His Right Hand: First Act

[Tsubasa Chinatsu]

Recently there had been a string of rough storms that had passed through Iwagakure. The rains had flooded near by rivers and the harsh winds had caused some damage to the water logged locals shops. While resident shinobi have been doing their best to help with the situation it seems that matters still only get worse and worse. Complaint after complaint have arrived at his office. Some in the forms of ranting shop owners and others in the forms of hastily written letters. In all honest, he was getting down the the end of his wire. He was sick and tired of all of the complaining when he had already done so much to help these people rebuild. Ah well he would have to suck it up and figure out a way to satisfy these people. After all if the merchants packed up and moved, well that would be bad for Iwa's economy.

Sighing as he picked up and opened yet another complaint letter, Chinatsu placed an elbow on his desk and a hand to his forehead as he leaned forward. His one good eye scanned over the piece of parchment very carefully before tossing it back onto the desk with another more exasperated sigh. "First there was a cicada infestation of the fruit market. Then there was a rat infestation of the bakery. Of course we can't forget the meats at the meat market spoiling. Still, a bunch of bitchy little girls is what I have to deal with when it comes to miners. It's too wet they say. There's too much water they say. Well get a shinobi with suiton or even katon, and get it the fuck out I say," he growled now thoroughly irritated. "I mean seriously, all of our miners are shinobi, some of them are even from the blast corps. So why are they complaining like they're on their period or something?"

At that Chinatsu pulled a small spherical wrapped candy before tugging at the sides to unwrap it and popping it into his mouth. "It annoys me to no end." With that he stood up abruptly, knocking his chair down, and walked around his desk towards the door, "Come with me Masumi, we're going to set them straight once and for all."

Chakra: 100% | Words: 379

[Tsubasa Masumi]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #8C627F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] i'd rather die on my feet The more she watched the Tsuchikage at work, the gladder she was that she was merely an assistant to the man and would never have to suffer through his job in its entirety. Every single day he was inundated not only with formal requests for this or that, lengthy mission reports, letters of complaint from the citizens and shinobi alike, and the list just went on and on. The magnitude of paperwork she piled onto his desk every morning was outstanding, and most certainly not in any positive manner. None of the feedback that he received was good, or thanked him for anything he had done for the village, or even complimented him on something as mundane as having nice hair - which even she would admit. Not aloud, though. She supposed she might be less critical of his frustrations if she had spent any time in the Kage's seat herself, something she had never aspired to - and for good reason. A Kage was supposed to like his people, to care about them, to give thought to their complaints and even love them, the mere notion of which filled her with distaste. And that did not even begin to cover the dreaded subject of paperwork, which she did enough of as it was. If the Tsubasa would happen to die anytime soon - and oh, what a pity that would be - they would not find his successor in his wife, that was for certain. Masumi quite tactfully refrained from making the comment that the Tsuchikage was whining about people whining at him, and that he should set a better example for his people and perhaps they would follow along - which, of course, would not work; people would whine whether they had a real reason to or not. "I can tell." she commented dryly, nearly rolling her eyes. "As you wish." She righted the chair that he had knocked over and followed him out. words 322 tags chinatsu notes 322/2500 than live life on my knees

made by akemi

[Tsubasa Chinatsu]

His first order of business, however, was not to tend to the mines but rather to investigate how matters were in the marketplace. Many of the complaints had originated from there, so it made sense that he would want to go there first to see first hand how the support he had sent out was handling the situation and if need be help out himself despite his position. Of course most people would never want his specific help. Perhaps it was because they thought of him as above helping the common man directly due to his position. Well Chinatsu thought otherwise. They were his people and as such he should do his best to help them whether that meant sending shinobi forces to do the works for him or getting his pants a little dirty.

He clacked his dark blue hued cane against the ground every now and then as he walked. It wasn't so much that he did it intentionally but that the way he walked when he was determined to get something done caused him to swing his arms at varying distances back and forth every now and then causing the small end of the cane to grace the ground now and then. Nothing too big, and nothing too noticeable to make anyone have to avoid being hit by the cane he clutched tightly with his right hand. So tightly in fact that his knuckles turned white. This was one key sign of his frustration. If his wife was paying attention then she likely would also notice a distinct cracking sound as he grit his teeth with the small candy once between them.

