Team 8 (Naruto D20, Kagekure)

[Callos_DeTerran]

The sun was high up in the sky, sending its bright rays of sunlight across the blue dome that covered the land. Clouds drifting about lazily as if unhurried about where they had to go and who they had to rain on. In the land squashed between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, a large collection of buildings marked the presence of one of the nigh-famous Hidden Shinobi villages. Concealed in the shadow of a massive overhang of stone and the huge tree that grew on its peak, a cool shade covered the town and most of the nearby lands in the valley. A large waterfall cascaded from the north end and became a river that travelled the entire length to exit out into forests and lakes. Birds flitted happily through the air and a quiet murmur was in the air. It always was, even if there was nobody actually awake and about, one mystery of this place.

A battered and burned wall surrounded this sleepy place, scars from battles long past marring its perfect white surface with three gates. One to the west, south, and north while the east side only had a gaping hole with construction crews scurrying about it. The interior of the village had the same scars as the wall that protected it though there was considerably more work done to repair the damages to it. Some buildings actually looked new and fresh. A sprawling noble complex with the symbol of the infamous Mibu clan. A tall and dome-like building in the center of the village, the residence and office of the village leader. And of course the Academy itself has been completely repaired and fixed. Fewer people then normal were bustling about the city but it was a healthy sort of buzz. The kind that showed that this village, despite its hardships was just beginning to recover from whatever tragedy had befallen it. Shops and restruants getting enough business to pull them by. Children playing in the street with toys. Wives or husbands putting clothes up on the line.

A simple day for many of the normal folk in the village of Kagekure, but it was one rocked by suspicion, scandal, and new faces. The entire village was abuzz with the news that three Jounin had gone missing from the village with naught a trace or sign of them. More importantly to the...younger members of the village was being assigned to a jounin for tutoring.
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Things hadn't started well.

There had been no notice or letter from their teacher announcing when their first meeting was supposed to be. Nothing. Their Chuunin teacher from the Academy had merely tracked them down and given them a brisk verbal thrashing for playing hooky on their first official ninja duties, and sheepishly giving directions once he found out they had no idea where to go.

And where was one of the more..depressing places in Kagekure. The Ibaraki family grounds. Once a proud and influential family, they had been struck down in the assault. Rumors said to the man but the presence of another Genin with the Ibaraki surname certainly poked holes in that.

Now the household lay in burnt ruins, no more inhabitants but an empty shell. The testament of the savagery that had befell it's occupants, and it didn't help matters that the day was already overcast. Ominous looking clouds had gathered in the sky above and the crack of thunder every now and then signaled that it was most likely going to rain. Not that this seemed to bother the woman stretched out across the ground in front of the low wall and gate leading into the interior.

Looking to be in her prime, the woman's most notable...assets seemed to be a rather large chest and pure white hair that hung down to her shoulders. With a heavy tan the woman stuck out like a sore thumb in the somber surroundings. Oddly enough she was dressed in a long sleeved white jacket with a zipper up the from, a bright line of purple running from her neck down the sleeves with a matching pair of pants. A comely woman...and one that was currently passed out either in a coma or a very deep deep sleep....which a loud snore answered a second later. A bulgy brown pouch was hooked into her belt and the typical Kagekure headband was wrapped around her lower arm like a short and ineffectual bracer.

[Dark_Prophet]

The solidly built young boy scowls at the sleeping woman and then at the damaged background.
"*This* is our team leader? I mean, she's kinda pretty, but her falling asleep like this when she's supposed to be the one to teach us?" Chiiro asks bemusedly to his teammates, and then sets his enormous backpack down beside him gently, it rattling quietly despite his efforts. He sits down and takes a rest beside the wall several feet away from her. After a moment, he runs a hand through his brown hair in exasperation, the short pony tail at the back bobbing from the moment.

"Hey, Shirozu - I could be working at the forge right now. What do you say if she doesn't wake up soon, we say we couldn't find her and call it a day?" He whispers lightly, addressing the short light skinned, albino member of the group, but also glancing at the lighter skinned Kirisaki, as if watching for his reaction to the suggestion.

