The moment Gin was called to the hospital, she knew it wouldn't be a good day. The sight of injured people and desperate medical-nin always made her upset. Not to mention the fact that since she was a memeber of the Kuroka Clan, her medical ninjutsu left much to be desired. Therefore, the mere thought of anything having to do with medical ninjutsu frustrated the young Kazekage. Nevertheless, this was one of the few moments when her presence was needed within the hospital. A mission had gone terribly wrong and it was her responsibility to help out in whatever way she could, because despite the fact that she often acted as if she didn't care, the people of Sunagakure no Sato were her sole reason for living. She let out a heavy sighed and went through the double doors that would lead her to the emergency ward.

The report she had recieved was right. The three Jounin she had sent were either dead or dying. She didn't quite know what she was supposed to do, to be honest. There wasn't much she could do but ease their passing. Nevertheless, she needed their reports. There seemed to be one shinobi that could still speak. By the looks of it, he ahd lost both an arm and a leg. The medical ninja tending to him were struggling to keep him from bleeding out. One of them turned to look at Gin and made room for her, so that she could talk to the dying man. "L-lady Kazekage," The man began. "We-we're sorry, we f-failed-"

Gin interrupted him before he could keep on talking. "It's fine, it's not your fault," She began. "I just need to know what happened," She stated. Her voice was calm and easing, as if saying that everything would be all right. She was a professional. She had handled situations like these many times. Just as the Jounin was about to speak, something went wrong. His wounds began to bleed even more. She got out of the way of the medic-nins and stepped out of the room. It would be a while before she could get the information she wanted. She leaned against wall outside of the room and sighed.

It was a nice day, but you couldn't tell that by the environment that Tomoya once again found himself in. He had worked as an inventor for a little over two years now, and had the prosthetic finger for a little over a year and a half. In that time, it had become well known throughout Suna that he was able to make this kind of stuff. Although it was rare, he was occasionally asked to come in for medical operations, making people limbs. Apparently that was the way it was today.

His cloak was covering his body, with his hood down for once, giving it the appearance of a poncho. His hair was pulled up under goggles, giving him the appearance of a mad inventor. He walked through the hospital, brushing past someone he hadn't noticed. He smiled and bowed his head slightly, before realizing who it was. He swallowed hard, noticing that he had just brushed past the Kazekage. He wanted to apologize but he had no time for that right now. He started to talk
"S-so-sor...."
"TOMOYA, GET YOUR ASS IN HERE, PRONTO!!" He nodded and turned back to where he was going, beginning to move again. He could apologize later, this time it was to give someone what they needed.

The moment he walked into the room he threw his cloak off, revealing two bandoliers of tools over his body, and attached to his back was what he'd already made. A clockwork leg that gleamed in the sun as he walked forwards, looking at the body of the still living man who seemed to be terrified of what he held.
"You don't mean..." Tomoya smiled slightly awkwardly, winking
"Be a brave ninja now, alright? Because, frankly, this is going to hurt like all five flavors of hell."

A loud screech ripped through the air.Gin was sure that over half of the hospital had heard the koud scream. Her ears were left ringing, since the source of the noise was right behing the door she was standing next to. The young Kazekage assumed it had something to do with the cloaked man that had just entered the room. he had tried to say something to her before being dragged in there, but she had failed to hear him. She shrugged, dismissing it. "It was probably just another apology or something," She thought. After all, those were fairly common now, even though Gin could care less about them. They were only another part of what it meant to hold the title of Kazekage.

Nevertheless, it felt nice to get such an amount of respect, even though it was faked on more than one occasion. Gin's thoughts went to the Elders that had elected her Kazekage. She was sure that despite the fact that they seemed lenient and kind, they were already regretting placing such a heard-headed shinobi as Kazekage. Nevertheless, they could no longer go back on their decision. And despite everything, the young woman was happy with her title. After all, it gave her an excelent chance to serve the people of Sunagakure. Menial tasks such as these were only part of the job description.

