Taking Care of Business

As the hot desert wind blew over the Sand village, it was possible to believe that nothing was amiss. Business seemed to be open as usual, and many merchants were selling their wares and plying their trades. Hammers dropped, coins jingled and spades dug. But it didn't take much to realise that something was different. The area around Sunagakure, usually a bustling hub for traders and caravans was virtaully deserted. Not two months ago this same area was the place where caravans from all over the world had stopped to either drop off their valuable loads, or stock up on supplies for the arduous journey ahead. But that was gone now, and if you looked at the deserted shelters of the caravaners, large holes and sheets of cloth held up by sticks, as cover from the fierce sun, from the gates of Sunagakure, they looked as barren and lifeless as the desert itself.

Traders had stopped coming to Sunagakure for quite some time, and it was beginning to take it's toll. Bandits, filthy outlaws, had reared their heads again, this time striking at the rich economy at the seat of the Great Land of Wind's power. They mainly struck at the gold caravans, hailing from the Land of Rivers and Origin, and plundered all their cargo. They helped themselves to the food as well, taking all they needed and then leaving the rest on the sandy carpet of the desert to spoil. Very few merchants dared make the journey at all, as the bandits attacked indiscriminantly and without mercy. There were rarely survivors, and if there were their ramblings were barely coherent, speaking of a terrifying leader, whom steel could not cut and fists could not break. That is all they would ever say, before invaraiably dying of mysteriosu and unknown causes three days later. Three teams, each composed of chūnin and a few experienced jōnin had been despatched to find and eliminate the threat, but all of them had returned with nothing, the tracks erased by the desert winds minutes after they had been made. But the bandits reign was drawing to a hasty close. Through the rolling dunes of sand, a caravan trailed, having departed from Sunagakure two days previously. Each camel in the caravan was adorned by a marked cloth, signifying that the caravan was under protection from the Nangoku Alliance, something which would immediately mark to a bandit as carrying precious cargo. Unusually, the convoy was left completely unguarded, but nonetheless it was clear that the convoy was on an important mission. The cargo was spread out evenly, and the camels were equipped with special shoes to allow them to move swiftly across the desert. This was clearly a caravan attempting to make an unhindered journey across the vast deserts of the Land of Wind. Unfortunately this was not to be.