[Warpix]

Kirisaki

Kirisaki walked up to the woman laying there, who was either sleeping, knocked out, or drunk. None of these were very good signs if this woman would be their team leader. He then decided to find himself a very nice place patch of grass to sit on, it didn't seem that they would be going anywhere soon. Chiiro seemed to have a similar opinion and a love for his forge.

"Well, she could just be drunk." Kirisaki was a bit amused by the thought, but he was only joking. "Hey Chiiro, I know you may not like it, but we did find our team leader, so we'd probably best off staying here. I mean, I'd rather be doing something else too, but something tells me that if we leave, we'll end up regretting it."

Kirisaki took out his Ninja-To still in it's sheathe and started to wipe remnants of flour left on it from earlier. "I mean I didn't even have enough time to bake my bread this morning, but hey, this is what I get for trying to do things last minute, right?"

[Rarkasha]

The thin, shy boy called Shirozu looks up from the slice of lemon loaf he was nibbling on. He twists his body from side to side, as if anxious, something he does often when thinking. It's impossible for him to stay still when thinking, normally, and standing in one spot twisting is the least of his fidgety nature.

"Mmm... but I don't wanna get in trouble, if we leave... maybe we should try to wake her now?" he says, sounding tentative. It doesn't seem like he'd be up to the task of imposing on someone himself, though.

[Dark_Prophet]

"We didn't even get notification that we were supposed to be here today; first our teacher chewing us out for her not telling us, and now this. I was in the middle of the project, too." Chiiro grumbles, and then relents, nudging the sleeping woman with his foot none-too-gently. "Fine, fine. But she better be a damn good ninja."

[Callos_DeTerran]

Oblivious to her surroundings, the woman didn't awaken as the three kids discussed what to do with their team leader. Even when they mentioned possibly going elsewhere or returning to what they had been doing. Luckily enough this didn't extend to when he reached out to nudge her, blurry blue eyes opening up as she sat up with a yawn.

"Hey malchick, you must be a tomtick of gloopy to just itty around nudging strange cheenas...wait, you must be those kids I'm supposed to be teachin. Huh...don't smot like much but smots can be decieving I guess." Her odd dialect was...confusing but most of what she said was understandable. Swiveling her eyes to all three of them, the woman paused before speaking again to each one in turn, first Chiiro, then Shirozu, and then finally Kirisaki. "Your a strange bunch, aren't you? Lemme guess...your the Suhashi malchick, dobby bunch of lewdies but a tomtick weird in the gulliver with all the raz they spent makin' veshches. That should make you...really really pale. Arai family right? Never knew much about them. You ittying to be okay in the sun or your ittying to burn up and itty all toasty on me? And last and leastly we get to the Nobi kid. Did you know I actually ittied to kupet some of your kleb after you were assigned to me? Trust me, it's to snuff for. Try not to let baking interfere with your training too much, but I wouldn't rassoodock the occasional baked delight."

Rising to stand, she spent a moment brushing the dirt off of the seat of her pants before twisting some to gesture to the Ibaraki place behind her. "Right. As you might have guess I'm your teacher, Kurobashi Suzu. And this burnt out husk of a building is our first mission. Apparently the neighbors been slooshy ghostly shooms and weird lights, so the lot of them pooled their pretty polly together to kupet a mission. We're ittying to itty in there, exorcise the dooks, or anything else that might be in there, and get paid. Simple, huh? Any questions?"

[Dark_Prophet]

Chiiro looks at her disbelievingly, then grumbles. "I like making "vesches", I'll have you know, and they aren't a "bunch" of lewdies any more since the war."

He opens his mouth to say more, and then takes a deep breath.
"So...we're going in and investigating the "ghosts". Great, probably just a bunch of academy students causing trouble or the like. Not that I think we'll have any problem with this mission, Kurobashi-sensei, but what areas are you adept in?"

[Warpix]

Kirisaki

Kirisaki stood up and spoke. "Kurobashi Sensei, you don't have to worry about my baking getting in the way, and as for being 'leastly', I think I'll just have to prove you wrong there." Kirisaki looks at the building, Probably just some punk kids in there, nothing to worry about...

