Act 1, Scene 5: In the Village's Name (cont)
The village's hospital for ninja was no four room shack, not like the one back on Kohama, back where Jubei had died. It had nearly fifty beds, two to a room, and specialized areas to treat all manner of illnesses. Never in Shizue's life had it been stuffed beyond capacity, but she'd heard that there had been times when the less well funded civilian hospitals were overcrowded and the Ninja one was full, and all that was left was to turn civilians out of the beds… waves of sickness, plagues and diseases, washing up on shore from far away…
It wasn't a pleasant thought, and not ten hours after returning, Shizue tried to focus on something more positive.
She was, for instance, positive that that was Okiie, standing at the entrance, waving to her. He was dressed simply, and the first thing he said was, "Rika's not here. She got out an hour ago, though she has to go back. Apparently she went straight to the archives for some reason. No clue why. Saw her earlier though, and the burns are better--"
Shizue frowned, looking at him, and said, "Are you doing okay?"
"Okay, why wouldn't I be okay?"
"I mean, you seemed a little...nervous, on the way back," Shizue said, and immediately realized that wasn't the right thing to say. He looked away and took a breath.
"I was just worried about her, it's why I came straight here rather than going back to...look, I want to see her, you want to see her," Okiie said with a breath, "We just need to…"
"Just need to what?" Shizue asked, feel her ire rise. She usually didn't confront people like that, but she'd thought he was, well, different, maybe?
"Just need to stop sniping at each other. I mean, I know you hold a grudge from--" he began.
Shizue took a breath and held out a hand, "If I held grudges that easily, I'd dislike everyone in this village. I don't, okay? I don't have any problem with you. The fact that you're going to see Rika, it's sweet, you know? It's good of you."
Okiie blushed and said, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just shook up because… of this. All of it. That was my first fight and my mother--"
Shizue blinked, realizing the situation. Okiie's mother was a Chunin, her father a retired Genin (never promising, civilian born) who had taken up a trade, practically a civilian by now. Everyone felt it, the fact that the war was only going to get more intense. This could be like last winter, a stream of bodies and funerals until there were no more tears, just staring straight out at the graves. Or the pyres. Fire and water, there was something there, the old folks said, remembering an old tale, back from the last years of the Shimakage. But even in the best circumstances, this round of war could be devastating. It could be the beginning of a legend, the rebirth of the world, it was an opportunity greater than any before.
But now that Okiie had tasted battle, the desperation and the speed, he realized his mother was going to go out into that. It made Shizue's heart break to think of, because how many times had she watched her mom go out on a mission. And then she'd died, and now Shizue knew how easily it could have happened. People had seemed to blame Shizue for it, and she hadn't understood, hadn't been able to make sense of it.
She had been seven, and her world had been ripped out from under her. She knew she'd been wounded, been changed by it, and that's why this mattered so much. She nodded and said, "I understand. I really do--"
"Oh, your…" Okiie nodded, "Wanna get something to eat sometime? Maybe talk about...stuff? Then spar a bit. I'm trying to work on learning a good wind jutsu. I'd just about gotten this one down before I went out on that mission." He gave a big smile and then went through a few quick handsigns before taking a breath in and holding his breath.
Shizue watched him, her frown soon turning into a smile as she watched him hold his breath far longer than he should have, a minute, then more, passing, though he was starting to turn blue in the face. Finally, he let out a breath, "Woah...woah nelly," he said, gasping, "That's...huh, I bet that would be useful underwater."
"Sure seems it," she said, smiling. It was silly, and probably not all that useful in a fight, but the way he looked so eager to show it to her, well, it was cute. Cute and sweet. "So, why don't we go and see Rika?"
*****
The archives were large, and restricted-access, Genin only getting a small portion of it, but at the moment they were entirely regarded, and, searching through the dusty aisles and scrolls, the pair would find Rika far, far, far past the 'Genin only' section. There was a huge table laid out, and it was filled with what looked like maps and charts and long scrolls of blank paper that Rika was filling up. She kept scratching away at sheets of paper and duplicate maps with a chewed-on pen, not even noticing Shizue's approach.
Her face still looked somewhat burnt and red, the skin blistered and cracked, but it no longer looked as if it was unbearable. She paused to scratch at the skin, which was probably not the best idea, but was also quite understandable.
It would be Okiie that'd speak first, startling her. "Hey, wassup! What are you studying, Rika-chan?"
She turned, rapidly, shock on her face, and then let out a breath, "Uh, nothing. Just...checking something, you know? There was something that kept on bothering me, like an itch," and that seemed to trigger another bout of scratching as she continued, "And so I'm just studying it. I mean, if either of you would like to help, sure. But I need time to get it all together. I mean...there's something not…" she trailed off.
"What sort of 'something'?" Okiie asked.
"Something subtle," Rika muttered.