Gin entered the room shortly after, assuming that the Jounin was now stable. She noticed that he now had a new arm. "Interesting," She thought. She vaguely remembered reading the file of a shinobi that had a unique talent for prosthetics. She turned to the cloaked man, assuming that he was the mechanic that had crafted the limb. "Quite impressive," She said in a little above a whisper. One of the doctors approached the Kazekage, she seemed hesitant, though. Gin could only assume that she was about to deliver bad news. "Excuse me, Kazekage-sama, but this Jounin will not wakr up for at least a day," She explained.

"He what?!" Gin asked. She approached the man lying on the bed and proceeded to shake him ciolently. "Wake up already!" She yelled. The medic-nin that had addressed her before was shocked. "Kazekage-sama! You can't do that!" She said, trying to pry Gin off of the man. "Like hell I can!" Yelled the young Kazekage. "He's in a frgile condition! What you're doing could cause permanent damage!" The medic-nin argued, sounding nervous and flustered. Gin let go of the Jounin with a sigh. "Great, just great," She mumbled to herself.

It had only taken around three minutes to fully fit the leg, and and, surprisingly enough, the man had passed out from the pain of having his nerves attached to the nodes. Tomoya couldn't help but chuckled slightly
"What are you laughing about Tomo-kun?" The nurse said, a little confused, to which tomoya smiled at her
"Well, he's such a big, tough ninja and he passed out from something as simple as this. Hell, I was awake the entire time and I was fitting my own. Guaranteed to be a hell of a lot more painful than letting someone else do it." The girl raised an eyebrow, obviously judging whether or not this meant he was laughing at the pain this boy was going through.... and then decided to ignore it.

After a little while, the Kazekage entered into the room again and complimented his prosthetics. He was about to say thank you when a nurse went over to the Kazekage and warned her that the man wouldn't be waking up any time soon. Tomoya had to facepalm at the scene that was evolving. Why did people not understand the most basic tennant of medicine? If you screw around with a patient whilst he's still recovering, he won't recover properly.
"I miss the lesbian." Tomoya murmured, only just loud enough to hear, before walking over to the Kazekage, looking at her directly in the eyes


"This room needs to stay sterile for total healing, you need to get the heck out of here before you kill the poor man." The medic-nin seemed shocked at Tomoya's words, kicking him in the leg
"Tomo-kun! This is the kazekage, you can't talk to her like that!" Tomoya raised an eyebrow at her then turned back to her and said in the same tone
"Get the heck out of here before you kill the poor man, MA'AM" it was clearly not something he cared about, power not being everything. He'd give everyone respect when he met them but there was something about him that made him lose respect for people the moment they showed huge amounts of stupidity.

Gin's day had just taken a turn for the worse. She had spent an entire week without sleep already, waiting to recieve information about this particular mission. The information that the particular shinobi held could be crucial to the survival of Sunagakure and its people, it wasn't something that she could just lay off, ezpecially in these times. Only a few days ago, Gin had recieved word of the Mizukage's untimely death. "And just before the Chuunin exams, too" She added in her thoughts. And that was one of the few things that could make Gin anxious or afraid. The Mizukage had been ruling over Kirigakure for a long time. He was one of the strongest shinobi out there. The fact that he could have so easily entered Kirigakure and killed Hikou meant that Sunagakure could be invaded at any given moment, and Gin wasn't sure that she could be strong enough to defend it on her own.

The Kazekage couldn't afford to lose time. She needed the information so that she could rebuild the village's defenses accordingly. She was snapped out of her train of thoughts when Tomoya spoke for the second time - and thank goodness for him, she didn't hear the first comment. "I don't believe my presence makes this room any less sterile," She began. Her voice was flat and uncharacteristically emotionless. "And the medic-nin is right. I don't take well to insubordination, much less from anyone below Jounin and even less from someone who I'm just meeting for the first time. So if you want to have a future in this village, kid, I suggest you shut the hell up and let me do as I see fit. Because contrary to what most people believe, there's a good reason as to why I'm Kazekage." She kept her gaze - cold and unrelenting - fixed on Tomoya. The tension in the room was palpable.

