The Prophet and the Farmer

[Throniv]

Sakaze of the Red Sands

---

The winds of Wind Country had a way of speaking, their whispers twisting through the dunes like fragments of a forgotten language-- but only to those who would take the time to hear them. Sakaze had learned to listen. For weeks now, she had followed the currents, trusting in the vision that had struck her with a clarity she couldn’t ignore--a place of refuge amidst the chaos, a farm that pulsed like a heartbeat against the shifting sands. The vision had come to her in the stillness of meditation, as bright and sharp as the sun itself, and she'd silently left the temple and followed it--a habit she feared she would become known for, if the way that her followers greeted her with worry when she came back was any indication. A sprawling settlement born from kindness and ingenuity, its compass-like design a celestial map etched into the desert, and a haven for those displaced by war.

Sometimes, she feared that she had actually gone mad, and her mind had simply been baked by the desert and the unforgiving Sun overhead, a punishment for not being there when her family passed. But then, the visions that she'd followed before had lead her to Sulsaga, to Indra and the new base of the resistance--and that was enough to convince her that she was chosen.

As she crested the latest dune she stopped dead in her tracks, a near-disbelieving smile crossing her countenance as she beheld the place that she'd been searching for. The vision had barely done it justice. Vast fields of green unfurling like a miracle against the barren desert. Buildings of every shape and size, their colors shimmering under the noonday sun, clustered together like an oasis brought to life--some were hanging in midair, seemingly suspended by chains, with other structures and farmlands hanging beneath. The entire thing looked similar to a compass rose, or... Or a Sundial. Sakaze internally marveled at the way her Lady revealed herself in the workings of her children.

And the people.

So many people.

More than she'd seen gathered in one place since the invasion had taken so many as slaves to work the mines and lay the railways of Iwagakure, all for the sake of their precious 'Efficiency'. She hadn’t expected a bustling community with merchants, artisans, and children running through the streets. The air was alive with the scent of fresh bread, the tang of leather, and the earthy aroma of tilled soil. Laughter and chatter wove through the ambient hum of industry, a symphony of life that made her chest tighten. This was what she wanted to see happen for Suna, for the entire Land of Wind.

The mad prophet had to sit upon the crest of the dune as she took it in, with a tightness in her chest that she almost thought could be hope.

[Octopus Garden]

The sand shark of Sunagakure, now retire, had spent several fortunes on the farm. The money had continued to be reinvested back into the farm over and over again every year with more contributions. Some years of course yielded less than others financially, but the food output scaled high every year and flourished magnificently.

Livestock for days could be grown quickly and efficiently with special chakra feed. The Naegi clan helped with that, truthfully they did a lot for Ikanbi's farm, she held great influence and standing with them.

The crown wearer herself, Ikanbi, could be found in the heart of one of the hanging gardens, giving a tour and lesson on poisonous plants to a group of students, mostly children, but a few older teenagers as well.

These days it was a regular habit for Ikanbi to alter her appearance through ninjutsu to appear younger, she looked a good eighteen, she instructed the kids with a smile and ring to her voice as she floated about the glass greenhouse that hung to the southeast of the farm.

[Throniv]

Sakaze of the Red Sands

---

After a minute of resting upon the dune that she'd crested to find the farm, the beige-robed woman made her way down the sandy hill and began to walk through the fields to approach the town proper. Her fingertips brushed the tops of young stalks of barley as she passed, a nearly beatific smile on her face as the gravel path crunched under her sandaled feet. It seemed there weren't many workers who tended the fields at the height of the day, as no one bothered to stop her as she wandered along the edge of the immature crop.

Sakaze was unsure how a place like this had escaped Iwa's wrath, but it was truly remarkable nonetheless. There was a great encased glass structure near the edge of the town--clearly a greenhouse of some kind, based on the condensation she could see on the inside of the glass and the vibrant green that she was very unused to seeing in the deserts she called home.

The Kunoichi approached the structure curiously, peering through the glass to get a better look at what was inside, only to find what seemed to be a young woman teaching a group of teens and children about the different plants within. Sakaze raised a brow in curiousity at the water hemlock in her hand--a deadly poison no doubt, but not useful if you're trying to learn what flora is deadly in the land of wind.

Then again, if the point was to teach them how to make a poison that would surely kill their target...

[Octopus Garden]

It didn't take terribly long before Ikanbi could read their mind. The Emperor's Crown adorned by her most really regally granted her great insight. She read all of their minds slowly, taking in their thoughts and welcomed the newcomer.

Ikanbi of the sands surged with chakra and her body which was made of pink acidic sand began to spit out grains of wet sand that formed and worked before her into a forked pile of wet sand that build up upon itself. It formed into a clone, then another. One of them began working with a child in the back whilst the other moved out of the structure entirely and floated out into the world.

They were incorrect about one thing. The farm had plenty of workers, but they had failed to properly perceive them. Their presence was in fact known, they had been reported, a clone of Ikanbi made out of acidic sand began floating downwards from the sky. It wore a large rice sun hat, the emperors crown, and a cloak from the Crescent Coalition. It was a ripe combination that let her read minds and be undetectable as anything other than a mere regular civilian, not even a genin in strength. It was an amazing disguise.

