Mapping the Village

Oda Terumi wrote:

Mission:

Oda rose from bed that morning with a pep in his step. He had recently been assigned a mission that he was excited to complete. On his table lay his clothes, prepared the night before to ensure a smooth morning. Next to his clothes lay his mission documents and materials he would need. He flipped through the documents and materials to make sure he had everything he needed.

Grid Paper, check. Measuring Tape, check. 2 pencils, check. Ruler, check.

He thought as he methodically checked each piece of equipment. Today he was tasked with creating a map of Tsuki for his fellow Shinobi. Maps were fascinating to Oda, especially one that would be helping defend the village, and he was determined to give his best.

He carefully laid out the large map. Methodically, he began to fold it in a specific way, making sure to cut at certain creases. By the time he was done, he had created a map that could be folded in various ways to allow a person to focus on one specific area of the village. The map was divided into 10 sub sections representing the significant areas of Tsukigakure. These subsections could be easily flipped to quickly and efficiently, and allowed the map to be folded into a smaller size while still being able to quickly glance at it. Upon unfolding the map completely the entire village could be seen.

He then made sure to add small compass roses to each subsection, added a legend, and listed what each symbol might mean. A golden star meant the building was vital to village operation. The green triangle represented Commercial buildings such as restaurants or shops. To represent the various industrial buildings within Tsuki he would use a Brown square. To mark educational areas such as Bals Library, the Academy, or Shinoda Springs, he created a Blue Circle shape. And finally, he made sure to put a small crescent moon shape to indicate any residential buildings.

He next set about creating a small measurement to help with scale, making sure to make each square in the grid represent 5m. With this scale set, and his 15m long measuring tape, he was ready to get to work.  He looked at the shell of a map with pride. With the important aspects of a map created, he set out into town to now fill the map in. On his way out he stopped briefly to say hello to his neighbor and help her lift a particularly large planter box. She shared some fresh tomatoes with him and he gave her some freshly made cookies, nearly burned to a crisp like Oda liked them. She accepted gracefully, but unbeknownst to Oda would use them in her compost as soon as he left her sight.

With his good neighborly duties out of the way, he set off to begin his mapping. He decided to first start with the walls. Upon reaching the gates he painstakingly walked along the walls of the entire village, going 15m by 15m, stopping each time to draw a crude estimation of a birds eye view of the wall. Oda was no artist, but what he lacked in drawing skill, he more than made up for with precision and accuracy. By the time he reached all the way back around to the gate, he was drenched in sweat from the humidity of the jungles, but had an accurate and to scale representation of the walls of the village. Along his route he made sure to mark any entry point on the map with important red outlines to indicate its strategic value. He even found some areas of the wall that could be scaled or subverted. He made some small notes on a separate piece of paper that he would leave with his map to point them out and hopefully get them fixed.

Next, he started at the area in front of the gates, making sure to mark any small alleyways or pathways with clear indicators. He then methodically moved through each area of Tsukigakure, making sure to painstakingly measure the dimensions of each pathway, and each building. The process was arduous, certain areas of Tsukigakure were mazes of buildings and alleyways, but Oda was determined to create a system for efficient use of the map. For now, he would simply draw out each pathway and building, eventually forming a complete birdseye view of the village. Along the way he made sure to stop and say hello to some of his favorite merchants and food vendors, making sure to keep up his energy with some free samples.

By the time Oda was done, the sun had set long ago, and he was exhausted from the day's work. Unfortunately for Oda it was only half the job, the real task would be to create a system which would allow Shinobi to convey location quickly and efficiently. He already had the grid system set, both on a micro scale, and a macro one. With each map divided into 10 sections, he marked each one with a letter starting from top left of the map section being A, and ending at the bottom right section with J.

Next, he divided the larger 10 sections into a further 10 sub-sections. These he numbered 1 through 10. This way, if a shinobi wished to convey the location of an emergency and the emergency was in the north eastern corner of area A, he would only need to say or write “A5” To indicate the area, or “B2” and so on.

With his work done, he did some final touches on the map, followed by a detailed explanation of the system he had designed. With that, he neatly packed everything up into an organized package and went to sleep. After waking up early in the morning and having his usual breakfast, he stopped by the Kage Tower to hand off his work and receive his mission rewards. As he walked out of the tower he looked at the village with a new appreciation for its many intricacies, and hoped that his map could aid the village in some way.

[Exit]

WC: 1025

Claims: