Inspecting the Corpse

Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:48 pm

The rubble that Shiro passes is more than dead, the adjective is not a sufficient description of the barren sight before him. Surely, this area had once been covered with ample living quarters, business buildings, restaurants, and other facilities. Now, flatness is all that remains of those structures. Dust, as moments before, drifts by his body and rests upon him for a short time before being picked up by the wind and carried away. These low brown clouds are thin and never pushed outside of the boundary formed by the thick forest surrounding what is left of the village. Trees marking this divide are coated in dust on their sides facing the ruins. Despite the patterns of periodic gusts that sweep away concrete particles, no spirals or circling masses of dust form at any given area which Shiro can see. Whether this occurs due to a lack of space caused by the many larger chunks of rubble forming obstacles or the wind holding an insufficient amount of force is unknown.

As Shiro continues, making his way past large rectangles and squares and circles outlining the foundations of former buildings and structures, he notices the large number of scorch markings in contrast to the light tanned stone. For as far as his sight will allow him to see, Shiro takes note of the many number of stones holding signs of burning and excessive heat. In thought process, he runs through scenarios that include fire being involved in the decimation of this once proud village. Time after time, explosions come to mind, great explosions with enough strength and heat to ignite small particles of dust from the destroyed concrete walls, leaving them black and brittle.

“And what kind of force before the scorching heat would be strong enough to dismantle the stone so harshly as to reduce it to dust?” Should Shiro be speaking out loud with these thoughts, his voice would be palpable with caution and hints of fear for encountering such strength. However, at the same time, his heart races with excitement and relishes the opportunity to witness a ninja with such ability perform their jutsu. Learning from such a capable shinobi would be both a blessing and a curse in that the acquired strength would be staggeringly immense. To him, the benefits do not outweigh the disadvantage. In one hand, nearly all things that the recipient intends to set his mind towards doing will have no outcome but success. With power enough to wipe a village from a map comes power enough to earn more than enough money for a fine living and excessive opportunity. In the other hand, knowledge that others have of that person can be stained with fear, dread of coming across that individual’s unhappy side. Who will take the risk of befriending anyone capable of ending any sort of existence around them. Had any living beings been within this village’s perimeter by the time that this destruction had taken place, their lives would have ended within seconds. “The thought of a ninja or group of ninja possessing this kind of force… conjures an unusual feeling. At the same time, though, the emotion has a sense of naturalness to it. I can’t be sure if this is because of my being a shinobi or because of my personal nature but, for some reason, I can tell that the sense will not change…"

Shiro’s attention shifts towards the long and stretched build up of large rubble ahead of him. Within it, stones sport the same scorching to same degree as other previously noted blocks. The rectangle is 300 meters across, forcing Shiro to turn in order to see the ends, and is 50 meters wide. In all of the irregular rectangle that is the figure of this mass of large blocks of rubble, the center of the 50 meters width holds the greatest amount of height. That height tapers down towards the ground reaching the edges of the form, creating a sort of hill peaking at the 25 meter mark of width. The rubble peak of the mound reaches 25 meters above the ground, ragged all of the way down on either side and at all positions.

“This must have been a skyscraper, no other building would create these remains in this shape. The kage building will, without a doubt, have an area as large as this mass but in a different sort of formation.” As Shiro approaches the remains of the building which, when compared to the rest of the village’s ruins, is quite the anomaly, he does his best to identify it with whatever information he has at his disposal. “I know through prior research that this village was an economically powerful influence on the world. Their wealth gave them prominence and allowed them to hold an influence over international affairs. A building as large as this, constructed using a large amount of workers and an even larger cost, is proof of this village’s ability to hire insurmountable manpower. No doubt, this village created many jobs and payed its architects and and construction workers well. This fallen skyscraper is not the only proof of these facts. While it must have been impressively built, even the common buildings that I walked past on my way to this site were formed of high-grade materials.”

