[The Crew] Solum Scouting [Private]

[Kuru Watashi]

Watashi held the map out infront of him, staring down at it with as solemn of a look he could keep on his face before crumpling it up and sticking it back into his pocket. "I think that was just a napkin from lunch, We're supposed to write our own map or something." The boy said, before looking out across the plains once more. "We're not in the mountains are we, right? You're gonna have to describe the view to me as we go along; I hear it's excellent!"

Solum de Asphodelus<i></i>​

"It does smell a lot... greener than I thought it would though." The boy kept the cannon-cleaning stick under his arm and gave a few more sniffs at the air before trying to use his saber to cut off the sponge and sharpen the pole to a point. He didn't want to use his sword to poke around but being able to use the walking stick to stab whatever monster jumped out would be fun. Attempting to use his boot to scout out the foot infront of him to make sure he didn't fall, the blind lad did his very best to distinguish between the different types of terrain that he was stepping on. Remembering Naohiro's requirements for a good base were tough, but Watashi was confident that he'd be able to pull it off.

"So we want it close to a settlement, next to wood and water, but not next to samurais, right?" Watashi asked as he hacked away at the wood pole. Sending splinters and shavings flying everyone, Watashi thought about putting on a glove before remembering that he did not, infact, own any gloves. "Well, I don't think that we're standing in a river right now so we'll probably have to keep looking!"

Stomping a bit at the ground beneath his feet to double check that he wasn't in a river or standing on any lumber, Watashi tried sticking the half-sharpened spear into his rope belt before giving up and holding each weapon in one hand. "Alright, inspiring quote number one!" The lad declared, holding his sword aloft in what he believed was a very heroic pose. "If we find any samurais, then we'll run away!"

"If we can't run away," Watashi continued, trying to jam the spear into the sword sheath this time. "Then we'll naturally have to find someone to hide behind! There will probably be some sort of angry peasantry that wouldn't enjoy being ruled by samurais too much, right? Can't say that I'm too happy under that Raikage myself." Pushing the sword back into its sheath and holding the sharpened wood in both hands, Watashi walked for a few seconds longer before stopping and cocking his head to once side.

"Hey, do you hear that?"

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

"I guess we could, but why not just mark the location on an actual map? Or write down directions or something, 'when you reach the weird looking tree, continue right for 5 miles'. Wait, are you sure that was just a napkin? Give it here. I'll have a look."

"We're not in the mountains, no,"</B><i></i> Yuuto responds to Watashi, "It's just grass, grass as far as the eye can see. There are a few hilly bits as well, but it's mostly flat. Useful for looking around, since there's not much in the way, but this place is big. And pretty empty, weird place for a budding samurai lord to...lord...over."

As Watashi lists off Naohiro's requirements for a hideout location, Yuuto nods and gives a few 'mhmm's to affirm the criteria. "Well, I guess it can be near a samurai lord, but we'll have to try and drive them away, which isn't going to end well."

Seeing Watashi sharpen his former cannon cleaning stick, Yuuto wonder how exactly he plans on using his sharp pointy things. Maybe with his hearing? Or just blind swings?

"We could hold our own against one samurai, I think. It's just if they happen to have any bodyguards with them, then it'd be a lot trickier. Now, if we could lure them into a trap..."

Frowning when Watashi stops to listen for something, Yuuto tenses up, preparing himself to get into a fight as quickly as he can.

<B>"Knowing my luck, it's probably a samurai lord and his private army, riding across the Solus to kill us. But still, better be prepared, just in case."<i></i>

 

[Kuru Watashi]

"Yeah," Watashi said, looking around the place a bit more, holding his sharp stick. "If it's all grass then I wonder why there are samurais here. Did we accidentally wander into that one 'Grass Country' or something?" He knew that he should have grabbed the other napkin earlier. Maybe then, they would actually be getting somewhere.