"Then you want Shizue helping you. I mean, she's clever, she's subtle," Okiie said, "So why not let her in on whatever you're doing and tell me if you find out something cool? I mean, I was just checking up on you, but I'm not sure I'd be much help with something that involves that many charts and graphs, you know?"
There was something to be said, Shizue thought to herself, about someone who knew their limitations. Of course, there was also something to be said for pushing past those limitations. Shizue thought for a moment and nodded, "I'd be happy to help you with whatever it is."
"Well, it's going to take a bit...how about, I think I know where you live, how about I knock on your door when I'm ready? It probably won't be tomorrow," she said, rubbing her temple, "This is...god, this could be big, just keep it under your forehead protectors, okay? I'm doing fine, so you don't need to worry about me, Okiie-san, Shizue-san."
Okiie said, "You make it sound like a big deal, whatever you're looking up."
"Yes, it could be…" Rika looked around, "So, just, in the name of the village--"
"Keep quiet, I get it," Okiie said, and he mimed zipping his lips, then locking them and throwing away the key.
"Thank you," Rika said, and then, almost playfully she said, "Now, give me that key."
Okiie snorted and then mimed looking on the floor for it, and Shizue watched, amused as he picked up and 'dusted off' an invisible key and handed it to Rika.
Message received.
*****
Sunday came back around, and with it a new round of classes with Emiko. Everyone was distracted in genjutsu class as they worked on learning or perfecting the basic genjutsu, and Shizue would find that she was doing far better this week than last. She'd broken past some sort of barrier, and now she could remember details of her environment far better. It didn't mean her Genjutsu was great, and she kept on missing little details, and then she'd get a little bit uncertain and spend so much time working on the small things that she missed a big detail. Thus far they'd mostly worked on making a single image.
A dog, or a tree, or even recreating the Clone jutsu, but in Genjutsu form, which was both more complex and less chakra intensive, not that this was a major concern for anybody except the Academy students. Still, it was an interesting technique to learn, or at least, set of handsigns that together made 'Ninja Art: False Image' a workable technique. It was the most rudimentary, and thus the first, actual technique an aspiring illusionist learned.
"You start by doing freeform experimentation, then you start learning techniques, then once you get even better, you loop right around to freeform jutsu," Emiko had explained. It made sense to Shizue. Experimentation required someone to have a base of knowledge to start with, or mistakes would outnumber innovations or new ideas. Her mom had advised her, towards the end, that when she learned her family's sound jutsu, she should just start by learning the two basic techniques, which is something she'd been able to work on, and improving them. Learning how to use sound as a weapon against one's enemies was so much easier when there were techniques to start with, rather than trying to make up whole new techniques.
After the class, she passed a few people gossiping about another fight like the one the other day. Three genin on three genin, but this time all three Reef genin drove off the Tide genin without casualties from either side. Everyone was gossiping about the war and its continuing progress by this point, it was the only topic of any interest, it sometimes seemed. But by the time Shizue had reached her, Emiko was being talked to by both Kihara Junko and Shimaoka Kansuke.
Junko was an academy student, a girl who had taken to following Emiko around. She'd been the same one who thought that Emiko's stunt was 'cool' and she'd not changed her opinion of her idol one bit in the time since. She was the same age as Jubei, and Shizue suspected that it was from her level--she was pretty good for an academy student, even though she really could use that extra year to get even better--and so she, and people like her, were the 'logical' choice of where to turn when a village needed extra bodies. And if that cut year, or six months, reduced survivability...it was a cost that villages would have to bear. It was a little disturbing to Shizue that she could even understand the thought process that had led to Jubei being thrown into the...well, into her puppet to die. Maybe taking after Emiko would help her. After all, Emiko had apparently survived being a Ninja for a while, and Shizue could see that everyone was learning a lot under her tutelage. She was asking Emiko about stealth, and how to hide in areas where it was bright, since, "Not everyone's all dark and sneaky, right?"
Emiko was seemingly effortlessly splitting time talking to each of them in turn. Kansuke was an older Genin, who used fuinjutsu offensively, though he didn't have the Yaramachi clan jutsu, and he seemed to be asking Emiko about a certain application of fuinjutsu, and whether it was possible.
Shizue knew she could have butted in to ask Emiko about the puppets, but it didn't right, and she hesitated. She'd just ask Emiko tomorrow, she decided.
*****
Monday came, and with it news. There had been a failed raid on one of the islands that was being used as a jumping-off point for Reef's conquests. A genin had been injured and had somehow managed to con his way into taking shelter with a local farming family, who had refused to hand him over, no doubt out of hidden disloyalty to their masters, only now revealed. In the ensuing struggle to break in, a fire was accidentally started, and there were several civilian casualties, those remaining taken into custody, except for the enemy Genin, who tried to fight back against Ken, a Jounin, and got rather predictably burned to death for it. Everyone knew that the fire probably started from one of Ken's jutsu, since plenty of them were hard to stop once they got out of hand, but the news of the failed counterattack made the news of the first victories all the sweeter.
