Akazukin would witness the identity of the murder, a female figure standing 4 feet and 11 inches in height, clothed entirely in black with the only identifying trait being a streak of red hair - uncommon in Suna but rampant in Tea - and no sooner than she did, did a ominous cloud sweep over the fishing village.
At that moment, anyone who wasn’t already hiking up the hill to the road out of the village, dropped everything and began sprinting in that direction. The remaining that swore by their new god who was no more than a powerful human being remained bowed with their ignorant eyes turned not towards the darkening heavens. A strange purple glow began to descend from the pitch black of the clouds and from its light reflected a number of the same colored seals above the heads of the people who were bowed before Akazukin, and those who had not made it out of the village yet. Even certain merchants on the boat from Sora whom hailed from this village were also caught in a paralyzing grasp from the strange seal above their head. An audible finger snap echoed through the air above the fishing village, and with sudden violence the heads of everyone with a seal suddenly twisted until their spinal cords fractured. Following the death of at least twenty people by mystical whiplash, a brand was chakra burned into their necks forcing their souls from their body and into the purple light in the sky.

The light rescinded and the clouds recoiled to reveal the morning sun glaring back down on the destroyed fishing village, now with additional dead bodies. The person that Kasen had been looking for in death was the same victim that Akazukin had witnessed being murdered, but little else remained. The family of that home had gone missing long before the remaining relative had died, and anyone who might have known of them were now either dead or possibly running down the road above them. Though tragic in its reveal, it was quite clear that the reason the people regarded the shinobi arts with such suspicion drew from the fact that something near by had a powerful ninjutsu cast upon the crumbling wreckage. Whomever was controlling the poor people of this fishing village was doing so by violent shinobi sealing arts.

Twenty minutes later the survivors of the boat and the Sunan soldiers had gathered the bodies and placed them in a mass grave. Shortly after, those who were not of the military began to work on repairing the now empty homes and working on raising the structures of the new homes that had been drawn up. During this the head of the military gathered a certain select few of the soldiers, including Akazukin and Kasen, and began to reveal everything they were able to gather before the attack.

 

[Ryu Hime]

An ominous cloud sweeps over the fishing village and this did not go unnoticed by Akazukin. If this being wanted to kill as the villagers now worshiping Akazukin, this would not be the way to do it. The entity was making a blunt sign of its intentions and this will be its folly. The giant ethereal clock that floated above her glows and the malicious attacker would find that the jutsu had failed to cast. No even the existence above knows that not to be the case. Chakra was appropriately spent and the attacker could feel jutsu successfully cast, but the effects for some reason was delayed. In fact Akazukin delays the jutsu for 20 seconds which gave plenty villagers time to get the hell out of dodge. There was likely no audible finger snap because the seal was not in place yet.

During these twenty seconds Akazukin spoke to the people bowing before her. “Rise my friends and approach me so that I may protect you.” Sure enough the people were getting off the ground and running towards Akazukin for her so called protection, but what could she really do? There are ways to cheat time. Temporal Striders are able to step into the currents of causality and hop between strands of probability... and drag their opponents along with them. Looking into the future to see the upcoming attack. “My aren’t we targeting a lot. Lets see if we can lower those numbers shall we." Akazukin looks for a more favorable future that would have less people placed under the seal.

Then finally a strange purple glow began to descend from the pitch black of the clouds and from its light reflected a number of the same colored seals above the heads of the people. Akazukin laughs, “Please I’m a Child of the Forest.” Akazukin was from a place called Tir na Nog, which in the elven tongue translates to ‘land of the young.’ The original inhabitants of the country were beings called the Fae. The Fae were ageless beings with powers similar to the Ancients here in Suna. The Children of the Forest refer to the descendants of a particular Fae. Legend says that long ago a Fae named Niamh fell in love with a human and took him across the sea to her ancestral home. It would not surprise Akazukin if there were stories about the land of Tir na Nog or the Ancient Mists that surround its shores. According to the story this human did return home only to die. These troubles the village is having could not be her doing… could it?

Akazukin uses consecutive rewind jutsu to negate the seal of everyone in sight before the being was even able to snap its fingers. Unfortunately anyone on the boat that was targeted was not so lucky. Also naturally Akazukin’s sage mode ends and she reverts back to her normal humanly form, but still quite powerful.