Makeshift spear at the ready, Watashi pivoted around a bit in place, trying to listen to see if he could hear any more sounds but to no avail. Either it was just a one-time occurrence or whatever made the sound had smarted up and started being quiet. Either way, the blind lad didn't like getting spooked by sudden sounds. He'd rather be the one doing the spooking!

"I suppose we could always try heading towards the sound to see whatever caused it. It doesn't seem like we're actually getting anywhere by just running around in the grass. Our best bet could be just investigating the sound. If they're samurai then we'll have to fight them anyways and if it's not, we're still better off than walking in circles here." Watashi looked around himself after that last remark, making sure that they weren't actually walking around in circles. The blind lad could have sworn that he's seen that particular patch of blackness multiple times already...

"I'll let you make the decision on this one!" Watashi declared, jabbing his weapon into the ground to check that there weren't samurai trying to sneak attack them from the bottom. "Isn't there that one saying 'eyes on the prize'? Well, I'm pretty terrible at keeping my eyes on anything!" Ending on a triumphant note, he stabbed at the ground a few more times. "After all, I'm blind!"

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

"I guess they could be less powerful lords," Yuuto muses, "They couldn't get any of the more populated land so had to settle with some little villages and grassy fields." Whatever the reason was they ruled over, the duo's job would be a lot easier if it wasn't for those meddling lords.

Listening to Watashi discuss their next plan of action, Yuuto is fairly taken aback by the blind boy having thoughts that were 'logical' and 'rational', instead of just blowing people or other stuff up. In truth the Notamashi had assumed he was similar to Naohiro; somewhat eccentric and horrendously allergic to rational thought. It was good that he wasn't entirely like that; a chill runs down Yuuto's spine thinking about having to deal with a second self-proclaimed 'mastermind'. Maybe not entirely self-proclaimed, but Maru was really the only other person to call him that, but that's Maru.

"Following the sound sounds like a plan to me," the boy replies, "Even if it's just a cow or something, it could be on a farm, which means civilisation and hopefully a village."

As the resident 'person who can actually see', Yuuto decides to take the lead, grabbing Watashi's arm to try and lead him in the rough direction of where the sound came from.

"This way right? I might be able to see, but you've got better hearing. I'll let you know if I see anything that's not rolling grassy plains."<i></i>

 

[Kuru Watashi]

"Boy do I hope that they're powerful as heck!" Watashi said, striking another pose for an unseeing audience with his sword once more. "If they're weak then they won't be any sort of challenge at all! We've gotta find some way to out-do Naohiro over there and fighting samurai lords sounds like a cool way to do it."

Putting the sword back into its sheath and adjusting it so that it wouldn't get in the way of his movements, Watashi started waving his hands to explain the rest of his plan. "So we're going to need a way to sneak up on them! It's dark and night time so they won't be able to see me at all, but you're going to have to find some way to hide! I recommend getting down on the ground and rolling around up to them. The grass should keep you hidden and rolling is fun!"

Watashi began whistling, with one arm occupied as Yuuto dragged him along. Rummaging through his pocket with his free arm while rapidly walking to make sure that he didn't fall. Feeling each individual item carefully to check what he had, he started to compile a mental list. Half-eaten donut, another napkin, half of a carrot, a lighter and a few explosive tags. Luckily the young lad had stopped by that one place where he heard that he could get explosive tags. Even luckier, he had gotten a few to try out.

"Well, what do you have on you? I've got some stuff on my that we can use to mess with the shinobi with. Here's what I think we should do! You can cover your face with the napkin so they don't know who you are and distract them by trying to sell them the half-eaten donut. Meanwhile, I'll sneak into whatever fields they've got and plant the carrot, then burn the rest of their crops!" Watashi started laughing maniacally, getting towed along. "They'll never know what hit them! This environment seems terrible for growing carrots! They won't even realize that they're carrots until weeks have passed! The samurais will be ruined I tell you!"

