>>5925334You buy a detailed map of the Land of Fire so you can chart what you’re actually doing. You note that Konohagakure and a lot of landmarks that are otherwise known to you are totally absent. Well, it is the HIDDEN leaf village, after all. Seems a bit stupid considering that the village is visible for miles around is a well-known city state that tons of merchants visit on a regular basis. It does, however, make you briefly ponder all the other locations on this map that might be unlisted. Looking at your map, you see that you’ll be sticking to the Hokage’s province for most of your journey to the north before abruptly making a sharp west-northwest turn, heading out of the Hokage’s province towards a place called Takefu village mostly equidistant from both the Land of Iron and the Land of Rice Paddies, though clearly closer to the Land of Iron. There are enough alternate paths that your caravan can easily divert. As far as major stops, Sunlight Inn Town and a location subtly marked as simply “Temple” leap out at you. You’ll be heading north to Sunlight Inn Town, then northeast to this mystery temple, and from there north-east again until you hit a crossroads and sharply turn west towards the aforementioned village. As for the caravan’s goals there, you don’t know yet.
You wrap up the map and tuck it away.
You would only need to begin making decisions once you knew more, so the next thing on the docket was to learn more about the bandit group, the Lords of Fire.
—
“Sure, I know about the Lords of Fire.” Says Inoichi Yamanaka as tends to a rose bush in the back of the Yamanaka flower shop. “There’s a lot to say, some of which is classified. A recent group. That should be obvious, since they haven’t been dealt with yet.”
A snip from the cutters he’s using sends a petal drifting to the floor to rest at your feet.
“Rumors surround them.” He continues “Some people living in the area see them as ‘steal from the rich, give to the poor’ types. That said, they’re less of a bandit group and more of a rebel faction. They haunt the woods near the border of the Land of Iron, which you probably recognize as the only modern, relevant country that still primarily uses samurai as their military force instead of ninja. Dissidents who don’t like the village system sometimes flock to the area, it’s not too uncommon for groups to spring up from that. The Land of Iron denies any involvement, but RUMORS have it that they tend to arm these little militias. Not a major problem, and even if it were, it’s our diplomatic policy to not call attention to it.”
Another snip from Inoichi’s cutters, another petal drifts to the ground.