"Masumi, I would like to ask you to talk some sense into the miner's if they refuse to listen to me. I know you're tongue and it is one that has been great at keeping me in check now and then, so please do assist me and doing the same here," he would have hoped she already knew what he needed of her, but in case he told her anyway. She had a shrill tongue now and then and it was absolutely perfect. She was serious in almost every aspect of life and while he would never admit it, he was somewhat attracted to that aspect of her. He only wished she knew how to relax a bit more.

"However," he took a deep breath trying to calm his agitation, "We'll visit the markets first and check up on the status of how they're progressing first since it's on the way. Afterwards we'll go to the western mines where the complaints originated from and work our way around from there."

Chakra: 100% | Words: 445

[Tsubasa Masumi]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #8C627F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] i'd rather die on my feet Masumi found the notion of animal and insect infestations in the shops in the marketplace to be utterly disgusting, and she surely wasn't the only one - no one liked learning that the fruit they had purchased had been subject to a plague of cicadas. That was simply... unpleasant. And fairly common sense; bugs in the market were a problem that needed to be solved. But surely they could set up some sort of business that could take care of that sort of thing instead of sending it through the Kage. He had better things to do than drive insects out of a shop. She was not one of the people that believed a Kage should sort out all his affairs in the office, but it was a simple fact that bugs were not the end of the world and did not require the aid of an S-Rank shinobi to exterminate. It didn't seem that her husband was any happier about having to go out to investigate the insect situation - probably for altogether different reasons than hers, however. He actually enjoyed going out and helping his people, for the most part, and that was something that Masumi just did not understand. The masses were generally uneducated, uncouth, absolutely disgusting, and most certainly not worth their precious time. Of course, that was her opinion of humanity in general, not just the citizens of Iwagakure, and it was an unpopular opinion, as one might suspect. She nearly sighed at him when she heard him angrily crunching the candy; she had told him what seemed like a million times that he shouldn't do that, and sounded all the more like the stereotypical nagging wife for it, but of course he didn't listen. When did he ever listen to her? Never. Unless she managed to cow him with that tone of voice. "Of course, Tsuchikage-sama." He may have preferred a more informal address with her, but despite their marriage Masumi always took a formal tone when speaking to him. He was technically her superior, after all. She couldn't help but smirk a little when he remarked that her sharp tongue could keep him in check. She nodded as he continued speaking and explained the plan, which was simple enough. Although she didn't relish the thought of being seen in public with her husband, and possibly having to pretend to be affectionate in order to convince the people that they actually liked each other... Today was not going to be a fun day. words 425 tags chinatsu notes 747/2500 than live life on my knees

made by akemi

[Tsubasa Chinatsu]

It didn't take the pair very long to arrive at the plaza where the market stands were all located. When they did however, they were met with a bit of chaos. People were running left and right to attend to certain tasks that they were assigned. Genin were transporting rat poisons and traps. Chuunin were using various tonics and sprays on the booths to repel bugs, careful not to get any on the merchandise. Some more genin were assisting the meat monger in transporting fresh cuts. All seemed to be well and done with really. Everyone had everything under control it seemed, and a few words with the various jounin in charge confirmed this.

All of the projects were going according to schedule if not faster. Good.

Chinatsu smiled to the good men and women before bidding them farewell and waving to Masumi for them to continue onward on their complaint run. They would take the western path out of the marketplace past all of the shinobi traffic and be on their way towards the mines. As they walked however, something seemed to be eating at the Tsuchikage's mind. Something other than what he had already voiced.