Waving the carrot around as the key to his master plan, Watashi laughed a bit more before hearing the ringing sound on the horizon again. "That's them I bet!" The blind lad shouted before breaking free from Yuuto's grasp and running out to see what it was. Running upwards on what felt like a hill, Watashi inevitably tripped on a bush and faceplanted into the ground, right as the village whose everyday sounds he had heard came into view.

Rolled three on the random encounter roll.​

Solum Samurai Village<i></i>​

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

"Careful what you wish for... I'd rather not be skewered on some samurai's katana; I don't know about you." Fate was cruel and would probably give Watashi exactly what he'd asked for. Yuuto could already picture the tall, muscular warrior effortlessly detaching their heads from their shoulders.

"You know, Yuuto, I'm really starting to like this guy! If only you were more like him."

The boy listens to Watashi's plan, mostly agreeing on the idea that they'll need to be stealthy, but less so on some other odd thoughts he spewed.

"Well first of all, it's broad daylight, and you're not some kind of weird...night...monster...thing that turns invisible at night. 'If I can't see them, they can't see me' doesn't work all the time, and one of those times is when you're completely blind."</B><i></i>

"But anyway, I agree we need to be lower down to avoid being spotted easily, but rolling probably isn't the answer. I say we lie down in the grass if we hear anything, try not to get trampled by anyone. Then if the coast is clear we can carry on."

As Watashi details his plan, a plan where 'hare-brained' was too tame a description, Yuuto finds himself starting to laugh along with the blind boy, though out of entertainment rather than...whatever that maniacal laughter signified.

"I think that's the most bizarre plan I've ever heard, and it'll never work. You can't grow carrots by just planting a half-eaten one on the ground! Besides, burning their crops will probably mean civilians starve, and they've done nothing to hurt us."

As Watashi runs up the hill and trips over, Yuuto takes a look around at the village very close by, ducking behind the bush and trying to guide his partner in crime to his side of it as well.

<B>"Shh, be quiet, and try not to be noticed. We've certainly found a settlement, so best be careful. Samurai might not like us sticking our noses into business."<i></i>

[WC: 353]

 

[Kuru Watashi]

Watashi idly chewed on the carrot as Yuuto pulled him into what seemed like a bush, trying to think of another plan after Yuuto insulted his brilliantly put-together masterpiece. Samurai were pretty strange, he'd have to admit. While the only real thing that he remembered about them from class was that Kumo was way better than a bunch of dorks in bamboo armor with swords, Watashi faintly remembered something about a group of samurai taking out that Leaf village. While it was true that a few good lads with weapons could take out a whole village of apes without too much problem, the Blind Boy knew he couldn't take on five Hokage apes just by himself either. Maybe only two or three. As he munched, the calories from the carrot flowing into his body, a good idea popped into his head, giving the boy a bit of a start.

Watashi peered at the direction of the carrot a bit, regarding it with a thoughtful look. "You know, this carrot tastes really good. Might have something to do with it being an old carrot? I think the older something is, the more flavor it has." He stuck the vegetable back into his pocket to save it for later now that he had made a discovery on how tasty it was before trying to figure out what to do about the samurai village. Watashi was never as good as thinking as Naohiro so the boy liked to voice his thoughts out loud, pretending like he was arguing with a dumb nerd for the extra morale boost. Waving his hands - it was something that he heard Naohiro did - the boy started.

"So, if we're going to set up a hideout here then we're going to need to get information primarily right? We don't really want to set up here with a bunch of samurai randomly wandering around that know the place better than us. If these guys have a village though, they're definitely well set up with the region already." Tapping on the sharpened stick from an awkward position as he tried laying down beneath and behind the bush, Watashi began counting things with his other hand. "So now that we know there are samurai here and a village at that, we still need to figure out where water is around here, where wood is and have a general idea of the area. If we can see how far out these samurai know the land outside of their village, it'll be even better."

