Tales of Swordsman, Boneman, and Snakegirl 22-28

SESSION 22

[GM]
You are led quickly through the streets of Hidden Mist Village. The hunter-nin seems insistent on coming with you, though you could find your way just fine.
Hao Feng can be found in front of the main administrative building, several stories under his office, and at the top of the stairs leading up to the wide torus of a house. He is smoking a cigar, appearing to be in a bad mood, his teeth clenched.
Seeing you coming up seems to relax him somewhat. He must have been waiting for news. He also seems a bit surprised at you three, though.
"So?" he barks at the ANBU. "Did you find him yet?"
"Yes... he seems to have slipped out to intercept the returning team."
"It seems that Kenji is alive, and they were bringing him back. And he knew of this, and wanted to stop it. I have more ideas..." the frog-mask speaks, but is hushed down with the Mizukage's gesture.
The moustached man pulls out a smal knife, cutting up the burning tip of the cigar. For good measure, he shoots a bit of water at it from its finger, extenguishing it with a hiss.
"Come up above. I will hear your report from the start."

。。。

You were supposed to submit a detailed written report, but it seems that this is urgent. You are likely to recieve some new information now, too.
The Mizukage seats himself down, only having calmed down a little, while the AnBU takes a step back, intent on being a part of the conversation again later. Now, then, how should you go about it?

[GM]
In the end, you take turns, putting your experiences together. As the events pile up, the Mizukage seems to be getting a slight headache over the apparent importance of all the events you have gone through.
"...We've been right to make it an S-Ranked mission." He tells you at the end. "It could have gone so much worse."
"Hozuki Andaro... He has been exiled from the village something over twenty years ago. The only reason they put him in the bingo book was him being sighted in Rock Country by someone who knew him. Fortunately for us, he does make mistakes."
"Your description of what happened to Sasori seems to match what happened to certain clansmen of mist, going wild, and attacking their families under the Hollow Shell Seal. Like the corpse you have seen near the start of the story. If Andaro has been going around doing that, I am getting something of a more complete picture."
The ANBU speaks up. "It doesn't really match up to something consistent. I can see why he would want to eliminate the oldest Hozuki aside of his daughter, but the elimination of summoners doesn't really match up with that."
"It's not just about inciting paranoia and trying to make a civil war happen, he also wants Mist to isolate itself."
The Mizukage scratches his cheek, pondering.
"Why'd Sabisuke be in on it?"
"We'll be able to ask him." the ANBU shrugs.

[Keisuke]
"The snake sage was most disturbed by the tecnique perverting the connection between summons and summoner and with all the leyline sabotage that's been going on it seems likely they are targeting summoners to serve a means towards that end as well." Keisuke offers.

[GM]
"This power to turn into black sludge you speak of is not something Andaro has been able to do when we exiled him." the Mizukage says. "Nor do we know of him being a summoner of any sort."
"He is, however, one of the most skilled infiltrators in the village's history. He was able to use Hydrofication to completely reshape his body from its original form, fooling all manner of detection."
"If he had a sample of someone's chakra, even just a helping of their blood, he could even fool people into thinking he has the same Chakra signature as whoever he is impersonating."
"If anyone could have pulled off all this nonsense, it's him."
"I should point out that the message about missing Kenji in Lightning Country must have gotten to Sabisuke quite fast." the Frog notes. "He slipped out full half a day before your arrival."
"...To explain. A month ago, Sabisuke had put a dead man on the mission to capture Hozuki Pako. Nakamura Shingen, who had been killed in Lightning Country a few days prior. Despite that, he seems to have arrived at the sortie."
"Since Sabisuke wasn't doing the autopsy, we didn't suspect anything, but when Eight-Eyes visited us with your early report, we put him under watch."

[Eiha]
"Well the evidence -does- show he's clearly not working alone, and that's only what we can see so far." Eiha noted, suggesting the possibility of more accomplices, while at the same time passing it off as merely commenting on their ambusher rather than them knowing more than it seemed.

[Keisuke]
"I would like to question my uncle on his intentions. Based on what we've gathered helping Houzuki Andaro would be catastrophic for the next generation of any of the existing bloodline limits."

[GM]
"You'll be able to, though I'd rather have experts have their hand at it first." Feng tells you. "It will probably be on you to explain it to the family."
"Sabisuke is a reasonable guy, which is why this is shocking. He must know something very important we don't."

[Keisuke]
"Additionally he doesn't like Andaro."
"So I have to wonder if there's a third significant party that recruited him to their cause or if the argument was so compelling that his distaste for the former patriarch was put aside."

[Eiha]
"That -would- be logical wouldn't it? It would be difficult for Andaro to manage everything he's pulled so far without some sort of assistance after all..."

[GM]
"Perhaps. I would like you to not be the ones pursuing those clues, however, since that might be lethal. We need you for the council."
"But that does not mean you get a month of vacation. Congratulations, you are now going to be a proper Chuunin team of Mist's, since you work together well. We will come up with something for you to do until then."
"I should also adress something else." he pushes his fingers against each other, as if he is missing the cigar. "You have my word that I mean absolutely no harm to any of Mist's clans. The state of Hozuki is a tragedy."
"The previous Mizukage, bless his name, was a Hozuki. It was during his reign that the indicent with Andaro happened. Truth be told, I am amazed he had him merely exiled."

[Keisuke]
"Since you've brought it up Mizukage-sama, I feel compelled to ask what your vision for the future of the clans is within the village. So long as they provide the strategic resources that are bloodline limits it seems unlikely that you'd want to be rid of them, but they're full of old timers used to power and influence and it seems the longer they are denied either the more they will chafe." Keisuke asks with an impassive mask. "If even someone as 'reasonable' as Sabisuke Kaguya can be lured into treason, it wouldn't be surprising that the more cantankerous clan members out there could be persuaded as well."

[GM]
"That's a difficult question, and a difficult word, vision." he answers after a while.
"Fundamentally I consider everyone's talents an asset to the village, and that makes clans significant assets. If I calculate, i will consider them a large number to add to the sum. Substracting them from the village would be idiotic."
"But treating people as things is unhealthy to say the least."

[Eiha]
"Indeed, especially now when it looks like there are big schemes in the work and some nations might be willing to use any excuse to make some gains, fighting among ourselves will make it impossible for us to properly defend against outside forces."

[Keisuke]
"...well in that we are definitely in agreement Hao Feng-sama."

[GM]
"I consider Mist to be a village of equal opportunity, more so than others, yet we are not all equal. It is the way of the world. Being able to see the word as the brutal place it truly is something Mist can boast. From that point of view, we must accept heritage as incredibly important, because it truly makes us stronger."
"But power to survive and power to rule are two different things."
"Therefore, I am glad to accept anyone from a clan, big or small, in commanding position. Most of my own replacements I have in mind are from clans, because they survived long enough to grow wise."
"Now this has put me in a difficult situation, because many of our clans need the village's help, and some don't want to accept it."

[Eiha]
The raven-haired kunoichi gave a small nod,  seemingly in agreement to both statements... which might be a bit ironic given how things had went for her back in the days. "Maybe they'd be more willing to help if they felt like they were getting something back for it, and not just doing it for free."

[GM]
"I suppose I am a jaded old man." the Mizukage laughs.

[Keisuke]
"Perhaps also, they'd be more receptive if the one offering their hand was also from a clan?" he continues from Eiha's suggestion.

[GM]
The ANBU seems a bit distressed that he is so casual with you now.
"Perhaps. Or it would be as in Byakuren's time, and they would hate him that much more, because it's not their own clan."
"I truly don't know what the Second was thinking when he did this to his own clan. His entire way of life and seeing the world must have changed when Pako was born."
"Suddenly, his own family that worked for him to succeed the first has become a liability to the village. Suddenly, he had to make a decision in favor of the whole, and compromise with the love of his significant others."
"Did you know some of the Hozuki were still behind Andaro after everything? It was a crazy time."
The ANBU notes: "They don't learn it in the Academy."
"Hmm." Air is taken from the Mizukage's sails. "I suppose."

[Eiha]
Eiha leaned back and crossed her arms. Frankly, though she's tried to be studious in the Academy, one can't study what isn't there, and because she comes from a peasant background, she had to learn literally everything from scratch with no one to guide her or teach her the basics. Thus, she has a somewhat harder time grasping all this, but she's certainly trying. "Well, all that resentment is never going to go away overnight, it'll have to be a progressive effort I guess."

[Keisuke]
"And Kumo and Konoha will be more than happy to throw stones on our path to solidarity." he agrees.
Keisuke squares his shoulders and adjusts his stance slightly to more fully address the Mizukage.

[GM]
He seems interested in what else you have to say, now that the emergency is apparently taken care of, though he takes the time to shuffle through some papers on his table.

[Keisuke]
"This mission has been... enlightening for me, and has helped me find some answers in regards to where I stand on things. While my main focus will of course be on my missions and the conference, with all that comes along with it, I have become more concientious of the relationship between my clan and the village, and through that lens the relationship between the village and the clans as a whole... I suppose what I'm trying to say is I will be more active in trying to help with the situation and if a situation arises that I may be of some help I hope you will call on me to do so."

[GM]
"Thank you. I will make sure not to misplace your passion." he responds in a slightly puzzling way.
"Make sure to submit a proper report later. For now, you can rest... was there something else?"
"Ah, yes, those two you sent over Chisai. The man is in the research institute, you would have to get my permission if you wanted to speak with him again. And a good reason."

[Keisuke]
"Only one last thing I can think of. Do we have any indication on the rate of change the Leylines are undergoing? It was mentiond by that Goat summon that should things get too intense we may want to consider relocating those vulnerable to the change to a more stable region."
"Has he proved useful at all? What about the other one?"

[GM]
"I believe he is helping with research into exactly that, though it's kept very secret, as not to cause too much panic."
"Now that the cat is out of the bag, since we'll have to explain it to Kenji too - I suppose you can share it with some of your clan elders. But make sure to tell them it's sensitive information."

[Keisuke]
"I'll be sure they understand the gravity of the situation."

[GM]
He gestures to the Anbu. "When you see Hoshigaki Ensou, you can tell her to stop by my office as well. And any other veterans with at least a clan name."
"What bothers me is that Andaro seems to have been touched by that 'new system',  despite being even older than me."
"Perhaps you'll be able to ask him about what other sights he saw in the West, since that is clearly where he was for those twenty years."
"If he's in any sort of talking mood after having his operational security busted open by a bunch of Chunin... but he does not know your looks, does he?"

[Eiha]
"Neither he nor his potential accomplices should."
"Actually, now that I think of it, there's something I wonder... You said Andaro's abilities allowed him to perfectly fool chakra recognition systems, correct?"

[GM]
"It had required some setup, if I recall correctly. He'd have to come into fairly close contact with whoever he was mimicking to get get the chakra part down."
"Generally he would copy people he already killed, because at the point he could get a syringe of their blood... well."

[Eiha]
"If you might recall the incident from Konoha's chuunin exams were one of the candidates was apparently impersonated by Hozuki Pako while the Hokage was targeted, that strongly suggests that the two have been and are continuing to work together. It also suggests that either Andaro is capable of extending his ability to Pako, or she's learned a version of it herself."

[GM]
"I forgot it was you we sent to Konoha, actually." he blinks.
"Pako is very young, even if a lot of people called that blockhead a 'genius'."
"I would sooner believe that Andaro was the one who killed Tobirama. In which case..."
"We should increase your own security." the ANBU proposes.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "A lot of people tend to forget a lot of things when I'm concerned." She lets out, seeming more amused - or perhaps even proud - by the notion, rather than upset. "It would make sense, Andaro killed Tobirama, Pako provided a distraction to busy the security detail with."

[GM]
"The symptoms were black mucus, weren't they. A sickness that felled even a Senju." he muses.
"I'll watch my health. It's a shame we just lost an important doctor."
The ANBU chimes in: "Speaking of that, Kenji seems to have taken severe damage to his Chakra system. If you want to do politics with him now, we should find him a doctor."

[Keisuke]
"Yet another one of Pako's strange abilities it seems."

[GM]
The Mizukage makes a note of it on his note pad.
"But he isn't nearly the best medical shinobi in the village, as Bansen should know. If that man can't heal it, even Tsunade of the Sannin can't."

[Keisuke]
"Well if Bansen's abilities are anything to go off of he should be quite capable." he offers. "By the way is that girl we sent back still being detained? If so I'll sign off on her if she's cleared."

[GM]
"Ah yes, I think her name was Otomo Keiko. The girl's status is pending. She's confined right now, but we will send her to the next Bloody Mist in a few months, and take her in if she makes it."
"There should be no issue visiting her, though. She doesn't know any secrets, now that your mission is over."

[Eiha]
"Oh right, this reminds me we picked up one of Pako's spare bodies a bit before we found Kenji, if that can be useful."

[GM]
"Do you still have it?"
"We might be able to figure something out, even though it's probably aged. It is a sample of her current state."
"Stop by the Research Institute at some point, they will be happy to have it."

[Eiha]
"I've tried to keep it as conserved as can be, so we should." She stated before adding in a lower mumble. "Unless one of the other snakes ate it while mines weren't looking."
"I doubt it though, they commented about how unnaturally repulsive it tasted..."

[Keisuke]
"While we're there we can see if Ambrosious is behaving I guess. I hope he took my advice to make himself useful to heart."
"I imagine that granny scares them into behaving regarding that sort of thing even if it tasted good."

[GM]
The Mizukage seems a little unsure about that, but eventually gives up. "I suppose there is no harm, since you are already this far in."
"But remember what I said about sensitive information."
"He is cooperating quite well, actually. It seems he wants to make the most of his situation, and trade his secrets for some of ours."
"Genin tricks are enough to impress him."
"...But he also says that he cannot perform here what he could do in his homeland, so some of what he claims we have no way of confirming."
"He has yet to hear about Andaro, since this is new to us as well. Maybe he'll be able to help us figure this out."

[Keisuke]
"If we manage to secure the goat contract they may provide insight into his claims since they're mainly located in the west."

[Eiha]
"They also have a lot of experience with him, but were not very fond of him."

[Keisuke]
"I think it was a matter of him relying on sacrifice to summon and asking for too much for what he sacrificed."

[GM]
"Some measures must have been taken in the institute to prevent him from using Fuuinjutsu. If we let him create a summoning circle, who knows what he will bring out." the Hokage shuffles through the papers, to find the Chisai-delivered report. "Ah."
"We haven't sent a Genin there, yet. We will have a fresh batch in a few months, so we are going to pick one out of those."

[Eiha]
"If I recall correctly, there's actually no real need for sacrifices."
"The goat said that just the people their summoners kill normally during their missions count as 'payment', and the guy only needed sacrifices because he couldn't do that."

[GM]
"I see." it is taken into account. "If it came to it, we might be able to do away with some prisoner. But I would rather not risk summoning the goat lord in the middle of the village."

[Keisuke]
"Though speaking of Genin, I'm surprised you haven't gotten rid of or altered the culling based on what you've said earlier. The dead can't improve themselves, baring suspect blasphemous rituals, and it seems there have been years where the process left the village with very few graduates."

[GM]
The Mizukage makes a difficult expression. "A habit is an iron vest."

[Bansen]
"When every mission can be a matter of life or death, there's no time to play catch up."

[Eiha]
For the first time since all those gathered had known her, Eiha displayed a little bit of genuine discomfort when the mention of the Bloody Mist tradition and what to do with it was brought up. She had... extremely mixed and contradictory thoughts about it, and frankly didn't know what to say at the moment. It made her realize that perhaps a bit of introspection might be... necessary...

[Keisuke]
"I feel an argument could be made on the matters of manpower versus the benefits of the tradition. However it's not like we're in a place to make an argument about it, and my clan is very much into the survival of the fittest mentality."
"With or without it, the weak will be filtered out."

[GM]
*While the Mizukage seems to be taking a while coming up with a response, the ANBU speaks: "...changing it would be interesting, but simply not possible as things stand. It is a psychological matter."
"People respond to trauma in different ways. The Bloody Mist is filters out those who are able to base their personality around trauma."
"This is unhealthy, but effective. All armies are the same, but less wasteful about it."
"What is important here though is, that those kind of people will become very angry when you try to take trauma away from them."
The Mizukage grows a bit annoyed. "You would better not let those traumatized soldiers hear you speak that way. They might be in this very room."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke wonders if they aren't all one of those traumatized soldiers.

[GM]
"Bloody Mist does produce maniacs. As in, people with a mania. And a part of the equation is healing as well."
"You know what heals well? Family."
The two seem to be having an oddly personal conversation. The ANBU gives up upon
hearing this part.
"It's true that those who are alone take Bloody Mist the worst." he admits. "As a hunter nin-the percentage... eh, I should shut up."

[Eiha]
Eiha took a deep breath, leaning back. "Quality is a quantity of its own." She eventually let out, though her mind didn't seem fully into it, apparently still a bit confused about what she was even supposed to think about it, while at the same time finding the subconscious need to defend what she went through for some reason.

