Ikanbi's Farm

[Octopus Garden]

It had been a few weeks since Ikanbi had been to the farm.

"So, let me get this straight, the Daimyo and the Commissioner both want him dead?" Her underling had asked her.

"Yes, that about sums it up," Ikanbi had said to him.

One of her companions today was another old one like herself, an old friend that had come back to meet up with her and travel to the farm to settle in. They had been on many missions together. The other one was much younger and an elemental body of sorts. At the time, he had shifted himself into the form of a falcon and was soaring overhead providing information intermittently of anything of interest.

"I can see the farm," He had said finally. It was absolutely massive.

It wasn't a farm, it was practically a town. It was a town, actually. Surrounded by vast amounts of nice and thriving farmland. There was actually a ridiculous amount of people there.

Sure, he had expected to see some people on Ikanbi's farm, he knew she had taken in many people over the years.

This?

This was way bigger than he had expected. It was a whole village, really, not a large one by any means, but there was definitely enough buildings and people about that it was a large, active, thriving community.

Ikanbi read his mind through the Emperor's Crown and chuckled. "Wait until you see the underground."

"The what?"

They entered into the town, which, was unironically actually named Ikanbi's Farm. The largest of the buildings, there were twelve notably very large ones, they were several dozens of meters wide by several dozens of meters long by about three or four at minimum to a maximum of thirteen dozen meters tall, above the ground level.

They were arranged in a compass, the largest building was positioned rather north, it was the tallest, but somewhat skinny for its size, and unlike the rest of the buildings it had an odd sort of triangular shape and slant to it.

These were all of the things that the falcon boy had seen, and, as Ikanbi read his thoughts, she suddenly flew through the air herself and joined him.

"It's a compass, actually, the slanted buildings casts the shadow around the whole town," Ikanbi had said to him.

He looked and after a moment he deduced what time it was. "Oh that's so cool, you can always know what time it is here that's actually so cool, and it's not even a loud clock oh wow."

It was really cool, Ikanbi had agreed with him, though added, "It is also a loud clock," With a laugh.

Around the bottom of the notably large buildings were dozens upon dozens upon dozens of smaller buildings of every size and colors and in every direction. There were also large walkways made of metal, stone, rope, crystal, and glass that connected so many of the buildings to each other. Their were buildings practically floating in the sky, suspending on chains made of glass and crystal and metal, enchanted with powerful fuuton and kuuton ninjutsu, and fuuinjutsu.

It was an absolutely amazing sight to behold, and Ikanbi's pride and joy.

Ikanbi's farm had been the culmination of being eighty six years old and a wise investor. Her ryo paid for itself easily now, and the missions she had taken throughout the years had paid directly into investments, which in turn paid into their own investments, and the numbers just shot up over and over again.

Then, with the farming added, she sold it for dirt cheap. Absolutely dirt cheap, and only when free was refused. Their was an excess, of course, because, well...

Ikanbi didn't need to eat. Funny that she was a farmer then, after all.

She had loved it. It was her way of giving back to humanity and thanking everyone and everything across the cosmos for the love that she felt for the planet.

She loved everything and everyone and wanted everyone to always feel absolutely awesome all of the times always, always.

It really wasn't that hard of a concept to understand.

The streets were bustling with caravans and horses, children, adults, merchants, food carts, blacksmiths, jewelers, fabric traders, leather workers, baileys, quest givers, bounty hunters, a little bit of everything.

These days however, a great deal of refugees from the wars across the different countries had now come to Wind Country, specifically, very quite specifically, to Ikanbi's farm. People from all over the country had come to Ikanbi's farm for refuge. She had proven that she could provide benevolently.

Ikanbi, her old friend, and the young boy flew upwards past a hanging bridge of glass and landed on the one above it, the two of them changing into their human forms again as Ikanbi, in human form the whole time, merely floated up there anyway, though she didn't actually land on the bridge.

By now, Ikanbi hadn't touched the ground in years with her feet, she had gone digging a few times with her hands, but the coursing push of kuuton kept the earth away from her unless she was specifically digging these days. There hadn't been much of a need for her to hunt, so she had officially retired, and then suddenly, war. Funny how things worked out.