Pulling out the half-eaten donut that Yuuto had refused to sell to the samurai, he chewed on that for a bit in thought. "Best case scenario, we can just either try to steal or get our hands onto a map from the samurai then. Neither of us should stand out too much and we don't exactly seem like the regular ninja, I don't think. So I think it'll be better to try and bamboozle a map out of them or some information at the very least. I don't really want to wait here until night to try and steal one since we don't know where any are in this village and I hear there are monsters out here." Gesturing towards the village again with his empty hand, Watashi realized another thing.

"And if they have a village here then they might not be as warmongering as we thought. If we got some sort of cover operation to hide our hideout and what we were doing, then we might even be able to stick around here regardless of the samurai. It'll atleast ward off any big-nosed Ninja investigators trying to stick their nose into our business if they'd be investigating around where a bunch of samurai live after all. So let's just get our hands onto that map and then we'll head back to see if Naohiro got anything good out of that location that he was scouting out separately then."

"Do you think that would work?" Watashi would ask before spitting out his chunk of donut that he had been chewing for the last minute. "And the theory is terrible. Age did not make this donut better tasting at all."

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

An old carrot...Yuuto goes to point out that it could be moldy if it's so old, but decides against it. The ensuing argument would just eat up time, and if it was moldy maybe he'd learn to be more careful with food next time. Instead he responds to Watashi's observations with a 'hm', before listening more closely to what he said next.

"We definitely need information. This village ticks one of the boxes, but if it doesn't have what we need there's no point in sticking around. But getting what information we can from here would certainly be a good idea, if we can manage it."

"Yeah, since we're not as old as most other shinobi, we shouldn't raise too many eyebrows, but the problem is that we're both kids, they might start asking questions about that. Two kids new to the area, poking around and trying to get information out of people? They could get suspicious."<i></i>

Thinking on it a moment, Yuuto tries to come up with a way to seem less suspicious to the samurai. "Hey, do samurai use chakra and stuff like that, the way we do? I could make myself look like an old man, act like I'm your grandfather or something. It doesn't stick if I get punched or anything, but what kind of person punches the innocent elderly?"

With the basis of his idea set, the pieces of how to achieve their goal fit into place. "Yeah, we're just an old man and his poor blind grandson, who've gotten lost and don't know the area that well, and would like to know a bit about the area so we could find our way? And perhaps, oh kind samurai, you could spare us a map? We don't have much, but if you'd like, we could try and pay..."<i></i>

 

[Kuru Watashi]

Watashi thought for a little bit too about Yuuto conundrum, head tilted to the side as he laid there on the ground. "Yeah, huh. They've really got to teach us more about the differences between samurai and shinobi. I've actually got no clue on if they use chakra or anything! All I know is that they like armor and use swords but I know lots of ninjas that use that as their thing too."

"Sure, that plan should work though." Watashi said as he got to his feet, dusting off his pants and grabbing the stick again. "That's the thing that I'm curious about now. We know that there are a bunch of shinobi that can detect chakra and what form it's in and the whole shebang. It'd make sense that the samurai would have a way of doing that too, right? I mean if they're constantly going to war with or fighting shinobi then they've gotta have a way of telling the normal peasant folk apart from the disguised ninja."

The young boy fished the donut out of his pocket again, rubbing it a bit before sticking it all in his mouth. "I 'uess you star' the 'lan en." Watashi said, trying to speak around the donut before swallowing it. "I can't really see up there so you'll have to drag me up and talk to whichever shinobi's up there. The only thing that I'm good at doing is looking real pitiful!"

"I could even try to pay them with my carrot. It was really tasty." Watashi grabbed the little spear and started jabbing even more holes into his already ruined shirt to sell the act a bit better. "If this doesn't work, I'm blaming you! This is my only shirt!"

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

"Alright then," Yuuto says, getting ready to perform the jutsu. "Lets go."

Forming the correct seals, where once Yuuto was, an old man, roughly the same height, now stands.

