A storm of white capable of piercing its chills to one's bones as well as feeling like it was strong enough to expose them due to the sheer whirling dance of the unruly snow gave a lonely coachman all too much trouble by itself. The man was a professional, he was used to fighting the environment as much as he was fighting his own willpower. The animals he managed trusted his judgment enough to resist their own natural instincts to flee south, at least as far back south as to the bordering fields of the Land of Snow, where the ground was frozen solid yet snow was not knees deep even on maintained and used roads.
It was because of the natural awareness and the on edge state that ruling in such conditions demanded that the man noticed a lonely figure in a black coat. Shoulder length dark violet hair fell over the shoulders of the young man, mixing into the thick and rich fur from the hood hanging on his back, a part of the man's winter attire.
With trouble in his mind and worry over the potential success of his job in mind, the coachman halted the caravan. In his youth, he may have tried something as hot-headed as turning his caravan and trying to run around the obstacle, given how he could not see what was under all that snow, however, his horses could have twisted and broken their joints instantly by galloping into a ditch or even the smallest of tripping hazards. Plus, who knew for how long this man was standing here, what preparations he had laid or who was hiding around these parts waiting for a chance of a potential ambush.
"If you look for money, look elsewhere. I take solicitor to a castle in the mountains. All money is in the castle, not on my client." The coachman spoke up first, something that was very unlike the locals. Then again, he did speak similarly to the other Land of Snow giants, omitting plenty of words found pointless and adding nothing that lacked necessity.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your work, we are looking for information ranging from something concrete to mere rumors on strange happenings in nearby settlements. Coachmen and merchants tend to travel around, we'd like to know if you, by any chance, have come upon something of the sort," Yushijin inquired.
The coachmen glanced the young shinobi over. He did not look like he enjoyed what he was seeing nor the trouble that this lonely obstacle in the road offered him.
"Can't say. Strange is vague term. No time to compare notes." The coachman prepared to encourage his horses to move along. It was a power play that was meant to see if Yushijin was going to be trouble or not. If the young ninja blocking the path was weak-willed or truly did not mean to cause the coachman any trouble, he'd have moved aside. If trouble was truly brewing, he'd have remained rooted and even tried something that would have only aggravated the situation.
"Please, anything that fuels the imagination. Grisly murders, mysterious disappearances of people or items." Yushijin did not directly block the coachman's path but he did turn his body aside, thusly, while not directly blocking the passage, he did not move out of the carriage's way either.
A head of a blond and well-dressed man appeared from the space between the open door and the carriage. The man inside the carriage was not dressed in particularly heat-insulating clothes so he may have peeked out only to see what the reason for stopping was. The mountains were still a decent distance away and the carriage may not have made it there until late at night, even later if stoppages like this persisted. The man may have been rightfully irked.
"What's happening, why have we stopped?" he inquired.
"This foreign ninja asking around." The coachman pointed at Yushijin.
"Foreign ninja? What is it that you want, ninja?" the solicitor wondered out loud, his speech suggested that this man was not a local himself. He spoke at least remotely like a human being.
"I am looking for rumors of mysterious happenings that may be plaguing the local settlements. Something like that might be a sign of something more dangerous and bloody to come in the future and I seek to prevent it." The Konoha swordsman explained himself.
"For someone who dislikes needless talking and time wasting, you certainly are bleeding time with this young man." The solicitor turned at the coachman. "If it helps you at all, the settlement we took off from, around four hours traveling by carriage to the south-east from here, has experienced a persisting problem of losing produce. Someone or something breaks into the warehouses and simply trashes it, they do not take it, they do not eat it, they just chop it up and make it rot from the inside or ruin it differently. It was an object of many conversations by some very drunk men in the inn the evening before I left."
"Thank you, Sir. That helps me a great deal." Yushijin bowed his head in gratitude. "Have a good day and good luck with your business."
As if the young man had never been there, to begin with, the figure of the lone swordsman faded away in a whirlwind of picked up snow that circled around momentarily before settling down where Yushijin's Body Flicker Jutsu disturbed it.
"It's only been a few hours of attempts, but we've got something." Yushijin reported to his team, hiding in nearby ditches.
"See? I told you that if we hid and you spoke alone we'd have more success. Nobody wants to speak to a handful of suspicious figures in a snowstorm like this, that's why they steered clear of us." Erumo grinned.
"I'm surprised that this worked. Yushijin's the scariest out of all of us by his lonesome…" Kouta sighed in relief before turning to Mana who appeared unusually gloomy for something that turned out to be a success. "Something wrong?"
"Don't know. You should have at least tried blending in, talked like the locals do. Now we risk leaking the information that Konoha ninja are working in the Land of Snow. You did not speak like any local and your skin tone is nowhere near like that of the Kumogakure ninja." Mana explained the source of her worries.