Tomoya's eyebrow raised quizzically as it normally did when someone threatened him like this. Normally he'd be thinking something along the lines of "who the ruddy hell do they think they are?" but in this case he knew exactly who she was, she was the Kazekage. She could kick him out of the village as quickly as snapping her fingers, and there was no knowing how long until she would forgive him, if ever. His face turned into a small smile, with the look that seemed to say "i know something you don't know". Of course she couldn't kick him out of the village. People in this place got beaten to hell a lot, and no-one else in this village knew how to make the replacement limbs. He'd made sure to keep the notes away from any living person, so there would be no option other than to let him do what he wanted. This also gave him leverage in arguments like this

"Kazekage-sama, there's a good reason I'm still a chuunin, and that's because I spend all my time making stuff so your fine citizens can actually live their day to day lives. But, sure, if you want to kick me out of the village, go ahead, you'll probably have a lot of angry ANBU members to deal with in around a month though, as I believe at least three of the top ranking members need a check up from me. Trust me, m'lady, I'm not an asset you can afford to throw away." He said, before turning on his heel and pulling out his screwdriver, turning to the patient on the other side of the room, a young woman who was missing a middle finger, chopped off by accident whilst cooking. This was his job, and he needed to get to it.

"If you'll excuse me not being too active in our conversation, m'lady, I have a finger to attach."

Gin couldn't help but laugh. It started up with a giggle and then quickly built up into a roaring laughter, so much so that she had to grip her sides to keep herself steady. Was he serious? Was he really trying to threaten her? That was certainly something that could brighten her mood, a Chuunin that thought he could manipulate her was ironically funny. "You.. You really think... You really think that you're untouchable, don't you?" She said between laughter. A few seconds later, the Kazekage sobered up. She stood straight once again, but now she was ina slightly better mood. "Kid, this villages has dozens of puppetmasters that can work mechanics like you never will. Regardless of whether they have your help or not, they can learn your trait quite easily. And I've saved the lives of half of the ANBU countless of times. Their loyalty is to their leader and to this village, so I'll make a quick suggestion, kid. Learn your place or start putting your money where your mouth is," She said. After she finished speaking, Gin sighed. This definitely wasn't a good day. The young Kazekage decided to sit down on a chair, next to the Jounin's bed. She had no other choice but to wait until he woke up. She sank down in her chair and closed her eyes. If the Chuunin kept on bickering, she would simply ignore him. She had enough on her mind already.

Honestly, he wasn't paying much attention to the kage by now, but as she insulted his skill with machines by claiming just how many people in the village would be better than him at it, he smirked slightly. He was the first one in the village's history to make them on a wide scale like this and whilst he didn't doubt that there would be a lot of puppeteers who could handle them a lot better than he could, there would be not a single one better than him in making them. He smiled back at her, and said in a sing-song voice
"you'd be surprised."

It took around ten minutes to fit the finger, before he wiped his brow and pulled his goggles back onto his forehead. He turned around and sat in a chair near the kage, smiling gently as he crossed his legs
"so, Kage-sama, what information is it exactly that you want? I mean, it must be pretty important if almost every single ninja you sent on it is dead. They don't seem like the black ops type though."

Gin lay there for a while. She lost her sense of time as she sat, but she felt like she deserved it. She had spent most of her past weeks working, despite the displeasure that all things related to paperwork brought her. Regardless, she needed her rest. She didn't know at what point Tomoya sat next to her. She only noticed him there when he spoke, to which she opened one of her eyes to look at him. "Don't call me Kage-sama," She began, her voice sounding slightly groggy. "If anything, call me Gin, or Lady Gin, whichever works for you. I hate pleaseantries, they're full of crap," She said, closing her eyes once again as she said her last sentence. "And as for your question, I don't think I can divulge that information to someone who's name I don't even know."

A small whisper of a smile traced across his face as she talked about how she didn't want pleasantries. he could have mentioned that she wasn't objecting earlier, but he guessed it didn't really matter right now. He stretched slightly, yawning slightly, before looking at her in a way that seemed much more friendly. It wasn't a look of respect as most people would give her, but it was a look of someone who accepted the other person, like you might give to a teacher you don't quite respect.
"I'm Tomoya, Tomoya Kato. This girl..." he said, beckoning his finger back at the nurse who'd helped him during the operation
"... is called Karane, Karane Oshiena. Say hello, lass!" he said teasingly, to which she blushed and waved gently, before going to check on her other patients.