"Alright then, sonny,"</B><i></i> Old Man Yuuto says, ruffling his grandson's hair, "let's go get a map."

-----

Walking to the entrance of the village, immediately noticable are 5 samurai, armed, mostly talking with each other and looking relatively disinterested with the world. One of the group spots the duo, and turns to the rest, muttering something not quite audible. As he turns back around, they all immediately take a far more alert stance, arms placed on their hips, fingers dancing rather close to the hilts of their blades.

"Tell me, who are you two?" One of the samurai calls out.

"Apologies, oh kind samurai, but my grandson and I have gotten lost on these vast plains, and would humbly ask for your assistance in helping us find our way."<i></i> Yuuto tries his best to create the image of a humble old peasant man, attempting to treat the samurai with respect. The 5 look on, stony faces betraying nothing, but their hands coming to rest directly on their hilts, a casual motion that would seem innocuous to a civilian, but threatening to a shinobi.

<B>"Are you now?" The one who called out replies. "Because what I see are two shinobi who think they can just waltz into here." His tone suddenly takes on a sharp, hostile tone, and as if on cue, they all draw their weapons.

"I suppose you think your superiors will be oh so proud when you've come back to your shitty little hidden village, having raided one of ours? Well, not on my watch!" The samurai's voice grows louder and louder, building to a shout. "Prepare to die, shinobi scum!"

Mouthing a silent 'sorry' to Watashi, the old man disguise fades away, leaving Yuuto in its place.



[OOC: Rolled a 4 to see if they fell for the disguise, a 1 for their reaction, and a 2 (+3) for the amount.]

 

[Kuru Watashi]

Watashi followed Yuuto, imagining what it'd be like to have a grandpa. Maybe he wouldn't be poor in that life. Maybe he'd be able to eat more than a half-eaten donut every few days.

As the young lad got his hair ruffled, he pondered these great hypothetical questions and wasn't really too sure how he'd like the answers. It all seemed a bit too unfamiliar following something else, having his hair touched, asking for help from others.

Then the samurai drew their weapons and Watashi felt a bit more at ease. Other people having weapons ready to attack him with was a situation he knew all too well. "Uhhh," Watashi paused, thinking back to the sword draws to piece through them. Four? No, five. Five guys? The blind boy looked in Yuuto's direction, then back at the samurai before turning tail and bolting. "Run!"

Snatching up his stick as he ran down the hill and passed their former hiding bush, Watashi ran as fast as he could along the way that they had come from, hoping that there wouldn't be any sudden new obstacles cropping up just for the blind boy to trip over them. Watashi pulled one of the explosive tags out of his pocket and wrapped it around the little carrot snub that he kept on him as tightly as he could without breaking it. "Catch!" He shouted before tossing the vegetable backwards for Yuuto to grab, counting the explosive tag getting to the other boy undamaged.

"That's probably the only real thing that we've got that can lose them!" Watashi yelled backwards, trying to following their original path backwards. "I've still got two of them so we'll see if we can atleast distract them with those! Then use some sorta jutsu or something to try and hide!"

Hoping that Yuuto would get the plan, Watashi mentally started sorting through the jutsu that he knew in his head, trying to think of anything that would help get them out of this situation. "Ready when you are!"

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

Adrenaline pumped through Yuuto as he ran with Watashi, not daring to look back at the samurai to check if they were still in pursuit. He didn't know how fast they could run, and part of him didn't want to find out. On the one hand they were adults chasing after children, but on the other hand Yuuto and Watashi were probably wearing lighter clothing. Samurai were usually more heavily armoured, from what the boy had read.

With a shout from Watashi, an explosive tag wrapped around...a carrot head? flew into Yuuto's hands. Listening to the plan of action, he calls out "Got it!"<i></i> to his partner in fleeing as quickly as possible. Quickly rifling through the jutsu he knew, he recalled one that could hide both of them from their pursuers.

