Call the Fire Brigade

Spoiler:

“I hear he’s a motivational speaker these days,” said Hisata, chuckling. “My little brothers wouldn’t stop talking about how he swam underground.”

“Come on, it wasn’t like that!” Inpei protested with a sheepish smile. ‘Daike sensei asked me to help, so I helped!”

“Quit teasing him, Hisata,” said Suzubu, shaking his head. “Besides, we’re supposed to be on patrol – not making fun of the teacher’s pet.”

Inpei and the others were walking along the street – the night air keeping them cool as the crickets chirped all around them. They were all genin assigned to a patrol route near the ninja headquarters. It was supposed to be something of an internship – allowing them the opportunity to patrol something on their own without the major consequences that might befall them in other districts. At least, that was the plan until they saw the smoke.

“Wait, do you guys see that?” Hisata asked, pointing ahead of them. A trail of thick, black smoke was beginning to rise from what appeared to be the trade district. “We need to call the fire brigade!”

“No time,” Inpei responded, charging chakra in his feet before launching himself up and away – onto a nearby building. “There might be people caught inside! We have to help.”

“Wait, we’re supposed to be on patrol!” Suzubu called after him as Inpei began to launch himself between rooftops and away from the others – moving as quickly as he could toward the fire.

It must have just started – that smoke hasn’t even risen that high yet! Have to get there, have to help!

Inpei continuing bouncing between rooftops until he landed on the street outside. Looking around, nobody else had noticed yet. “Fire!” he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. “There’s a fire, get help!” He continued shouting until people in the surrounding buildings began to stir, looking out windows and stepping out into the street. “Sir, in the red, please get the fire brigade.” The man looked confused for a moment before nodding and running off.

The young shinobi turned and faced the building again, the fire beginning to build up. The heat was pouring from it in waves, and Inpei instantly broke into a sweat. Or was he sweating already? Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to get away from the fire, let the fire patrol handle it. Just as he thought that, he heard a voice shout from an upper window. “Help!”

Inpei grabbed a bucket of water from nearby and unwrapped the cloth bandages around his leg, wrapping it around his nose and mouth. He took the bandages from his other leg and tore it, wrapping each part around his hands. He approached the door and found that it was locked. He broke the door open, sliding it aside and stepping into the building.

And I thought it was hot outside – I can barely breathe! This smoke…that smell…

Inpei stooped low to avoid the smoke that was collecting along the ceiling. The store floor itself wasn’t in flames yet, but the fire had clearly been started behind the counter – the walls were blackened by the blaze, and the fire looked like it was almost rushing up towards the ceiling. The stairs were completely enveloped in flames.

Coughing, he began to flash through hand signs – erecting stone pillars from the ground around him. They pulled themselves out of the ground before launching forward and smashing into the source of the fire – the earth snuffing out the fire on the first floor. He could tell that the next floor was still on fire, and he could hear shouts coming from upstairs. “Hang-,” Inpei coughed. “Hang on!”

Inpei ran to the stairs, which wrapped around to his left. As he came around the corner, he saw the the stairs were once again blocked by the flames. Summoning more chakra, the young ninja created several more earthen pillars and collapsed them onto the fire – stifling it once again. As the flames faded, a young woman came running towards him. “Please, my father, he’s still in here!” she rasped, her voice hoarse from the smoke.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find him – just get out of here!” he shouted above the roar of the flames burning on the roof above him. As the young woman ran down the stairs, Inpei heard the creaking of the roof above him. He glanced up nervously.

Not sure how much longer that ceiling is going to hold…

Coughing from a nearby room caught his attention. Inpei moved closer, struggling to breath through the now-dry bandages he’d tied around his mouth. “Hello? Is someone there?!” He stepped into what looked to be a bedroom, finding part of the ceiling already collapsed. An older man was stuck under a beam, pinned to the ground. “Just hang on!”

Inpei flashed several more hand signs and summoned an earth wall underneath the pillar, lifting it off of the man. He reached down and grabbed the man’s arm, wrapping it around his neck and helping him to his feet. “It’s my leg, I can’t—”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you, let’s just go!” he shouted, tightening his hold on the man’s arm and half-dragging him towards the doorway. Just as they reached the stairwell, the ceiling caved in with a thunderous crash. Debris clattered down from above, completely blocking it off.

“We can’t get out!” the man shouted, panicking. Inpei ignored him, looking around for some kind of option. The windows – having blown out from the intensity of the heat inside – seemed to be the only good choice.

“It’s okay, we’re not out of options,” Inpei said, dragging the older man over to the windows. He looked down from the top, which was two stories up. He gently set the man down near the wall before flashing the same hand signs he’d done before – creating an earth style wall on the ground outside. The platform rose up to just outside the window. “Be careful – I’m going to help you out onto the wall.”