Gin nodded. At least she had a name now, and she vaguely recalled reading his file, as she did with everyone else. She needed to know who she had at her disposal, after all. She nodded at the nurse as well. She didn't really know the medical personnel, to be honest. She knew how many she had, but she didn't know them per se. Maybe it was because they would almost always remain in the hospital regardless of defense strategies or because of her personal dislike towards medical ninjutsu. The Kazekage didn't quite know, nor did she spend time meditating on the matter. She did have to admit, however, the medic-nins were almost always respectfu, which was more than could be said about many shinobi within the ranks of Sunagakure no sato. "In any case," She began, "You're right, they aren't black opps. They didn't need to be..." Her last sentence trailed off, as if the young Kazekage were considdering something. "Maybe... No, no... that couldn't be it," She whispered to herself. She herself was trying to deduce what had happened to the five men that she had sent.

They didn't need to be black ops she had said. Well, by the state of them, they clearly should have been black ops, or rather the ones sent on the mission should have been. The ones who were actually sent just weren't enough to keep up with their opponents. It was a shame, he seemed to remember a few of the people who the bodies were off, maybe they taught him in the academy? He didn't know, but what he did know was that they were good people, people who had been loyal to the last. There was nothing that could justify this kind of treatment of honest, hardworking Shinobi. they hadn't even had the honour of a death on the battlefield, they were made to drag themselves back home before they died anyway. It was pathetic, and sad, and he hated them for it. It was so cruel, it just made him sick to his stomach.
"Please, if there's anything I can help with, tell me. I might not be as strong as these guys, but at least this time the person doing it would know what they were getting into."

Gin let out a laugh and slowly shook her head. "Kid, you're brave, I'll give you that," She began. She half smiled with her eyes still closed and her head still thrown back against the edge of the seat. "But you don't know what you're dealing with," She paused briefly. "Nor do I, for that matter, not yet at least." She got up, stretching. There was no use staying here. Her presence wasn't going to make the Jounin wake up any faster. She stretched, cracking her back as she did so. She sighed in relief. Sitting in a chair- be it that one or the one in her office - for so much time in one week really didn't do her any good. However, she had found herself unable to train for many reasons at a time. "I'm going to eat something before I pass out. You're welcome to come along," She said, offering the Chuunin an invitation. "And I can tell you all about my theories as to why this mission went so blatantly wrong," She concluded as she headed towards the door of the emergency room.

He had to admit, she had a point. Running into a situation blind was not only a very stupid idea but it was also a great way to commit suicide. He had no intention of being stupid and blind about anything, he would wait until he got more information. However, as she invited him to come with her for lunch, he nodded happily, actually looking forward to it. He hadn't eaten this morning as he always tried not to eat before an operation like this. It wasn't just that he lost his nerve and wanted to throw up, no that wasn't it at all. It was simply that he concentrated better when he was hungry, he didn't know why but he just did. With this in mind, he was currently starving so he was willing to come with her.
"Sure. count me in" he chimed, following after her. The medics nodded, and let them leave without another word. They were probably just glad that there hadn't been a massive argument.

The tension in the air had definately dissipated. Of course, that didn't mean that Gin wasn't wary of the Tomoya. First impressions last long, after all. She walked past the corridors, bowing her head slightly at every other medic that acknoledged her presence. She yawned and stretched loudly. Her lack of sleep was beginningto show. "I didn't get this when I was a Jounin," She thought to herself with a heavy sigh. "Ignorane is bliss," She muttered under her breath. Who knew Kages had so many threats to deal with on a daily basis. "But I suppose missions have to come from somewhere..." She said, though mostly to herself.

The young Kazekage stood in line for a short while before picking out the food she wanted to eat. She loaded a tray with rice balls, dango ans sashimi of all kinds. Once both of them would get to a table in the far corner of the room, she would resume their previous topic. "First off, what I'm about to tell you is confidential, alright?" She said, sounding more annoyed than serious. She hated protocol, but in this case it was necessary.

There was something that radiated off of her, like an entire field filled with exhaustion. He was usually quite good at noticing when there was something wrong, but it wouldn't have taken any special efforts to work out what was wrong with her. She was even yawning, and god damn it if it wasn't contagious. He was struggling not to yawn back, which he knew would be found rude, and whilst he was rude when he needed to be (i.e. When trying to get an unwanted visitor out of the emergency room), he would always try to be polite when he could. After all, whether he liked it or not, she was his boss now.