"I'm going to try something, but you're going to have to trust me! I'm going to drag you underground, so hopefully they're not mole samurai or anything."<i></i>


Flying through the handseals, fingers moving as fast as they could, Yuuto completes the jutsu and starts to sink into the grassy ground. Quickly grabbing onto Watashi, he tries to pull him under and out of sight as well. Darkness all around him, Yuuto closes his eyes and tries to keep as quiet as possible, listening out to check for the samurai.

 

[Kuru Watashi]

As Watashi felt Yuuto grabbing him and beginning to sink into the ground, he started acting as quickly as he could. Crumpling up the napkin, he held the explosive tag on it before flinging it into the air as hard as he could. Hoping that it would take a little while before getting back to the ground, Watashi then turned and shot a stone bullet as quickly as he could upwards in the direction of the Samurai. Satisfied with what he'd done, Watashi stopped resisting the ground eating him and allowed himself to be swallowed peacefully.

Watashi sat there in the complete darkness that he usually inhabited before starting to using the next set of handseals that he knew. Doing his best to estimate where the explosive tag would be right now - floating gently down towards the ground - he mentally reached out and tapped his chakra into it, detonating the tag.

Amidst the booming aftermath, Watashi tried moving into a position where he could look at Yuuto. "Alright, now that they're far away from their village and probably thinking that we're running, let's go get ourselves a map and some cool samurai stuff." Watashi whispered before grinning. "I shot off a stone bullet in the direction of their village with enough chakra to keep it going for a while."

"If you want to body switch with it then we can probably try raiding the village while their fighters and reinforcements are trying to look for us to keep us from 'reporting back' where their village is. Having a map would definitely be way faster than the two of us with only one set of eyes between us looking for all that lumber and water and stuff."

Watashi shrugged. "Their map would probably even have the locations of all of the other samurai villages and all that in the area. That would save us a lot of trouble too by knowing where we should probably be avoiding. Time is running out though! I don't know how much longer that stone bullet will fly for."

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

Yuuto winces at the sound of the explosive tag, even with it somewhat muffled by the earth above - best not to think about the whole buried underground thing. Moving his mind away from that fact, he nods in agreement when Watashi starts speaking.

"We definitely need a map; if we have a good enough one, we can just check it for a good enough spot and see if it's alright for us to go for. And the samurai's stuff could be fun as well. Naohiro would probably be pleased if we pick some of it up. We don't want to take too long though, who knows when the samurai will give up and get back to their village? Or maybe they'll realise that this wild goose chase was just a distraction."

"Alright, I should be able to body switch,"</B><i></i> Yuuto responds to Watashi's brainstorming. <B>"But then how will you be able to catch up? What if I make my own Stone Bullet after I do that, so you've got something to use as well? Unless I can grab on to you and body switch that way, but I'm not sure if I'm able to do that. Might as well give it a shot, I suppose."

Grabbing onto one of Watashi's limbs, whichever one it was, Yuuto resurfaces. Trying to look for something that resembled a chunk of rock being propelled through the air by the mystical force of chakra, the boy attempts to body switch with what he thinks is Watashi's stone bullet, hopefully with the blind boy being dragged with him. But whether the object used was what he wanted, he wasn't completely sure about.

[WC: 276]

 

[Kuru Watashi]

Getting dragged along by Yuuto as he swapped with an unidentified flying Stone Bullet was not exactly how Watashi had been planning on spending his day. The lad had luckily managed to hold onto his little sharpened stick and he had equally luckily managed to not stab himself as he fell to the ground after the body switch. Sitting on his back and groaning, Watashi rolled around a bit before getting to his feet.

The Blind Lad grumbled to himself a bit before shooting off another stone bullet in the direction that he hoped the village was in. Moving through space was real disorienting after all and it wasn't like he had some sort of freak internal compass. Looking around and trying to remember where everything was, Watashi looked back in the original direction that he had shot the second stone bullet off in and fired off another.

