Half-Measures

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Valkier
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Half-Measures

Post by Valkier » Sat Jan 21, 2023 5:07 am

Naohiro emerged mid-stride from a tear in space, stepping out from between the folds of reality without so much as a slowing of his determined pace. Hard eyes scanned the exterior of the Mizukage’s tower, watching and weighing the staff, visitors, and guards as he entered. By now most of the general staff around the tower were at least passingly familiar with him, and only once—at the door to the recently re-staffed council chambers—did someone raise a hand to challenge his passage. The guard at the door hesitated, remembering his visit from a few hours earlier and knowing his rank, before glancing around and letting Naohiro through anyway. He even opened the door ahead of him and offered a nod of respect. Good man.

Naohiro took three strides into the room, waited for the door to close behind him and bowed, politely but not overly acquiescent, and held it while the chatter—or the arguing and scheming, at least—subsided as people slowly noticed his arrival. A portly man, Kawazaima Daizen, began walking over with a hand raised as if commanding an orchestra, but another voice cut across the room before the man could open his mouth.

“Report, shinobi.” Hirohito Junko stood at the head of a large conference table, towering over the ring of aides and sycophants gathered around her, and her voice was just as imposing as her stature. Tall and commanding, the newly-minted head of Naohiro’s parent house had a harsh reputation. Although her voice warranted no argument, the performance was sullied by a rumble of annoyed voices and frustrated glances passing around the room’s other occupants who were clearly unhappy with the woman’s attempt to take charge over them.

Naohiro noted the dissent, but, for now, did as he was asked. This time he did not so much as incline his head as he met the eyes of the self-styled councillors.
“I come directly from meeting with the Grand Shogun of the Heart Empire himself, who commands the armies now invading the shores of our great nation,” he announced clearly, speaking above the mumble of voices and bringing a temporary silence to the otherwise tumultuous chamber. All heads turned to listen. One or two showed open concern, but most simply appeared curious, if not dubious. “Those of you who know him understand that this is not a threat to take lightly, however recent his rise to power,” he levelled an icy look at another councillor, Shiimu Otome, who had the ignorance to give an amused scoff at his words. The audacity of the look turned the sound into a muffled gasp instead.
“Those who do not know him, know this: Iiyashi Fuhen is a passionate, resourceful, and capable leader. His goal, at least to begin with, is the complete subjugation—though he calls it ’liberation’—and conquest of the former lands of Tea Country, that we call Ocha Province. And he will wade through blood to achieve it. He is devoted, heart and soul, to the belief that he is a lesser evil than the Water Country citizens he intends to butcher in the name of a greater good. He preaches peace, and will wage any war necessary to realise it.”

The room fell into a quiet lull as he paused, assessing the gathered peoples. A powerfully built man, Karagata Ikko, sidled through to the front of the crowd wearing a disapproving frown. Sensing his mood and not wanting to wait out an argument between the onlookers, Naohiro quickly continued.“I have been issued with a list of his formal demands, though I suspect you all can guess as to the contents.” He reached into his jacket and pulled forth the envelope, holding it up for all to see, before dropping it onto the wide conference table in the middle of the chamber. He added a second set of papers, this time of his own writing, containing his full report including assessments of Heart Empire’s military potential—his best estimates of their troop numbers and locations, support staff and reinforcement potential, plus notes on the command staff he’d seen, their attitudes and likely strategies. As well as a few quick drawings and observations on the impressive airships he’d seen firsthand. Then he stepped back as the inevitable scuffle began, watching impassively as half the room surged forwards in an attempt to be the one who read and announced the terms and reports.

The lesser of two evils, or the greater good. Get a good man to utter either of those phrases and there is no one more eager to begin perpetrating evil. Naohiro muttered quietly, quoting an old line he’d read once as he thought about his meeting with the Shogun. It seemed fitting. And Naohiro himself had found some common ground with the man, too; much of Fuhen’s ideology was similar to his own. But the methods one took to achieve them mattered.