Three islands had been gained in a single night, and while the enemy had withdrawn in good order, they'd left behind a genin and a Chunin, dead on the battlefield. More losses they couldn't afford to replace. More chances for them to scrape further and further, to throw out more and more academy students. Shizue felt uncertain, listening to the gossip as she ate breakfast under a civilian guise in town, and when she headed back to her house to finish repairing her puppets she was ambushed by Rika, who'd run up, panting.
"T-there you are," she said, "Hey. Sorry. I knocked on your door and you weren't in and so I kept on waiting--"
"It's fine, take a breath," Shizue said, "I was just away at dinner. Did you finish the…" she trailed off, looking at her sunken-in eyes, and her general appearance, "Of course you did, sorry for asking the obvious. I'd be happy to see it right now," Shizue said, with a bright smile.
"Ah. Good, I mean, I was…" Rika trailed off, blushing, "I got a bit overeager. I don't think I have it all, but there's something...but, well, how was your morning, where did you go?"
Shizue smiled and began to follow Rika, "Well, there's an old shop down a way's, and in the back they have someone who does up a Fire Country breakfast. Eggs, bacon, a side of grilled fish, and a tart. Something like one, anyways. It's really delicious, if you'd like to go sometimes. They're sometimes a little uncertain around ninja, calling us 'Sama', so I often go transformed, not that it'd fool any ninja, and I suspect they may know I'm not who I say I am."
"I understand that," Rika said, "In my town, everyone's like that as well. They know that some ninja are sticklers for that sort of thing, and they see Ninja rarely enough...it's weird hearing it here, though, when I run into someone. It made me feel puffed up, and not in a good way. As if I was an animal expanding just to look impressive, but if you poked me I'd deflate. If that makes sense?"
"It does," Shizue said with a nod, "But a front can become a reality. I never got it down, but the way some ninja walk, it means they can't hide it, even transformed. It's like a calling card. I'm not sure, though, if it helps them any. I mean," Shizue paused, and bit her lip, "Suchiru-sama certainly was well recognized, and he's a powerful Jounin, and yet his reputation didn't stop the farmers."
Rika winced, "I don't know what they were expecting, going against…" she shook her head and they turned down a road towards the street where a lot of the poorer Genin lived. She took the first door on the right, unlocking it and flipping the light on. It was, essentially, a two room apartment (bathroom separate) without a complex. No stacking buildings here, just on the first floor, and everything had been pushed out of the way in favor of a large table. Her futon, her fridge, everything was off in a corner. She walked over and sit on the pillow she'd set down, then gesture for Shizue to sit at the other.
"So, you know how we were attacked? And there have been other attacks since then?" Rika asked.
"Yes," Shizue said, "It tends to happen a lot once war gets started, I remember my mother saying that C-ranked missions were just lightning rods for enemy attacks once a war heated up."
"This many, though?" Rika asked, then turned a piece of paper around and showed it to Shizue. It looked like almost half of all C-ranked missions in the last...wait, three weeks? Four? There was a sudden spike in attacks, but the spike had turned from a few more into…
This was a lot. Maybe it wasn't proof of anything, but Shizue was immediately suspicious, as Rika must have been, she realized, "What are those?" she asked, pointing to a stack of papers.
"Mission reports. We have to fill out one sometime ourselves," Rika pointed out, "But the thing is, all of these reports indicate that the attack come suddenly. No stumbling across each other, or following a sign that there might be enemies nearby. When the attacks came, they were always instigated by the enemy, but while I can't read them all, the older ones, from this time last year, and even from last winter, have plenty of cases where both sides stumbled across each other and the battle began like that," Rika said. "It's odd, raiding parties shouldn't be so exact, should they? I don't have access to all of the data, a lot of it is locked behind classified scrolls, and those have some serious seals protecting them, but…"
Shizue nodded, and began to give everything Rika had assembled a serious look. She found little rounding errors here and there, but the more she looked the more it made sense, and she even began to highlight portions of the copied mission reports, which seemed to tell a story. Something was going on here, and there was only one solution, wasn't there? The knowledge couldn't be from a chakra sensor, and she even checked to see if it'd fit that, perhaps even someone near jounin-level. The other problem was that the ambushes were from both sides equally, when if it was merely something one village was doing--
Unless it was some flaw in the village? Were they being predictable? Shizue considered this and discarded it. Which meant…
"There's a leak," she said, after a dozen minutes of double-checking.
"That's what I thought, though this isn't proof, just evidence," Rika said, "But evidence of...who?"