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[Tsubasa Masumi]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #8C627F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] i'd rather die on my feet Utter chaos was the scene, and it had begun to grate on Masumi's nerves the moment they stepped foot into the market. Not only was the hustle and bustle greater than it usually was, but the whole thing was just one big mess due to the lower ranked shinobi having no concept of order whatsoever. To be honest, it would not surprise her if at least one genin had not been dared to try rat poison by the end of the day; and it would surprise her even less if said genin took the dare, ate rat poison, and ended up in the hospital, which would only serve to make more work out of this whole business. She would suggest that the genin were graduating too young and needed to be taught some common sense before they were allowed out of the academy, but that did not hold true in all cases - the main exception, of course, being the woman herself, who had graduated two or three years before most and had still been more mature than both of her teammates. But she supposed that that was an issue for a different time. Masumi put a smile on her face when it was necessary, said a few words to those that spoke to her, and generally pretended to care about the concerns of the common people. Of course, her distant tone and aloof attitude tended to prevent all that many people from approaching her, although she had had her fair share of old ladies - usually from the Maeda or Tsubasa Clans - intrude upon her privacy to ask why she had not yet procreated with her husband, a question that she answered by walking away. Really, that was no one's business but her own... She supposed some people just did not care. Masumi spared a glance for Chinatsu, and noticed the look in his eyes. "What are you worrying about now?" words 322 tags chinatsu notes 1069/2500 than live life on my knees

made by akemi

[Tsubasa Chinatsu]

Chinatsu snapped out of his world of thoughts when he was addressed by Masumi. He seemed to jump slightly when he did with his crimson orb growing large and his expression becoming a bit less serious. He turned his head to look at his wife before giving her a seemingly fake smile. Fake for him anyway and she would likely be able to tell, although most others wouldn't. "Nothing important really," he reached out for a moment to pat her head however stopped mid motion before lowering his hand and laughing to himself. It definitely seemed his bitter mood had dissipated. "I just remembered our third anniversary is coming up soon is all." With that said his tune soon became a lot more serious, "But there's no time to worry about the festivities, we should keep moving. If this issue with the mines isn't resolved soon then I don't want to even begin to think about how it might affect the economy."

Chinatsu turned back down towards the path and leaped upward into the air before landing on the roof of small building. He beckoned to Masumi to follow before he bounded off again and proceeded to bound from building to building as he traversed Iwa. Traveling like this was certainly faster than walking or just plain running. Especially when a lot of the commoners were about on the streets today. Sure they may have been hurrying about to prepare for the up coming festival, but seriously they didn't need to run about like an angry swarm of bees. It just made it more difficult to navigate the already maze-like structure of the street layout.

"Masumi-chan!" He called out behind him using his pet name that he often gave her in public despite it annoying the woman immensely, "I'm curious, what do you think on this whole situation?"

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[Tsubasa Masumi]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #8C627F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] i'd rather die on my feet Ah. Nothing all too important, indeed. Merely the third anniversary of their marriage, something that would be a significant and happy date for any two people in a less dysfunctional, loving relationship - but for Masumi it was merely a reminder that she had been forced into a loveless marriage and a few more unpleasant things. "Ah, yes, the festivities. I've been worrying myself sick over celebrating our wonderful relationship." she muttered in a deadpan tone, clearly unamused. Hm, and that reminded her of something... a little bet they had made, one that she was not looking forward to paying up on - hopefully he had forgotten all about it. Just the thought of it soured her mood even further. "Do not worry; if you cannot solve the issue, I'm sure I can... handle it." Probably more so with threats - the most effective form of persuasion - than coercion. Masumi was good with words, but nothing did the trick quite as well as slamming a man up against a wall and threatening to remove his ability to reproduce if he did not cooperate. Most of the time that was not even necessary; just a stern tone of voice with a hint of threat would do the job well enough nine times out of ten. She followed Chinatsu up to the rooftops, always a step behind him; the woman was a little bit irritated that he kept gesturing for her to follow. What was the purpose of that? She was not going to wander off and leave him if he did not specifically tell her to come after him. In fact, it almost felt like he was treating her like a dog - an assumption that could only stem from her sort of mind - by giving her commands and whatnot. "Chinatsu, you know full well how I feel about pet names." she murmured under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear. "By 'situation,' are you referring to the mines, the people, or our marriage? You should know my opinion on the latter well enough by now." words 345 tags chinatsu notes 1414/2500 than live life on my knees

made by akemi

[Tsubasa Chinatsu]

Never once did that infamous childish grin appear on his face as he continued to remain one step ahead of her on the rooftops. His grip on his cane tightened causing his knuckles to turn white once more as his expression became even more serious. "None of them," he landed on the roof of a rather lengthy building ran the length before leaping off again, "I mean what do you think about the situation with the war?"

