It was a little over an hour after they had left the port when the Captain's voice came over the comm system of the vessel. "You're attention please. Masters Hirameki and Kerori request the presence of the Genin ninja in the observation deck. No excuses now boys and girls. Everybody topside. We haven't much time left for you to plan before we get there!" There was that horribly cheerful note to his voice as he announced this.

"Wow- that really was fast" Akane said to El as they sat in the cabin. "Come on...let's get going." she added, standing up.

Hinji came out of his room quickly and made followed behind Akane and El as they made their way to the observation deck.

Kano was already standing on the observation deck, having come up hee when Kenkyu offered earlier. The view was quite astounding as far as he was concerned.

Ishiaki stood off to the side sipping some coffee as he waited for the others to arrive. It was time to divulge the entirety of their mission. It was pretty simple as far as missions go, but they had little clue as to what was awaiting them on the Island of Eternal Frost.

El followed behind Akane, flexing his hand and feeling a strange new tightness inside.

Kami and Oita saw the others heading to the observation deck and supposed that they might as well follow them.

It sure had been quite the boat trip for some of the ninjas on board and although only an hour had passed, there had been blood, sweat and tears had been drawn. Thankfully, everything was resolved...for the most part. "To be honest, I think I'm ready to get out of that little bedroom." Akane told El. "At least TRY to enjoy the view." she added, assuming there was one.

Oita came out onto the topside of the boat, frowning and looking around. What were they doing up here exactly? Things had been rather hectic downstairs, and he hadn't been keeping track.

Ishiaki bounced off the wall and approached the teams. "Alright, debriefing time, boys and girls. There's seats you can use and face the windows. That'll allow you to experience the view while we talk."

In the back of the observation deck stood a massive wooden helm. Behind it stood Kenkyu with that same irritating smile of his as he steered the boat carefully. Clearly, the observation deck was more than just for observation.

There were 2 small rows of folding chairs set up in front of the helm. 3 seats to the first row, and 3 seats to the back row. There was a closet off to the side where more chairs were available if needed. The observation deck was mainly used just for that, though the polished hardwood floors would indicate that perhaps they might use it as a dance floor or other sort of entertainment should the need arise. The vessel was a prototype intended for the transportation of ninjas and their equipment. Though the vessel may also be used to transport dignitaries and other persons of interest, therefore it was equipped with plenty of special features.

The chairs were arranged so that the ninjas could sit and look out the large windows, which naturally were designed for observation. From the windows they could easily make out the tops of the snow covered mountains of the Island of Eternal Frost. They were very near their destination now and had only a small amount of time to fully brief their squads.

Akane looked from Ishiaki over to the seats to her left. It seemed both teams would be briefed together. She found a chair in the front row, on the end and sat, waiting for her sensei to begin. It wasn't until after she was sitting that she noticed the snowy mountains in the distance, no doubt belonging to the Island of the Frost. Akane had only heard stories about snow before, never experiencing it first hand. Dreading that she would hate it, the young ninja had to admit that it looked very majestic and beautiful from the safety and warmth of the ship.

El had seen snow, but never in such vast whiteness. A dusted inch or so upon the red sands of his homeland desert, but... his eyes stung with the wide expanse of colorless landscape. It had a certain harsh beauty to it, but El was not at all looking forward to going out there.

Tsu was standing beside a cupboard they had taken the chairs from, mostly because she didn't want to look out at the water around them, but also in case they wanted some extra chairs. Ishiaki could do some talking, she was sure.

Oita carefully took a seat in the front row, wanting to look out at the scenery as much as possible. He might have to fight in this after all. Lots of hills, white, snow banks much be large... lots of hiding places. Not good for someone just coming in.

Kano sat down in the second row. He kind of figured out how the seating was arranged. One row for each squad, just mattered as to whoever got there first it seemed.

Akane didn't say anything to Oita. She admittedly felt a little weird around the guy considering what had happened recently. Though- she was glad all that had gotten taken care of right away instead of it being on her mind the entire time on their mission. It was good to have a clear mind while healing and taking care of other people's lives.

Hinji took a seat on the end of the same row as Kano he noticed immediately that the snow reflected the sunlight expertly and this new realization made him worry.

Snow was nothing new to Kami so she took her seat in the second row.

El tore his eyes away from the view and took his seat, next to Akane, politely.

Now that everyone was seated, Ishiaki took another swig of his coffee cup and then pulled several mission briefing folders from his pack. He passed them out to all 6 of the Genin and stepped back. "Alright. You all should know a little bit about the mission at hand, correct?" The question was really directed toward Tsu, he had roughly briefed his own squad and could only assume she had done the same, saving the juicier details for when they were closer to the objective. "In the folders you'll find a small description of what we're up against. Apparently a small band of rogue ninja have taken it upon themselves to attack the Island of Eternal Frost. We don't know what they're capable of, only that the Frost is a member of the Coalition and it's up to use to ensure their safety and give aid however we can." He paused a moment to let that sink in and took the opportunity to drink some more. Coffee was the nectar of the gods, he'd read that somewhere before, and for once found himself agreeing with it. "Since my squad has the only 2 medical ninjas, we'll be offering disaster relief to the residents of the Island. We'll set up a healing tent and Kami will act as our pharmaceutical gopher, so to speak. Oita will be providing us with cover from any threats as we heal the wounded. Beta Squad will be responsible for the apprehension of the rogue ninja. The 4 of you will hunt down and detain those responsible for this assault, by whatever means necessary." He stopped and looked over at Tsu, wondering if she had anything to say on the matter

Tsu gave a small shrug, deciding that she could add very little, but still speaking up "We won't know exactly the condition these people are in, but expect nerves to be running high when we get there. First priority for my squad should be finding someone who knows the lay-out of the land and who is willing to come with us, or at least show us a way to sneak around the village. The attackers have the advantage of having been here for a while, so we have to take that advantage away. I would also advise my squad to try and pick up some medical supplies while we're in the village, just in case they are running low when we return. Getting the attackers out is important, but we need to make sure there's an Island of the Eternal Frost here when we get out."

