Team Maki left the fortress much as they found it, and they were soon joined later in the day by a second, larger team, sent out to excavate the tomb in full. Other the next few days, they recovered quite a few artifacts from the place, medical equipment, weapons, sealing jutsu, scrolls full of knowledge and techniques.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Subject 9 has escaped. We still have 41, at least. In fact, he seems quite affected by his friend's leave, but Ryoichi says he has made sure that he will not attempt to follow him. It is in some ways a blessing, though. Subject 9 was a negative influence on subject 41; he did not preform as we would have liked. Ryoichi says that without him, subject 41 will more easily adjust into the Bansentenshi way.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>In the following weeks, Maki led the effort to identify and categorize Tanigakure's findings. Over the next few days following their return to the village, she was fully enveloped in her research and the students saw less and less of her as time wore on. She made a few efforts, treating them to ramen, but her often tight hair bun was loose, a few rogue strands of hair on her face and creases forming under her eyes from lack of sleep.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Ryoichi,<br/><br/>If you are no longer conducting Project 731, then pack up and abandon the facility. Bring the maruta if you wish, but I have need of you here. Hurry.<br/><br/>- Ito</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Team Maki was disbanded not with a bang, but a whimper... Maki was enthralled with her work, Tashi had been called away back to his Clan for additional training, leaving only Jun and Lilly, with the former eventually joining the ranks of Tanigakure's hunter-killer shinobi. It was a group many of her fellow Watanabe clan members had been a part of.<br/><br/>And so three years passed since that fateful day in the tomb of the Bansentennin. It was largely forgotten as the team went in their own separate directions. Elsewhere the world continued on as usual, every village eying one another for the slightest hint of weakness. An international incident occurred when the First Mizukage died of natural causes, the first world leader to have done so ever since the villages were founded. Having eschewed participation in the world war with the exception of a few skirmishes, Kirigakure was always the wild card, a superpower whose presence was rarely known but always in mind.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://s15.postimage.org/lt1wby9u3/Tanigakure_copy.png)</div>It was another beautiful morning in the village hidden in the valley. Tashi's duties had him awake much earlier, at attention for the morning formation of the Daimyo's Guard before dawn. With accountability and the reports done with, the 'day-shift' group, who worked from dawn till dusk, all sat on their knees in the Daimyo's chamber, Tashi included.<br/><br/>While under the Kawa Daimyo's personal service, he diligently worked twelve hours a day. In his time as the 'rookie', he had more access to the village leader than most of the Tanigakure shinobi would get their entire lives. The man was stern, cold, and determined. Few people understood him, but the Guards had unquestioning faith in his desire to protect the village at all costs.<br/><br/>The Daimyo did not ever explain himself, leaving most villagers embittered about his leadership. The Mibu Clan, most of all, distrusted and disliked him. Tashi was caught between the two, both seeking to exercise some sort of advantage over the other through the young swordsman. As it stood, the Daimyo had the advantage, his absolute authority overriding whatever influence the Mibu had.<br/><br/>The man himself sat cross-legged, dressed in his usual attire- a samurai's brigandine over a noble's kimono, sandals and a kabuto helmet with the Tanigakure symbol emblazoned across a metal plate, and the lower half of the Oni mask that the Guards wore. Tashi had seem him unmasked a few times, he was a fair man for being in his fifties, his straight and spiky black hair graying and wrinkles forming on his face. But always he wore his expression as sternly and unflinchingly as a statue might.<br/><br/>The ten guards sat in a semi-circle around him as he received his report from the shift commander. "My lord, we received word from the reconnaissance team on the Tenchi Bridge, Kusagakure has withdrawn a portion of their troops deployed on the border with the Land of Fire. We suspect relations have worsened between Kusa and Taki, prompting the mobilization"<br/><br/>The Daimyo remained silent, inhaling through his nostrils.<br/><br/>"Also, we have no way to corroborate this, but rumors are spreading through Kirigakure that the Second Raikage's condition is worsening, he retired early from the Chunin Exams."<br/><br/>"Mm." The Daimyo replied, his eyes drifting to the corner of the room in contemplation.<br/><br/>"Also-" The captain said, "Today's the second anniversary of our most junior member's induction into the Guards." The Daimyo tilted his head in skeptic curiosity as the man continued, "Last year we we couldn't celebrate." Of course, this time last year Tashi and the rest of his comrades were busy pulling security for Ishigakure's visit. Their lord turned to Tashi, his own blue-grey eyes locked onto the youth's crimson gaze.<br/><br/>The Guards were distrusted, believed to be faithless secret police charged with spying on their own families and neighbors, but among themselves they were very loyal. They were usually as cold and reserved as their leader, but in moments like these, they displayed their normally subdued sense of camaraderie.<br/><br/>"Alright then." The Daimyo said, "Akaimeryu. You have a simple mission today. Your old mentor, the Jounin Maki. She's developing a new technique, I want to be made aware of the progress." The room was silent... "That should take all day, shouldn't it?"<br/><br/>Elsewhere, Jun was groggily waking up. Xexen snoozed in bed beside her. She lived in her own place, being old enough for a little autonomy... even if she was still not far from the Watanabe's usual 'territory', a fenced off section of town so the wolves don't wreak havoc through market stalls and crowded streets. Tanigakure was small, but packed. That's the way it had to be, built inbetween two sheer cliffs like it was. More like a canyon than a ravine.<br/><br/>Jun's team hadn't had a mission in awhile, at least not together. Yasuo was out on a mission by himself tailing someone suspicious passing through Tsuyumori village, but Jun didn't know the details- he was to keep a low profile, which meant absolutely<em>no</em>scantily clad kunoichi accompanied by wolves. So the lupine kunoichi was left with a little time to relax in the village. It was rare for a Tani ninja to have such time off, what with the work-load demanded upon them by the Daimyo, but such was the nature of Jun's tracking specialty. Long periods of time could be spent idling in the village, and then suddenly a foreign shinobi is in the Land of Rivers or a ninja goes missing- and Jun would be sent out for days, even weeks, hunting down someone. Such was the nature of her role...<br/><br/>