[Rarkasha]

"We... we should do it anyways, I think," says Shirozu, poking the tips of his forefingers together, talking in a slightly quiet, almost mumbling tone," Even if it's nothing, it's good to keep people happy and do what they ask. That's part of our job, to keep things peaceful, right? I don't think we're ready for really risky things yet anyways, and this is better than running errands, I guess.

[Callos_DeTerran]

The oddly dressed woman merely smiled in the face of all the questions and comments and gave a single shrug to them. It didn't appear she would be answering anytime soon. Instead she reached around to her shuriken holder and pulled out three scrolls. One blue, green, and red and held them out for the three to take. "Each of you shvat on of these scrolls, odin for each and doesn't matter who gets what. When we get to the right spot, the writing on that particular scroll should nachinat to glow so keep a glazz on it. If you viddy anything, ANYTHING, strange then you govoreet up and let me know. It could just be dva kids fillying jokes or it could actually be something serious, so I want your full ninja attention focused on this, okay?"

Lastly the jounin pulled out...a divining rod and hummed to herself as she fitted some black string through a hole on the end and slipped it on. With nary another word the strange woman began to whistle softly and stepped through the gap in the wall. What little remained of the burnt out grass looked stubby and un-watered, almost dry enough to up and blow away with a stiff enough breeze. The building itself wasn't much better, lots of scorch marks marring the white surface close to the base lighter markings higher up. One of the wooden doors hung ajar while the other side was missing entirely.

Once inside you can't help but be struck by how...empty the place seemed. The Ibaraki home was devoid of any decorations or furniture, just piles of old gray ash and dust. A mournful mood sombers the air to the point where even the most light-hearted of people would fall silent in respect. In several places the walls had holes in them, as if people had punched through them or had blown a hole with some sort of technique and Suzu shuddered at the look of some of them. "Eyes open malchiks."

Spoiler

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Make any checks you want to be making.

[Dark_Prophet]

Chiiro takes the red scroll, nodding at Suzu's instructions and then follows, trying to move as silent as possible and keep himself alert, but its clear that he hasn't had much practice in either. As he passes the devastated areas, he narrows his eyes and tightens his jaw. His free hand unconsciously wanders to the katana at his side as he alternates between glancing at the scroll in his hand and watching his surroundings.

Spoiler

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Move Silently (1d20+2)[5]
Spot (1d20+1)[14]

[Warpix]

Kirisaki

Kirisaki slung up his sword again and grabbed the blue scroll, putting it in his uniform. He followed Suzu into the building, keeping a keen set of eyes and ears, trying to damper the sounds of his movement and blend into the environment. Kirisaki will duck down and try to hide behind whatever he can.

Spoiler

Show

Spot (1d20)[4]
Listen (1d20)[4]
Move Silently (1d20+10)[22]
Hide (1d20+10)[29]

[Dark_Prophet]

*grumble grumble non-editable die rolling system* Apologies. Die rolls I forgot. Hooray.

Spoiler

Show

Listen (1d20+1)[11]
Hide (1d20+2)[5]

[Rarkasha]

Shirozu trails behind Chiiro, hoping the older one would be better at spotting things than he could. His hands play along the handle of a kunai in his jacket, but he knows that Ninjutsu might be more effective in this scenario if something pops up.

He suddenly gets an idea, and lurks a little faster over to Chiiro, subconsciously seeing him as the leader. He tries to move in front of him, trying to get his attention, rather than surprising him by tapping him on the shoulder.

Spoiler

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Spot(1d20+2)[22]
Listen(1d20+2)[7]
Hide(1d20+9)[10]
Move silently(1d20+5)[10]

[Dark_Prophet]

Chiiro stops and glances at Shirobozu questioningly, whispering back, motioning to the others as he does so with the hand carrying the scroll, his other hand tightening perceptibly on the hilt of his katana. "Whats up, paleface? Did you see something?"

[Rarkasha]

Shirozu whispers back, sounding a little excited, hoping for a moment to shine, "I wanna to search around us. I might be able to tell if anyone's been here recently. I've been practicing at it."

[Dark_Prophet]

Chiiro nods, chuckling quietly and relaxing his stance a bit, then whispers back. "Sure, go ahead." He glances back at Kirisaki. "Kirisaki-san, want to cover him? You're quieter then I am, and I can stay here with Kurobashi-sensei." He looks around for Suzu, gesturing for them to head off. "Kurobashi-sensei, Shirozu-kun's going to area sweep with Kirisaki-san as backup, all right?"