Noone knew it was Ikanbi when she wore this outfit, and, to match, most of the farms wore it too, minus the Emperor's Crown Necklace.

Ikanbi and Thirteen farmers of various sizes, genders, ages, and builds emerged from the ground in front of Sakaze with a start, sand pouring out from the ground around them.

"State your business." Said a gruff man's voice in particular.

[Throniv]

Sakaze didn’t flinch at the sudden emergence of Ikanbi and her companions, nor at the gruff demand for her purpose. The ninja that surrounded her might have made a lesser shinobi flinch and grow defensive, but she had no need of that--they were in the desert, in her domain, and it was here that she had nothing to fear. Instead, she met the group’s collective gaze with steady, calm eyes, the weight of her composure pressing against the tension in the air.

Her hands came up in a gesture of peace rather than surrender, her palms facing the man who'd spoken to show him that she was unarmed. Well, as unarmed as a ninja ever was.

Which is to say, not at all.

"Peace, friends, I mean you and yours no harm," she said calmly, a kind smile crossing her plain features. "I have traveled quite a ways to find this place, and I would have words with the master of the house."

Sakaze had been told before that her beatific calm could sometimes be misconstrued as overconfidence or cockiness, but that wasn't it at all--there was simply no point in being afraid. She'd already lost everything to the Iwa dogs, and her life simply didn't mean that much to her anymore beyond her ability to save the Land of Wind and restore Sunagakure to its position as one of the five great ninja villages. Beyond that, nothing mattered, not even the end of her own existence.

"My Lady showed me this place, though my vision barely did it justice..." she murmured, glancing off towards the fields of wheat and barley.

[Octopus Garden]

Ikanbi, the real one, listened to the thoughts of those that she could silently using the Emperor's crown for a long time whilst also listening to the words coming from their mouths, the way their body language shifted, or didn't. In the far distance, in one of the training gyms an Ikanbi clone was helping a few students with some Kuuton jutsu.

They were working on a black hole variant. This one in particular combined acid, sand, fire, lightning, and wind in a swirling cyclone that practically destroyed everything in its path very indiscriminately.

It was also huge, expanding outwards and destorying the entire floating building in the sky quite immediately, though everyone was safe, that was not at all immediately apparent.

However, these sort of things happened regularly enough, and those in the area that happened to look nearby gave it not much of a glance, these things were usual around here, though, they were admittedly very pretty to look at.

The real Ikanbi laughed and shook her head as she floated about, gazing down at the lot of them.

"Welcome, welcome." She had said with a gentle grin as she floated a few inches off of the ground, descending from above.

"There is plenty of room if you need to crash for the night, and food and smokes too," She had said finally, taking out a bubble pipe that she puffed on for a moment, causing a bubble filled with pink glittery smoke to form about a baseballs width in size before floating off the end of the pipe and away into the desert.

"I'm Ikanbi, Liivuduntiz. I can't believe I've done this."

[Throniv]

---

Sakaze tilted her head slightly as Ikanbi floated before her, the bubble of pink smoke dissolving into the arid breeze. Her nearly black eyes tracked its ascent, unblinking, before settling back on the woman who commanded both sand and sanctuary with such casual authority. The destruction of the distant training structure--a maelstrom of acid and lightning--rippled across the horizon, but Sakaze’s expression remained as still as the dunes at dawn as she regarded the flying woman that descended before her.

"Thank you for the offer, but I believe I was sent to look for you," the plain-looking woman said, her attention zeroed in on Ikanbi Liivuduntiz as she stepped forward and tilted her head to regard her. The outfit was outlandish, the way she spoke undoubtedly strange, but something in her whispered that this was the one.

She turned back to Ikanbi, her hands still raised in that deliberate pantomime of peace. “The Sun led me here,” she continued, the words deliberate, weighted.

“My name is Sakaze. I am a member of the Hokori, and we stand against Iwa's dogs and work towards the liberation of the Land of Wind, in Her name. My lady sent me here to find this place, to find you, to ask for your aid. We are strong, and faithful, but we cannot throw off the yoke alone. Might we retreat somewhere that we can discuss an alliance?" she asked, her dark eyes regarding the almost child-like form before her--but no adolescent she knew could command the respect of full-grown ninja like this unless they were immensely powerful.

[Octopus Garden]

Hmmm. Of course it had come to this.

After years of abstinence from combat, Ikanbi had showed her face once and used a singular jutsu and that's all it had taken for the world to remember what she was capable of. Ikanbi of the sands was world famous for her legendary prowess.

Of course they had come to her asking for assistance with the war.

The guards that had made themselves apparent with Ikanbi had scanned Sakaze as he spoke to them and having been satisfied with his words, they dissolved into sand, falling to the ground around him and leaving just him and the Ikanbi clone, which pointed very specifically towards a small building a good three dozen meters to Sakaze's left.

"You can find the real Ikanbi over there." The sand had said as it dispersed, an arrow pointing on the ground towards the building, and more arrows beginning to form in the sand along the way.

The real Ikanbi that was higher up in the buildings made herbway down to the little bar.

She supposed she could get a drink.