Muramasa Sōgen, a large man with an imposing bearing, won the race and soon began reading the terms aloud. Naohiro almost didn’t listen; they were exactly as expected: a lot of elaborate language and delicately worded assertions that Tea Country still existed in the hearts of its people, that Water Country should acknowledge it and offer their unconditional surrender of the peninsula, and so on. Sōgen delivered it verbatim and with none of the expected finesse. Ikko and Otome immediately began competing to make the most outraged sounds of offended nationalism, and Junko began hammering out her own interpretation right across the rising din.

“This is an ideological conflict at its core. The likelihood of this war staying contained to Ocha Province is…” Naohiro began again, but this time only some aides turned to listen. The other would-be councillors were already growing red-faced trying to talk over one another, echoed by attendants and scorned by those of their opponents. How the hell this rabble ever hoped to command the nation was beyond him. Sighing, and accepting their uselessness, Naohiro turned and departed. The message in the room was clear regardless: negotiation was useless, and it was war. Those vying for power in the sudden vacuum could argue the night away if they wanted. Meanwhile, he’d at least try to protect his nation.

An hour later, Naohiro paced across his private office at his home in the Aisu district of the village, no less frustrated than earlier. No news had come from the Mizukage’s tower, and his own aide attested that the manoeuvring and disputes within were still in full swing with no sign of an end. Although the village as a whole would still function under the guidance of the Mizukage’s general staff—Kasai would likely not have directly handed much of the day-to-day operations—it seemed now collectively paralyzed in the current situation without a commanding voice at the top.
Meanwhile, his own attempts to contact his peers in the village were not bearing fruit. In leiu of that real leadership in the village, he’d taken the initiative to pen some orders of his own under the official seal of the Head Hunter Division, and dispatched them by courier to various peers and shinobi of good renown across the village. As yet, none had provided an answer. Only one piece of news was so far heartening; the remarkable bannin and jinchuuriki Tsukino Nishiki had supposedly learned of the threat, and departed at once on his own iniative to oppose it. Good man. As to the rest of his peers, however, the silence was worrying.
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Aisu NaohiroJouninKirigakure no Sato[Unit 12] [HHD] [#BAE0E2] [#70CEE2]
Hachiya KotoriGeninIwagakure no Sato[Ukiyogenma Jinchuuriki] [H.N.K.][Gold] [#BF8040][Thread Tracker]

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Valkier
Posts: 3325
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 7:00 pm
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Half-Measures

Post by Valkier » Sat Mar 18, 2023 7:14 pm

What follows are copies of the orders sent out by Naohiro to various Kirigakure Shinobi via courier (Forum PM):
Valkier:
Sat Jan 21, 2023 5:17 am
A dim flash and a burst of smoke broke the peace of an otherwise quiet night, announcing the arrival of a black-clad messenger who split the mist with rapid steps. That mist swirled and resettled slowly, as if reflecting the sombre mood that also hung over the village as news of Heart Country’s invasion of Ocha Province—the lands formerly known as “Old” Tea Country—spread from one house to the next. By morning, the whole village would know. But some were not content to sit and wait that long. While the great houses and staff of the central administration tower scrambled and schemed amongst themselves to fill the void left by the disappearance of the Juudaime Mizukage, Aisu Naohiro chose to act.

His messenger, short, cloaked, and hooded, darted up to a few particular doors and windows across the village and slipped inside each, locating a few select shinobi of whom the Division had taken note. When Kaguya Asuna, Karagata Nozomi, and Shiimu Kozan woke, each would find a neat scroll placed at their bedside, sealed with the stylized brand of the Head Hunter Division.
Mission Scroll:


Kaguya Asuna, Karagata Nozomi, Shiimu Kozan
CLASSIFIED



Water Country is under threat from foreign invasion. Your nation requires your loyalty and service in its darkest hour since the years of the fourth great shinobi war.
The deceptive and power hungry tyrants of the so-called Heart Empire have landed massed samurai forces in the territories of Ocha Province, formerly Tea Country. Their objective is the complete subjugation and conquest of the region, at any cost to the local population and consequences of world war. Water Country has immediately mobilised its own samurai forces to counter the threat, and intense fighting has begun along the peninsula.