"Yeah, maybe Mana should have been the one to do the talking. She may not be quite the face of a Kumogakure ninja but her skin is at least different enough to be confused for one in these conditions. Or you could have just used the Transformation Jutsu." Erumo shrugged. While she did lean to the side of agreeing with Mana and disagreeing with Yushijin, something that was more on the world-shaking, one of a kind event side, the relative carelessness in the tone of the young woman suggested that she did not deem this all too important of a problem.
"It will be fine. It was just a lonely coachman and a foreign solicitor. We'll be long gone after they tell this tale to anyone and it's not like we're causing any harm here. Nobody will have any reason to complain and a little good publicity together with Konoha's name might be a good thing. Kumogakure is fresh off of a draining conflict with Iwagakure, they won't risk waving any flags in front of the now second most powerful military in the world."
"Plus, it's not like it's any better of an idea for Mana, a widely known entertainment superstar, to parade with her face out in the open, trying to pass off as a local." Kouta nudged the magician with his elbow. While a smile was absent from the Juugo's face, some of his trademark vitality and fondness for the magician was slowly beginning to return to him after the failure that pulled the carpet from under his feet yesterday.
"Either way, we have a destination." Yushijin tried getting his team back on track.
"Sure. If the locals have noticed the activity of the scouts, it's more than likely that we're too late to stop them from returning to the tribe, however. A raid will be inevitable." Erumo summed up.
Snow picked up in a whirl and passed the entire field from one side to another, riding just the coattails of the picked up pressure and shockwaves from the team of ninja departing in the direction of the small settlement in the south-east of the Land of Snow.
"We shouldn't stray from the plan. Stick to the trenches and caves, lay an ambush in an open field." Mana brought up. What Erumo said earlier worried her a fair share as the possibility always remained to arrive at the place and only find brutalized bodies and the entire settlement looted and sacked.
"It might be troublesome to engage the entire tribe in an open field. It's not the way ninja usually operate." Yushijin observed. From his tone alone he did not sound objecting to the idea of following the primary plan but he was almost begging for the team to discuss it properly again.
"We can take them." Kouta summarized. "That kid surprised us, that's all. Unexpected tactics like that will always make a weakling land a hit or two on a stronger opponent."
While Mana appreciated hearing her boyfriend agreeing with her, both out of support for her and because it appeared to be his genuine opinion, it felt a bit discomforting about how much like his father the young man sounded.
"That was just a kid, not even a warrior but a scout." Yushijin shook his head. "While I don't think anyone out of the bunch of self-trained tribe of savages would be able to beat us, it isn't wise to label all of them based on the showings of one boy who was never even meant to fight anyway."
"We should arrive at the settlement, scope out the location, talk to the locals. Rest up and fight on our own ground." Erumo declared.
"On our own ground fifteen thousand kilometers from home, pelted by weather completely alien to us, in a location where we don't know anyone nor does anyone trust us?" Mana riposted.
"Those tribesmen are raiders, they probably never had a fair fight in their entire life. That being said, they've raised themselves up in the mountains and out in the endless vastness of Land of Snow. There could be a reason why they hit and run the settlements. Buildings, roads, and civilization might be as alien to them as this cold is to us. We stand the best chances standing our ground in the settlement." Erumo persisted.
"It's up to you." Mana turned to Yushijin. While she did feel bitter inside, it was far too cold for a boiling blush and she had far too much composure to growl or yell about.
Yushijin appeared dead silent for a while. Staring out in the open before the vague shapes of the snow-sunken settlement appeared in the distance. Hastened by the circumstances, Yushijin closed his eyes and made his call.
"If we stay in the settlement, we can use the local defenses, even more, Erumo can help the locals with traps and she can set her own without worrying about the battle conditions. It's an ideal way to utilize her skill set. I am not going to overlook that." The leader of Team Fir declared.
Mana got his point. It hurt to admit it but she saw his way of reasoning, as a support ninja, Erumo excelled at setting her techniques up and planning ahead rather than thinking and fighting on her feet and adapting to the conditions of the battle. While both Mana and Yushijin were preparing for active engagement, it did not change the fact that if they did fight that way, Erumo's advantages would barely be utilized and they'd basically be down a perfectly capable member in such a brawl.
"Alright…" Mana gave in. She had to keep her own spirits up, trying to tell herself that she'd keep half an eye open for the locals but she knew better than most the kind of impossible burden she was placing upon herself. In her entire career as a ninja, she probably pulled out a hero act like the one she was planning once or twice and lost far too many times to try it again without getting wobbly legs.
Kouta sighed. Mana turned back at him and wondered if Yushijin was not making the same mistake he just tried to avoid. Now it may have been Kouta who would be unable to unleash all of his potential as he'd be shackled by the settlement around him, surrounded by fragile towers of cardboard boxes. He had virtually no supportive capabilities besides his medical ninja game and that game, to be honest, was slipping up recently due to his long-lasting investment into what he saw as the better half of his identity.