[GM]
"Byakuren certainly believed that." the Mizukage nods. "His vision lasted almost a hundred years."
"So, that would be why answering about my vision is difficult, because it's certainly different from his."
"But is it worth a hundred years?"

[Keisuke]
Keisuke shrugs
"Change is innevitable, but above all else..."

[Eiha]
"No way to tell until a hundred years."

[Keisuke]
"Shinobi Endure."

[GM]
He seems amused by the answer. The previous line seems to have had him intentionally let his guard down.

[Keisuke]
"Just do what you think is best Lord Third. Our generation will deal with whatever comes after."

[GM]
"Hah! I'll be looking forward to seeing it from the Pure Land."
"Well, it was a nice chat with our young. I think we went through everything."
"Don't forget to stop by the reception tomorrow, they should have your payout, now that we know the results of your mission. And submit your proper reports, too."
"Dismissed."

[Keisuke]
with nothing left to discuss Keisuke bows and heads out.

[GM]
The ANBU stays behind. Apparently he has something else to discuss with the Mizukage.

。。。

You are free to go to your homes, and rest until called again, though you will probably be returning here for the money tomorrow. By then, a lot of things should be clear, like Kenji and Sabisuke's situation.
Right now, of course, you could make a beeline to the Institute... or, celebrate the finished S-Ranked mission somewhere.
It is likely a matter of how your curiosity compares to your exhaustion.

[Keisuke]
"So..." Keisuke turns to Eiha, "Wanna go show people a dead body?"

[Eiha]
"Sounds like a fun time."

[GM]
The Research Institute of Mist, unlike the one in Konoha, is tacked onto the village's hospital. Manner of healing which common folk cannot usually afford is available to shinobi for free here, as well as very wealthy people for a handsome sum.
The hospital seems to be in a rush, most of its rooms lit up in the falling dusk, but the R&D wing's entrance, its windows all dark, is guarded by a pair of shinobi.
They notice your forehead protectors, and only tell you casually: "Halt. State your business."

[Eiha]
"I've a delivery to make." Eiha states with the casualness of the pizza delivery person.

[GM]
"There's ANBU looking through the basement, so we can't let in just anybody at the moment."
"Where does that delivery go?"

[Keisuke]
Keisuke slows to a stop next to Eiha his clothing looking like its been stabbed through dozens of times and put through a blender. His once new jacket is mostly a canvas of patches and needlework.

[Eiha]
"I don't know, where do dead bodies of important people go?"

[GM]
"The mortuary. That's also the hottest place that's being searched."

[Eiha]
"Well that's certainly inconvenient..."

[GM]
"But we can't let it rot either. Give me a minute." he pulls out a radio.

[Keisuke]
"That's a bit of a connundrum."
"... does it rot in there? I forget if you have to worry about it being digested..."

[GM]
A few lines back and forth later, explaining the situation, he tells you to wait a few minutes.

[Eiha]
"I'm... pretty sure he spat it out the second he could, said it tasted like ass, remember?"
"Not that I'd care to find out for myself..."

[Keisuke]
"Ah that's right."
"I don't think I'll be able to find one that does that particular trick."


[GM]
Eventually, a pale boy in an apron comes to the gate. He seems to be quite a bit younger than Eiha, already working at a place like this.
He seems to want to ask about the delivery, but noticed Keisuke's looks.
"Ah, shit. The hair." he says in his barely mutated voice. "Are you a Kaguya?"
"Stuff spreads fast, huh."

[Keisuke]
"I am, whatever could you mean?"

[GM]
"Well, they say Sabisuke-sensei is in prison for some reason. I figured you came to take his stuff or something."
"What's this about a delivery?"

[Keisuke]
"I may as well. She's got the delivery."

[Eiha]
"The delivery is not Kaguya-related, but it is Hozuki-related."

[GM]
"Hmm. Well, we're all open, since like dozen of the freezers just got emptied. Some of those bodies were pretty important."
"Come in, I guess, before it dissolves, or whatever Hozuki do when they die."
Hearing that, the guards stop barring the way.

[Eiha]
"That one doesn't, but let's anyway." She mused as she walked past.

[Keisuke]
"So you work with my Uncle Sabisuke? Are you and apprentice or...?"

[GM]
The pair notices some ANBU in the lobby, drinking crappy instant coffee through their masks. The ANBU notice them, but don't stop you.
"I'm learning, yeah. I owe the guy a lot."
"Family owns a coffin shop. I'm third in line, so I wouldn't inherit, but he got me this job."
"Well, actually, I told him I wanted to be a Shinobi, but he said he'd make me his apprentice instead, that it was a bad idea. These stairs are steep, watch out." he leads you around an elevator.

[Keisuke]
"Hmm. I should be seeing him in a few days. I'll ask him for any instructions regarding your apprenticeship if I can." He offers as he is careful of his step.

[GM]
The stairway goes two stories below ground, and the kid leads you to a lit up door, signed 'Mortuary'. As he opens it, you notice several more ANBU in the room, as well as adult doctors.
One of the doctors, an bald man with a radio strap hanging out of his coat's pocket, seems to be waiting for you. Keisuke's looks put him off also, but say nothing.
The room is fairly expansive, and an entire wall of it is filled with small safe-like metal doors, which can apparently be slid out. The ANBU seem to be going through the bodies one by one, one of them standing on a wheeled ladder to access the topmost ones.
"Hello. If you have brought a body, that's fine." he explains. "They will have to look at it before we put it in, though, so they can log that slot off."
"We're doing an inventory of slots, you see. Wanting to make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be, with all the bits they are supposed to have."

[Eiha]
"Fair enough to me." Eiha notes, clearly not carrying anything resembling a body on her person. "I'm going to need to bring it up, don't mind the 'sudden moves'." She notes, figuring that suddenly pulling a summon with no forewarning whatsoever when in the middle of a bunch of ANBU might be a bad idea.

[GM]
Another wall is lined with posters of human anatomy, as well as skeltons of humans and animals both... and a pair of odd constructions of metal and wood. One is fat with holes, presumably spring-loaded with spikes. The other has a large head, which seems to hold a firing mechanism for some sort of a cannon. They are clearly Shinobi puppets.
One of the ANBU slides the coffin they are looking at in, and approaches you. Seeing Eiha prepare the Summoning Jutsu does not seem to put them off too much.

[Keisuke]
"Are these Sabisuke's?"

[GM]
"Yes." the doctor confirms. "The symptoms on the bodies we recovered match, uh..." he stops himself, but the ANBU laughs.
"It's fine. They are the guys he attacked in the first place, I think." he says from behind the mask.

[Eiha]
"We are~"

[Keisuke]
"mhm"

[GM]
"Well, it seems that whatever he did to those bodies made them quite close to these."

[Keisuke]
"Anything juicy?" he asks the ANBU.

[GM]
"As such, we can't let you take them, if that's what you came for."
The guard wonders. "A few golden teeth stolen, but that's kind of normal."
"And an awful lot of bodies with the Hollow Shell Seal recently."
"That's what they call it, anyway. You'd have to ask a Fuuinjutsu expert."

[Keisuke]
"Any chance you could give us a ballpark number on those sealed bodies?"

[GM]
"We've seen four. Records have five more. They have to be incinerated to get rid of them."
"I think the gist of the seal is that it holds the soul in place of the body, and if you touch the dead body, the seal and the soul in it passes into you."
"But the tattoo stays on the body."
"Somebody has been switching bodies an awful lot."

[Eiha]
Eiha brings up her left hand to her tanto's sheet, flicking just a centimeters or two up to uncover the blade enough to produce a small cut upon one of her fingers, which she proceeded to slide over to the tattoo inscribed upon her right shoulder. From the smoke appears a large snake with scale of dark purple, and crimson eyes.
Isamu: "Finally I can get rid of thisss thing." He issues with no attempt at masking his frustration before uncoiling the body in his tail upon the sliding table. Apparently so put off by the taste he doesn't even want to deliver it the 'easy' way.

[GM]
The doctor takes several steps back, while the guard is clearly used to that sort of stuff.

[Keisuke]
"Yo Isamu, finally rid of that thing eh?"

[GM]
Approaching the body, the doctor starts doing some check-ups, doing his best to not touch the snake. The ANBU seems interested as well.

[Eiha]
Isamu: "It's been taking up ssspace for far too long, and I kept having to keep the younglings off of it." He huffs

[Keisuke]
"oh before I forget on the off chance, someone should check to see if its chakra signature matches K- that ANBU we escorted back. There's a slim but non zero chance that body was partly made out of his legs."

[GM]
"Perfect teeth." the doctor comments. "No scars except what seems to be a choke mark on the neck... from a segmented garrotte, like a heavy chain?"

[Keisuke]
"Well I doubt you'll have to deal with its like again at least" he offers the snake.

[GM]
"...Huh." he stops. "I will get someone on that."
The ANBU comments, watching the doctor work. "From what I recall, this girl has been last around three years ago or so?"
"Quite the rogue you got there."

[Eiha]
Isamu: "I better not. I didn't sign up for this." Literally.

[Keisuke]
"She was probably the lowest ranking one in the area too. Fun times."

[GM]
"Wait, I've seen this before. This is a Hozuki, isn't it."
"I really don't know what you shinobi hope to accomplish by sending us freaks like that and expecting us to figure something out with science..."
"We can put her in, I think." he pulls a white blanket from a shelf, covering the body.

[Eiha]
"That's the one yeah. Not my field though, I'm just doing the 'delivery' you know."

[GM]
"I'll make sure to tell somebody on the K business to try what you said." the ANBU notes.

[Keisuke]
"Hmm... I'm probably just being paranoid but if its not going to be disposed of soon you may want to arange for a seal to be put on it. It may have "died" but her abilities are so weird that there's no telling if she's able to use it for something anway." He suggests to the ANBU. Her father wouldn't even need a distraction to infiltrate Mist but that doesn't mean they should be lax in their security. The last thing they need is for her to to pull some unexpected trick with her weird spirit abilities when their guards are down.
"Thanks."

[GM]
"Incidentally..." the ANBU scratches his bushy head. "I guess there is no one else this would be of use to, actually, or way to confirm this, so I migth as well tell you."
"It seems that normally bodies are rid of after a few weeks or months here, but a certain body has been kept here for seven years."
"But it disappeared seven months ago. The doctors say that according to Sabisuke, it was his secret project."

[Keisuke]
"That's... disconcerting."

[GM]
"It was a child, named Kaguya Nemuri. I guess you could ask around your clan what that was about."

[Eiha]
"Oh boy..."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke lets out a tired sigh "Yeah I'll ask around. It should be useful thanks."

[GM]
"Well..." the doctor speaks. "It has been a while, but I recall that this body was problematic. It could not have been buried or burnt. It kept growing bones, even after death."
"Freezing it did the trick, so we never questioned it."
"Honestly, we're happy to be rid of it."

[Keisuke]
"Yeah. That tracks." he says absent mindedly.

[GM]
"If your business here is done, I'll lead you out." the ANBU offers. "This is not the only room in here that we are interested in."

[Keisuke]
"Sure, just one sec." He turns to the kid that led them down here. "What's your name by the way?"

[GM]
"I'm Ranhara Kumaro. Coins on your eyes, or your money back." the boy introduces himself.
"Man, that girl is pretty." he comments on Pako's body, which is now stored. "So I take it she was a bitch."

[Eiha]
"That's not a very safe generalization to make."

[Keisuke]
"Heh. I didn't meet her personally, so can't say. She is a rogue ninja though so probably not the nicest person to be around. Anyway I'll do what I can to see to it that Sabisuke's responsibilities to you are seen to through the clan."

[GM]
"Is the snake coming with us?" the ANBU steps over it, hoping to finally get you out.
As he leads the way, he only comments his honest feelings:
"Man, you guys got tangled up in some serious shit."

。。。






SESSION 23

[GM]
One does not simply put a shinobi into prison.
In Grass Country lies the largest prison for Shinobi in the world, staffed by some of the world's greatest masters of supression and stasis, but in case a shinobi is needed alive in the long term, yet cannot be allowed outside the village, a similar facility is necessary.
It's said that Hidden Mist Village's center uses one of the Seven Swords as its core, which has long been retired from combat, as it was far too valuable - the Samehada. This sword, which apparently is alive, has extended its carapace through these halls, and keeps everyone's chakra supressed.
Entering the building is much like entering the belly of the beast, but it seems that it recognizes you as non-threats. The guards here also don't seem bothered by the black scales crawling around the walls.
The higher levels don't seem to have as many scales, so if you were to look for Otomo Keiko, she is probably going to be there. If you descend deeper, you should be able to find stronger prisoners, like Sabisuke.
Either way, this is kind of new for all of you.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke eyes the carapace that surrounds the facility and ponders aloud "If this is truly alive one has to wonder what precautions are in place in case it stops acting as expected. "

[Eiha]
"I think the better question is, what are you going to do if it does~?" Eiha noted with a playful tone.

[GM]
"It's been this way for a few decades." a nearby guard informs you. "The previous wielder has been imprisoned in this building, and we could not separate him from the sword."
"At some point it ate him out of hunger, and started spreading around. Nidaime-same came in and put it in place with some fancy Fuuinjutsu."
"The seal he placed on it is really not well understood today, because we can't physically get to it."

[Eiha]
"Huh, so it was a 'fortunate accident' rather than by design." She tilts her head slightly before glancing over to Keisuke. "Guess your concern is a lot more plausible than I first thought."

[Bansen]
"And what of the Swordsmen? Are there only six of them now?"

[GM]
"We wouldn't call them seven swordsmen if there were only six!" this seems to get the Chuunin irrationally angry. "The Chief Warden is Samehada's wielder."
"Then there are the two clans dedicated to keeping their legacy, and the remaining four I'm not sure about."

[Keisuke]
"Guess I better find someone good at sealing." He responds to Eiha. "Or find something it can chew on to placate it..."
"Does it technically still count as a sword still? Its pretty much a part of the building. "

[Bansen]
"Everybody knows who the Seven Swordsmen are... Having one wielder of such a title cooped up here seems like a waste."

[Keisuke]
"That may be, but logistically this may be it's best practical use."

[GM]
The guard seems grumpy about that statement, but can't really argue back against it.
"So, you guys looking for somebody?"

[Keisuke]
"We wanted to check in on Otomo Keiko and if T&I give the all clear we were given permission to question Sabisuke Kaguya."

[GM]
"Uhh, I don't know about the first, so she's probably in the upper levels." he wonders. "To get you to the lower ones, you'll have to clear some paperwork."
"Just regular stuff, making sure you weren't imprisoned here before, taking a look at your files to see if you're dangerous to the facility."

[Eiha]
"Sounds reasonable to me."

[GM]
"If you were already cleared, it should go faster. Come with me." he getures.
As advertised, a clerk recieves you, giving you a set of papers, while reading through the internal files the village has on you.
However, about halfway through the process, this woman hops up from her chair, wiping of some sweat. "Ah, you're actually good to go."
"Normally you would have gotten a paper with a clearance, but this went so fast we had to do this."
"Finish those papers while you're at it, even though it's not really necessary. I'll call for someone to take you down."

。。。

Your appointment is finished quickly after that. A group of guards leads you down, throwing odd glances at Keisuke.
"The ANBU said they were already done with him. You're mostly allowed to do this for political reasons, I think." their leader tells you.
"Clan reasons. We don't want or need any more information out of him, so no pressure. This is a visit, not an interrogation."
The cells here are lined with thin fangs in place of bars. The fact that there are two sets going up and down, and the whole thing can probably open and close, is even more disturbing. But, there are gaps allowing you to look and speak.
Most of the guards stay behind at this point, while the leader comes with you. There does not seem to be a visiting room or anything, it's straight to the cell.

[Eiha]
Eiha quirks a brow as she observes the increasingly primal and organic nature of the prison. Even she finds it somewhat bizarre and freakish, and was mastery of fear not her nindo, she might even have felt rather unsettled at the fact of being literally walking in the belly of a beast with giant shredders of teeth here and there. She is however a shinobi of Mist, and such things are simply to be expected.

[GM]
Sabisuke is found in a fairly plain room with no windows. He looks up from a book, which they apparently allowed him to have.
"Ah." his mouth opens and closes, and that's all.
"You can start. I have to be here, but we can bring you some chairs or something, if it's going to take a while.*
The corridor is somewhat wide, but you are still looking at him through the teeth.

[Keisuke]
"...Yo." he offers in greeting amidst the awkward atmosphere.

[GM]
"Hmph."
"Better get those chairs brought, it's going to take a while."
A few of the man standing away from the cell get onto that.

[Keisuke]
"So... now that we have an opportunity to talk, why join up with that guy anyway? I have to think you know more about what's going on than I do but from everything I do know their goals seem like something you'd want to avoid as much as possible.  Probably even violently."