Your orders, should you choose to accept them, are to deliver essential supplies and resources from Kirigakure to the Water Country divisions deployed to Ocha Province. Your aid will be instrumental in ensuring the noble defenders of Water Country are supported and equipped with the finest chakra-enhanced weapons, materials, and aid that the Hidden Mist can provide. Following delivery, you are to assist the civilian population of the region wherever possible on your return journey.

You are instructed to avoid all direct engagements with hostile forces unless your victory and safety is guaranteed. Kirigakure demands you return home alive.

Report immediately to the Head Hunter Division headquarters recruitment office in the ground floor of the Mizukage Tower to accept your assignment and receive travel clearance.

Signed,
Aisu Naohiro
Captain
Head Hunter Division

Should the recipients answer the summons and present themselves at the HHD heartquarters early the next morning, each would be greeted by a masked man who asked them to sit and to show their mission scrolls. With their consent, the man would then spend a few minutes drawing a delicate seal somewhere concealed on the body of each arrival, before performing a blurringly-fast sequence of seals and focusing chakra into the exquisitely intricate fuuinjutsu tattoo. He would then adds a second smaller fuuinjutsu hidden under the hair or behind an ear of each shinobi, and again hidden on the inside of a lip, and ask them to test it to learn its function and allow them to communicate both to him and to their mission comrades. Once satisfied, he’d shred each mission scroll in a small burst of handheld fuuton, allow the new operative to await their comrades or ask any questions they may have, and inform them of one final detail: should they need emergency evacuation at any point, channel into the Link seal and raise an alarm. HHD command will immediately enact a reverse-summoning to withdraw the ninja to the village and out of danger.
Finally, once all were ready, he would offer the new recruits direct transport to the lands of Old Tea Country through the HHD’s own secretive space-time teleportation network.
Fuuinjutsu sealsShow
Augment Fuuinjutsu • Group Link
B-Rank Augment Fuuinjutsu
By performing the necessary hand seals, the user will can touch a number of targets up to their [Chakra Pool] on their ear and the lips, this creates an audio link between themselves and up to [Chakra Pool] targets they personally place this seal combination on. While hearing is always active, channeling chakra into the seal allows affected targets to speak, their words being stored and transmitted to the other seals. The act of speaking charges negligent chakra.

[Operator Authentication Seal]
A-Rank Augment Fuuinjutsu
Prerequisite: Caster must know [Hunter’s Cryptolect] to create, alter, or remove

A complex multi-layered fuuinjutsu seal, this technique marks a target with a small barcode-like formula of encrypted information which can only be decoded or removed using the [Hunter's Crypolect] in addition to advanced fuuinjutsu removal knowledge of equal or greater rank. The seal and its encoded information is unique to each bearer, and is connected to the bearer’s chakra network. The encoded information in the seal serves as a unique identifier and authentication token that can be scanned to unlock access doors into the HHD headquarters and any secured organisation outposts or bases, and provides the bearer with the ability to activate and safely traverse the HHD teleportation Black Network. The seal additionally serves as an emergency alert beacon to the organisation, lying dormant until such a time as the bearer’s chakra network ceases to function — as occurs in death — or the seal formula itself is damaged, removed from the bearer’s body, or is interfered with by a foreign chakra source. In such an eventuality, the seal activates and sends an emergency signal through the HHD headquarters and division captains through the [Secure Operator Network] and [Captain Authentication Seal]s containing a directional bearing and approximate distance, alerting them to the bearer's death or that the security of the seal has been compromised. This can not only aid the Division in locating the bearer's body, but prompts them to change the encryption and authentication of their teleportation network and base access doors. Doing so invalidates all existing Authentication Seals, forcing the organisation to remove and reapply fresh seals with the new encrypted passkey information to all other bearers.
Valkier:
Sat Jan 21, 2023 5:17 am
A twinkling streak of light shot through the dark streets of Kirigakure, disturbing the sombre mists of the village as it darted through alleyways, skimmed rooftops, and soared through open spaces until, circling and slowing, it settled upon first one windowsill and then another, both deliberately chosen ahead of time. Now stationary, the shape of the thing was clear—literally. A small carrier bird, with a ribbon and scroll tied to one foot, formed entirely of delicate blue-white ice that glimmered in the few lights of the sleeping village.