Shiro arrives at the fallen structure and examines its components. Upon inspecting the stones in greater detail and at a closer distance, he touches the metal constructs that had previously acted at support for the structure. The thick rusted rods are embedded with a deep thread running around its surface area, allowing the concrete to form a better grip around the support. Dark red shreddings flake off of the support rod and disintegrate in the air as it is carried by a force of wind. While the old and rusted material is sharp and jagged, the outer oxidized layer chips off with but a touch and come apart just as quickly as they fall. When wind does not usher a whole shred of rust away, that chip continues to drift towards the ground until it lands and, like the others, becomes powder.

“This rust is incredibly old and must have been in contact with the air for a very long period of time. With the steel rod inside of the concrete to aid in keeping the building structurally sound, it would not be exposed to air and no rust would form. The fact that this rust formed as long ago as it did gives me a good idea of how long ago the village standing here was reduced to ruins. It’s chilling to imagine that whoever caused this carnage is likely alive…” Shiro’s hand leaves the rusted steel rod, darkened red shavings following and breaking down after a short distance. From focusing on the damaged support beam, he looks forward and up the continued mound of concrete and exposed sharp metal. Some exposed support beams are so malformed due to twisting that Shiro does not at first recognize them as steel bars. “The force required to twist these support beams is extremely great and I find is difficult to imagine a shinobi capable of exerting such forces. However, the scorch marks found on larger blocks of debri imply that heat was involved in this site’s destruction. That may very well have allowed the steel here to twist and contort the way that it has.”

With every detail, Shiro creates a more detailed image of the events that befell this unfortunate village. From within, he develops a mixture of awe and fear that continues to grow as his mental pictures become clearer. While he realizes that his own postulates are not proven accurate, evidence continued to swell them until they become as real as the uneven ground beneath him.

Upon the height of the fallen and decimated skyscraper, Shiro looks out over the continued ruins, taking in a scene of dark craters and streaks of ash originating from them as if attempting to claw their way out from within. These features, while new to him and profound, do not draw his attention as much as what Shiro presumes to be the village’s kage building does. It is a formation even larger in perimeter than the long and wide pile he stands upon. Circular in shape, this distant section of the village from his position is littered with more concrete than the surrounding area and has a different color to it as well. Shiro cannot quite tell what it is about the shade of these particular stones but a difference is evident even from his far off point of view.

“That has to be the building that held the office of the kage, the Tenkage. I would think that it’s structure would have some sections standing to show that it is made with more care and with greater stability than the rest of the buildings here. Evidently though, it has been reduced to the same level as this once tall skyscraper.” Shiro continues to whisper to himself, stopping to take note of a befitting symbolic realisation. “Really, these two structures are somewhat like metaphors for this village’s experiences. At a time in the past, Tengakure was important, powerful, influential, noticeable like these buildings used to be when they reached higher into the sky. Now, they have been reduced to the ground, levelled, cut down. Tengakure has fallen so far that it no longer holds factors in most international relations or in the lives of many people today. Just like these buildings, this village has fallen from grace…”

Shiro resolves to start his way towards what he sees as the kage building for the village, trekking down the mount of large concrete blocks and quickly moving forward through the outline of a beaten road. Every now and then, pitch black ashes streak from a crater and into the road, causing Shiro to walk around them so that his sandals do not track any of the black material.

“While I doubt a ninja will come here looking for blood, I feel more secure leaving no bold tracks or signs of my presence.” He thinks, getting closer to his destination, the presumed kage building. “The ash around here seems to be formed spontaneously and by powerful explosions the likes of which I would do anything to avoid being caught in. And seeing as how a criminal returns to the scene of the crime at one time or another, he or she need not know about my snooping around…”

Arriving at the collection of debris even larger than the skyscraper’s fallen corpse, Shiro looks left and right to cover the span of the perimeter. Concrete in various sizes is extremely widespread, even to such a degree that defining the original structure’s domain is difficult without removing all of the remains and identifying the outline in the dirt. Shiro begins to walk to his right, tracing around the outside of the wreckage and examining what he can from this position.