As they got in line for the lunch line, his eyes went over the plates filled with food. There was something that looked like duck salad, but where they would find a duck in the middle of the desert, he had no idea. Still, looked good enough so he took it off, and put next to it a small bottle of cactus-fruit cider. Buying it quickly, he walked off to the table the Kazekage had picked out for him, and she started telling him that it was confidential. He smiled slightly, leaning over his lunch, saying simply
"Frankly, my lady, if this wasn't to share confidential information, it would count as a date. I have no interest in the other one immediately after messing with a bloody stump of a limb, so this is indeed confidential information. Let's get to the crux of the problem."

Gin smirked, glad that they were both on the same page. She nodded just as she began to eat. While doing so, she thought about just how she was going to explain the situation. "See, here's the thing," She began. "The Mizukage's dead. If you didn't know that before, now you do." She paused for a moment, both to eat and to let that piece of information sink in. Though word had gotten out, not many people were aware of the fact that the Mizukage had died. Being the way she was, Gin hadn't wanted to keep it a secret. Nevertheless, spreading the news wasn't a very good idea. She had to keep the village in order. If the news spread, she was sure that rumors would as well. Before she knew it, people would begin to say that Suna was next. The mere thought of something like that happening gave Gin a headache. "But that's not the point," She continued. "I sent those Jounin to help the village deal with the assassination, help the officials keep order and strengthen relations between the two villages. It was a purely diplomatic mission." She concluded.

Tomoya was a little bit stunned. The mizukage.... was dead? But, that meant that a kage was dead, and if that was the case then there was someone out there with enough raw power to kill a kage in his prime. There was the case of Sarutobi a hundred and five years ago, but that was done by one of the strongest ninjas of the time, and when the man was old and decrepit. This was someone with the fire of youth inside him.... it was bad. It was very, very bad news. He nodded and looked at her, before she mentioned what they were there for. It was a purely diplomatic mission? Well, he'd heard the city had had some kind of crisis already, although nobody knew anything about it, but for the people to attack a Suna ambassador of peace... this meant there were riots. He sighed and looked at her
"So, who do you think did it? If it was the people or person who killed the mizukage, there would have been five dead bodies instead of three. I don't remember hearing about any outlaw gangs around that area of the world at the moment.... got any leads?"

Gin shook her head and let out a groan. She had been raking her brain since the Jounin had gotten there to try and figure out what could have gone wrong. Being the way she was, the young Kazekage had already come up with several theories, but she had basically nothing to support them. "I have a couple of ideas, but they aren't based on anything but my deduction skills," She began. "And they aren't even theories of what happened but rather about what didn't happen. First off is the riots. Kirigakure is an organized village. They have several high ranking officers that could easily take the Mizukage's place while things are sorted out. They act quickly and prevent chaos from spreading. The people I sent could have been mistaken for invaders, but I made sure to send word beforehand. I didn't let them enter the village until I got a reply from the acting officials," She explained. Gin worked better by discarding ideas and plans and keeping what was left. Her train of thought bounced rapidly from one idea to the next, trying to make sense of things.

So, from what Gin was telling him, there was no riots. Even in the most organized parts of the world, that was... peculiar. Hell, he'd heard of riots in Hoshigakure when they tried to up the price of the academy there. This was definitely more extensive than increased academy tuition fees, so the fact that there was no riots was... sort of inhuman. However, if she was right in her assumption that would mean it was an organized attack, or rather it was someone who wasn't just acting as impulse... that, worryingly enough, meant they were likely targeted. Tomoya sighed and massaged his temples, his clockwork finger the only one that didn't touch his head. He sighed and thought for a second

"So, you're telling me that there were no riots, but these people still ended up dead... or rather three of them did, and two of them lost limbs. This meant that it wasn't done in a spur of the moment thing, but rather this... this was targeted. Now, judging by the fact that at least two of them survived, the killer was skilled enough to take out five jounin, but not so skilled as to finish off two of them. Which means he was either outskilled..." he said, before sighing and picked up a leaf of lettuce, starting to nibble on it.