The bird, peering through each window, would identify the recipients of its messages, Karagata Yuuto and Yūgana Mondai, before tap-tap-tapping a pattern on the panes of the windows to alert them. As soon as it was acknowledged, the bird would extend its foot, peck away the ribbon, and drop a small scroll into each of their hands. It’s job complete, the bird would take to the air before shattering harmlessly in a spray of beautiful white shards, drifting away into the night like snow on a gentle winter’s breeze. Each scroll bore the stylized brand of Kirigakure’s infamous Head Hunter Division.
Mission Scroll:


Karagata Yuuto, Yūgana Mondai
CLASSIFIED



Water Country is under threat from foreign invasion. Your nation requires your loyalty and service in its darkest hour since the years of the fourth great shinobi war.
The deceptive and power hungry tyrants of the so-called Heart Empire have landed massed samurai forces in the territories of Ocha Province, formerly Tea Country. Their objective is the complete subjugation and conquest of the region, at any cost to the local population and consequences of world war. Water Country has immediately mobilised its own samurai forces to counter the threat, and intense fighting has begun along the peninsula.

Your orders, should you choose to accept them, are to engage in sabotage operations to seek out and destroy enemy supply lines and camps. Deny the enemy the resources—medical and food supplies, materials, weapons, transport and support staff, et cetera —they need to wage their malicious sack of the peoples of Ocha Province. Following completion, you are to assist the civilian population of the region wherever possible on your return journey.

You are authorised to engage with hostile forces provided your victory and safety is guaranteed. Kirigakure demands you return home alive.

Report immediately to the Head Hunter Division headquarters recruitment office in the ground floor of the Mizukage Tower to accept your assignment and receive travel clearance.

Signed,
Aisu Naohiro
Captain
Head Hunter Division

Should the recipients answer the summons and present themselves at the HHD heartquarters early the next morning, each would be greeted by a masked man who asked them to sit and to show their mission scrolls. With their consent, the man would then spend a few minutes drawing a delicate seal somewhere concealed on the body of each arrival, before performing a blurringly-fast sequence of seals and focusing chakra into the exquisitely intricate fuuinjutsu tattoo. He would then adds a second smaller fuuinjutsu hidden under the hair or behind an ear of each shinobi, and again hidden on the inside of a lip, and ask them to test it to learn its function and allow them to communicate both to him and to their mission comrades. Once satisfied, he’d shred each mission scroll in a small burst of handheld fuuton, allow the new operative to await their comrades or ask any questions they may have, and inform them of one final detail: should they need emergency evacuation at any point, channel into the Link seal and raise an alarm. HHD command will immediately enact a reverse-summoning to withdraw the ninja to the village and out of danger.
Finally, once all were ready, he would offer the new recruits direct transport to the lands of Old Tea Country through the HHD’s own secretive space-time teleportation network.
Fuuinjutsu sealsShow
Augment Fuuinjutsu • Group Link
B-Rank Augment Fuuinjutsu
By performing the necessary hand seals, the user will can touch a number of targets up to their [Chakra Pool] on their ear and the lips, this creates an audio link between themselves and up to [Chakra Pool] targets they personally place this seal combination on. While hearing is always active, channeling chakra into the seal allows affected targets to speak, their words being stored and transmitted to the other seals. The act of speaking charges negligent chakra.