"Won't be too long now until those stone bullets get to their village about. Those things fly way faster than we can run after all!" Pacing around in place to help kill the time, Watashi tucked his spear under his arms so that he'd have free reign to wave his hands around. "Taking long won't be very good for sure though! We can probably escape the village after grabbing the stuff through the same stone bullet-swapping method. I wonder why no one else has figured out how useful this thing is!"

Watashi figured that he had waited long enough and looked back in the bullets' direction and going through the handseals for body switch, aiming for the first of the two stone bullets that he had fired. "Last one there is a rotten nerd!"

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

Conveniently, the Body Switch had brought Watashi along with Yuuto, which was preferable to leaving a guy who couldn't see on his own in the middle of an empty field, with samurai looking somewhere or other. Thankfully, they didn't seem to be in sight...for now.

"I guess people just overlook the humble E-rank jutsu, huh," Yuuto responds, "Or maybe we're just the latest people to figure it out? Doesn't matter, I guess, best tell the others though, it's an easy way to get places." Maybe he'd have to experiment with the Stone Train Bullet (patent pending, name a work in progress), see just how far it could take him in a quite literal sense.

"Right, so grab the map, and whatever samurai goodies we can get too. I guess we can always come back here and pick up some more, if we don't get much. What do samurai even have? Swords, armour, weird bun hairstyles?" Samurai had to have some advantage, otherwise the Daimyo wouldn't still have them around, and all those 'samurai vs ninja' storybooks would be incredibly boring. Maybe they had cool magic weapons lying around.

And with the challenge of "last one there's a rotten nerd" hanging in the air, Watashi disappears, a clump of rock left in his stead. Yuuto hurriedly follows suit, locking onto the speeding bullet before sending his chakra out, zipping forward to join his companion near the entrance to the samurai village.

"So, transformations didn't work last time, do you have any ideas on using jutsu, or do you say we just go for it? We should probably hurry though - I'm not sure how long the distraction will work for."

 

[Kuru Watashi]

"I was thinking we just walk in," Watashi said, raising his hands to shoot another stone bullet into the ground by his feet. If the samurai were coming, then it wouldn’t really do to try running past them through the gate, after all. Might as well have a getaway plan in place. "Get in quick, snag the map and some goodies, then leave quickly! If we've got that stone bullet trick to move fast then who knows if the samurai have something similar up their sleeves! "

Watashi said, hefting the oar in his hands as he strode into the village, getting ready to bash some peasants if it came down to it. Without their samurai guard, it'd be real easy-peasy showing these guys who was boss! Hopefully he wouldn’t run into anything with these big, confident steps of his, and hopefully Yuuto would be keeping pace with him.

“Want to split up?” Watashi remarked to where Yuuto should have been as he walked quickly. “You’d probably be more useful at figuring out what and where the map is if there is one, and it’d give me an extra chance to find something good!” Thinking back on it though, Yuuto posed a good question! What did those samurai even have that would be decent!?

“If we need to get out, I’m just going to body switch with that stone bullet! Easy way to get out, and hopefully we can split their attention up! Just holler if you find the map!” Swinging his oar around, Watashi chose a direction and started heading down it. With any luck, he’d get a cool sword and not find a dumb hairstyle!

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

"I suppose that makes sense," Yuuto responds to Watashi, following suit and sending a Stone Bullet down into the ground a couple of metres away from his partner's jutsu. "The bulk of their guard will probably be out there, if not all of them, so it's a good opportunity to quickly get in."

As they stride in, Yuuto's eyes begin flitting back and forth between the houses and buildings, looking for anything that might be a cartographer's, or some kind of military building that might hold a map of the area. Nothing so far. Where else might a map be...a house? A hall, hung up on a wall? Too many options...how to narrow them down?

