Shion needs a somewhat-sterile place to operate on Sai or she may get maluses on her rolls. She tells the family Hidden Rock ninja were infiltrating the Land of Rain and needs to stitch him up for later interrogation.
Shion, Deceit: 10 + 0 = 10
Deceit TN = ???
Sai has taken a Mild, Medium, and Severe and is in horrible shape. However, Shion dealt the finishing blow and didn't aim for anything vital. The main thing to treat is blood loss, which is pretty severe (literally). This is immediate triage, so the rules are a bit less clearly defined as it depends on what the injury is. I'm just going to set some arbitrary TNs. This is primarily a MedKnow operation with mundane suturing. MedNin will be used to disinfect the wound.
MedKnow TN: 20
MedNin TN: 10
…hmm, Shion's MedKnow is worse than I remembered lol
It'll take a few minutes to suture everything. She will timeladder it to ten minutes. Half an hour is probably too long at the rate he is bleeding. Just needs neutral or better dice now.
Shion's hands went through the motions, trying not to think about anything beyond her immediate task. Suture there. Cut the strand. Her subject was lying on a small bench in a cramped guest room, in poor Takachi's house. She had tiredly explained Hidden Rock ninja were sabotaging Rain's civilian settlements, and that she would need to fix up her capture for later interrogation. Disinfect here. Pressure to the wound. Sensei wasn't here to double check her work. It was up to her to do this properly. She had stripped Sai completely, taking extra care to avoid pushing the needle in too deeply, to space her insertions properly, to keep the tension, to-
She took a deep breath, tying another knot off. The biggest gashes were closed. Her teammates returned as she worked, Takashi reluctantly pointing them her way.
Momoka said nothing, and though that was somewhat typical, this silence felt heavier. Or maybe it was just Shion's own thoughts on the matter.
Kenzō, somewhat hoarse, asked, "Should we let you concentrate, or…?"
"Almost done," she replied, cutting another thread. He nodded and began to rifle through Sai's belongings, as Shion didn't have much time to look herself, beyond getting the gear off so she could see his wounds.
She used a damp washcloth to scrub the blood from Sai, then disinfected the wounds with a quick application of Medical chakra, another odd subtype of the 'neutral' chakra her teachers had told her of so long ago… She found herself wrapping Sai's wounds up automatically as she reminisced, and shook her head, redoing it properly.
"Done," she said, rinsing her hands in a small bucket and purifying them with Medical chakra. "Let me take a look at the two of you," she demanded.
Kenzō looked up in surprise, still tense from the fight. "But- we should really get away from here-"
Shion held up a hand. "Hold it. I'm the medic here. Our enemies are dead, and there's no immediate urgency to evac. Let me take a look at you and I'll decide where to treat you."
Momoka shrugged, stoic. "Let's just move quickly."
Shion nodded and checked her over swiftly, using basic Medical Ninjutsu that let her hover her hand over an injury, getting small glimmers of feedback she was slowly learning to recognize. "You were struck by Sai's Senbon rain attack earlier, right?" Shion said, inspecting one of the needles. It seemed to contain the same kind of Spider Wasp venom Momoka had collected the other day.
"Mmm," Momoka agreed. "Don't think we have any kind of antivenom on hand. It should pass in a day or so."
Shion nodded, but she still disinfected the Senbon's incision point and wrapped it up, before moving onto Kenzō, who had some substantial but ultimately mild bruising across his ribs.
They thanked Tanaka- er, no that wasn't right, they thanked Takachi for his 'hospitality', apologized profusely for the barn, and quickly made their way away from the premises after getting their things in order. The enemy group was in possession of two storage scrolls, and they quickly swapped the contents for the two corpses, shoving the gear into their packs and making note to go through the contents more thoroughly later.
Shion, as the only uninjured one, elected to carry Sai slung across her back while the other two carried their packs and would hand off Shion's back and forth. Once they were out of sight and earshot of the farm, Kenzō said, "We should beeline back to Sarobetsu and get Sensei to weigh in on this. He'll know what to do."
Momoka stared back in the direction they came from, hands clasped in front of her. "Assuming he doesn't take us in himself as traitors to Hidden Rain."
Shion snapped back, a little louder than she intended. "We didn't do anything wrong! We didn't know our own people would be dressing up as enemies and butchering our own citizens!"
Momoka glared back at her and her lip curled slightly in anger, an expression Shion had never seen her wear before. She spoke in an even voice. "Do you honestly think the Tower gives a shit about that? They care about getting their goals accomplished, not aspiring to some ideal of good. You think they would care that we interfered in their top secret op on accident? We know too much now."
Kenzō chimed in. "...maybe? We don't know this was some kind of secret Tower op. If it was, we don't know the details of it. And if we did, no one really cares about a bunch of civvies anyway do they? No one would care but Sensei…." His face screwed up in confusion. "But if no one would care, why bother targeting our own citizens? What was the goal?"
Kenzō thought some more. He pointed two fingers upwards. "Dispel!" he cried out. Any genjutsu, if they were active on him, should be dispelled at this point. He shook his head in defeat.