Recently Chinatsu had begun having second thoughts about having started a war with Kusagakure and Takigakure. Of course he wanted to purge the world of anything that might cause a second coming of the rampage of the Nidaime and his late wife, but that didn't entirely mean that innocent people had to die just to reach that goal. Sure the world would likely be a safer place once this purification was complete, but, would it all be worth it in the end? Chinatsu wasn't sure as to what to do about the war effort. He had never truly been a part of war himself after all.

The Tsuchikage sighed a quiet sigh to himself as his thoughts ran rampant through his mind. He soon grit his teeth as he continued to mull over the various complications that came with war. More and more he was considering hiring some Mercenaries to infiltrate the two villages and systematically eliminate their higher ups as well as any of the plagued ones that they would located, but then again, perhaps not. One issue with mercenaries. All they usually cared about was money.

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[Tsubasa Masumi]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #8C627F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] i'd rather die on my feet "Ah, yes the war." Masumi contemplated the subject in silence for a long moment. She believed that war in itself was foolish; sending the nameless masses out to die against the nameless masses of another country seemed to her to be nothing more than a huge waste of money, resources, and manpower in pursuit of a goal that would prove, ultimately, to be fruitless. This war against Taki and Kusa had stemmed, most likely, from her husband's fear of anything related to his first wife. "I do not believe it to be wise. We are needlessly expending valuable resources and forces chasing the ghost of the Nidaime's experimentation... do you even know for certain that Taki and Kusa are experimenting on their citizens, or is it merely a guess, or intuition?" Masumi had never been involved in war - she hadn't even been alive until after the first world war had ended. "I believe we should focus on making our country and our village stronger before we worry about the business of lesser villages. If it is true that they are doing anything that is cause for alarm, we would crush them more easily after increasing our own strength." Masumi sighed. "If you believe this war is justified and do not wish to end it, I would first of all suggest gaining more allies, if at all possible. Give our enemies more of a reason to fear us - distract them with a show of gathering overwhelming force, and find a way to take out the most important players from within. Spies and mercenaries are not cheap, but they are useful." She had suggested to him once before the idea of allowing her to fight fire with fire, so to speak - use her skills with juinjutsu and seals to come up with something to enhance their own soldiers, to better fight their tainted foes - and had been summarily denied, without even a thought given to the possible benefits. The topic was one she wished to broach again, but not here and not now. words 344 tags chinatsu notes 1758/2500 than live life on my knees

made by akemi

[Tsubasa Chinatsu]

She brought up several good points. They simply did not have the man power they desired to completely wipe Taki and Kusa off of the map. That meant they would definitely need more resources, more allies. Something for Chinatsu to think about more in depth at a later time. "Thank you Masumi." He could always count on his wife, despite her being fairly young, to think rationally about the whole situation. Still something bothered him about this war. It wasn't so much the war itself, but something Masumi herself had once suggested. To allow her to do experiments on their own people in order to increase their man power. The idea didn't sit well with Chinatsu. That was, after all, exactly what his late wife had been doing and look at where they were now.

It was simply something that the Tsuchikage could not allow. Not right now anyway. Perhaps if he thought about it more, he could come up with a fitting solution for the both of them, but not here, not now.

About ten more minutes would elapse before the Tsuchikage and his Assistant would find them selves walking into a large open rocky area. Mountain cliffs yawned before them on either side of this thirty foot wide span of land and seemed to threaten to cave down on them at any moment given the right provocation. The scared not the Tsuchikage as he had seen these cliffs many times through out his life, however would prove intimidating to a young child. The sounds of clamor from many low, rough, voices could be heard farther down the pass. Some were louder than others, but none were able to be made out at this distance, so their conversation(s) continued on in a rough privacy.

"Well at least we know we're close," Chinatsu sighed, the fact that they could hear the voices all the way over here was a key sign that none of the miners were actually too enthusiastic about getting their jobs done, which was, in Chinatsu's book, just plain despicable. He continued on to walk down the seventy foot stretch of rocky pass as the cliffs slowly got closer and closer together until, at their most narrow section, were only eight feet apart, before suddenly yawning open into an even more vast section of land. At its widest point the land was perhaps 150 feet apart from either cliff face, and as the most narrow it was 20 feet. Chinatsu continued to follow the sound of voices as the din grew louder and louder until he rounded the northern cliff face to find a group of men camped out in front of a vast opening the journeyed deep into the mountain's belly.