"Splitting up would let us cover more ground...but we'd be completely alone in an unfamiliar place, plus you can't see, so you might need a pair of eyes. If you're sure about it though, I guess we can meet back up near the entrance?" Yuuto was more than a little hesitant on separating; the samurai guarding the place didn't exactly look like they were messing around, with their big swords and heavy armour. They'd barely managed to avoid them beforehand, could they take them on alone when they were inside their own home?

As Watashi begins to forge his way down a path, Yuuto takes a moment to properly look at surroundings...finding himself in the middle of a crowd of very disgruntled commoners slowly growing closer. Flashing an apologetic smile, he bolts after his partner, trying his best to catch up.

"WATASHI! We have a little more than the samurai to worry about! By which I mean the commoners aren't exactly friendly! Not exactly mean- oh it doesn't matter."

[WC: 284]

 

[Kuru Watashi]

“Yeah, let’s meet back at the entrance,” Watashi yelled back at Yuuto as he wandered off of the path of his choosing. “Not like I’d be any help with finding a map anyways! I’m better off just putting my hands where they shouldn’t be and hoping I come up with something interesting to nab! I’ll grab any paper I find though.” And the young boy proceeded to do just that. Slowly advancing while putting his hands on absolutely anything that he could find to see if anything felt cool!

With his slow, methodical pace, Watashi didn’t exactly get too far before hearing Yuuto shouting towards him, footsteps pounding on the dirt path towards him. “WATASHI! We have a little more than the samurai to worry about! By which I mean the commoners aren't exactly friendly! Not exactly mean- oh it doesn't matter."

Watashi turned towards him and opened his mouth for a retort before realizing that those footsteps pounding on the dirt path were much more than just Yuuto and one or two kids samurai kids. A lot more footsteps. He didn't exactly know what Yuuto had done to piss off all those villagers - Watashi himself had been practically groping anything he could get his hands on - but it must have been pretty bad.

"Just go past me! Look for a map over there or go around. I'll try to keep them distracted for a bit, but I'll shout and body switch out if I need to." Watashi said, sticking his oar carefully into his pants and getting his hands ready. There was the off chance that speaking somewhat softly would result in Yuuto not hearing him, but it was better than the villagers hearing their plan. Raising his voice, Watashi grinned. "And if I'm blind, that means I can claim self-defense! After all, I've got no clue what these guys are doing!"

Cackling wildly, Watashi raised his hands to begin his one big jutsu that he knew, timing his finish as soon as Yuuto ran past him. Fireball.

 

[Notamashi Yuuto]

Yuuto takes off past Watashi, looking frantically for something that wasn't just a house. suddenly freezing as a burst of hot air blows against his back. Turning around, a look of horror on his face, the Notamashi boy sees a fireball hurtling from Watashi towards the crowd of peasants, now scrambling out of the way of this jutsu. While none are physically injured, barring singed hair and clothes, the ball of flame slams into a nearby house, bursting and setting it alight. Cries of alarm begin to rise up amongst the crowd as they scatter, frantically running to grab buckets and containers, scrambling to fill them with water to put out this fire. Weaving hand seals, Yuuto gathers the moisture in the air around him, condensing and shaping it, a blast of water flying towards the house, extinguishing some of the flame eating away at the outside of the structure. As a couple of the peasants come back, he begins to bolt, running through the streets in desperate search for something promising.

Whether or not Watashi decides to tail alongside him, Yuuto winds his way through the village, no particular rhyme or reason to his route. Occasionally, a commoner would rush past, dragging water to presumably help extinguish the fire, however that situation was panning out.

Finally, something promising; at the end of the road Yuuto stood at lay a very important looking structure, dissonant from the quaint little hovels that pervaded throughout the town. 'Definitely some kind of samurai base,' Yuuto thought. It was surprisingly barren, and admittedly not particularly fancy looking compared to the sprawling metropolis of Kumogakure, but it was different and that's all the boy needed. Slipping in quiet as he can, he begins rifling through documents, looking for anything of interest.

[WC: 294]