[GM]
Sabisuke looks up at the ceiling. "Because he knew even more about it than me, I guess. He knew how to help."
"And he has that Pako girl, and I need her for something. But I guess it would be the best to start at the beginning. You might know a bit, but I guess your friends don't."
"This all started way back in Wind Country. There is a place in there they call the Valley of Death."
"When I heard that was where we were going for the exams, it sounded better than Bloody Mist, but apparenly a lot of people die in there. Sand's team trial was set in that place."
"It's like a swamp in the middle of desert. It sinks so deep that there is water, but you can't drink it, because the place is littered with corpses. Animals all over the desert come there to die. Some of them come back and crawl about. So, aside of the other Shinobi, we had to avoid those things."
"Back then, I honestly assumed those were puppets they controlled from afar, to creep the kids out. Some of them were, others were convinced of it. But the place also had a general evil aura."
"You probably heard that my brother died because he was too powerful. What they didn't tell you was that he visited this valley. We had exams there two years in a row, and I came the second, when he was already dead."
"He told me an interesting story. During the exams, he had to fight off a lot of vultures and cougars and hyenas and snakes, but there was one thing Puppetry could not explain."
"His team made his way down to the bottom of that putrid pit, and they saw something swirl inside there. A massive serpent. They confirmed it was a corpse of something real, a powerful being a chakra, but it wasn't quite a Shinobi beast."
"They said it was like a dragon. And it wasn't dead. Just really, really dirty."
"It flied and spewed hot dirt at them and told them to leave before they become like it."
"Yuusuke got hit by a full blast of that dirt... and ever since then, his Pulse was out of sync. He could not control it."
"I wanted to see the dragon that gave my brother that illness too, so I went down there during the exam. I was confused about it being alive but a corpse. The sensor on his team could not give a clear answer... so, I went there too. That's where this all really started."

[Eiha]
Eiha crossed her arms as she listened. The more this went on, the more it became obvious this might be related to the Rats, as them and the individuals related to them used that festering immitation of water technique that was a very close match for the putrid element described here. Moreover, what had just been described sounded like what could have caused the Hozuki and dead summoner both to have their natural element tainted in such a manner. For the time being though, she didn't interrupt.

[GM]
"Sure enough, I met him. The dragon. I studied medical jutsu to help my brother, but none of the techniques were any good. I wanted to ask the dragon how he could be cured."
"It almost killed us, but it did give an answer: He needed to be balanced out. In our lands, he said, we had the distinction of Yin and Yang. The dragon said he has become a being of Yang, and needed more Yin. But..."
"In the Shinobi world, that was impossible. We have Yin in Genjutsu, but we apparently lost the true Yin, and so we cannot deal with true Yang."
"His specific words were that it's because we abandoned the gods. I still don't know waht that's about."
"But the thing is that rather than Yang being forced onto us, the whole world is becoming more in line with that system. Like clans are having Babies of too powerful Yang, like a Kaguya whose body is stronger than his spirit by too much, the opposite is also possible."
"Clans with powerful Yin, like Konoha's Yamanaka clan, are having stillborn babies, whose spirit refuses to accept their crude body at all. That's what Hozuki Pako is, also."
"But stillborn babies are nothing new to the history of Shinobi, you know? My aunt is also my sister."
"There are arts that can prevent this from happening. I just had to rediscover them."
"Any of that make sense thus far?" he scratches his head.

[Eiha]
"Well the first half of all that made a lot of sense to me, and it explains why you wanted to become involved with Ando -somewhat- but you pretty much lost me at the part where you started talking about gods and dead babies."

[Keisuke]
"Yes actually.  The image of an Uchiha mother burning from the inside out is a significant factor in my acquired interest in the world's events."

[Eiha]
"...Wait what..."

[Keisuke]
"The Tigers and granny snake Sage touched on it a bit."

[GM]
"The dead babies are important, because the theoretical result is not a dead baby, but a more powerful baby." Sabisuke sighs. "Like any new element in science, it is quickly weaponized, and hidden from the public, you see?"
"The Kaguya might have the most Yang-aligned blood out there, only matched maybe by the Ushi of Cloud."

[Keisuke]
"In layman's terms the shifting of the natural order is throwing our elemental natures out of balance. With it being most pronounced in Kekkei Genkai suddenly mutating.

[GM]
"Yes. Well, our previous clan head was very interested in a method to stabilize such an overclocked Kaguya. Especially after his first heir, Nemuri, had that happen to him, and there was no dragon involved."
"He saw it as a tragedy, because his Pulse was clearly more powerful. All that was necessary was a way to control that power."

[Keisuke]
"I see. A solution could lie in those summons closely aligned with the spirit. I think I was told Roosters are the most spiritually aligned? Hopefully I can get a proper idea after consulting someone know knowledgeable. "

[GM]
"I haven't heard about that, too bad." he seems genuinely sad he can't help you. "Well, our current Clan Chief knows about it too, as I already told the ANBU, though last we talked about it was a good few years ago. He might have forgotten."
"But that's where my research of puppetry comes in. As a way of injecting Yin into a dead body, and making them complete again, of sorts. I might be able to puppet the next child to prevent its body from doing things that are dangerous."
"Or better yet, they would just puppet themselves, if they grow old enough to learn it. Have more control of their body, a stronger and more commanding presence of a soul. That is my thesis."
"A few years ago, someone contacted me about it - Andaro. I was in the ANBU, so I vaguely remembered who he was. But since he got exiled twenty years ago, there would be no hard feelings, right?"
"He turned out... pretty knowledgeable. Among other things he knew I did not actually share the results of my research with the village, since the clan didn't want it to know the Kaguya were unstable. I was not the only asset he had in the village, either."
"He had a good stash of stuff to blackmail me with. It took me a long time to figure out that he was the one who was altering the leylines... when I saw one of those special tags of his."

[Eiha]
"Ah, good, I was about to bring that up."
"Though that begs the question of why were you still listening to him if you knew he was involved into making this issue -worse-."

[GM]
"Andaro was one of the village's experts at Fuuinjutsu. It wasn't beyond him to create a seal of his own that I could not find a reference for, but the real issue was the unknown part of the seal. Nobody could explain what it did."
"But I saw what the tag did. It bound a soul in simple, and effective manner. Do you have any idea how big that kind of seal otherwise has to be? And he has it on a tag."
"I concluded that's what the dragon was talking about. Andaro brought the western Yin techniques in here... and he could have helped all the clans that were suffering."
"That's probably his endgame plan. Blackmail everybody."

[Eiha]
Eiha strikes her palm against her forehead audibly. "Oh yeah, I'm sure that blackmailing everyone into having to give him stuff in exchange for the antidote to the poison he's worked to fuck everyone else over with is going to go over swimmingly"

[GM]
"You have to understand, girl, that as far as my clan mission goes, the leyline shift is not an issue, but an opportunity."
"I need the final piece of the puzzle from him. What's on the tag is not enough."
"I talked with the man you brought back from Grass. He had an idea... but he said that in order to fix that mess, you would need a true ritual master."
"Someone from the west who is as good at their version of Fuuinjutsu as their best Shinobi are. His own techniques were more on the Yang side, with signless elemental release and all."
"Though his take on our signs is interesting. I recommend you ask him about those."

[Keisuke]
"I shall. These last few months have been a lot more metaphysical than I thought I'd ever have to deal with."

[GM]
"The world outside of Mist is like that, full of big words." Sabisuke seems to understand just what you mean.
"Anyway, I told the ANBU that technically the clan made me do it... but that I am a retard that got himself blackmailed by a rogue, and the particulars of what I did are all on me."
"Biggest mistake I have made is not returning to our place and informing the Chief about this mess. I guess I was ashamed."

[Keisuke]
"It would have been nice if we could have had something like this conversation earlier," he sighs "If only Andaro weren't such a salty slimeball that to activate you to capture us. What was his interest in ANBU the legless anyway? A continued family quarrel or something?"

[GM]
"As far as I understand, he wanted to reestablish the Hozuki clan outside of Mist. This guy was too well respected. The village could have used him to say that since the true clan heir is working for it, the people who ran away are illegitimate."
"Andaro has probably checked out all the Hozuki in the village right now, even the Genin. He has to be pretty confident."
"Well, that, and I kind of tried to have him killed, you know. And Hao Kochi, and that snake guy. It would have gotten tracked back to me."
"Yesterday, the ANBU said that the snake guy left a message before his death, or something. Apparently you found it?"

[Eiha]
"Well that explains -one- thing I was wondering about."
"Still should assume he's got more spies on the inside though."

[GM]
"We didn't know that, so we just thought Kenji was a loose end. Especially since he knew Pako."
"Yeah, I am worried... Worried that it's not just the Hozuki. That he might be trying to play all the clans. Even the Kaguya. Start a civil war."

[Eiha]
"You know, if Andaro really wants to be clean, he should really tell Pako to stop leaving her dead bodies laying around literally everywhere."

[GM]
*Sabisuke seems surprised to hear that. "They die after a while, didn't you know that? They only last a week or so."

[Eiha]
"I can assure you I found at least 2 bodies that lasted more than that."

[GM]
"That bearded foreigner said that she is just a wandering spirit pretending to be human. A porutergaisto?"
"I mean, her chakra system can't bond to a body for long."

[Keisuke]
"The civil war thing was something I was sure he had plans for. If nothing else then as a backup plan. I hope to lay some ground work so that our clan will still be here if things do boil over."

[GM]
"That would be nice of you. I'm really sorry you have to sort out this whole mess."

[Keisuke]
"Did you ever try to ser up a vessel for her using your whole" he waves his arms around searching for the word "splicing thing?"
"Eh, we're family, love or hate it."

[GM]
"A body that is bodier than usual bodies, huh." he considers it. "Say, that is a pretty good idea."
"If you wanted to get her to your side, it might be a good bargaining chip, getting something of the sort together."
"I haven't considered it until now though."

[Keisuke]
"Good, if we can remove her from the problem Andaro would lose a valuable asset. Speaking of your experiments do you have any instructions for your apprentice? I planned to arrange for the clan to offer him patronage while you were indisposed. "

[GM]
"Kumaro?"
"Man, I really wanted him to be a doctor, and not a shinobi. Though he does know a bit of Medical Ninjutsu now. He's banned from using it at work."

[Keisuke]
"Yeah, he said you didn't want him to be a ninja so we'll respect that too."

[GM]
"He needs a license... and that would make him count as a Ninja anyway, get drafted during a mobilisation."
"Those additional skills are something for a last resort. You know it's against the law to make money with Ninjutsu if you aren't a ninja."
"And he's working in a hospital, so he's making money. But it's going to be more useful for self-defense."

[Keisuke]
"And sometimes even if you are one. Left behind a vault of treasures couple months ago."

[GM]
"Yeah, that kind of thing happens a lot. You can bring it to the village for repossession, but it's a lot of weight on your shoulders. And they'll yell at you for returning late."
"One more thing you might be interested in knowing: The message about your arrival was delivered to me by a guy on a horse."
"Brown, greasy hair. Weird braids with colored threads in them."
"From the sound of things Andaro wasn't sure he'd catch you, so he sent this guy, who was really fast, with a message. You'll see horses used here by civilians, and you'd better believe he's on the ANBU's lsit now."
"No idea who he is though, but he works for Andaro. Watch out for that guy, I guess."

[Keisuke]
"Thanks for the warning."

[GM]
"I can't think of anything else really relevant. Hmm." his eyes wander up to the ceiling again.

[Keisuke]
"I can't think of any other questions. Hopefully if we get a chance we can flip Pako with the lure of a lasting body."

[GM]
"Thanks for visiting, it counts for a lot."
" 'least I have time to catch up on some reading."

[Keisuke]
"Well stay well... oh also did you say if that corpse dragon thing was still around?"

[GM]
"As far as I know, unless the Sand removed it for killing too many kids and getting other villages mad."
"Though, I think it reacted strongly the presence of Kaguya. From how they talk about it, it's more of a myth."

[Keisuke]
"It may make a useful test subject if we discover a way to seperate that corrupting influence from those its infected or forcibly rebalance it. Though who knows if we'll ever discover a reliable enough method to try."

[GM]
"I can't help you with that, physically."
"I don't know, maybe they'll let me build a puppet?"
The chief guard who came with you motions with his hand. "I don't think so."
"Well, visiting time is over. I'll report what you talked about, by the way."

[Keisuke]
"Obviously."

[GM]
"Nothing I haven't heard before from the ANBU."
"Time to move out. Chop chop." he starts to lead you out.
"Bye, for a while." Sabisuke tells you from back in the cell, and picks his book back up.

[Keisuke]
"Yeah yeah, keep your headband on. Bye, for a while."

[GM]

。。。

The prison's lounge welcomes you again.
The Research Institute is not far from here, so talking to either the persons from Grass is an option.

[Eiha]
Though she's rather glad to leave behind the headache-inducing lower depths of the prison, Eiha cannot quite just yet leave behind the entire place, much as she'd like to vacate the chakra-devouring shark-infused premise. There is something she needs to deal with first, feeling a certain responsibility or obligation to do so, and it's best to do it now so she doesn'T have to come back for the foreseeable future. Thus, she heads for the upper levels.

[Keisuke]
Upon noticing Eiha's departure Keisuke decides to follow her to check on their wayward (former) grass ninja.

[GM]
Ascending the stairs, you find yourselves in what seems to be an actual building. It's made of stone, which is not uncommon in Mist. Wet wood doesn't hold weight well.
The guards are scattered further apart, and there is a reception desk on every floor. There are pointers to where important prison staff can be found, and then the prison area itself is mostly cut off for civilians.
Seeing new arrivals, the receptionist, an older lady, waves at you.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke nods back in greeting.

[GM]
"Do you have an appointment?" she asks. "Or are you looking for someone in the staff?"

[Keisuke]
"We were looking for a somewhat recent arrival."

[Eiha]
The aloof kunoichi quirks a brow at that. Crazy how the locals asked less questions when they went to the high security area than in the low security one.

[Keisuke]
"Otomo Keiko"

[GM]
The woman looks into the papers. "A prisoner, I think. She doesn't have an appointment for today, but we can get that one on call."
"Women are in the east wing. Look for the waiting room, we'll get her there as soon as we can."

[Keisuke]
"Thanks"

[GM]

。。。

The waiting room is essentially the visiting area of a regular prison, a hall separated by wood and glass, through which people can talk.
A few visitors are already here. Some of the prisoners and visitors both honestly don't even look like Shinobi. There is woman with ofuda slapped onto her tattooed arms, however, talking with a much weaker looking man.
Keiko arrives in about ten minutes, appearing sweaty, and bruised. It has been a while since you sent her here, so the bruises must be fresh. She seems a bit baffled to see you guys visiting her, but moves to meet you on the other side of one of the stations, anyway, sitting down.
In the end, she was glad to see you.
They already told her the deal with Bloody Mist, and so she wanted to train, as much as the prison allowed her. There wasn't anything strange about prisoners spending their time honing their bodies, though there wasn't a dedicated gym.
It was, however, allowed for prisoners to spar, with a decently sized room dedicated to it. There was a small betting business on the outcome of fights, mostly cigarettes and candy. All this, under the explicit condition that actually hurting another prisoner was a breach of the code of conduct.
Weapons or Ninjutsu were, of course, forbidden, and so all that Shinobi here had to stop themselves from getting rusty were martial arts. For Keiko, who knew nothing else, this was just fine. She lamented the lack of alcohol, though she claimed to have found a 'substitute', which was even more worrying.
In the end, the prison really had all she needed to prepare for Bloody Mist, including people willing to teach her. She also claims to have started to read up on Fuuinjutsu, though she wasn't allowed to practice it.
Near what you thought would be the end of the conversation, the topic of Ambrosius was breached.
And that's where Keiko turned out a bit problematic.

。。。





SESSION 24

[GM]
"I have to kill that Ambrosius guy." Keiko insists.
"I don't know if you, uh, WE, do honor here in Kiri. So I can't call it a matter of personal honor, right."
"What do you call it when you really need to get revenge on somebody? Passion?"

[Eiha]
"Tuesday?"

[GM]
She leans back in her seat. It seems to be something she thought of quite a lot.
"I am not motivated by money or technique though. It's not going to be my job to kill him or anything."

[Keisuke]
"Obsession is what I've heard it called most often."
"The problem is he took my advice and is making himself useful to the village. Killing him could end poorly depending on how useful the higher ups consider him."

[Eiha]
Eiha clears her throat and straightens her posture a bit, her joke seemingly having fell flat. "More seriously, if you're craving revenge that much, killing him would be the weak or merciful thing to do."

[GM]
"I figured you wouldn't be able to help me, it being classified and all."
"Hrm."  she coughs. "I don't know if I can cool myself down enough."

[Eiha]
"Look, do you want to do this the amateur way, or do you want to do this the fine way?"

[GM]
"I'll have to become a fine person first."
"Well, regardless of what happens when I get out, I seriously owe you guys. When I'm a Genin, I should be able to repay you somehow." she is starting to get ideas into her head. "Amateur is what they called me when they tried to evaluate my skills."

[Bansen]
"Biding your time is for cowards. If you want to get something done, do it as soon as possible." Bansen suddenly chips in with some advice.

[Keisuke]
"However the art of assassination is all about biding your time. Being overly cavalier about revenge doesn't seem like a great idea."