[Octopus Garden]

Touching down, she sought a particular little hobble, a nice little restaurant that was situated to the north east of the cross roads of the town. There were roads that went through the center of the town and divided it perfectly into a grid of four, running straight through the buildings which were hollowed out into huge tunnels, most of them full of people, caravans, and food carts.

There were two main roads in Ikanbi's farm. They ran perfectly vertical north and south and perfectly horizontal west to east, if one were to look at it from above on a map. It had been mathematically calculated to be that way, integrated into the sundial clock tower features. The roads were very wide, expanding about three dozen meters though their exact size changed constantly due to the movement of sand and soil. They extended outwards away from the town also for several dozens upon dozens of dozens of meters. Near the middle, where the roads met, there was a large building where official business could be conducted and inquired about, as well as several secret passages and holding cells.

Those two main streets did divide the town of Ikanbi's farm into a nice perfect grid of four. The four quadrants were not very notably different from each other, though as the day progressed the sun and shadows would filter around the entire town as the sun moved.

Floating through the glass and crysta bridge, Ikanbi followed the others into the little nook.

Ordering a few snacks and drinks, a good time was had by them as they waited for the contact to show up.

Finally, down to business.

"So, I hear you have a ridiculous amount of refugees on your hands," They had said as they sat down across from the group of them. In the light they revealed themselves as a Sunagakure ninja, headband worn proudly, and dressed in all sand colors with a bit of a texture to it, akin to some sort of camouflage. They had a scarf that covered their face and a hood, and a nice flak jacket.

"Yes, the war has had several new arrivals to the farm," Ikanbi had agreed. The boy with her was silent and observed the conversation, nibbling on the snacks. A nice pastry with hazelnut and chocolate filling, it was quite delicious.

Loud bass drums could be heard suddenly in the distance and music began to kick up rapidly, played quite nicely, but a fast and exciting tune.

Ikanbi gazed out to the east at one of the gardens, rather than one of the farms. There was a hanging garden in one of the glass houses in the sky. It had some of the rarer and more dangerous plants that were native to Wind Country and some of the surrounding areas. She had a few samples to take while she was here, she remembered.

Ikanbi stared into the eyes of her contact and began drawing on the power of the Emperor's Crown, reading into their thoughts and prying.

[Octopus Garden]

"Have you met with Serenade?" The contact had asked ignorantly. Was it ignorant if it was hidden from the masses? Most people had yet to even hear the name. There had been whispers, of course, of the Underking. The dark, mysterious woman, or man, that appeared in the deep desert ruins frequently when exploring. The boogieman, the sandman, the mistress of sleep, the guiding hands.

Serenade had gone by many names and monickers over the decades and had never managed to be properly identified by any sensory shinobi. That was because Serenade did not actually exist, and was a shared title and image created by several members of Sunagakure, it is one of the most well kept and hidden secrets of the village.

Said to appear in the desert to those in great distress, Serenade was a rather dark-skinned androgynous appearing human with white fur pants that poofed out compared to the rest of their clothing, which was otherwise all black and rather skin taught save for some golden, brass, wood, and lacquer armor that covered their chest, shoulders, waistline, head, neck, forehead, and the backs of their wrists, halfway up the forearms to their elbows. A series of three large pink scarfs floated around serenade, presumably empowered by fuuton, but close inspection has revealed the scarves to be made of pink sand.

"I am Serenade," Ikanbi said finally.

The whole room immediately became quiet as everyone's attention diverted to Ikanbi immediately.

"No...that's not possible," Said her old friend next to her very quietly.

"Not plausible, I assure you."

A tiny surge of chakra and a rather basic amount of ninpou rifled throughout Ikanbi's person as her skin darkened slightly and her clothes shifted about, the pink sand that made up her body exuding off of her and fanning out into a bit of scarves that began floating around her, paw print designs appearing at the ends of their tips.

The armor materialized out of hard sandstone, then after a few moments Ikanbi released the technique and it churned back into nothingness and her regular appearance once more.

"I appreciate your discretion."

Everyone went back to their food and nothing else came of it.