Almost as soon as the two would round the bend of the northern cliff a smaller man seemed to notice them near immediately. He was thinner set than the rest of the miners, and had length black tresses that he had long since tethered back into a low set pony tail. He got up from the large rock he had been sitting on and made his way over to greet the Tsuchikage and his Assistant. "Ah I knew you would come M'Lord," he greeted with a somewhat hoarse yet higher pitched voice than most of the other men gathered. "Things have really been going down hill over here ever since the storms," he got, mostly, right to the point as he folded his arms across his chest. There was a distinct look of worry on his face. However as the young man seemed to be drawing out his phrases another, more robust man approached. He had dark chocolate tresses that seemed to be a wild as the fiercest of volcanoes that rested dormant around their glorious Iwagakure. "Come on Toyo-chan, don't dawdle in front of the Boss Man himself," he spoke with a deeper more gruff voice than that of the smaller man as he lightly rested on muscle rippled arm on the male's scrawny shoulder. "Y'know Roku-san, we wouldn't be in this blasted mess if you hadn't destroyed that wall!" The larger man seemed set back by this accusation, although he seemed to realize some truth in this statement of the other's. "Yeah well.." "ENOUGH! GO SIT DOWN AND LET ME EXPLAIN RYUUHEI!" The other man backed off, it seemed, even though he was scrawny, that he had some sort of respect, or maybe it was fear, of the smaller man.

"....." Chinatsu watched with a nearly blank expression on his face before clearing his throat, "So the situation here..." The smaller male sighed as he shook his head, "It's utterly hopeless right now. We tried pretty much everything we can think of but... That THING just won't leave us alone." He paused seeing the expression change on the Tsuchikage's face, "Wait, what thing?" This was definitely news to him.

Chinatsu b30000

Toyohime b04300

Roku b06f00

Chakra: 100% Words: 816/2410/2500

[Tsubasa Masumi]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #8C627F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] i'd rather die on my feet She acknowledged his thanks with a short nod, still deep in contemplation. Perhaps it was 'wrong,' or 'immoral,' or any other such thing, to use the lives of human beings in scientific experimentation, but that all depended on how one saw morality what morals they held. What might be perfectly alright to one person could be the darkest sin for another. From a purely scientific and learned standpoint, human experimentation was greatly beneficial. After all, you would best learn about human reactions to certain plants or concocted drugs, different sensations and whatnot by testing on humans themselves. What was one life or two or ten to all the people in the world, current and yet to come? A single life was akin to a drop in the ocean of humanity. But there were some that viewed each and every life as precious, as if perhaps the world would come to a sudden halt due to the death of an individual - quite the ridiculous notion indeed. People died each and every day, as they would continue to do until the end of time; if perhaps a life or two were pushed more quickly to their ends, given an experimental shove off the cliff of life, what was it to the world? Very little, if anything at all. Chinatsu was more of the latter type - at least in principle, in the belief that scientific experimentation did not justify the loss of human life, or rather, that people did not deserve to go through such suffering, a notion that she simply did not understand. Existence itself was suffering; even in joy, there was sorrow, especially for shinobi. A woman has to suffer to give birth to new life. She had to watch her child grow up and, every time he left the village, she had to realize that he might not come back. And a child had to watch his parents grow old and wither away and die. At every stage in between, there was suffering and death - sickness, plagues, war, murders, often with little rhyme or reason. And people often died without a purpose or reason. If your death would give way to the creation of something wonderful, was that not a good reason to die? But he could not - or would not - see it her way, and thus the matter had been put to rest, although she would certainly dredge it up again one day and likely incite another argument. She would convince him that her experimentation was justified, even if she could not convince him that it was right. Masumi's immersion in her thoughts was broken as the cacophony of the workers in the mines sounded in her ears, each with its own complaint that the Tsuchikage would be made to attend to. Plebeians, all of them, and certainly not worth their valuable time. But alas, the voice of the people had to be heard. Unfortunately, that was all they heard - no sounds of men hard at work made their way to the pair as they ventured down to see the workers. It had to be a miserable existence, living a life as low as this. Certainly, they provided a valuable service to the village - but there was no glory in spending decades underground in the mines. Masumi arched a brow as one of the workers accused another of destroying a wall, and they descended into a shouting match like they were nothing more than rabble. Which, of course, was what they were; she didn't know why she had expected anything more out of them. Even though the woman and her husband had only been in the presence of the workers for a few minutes at the most, she was already ready to leave. Surely Chinatsu would be able to bend the miners to his will without her 'sharp tongue.' If the problem escalated to the point where the Tsuchikage's assistant was forced to step in and likely resort to threats, there was a larger issue at hand than water in the mines, and it was one that could not be solved so simply. "If there is some sort of... 'thing' down here harassing you, why is this the first we have heard of it? In all the reports and requests sent for the Tsuchikage's perusal, there was no mention of a dangerous 'thing.'" she interjected, eyes narrowing. Unless the 'thing' was an incredibly new development and had come to light in the past fifteen or so minutes, there was no reason for them not to have received word of it. If it was something that struck fear into their hearts, why had they not clamored for a solution to that problem before a solution for the water in the mines? The logic of plebeians made little sense to Masumi. words 804 tags chinatsu notes 2562/2500 than live life on my knees