[Eiha]
Eiha lets out a small, derisive 'hah' as she glances over to the Tall Man. "No offense, but that's a bit pitiful." She shook her head. "Killing someone might give you a sensation of satisfaction once, but they won't suffer, they won't squirm. Making them stew in terror for hours, days, weeks, years... making them tremble every time they hear your name..." The kunoichi started to ramble on, paying less and less attention to the conversation as she went on.

[Bansen]
"Shinobi don't have the luxury of time. For all you know, you might die tomorrow."

[Eiha]
"-that- is cowardly talk."

[Keisuke]
"However once you become a Genin I could use your help. Having an ally not connected to the politics of the village may prove handy."

[Bansen]
"If that reality doesn't cut it for you, then turn it around. What if your enemy were to die tomorrow? Would you be satisfied even if it wasn't by your hand?"

[GM]
"I see." she nods, reacting to Keisuke's offer. "You should know that they mostly let me live because I didn't tell them everything I knew about Grass."
"I'm trustworthy."
"I did give them the full profile of my sensei, though, the bastard."

[Eiha]
"I would probably amuse myself with finding out what sad, pathetic end they met."

[Bansen]
"Then you should drop the matter entirely in favor of something more productive."

[Keisuke]
"That's understandable. I'd imagine you want him dead even more than Abmrosius. Treachery is frowned on even here after all."

[Eiha]
"Being adaptable is important in our world. You can't have everything you want, so might as well make the best of what you do get, and enjoy yourself while you're at it."

[GM]
"We'll see if I feel differently in a few years. I can't take on either right now, I'm just fourteen."
For a Genin, that would be considered pretty old, but then, her education seems to have been botched.
"Just hoping that they won't let Ambrosius leave before I put on enough muscle."

[Keisuke]
"It's best to have your priorites straight I agree. My advice is to focus on integration then advancing in the ranks as far as long term goals. Aquiring personal strength  and peforming well on missions is  a given though. Ideally by the time you get strong enough you should have a social network to help ensure the success of your ambition and minimze the fallout should you be discovered."

[GM]
She grasps her head. "Aaah. That sounds so hard."
"At least I already made some friends, though. And a good teacher, but they'll have to let him out of here first."

[Keisuke]
"See you're already doing fine. Work hard, make allies. Is basically all my advice boils down to. Not really very useful when I think about it." he says with a shrug. "Though once you're out, if you run into trouble you can probably contact one of us for help."

[GM]
"That feels kind of wrong after you've already saved me, but I'll remember it."
"Oh yeah, I've remembered one more thing. Since you made a big deal out of there being goats and rats. There was something else like that."

[Eiha]
"Heh, should always strive to be able to stand up for yourself yeah, but sometimes life isn't fair and people are just dicks. There's no shame in evening the tables." The ex-Grass would assuredly be already quite familiar with the notion...

[GM]
"Hmm. Well, anyway."
"A really fancy man visited that cellar we were held in, at one point. He only talked to the big goat with the shiny scythe. I don't think Ambrosius knew about him, he didn't look like a foreigner under all the make-up."

[Eiha]
"Oh? Intriguing."

[GM]
"Big feathers with eyes at the end all around his clothes. Like, peacock feathers. They might have been a genjutsu focus or something, because when he entered the room, it got all dreamy."
"I think he asked the goats about what they were doing in the city, and the big goat said uhh..."

[Eiha]
"Urgh, always-active Genjutsu are the worst..."

[GM]
"...that it didn't have anything to do with him, and to go away. But he also seemed to know who the guy was."
"And that his master can't find out about his presence here...?"
"He checked out all the girls up close, weirdo."
"Then he left. At the time I got hopeful that would be the end of it - either I'd die soon because they were exposed, or he'd tell somebody from Grass. But nothing happened."
"I'm not sure it's any use for you. I kinda try to forget everything that happened there, but that still stands out."

[Keisuke]
"It's someone involved with things we didn't know about previously, so it should be useful. Thanks."

[Eiha]
"And they were looking for something or someone specific that was related to either the operation or the Goats' plans."

[GM]
"I see..." she, after all, does not have the full picture.
"Well, maybe he's someone famous. One of guys interviewing me clapped his hands when he heard it, like he realized something there."

[Keisuke]
"That's good. If someone knows who it is we'll have an easier time figuring out what they're after."

[GM]
"It's all I got."
"So as you can see, I'm doing just fine here. Anything else you wanted to know, or is that all from you too?"

[Eiha]
"Eh, I didn't come here for an interrogation, I came here to make sure people weren't being twats." Eiha mused, leaning back, before gesturing idly to all the bruises. "Almost got me with those."

[GM]
"Yeah, those are mostly self-inflicted."
"Which is to say I started most of those fights."

[Eiha]
"I was just about ready to stab a bitch, but seems that isn't necessary."

[Keisuke]
"I was mostly just here to check in on you as well. Glad to see you're doing alright. However I probably need to get going, it's been an eventful return to the village."

[GM]
"Nice to have seen you. Counts for a lot." she seems genuinely happy under all the scruff.

[GM]

。。。

Despite the Mizukage's initial suggestion, the research institute does not simply let you talk to a high profile prisoner. You could probably gain access if you did a lot of back and forth permit-getting, but the mission has been taxing - it's time for you to rest, doing low-effort Shinobi work.
Similarly, Bansen's teacher lets you know through his pupil that Kenji requires isolation, and won't be able to talk to you, as he is presently submerged in a tank of organic chakra-soup.
So, you are assigned to the Village's security detail for now, doing boring patrols around the outskirts. It does not escape your attention that the village needs every hand, and the situation is somewhat tense. Perhaps they are worried that people will try slipping out, but it's not like you have concrete orders to stop any particular people.
The Kaguya clan had reacted to the news Keisuke brought with gruff understanding. Though Keisuke has been congratulated on the S-Rank mission, it's not as if such things really are considered prestigous. Defeating Sabisuke, however...
On that subject, the chieftain promised to talk to Keisuke about Sabisuke's work, as soon as he returns from the visit at the Mizukage's office, and some other business he has in Mist. In two days, he hasn't been back, though.

。。。

On the evening on the second day of your 'rest', someone knocks at the door of Eiha's house, and her mother runs to answer.
This is followed by her shriek of horror, though no other sudden sounds seem to occur.
A different older woman's voice can be heard from the door. "...We were just wondering if this was the house of Eiha Sakurai. Sorry for the freakshow."

[Eiha]
The sought-after one descends from the rooftops, landing near the front door soundlessly in one jump that could very easily be missed for the untrained. Her hand is on the hilt of her tanto, but just preventively.

[GM]
At the door you see a pair of figures, a known one, and a stranger.
The first is a freakishly tall man with a sheathed spear. His clothing pain, save for the eight-holed mask.
The other is a grey-skinned woman. Her body seems a little deformed from regular human anatomy. Though her eyes are human, she has no brows. Her face is missing a nose, and there are some scratches on her cheeks - are those gills?
You have seen individuals like this before, but it's understandable a regular person would freak out.
"Ah, that must be her." her smile reveals a set of shark teeth, which she probably did not need to grind any.
"I'm Hoshigaki Ensou. I am in need of your help." she introduces herself.

[Eiha]
"Can I help you with something?" Eiha's in appearance polite tone is undermined by her inherent aura of predation.

[GM]
Though everything would suggest this is a friendly visit, the atmosphere is quite thick.
"Well, this man says you have a Kaguya in your squad. I could use a visit to the Kaguya clan grounds."
"Good evening." Eight-eyes says simply.
"It's a bit complicated why. I can try to explain here, but it's a bit of a story, you see."
"Either way, the two of us can't just walk over there. It has to be arranged."
"So I hoped we could have a talk like a woman with a woman."
Eight-eyes looks to her. "Let us not be invading a peaceful household. We simply need to meet with your squad after work."
"I am supposed to do a review of your work, anyway."

[Eiha]
The young kunoichi returned the exchange with a somewhat bored stare. "I can relay that message but I'm not promising anything." She stated calmly, though innerly she was rather annoyed at this development. It wasn't exactly like Keisuke was hard to find with his newfound interest for village politics, so coming to her for such a thing seemed rather... convoluted. Enough so that it made her wonder if there wasn't some kind of trick or -something- else off here.

[GM]
"Thank you. These are sensitive times."
"The long and short of it is that I am not the clan head of the Hoshigaki. Some people wrongly suspect that I intend to be."
"I suppose I pass for its elder, uh, by process of elimination."
"When I was born, there were three great clans of Mist: Hozuki, Kaguya, and Hoshigaki. Of those three, only the Kaguya remain. So our position has to be made clear."
"I can't speak for my entire, splintered clan, but I sort of feel the responsibility to take care of it. In short, I need advice from the Kaguya's chieftain. My situation is hard to deal with. A rock and a hard place."
Eight-Eyes nudges her. "It will be better to explain it all in private."

[Eiha]
Though she had dismissed the request as little more than a messenger errand barely worth a D-Rank case, the explanation afterwards did intrigue her somewhat, and she shifted her posture slightly, releasing her grip on the hilt of her tanto. "Fine by me."

[GM]
"Thanks. If the son of Kaguya is wiling to meet me, he'll find us at the Tsuchigumo Seafood Restaurant. It's near the eastern gate."
The pair bows and leaves.
Eiha's mother, who has since withdrawn, returns to the door, watching their backs.
"You know, I never really see much of what shinobi do... do you have to deal with those kind of people a lot?"
"It sounded like they are trying to rope you into something political..."

[Eiha]
"There... aren't that many of them around, so they're a minority."

[GM]
"I see. That's a relief."

。。。

The message is passed to Keisuke. A workday of pacing the coastline later, you have the opportunity to take the woman up on her offer.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke takes a moment to stretch after the work day. He did want to become more involved in the village's politics after all, best see what this is about.

[GM]
Tsuchigumo Seafood Restaurant is, as advertised, ran by the spider-loving clan. It's a fairly small place - their shops selling ink, silk, medicine, and poison, are a lot neater-looking.
You seem to be early, the shark lady is not here yet. However, Eight-Eyes sits in a corner of the room, reading a hard-cover book, and Tasaku can be spotted behind the counter, rolling up sushi alongside a girl, who is probably more of a regular worker.
"Oh hey." he lights up. "It's you guys."
*He turns to the girl. "See what I told you? It's peak hours in the afternoon. You need a bit of help, that's why they're complaining."
The girl seems to be a little annoyed, since the counter doesn't give both of them enough personal space, being flanked by the glass display and a conveyor belt from both sides.
There are various kinds of fish sushi on the display, but octopi and squids seem to be what this place truly specializes in.
"Well, what will it be?" the spear-using shinobi asks.

[Keisuke]
"Gone from fisherman to sushi chef eh? Hmm it's my first time eating the sushi here. I'll take the chef's recommendation."

[Eiha]
Eiha was about to order her usual salmon types, but seeing the rather... -unique- specialty on the menu, she changes her mind, looking for the most esoteric-sounding thing that's readily available.

[GM]
"An aunt of mine can prepare sick blowfish nigiri since she is good at poisons. I'm just a hobbyist." he speaks humbly. "But Ranbo here makes really good Ika Sashimi."

[Eiha]
"The risk of the poison would be kind of wasted on me~ But let's see..." She never expected to see this many tentacles on a menu...

[Keisuke]
"Be honest are the squid and octopus a whole spiders of the sea thing?"

[GM]
"Ika Sashimi is just a piece of tentacle on a plate!" the girl gets further angry at Tasaku's teasing. "Anybody could serve them that!"
"If you want my speciality, that's Uramaki. I'll have to cook a bit more if you want to spend a while here, though." she calms down.

[Eiha]
"Sounds good to me."

[GM]
The already prepared Uramaki is served to you in cones, and placed at the end of the belt, moving toward you slowly, while Tasaku considers the answer to what Keisuke asked.
"Well we weren't always all about spiders. We were more Fuuinjutsu-based. That's why a lot of the clan was dedicated to getting highest quality ink."

[Eiha]
"Huh, that makes a lot of sense."

[GM]
"Back them we were called the Takumo clan. Two generations ago, though, the clan head that fought in the First Shinobi War had this technique based on poisoned ink."
"He researched all kinds of poison to add to the ink, until he found an island that was inhabited by really poisonous spiders... and the rest is history."
"But, well, our Yari-jutsu is still based on the strokes of a brush. Painting with blood, you could say."
"Anyway, how have you guys been?"
The plates arrive, with cones of curled meat, wrapped around a small spring onion. It seems throughly seasoned and sauced.
The idea seems to be that as you bite through the cone, you get more and more of the meat's own taste.

[Keisuke]
"Been getting more involved in the goings on with the family after getting back from that last mission. How about you, things improved between you and the old timer?" he asks nodding towards eight eyes while picking up his food.

[GM]
"Well, he visited us here, so I think so!" Tasaku looks happy about that.
"Most of the clan that aren't Shinobi stayed behind on the land. Seeing him visit does wonders for their morale, I think."
Eight-Eyes seems still only interested in his reading.
"We kind of have to reach out now, though, so that's why he's here, as I understand. You came back at a weird time."
"Some minor clans have been visiting... asking us where we stand."
"Fortunately I don't even know that, so they eat and leave."

[Keisuke]
"Ha. Well I could see why they'd be hesitant to visit the compound directly. If they don't have to guts to brave that island though they'll probalby just have to wait quietly. Speaking of walking into a spider's den... I think I'll go say my greetings now."

[GM]
Eight-Eyes puts down the book, and closes it as you approach.
"I went out to meet you in Lightning Country, you know." he tells you right away. "Since I suspected foul play after you sent Ogumo back."
"If I'm looking a little angry, that's why. At least I got to see interesting things."

[Eiha]
"Well well well, if only we'd knew~"

[Keisuke]
"Oh? I'm sorry we missed you. Especially since you went all that way." he says sincerely. "Did Ogumo at least report everything properly? He did an alright job on the mission. Helped us scout a couple of times, didn't get caught."

[GM]
"Yes. I also read through your reports, so you don't have to worry with that."
"When I came to Umiyama, the place was a mess. A handful of Cloud shinobi were trying to handle an army of those floating piles of scrap. The bottom of the canyon was pretty much impassable, but at least they couldn't crawl up."
"Not after their maker left, anyway. The team that was dispatched killed two of the rogues, but I think those were small fish. By now Cloud probably has the whole place on lockdown and is studying it."
"There were no signs of any monkeys, but I understand you have the contract."

[Keisuke]
"I'm sure they came across at least one of those bodies while going over the place too."

[Eiha]
"Among others, yes. I don't think they realize we were even around for the most part... And yeah there was another in there too, but we already have the, uh, 'sample' for that."

[Keisuke]
"So this should have been reported as well, but that girl from grass we sent back said that while she was being held captive with the goats she encountered an individual with clothes covered in eyed feathers like a peacock, had some connection with the summon watching her. Does that sound like someone you're aware of?"

[GM]
The Jounin's fingers scratch the wooden table. It seems he knows exactly who you are talking about.
"If that's who it sounds like, it's very bad news. That's one of the most powerful Shinobi in Hidden Grass. Not respected, mind you..."
"But he is not considered a rogue, unlike Idekura Ono. Unfortunately, what you have there is hearsay, but I will make sure to pass it on."
"About him, let's see."
"Name is Haruno Daiondori. He is a genjutsu expert."
"I believe his trick was described as a set of chakra tattoos under the make-up. He is able to use some material to supply them with Chakra, to maintain genjutsu active for a long time."
"It's said to not be constantly active, but every time he is seeing people. You would have to catch him unaware."
"Aside of the feathers, he also uses the smell of his perfume, and his own voice. Breaking the Genjutsu is only a momentary relief."
"If you were to fight him as a regular Shinobi, your best chance is long distance combat. But Hidden Mist is a good counter."
"He encountered it before and lived, though. He might have a counterplay of his own." Eight-Eyes wonders.
And sighs.
"As for rating your performance, I would maybe call you too brash. The third contract wasn't necessary."

[Keisuke]
"He seems troublesome, but at least we know he's involved somehow now."

[GM]
"I can't criticize your result, though. Good job."

[Keisuke]
"Thanks."

[GM]
"Oh, yes, I believe the reports mention that you have met a female Hyuuga Jounin."

[Eiha]
"I'd have expected to be called brash if we tried to take out those rogues. There was certainly a -temptation- to, but we decided against."

[GM]
"That was probably Hyuuga Tsubame. I don't know about any other women from the clan at such rank."
"Yes, that was a good call. Ono had a huge advantage in that area."

[Keisuke]
"Yeah I recall her. We used the mist as soon as the snake sage mentioned she was nearby. She sent her genin to parlay while she maneuvered for an ambush."

[Eiha]
"That was part of why. I felt like the matchup was just too stacked to be worth it, personally."