[Warpix]

Kirisaki

Kirisaki nods at Chiiro and goes to cover Shirozu's back...

[Rarkasha]

Shirozu carefully scans the ground, looking for objects that might have been left behind, or anything that escaped the destruction. He also checks the holes for any sign of what might of caused them, such as residue or edge patterns.

Spoiler

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Search Roll (1d20+10)[27]
Int Roll (for determining causes of the holes and other clues) (1d20+4)[9]

[Callos_DeTerran]

Shirozu's search doesn't quite turn up anything that wasn't to be expected. The place had practically been looted but that was to expected of an abandoned old home of a previously rich clan. Several of the holes in the walls had the break pattern of a single big blow to it, as if someone had taken a hammer or their fist to it and broke it apart in a single blow. Others had a more...melted look, signaling a sustained fiery assault that left small piles of slag at the base of the walls. Suzu didn't answer, intent as she was on the thing in her hand, experimentally stepping in two different directions before waving for Chiiro to follow her. Whatever she was following, it seemed to be fairly consitant because she never hesitated in going in a direction and soon Shirozu and Kirisaki were left to search on their own.

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Eventually the jounin's wanderings lead you (Chiiro) to a small secluded part of the compound. A couple of the open rooms you passed by had various utensils or utility rooms, such as a kitchen or cleaning supply closet, which was a good hint that this wasn't where any actual family dwelt. The door that Suzu finally stopped in front of had no door on it, and a look inside showed a...pantry with rotten foodstuffs on the walls. The smell is nearly overwhelming and runs the gamut of old cheese to rotten fish, the refrigerating unit busted a long time ago.

Once inside, the tanned woman looked around slowly.

...It was almost unnoticable at first. A bass hum that reverberated in one's very bones...but it started to grow louder to your alarm and some of the unbroken bottles began to shake and rattle on their shelves.

"Uh oh"

Spoiler

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Dark, make a DC 10 Spot check

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Shirozu and Kirisaki's investigation turned up new details the longer that they searched, such as foot prints in the ash and dust. They weren't particularly recent looking, at least a couple days old, but it was something.

Spoiler

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You can follow the tracks and a Survival check can tell you more about them.

[Dark_Prophet]

"Ugh, it smells like something died in here-" Chiiro cuts off the rest of his complaint as he feels the humming and hears Suzu's exclamation of worry. He glances around hurriedly, trying to pinpoint the origin of it, hand back on his sword almost before thinking, wincing as he feels its vibration in his hand. "Vibration, vibration...damn it, I should have studied the different kinds of ninjutsu warning signs more..."

Spoiler

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Spot for the vibration (1d20+1)[4](5)

[Rarkasha]

"What do you think?" says Shirozu to Kirisaki offhandedly, pointing at the prints, starting to follow them slowly.

"The damage here is pretty bad. I wonder why someone would want to damage the infrastructure to this extent. Either the defenders or the attackers were persistent, I think."

[Warpix]

Kirisaki

Kirisaki looked at the footprints, a little old, but not too old, the footprints were only a few days old, so...
"It's odd that there would be foot prints here, but these are only a few days old, meaning that some one was here only a few days ago, or at least something physically human, so I'm wondering how much of this damage is recent, and why would a person possibly want to do this. It probably wouldn't hurt to follow the footprints for a little bit and see where they lead, but I would really like to know if any of the damage is recent."
Kirisaki looked at the footprints a little bit more to see if he could figure out anything from them.

Spoiler

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Survival(1d20)[8]

[Callos_DeTerran]

Chiiro

A fitful scarlet glow comes from where you had stashed the red scroll, casting an eerie radiance over your features as Suzu turns around after taking a gander at it. Nodding absently to herself, the jounin takes the divining rod around her neck in hand and spins about slowly before stopping, raising her hand to point at the far end of the refrigerated unit to an empty shelf above a larger cooling unit.