The south-eastern settlement that the solicitor was talking about was a completely different beast to its basic predecessor. In a lot of ways, however, it looked a lot colder and even less welcoming too. The quirky wooden homes were replaced by brick blocks of multiple floors. The pathways of frozen dirt were instead replaced with grey pavement that fit so nicely with the equally grey walls around it.
It did not appear that this settlement was all that invested into its defense either. It had just a man-sized wall surrounding it from most sides with a clear clearing for entrance and then the wall resumed. If this settlement followed the usual rules of architecture, it was more than likely to have entrances from all four sides. Judging by how serious Erumo's eyes looked and how they raced across the various sights that she was gorging on, the trapster had already thought of that.
"We better get the settlement administration onboard. It won't be easy but it will go smoother in the long run instead of us just waltzing about and setting traps all over the place." Mana brought up.
"That's a good idea." Yushijin appeared soothed to get to agree with the magician. Clearly, he expected more of a falling out to come from the argument from before. If he could give up on a few things that mattered far less in the long run while keeping his team mostly on the same page, Yushijin looked ready to make those small sacrifices.
"That was always my intention…" Erumo lied. Given how it was a crystal clear and demonstrative lie, it kind of slid under everyone's radar and just ended up more on the charming scale.
It was not difficult to notice how few stray stares the Konoha crew gathered. It was of no surprise – Mana may have appeared almost like a Kumogakure native from the first sight, nobody seemed to care enough to let their eyes wander all over the differing locations at which each member of Team Fir wore their headbands. All that the locals saw from the get-go was a bunch of cold travelers looking for a place to sit down and stretch their legs. This settlement saw plenty of those. It was likely a transitional pit stop between the outside world and the merciless wilderness, the blizzard-plagued plains of the Land of Snow.
It was not until the group entered the administration building to see the settlement chief that the four received their own sets of stray eyes wandering their way. Even then, most of them were directed at Yushijin's sword and not on the actual young adults wandering into the building. In fact, it may have been because of the sword that the receptionists even cared to scan the four hard enough to notice their forehead protectors.
"We would like to see the chief, please." Yushijin declared. He did not limit his vocabulary though he did speak with the relative coldness to his tone that could have been picked up whenever the locals opened their mouths.
"Konoha ninja? Need to ask more questions." The old lady sitting behind the reception table gave Mana dreadful flashbacks to the experience in the archive building.
"Shoot." Yushijin closed his eyes and prepared himself for what he deemed to be unpleasant.
"Mission?"
"Yes."
"Yours?"
"No, yours."
"Not ours."
"Land of Snow."
"You're here…"
"No use visiting the client. Our mission's here."
"Immediate?"
"Quite."
"Proceed to third floor."
"Thank you."
The old lady stonewalled Yushijin's gratitude, possibly finding a reply unnecessary. Kouta raised an eyebrow while looking Yushijin's way.
"We should have taken you to the library…" the medical ninja declared with a respectful tone.
"Found a common trait, that's all." Yushijin shrugged while leading his team on to the third floor.
The settlement chief was a thick yet tall man. It was tough to say if his size was a result of intensive training or a lavish lifestyle, given the food options found around these parts, the first was a more likely option. He was a man well past his physical prime but his terrific physique didn't let old age set in on too many areas, save for the greying hair and mustache as thick as the man's considerable arms.
"Konoha ninja? Your business must have been immediate to be let through. Please, sit down." The chief spoke in a soft voice but something suggested the magician that it was not the only voice that this man was capable of.
"More than five words in a sentence… What eloquence." Kouta with a ridiculing grin while leaning to Mana's ear.
"Oh, I am not from around these parts. My family fled here from Iwagakure thirty years ago." The chief, who looked not too much different from a kind uncle when he was smiling and sizing up his vast belly with his hands. Had it not been for a strict, almost militaristic dress code that this elder subscribed to, he'd have truly set the impression in stone.
"Impressive hearing." Mana commended the village chief. Even a ninja would have needed to use enhanced perception to hear something of this volume and here this aged man pulled it off like it was nothing.
"I may have been a teenager when I arrived at these parts but I still worked for a pair of years in the quartz mines. While working in the mines it is best to hear either the hiss of a natural gas leak or the resulting explosion to begin fleeing as fast as possible before you are incinerated in your entirety. In any case, I must be boring you talking about myself. You said your business here was immediate?" the man dismissed talks of deadly dismemberment and total incineration as something boring.
"We want to build traps inside and around your settlement to fend off a tribe of raiders that's about to raid it dry." Erumo summed it up in a manner of no words being wasted that would have made any Land of Snow local proud, leaving the ball in the old timer's court.