[Keisuke]
"I'm disappointed myself. It would have been quite the battle.  However we needed to secure mr. Glass half empty as well as ensure at least one of us made it back. What a pity. "

[GM]
"Sending a Genin through the Mist sounds like that damn ruthless fox."
"I first faced her... when she was a Genin. And I was already in my mid-twenties by then."
"She fended me off for long enough that the rest of Genin in the exams caught up with the attack, and I had to quit. The next two times, it only got worse."
"If you ever meet her again, don't fight her. You will die."
Eight-Eyes seems very serious about that.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke responds with a carefree smile.
"Understood."

[GM]
"She probably hates me for that time I got myself a Byakugan. It's a wonder I am alive."
"I am not sure you understand. Fighting her is not a fight. Her martial art, the Gentle Fist, attacks your Chakra system directly. With a few glancing touches, anybody in the world will be downed."
"The only defense is something like a very thick coating of Chakra. Not many such techniques exist. A Jutsu won't be good enough."

[Eiha]
"I'd say not letting her close would work as well but you probably know more."

[GM]
"Trust me on this. You did the best thing you could have."
A bit of light slips into the parlor from the outside, as the sheets covering the entrance are parted.
"Ah, there she is." Eight-Eyes gestures towards the person entering the bar, Ensou Hoshigaki.
"As for me, I am content with your performance. Having to work for Feng is a bother, but I wish all of his underlings were so reliable."
"Of course, reliability is something you get through repetition. Don't sleep on the laurels."

[Eiha]
"I wouldn't dream of it~"

[Keisuke]
"Speaking of Lord Feng, I got the vauge notion that this talk was going to involve clan dynamics. Will you simply be mediating or should I be addressing you as a direct participant in the discussion? I admit I would like for our clans to get along."
"But I recognize I don't exactly have the clout yet to bring up anything with you directly."

[GM]
"I would like to remain neutral, but this conversation is going to be out in the open for a reason. Ensou speaks as a concerned mother here."

[Eiha]
"Yeah this is kind of why I was surprised she came to us. We're not that well known yet really."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke formally greets Ensou as she nears the table.

[GM]
"Kaguya are a bit hard to get a hold on in the village. Being seen visiting them has political implications if you do it covertly."

[Keisuke]
"And you can only be so covert in a village full of ninja." he says in understanding.

[GM]
Ensou picks up a dish of Sushi that has apparently been prepared for her, as she always comes at this time.
The fish-lady speaks. "Rather, the point of this is doing it openly."
"Clans have been dealing with some acts of terrorism lately. I would like to get my clan more tightly knit, protect them... but doing so has political implications."
"Lord Feng might not like them. Honestly, he is the first person I talked to about this."

[Eiha]
"Terrorism against the Clans is an act that weakens the village as a whole, I don't think anyone could stand against wanting to stop that.. without making it obvious they care more about their own interests than that of the village, anyway..."

[GM]
"Well, yes. The Mizukage also said that he had no problems with a public forum on the topic, but in order for the Hoshigaki to attend, they would have to be a clan with all of their bearings."
"And the Mizukage did also say he had no problem with be being the head if the various members of the clan together agree to it, but that's sort of where the problem lies."
"There's no way they will aceept me as the clan head."

[Keisuke]
"Could you explain why that is?"

[Eiha]
Eiha leans closer slightly. This is getting interesting and somewhat relevant to -her- interests. "And that will require the Kaguya's assistance, somehow."

[GM]
"It might not, but I want their opinion, as our former peers."
"Sure I can explain it properly." she coughs. "That goes a bit into history."
"I am forty three years old. In my time, I studied the Academy, and passed the Bloody Mist. It kind of scarred me, though, and so I retired after that, and became a housewife in the clan."
"Then the war with Konoha came, while I was bearing my fourth child, and most of the Hoshigaki died abroad. All that was left of us was women and children, and with no clan head, each of the mothers just sort of kept to her own."
"Now they are a flock of bickering harpies that want their kid to be the head."
"After the war, I was alone with four kids, and had to make ends meet, so they specifically allowed me to return to service. I dread imagining what would have happened if I died. That might be why I never became a good Shinobi - I never took risks. It was all about the money."
"My Jounin rank is the Mizukage's grace. I am not worthy of it, a lot of Chuunin are going around that could kick my ass. Maybe even you."
"...But, you know, I am the only Hoshigaki Jounin, and that behooves me to care. I want to make sure we don't drift apart, but I don't really get respect at all."
Eight-Eyes coughs. "For what it's worth, I very much respect Ensou. That's why I agreed to help her."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke nods in understanding, both to Ensou's story and Eight Eye's support.

[Eiha]
"That does... make things a lot clearer..." Eiha noted, leaning back. Her usual aggressive stint now somewhat subdued as the answer that came was far from what she'd expected, and presented a very different and unusual set of problems and challenges.

[Keisuke]
"So you would like the Kaguya clan to help bolster your claim as Matriarch in order to unify the drifting remnants of your clan, however it's a delicate situation and nakedly relying on us for support would only have the opposite effect and intensify the infighting. Is that about right?

[Eiha]
"It would also make her look weak. Like she needs the quote-unquote 'foreign' support to stand on her own."

[GM]
"Mostly I need political advice. About each and every 'son' we could elect."
"I would not mind being in charge but I don't insist on it. The point is that we start talking to each other again."

[Eiha]
"That sounds like the most reasonable course of action."

[GM]
"Eight-Eyes suggested picking the closest relative to the previous head and making them the effective ruler while I become a 'regent' of sorts. That's his angle. But I want to know how other clans do things. In other villages they vote sometimes. I think that for the Hoshigaki it's all about strength, though."
"Perhaps we could determine the heir with a tournament. That's something the Kaguya might do too."
"I am glad you were willing to hear me out, Kaguya Keisuke. Will you accept my plea?"

[Keisuke]
"Of course. I'd be glad to help."

[GM]
It seems to be decided. But, what the chieftain will think, remains to be seen.

。。。




SESSION 25

[GM]
The Kaguya clan lands are a small piece of turf not too far from Mist - though even for Ninja, it's a good few hours of travel that clansmen working in the village would not want to undergo every day.
Some call the Kaguya more a tribe than a clan, and the place they've called home for half a century reflects that. The trees are carved with warning signs not to poach or face their wrath, the pastures of cattle are adorned with bony totems, and the sea's smell comes with a tint of savagery. Gulls sometimes come to Hidden Mist, where other cities have pigeons, but no Gull would dare fly here.
The central settlement is marked by smoke coming out of the wide tents these folk live in, though there are proper houses for the more special Kaguya. To Bansen and Eiha, it may be a surprise that this clan is so plentiful. It would certainly be comparable to a major clan in Konoha, complete with non-combatant civilians who take care of the estate, and make sure that the true money-makers are well fed.
At the center of the settlement lies a large circle of tables around a pit of ash, which seems to be the main meeting area. Even now, a few youngsters are chatting here. The entrance of people not bearing clan markings raises some of their eyebrows, but Keisuke is well known, and well known not to joke around.
The chieftain's mansion can be found past the square with the fireplace. Even if the chieftain has yet to return, Keisuke's mother should be somewhere in there.
Today, that is.
As someone from what may be considered the clan's main bloodline, she makes good use of its training grounds, as long as she isn't away at work, which she sholdn't be right now. Of course, Keisuke's father has a house of his own, a bit deeper into the village.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke turns to address his guests. "When I left earlier today the Chieftan had yet to return from meeting with the Mizukage. However there should be elders present near his residence. This way," he gestures giving some explanations to the various sights of the compound as is polite.

[GM]
The four people, including Eight-Eyes and Hoshigaki Ensou, follow.
The residence is guarded by a pair of Kaguya warriors, who eye you curiously, but don't stop anyone. It seems that there is no intruder in their mind who could possibly endanger those who live inside.
The courtyard is a bit of a spectacle, with a few pairs of people dueling. There is a floor of stone, an entire wall lined with monkey bars, as well as weapon racks filled with items of finest bone. There is what seems to be severed spikes of bone here and there, as if the place used to be a lot more menacing at some point, but had its teeth knocked out for the sake of safety.
A tall, white-haired woman is sitting on a stall near the entrance into the mansion itself. On her lap is a beautiful, carved sword. She waves at Keisuke.
Seeing the company seems to make her stop in her tracks, but she quickly regains her composure and stands up.
"I'd ask why you're back so soon, but this isn't just introducing your friends, is it." she points to Eight-Eyes.
"Did my idiot brother get you tangled into some dumb political business?"

[Keisuke]
Keisuke shakes his head before speaking.
"No allow me to make the introductions. This is my mother Kaguya Keiko." he informs his guests. "And this is Ensou Hoshigaki who has a request to make of the clan. Lord Tsuchigumo is accompanying her as a facilitator. These are my squadmates Sakurai Eiha and Bansen." he introduces everyone formally. "Mrs Hoshigaki ran her request by me in part due to the political tensions being high. The village doesn't need wild rumors flying off about clandestine alliances or brazen powerplays."

[GM]
Eight-Eyes bows slightly, and Ensou does in his example.

[Eiha]
Eiha gave a small curtsie, but remained quiet otherwise. This entire exchange had little use for her presence given it was negotiation between formal clans and she was essentially a nobody, but the opportunity did allow her to observe the clan grounds, which was a fairly curious thing that she could appreciate and perhaps even learn from. Knowledge was power, after all, and it helped that she was essentially not intimidated in the slightest by all the menacing or grim displays, finding them 'neat' more than anything else...

[GM]
Keisuke's apparent mother brings a hand up to her chin, in hopes of making sense of this. "We don't really get visitors from other clans often, so we should treat those few brave ones right."
Then, she leans forward a bit, taking a look first at Eiha's tanto, and then on Bansen's weapon. "Both swordsmen, huh."
"I like it. We should work together sometime."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "It's tradition, but it's one I like." She noted tersely with a nod. Swordsmanship was a Mist thing since as long as history recorded, though it was common for youths to try to dismiss tradition.

[Bansen]
"I'm sure we could all learn some things from each other."

[Keisuke]
"No poaching my teammates." he jokes.
"Mrs Ensou here finds herself in a sticky situtaion regarding the successor to her clan. She'd like to see how the other clans handle such matters in hopes of figuring out how she wants to handle it. If the Chief isn't back yet, got any ideas on who we should talk to about that sort of stuff?"

[GM]
Keiko eventually nods. "If it was just your friends, we could invite them home, but I guess this is an audience. Kaguya-sama has returned a few hours ago."
"He didn't look like he was in a good mood, but I think he tends to take those feelings out on the battlefield. You should be fine."
She sits down again. "You can still sleep over at our place if it drags on... We should at least have two spare beds."
"Well, go in. It would look bad if your mother were to go with you, you know?"
"Tell some servant inside what the deal is, they should arrange a meeting."

[Keisuke]
"Sure. See you later." he leads the others in before tracking down said servant. Here's hoping the old man will be amiable when they meet him.

[GM]
。。。
A meeting is quickly arranged with a maid, an older lady. You are led to a spacious room, similar to the one Tsuchigumo Joubin met you in - but this time, he is on your side.
Kaguya Konan catches up with you very quickly. He is a massive man, who is lucky to only have sliding door in his house, otherwise he'd have to lean down. He immediatelly frowns at seeing Eight-Eyes.
"I figured it was something like that. So soon?"
The Jounin rises his palm in a defensive gesture. "I am just here to provide a sense of urgency. Let the others speak."

[Keisuke]
As opposed to leaping in to things Keisuke opts to let the clan heads have their opening talks before he interjects. It may prove informative.
Sadly it seems old Eight Eyes is keeping things doesn't plan to let anything slip so easily.

[GM]
The Kaguya chieftain sits down, his posture a lot less deliberated. He does deliberate on his next words, though: "I keep a lid on it, but we also had some sucker try to infiltrate the place. Someone died because of that."
"But we are lucky since we keep skin exposed. An expansive seal like that is hard to hide here, especially since we have a marking system of our own. It stood out to his wife that he suddenly started wearing more."
"Apparently you had it a lot tougher."
Ensou takes her word. "That is why we are here, in the end. It's about the Hoshigaki, and those cases."
"Your clans are united, so you can defend yourselves. Ours is a lot worse off. I seek your counsel on the matter of uniting it."

。。。

Bit by bit, Ensou explains her case.
In the end, she adds more detail that she hasn't told you yet.
"...Which makes me the highest ranked Shinobi in the clan, but not the most influential person. Or the richest.*
The chieftain nods slowly. "I know a bit of it, but tell me in your own words. Who are the others?"
"Very well." she nods. "What's left of the clan grounds is governed by Hoshigaki Enko. She's an old crone with a single son remaining, a thirty years old Chuunin. He might be a candidate on basis of age but he's not very strong. Enko herself is a retired Chuunin."
"They are the closest in blood to the previous clan head, but they both drink quite a bit. They have terrible debts. If they take over, they'll just use us to pay them off."
"Another important woman is Hoshigaki Figakura - a commoner woman who married into the family. Her father is a merchant and she inherited quite a bit of guile, if not property, from him. But she's rich. She has been hoping to take over the estate, but Enko doesn't want to have her debts resolved like that. She has six sons. Three of them are young, wiht a new man, and the third oldest doesn't seem to carry our blood. The other two are proper Hoshigaki."
"I hold her eldest son in fairly high regard, but I don't think he likes his mother much. It extends to the rest of the family. He is still an active Chuunin, the other Hoshigaki retired after being a Genin for too long. He didn't want to die. Now he works for his mother, as a land shark."
The chieftain can't hold back laughter.
"The third is Hoshigaki Myukaren: the youngest. She is a retired Chuunin, but before she moved out of the estate, she took a lot of scrolls with her, since nobody really was up to stopping her back then. Most of the clan's Hiden is with her."
"She has two daughters and a son: The oldest daughter retired, but the second daughter is a competent Shinobi. The third, the boy, has recently passed Bloody Mist. It's said he already obtained a contract before being certified as a Genin. His blood is strong... It might even be a mutation of some sort."
"Explaining why obtaining a contract is special in our family would require me to divulge too much about our Hiden. But it's pretty special. It took me a long time to earn it."
"...And then there's me. I have an oldest son who has retired, the second and third are daughters who were never trained as Shinobi, the fourth is a son who is still an active Chuunin... and lately, the fifth, that I had with my new husband, passed the Chuunin exams in Konoha."
"There are a few more branches but those are the ones with influence. Old money with Enko, New money with Figakura, Old Power with me, and New Power with Myukaren."
She scratches her scales. "I hope that makes sense. I have it all written out on a scroll, if you need a complete family tree."
Kaguya Konan thinks about it. "How many Hoshigaki are in service total, compared to the total family?"
"I'd say ten. Mist has about thirty people total with the blood... though that might not be a problem, considering what our clan's Hiden really is."

[Eiha]
Though the whole thing was not in the least her decision, Eiha still decided to try to pay as much attention as she could afford to while keeping up a relatively distant facade, half due to her natural curiosity, and half so she wouldn't be caught like a penguin if asked her opinion out of the blue. So far there were quite a few interesting elements. Only chunins of varied quality as possible clan heads was certainly a weak position no matter how one sliced it, and that would definitely make things difficult for the Hoshigaki, even if it weren't from their internal divisions. There was also the mention of that potential mutation that seemed like it could tie into the investigations her group had been on lately, but she wisely remained quiet on that matter.

[GM]
"That would have been a decently sized clan, though nothing compared to us." Konan nods. "The glory of Hoshigaki was squandered in the war."
"So you want to unite them, before someone does it for you, and your blood finds itself on what you think is going to be the wrong side of history."
Ensou seems a bit pained. "I'm not that ambitious. I don't like every other person in there, but I want to keep them safe."
Konan rises a finger. "Unfortunately for you, that's not how it works in Mist. If you have such feelings, you must present them as ambition."
"It's not a matter of bringing your skin to the market. It's not a matter of deception. It's a matter of confidence."
Eight-Eyes considers this thought, despite pushing himself out earlier. "Feng is reaping what he has sown. Confidence in yourself is the way of the Mist, as you have said."
"In keeping too many things under wraps, no matter his intentions, in keeping people guessing, he has made Mist stray off its path. This is the result."

[GM]
The chieftain avoids the gaze, staring at the ceiling. "I wonder about that."

[Keisuke]
Keiskuke seems about to launch into a breakdown of the information but restrains himself to avoid derailing the topic. "If I'm being blunt, Enko's branch seems the most damaging to your clan's future. If severing them from the clan could somehow help you secure one of the other two branches you mentioned I'd advise considering it. Myakuren despite what could be looked at as theft and hoarding of your clans secrets holds the keys to strengthening your clan's future generations, while Figakura seems like a stable choice for dealing with the costs and politics of dealing with outside forces. You offer enough to balance out the loss of one the other three even if securing all three would be ideal."
"A direct way would be to make an example of Enko to cow the other branches into submission but I get the feeling that isn't a direction you would like to pursue."

[GM]
*Ensou seems to have some feelings about that first remark. "I feel sorry for her. She lost everything back then. I don't want to take even more from the woman."
"But you're right that I have to be decisive. Or fake it 'till I make it."