made by akemi

[Tsubasa Chinatsu]

If there was something in the mines that had been hindering their progress other than the apparent presence of water then they would have told them at the get go, right? Then again, perhaps they wanted to make the Tsuchikage think that everything wasn't as bad as it seemed. No, that wasn't quite right, Chinatsu knew that, but still why hadn't they informed them of the presence of something else long ago? "Masumi's right." Chinatsu moved his hands to place them on his hips slightly as his expression became increasingly serious, "Spit it out just what the bloody hell is going on?" His voice seemed to be as though like daggers aimed at the throat of the scrawny miner.

The male, identified as Toyo-chan, straightened himself out as the apparent nervousness of his character faded. "Well to be quite frank, that thing, whatever the hell it is, wasn't there when I sent out the original letter." The expression on Chinatsu's faced hardened even more at the lad's words. "We went into the mine this morning to see about clearing out the water our selves. It was me, Roku, Satoru, and Sukoshi." He folded his arms across his chest as a gust of wind flew past them briefly tossing around their hair and anything else not tied down on their persons. "I wanted to simply evaporate the water using Katon, however none of us knew of any jutsu that would be useful for such an endeavor." His eyes shifted towards the side as if he were looking around to make sure no one were listening, "That's when I sent out the letter asking for some assistance, but, once it was sent out there was a loud boom echoing from within the mine followed by horrible blood curdling cries." Toyo shook his head as he closed his eyes, "I went with three of my best men to investigate to find Roku passed out near the entryway. While two of my men took Roku back to camp, I went on ahead with my other man to find Satoru and Sukoshi. However..." The expression on the lad's face became rather solemn and somewhat disturbed, "All we found was blood stains on the floor, some bloody bone fragments, and... He reached into his pocket pulling out a pendant made out of durable nylon thread dyed crimson from the blood. The thread was tethered around what seemed to be a claw of some sort. The lad presented it to the Tsuchikage and his assistant, "This pendant. It was Sukoshi's treasure. She never went anywhere without it, so to see it laying on the ground like that among a blood pile of bone shards. Let's just say I feared the worst."

Toyo put the pendant back in his pocket before looking back towards the mines, the expression on his face became that of worry and disgust, "Being the fool I was, I ordered a search party to find the two missing miners. However, what we found instead was even more disturbing." A distinct chill in the air formed as he continued his tale, "In the cavern filled with water, crawling along the ceiling was some sort of creature. Legs protruded from both sides of its body and ran the length like some sort of centipede, however, it was the size of a house, and as fast as a projectile propelled by fuuton."

Chinatsu's eye grew wide for a moment before he settled again. This news was certainly disturbing. "What has been done about this situation thus far?" He folded his arms across his chest again, now a look of concern was plastered on the man's face as he too gazed off towards the cave entrance.