Spoiler

In case you are wonder. I used: Chronostasis, Favor of Time and Rewind from the Temporal Strider kinjutsu

 

[Mienai]

The effort that one might feel carrying a bloated corpse across saturated sands was one that Kasen had not initially anticipated as she tried to haul the body over to the group. It seemed though, that once she placed the body back onto the beaches, none had answered her question beyond taking the body away alongside the others that had died at sea. Kasen placed her hands on her hips, looking back at the darkened sand with deep sunken imprints of her feet as she had made her way across it. Two distinct lines were present nearby that indicated the presence of the corpse. For a moment, just ever so briefly, Kasen allowed her form to change to a fluid state. Everyone had left the beach, so she felt comfortable enough to do so in hopes that it wouldn't instill panic. She had simply wanted to wash away the stench of the body on her, along with any of the bacteria that might have collected. Taking a few steps towards the sea, she would then join it, allowing for the fresh waters to wash through her form.

As quickly as it had happened, Kasen reverted to her solid state, feeling cleaner than she had moments ago. Suddenly, from above, Kasen saw an ominous cloud sweep over the fishing village. It was quite a freak change in atmosphere. Kasen saw from a distance many of the villagers seemed to drop whatever they were doing and ran towards something she clearly couldn't see from her position on the beach. ominous cloud sweep over the fishing village. "Same, have you seen anything like this before?"<i></i> The shark beast that dwelled inside her was churning ominous feelings. I have experienced similar things, but somehow I do not believe these instances are connected. This is something different entirely. Be cautious. Kasen started running back towards the village in full force when the purple haze started to settle over the village. She had nearly made it back when she heard the sickening snap that echoed through the air. Kasen stood still as she watched crewmen on the ships nearby fall as their heads appeared to be snapped clean off.

They say that there is always a calm before the storm, but in this instance it appeared it was a storm before the calm. However, the calm never came. In fact, the village was filled with silence as the sky cleared, whether it be from awe or shock, or a combination as the sun began to shine down. Kasen took note of the seals that had led to the tragic deaths of those that were just outside of the village. She swallowed deeply, before looking down at the charm that lie around her neck. It is a different seal. The woman was trying to protect you. Do not take it off until we understand more. Giving a slight nod despite still being filled with an uncomfortable nervousness that had appeared, Kasen started to theorize that more of these terrible events were going to occur before things got better. The difficult part was, what was going to make things better? What had caused such a thing.

The village was left to their mourning once again, as those that had game on the vessel from Suna gathered together to discuss what had been found. Kasen stood silently next to the other soldiers, watching as Akazukin joined them too. "Someone is trying to cover up murders that are taking place here, but to kill so openly seems to indicate a different objective. These events are man made. How should we proceed?"<i></i> Kasen was simply a medical specialist. Despite what she was capable of, she had still come as a way to aide those that had been injured. Today would be the day she extended her skillset by dealing with whomever or whatever was causing these strange events to occur.

 

[Toraono Michino]

The place the small group of military had gathered was on the inside of a shack with eight people crowding in the middle. In the center of their huddled mass was a simple beach-wood table with a crudely drawn map laid out. Up and down each and every square inch of the walls of that shack were sealing and dampening jutsu, written in basic. It was hot, everyone was in a mood, and all hell had just broke loose.

To say their leaders weren’t shook was putting it lightly. Before the map had even been rolled out on the absconded table the leading Jounin of the team set a vote to scrap the mission and take with them what they could. While the Strider had managed to save a few of the villagers, those outside that field weren’t as lucky. While the death toll was far less, the impact of the loss hit harder on Suna’s own lands. Quite a few talented hands from the boat had been lost this day, but they would at least get the honor of being buried in their own kinlands.
Yet the vote called only two of the eight people there willing to return home. Despite the alien nature of the terror they faced, most of the shinobi standing had a sense of duty and honor honed by their harsh homeland. The grave mistake this new enemy had made, was attacking theses hardened wolves, who had only come to help. This mission suddenly changed. The harsh eyes of their captain leered at his troops for a moment before sighing as he accounted the information gained.