"Well… whatever it was, I'm sure Sensei will know what to do," Shion said, echoing Kenzō. She turned to Momoka. "And I don't think he would sell us out. He'll have our back. I agree we should head back as soon as we can."
Momoka thought to herself for a moment. "Fine. However, I'd like to note it took us half a day to get here. Admittedly, it wasn't a very direct path, but that was without injuries or carrying a captured foe. Navigating back will also add on some time, since we didn't take a direct path. There's no chance we get back before dark."
Kenzō paled, and Shion frowned.
"Do you think you would be able to navigate at night?"
"Rainclouds... No stars... Possibly, if the moon is bright enough to discern through the veil."
"And if we don't keep tripping over a bunch of tree roots," Shion muttered.
"Maybe we should find a secure place to camp and head out at first light," Kenzō said, a bit too coolly. Shion raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.
Momoka nodded her agreement.
"Works for me," Shion echoed.
"Then let's get the hell out of here," Kenzō concluded.
Shion sat within a small stone tent made by Momoka, poking a tiny fire sitting in a pair of holes in the ground. Even when disguised in this manner, fire was often as much of a problem as it was helpful when it came to repelling or drawing in predators. Still, Kenzō was weirdly insistent about it and Shion had to admit the warmth was comforting at the moment.
Sai had finally awoken, but refused to speak even when threatened or given water. So for the moment he was tied up on the other side of the tent, with a sack over his head so she didn't have to look at him glaring.
Momoka had retired early, not wanting to talk (even more than usual.) She would take the next watch shift.
Kenzō sat across from her, sorting through what they had managed to collect from them.
"Shouldn't we be careful about, y'know, Clan Secret stuff?" she whispered.
Kenzō gave her a 'come on now' look. The implication was clear. That guy would not be living for long.
If they were to have any control over the narrative, Sai'd likely be dying too, as soon as Sensei could properly interrogate him for information on what the hell was going on. And in this controlled narrative, if Sai happened to have leaked any Clan Secrets for his treachery, that was hardly their fault.
At the same time, if it were so easy to uncover the secrets of other Clans, they wouldn't be very secret now would they. Kenzō had found small bags of random components the Okura presumably used to construct their trapped instruments, but nothing he could use even with his rudimentary knowledge of trap building.
Kenzō pulled out a scroll, but it was entirely inscrutable to him.
He passed it along to Shion. "What do you think it could be?" he asked.
"Not sure," she admitted. "Based on the diagrams… maybe some kind of ninjutsu? No good to us right now."
"Maybe Sensei can crack it," Kenzō mused. He looked over briefly in Sai's direction. "Did he just laugh?"
"I didn't hear anything." Was he okay? Who was Shion kidding, none of them were okay.
Kenzō shuddered a bit and continued his search. Three more explosive tags, making up for what they had spent on this mission. A different form of venom for weaponry - purple drizzletoad venom. This one also caused illness when ingested - Shion suspected it would match the symptoms the people of Sarobetsu were experiencing.
Other scrolls bore maps, but nothing indicative of what Sai's team was doing here. Still, it was useful enough that Kenzō tucked it away for later. Naturally, there was a decent spread of weaponry like kunai and shuriken, most of which would be given to Momoka. What remained of Sai's umbrella device was essentially just a shortsword with no sheath. They could improvise a cover, no need to let a weapon go to waste by rusting.
"It's good steel," Kenzō noted aloud, running a rag over the blade. "The Okura's smiths know their stuff." Quieter, he said, "It was plenty deadly in a fight, too."
"So were we," Shion whispered. She smiled sardonically.
"So were we," he agreed.
"I've gotten much better since we've started our spars, wouldn't you agree? All that practice helped me finish him off."
It was intended as a compliment, but Kenzō looked grumpy. "Hmph. I coulda had him if I'd just managed to get to him before he used that Water technique…"
"But you didn't, so I got him instead," Shion replied.
"With my help," Kenzō said, setting the shortsword down and putting his hands in his lap.
"Hmph. Can't just let me have this one?" she snapped, annoyed.
"Of course not. It'll make you work harder for the next one," he said, with a serene expression.
"Ugh. Whatever."
Kenzō shrugged victoriously and went back to his rummaging.
Sai's team had been carrying a decent supply of rations - clearly they'd anticipated being in the field for quite a bit longer. But judging by how Sai had used his clearly recognizable weapon, they hadn't been expecting to get into any actual fights with other ninja.
So, they were on some sort of long term mission, manufacturing the appearance that enemies of Rain were sabotaging Hidden Rain. They dressed as Hidden Rock, and yet were causing trouble on the eastern side, closer to Hidden Fire's lands… perhaps seeding additional doubt as to who was really at fault, or perhaps to give the appearance of competence to a hypothetical Hidden Rock pretending to be Hidden Leaf, or a Hidden Leaf pretending to be Hidden Rock… this was over Shion's head. Hopefully, Kobayashi-Sensei would be able to get them answers.
They really were lost without him.