[Keisuke]
"Though you may consider finding a way of absolving their debts. Its not like I'm suggesting to cut them off out of malice, merely practicality. How did they get so in debt and to whom do they owe?"

[GM]
"The estate is big. The two of them can't keep it together alone. In their defense though, they try. A lot of the debts are loans for repairs."
"But Figakura says that they drank through a lot of that money too, and her son visits gambling parlors now and then."
Konan adds a dangerous notion: "If even the rich woman can't take the estate from her in a legal way, you could probably have it taken by the absolute order of the Daimyo."
"Which is something Feng can surely arrange for you."

[Keisuke]
"Ah. Well I can understand them wanting to maintain the clan grounds at least. It's easy to dismiss it as just some land and old buildings but places tend to have a power all their own."

[Eiha]
Eiha gave a small nod of approval, before deciding to pitch in her two cents about this. "The best way to unite people who have a hard time getting along tends to be an outside threat of some sort. Might want to try and find something like that."

[Keisuke]
"We could always play the bad guys." he chuckles at his clan's reputation.

[GM]
"That's what I am concerned about." Ensou says. "There IS a threat right now, but they won't believe it until someone dies."
"For all we know someone in the clan could already be posessed."

[Eiha]
"Hm, true, we could use -that-." She mused before blinking at the mention of possession. "Wait, we have -two- now?"

[GM]
"When we speak of clans being  infiltrated, we speak of the Hollow Shell Seal." Eight-Eyes explains calmly. "It is a very complicated Fuuinjutsu capable of binding a soul."
"The basic use for it is to transfer the user's consciousness from one body to another by transferring the seal. It is a fairly crude technique compared to the tags you have encountered on your assignment."
"Some Shinobi of old used that technique as a way of achieving immortality and living for a hundred years. Not a lot of people today can even write it, but it's officially recorded. Nothing very original."
"The body of my clansman you found in the water dish on the shore bore that same seal. If the seal was still alive, and you were to touch it, it could have transferred to you."
"If it did, whoever wrote that seal would be able to take over your body at any time."
"Well, Kaguya, we believe that it's Hozuki Andaro doing it. His profile as a Fuuinjutsu user would match."

[Keisuke]
"The sealing arts are truely mysterious."

[GM]
Konan nods. "I heard as much from Feng."
"You'll have to learn a bit of sealing arts soon, Keisuke. Didn't you accquire a contract recently?"
"The seal should be possible to release like any other seal. Trouble begins when it's used to bind a soul to a deceased body..."
"Then releasing the seal will kill them."

[Keisuke]
"I did. I'm hoping to find companion that is skilled in the sealing arts as well as that ancient hermetic knowledge they displayed."

[GM]
"It's an important thing to have at the ready. Like a medic, and a Genjutsu expert." he seems content with your answer, however.
"Speaking of medics, I spoke to Sabisuke in the village, incidentally, but maybe you consider it too personal a matter to discuss here?"
"There are definitely some parts of it I'd rather not have known."
This seems to be a difficult topic for him, but he also seems oddly open about it compared to what Sabisuke's instructions were.

[Keisuke]
"I'll leave it to your discretion. Everyone here seems to have the clearance needed that it wouldn't be unusual if they found out about it anyway somehow."

[GM]
Ensou looks a bit confused, but she has a lot to think about herself.
"Fine. Long story short, we agreed that Sabisuke should have talked to me as soon as he was contacted by those conspiracy goons."
"But a lot of what happened before that was an inevitability. I did give him a mission and he carried it out splendidly. It's just that he himself is not content about the result."
"I made sure he knew he is still welcome here, if they ever let him out. I don't condone him acting on that blackmail, though."
"Maybe Joubin is right." That seems to refer to Eight-Eyes. "Maybe he became so psyched out beacuse he spent too long around Feng."

[Keisuke]
"I think the issue is too deep seated to lay it an Lord Feng's feet if I'm being honest. I think it more indicative of the enemy's skill at finding and exploiting weaknesses. Did he mention that idea about Pako to you?"

[GM]
"Something of the sort. I don't really get it, but he seems to want to create a puppet of her based on her body."
"I think he called it a Yang anchor? It sounds like something he'd have to be out of Samehada's guts to make, though."
Ensou flinches at the mention of Samehada.

[Keisuke]
"To tempt her with the allure of a body that won't rot due to her presence yeah. Who knows? If it's made right it could keep her from using any of her more esoteric abilities permanently."
"Yeah. At least its a project that he can propose to help rectify his past mistake."

[GM]
"I suppose I should bring it up when I next visit Mist. Our time is not so short."
"Neither is yours, Ensou. I'd recommend making sure no one in your clan is marked with the seal yet - in person, if you must." he tells the shark-woman.
"I already made the rounds right after the Mizukage told me of it." Ensou says. "I could make it a regular thing."
"They already think I'm cooking up some sort of a situation for them, and that's exactly right."

[Keisuke]
"You also mentioned you had considered a tournament for clan head or clan heir. If you go with that you can also throw in an inspection to check everyone of the contestants for seals to "ensure a fair contest" while also checking for inflitrators."
"If putting focus on grooming the future clan leader you could possibly make a "Council" of regents to help unify everyone and make them feel as if you all have an equal influence on the future clan head. Though balancing that with actually maintaining the final say would be quite difficult."

[GM]
"I'm thinking about the tournament thing, but I'm also scared of being the lady that organized a tournament just to whip everybody's butt."
"...Or maybe you are scared that somebody would whip your butt." the chieftain says heartily, but it's still a taunt.
Ensou responds with bared teeth. "You know what, you're right. I am approaching this totally wrong. Not in a natural way."
"If everybody else is a pushy mother, I have to compete on that level. I'll bake a lot of food and invite everybody and make them jealous of how good me and my kids have it."
"It's flawless. Why didn't I think of it before?"
"I guess I'm already at the point where I held a kunai for a longer time in my life than a kitchen knife."

[Keisuke]
"Well to be fair that does seem like a more... um... matriarchal method."

[GM]
She brings her hands up to her hair, ruffling through it. "Thank you for your help. You made me pretty mad right now."
"And I think I needed that."
She stands up. "I think I'd better take my leave right now, before I do or say something I regret."
Eight-Eyes seems like he wants to say something, but ends up putting his hand down.
Konan speaks instead. "If you want to organize a tournament later, we can help you set it up. Just because it's interesting."
"I'll consider it." she says, calmly stepping out of the room, like a proper shinobi.
You can hear her steps two rooms later being a lot less deliberated, though.
"That wasn't what I brought her over for." Eight-Eyes seems dissatisfied. "But I suppose it did something.*
"I gave her the advice that made me a chieftain and that made the Kaguya clan great." Konan laughs. "It's sink or swim in Kirigakure."
"Or learn to walk on water somehow."

[Keisuke]
"I was hoping it'd go a little more smoothly." Keisuke sighs.
"I'm pretty sure everyone in this room can in fact walk on water actually."

[Eiha]
"I'd hope that."

[GM]
"It wasn't always the norm, though. That's the power of civilization." the chieftain says. "You get involved, put in effort, and then present your effort to your children as normal. So people after you will put in as much effort. That's culture. That's heritage."
"Right now she's putting in the most effort in her entire clan. She needs to get everyone to put in as much effort."
"Even if it doesn't happen today, eventually her family would become the only Hoshigaki clan there is, because they care about the past and the future, and not just the present."

[Eiha]
Eiha gave a small nod, that last tidbit of advice seeming pretty solid to her, but also actually useful. "That sounds like a good rule to stick by."

[GM]
That seems to be all he has to say. He considers whether he put it all together succintly.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke nods after thinking on it.
"Now we just need to get the entire village to do that then agree on what direction the "Future" should be and it'd all be sunshine and rainbows... and violence. Don't think that will change anytime soon."

[Eiha]
"We'd be out of a job if that last part changed."

[Keisuke]
"If you don't mind my asking old Eight Eyes, what was the result you were most hoping for?" it seems that now that the formalities are mostly past so too is the "Lord" stuff.

[GM]
Eight-Eyes speaks: "I'd be gladder if the other villages even understood our way at all and didn't just think us a bunch of cutthroats. They're not any better."
"Her second husband died recently. Right now she needs to regain her confidence. He put it all too bluntly... but it was the truth."

[Eiha]
Eiha leaned back, bringing her off-hand to tub the back of her head. "Hm, in my experience, the Leaf is brought up pretty softly. I'm kind of amazed most of their genin don't freeze up the first time they kill or see a friend die."

[GM]
"There's strength in that gap." the chieftain comments. "And there's weakness in single-minded egoism that you see all too often in Kiri."
"There is a large nuance in ambition, confidence, and just being a selfish bastard."

[Keisuke]
"You would know them better than I would, but don't they have people like the previous and current Hokage? They seem to have fearsome reputations that contrast with that of the village."

[Eiha]
The kunoichi tilted her head and quirked a brow, somewhat confused by that statement. "There's strength in good teamwork, but there's also such a thing as being coddled too much." She mused before shifting her attention to Keisuke. "Oh don't take me wrong, that man is extremely dangerous, but he's the exception, not the norm."

[GM]
"I guess I should rephrase." Eight-Eyes coughs. "This wasn't actually a trick test. I separated my clan from Mist because I am terrible at it."
"I hoped for some more detailed commentary for sure. This is just good enough."
The chieftain sighs. "At least she now knows what her hand is. The Mizukage made her a Jounin to make a point and seems to trust her. That's massive political advantage she doesn't seem to understand."

[Keisuke]
"To be honest I'd like to hear more from the both of you as well as Lord Feng in regards to all of" he gestures around vaguely "this. Clans, the village, other villages, the future, all that stuff."
"Is it because she's still looking at them as family?"

[GM]
"There is a lot of it." Eight-Eyes says. "Shinobi of Mist sort of slowly uncover it as they rise in rank. It has been so for generations. Some of them don't like it, and retire or leave."
"But the truth of history tends to be in the middle." he goes on. "Simply put, things happen for a reason. People are led to be confident as you heard earlier, and so they're all too confident in assuming they have all the facts."
"We don't mind sharing some of it. But they are subjects of shame. Times we lost to other villages. Things that would not inspire kids in the academy. The truth of the Shinobi world."
"It is enough to even break a man like Andaro."

[Eiha]
Eiha could only quirk a brow again, somewhat unsure of what the older jonin meant by that. What was there to be traumatized by once one made it past the first gate that was the genin rites? As he went on though, it finally started to make sense. "Confidence is only good as long as it doesn't turn to arrogance."

[Keisuke]
"Hmph. A loss unlearned from is the truest form of failure." he responds regarding the village's past. "At least you higher ups seem informed on them."
"That makes sense." he agrees with Eiha.
"I'm guessing asking for an elaboration on the Truth of the Shinobi world isn't likely to get us much right now? Though I will say once I have enough influence, I plan to get at least some more reliable information regarding sealing and summoning into those courses. We were really dropped in the deep end with that stuff this last misison and it seems more important by the day."

[Eiha]
"That sounds reasonable."

[GM]
"It's the opposite." the chieftain shouts."Suzume-chan, bring us tea! It's time for a history lesson."
The old maid peeks in, and disappears, presumably to go make it.
"The unredacted version."
Eight-Eyes scratches behind his mask. "It is said that history told as a set of events occcuring as dates is pointless. It does not stick in the student's heads."
"The only correct way to tell history is to tell opinions. To know the ideologies of the world, and to know why people did the things they did and fought the wars they fought."
"Here you have two men with very different viewpoints of history, I believe. Those two angles should give you a plastic picture."
Kaguya Konan takes the tray. "Well put."
"Now, what village do we start with?"

。。。

(You all gain +1 Lore! Political map of the setting will be put up on roll20 notes during the week.)




SESSION 26

[GM]

。。。

A few days pass by. Apparently Ensou took the Chieftain up on his offer a few days later, but it would take a while to organize. Considering everyone's circumstances, probably weeks.
Before then, you're called to the Mizukage's office for a regular assignment.
"We've found some work for you. I hope you're rested." the man pushes up his glasses, passing the dossiers to his secretary, who delivers them to you.
"The client is Tea Country Trading Company. You will be reinforcing a squad already working in their employ, under the command of Ichikawa Tsukino, one of our Jounin. Profile of him and his squad is in the dossier, but they should be operating pretty openly."
"Their assignment has been protecting the client's ships, as a few of them have been recently sunk in harbors. They identified the culprits as summoned beings - and rats. Something one of you has dealt with before."
"They haven't incurred any losses, but they are spread over a few cities at this point, and asked for a reinforcement - to take over their job, or resolve the situation for good. The client has agreed to pay more. You should be able to meet with Ichikawa in Tomi Town, closest to Mist on the island."
"In case you can't finish the assignment in two weeks, please return back here, because you might be summoned for the council by then. We'll replace you with another squad if need be."
Tsukino is a thin-eyed pretty boy with long hair. Tsukino's squad features a tall man with a sword, a fat boy with a shark face that Eiha recognizes from the Chuunin exams, and a tan-skinned girl with an impudent expression on the photo. All three are apparently Chuunin.
"Any questions?"
"Then, go forth, my Shinobi."

。。。

[GM]
Tomi Town, like most cities in Tea Country, is a harbor. It is said that Tea Country had a shinobi village at some point, but it likely got crushed between the two major villages. If it still exists, it isn't really present on the job market, with most contracts falling to Mist, and the rest of them to Leaf in case the employers are prejudiced.
Ichikawa Tsukino can be found at a bar at the appointed time. He looks troubled, but only seems to be having tea on the job.
None of his Chuunin seem to be near. Whether he registred you or not is a mystery, his eyes are barely open slits that are mostly interested in his cup.

[Eiha]
By contrast, Eiha is quite alert. On the way to their new assignment, she took a moment to remind her comrades that the last time she had to deal with Rats trying to destroy or steal from civilians, it involved some sort of sacred statue tied to the Uchiha and some sort of ancient legends she doesn't fully remember at the time. The specifics are not important to her so much as the fat that she suspects if the Rats are attacking the Tea Company's ships, there is most likely some sort of obscure reason to it beyond petty piracy.

As for the Jonin himself, his states puts her on alert. An experienced ninja looking wide open is more often than not bait to try to coax foes into making a move. Either something's off, or whatever he's seen, it truly shook him to the core. Whatever the answer might be, things should be rather interesting, so she wastes no time in heading over.

[Bansen]
Bansen walks over to the jounin and looms over his table with his massive stature.

[GM]
He looks up.
"Ah, you must be the reinforcements." he lets out a sigh. "Feel free to order something. It's daytime, so we're resting."
He gestures for you to sit down with the movement of a person that was once refined, but is now rather tired.
"I'll tell you, this is unlike any job I've ever had. Very un-Shinobi-like. It makes me find new appreciation for the mooks we usually kill without a second thought."

[Bansen]
Bansen takes a seat. "We heard you were having some trouble."

[Eiha]
"Given the long face he's been doing, seems the hearsays were right."

[GM]
"Well, this is outside of my area of expertise... even though it's exactly my expertise." he laughs fakely. "The four of us are here because of our logistic prowess."
"We are dealing with a large army of worthless opponents. A single shinobi would be easily capable of sinking a ship, but..."
"It takes a lot of those guys, and a lot of them there are."
"The Tea Country Trading Company is a big fish. It can afford to hire a lot of regular guards before resorting to Shinobi. And these things have trouble coming up from the sea."
"You'd think rats can swim, but only a few of them can actually walk on water. And none of the ships have been sunk while out in the sea."
"The weirdest thing, though, is their nature. I have beaten a few of the same rats a few times now, but some of them, um."
"Some of them aren't summoned. They leave bodies and bleed out, as if they weren't subject to a summoning contract."
"My first theory was that they were humans crossed with a shinobi animal race, like how the Hoshigaki are crossed with sharks, but Shinoraze got really angry and said that they aren't crossed with sharks."

[Eiha]
At first, the kunoichi remained quiet, simply listening to the briefing while waiting for the other shoe to drop. From what the Jonin was saying, the rats should be very easily handled by the regular guards, yet clearly if they were here, there was a catch. Something that made this a lot more complicated than it seemed. She waited for that to be reached, almost prowling for that answer, but then a certain topic came up that made her speak up again.

"I can definitely confirm there exist weird rat-people hybrids. Had to fight one some time ago. The rats seem to have their own agenda though, so the reason they don't poof as if summoned could also be because they're acting directly, without the intermediary of a Summoner."

[GM]
"I see..." he tries to gather wind into his sails again.
"Well, my other idea was that there is a mother rat somewhere here that keeps birthing these. They aren't subject to a contract because they are freshly born."
"It doesn't feel like a summoner's load of chakra could be producing a relentless army like that."
"The ones that leave bodies are all pretty humanoid, though... and they aren't very strong. They speak a language not of our own. We only killed a few."
"The small gangs of rats trying to sneak into harbors come all from the land. The smarter bastards that know the Water Walking technique are more troubling. They can create this trail of black tar that the little ones can run over. I'd even believe it's always the same bastard we keep killing."
"Well, we are stationed here beacuse we are good at logistics and power multiplication. I hate to admit it, but this kind of un-shinobi-like job where we are in charge of soldiers suits the four of us."
"Over the two weeks, we've set up a system of early warning in case of an attack from the sea. We can even transport supplies from harbor to harbor thanks to the girl, or summon sharks to deal with that kind of an assault."
He looks you over critically. "You seem to be Chuunin at least. What have you got?"
"Some tracking ability would be helpful. Fat boy can't do that on the land."