“From what I can see, there are few differences between the rubbish of other buildings and that of this one. All that can be told of this, at least from the naked eye of a layman in the field of archeology, is that the material is indeed not the same stone as the rest of the village.” A reflection of the sun catches his eye through the rocks and low dust. His vision darts towards it, focusing on the new development. “Metal. It isn’t a rusted steel beam; if it were, it would not be so reflective as to warrant my attention so quickly. This material is something different entirely.”

Shiro steps onto the uneven surface of the field of fragments, keeping his focus on the source of light and quickly walking towards it. At a certain distance, the light ceases suddenly and is replaced by a simple gray point poking out of the tightly packed stone surrounding it. There is no rust, as Shiro had predicted, and exposed end of this metal seems to be fashioned to a point with four equal sides meeting at the top.

“I’m not very surprised at this. After all, this is probably the kage’s building.” Shiro kneels down to pinch the end of the metal at two of its flat ends and pulls it upward. With it, crumbs of stone weakly erupt from the hole that the item had been lodged in. “A kunai.”

He stands, lifting the kuani with him and turning his attention to a similarly gray and shape not too far from his current position. As quickly as he had arrived at the kunai, he walks towards the cube. Once in front of it, he takes note of its dimensions, approximately one third of a meter on all sides. Shiro kneels down into both of his legs to closer assess the object and formulate a course of past events that may have befallen it.

“This is a safe, the front side has a slightly open door. As for the lock on this safe, there seems to be a jaggedly open depression in its place as if the lock had been torn, stripped from the metal. It is possible that whatever force had stricken this area is also responsible for destroying the locking mechanism that this safe used to hold.” Shiro turns his head in search of the detached lock and catches sight of it meters away. It stands out from the rubble because of its color, matching the texture and look of the safe in front of Shiro. He turns back to the safe and uses the kunai he had unearthed to slowly move the door open. Within, dust lines the walls but nothing else is found. “The chances are that this safe held at least some of the village’s funds. Whoever it is that attacked may very well have taken the money and left with it as a spoil of his or her work here.”

Shiro stands and holds the kunai in front of him, placing it onto the open safe. He turns to walk away, having completed as much research about the village’s destruction as possible. “With what I have here in this village, there is only so much information to gather. As far as I can see, a means of destruction is the only evident fact. Had a flood befell this area, water damage would be present. Had a fire broken out, there would be much more scorching on the rocks. Had a tornado ravaged this site, the debris would be spread much wider. Any other information to be drawn will not be found here but at Hoshigakure’s library. If I return to the village, I should be able to finish gathering information.”

From the fallen Tenkage building, Shiro returns to the village’s edge. Beside him, the sites where the gate posts had been are visible. The day has not grown dim and the sun is at its peak in the sky. Since the morning when Shiro had arrived at the village, the winds have died down and dust is no longer creating thin clouds just above the surface. Shiro turns back to face the ruins, going over everything that he had deduced from his examinations.

“I’m not going to have a problem remembering any of it. Extreme force and heat caused by a great many explosions.” Shiro’s eyes narrow and his fist tighten. From within, he ceases to keep his emotions in check and his thoughts of what he had seen in those ruins emerge with force. “A criminal forced this fate upon innocent civilians. Out of the entire area, I found only one weapon. No other building perimeter held any sort of metal implement fashioned for drawing blood, every home or establishment that I came by was undefended and pure of ninja business. What reason did any shinobi have that allowed them to lay waste to such a prosperous village? And it bothers me more than anything else.” His whispers, while quiet, are just as potent with anger as screams would be. He turns in animosity, refusing to give any more of his attention to the pitiful ruins. “Power should never exist without responsibility. Whether the bringer of this destruction ravaged Tengakure under the order of another or by his own free will, it has occurred without justification. And while I am not the one to right the wrongs that have already been done, preventing it should be paramount concern.” Shiro’s throat tightens and his eyes narrow. At the same time, his hands loosen up and he begins to walk forward, away from the village ruins behind him.

“I will see to it…”

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[Exitting Tengakure no Sato Ruins]

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