"It can't be a Chunin," Shizue said, thinking it through, "They'd not have access to the sort of information for this. I mean, what you're reading is all archived, the stuff that's being produced right now, the missions and the like, that's classified. It'd be a pretty gutsy Chunin, having to steal all of the information like that, and then find a way to get it to them… and a Jounin would have better ways to play traitor, right?"
Rika frowned, "What do you mean?"
"They could sabotage our actual attacks on the islands, could turn traitor and plant a bomb right in the village center if they wanted, could burn this whole place down. So much they could do, but instead they give some limited amount of information to enemy villages? Unless they're trying to throw off suspicion or make it look like a coincidence, and moreover doing so while blaming a Special Jounin...and who would it be? Each of them has different areas of expertise, and again, could ruin things so much easier."
"What if they're not trying to make one side win, but instead," Rika said, "Trying to keep the war going."
Shizue shuddered at that possibility, it certainly could be true, but…"Well, I don't know. It could be, but if it is, we'll see in the next few days. If there's a bunch of huge setbacks for Reef, then maybe, but…"
She trailed off, then took a breath, "I think it's most likely one of the Special Jounin. They have a lot of latitude, and they go out on missions often enough that they'd know what sort of information to give that wouldn't look too obvious. How they got access...well, maybe they meet people on some of the meetings they go on, whoever it is?"
Rika frowned, "Or drop notes or letters at special locations? Most of them, most of this village, isn't exactly the most subtle. That's the thing that's making it hard to think through. Traitors? Plots? Secrets and lies? It's why...well, there's another possibility, you know?"
"What?" Shizue asked, looking down at the papers.
"The leaks started, maybe, a few days after Emiko arrived. She was found on the boat, and was still in the hospital around the time there seems to have been the first increase, so it'd--"
"It'd have to be a very impressive Ninja to already start having contacts that soon," Shizue pointed out, "Just a day or two, at most, after she got out."
"However," Rika pointed out, "Iwasaki-sama successfully killed four Jounin in a single night. She's a really, really impressive Shinobi, and I wouldn't put it past her, would you?"
"Well, but where's the profit? How would they be getting payments to her?" Shizue asked.
"Unless she was hired to wash up here as if she came from outside, or she could have wound up on Island, taken a mission, then travelled here...we can't rule it out, yet, not without looking further," Rika argued, "Either way, I don't know how much more I can study. There's at least a little more data in the archives, and I could try looking through the older files for comparison, try to solidify the proof, but it's far too much for one person, and even if you helped, and I know that'd be an imposition, it seems like…" she trailed off and shrugged, "We'd need something more."
What does Shizue say? (Pick one, and then one sub-option)
[] Yes I'll help you (write-in reasoning if you wish)
-[] Perhaps we could get more data by talking to the Genin who were attacked, especially by the Chunin? (pick one)
--[] Azusa is a chakra sensor, perhaps she picked up some more details about the ambush that could be useful?
--[] Chusei is a smart fellow, and more than that, perhaps his knowledge of traps would be helpful in this case?
--[] There was another ambush, this one by Genin. They could ask around about that, maybe it fits the profile?
-[] What is needed is more analytical power. Doi Genta is very smart, very perceptive, and has the right sort of mind for data analysis. Surely they could be asked to help out, and if they helped, it could certainly allow more exploration of the data.
-[] It could be Emiko, and if so, asking her about it or contacting her for help would be a big, big mistake. But if she isn't involved, she's a ninja who has extensive experience in sneaking, trickery, and all sorts of things. So it'd be useful, hopefully.
-[] This is big, it might be dangerous, but surely the Jounin need to be brought in? (Pick one)
--[] Yaramachi Haruo: Surely a Yaramachi wouldn't be involved in the plot, and he'd be the least high up of the Jounin to pick.
--[] "Suchiru" Ken is the leader, the one in charge. Hopefully the most loyal and dedicated to the village.
--[] Nakamoto Hirotomo: Called by some the Water Snake, he'd surely the sneakiest of the bunch, but perhaps- if we can trust him- he'll prove to be helpful in figuring out who the traitor is.
--[] Sano Tomoya: Her knowledge of guerilla warfare and tactics might come in handy, and her loyalty to the village is well known.
--[] Taniguchi Momoka: As a healer, perhaps she's the most likely to be loyal? She's certainly capable of being circumspect.
[] No, because...
-[] Give reasons.
*****
A/N: Some lucky rolls this turn, on all counts. Shizue did *very* well on some important rolls, though she almost crit-fumbled the conversation with Okiie. Anyways, so the war continues, and you know what that means?
Yep, tally.
Dead Ninja: 13 (4 Tide Jonin, 1 Tide Special Jonin, 3 Tide Chunin, 2 Tide Genin, 1 Tide 'Genin', 1 Reef Chunin, 1 Reef Genin)
Dead Civilians: >10