"We've blocked off the path to the room where the creature resides, however, I doubt the barricades will hold for too long considering its size. Although I don't advise, even you MiLord or you MiLady to attempt to purge that thing unless you're well prepared. From our attempts, it seems to be heavily armored." Toyo shook his head as he mentioned attempting to purge the creature's presence. He expression became solemn once more, "I have a detachment of men currently working on making a new mine, but it'll be some time before its readily producing anything. Until then we have our best able bodied men that can put up a fight stationed here in case it breaks free." Chinatsu looked towards Masumi at this point as if seeking her guidance in this situation, however, he knew quite well already what they had to do.

He let out an exasperated sigh and looked back towards the cavern entrance, "Alright keep it contained as long as you can, and further more I don't want to hear of any more casualties to this thing. As soon as I am able I will form a team that will be given the task of eliminating that thing." He looked to Masumi once more, "What do you think?"

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[Tsubasa Masumi]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #8C627F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] i'd rather die on my feet So this was a somewhat recent development, if the miner was telling the truth. While she had no real reason to suspect that he was not being honest, she had found that a healthy dose of suspicion is almost always warranted, and so long as no accusations were made (which they certainly would not be) it would not be obvious that she even had suspicions. She listened to the man's story with an air of disinterest; it most certainly was a problem, this creature within the mines... Some sort of giant insect with a taste for blood and a heavy suit of armor, a problem even for shinobi like Chinatsu and herself. It would not be too difficult to come up with a plan of attack, but executing it was another story entirely. "I think we'll need to gather a large squad of the village's strongest jonin, formulate at least two battle plans, and approach the creature with extreme caution." Common sense, yet it was what needed to be said and what had to occur. They could not just leave the creature there and forgo the use of the mines, and she doubted that they would be able to deal with it in any other way than attempting to kill it. She hated to admit it, but she did not believe that her own skill set was entirely appropriate for this endeavor. Masumi doubted that juinjutsu had the same effect on simpler creatures such as this monstrous insects as it did on people, and while she knew a few barrier techniques, she doubted their ability to contain a creature of that size. Her involvement in this would be strategy, and most likely, little else. Chinatsu, on the other hand.. she could think of quite a few ways that he could pitch in, or perhaps even take care of the problem with little aid from others. But that would really depend on what the creature was actually like, something they wouldn't know until they went into the depths of the mines and found it. words 347 tags chinatsu notes 2909/2500 than live life on my knees

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[Tsubasa Chinatsu]

Chinatsu nodded his head, "Agreed, however since I am aware we have few jounin to provide for this endeavor I will participate myself. This won't be a mission, however, this is more of a quest, we have to defeat this thing otherwise access to the mines will be neigh impossible." Chinatsu turned back to Toyohime, "Toyohima-kun, I request that you bring all of your miners back to this location. Work on setting up a doton barrier cage around the perimeter, cause it'll likely be needed once we initiate the battle. There is to be no escape routes on the ground level so make sure everyone that cannot use ninjutsu is evacuated. From now on this will be a shinobi operation until this matter is dealt with, understood."

Toyohime nodded his head, "Understood Sir." He pounded a closed fist against his chest and bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect for the Kage. "Is there anything else you would like us to accomplish?" Chinatsu shook his head. "Just that, and also, I know you have at least one Tsubasa worker. Make sure he sends updates to us via the clay messenger every hour." Toyohime nodded, "Understood!"

With that the smaller male turned away and ran back over to the group of miners before giving out various orders. Soon enough one of the larger men began to sprint off in order to go retrieve the other miners. Seeing that his orders were being followed to a T Chinatsu nodded his head before turning to Masumi. "We're going to likely be in for one hell of a fight. I don't know if any of my techniques will be particularly useful against this thing without putting me out of commission really quickly." Chinatsu cast his gaze sideways back towards the closed off opening to the mines, "I'm counting on that wit of your's Masumi." He looked back towards her as he spoke and when he uttered her name patted her on the shoulder lightly for a moment before continuing on towards the village. "Now then, let's go prepare. Also, do me a favor Masumi, get in contact with Masaru-kun, we're going to likely need his explosive power in this endeavor." With that said, Chinatsu formed a single handseal, "I'll be going back to the tower to prepare." Then in a cloud of smoky fog, the Kage vanished, having used the Shunshin technique to depart quickly.

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