This wrecked land, that a the rest of the force was to stay back and fix, was a smaller fishing village that was broken off from the original. Though at first it was highly successful to farm both river and sea, the larger village managed to put down a hold on the lesser. This was being done through outrages ninjutsu, bribery, and even murder. Under normal circumstance, once a large presence of danger was noticed, Sunan troops would pull back until further orders were given. A glaring fact, however, struck down that line of orders. The evil light had taken not only lives of some of the fishing villagers; it had taken their people too. Men and women who had just wanted to lend a helping hand to their birthplace. Lost souls that were now buried together in a mass grave a little further north in a private part of the forest. As far the commander saw it, this was an attack on Sunagakure itself, and there needed to be answers.
His right index pointed down on the village they were situated in and slowly stroked it up North, about ten kilometers, to the larger fishing village. Using mostly bits of military code he gave out orders for reconnaissance to find their mark. The team of eight would split into three teams. Three would lead the main roads, and two in the woods to either side would carefully make their way up to the larger fishing village. To Kasen specifically, he gave clear orders to continue aiding the remainder of the villagers, and then catch up when done. She would play an important part in interrogation if it came to it.
To Akazukin, she was to move with the main force, acting as a rear guard to keep any potential ambushes in their place while they moved up the road as quickly as possible. An attack on that scale had to take massive amounts of power, leaving someone or something up there weak enough to either be taken down or questioned ‘politely.’ Once the orders were given out, the captain formed a single handseal that released the jutsu on the shack, that caused the walls to disappear, and a fresh cool breeze of ocean air run through. It was close to five in the afternoon with an estimated one-hour trip ahead of them. Best to get that stretching out.

 

[Ryu Hime]

Shortly after the mass burial the captain had called Akazukin to brief him on what had happen. Kasen was on the beach at the time of the attack and did not witness what had happen. Akazukin on the other hand was right there in the middle of it and even was able to save the villagers that were targeted. “I entered into sage mode to see what have happened in the past.” The captain was about to question her as to how that is possible until she moved her hair covering her left eye. The captain knew she had some sort of powers after seeing what happen to the peer, but he was not sure what. Now he knew and continues to listen to Akazukin’s report. “Some of the people saw me and began worshiping me like a deity and that is when the attack came. It was a response to my actions. Either because I was looking into stuff they did not want me to find or they didn’t like me playing god. Either way they have eyes on this village.” The Captain wanted to make a strategic meeting to discuss plans, but as Akazukin had report it was unsafe. The entity that cause the attack seems to have eyes and ears all over this place and thus he had shinobi began scribing sealing and dampening jutsu all over the shack but even that would take time.

Akazukin was not one to simply wait around and there was already plenty of people working on the task. Akazukin had thought that the attacker only targeted people of the village, only to later found out that people on the ship were targeted as well. “We are dealing with a far more powerful entity then I could have feared. I’m not should if I am up for the task.” Akazukin spoke to herself while holding a pocket watch. A dark cloud pours out of the watch and takes the form of a feral like being. Of coarse only Akazukin could see or hear it. You were resistant before. Perhaps now you will form a contract with me. She takes a deep breath and nods. Excellent. The fox then resonates with the part of him already present in her soul. The pocket watch disappears and out of thin air a large clock would appear behind her or at least what looks similar to a clock. It was round, had visible gears that turned and had large roman numerals going around the outer edge. However it was missing something rather important; the clocks face had no hands.

Akazukin creates a clone and walks towards the mass grave. She could hear the fox explaining the new abilities she now has access to and she plans to use them. Her clone would attend the meeting while she herself had other plans. It looked as if Akazukin was praying for the dead but in truth she was doing something much darker. Displacing her new Kamui technique she was able to snatch the bodies of the dead without even disturbing the Earth. After her supposed prayer she enters The Hollow herself and begins her experimentations. Akazukin wanted to see if the attack did more than simply kill. Pointing at one of the dead bodies, she rewinds its time to a point before the person was dead. If the attack simply killed this should revive the person, but if the soul was somehow taken it would stay dead. [using Combat Medic Ability]

Meanwhile the clone participated in the meeting and follows orders. The clone would move with the main force, acting as a rear guard to keep any potential ambushes in their place while they moved up the road as quickly as possible.