The old man steadied himself on the window sill, slowly swinging a leg over – then another, until he nearly fell onto the wall. Inpei flashed another hand sign and allowed the wall to descend – allowing the old man down to the ground as well. Inpei himself climbed out of the window, jumping down to land safely on the ground below. The young woman ran over, helping the man to his feet. “Thank you, thank you” she croaked at Inpei, who had pulled the bandages away from his face. The most Inpei could muster was a thumbs up, coughing hoarsely. A canteen suddenly came into view. Looking up, he saw Sizubu standing over him.

“Fire patrol is on the way,” he said, grinning as Inpei took the canteen and drank from it greedily.

“Still had to be the hero, huh?” Hisata asked, offering water to the people that had been caught in the fire.

Inpei continued to gasp for air in response. He looked over at the old man who, instead of taking the water, was staring back at the fire still raging on the roof of the store. “My store,” he choked, his eyes either full of years from the smoke or the emotions. “It’s gone.”

“Not yet it’s not,” another voice said. A male voice that seemed to ooze confidence.

Inpei looked behind him to see the fire patrol had arrived. They were a team of shinobi, all of them wearing leaf flak jackets and headbands. Inepi watched as they began to flash hand signs, opening their mouths for a moment before water began gushing forth from them, enveloping the building. The smoke began to billow even more intensely as fire met water, a loud, angry hissing noise seeming to fill the air.

“Are you the one that went in?” that same voice asked – seemingly the leader of the fire brigade that had been dispatched to deal with the fire. “You’ll need medical attention when this is over.”

“Yeah,” Inpei coughed, his throat feeling raw. He hadn’t thought about it while the adrenaline was flowing, but as it was wearing off, he felt like he had inhaled the flames themselves. “Wait, I think…” More coughing wracked his body. “I think this fire was set on purpose.”

“What?” the man replied, looking away from his crew’s work to look at Inpei. “What did you say?”

“I think someone set the fire,” Inpei responded, turning around in his planted position to be able to see the fire brigade member. “When I walked in, there was this smell – not like a normal fire. And to top it off, it seemed like it traveled up the stairs.”

“Then there was an accelerant used,” the man mused, holding two fingers to his chin and thinking intently. “There have been more fires than usual this season, but we hadn’t heard anything about a smell. That may be our answer.”

“What answer?” Sizubu asked, looking at the man with a tilt of his head.

The man looked up at him. “An arsonist,” he replied.

“Wait, what?!” Hisata asked, overhearing. “You’re telling me what somebody set this fire on purpose?!”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” the man said with a nod. “There have been a string of fires in the village of late, many more than we usually have this time of year. We didn’t have any proof that they’d been set intentionally, though – not until now at least.”

“We have to stop him.” Inpei replied, struggling to his feet. “Do you guys have any leads at all? I’m sure you haven’t been just sitting by and letting this happen.”

“Like I said – no proof until now,” the fire brigade commander responded. “We’re going to need you to come with us and answer some questions.” Behind him, the last embers of the fire were extinguished by the unstoppable torrent of water. The old man and his daughter were bundled up together, watching as the shop finally collapsed altogether with a groan.

“Gladly,” Inpei responded, clenching his fists. “Just let me know where we’re going, I’ll tell you everything I can!”

“Hang on,” Sizubu said, stepping forward. “You said he’s going to need medical attention, didn’t you? We do that first, and then you can take him.”

“Plus, we still have a patrol to finish,” Hisata replied, standing up and brushing off her pants. “But I figure we can take it from here – after all, we weren’t stupid enough to run into a burning building, so, we’re still good to go.”

Inpei’s laugh quickly turned into another coughing fit, his eyes watering. “Sorry to put it all on you,” he said in-between coughs. “Next mission is all up to me!”

The other two genin headed off towards the ninja headquarters, hoping to salvage their mission before they ended up having to do it again. The fire brigade team stood by watching the building, making sure no embers survived to spread to any other buildings. In the meantime, their leader led Inpei away to seek medical attention.

“That was very brave, what you did back there,” the brigade chief said, walking ahead of Inpei but stopping every so often to make sure Inpei was keeping up. “Not everyone can run into a burning building like that.”

“I wasn’t going to, at first,” Inpei responded, rubbing his chest. It was starting to get sore from all the coughing he was doing. He knew he’d be better of being quiet, but he couldn’t help it. “Then I heard someone yelling from upstairs and I just…reacted.”

“Well, going by how quickly that building went down – it made a difference,” the chief said. “Those people’s livelihood is ruined, but at least they got to walk away with their lives. The other arson victims didn’t all have that chance.”

“Wait, you’re telling me this guy has killed people?” Inpei asked, incredulous. The chief turned away in answer. Inpei grimaced.
No matter what it takes – I’m going to find this guy, and I’m going to stop him.

[End]

WC: 2006

380 towards Rank B Earth Flow River to bring it up to 1500. I'll be putting 1500 into Rank B of Tearing Earth Turning Palm. The other 126 I'm going to toss into Leaf Whirlwind.

I'll be putting 16 points into Vigor with the other 4 going into Strength.

Approved