[Eiha]
At the inquiry, Eiha decided to skip over the obvious. Her tanto should be quite visible on display - assuming the jonin paid attention earlier - and being from Mist, Water techniques should also be a given, so she went straight to the useful. "I can probably track back the rats coming from inland to their nest or whatever hideout they use, then it doesn't really matter how many of them they are, it shouldn't be hard to choke out the entire place."

[Keisuke]
"So long as they aren't perfectly quiet I can keep tabs on them."

[GM]
"That would be nice. We've been stuck here so long I have a tab in this bar now."

[Eiha]
"It should be possible to retrace where they came from using their scent, assuming they were smart enough to cover up their conventional trails."

[GM]
"Alright. I can't really think of anything specific we need you to do aside of end this goddamn job. We went through the woods and the hills during the day a few times, but got nothing except some villagers that said they saw rats... all over the place."
"You might want to check out the other four cities along the coast. The middle one doesn't have Shinobi in it, but the ships in there are warded with Fuuinjutsu."
"Oh, and there's a team from Konoha in Inoue's town up North, on an unrelated assignment. You can ignore those guys."

[Eiha]
"Fair enough, we don't need any more pointless complications. Now there are a few things I'd like to know."

[GM]
"Ask away." he drinks to the bottom, and refills his cup.

[Eiha]
"So, let me get this straight. They've been attacking ships at port mostly, and they've been trying to attack all sorts of ships, in multiple towns, indiscriminately right?"

[GM]
"Hm, good question. Most of the ships here belong to Tea Country Trading Company. As soon as they lift their anchor they seem to be safe, but it's an important hub."
"I don't recall investigating any private ships that got sunk, though, or seeing them go for private ships. We prioritized placing the wards on the client's ships, but that's most of them."

[Eiha]
"Right, then, have they ever tried to attack the warehouses that store the goods those ship carry? Because it seems to me like if they wanted to destroy the cargo, that might be easier."

[GM]
"...No."
"Also, one of the ships they went for was totally empty."

[Eiha]
"Sure, if they sink a ship, they can send the cargo to the bottom, but setting fire to a warehouse shouldn't be too hard."
"So it isn't the cargo."

[GM]
"Right." he nods.

[Eiha]
"Do you know about the sailing route they take? or any islands that might be in that area? If they're not trying to destroy the cargo, then the next thing I can see is them being afraid the ships might come too close to something they don't want found."

[GM]
"Huh." that gives him a pause. "I don't know all the different ships we were protecting that went back and forth, but the company would know which ones were in danger. Maybe you could go to their office and try to find a pattern in that."
"Mostly they go on the south of the continent, though."
"Sand, Fire, Tea, Mist, and then to the northern seas... and back."

[Eiha]
Eiha leaned back and gave a nod. "Right. We can probably smoke out the nests inland without too much problem, but see, what's nagging me here..." She leaned forward, emphasizing her words with a hand gesture. "That's a whole lot of rats, attacking a whole lot of ships, over a long period of time. But -why- though? There has to be a -reason- of some kind, and if we don't find that reason, then we'll leave that puzzle half-solved, and they might try again later after they recover."
"Plus, if we find what they're after, we can be more proactive instead of reactive."

[GM]
"I figured the company just really pissed off someone else who also had a lot of money, and they hired a powerful Shinobi that can just summon an army."

[Eiha]
"It's not entirely impossible that this is a personal revenge."
"At first I thought the Rats might be trying to find and steal something specific, because they've done that before - or tried anyway. I'm not so sure about that anymore since they seem to be making so many indiscriminate attacks, but that could just mean they don't know which ship has what they want, or when it'll depart, so they could be trying to attack all of them for that reason."

[GM]
"If it's any help, the client says they're not the only ones getting attacked. Companies in Fire Country have been having problems too."
"Like the TCTC, those companies were mostly accountable to the Daimyo."

[Eiha]
"The rats did try to steal ancient artifacts from the Land of Fire before, but this seems like something different. There has to be some sort of common point between them."
"Before, they were trying to do this the sneaky way, but now they're being really brazen, mounting lots of attacks all over the place."

[GM]
"Well, they have put a dent in total naval power of two countries before Shinobi got involved. Only a dent, though."
"The Daimyos are worried because that's important economically somehow - not just for trading, how many ships there are is apparently important. I'm not an economist."

[Eiha]
"I... highly doubt the rats are trying to crash the economy, but we'll see."

[GM]
"Yeah. I recommend you go around the place for now, maybe visit the other three to see how things are set up. Night is when there's likely going to be an attack, somewhere."
"At least one place is getting attacked every night. It hasn't really been intensifying, but they have been getting craftier."
"In case I need you, some sort of a contact would be good. Do you have radios?"

[Eiha]
"We do, actually."

[GM]
"Good."
Tsukino shares his team's frequency with you.
"You can use it to hail us, or be hailed. Try to be close to whichever of the cities, so you can be reached in case of an emergency."

[Eiha]
"Right, one last thing. You mentioned setting up an early warning system. How does it work?"

[GM]
"Inoue is the girl on our team - she talks funny, you'll know when you see her. She has a technique where she can write down a few circles in different places."
"The most basic use of it is a way of transferring a message... so each of the cities has a circle like that in the harbor, and nobody is allowed to touch it. If one of us writes something in there, it appears in the other ones."
"That's it. Simple, useless in a fight, but most Fuuinjutsu experts can't do it."
"Crappiest space-time ninjutsu ever. Just reducing the summoning circle to the essentials."

[Eiha]
"So it's more an alert system."

[GM]
"Yeah. But she also set some traps around places normal people don't go through. Try not to trip on them yourselves. Rooftops of the harbors are strung with wires and tags."

[Eiha]
"That might do the trick then."

[GM]
"She even put shimenawas into the water. It's annoying to move them out of the way everytime a ship leaves the harbor though, so it's a work in progress."

[GM]
"Well, I'll leave you to your own devices. I'd like a report in two days at least."
"And since you're here, I can finally go take a nap."
He yawns. "The day is young."

。。。

Now then, where to?
The island is pretty small, Shinobi barely take two hours to cross all of it. These harbours are practically all there is, aside of some woods.
A few villages are inland, slowly emptying what little lumber there is in the hills. If you are to investigate inland, that would be a good place to look.

[Bansen]
"We should ask the companies about the sunk ships. Maybe we can establish a clearer pattern."

[GM]
That is also an option.

[Eiha]
"That would definitely be my first priority. The hideouts shouldn't be too hard to take out at this point."

[GM]
The company's office is in the middlemost city - the one that no shinobi is watching. You can get there fairy quickly, as long as you don't get lost running through these tiny trees.
As you approach, you can quickly recognize it, as it is the most well furnished building in the town before even the Town Hall - and it's clear who wears the pants in this economical relationship.
The city isn't poor to be sure, but it is quite simple. This place is actually gaudy, with freshly painted wood, and sculptures on every corner of roof.
A few men who look like sailors after their best effort to groom themselves sit around in the local waiting room, with the receptionist getting through their papers one by one. That man also notices you as soon as you enter.
He reaches over the table, and rings a bell on it, startling some of the clients. A well-dressed woman comes down from the upstairs, looking first frustrated, but then relaxing when she sees you.
"You must be the reinforcements we paid for. It is nice of you to check in." her smile reveals the black-painted teeth, indicative of having previously worked in wholly different business.
"Unfortunately, our Director here is gone right now, so I have to receive you instead. Come up."
She tiptoes up the stairs again, her shoes not making it easy.

[GM]
The sailors barely look up, enjoying the comforts they don't get at sea.

[Eiha]
Save for acknowledging their identity with a small nod, Eiha remained mostly quiet at this juncture, mostly out of a concern of confidentiality. Much as she would love to see the sailors start quivering in fear at the notion of rabid rat-men monsters lurking and just waiting to assault them, she figures it would not be good for business to speak so openly.

[GM]
Up above is a small room, which must be her office, with a sliding door that leads into a more spacious room with a view of the city. The woman expresses no shame moving right through, and sitting herself behind her boss's desk as you come in.
There is a couch and a few armchairs, it seems business is talked here a lot. The secretary's chair is frankly the worst chair in the room.
It seems she managed to turn on the stove while running through, too.
"Now, then, I understand your job does not differ from the one we were already giving the Shinobi in our employ - keeping our property secure from those ratty vandals." she giggles.

[Eiha]
"Mere vandals wouldn't have the resources to mount attacks in the scope and quantities that you're apparently dealing with." Eiha countered quite quickly, though she maintained a mostly neutral tone as she said so. "I'll be straight. I have reasons to believe the actions of the rats here are part of some sort of greater strategy, and that they have a specific purpose. I'm here to try and find out what that purpose might be."

[Bansen]
"We're here to take it a step further than our colleagues and make sure you're never bothered again."

[GM]
"I see." She nods. "That won't be hard, because none of them showed up here since their job started."
"There are actually a few things that happened since that we wanted to have brought up with them, but you are here now."

[Eiha]
"Do tell, that might narrow the possibilities down already."

[GM]
"A few captains who had been working for us had been killed - not here, in Fire Country. In different places."
"The Shinobi we are employing over there report that something humanoid but animal must have done it -  though we don't seem to be dealing with Rats in Fire. Far fewer such attacks over there, too."
"The three captains that happened to had something in common that we find suspicious - they are the only ones that took the route to the west."
"That's something we only undertake a few times a year, but the results are well worth it. We still have a few people who can navigate the place, mostly from their crew."

[Eiha]
"Hm, that means one of the theories I had suddenly has a lot more weight to it. As for the assassins, we've dealt with half-beast half-animal hybrids before, so that might fit the description you've just given."

[Bansen]
"You don't happen to be planning another such voyage any time soon, are you?"

[GM]
"In a month. We're going to have to promote someone before then." she nods.
"Of course, it is half a year back and forth. There are ships on the way right now."
"The route goes around Wind Country, where it only resupplies, and around Dust Country, which is the difficult to navigate area, as I understand."
"After that is the Snake Country, and finally the Dragon Country. They go up North at the end, apparently, having circumvented the whole contintent. I can provide you with some maps, but no real cartographer has really put together a good one."
"Dragon Country pays well in gold for our goods, though, so we still try."

[Bansen]
"Do you know where the ships were sunk on that route?"

[GM]
"No ships were sunk recently. The murders happened on land, while the captains weren't on duty. Shortly after each other."
"A few ships crashed on Dust Country's cliffs, but that's been a decade at least."

[Eiha]
"That just about settles it then." Eiha crosses her arms, seeming confident after something.
"I already discarded the cargo as a motive because they never targeted any of the warehouses as far as we know, which lead me to think that maybe one of the shipping lane sailed close to something they didn't want found, like an island they're using for whatever it is the rats do, and they decided to try to prevent ships from sailing in that area in the first place, leading to the attacks on the ships and their captains specifically."
"If they're assassinating people who have rare knowledge about a special route, then that route just might be it."

[GM]
"If that makes sense to you, that's a relief, because we have no idea what is happening."
She does not look relieved at all.
"You think this is not a localized problem, then? What should we be looking out for next?"
"Hopefully they won't try to murder the company's whole command structure." she shudders.

[Eiha]
"That depends. If my hunch is right and there's something in that area they want to keep people away from, then in theory, all you'd need to do would be to have the ships take a small detour around it and they'd leave you alone. I'd need to be able to confirm that's what's going on, and where that place is, though."

[GM]
"It is quite far."
"While we have an attacker right here."
"I will note it down as something else we may request of Hidden Mist, though."
She does, in fact, note something down.

[Eiha]
"The last time I dealt with the rats like this, they were trying to steal ancient artifacts in the land of Fire, so my first guess was that they might be after something specific of high value one of your ships might be transporting, but at this point it feels like there are too many attacks, and the assassinations don't match that motive. Unless they don't know where the thing they want is, and they killed the captains trying to interrogate them about where it might be, that is."

[GM]
"From the information we have, they were bestial-looking kills on the street at night, while the men were coming home drunk... I am not a shinobi, though. Maybe that was an interrogation."

[Eiha]
"That does make it pretty unlikely... In any case, those are the two most plausible motives I can think of at the moment. Rats might be pests, but they wouldn't attack on such a scale for no reason." The kunoichi mused before allowing herself a small smirk. "That said... they tend to be pretty cowardly and selfish. Maybe if we take some prisoners we can make them talk. They would need to have at least basic instructions, even if they don't know a lot."

[GM]
"I see. I'll leave you to do your job as best as you can." she says diplomatically.
"Oh, another thing. The rats seems to be going for ships that would depart for Fire Country regardless of anything. Ships going up to Mist, Lightning and Snow are mostly left alone... a few of the ones going to Mist have been hit, but all the ones that were sunk at first were going to Fire Country."
"I'm too much of a foot soldier to understand the political implications of that," she crosses her feet under the desk, "but it makes me think that to even know that, they must have some insider in the company."
"Perhaps you could try to root that person out somehow, too."

[Bansen]
"Do you have any suspects?"

[GM]
"A few people you might want to look into. Mostly low-level managers" she stands up, as the water is now the right temperature, to pour your tea in.
"But it could go up to our director, I know I am not working for rats."
"But, um..." she tries to maintain a diplomatic facade. "I find his lack of effort in this matter troubling. It would have been very easy to send someone to inform the shinobi of all that I just told you."
"Then again he could have made their work harder if he wanted to. I don't know. Whoever it is, they are also doing their job as a member of the company properly, in addition to being an informant."
"Maybe a rat sneaks into my office every night and reads my files and I'm just paranoid."

[Bansen]
"We'll find out."

[GM]
"Please do." she pours the teas out, and serves it to you.
"Here are the profiles of some of those managers I talked about. You can read through them while you drink."
"I think I'll go back to my chair now, before he comes back." she seems finally struck with at least some shame.

[Bansen]
Bansen takes his cup of tea and sips it, listing through one of the profiles with lackluster interest. "Finding them this way might take too long."

[Eiha]
"Can't hurt to take at least a small look. It would be stupid to miss something obvious because we didn't even bother to."

[Bansen]
"Maybe we could draw them out with a diversion."
"Schedule a ship to head for Fire country and see what happens."

[GM]
"We can arrange that." she says, from her proper table. "You will have to discuss it with the boss, if you can wait an hour or so."
"After all, we humans can't travel as fast as you."

。。。

The lady's superior is an unpleasant, corpulent man, who arrives a little later. The secretary briefs him on your plan, and he complains, but eventually agrees to it.
The lady prepares a good tea, and Tea Country grows a damn good tea too, but eventually there is nothing more to pour. With a plan in place, you can move on.
That, of course, assuming you are done here.









SESSION 27

[GM]
A ship is arranged to depart for Fire Country from the midmost, least guarded harbor of the island next morning, carrying not much. In case of no attack, it is ordered to turn around after a day, and return.
Arriving into the small port village, you can see that some of your work has already been done here. Adorned ropes are floating in the water.
The villagers seem to brighten up once they see your headbands. It seems that things have been rough.
In total, only four ships are here, and for the size of this place, it is plenty. It's no wonder that the other squad is having trouble keeping tabs on the place. Perhaps there is a reason why the island doesn't want all of its eggs in one basket.
There are a good number of sailors lazing about. The village has no main hall or anything, so who knows who runs this place. All you know is, one of these four ships should be leaving next morning.
[Bansen]
"We should try to blend in. They might not take the bait if they know we're here."

[Eiha]
"Likely not. They got beat up by regular guards a few times already."

[GM]
Each ship here is encompassed by a rice rope. It's quite a bit of material, so someone has not been lazing around during the assignment.
There are some more floating in the sea. How they do not drift off must be a shinobi secret.

[Bansen]
"Let's transform and wait for them."
"I wonder what's the most typical thing a sailor can do..."

[Eiha]
"Mostly has to do with ship maintenance. Maintaining the ropes and sails are a big part. Making sure the stores stay dry and the smallest sign of damage are taken care of quickly is another."
"You'd be surprised how important it is to keep a ship clean."

[GM]
The town is lazy, but the sailors out here seem to at least be forbidden from drinking openly.
As you watch, you notice one ship seeing more activity than the others - once in a while, a sailor comes in on a plank, carrying a small box.
It's the one at the very end of the harbor, to the south.
The rope on that ship is brought all the way to the harbor, and the plank is laid over it. The sailor takes care not to step on it. During a day, this is easy, but at night, these things are going to be hard to see. Eiha would better remember where they are, because the water is going to conceal them again.

。。。

Time passes until dusk, and no one in particular seems to call you out as strangers. Perhaps the people who intially saw you spread the rumor.