".... or he was interrupted. But, the most important thing is why they didn't stop at Kirigakure's hospital. Either the village is somehow in a crisis that means that not only is there no longer a hospital but whatever medical facilities they do have have been flooded with patients, or... the village itself is now a hostile zone."

Gin shook her head once again. "You've got the story wrong," She began. "But that's only natural. I haven't even told you the facts straight. Only one person survived, and that was the Jounin you just saw. He was carried back here by one of his comrades who died from her injuries and exhaustion just this morning. We found them collapsed near the entrance. That's why it's so crucial that he both survives and wakes up soon," She explained. She took a sip of her water, internally hoping that it had magically turned into strong liquor. No such luck. She sighed in disappointment. The first thing she would do once she got out of there was hit up one of the local bars. "In any case, no, they didn't enter Kirigakure's hospital, which also means that they might have been intercepted on their way back, in which case, the problem has nothing to do with Kirigakure itself."

Well, fuck. So, his theories were wrong, and she was getting rather pissy about it. There was something about her that seemed to be crying out for alcohol, and he slid his glass over to her.
"Take it, you've earned it." he said, before getting up and buying a second one, and sitting back down.

"Now, point being, we have NO idea what's going on, but you keep on shooting down my ideas. Which clearly means there's still something you haven't told me. Since I've been working my ass off on several missions recently, I think you could cut me a little slack and keep everything on the base level. Frankly, I'm here because I want information and you want someone to actually be able to confide this in, so why don't I quit making theories with only 20% of the information and you tell me the whole story in as few words as possible. Then I'll see what I can make of it."

Gin cocked an eyebrow at the drink that Tomoya had handed her. It only took a single whiff of the small glass for her to know what was in it. Without thinking twice, she downed it in one second. "That's better," She mumbled. Strangely enough, alcohol made the young Kazekage think better. At his following words, Gin scoffed. "I've told you the whole thing already," She said, a hint of tension and hostility underlying in her tone. "But if you need more, allow me to illustrate." Gin got up and walked over to one of the counters on the other side of the hospital's cafeteria. She grabbed a dozen napkins and walked over to the table where she was sitting before. She pushed the plates aside and set the napkins on top of the table. The young Kazekage pulled out a pen from her item's pouch and began to write a series of characteristics on each napkin. Each one represented a different Jounin. On the others, she drew a rough sketch of the lands between the Land of Water and the Land of Wind. Each napkin read a different name:

Kouken: Ninjutsu, Genjutsu - DEAD
Keiko: Medical Ninjutsu, Fuuinjutsu - DEAD, dragged Kuromaru to Suna
Himiko: Taijutsu, Ninjutsu - DEAD
Hiroto: Puppetry, Ninjutsu - DEAD
Kuromaru: Kenjutsu, Taijutsu - ALIVE

Now, all she had to do was briefly explain the details to Tomoya. "Before she died, Keiko managed to seal the bodies of each of the dead into a series of scrolls. The times of death are scattered. Some of them died on the spot, others died along the way. Kuromaru was found missing an arm and a leg and that's about it." She explained. She thought that laying the information out visually would be better for both of them. They could see it as a sort of puzzle.

Okay, this was seriously weird. First and foremost, who the hell put such an unbalanced team together? there wasn't one sensory type here, and not one summoning. Didn't she realize the concept of reverse summoning was one of the best ways to avoid death out in the field? Plus, these people seemed more akin to threatening types than those who would actually be sent to aid a suffering country. Only one of them had an art that could actually help anyone. Something reeked of being off, but he had no idea what. It was kind of annoying, like when you knew someone but you couldn't remember their name. And furthermore, what was this about sealing into scrolls? that didn't seem like it would actually do anything.

"Why.... why did she seal dead bodies into scrolls? And most importantly, why didn't you send a more balanced team out there? There's not even one person here who doesn't seem like they'd appear threatening on the battlefield. especially this guy. Kuromaru. He seems the toughest out of all of them, which might explain why he's the only one still alive... tell me, what exactly were you thinking when you came up with this team? You claimed to want to strengthen your bonds and yet you sent an entirely combat effective team out there. Might I ask why?"