[Operator Authentication Seal]
A-Rank Augment Fuuinjutsu
Prerequisite: Caster must know [Hunter’s Cryptolect] to create, alter, or remove

A complex multi-layered fuuinjutsu seal, this technique marks a target with a small barcode-like formula of encrypted information which can only be decoded or removed using the [Hunter's Crypolect] in addition to advanced fuuinjutsu removal knowledge of equal or greater rank. The seal and its encoded information is unique to each bearer, and is connected to the bearer’s chakra network. The encoded information in the seal serves as a unique identifier and authentication token that can be scanned to unlock access doors into the HHD headquarters and any secured organisation outposts or bases, and provides the bearer with the ability to activate and safely traverse the HHD teleportation Black Network. The seal additionally serves as an emergency alert beacon to the organisation, lying dormant until such a time as the bearer’s chakra network ceases to function — as occurs in death — or the seal formula itself is damaged, removed from the bearer’s body, or is interfered with by a foreign chakra source. In such an eventuality, the seal activates and sends an emergency signal through the HHD headquarters and division captains through the [Secure Operator Network] and [Captain Authentication Seal]s containing a directional bearing and approximate distance, alerting them to the bearer's death or that the security of the seal has been compromised. This can not only aid the Division in locating the bearer's body, but prompts them to change the encryption and authentication of their teleportation network and base access doors. Doing so invalidates all existing Authentication Seals, forcing the organisation to remove and reapply fresh seals with the new encrypted passkey information to all other bearers.
Valkier:
Sat Jan 21, 2023 5:17 am
A twinkling streak of light shot through the dark streets of Kirigakure, disturbing the sombre mists of the village as it darted through alleyways, skimmed rooftops, and soared through open spaces. It spiralled and spun through open doorways, searching bars, brothels, dark alleys and dark rooms in search of one of its deliberately chosen targets. And then on, up and away over the village to the Tsukino district, seeking another. In each location, after identifying the recipient of its messages, it would circle and slow, then settle down near each of Karagata Shiv and Tsukino Hisato—both men of renowned calibre. Now stationary, the shape of the thing was clear—literally. A small carrier bird, with a ribbon and scrolls tied to one foot, formed entirely of delicate blue-white ice that glimmered in the few lights of the sleeping village.
As soon as it was acknowledged, the bird would extend its foot, peck away the ribbon, and drop a small scroll into each of their hands. It’s job complete, it’d take to the air again before shattering harmlessly in a spray of beautiful white shards, drifting away into the night like snow on a gentle winter’s breeze. Each scroll bore the stylized brand of Kirigakure’s infamous Head Hunter Division.
Mission Scroll:


Commander Karagata Shiv, Dagger Tsukino Hisato
CLASSIFIED



Water Country is under threat from foreign invasion. Your nation requires your loyalty and service in its darkest hour since the years of the fourth great shinobi war.
The deceptive and power hungry tyrants of the so-called Heart Empire have landed massed samurai forces in the territories of Ocha Province, formerly Tea Country. Their objective is the complete subjugation and conquest of the region, at any cost to the local population and consequences of world war. Water Country has immediately mobilised its own samurai forces to counter the threat, and intense fighting has begun along the peninsula.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to locate and assassinate the senior military command staff of the Heart Empire’s invasion force, in particular the Warmaster Botan Goda, a known companion of the Grand Shogun Iiyashi Fuhen. The Shogun himself need not be a target. Other generals in military command are priority targets but have not yet been identified.

