Empty hot spring

Ryo ran between the trees while looking around; the path so far was calm, nothing out of the ordinary. Occasionally, they encountered ordinary people walking on the dirt road, but they posed no threat, as they were just people going about their lives. Team 13 continued leaping between the trees.

After a few more hours, alternating their pace, sometimes flickering and other times just running or walking, as the sun set on the horizon, Ryo and his teammates arrived at a city, one of the largest they had passed through so far. And, of course, it was their final destination; almost on the edge of the Fire Country's territory was Shukuba.

"We've arrived. I'll make some reports to send to Konoha and also speak with the person who requested the mission. You can look around; we'll meet here in 40 minutes," Kakashi said as he walked to another part of the city, heading towards what seemed to be the center where the city's authorities were located, leaving the three of them there.

"So, shall we grab something to eat? I'm starving," Denji said, looking at the other two. Ryo then took out a scroll from a compartment in his bag. "I have some ninja ration bars if you want?" Both Denji and Haruka looked at Ryo with a face that clearly said they didn't want to eat that.

"Okay, okay, you don't have to look at me like that. Denji, use your keen sense of smell and find a good restaurant." As Ryo said this, Denji looked at him angrily and said, "Do I look like an Inuzuka to you now?!" But he slowly stopped as he smelled something good in the air. "But thinking about it another way, follow me!" And with that, the trio went along a few blocks following Denji, who led them to a restaurant.

"Denji, sometimes you surprise me in a strange way," Haruka said, seeing that their friend had indeed sniffed their way here. "Hehe, us Sarutobis can do anything and then some, Haruka!" She rolled her eyes, and soon the three entered the small restaurant, which also served ramen judging by the smell.

And just as suspicions were quickly proven real, the three sat down at the chairs, each ordering a different type of ramen. Denji ordered one with lots of pepper, Haruka ordered one with a more neutral flavor where the seasonings stood out, and Ryo ordered the normal ramen, which had a good taste and was neither too strong nor too weak in flavor.

They all ate leisurely; they had 40 minutes to do all this and also look around. Ryo ate there, although it wasn't as good as the ramen in Konoha, of course, it wouldn't be easy to find a better place, but still, it was very good. Haruka and Denji also seemed to be enjoying their meals.

After another 15 minutes, the three finished eating, each paying for their food and leaving the place. They had some time to walk around the area, and they did so. "I thought there would be more people around here; isn't it sort of a tourist spot?" Haruka said. They had been walking for a few minutes, but there weren't many people on the street.

"Yeah, it's also known as the city of inns, but there aren't many inns open at the moment. Maybe the problem with the hot springs is worse than we thought," Ryo commented as he looked at some inns with signs saying they were closed due to problems and a few other reasons.

The trio soon returned to the meeting point to rendezvous with Kakashi, who soon appeared at the location as well. "I managed to do everything; now we have to proceed with the mission. We'll stay at one of the inns that also has problems with the hot springs, and we'll take the opportunity to start the investigation there."

As they walked to where they would be staying for the night, Kakashi told them that almost all the inns with hot springs were inoperable due to the problems. Their team would have to identify what was causing this, whether it was human interference or just a natural problem. Depending on the course it takes, they may finish the mission earlier or later.

Entering the inn, as there were no customers on the premises, they were given four rooms, one for each of them. Then everyone went to bed, and the next day the investigation would begin.

Early in the morning, Ryo was already up, doing his morning exercises that he hadn't been able to do for some time. However, it was good for his mind, as maintaining a routine was healthy. It didn't take long before Denji started making noises after waking up, with Haruka soon following, scolding him.

After having breakfast, the three began their investigations. "I'll take the hot spring," Ryo said, while Haruka and Denji would go to investigate and ask questions to the other innkeepers facing the same problem.

Ryo had a simple idea, actually. He entered the area of the hot springs at the inn, where he could already see the large natural rock formation where there should be hot water, but it was empty, as if there had never been water there. "The spring has dried up; it could be a water diversion problem, but to occur with all the springs in the area?"

He then walked into the large, empty hot spring. Ryo crouched down as he searched for any drainage points, where the water could have flowed, and for that, he made the coin emit a location signal around the dry hot spring. After a few attempts and creating a more detailed mental image of the bottom of the spring each time, one of the waves hit one of the rocks and went down into the ground.

"Here!" Ryo walked to the spot; it was a small fissure that was not part of the natural formation of the area. As soon as Ryo saw this, he took the golden coin and made it enter the fissure between the rocks. And then, with it inside the hole, Ryo sent a few more location waves, and after a few seconds, he received the image. There was a large hole under the spring, one that didn't seem to be naturally made.

"This is going to be a big problem if this is true." The first possibility was that some ninja had made the holes using some earth-release jutsu, and thus had managed to dry up the local hot springs. Ryo still had to investigate if they hadn't blocked the flow as well; if the flow wasn't blocked, it would be easier to fix all this, but if it was, they would either have to investigate where, how, and who blocked it, and Kakashi would decide that after the report from the three ninjas what to do.

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