[Keisuke]
As Keisuke goes over the traps laid out as they wait the absence of any in the north east seems odd to him. His first thought would be that it was a passage for the ships to get through but then they would have to go through the traps laid around them anyway.

[GM]
Keisuke's tremorsense is notably a bit confused here, which makes the rice ropes a true blessing.
Over at the northeast, the waves seem a bit wilder. There might be something underwater, though that would mostly be a problem for the ships, not the invaders, or Inoue.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke makes sure to point out his concern to the others before looking to see if he can track down a local that seemed likely to be able to answer some questions about the placements.

[GM]
Plenty of sailors are about, including one of the apparent captaisn sporting the Tea Country Trading Company uniform, puffing his pipe.
Aside of those, some people are foolishly feeding gulls, and kids are playing about.

[Keisuke]
"I'm going to go ask around about that gap." he informs the others and makes his way towards the relaxing captain.

[GM]
"Mhm?" he puffs. "Haven't seen you around, boy."

[Keisuke]
"I'm here on fresh assignment sir," he replies respectfully. "I haven't really been told too much about those ropes surrounding the ships except that they're dangerous but I noticed there was an area that didn't have any up in the north. I was wondering why that is?"

[GM]
"Ah, gotcha. That's a pickle."
"That's where the nets are."
"The lass from Hidden Mist that put these up couldn't get one of those alarm ropes to stick in there. It would get tangled and go off."
"...And they have to pull the nets up once in a while too, you know? If the rope is around, chances are it will get tangled up again. So that's mostly the direction we're looking at night, haha!"

[Keisuke]
"Oh! Thanks sir, that makes a lot of sense! Sorry to bother you about that. I better get back to it!" he thanks the man before heading off.

[GM]
"Hm hm." he puffs. Maybe he gets that question a lot.
If there is a way to trap that area, you will have to come up with your own design.

[GM]

。。。

Before it is completely dark, you manage to come up with a rough design featuring hollow bone buoys and a wire strung across. It would be better if this trap did not get strung, as the fishermen would have to throw out their now poisoned catch.
Eiha came up with the idea to keep the area misty, so it would be harder to traverse, but it requires  her to stay nearby, on the cold waters.
Time passes, almost to midnight.
Just as you are becoming bored, some racket can be heard from north of the village.
"Everyone stay in!" a guard shouts. "We'll take care of the bastards!"

[Eiha]
Over the various traps floating on the water, what seems like maritime fog, always rather common in coastal areas, seems to lazily starts rolling in from the sea. It meanders over the port, but stops short of the village proper. For the rats, there should be nothing out of the ordinary to be found even if they did see the fog in the dead of night. For the guards and sailors though? An advance warning not to come out or on the port because of the immediate danger had been handed a few hours in advance already, before the whole operation began.

[GM]
The eastern side seems to be safe enough. It's the land that is a problem.

[GM]
Though you take note of one mercenary that got badly beaten, they are surprisingly holding their own. You can imagine how they could have been fending these things off for a while.
Not the one wielding two black knives, running down the street, though. That one is clearly special, and he's making a beeline for the ship.
To the north, something explodes. It must be your trap, meaning that someone is trying to take that route. They must not have realized the mist's effects yet.

[GM]
Staring at Bansen engage the rodent leader in the streets below, Eiha is reminded of the time she fought a similarly-looking being in the ducts below Madara City in Fire Country.
Seriously, you've just blinked, and it feels like five minutes had passed in a flash. You can't let this happen to you.
Let's hope that there won't be a flashback at the start of the next episode, too.

。。。






SESSION 28

[GM]
Leaving Bansen behind to handle the leader, Eiha moves on to take care of his backup. In a moment, the port village's main street is covered with water.

[Eiha]
Seeing that Bansen seemed to have the leader of the incursion quite handled, Eiha's gaze moved further up north, where the swarm of what looked like the group's stronger soldiers seemed to be making steady progress, having quickly killed one of the mercenaries and making their way towards the main defense line. She assesses this to be an uncontained threat and moves up from rooftop to rooftop.
Eiha steadies her stance and unsheathes her tanto, lowering her center of gravity. The Tanto is held parallel to the ground from above, and her other hand starts to make half seals. As she does, water from the nearby coastline begins to shoot up, then arc back towards the rooftop, gathering up in a large bubble.
[Dragon Bird Dragon Snake Dragon Bird Hare Bird Hare Bird]
The sphere of water coalesces and roils, and with the last seal, several dozens of what look like spears of high-pressure waters begin to shoot up. Bombarding the gathered rats like a rain of arrows, with rapid, murderous waves after waves for a few seconds. When the water settles down, there is almost nothing left.

Nothing but a satisfied smirk.

[GM]
Down in the streets, the rat-man investigates his deep wound, and seeing the trio of soldiers blocking his path, decides on a change of plans.
He flings one of his knight into the formation, and it shines and pulses ominously in the air, before hitting the middle mercenary.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke keeps his attention on the battlefield at large spending efforts to track the enemies and minimize the damage to the mercenary forces aiding them. As the rat man prepares the kunai he detects the shift in the creatures heartbeat giving him the warning necessary to alert the potential victims.
Using his training with the sound element he warns the mercenary group "Get to cover! It's a poisoned attack!" Knowing the rats propencity for toxic filth he has no doubt that a foul sludge will be covering that area quickly.

[GM]
The middle soldier is hit, and his companions don't waste time watching the projectile swell up, to tear him from within. When it explodes, they are well out of range, and soon rejoin their ally.

[GM]
One of the more muscular rats comes to his leader's help. He sweeps his massive, dirty, rusty blade towards Bansen twice, hoping to create some distance.

[GM]
Up in the north, fighting can be heard - as well as a shimenawa-trap going off, closely followed by your own trap going off. The rats seem to either not be aware, or caring, for being poisoned by the mist.

[Keisuke]
Realizing that this one rat creature is most likely the biggest threat Keisuke decides to join the fray and attempt to see if he can't bring it down. He dashes over the rooftops avoiding the creature's line of sight before attacking from it's blind spot sending shrapnel flying past him in a forest of spines. He manages to harm the creature and even slays its compainon but doesn't quite finish it off. He is uncertain if breaking from his position in overwatch was the right call but it is what he is more famililar with.

[Keisuke]
However noticing the creature's movements and hearing the erratic shift in its pulse Keisuke decides that since he's here now he may as well cut off all routes of escape for the thing. Despite its flighty nature he clings close to it and cleaves into it with a wicked great sword made of bone.

[GM]
The creature curses before disappearing in a patch of smoke. The smaller rodents following it through the streets disappear in a wave, but the sword-wielding one stays, instead scuttering away. It's disgusting sword is left on the ground.

[Eiha]
With the greatest threat taken care of - and surprisingly quickly at that - all that's left is to mop up. She becomes somewhat concerned as if things keep going this way, they will fail in one of their main objectives. Indeed, one of t he main reasons for this entire con.

"Leave that one, I need it for interrogation!" She shouts clearly for any nearby allies as she quickly moves behind one of the remaining beastmen, cleaving into its side with a quick slash of her tanto before sheathing her blade right back after making a small cut to herself. She proceeds to apply the blood to the marking on her right arm, and a cloud of smoke bellows next to her

[GM]
To the south, a pair of the sword-wileding ratmen are encountered by Bansen. It seems the mist did a number on them, but at least one of them is still resolved enough to go for the ship.
Keisuke arrives to find the ship's side nicked, while a rat is holding onto the small hole it made in the wood. It's well above the submerged area, but still a shot the rats got in.

[Keisuke]
Continuing his forward momentum Keisuke grabs the rat by its neck and slams it face first into the side of the ship. Wtih his hands directly on the creatures neck he can tell that it's heart is already failing. Not wanting to waste time he lets it fall into the sea and shunshins behind the rat facing off against Bansen leveraging its arm painfully behind its back.
"These guys aren't holding up well against the poison. If we want to interogate this one you'll probably have to provide an antidote." Keisuke offers to Bansen. "The other one was already on death's doorstep after a single love tap."
"I think Eiha is securing another one up north however."

[Eiha]
For her part, Eiha quickly jumps down from the rooftops, quickly dashing through the shallow water ponds of the northern street before producing iron wire from her shinobi cloak. Within but a few twists and steps, the greatsword-wielding beastman is tied up like Gulliver

[Bansen]
Bansen moves in and pries the ratman's mouth open to administer the antidote and then pulls out some iron wire to secure him.

[GM]
The rat-man is unconscious at this point, but it seems to be foaming at its mouth.

[GM]
The beings, defeated, in Keisuke's grasp and struck by the snake, seem to completely lose their marbles. They drop their weapons, twitching uncontrolably, but not so much they cannot be held down. It is as if a string inside them broke, and they are having a fit.

[Keisuke]
"Any ideas on how to preserve them for questioning Bansen? Think they're too far gone?"

[GM]
They are clearly trying to get away from you, but the energy from before is not there. Where a true beast would think of fight or flight, these things are broken into submission disturbingly easily.

[Bansen]
"I'll tell you as soon as I figure out what's wrong with them."

[GM]
You have an unconscious ratman on your hands, and two slowly approaching catatonic state. The rest of the rats must have gone with the summoner.
The Mercenaries sweep the streets for any stragglers, and gather their wounded - a single one of them died, which considering the force they faced, is pretty lucky.

[Keisuke]
"I'll help with the sweep. Don't want any surprises."

[Eiha]
With a quick bite, the last remaining beastman's movements, already tied up, become extremely sluggish and slow. It is still dark out there, but with the mist dispersed a while ago, it's a bit easier to see. The tied up rat is doubly tied into the grasp of the large purple-black snake, and carried over back to a meeting point on the docks.

[GM]
The sailors likewise come out, to see if there is any damage. The captain from before lights his pipe, watching the side of his ship. In a short while, he orders some man to start patching it up.

[Keisuke]
Upon noticing an incoming figure Keisuke is quick to inform his squad."Bansen. Eiha. Incoming Shinobi. From the water."

[GM]
As the mist clears, so does your view - it is a tan woman wielding a pair of nekote. Seeing the calm state of things, she slows down at some point, hides her weapon, and walks the rest of the way.
She also stops by the sludge bridge on the south, picking up the shimenawa from the water there. She seemingly draws it from the water, and it shrinks, until it joins others of its kind on the cloth bracelet on her hand.
"Hi." she hops on the pier. "I'm Inoue."
Something is weird about the way she speaks, which quickly becomes apparent.

[Keisuke]
"Hey. I'm Keisuke. Those traps of yours were quite handy."

[Eiha]
Eiha glances over to the arriving shinobi as she arrives, Isamu by her side holding the beastman like a constrictor. "Wow that was close. Good thing I dispersed the fog when I did else we might have had a slight problem." She then proceed to reach into her cloak for a soldier pill

[GM]
"We need fem. Soon as I felf we difsurbance, I ran here, buf you've gof if all faken care of."
Inoue seems to be missing her front teeth.

[Keisuke]
"Yeah... if you start feeling unwell take an antidote as soon as possible."
"Thanks for coming to support all the same. There were quite a few of them."

[GM]
"Yeah I smelled somefing weird."

[Eiha]
"There maaaaay or may not be a bunch of rat in the water who choked on their own airways~" Eiha explains rather cheerfully.

[Keisuke]
"Their leader was summoned in so unfortunately we were unable to secure him. But we managed to catch these ones."

[GM]
She notices the unconscious ratmen with a frown.

[Keisuke]
"We should probably tell the locals to be wary of the water for a while huh?" he asks Eiha.

[Eiha]
"Corpses float. They should be able to fish out one or two dozen giant rats just fine once dawn comes."

[Keisuke]
"Well yeah but Bansens stuff may linger for a while. Let alone the mist."

[GM]
"Leader? We knifes one or we staff one?" she asks you. "I gef whaf you're going for wif wese guys, buf wey donf speak our language."
"Wey're refarded."
"I fink."

[Eiha]
"Oh...  you did that? Kind of overkill reall--" She shifts her attention to the pronunciation-challenged one. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

[Keisuke]
"Hm... they did have a violent reaction as soon as their connection was severed and they seem really stupid. You might be right. It was the one with the knives I think."

[GM]
"Were's also we ower one. He's dad raf and she's mom raf I fink. Wey keep coming back no maffer how many fimes we kill wem."
"She summons rafs on we fpot, more offen. And uses wose black juffus beffer."

[Keisuke]
"Hmm. Wish we had some fuuinjutsu. Something that kept them from being able to pop back to rat land would be really helpful here."
"Any chance they'll attack another area tonight?"

[GM]
"Ichikawa says he spotted some differences. Wey're not quite we same. Were's a king raf somewhere foo."

[Keisuke]
"Joy."

[GM]
"Don't fink so. Even one of we big guys is preffy rare."

[Keisuke]
"They'll probably hit back hard after this set back. Well either that or act more cautiously..."

[Bansen]
"Even if they can't tell us anything, we can still try to retrace their steps."

[Keisuke]
"Hey Eiha. One of your guys can track by smell right? Mabye we can catch their trail if we're quick?"

[GM]
"Don'f fink we didn'f do our homework. We're jusf kinda desperafe." Inoue shrugs. "Fracking migh help fough, yeah."

[Keisuke]
"I remember it was said one of you could do it but had trouble doing it on land right?"

[GM]
"Laff time I fracked one fo a big lake, but Shinoraze says wey're hiding in we caverns in we hills."

[Keisuke]
"I get that its a man power issue more than a competence issue."

[GM]
"Yeah, wat's Shinoraze."

[Eiha]
"Hm, after the slaughter they've just went through, I'd be surprised if they didn't either hold off for a while or only attack with a lot more. That's gotta have shaken them a bit at least" She muses thoughtfully

"That might be what I've been called here for." Isamu chimes in at the inquiry, answering himself. "Could have sssummoned me earlier though. Sssounds like I only caught the lasssst bit of sssomething fun." He then looks back at her somewhat resentfully.

[Keisuke]
"Hey  filling a harbor with poison  takes concentration."
"Think these guys have any worth now that we know they're too stupid to be useful Bansen? I admit I was hoping we could at least get a few questions out of them but if its a waste of time there's nothing for it."

[Eiha]
"To be fair, we weren't entirely sure what to expect, but yeah this is kind of my bad really. There were a lot of these guys, could have used more hands." The kunoichi explains with a small apologetic shrug.

The large snake, however, is more interested in Keisuke's answer. He looks over to him, then back to her. "You did that? That'ssss hilarioussly cheeky." That seems to have improved his mood somewhat.

[GM]
"Wey have seals on fem." Inoue points out.
"We fought we should bring wem info Misf as specimen."

[Keisuke]
"That sounds like a good idea yeah."

[GM]
"I looked info the seals a bif. If's probably somefing fo have fo do wif' being controlled."

[Bansen]
"Then we're leaving them in your hands."

[GM]
"Check out the nape of weir neck." she approaches one, pointing it out. "If's hard fo see frough we fur buf if's were."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke does so trying to part the fur so they can see the seal.

[GM]
"If you're gonna frack 'em fough I shouldn'f hold you back. I'll have we soldiers sfuff wem info a barn fied up or fomefing."

[Eiha]
"Well in any case. I'm feeling generous today." Eiha muses. She brings one hand to her tanto and flicks it up a few centimeters, just enough to prick a little blood, before bringing her finger over to the Seal on her arm. With another puff of smoke, another snake, significantly smaller than Isamu and contrasting his black-purple scale with pure white, appears upon her shoulders. "Now we've got all the gang. Let's take care of those these half-dead mercenaries."

[GM]
There is indeed a circular seal at the nape of their neck. You can only see it because it's glowing slightly right now, but it seems to be fading bit by bit.

[Keisuke]
"Well I suppose showing a little compassion to those that fought alongside us isn't unwarranted. We should move quickly though."

[Bansen]
Bansen cleans the blood off his sword and sheathes it, tucking it back somewhere under his cloak.

[GM]
"Alrighf. If you're faking your fime, I'll assume you're sleeping in wis fity."
"Will show you where we communicating circle if here lafer."

[Keisuke]
"Thanks."

[Bansen]
"What did she say?"

[GM]
Inoue frowns.

[Keisuke]
"She'll show us the communication circle if here later."
"Assuming we sleep in this city."

[GM]
"Yeah. Waf's if. Fime's wasfing." she points to the pier, also wanting to move on.

[Keisuke]
"I agree time's wasting." he looks over towards the mercenaries nearby. "You lot get your most wounded lined up so the scary snake lady can have her snake bite them until they feel better!"

[Eiha]
"Obviously you've never seen Kiyou's technique before. She'll be done in like, five minutes unless the guys you hired freak out and try hysterically stabbing at her. Isamu can get started on tracking the scent in the meanwhile."

[Keisuke]
"No offense scary snake lady"

[GM]
You split up on your tasks. If you're lucky, this would be done by midnight, and Inoue's offer would not be needed.
If her squad's account of their work is to be believed, though, there are quite a few things on this island you have yet to see.