"Dobby, dobby. Alright, shvat out your scroll and unfurl it on the shelf over there. Make sure you don't muck up the symbols I've written on it or else we might be in some serious trouble." Suzu said firmly, all hints of sleep gone from her voice and stepping aside to give you room to get to the back of the room.

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Not much can be determined from the foot prints from what you can see. From the smudging of the prints and their age, it's hard to determine many details but a couple are things are clear.

1. They are all roughly the same size as the others.

2. That they were all the same kind of shoe.

Following them leads the two genin on a mendering path around the building, seemingly making stops at random with no certain direction as to where they were headed.

[Dark_Prophet]

Chiiro puts his backpack down in front of him, and quickly removes the scroll, wincing at the glowing red light. He leaves the backpack on the floor, and opens it on the empty shelf as per Suzu's instructions, quickly retrieving his sword when he finishes.

"So...what is this? A detection technique? For...ghosts?" Despite the situation and the worried edge to his voice, his tone is still his trademark skeptical tenor.

[Rarkasha]

Shirozu sighs and turns back to Kirisaki, looking annoyed and frustrated.

"This isn't going anywhere," he whines,Let's just go find Chiiro again...

[Warpix]

"Yeah, we should probably head back."
Kirisaki started to move back to the starting area to find Chiiro.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Chiiro

With the scroll glowing upon the shelf that it had been laid upon and weapon drawn, things were looking pretty good...or rather they might if he knew what the scroll was supposed to be doing. But when your question went unanswered something rang as a little off...Especially when you spin around to see what was holding Suzu up only to find empty space where the jounin had once stood.

Suzu herself was just turning the corner that had lead to the pantry and one couldn't possibly be running faster unless they were using chakra to enhance their speed. And by the skid marks she made turning that corner, it looked as if she had no intention of stopping once she was around it either.

That's when you hear the refrigerator unit opening up behind you.

The smell hit you before you turned around, the stench of rotten meat that had been left out far longer then it ever should have been. But it was the sight that was decidedly more...odd. An un-cooked chicken was climbing it's way out of the busted refrigerator, featherless and without a head. Bits of meat were missing here and there, giving it a haggard and decidedly unwholesome appearance. Several links of green sausages hung dejectedly from one wing. Shaking itself, as if working the kinks out of itself, the quite dead chicken took up a stance that was quite obviously taijutsu in nature and began to twirl the sausages in the manner one would nunchaku's before launching itself into the air at Chiiro and slapping him solidly across the face before landing and spinning about on it's drumsticks to face him once more, sausages at the ready. (2 damage).

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Shirozu and Kirisaki

Giving up on the pursuit of the foot prints, the two genin turn about to return the way that had lead them here only to find something in their path. An ethereal image stood not twenty feet away from them, a teenage boy not five years their senior. A ghastly smile covered one half of his face, impossible as it was to see the other with fresh and seeping burn marks that consumed the teenager's entire left side. Burnt skin leaked blood and other substances to the floor, only to have them vanish on impact as if they had never been there. Pale silver the only bit of color seemed to come from his injured side and vivid green eyes.

Lips parted as if to direct a message to the genin, but no sounds issued forth...

Spoiler

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Need Spot and Listen checks from you two.

[Dark_Prophet]

Chiiro gags and stumbles back from the blow, glaring at the sausage wielding chicken. "Aaaugh I'm going to be sick...wait, what the hell?"
His eyes narrow, the rest of his face moving first to incredulity, then rage as he notices the taijutsu stance. "You have got to be f*cking kidding me!" His hand goes to the greatsword at his back, drawing it in fluid motion. The boy bellows as he runs at it, slashing with the greatsword. "Whoever's sick idea of a joke this is gonna regret it! -when I shove this thing down your throat!"

Spoiler

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Intiative (1d20+2)[21]
(1d20+4)[9]
(2d6+3)[6][6](15)

[Warpix]

Kirisaki

Kirisaki moved back, following the trail seemed to not get him anywhere. On the way back, a spirit seemed to appear. From the burn marks, this spirit may have been someone who had died in the fire, or perhaps some type of Genjutsu... Kirisaki calmed down and tried to take in his surroundings to try to figure out who's starting this Genjutsu.

Spoiler

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Spot(1d20)[9]
Listen(1d20)[3]