Botan Goda - Target Profile:
Gender: Female
Age: Fifties
Rank: Natsubushi (A-Rank)
Hair: Greying, long, observed as being tied-back into a bun or pineapple-shape.
Notes: Sharp features, scarred, wearing a crest related to The Land of Plains and Sea. Has the bearing and gait of a seasoned warrior. Goda is a warmaster in all respects: triple blades, ornate but functional armour, and undying loyalty to her chosen lord. She is intelligent, bold, and proud. It is our assessment that Goda commands a large proportion or all of the military activity for the invasion, and is one of Iiyashi Fuhen’s most senior and trusted general staff. Her elimination is paramount to the defence effort.
Known accomplices and secondary targets:
  • Noujin, Goro, a man of unknown talents, has been witnessed in her company
  • All other senior military command staff encountered during the operation
[OOC: Botan Goda is a background NPC played by Gunshanks/Nick; she doesn't have a character sheet etc. so this is more likely to be a narrative story than PvP, but we'll see how it develops with Nick]

For Kirigakure and the Endless Sea.

Signed,
Aisu Naohiro
Captain
Head Hunter Division
Valkier:
Sat Jan 21, 2023 5:17 am
A dim flash and a burst of smoke broke the peace of an otherwise quiet night, announcing the arrival of a black-clad messenger who split the mist with rapid steps. That mist swirled and resettled slowly, as if reflecting the sombre mood that also hung over the village as news of Heart Country’s invasion of Ocha Province—the lands formerly known as “Old” Tea Country—spread from one house to the next. By morning, the whole village would know. But some were not content to sit and wait that long. While the great houses and staff of the central administration tower scrambled and schemed amongst themselves to fill the void left by the disappearance of the Juudaime Mizukage, Aisu Naohiro chose to act.

The slight figure hurried through the streets and alleys of Kirigakure, ducking through buildings and over roofs on her way to locate the carefully chosen recipients of the scrolls concealed in her pockets. It didn’t take her long to find them—not with their reputations and familiarity to her master—but she was deliberate even so, ensuring they would not be seen meeting. First, to Muramasa Hisayo and Kayoko, his comrades from the Division. Next, to she’d seek out the infamous Overseer Karagata Shinjiro, a veritable legend of the village. To each she would deliver a small, neatly wrapped scroll, sealed with the stylized brand of the Head Hunter Division, before vanishing again into the night.
Mission Scroll:


Captain Muramasa Hisayo, Sqd. Ldr. Muramasa Kayoko, Overseer Karagata Shinjiro
CLASSIFIED



Water Country is under threat from foreign invasion. Your nation requires your loyalty and service in its darkest hour since the years of the fourth great shinobi war.
The deceptive and power hungry tyrants of the so-called Heart Empire have landed massed samurai forces in the territories of Ocha Province, formerly Tea Country. Their objective is the complete subjugation and conquest of the region, at any cost to the local population and consequences of world war. Water Country has immediately mobilised its own samurai forces to counter the threat, and intense fighting has begun along the peninsula.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to assume command authority over the numerous divisions of Water Country samurai mustered and awaiting orders at the former military outpost Kenihiku, and lead them on a defensive campaign across the peninsula of Ocha Province to counter the Heart Empire invasion and stop the bloodshed of innocent Water Country citizens. Secure, report, and/or make use of all available intelligence on the enemy strength, movements, staff, and strategy during your campaign. Use all means at your disposal to defeat the invaders to protect and secure the peoples of your nation. Your secondary objective should be to ensure the security of strategic locations across the peninsula to impede the enemy advance.

For Kirigakure and the Endless Sea.

Signed,
Aisu Naohiro
Captain
Head Hunter Division
Last edited by Valkier on Sat Jun 03, 2023 5:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
CharactersShow
Aisu NaohiroJouninKirigakure no Sato[Unit 12] [HHD] [#BAE0E2] [#70CEE2]
Hachiya KotoriGeninIwagakure no Sato[Ukiyogenma Jinchuuriki] [H.N.K.][Gold] [#BF8040][Thread Tracker]

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