Kenzō advanced into Sarobetsu nonchalantly, bearing the disguise Momoka had put over him, straw hat on his head itching slightly. The ricebags on either side of him would disguise his swords nicely and help prevent him from drawing attention to himself this evening.
His eyes flicked around, a bit surprised to see so many out and milling about. As he approached their rendezvous point, he realized why.
The building was gone.
Not in a 'vanished into thin air' type of way, more in the 'smashed into a million pieces and then set on fire' kind of way. The surrounding area was plenty torn up too. Kenzō's heart started to beat rapidly, but he kept his cool, eyes flicking around. Was this site being watched? Even from here, he could see splotches of blood on the ground, trailing away… he decided to risk it, and approached the scene of battle.
Kenzō's not willing to stick around longer than necessary in case the area is being watched, so no timeladder.
That was definitely Sensei's MEW over there… and here, the blood had formed a silhouette. That… was a big silhouette. His stomach started churning.
He stalked over to one of the bystanders, grabbing him by the collar.
"You! What the fuck happened here?" Kenzō demanded, arm trembling.
With a small bonus to their resolve due to being scared of the other ninja, can this civilian stand up to Kenzō?
Kenzō, Intimidation: 21 + 9 = 30
Civilian, Resolve: utterly stomped
"Ah, ah, em, before the crack of dawn, it, it, it seems two ninjas came into conflict and fought each other. One of them was wounded badly but managed to kill the other… he, erm, he made the body disappear somehow, and he limped off into the dust cloud…"
"Which?! Which lived? Was one of them a taller man?"
"I- I don't know, they were moving quickly and I ran for cover-"
Kenzō lifted the man off the ground, shaking him. "You said they made the body disappear! What did the body look like?!"
"I- I suppose he looked like a large man- oof!"
Kenzō dropped him, sprinting back to camp.
It is now late evening.
Once again, all three characters are offered a Compel to find the culprit and beat the brakes off of them. This time, however, it isn't out of any sort of loyalty to their village, but to a beloved friend. Kenzō will be compelled by "Unforgiven Sins", Shion will be compelled by "Something to Prove", and Momoka will be compelled by "Cavernous Heart."
What do you do?
[X] (Compel) Accept (+1 FP)
[X] (Compel) Reject (0 FP)
[X] (Action) Split up and run for it immediately. Even a jōnin can't follow all of you at once.
[X] (Action) Track down whoever did this and kill them gratuitously.
[X] (Action) Find the culprit and negotiate terms.
Canon event bro, sorry, nothing to be done.
It is very unfortunate that I really started liking to write Jun when he died in the original one shot... for that reason I decided I would roll it this time instead of it just being a fiat thing for the one-shot, but alas...
Assuming "jonin" means "primary stats in 60s" (per Shrooms rules doc), then even if the guy's *full up on consequences* he'll be down 21EDIT: 25 on rolls, meaning roughly even withEDIT: 4-6 points below our team *at best*. If he's got any consequence slots unfilled, or stats in the mid-high 60s instead of low, we're at a disadvantage.
Between numbers advantage and spending Fate Points we might pull it out, especially if he's modeled as being out of FP himself, but it at least makes one quite nervous.
(ETA: it was pointed out to me that stats in the 60s have AB 7, not 6.)
They got injured despite likely having the drop on a high chuunin.
I'll try to get a plan up at some point. At this stage we're going to need to try interrogation. A pretty basic good cop bad cop approach is probably the best bet, especially given that the bad cop can open by taking a toe and escalate to fingers in a hurry.
Give us this one mid-fight too @Shrooms that was funni
[X] Action Plan: Vengeance
Buy FP
Kenzou - 1 FP
Shion - 3 FP
Momoka - 0 FP (she can't afford it)
Interrogate Sai quickly
Spend no more than 15 minutes
Kenzou takes point, others create social maneuvers for tags
Don't spend FP except for rerolls on a -9 or worse on the Intimidation roll
Find out if his jounin-sensei is in the area, he's the one who likely did this to Jun
Get anything you can about Elements, known strategies, favored tactics.
Find out why they were ordered to murder Rain civilians in Rock gear
Is he aware of other ninja operating in this area?
Kill him when we're done. If he won't cooperate, mutilate him until he does.
Go after Jun's killer.
If we can find him quickly he won't have time to regenerate chakra, find him ASAP.
He's wounded and might be losing blood, try to track him before we lose the light.
If we can't find him before night falls, camp and wait for dawn, it's less critical to move fast now as he'll have had time to regenerate chakra.
Attack him, if he can be easily taken prisoner, do so, but don't risk anyone's life over it.
Optimize tactics with the information from Sai, if he uses AoE ninjutsu, don't group up and make an easy target. If he's melee fighter, get in close with Kenzou and disarm him etc.
He'll be stronger than any individual on our side, so use maneuvers and jutsu to generate tags to make the critical rolls count.
Buff before battle if possible, every advantage matters.
When you get an opportunity to hit him hard, do so, he's wounded and won't have the stamina he otherwise would. Invokes on personal Aspects and the enemy's wounds, passed tags, anything to beat a jounin.