 

[Mienai]

Looking over towards the mass grave, Kasen was filled with worry and sadness. The village seemed to be facing so much suffering and destruction, and they were all so terrified from foreign presence and of certain types of power. Kasen bit her lip nervously while fiddling with some of the fabric on her sleeves. The officers that she had came with gave her some orders to continue to assist the village, but Kasen didn't feel like she was even doing much. Sure, she could heal many of the villagers, but they were scared of her most powerful healing tactics. And even though her efforts with the dolphins had gone over much better and many of the villagers seemed more at ease with her, she could tell that many just simply would prefer it if she were gone. She had tried to initially follow the orders granted to her, but many of the villagers turned her away or yelled slander at her. They called her unnatural, a demon, that she should go back from whence she came. The frustration in the end won out with Kasen.

She found herself walking away from the village, down a heavily vegetative path. It seemed like the officers she was assisting were more concerned with just repairing the village and not with getting involved with the affairs of why people of the village were being attacked and were so terrified. She understood that technically they were only there to aid with the damages that one of their own had caused, but even that felt cold and detached on it's own. Kasen stopped and looked around her, seeing nothing but the vegetation in the area. How long had she been walking? She hadn't been paying much attention to where she was going, but every which way looked the same and the village was nowhere in sight any longer. She walked until she found a herself facing what looked to be a series of mountain ridges. Kasen leaned against some of the rocky walls and looked towards the sky that appeared to be darkening again. "This just doesn't make any sense. It's like the attacks are just random. What's to gain from just killing random people and in a large public display? And yet, some of the deaths seem to be almost calculated. It's like the person behind this doesn't know what they're doing."<i></i> Kasen huffed. She ruffled some of her blue hair in frustration. There was something there, she just wasn't seeing all the pieces. Perhaps she should just head back and do as she was told. Standing out here wasn't doing her any good at least.

Kasen started to push her previously leaning self off of the rock wall behind her to try to begin finding her way back to the village, but as she took her first step, her foot did not find the solid surface that it had anticipated and instead a hole seemed to appear out from under her. She found herself falling and slipping further and further down into the hole, luckily able to ride most of it down instead of just plummeting to her death. When she finally landed, she hit a rough, solid surface that felt slightly cold and damp. "Ugh, what happened?"<i></i> She sat, trying to orient herself from the fall and despite it being quite dark, she could tell she was in some sort of complex underground system of caves that appeared to have water dripping down from the caves ceiling. Looking from where she fell, it appeared the the long slope had caved in behind her. "Oh, great. Creepy tunnels, that's what I've always wanted. How the heck am I gonna get out of here?"<i></i> Even though her affinity was not with fire, Kasen could still manage to create a small glowing ember in her palm. While it didn't illuminate much, it still was able to give her some slight visibility. "You know, this almost reminds me of that facility in Water Country. Nothing to be scared of."<i></i> She wasn't talking to anyone in particular, mostly herself for a small boost of self confidence to ease some of the slight fear she had, but least she wasn't truly alone with Same always with her. Without any further delays, Kasen started to proceed through the labyrinth of tunnels hoping to find her way out before something found her.

 

[Toraono Michino]

It didn’t take very long at all for the Sunan forces to pick up and begin moving out towards the road. Military speed was something the desert folk prided themselves on, and thankfully Akazukin wasn’t on the back step. In fact, so much so, she had even created a clone to treat with the force while she explored the mystery of the dead bodies. Cold and detached from her fellow soldiers as it may seem, it was the better choice. Though the experiments didn’t reveal much, other than the corpses were indeed super soulless and extra dead, there was be a repeating signature of chakra. It was a signature that was flickering in the air during the murders she had witnessed with her strongest form, and reminiscence of the same chakra that killed a punch of people. With a little forward thinking and backtracking it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out how to locate the source; and that it wasn’t actually in the village the military had decided to snoop on. Though very small and hard to read, the trace was at the very least near the village for sure. Of course, non of the team sent were expert chakra tracers. The Mistress of Time would no doubt need to use her powers to locate the source, or report her findings to the military captain and let it go from there. She would only need to follow the team back up the road as the clone would have gone far on enough to keep from switching instantly.

Kasen’s circumstances changed only slightly. Having done her part as much as she could, and feeling some guilt of the recently dead, decided to embark away from the village. There she found a hole and a dark cavern stretching out far beyond her sight, even with the flames. Water trickled from stalactite on the ceiling and somewhere deep the cave the roar of changing tides could be heard. The cavern floor began to slowly flood up to her ankles but rose no further. It revealed the sounds of splashing to her left. The small amount of light she had showed nothing, save a crab scuttling around, but the sounds of someone trodding through deeper waters in the back of the cave rolled off its walls. Then there was the slight glow of a purple light, a tingle in the air, and again all was dark and silent save the slowly rising tide. Something in the back of the cave was moving, trying to get to a location that would normally be flooded by now, and was using the same energy that killed a bunch of villagers to stop the waters as it attempted escape.

 

[Ryu Hime]

Pointing at one of the dead bodies, she rewinds its time to a point before the person was dead. The head snaps back into place and the body reverts back to its natural state, but still the man was dead. Without a soul the body was nothing but an empty husk. This was unnerving as this spells something very dark was at work here. She notices a repeating signature of chakra. It was a signature that was flickering in the air during the murders she had witnessed. Akazukin does a few handseals and in her hand a green gem forms. It was a rather unique technique that focuses chakra into an emerald crystal. This chakra attunes itself to a specific target, and from that point emits a distinct pulse that the user may sense, allowing them to trace the location of the target.

True Akazukin could report her findings to the captain, but she felt no harm letting them continue in their current objective. Information was in small simply right now and snooping on this other village may yield some well needed answers. True the crystal suggests that the entity behind the attack was not in the village they are heading to, but that does not mean there is no connection between the village and the entity. Akazukin’s clone continues to act as the rear guard to the main force as ordered unaware what here main body has discovered.

Akazukin exists the Hollow and uses the emerald emitter to track the chakra signature be to its source. Akazukin walks down a trail that was heavy with vegetation and as a hunter she notices disruptions. Akazukin even found some tracks which seems quite fresh. Looking at the impression in the ground she would say a woman came down this way quite recently. Deciding the follow the tracks she eventually comes across a large hole in the ground. The hole was big enough to swallow a person easily and looks rather deep. According to her emerald emitter the source of the chakra was coming from down below. “Looks like I have little choose.” Slowly Akazukin would enter into the hole, but unlike the previous person her descent was more controlled. Akazukin used a healing hands jutsu to provide enough light to see her footing.

 

[Mienai]

The caves were dark and felt like they kept growing colder and damper by the second. She felt like she had been wandering inside the caves for hours but perhaps it had only been minutes. It was hard to tell what way she was going as the channels in the cave seemed to loop through themselves one after another. Sometimes Kasen would fine herself turning down corners and running into dead ends, only to backtrack and discover another. Finally though, she would find herself on a path where she could hear the sound of waves. Kasen hurried forward, careful not to trip on anything that might be on the pathway in front of her. Eventually, she managed to reach an area where the water started to gather around her. It splashed as she walked through it. Her light would illuminate that the water was covering her feet. She had lost sight of the cavern ceiling, perhaps it had opened up. She peered into the darkness when there was a particularly loud splash, but she couldn't see anything. "Perhaps cave debris fell into an underground lake?" Kasen heard another splash, but this time it seemed like she could sense something shifting in the darkness. Kasen waded further into the water until it was almost at her waistline. It was dangerous to wade into black waters. Things tended to lurk beneath the surface, but it had been many years since Kasen was afraid of her own domain.

As Kasen progressed into the waters, she could no longer feel the bottom beneath her, forcing herself to swim just at surface level. Her fire, having died out the moment she entered the water, left the cave pitch black. As she made her way through the waters, she noted that there were waves that kept crashing against the walls around it. It was almost like the path was a small pocket in the cave network that would flood from the outside. Perhaps on any other day, this pocket would have been empty, but today the waves were rather fierce. This was most likely the result of the tsunami that had just taken place. Kasen noticed the slight purple glow, but could make out nothing more. She headed towards it, watching as something moved behind the glow. The waters would crash against whatever it was and then splash out. "What is that?" Kasen managed to draw close enough to it. Despite that there appeared to only be a small section of the floor of the cave that poked out just above the water, Kasen couldn't feel any other part of the cave nearby that allowed her to touch the floor. She could use chakra to stand on the waters surface, but there was no telling how high or low the actually ceiling was and with the presence of stalactites she was not going to be taking the risk of guessing. She slowly reached out towards the purple lit, not noticing that the seal that she wore around her neck seemed to be giving off the same purple glow. "Here goes" She could only hope whatever this was wouldn't kill her in the same regard as what had just eliminated the villagers.