Akane wondered just HOW bad the disaster relief was, but was a bit weary to even ask. Ishiaki was assigning her AND Kami to aid the villagers, no doubt it wasn't a pretty sight. She kept her questions to herself, wondering if Kami would be the primary healer rather than her. The whole prospect of healing people with her newly acquired knowledge was nerve wracking to say the least. She had little experience on actual people.

Ishiaki knew that his team was fresh and vastly inexperienced, especially in the healing field. He looked directly at Akane, as if he could read her thoughts. "I did say our squad has the only 2 medical ninjas. Didn't I? That's you, and I." He told her, holding up one finger when he said her, and one when he mentioned himself. By now, she had to know how much he hated to repeat himself.

"Wuh-!" she said suddenly, "Yea, I know that...." Akane muttered, waving her hands in front of herself defensively. Geez, what was THAT about....she hadn't even said anything! Maybe he was tense about the mission? She could only assume.

Kano couldn't help but smirk at Akane's reaction to Ishiaki saying that right to her. It was funny, at least to him. He opened his mission folder, and glanced over the information. There was no way they could read all of this before arriving at the island.

"If I may ask a question." Hinji said raising his hand, "By saying a small band of rogue ninjas am I safe to assume that we don't know how many there are?"

Akane wanted to ask how bad the injuries on the villagers were...but after being called out like that so randomly, she kept to herself.

"From the reports, it is safe to assume that it is at the very least a 4 man cell." Ishiaki answered Hinji simply. "We have not received any intel on what these 4 are exactly capable of. Outside the fact that they alone are enough to send the entire Island into a state of disaster."

Akane had to ask, especially after that last comment. She lifted her hand to get her sensei's attention, "Do we know how many are injured?" Akane was still a bit nervous about this whole endeavor and wanted to know what she and Ishiaki were up against. "Or maybe what sort of injuries?"

Kami kept to herself and listened to the report. She wanted to ask about a village green house but seeing how cold it was outside and how much snow there was, she didn't get too excited about it. She'd wait until Akane's question was answered first.

El remained fairly quiet himself. He was searching his mind for questions but the best he could think of was asking how cold it was outside.

"The reports are not really clear as to what we can expect. This was a very rushed expedition. The faster we responded the better, so our information isn't nearly as much as I would prefer to have. What we do know is available in those briefing folders I handed out. It's not very much, but there's a small unconfirmed layout of the Island, a population count, and an approximation on the damages at the time we were summoned. I wouldn't rely on that all that much seeing as how old that information is now." Ishiaki explained, really hoping they would open the folders now and see for themselves rather than ask him. Just because he had a nice voice, didn't mean he liked to talk.

Kami sat with her folder open on her lap, looking at the layout of the village. She did not see any decernable greenhouse and considering that she wasn't very familiar with the written form of the common language everyone spoke, she figured maybe she had missed it. So she scanned again before politely raising her hand to ask her question. "Is there a working greenhouse in the village?" she asked. "I may need to consult the local herbologist..."

Akane opened her folder and browsed it. Ishiaki seemed tense so she would keep any more questions to herself for the time being. She could help but wonder about the rogue ninjas and if the boys of their two teams would be up for such a challenge. Akane didn't know very much about rogues, but she was well aware that they were very lethal.

Hinji skimmed through the folder, but since Ishiaki thought it was pretty much outdated he didn't give it much attention. He had another thing he wanted to mention, but he decided he could wait till this was over and mention it to Tsu sensei directly.

Kano thumbed through the folder, studying the photos of the layout. True, by now the place was probably torn asunder and all that fun stuff, but the basic layout wouldn't change all that much, he hoped.

"They have a small greenhouse, at least from what I've seen. Unfortunately, it's whereabouts are undisclosed in the briefing folder. Apparently our sources were unable to actually locate it, though they have assured us of it's existence." Ishiaki explained to Kami with ease. He took another drink from the coffee, wishing he had a bigger cup now. "Contacting the local herbologist shouldn't be too difficult. They are bound to be there at the relief center as well."

Kami nodded her thanks and dropped her hand.

Oita was scanning the pieces of paper that they'd been given, frowning at them as he took in statistics. If a certain amount of the occupants were children and old aged pensioners, and you considered the amount of basic jobs that must be employed by the men and women of this village, the number of able bodied or uninjured people would have to be rather low in order for them to be of any real use. It all depends on how the attack went down, if they managed to run out or not.

Akane closed up her folder and set it back down on her lap. That really wasn't much help at all for her. She at least hoped that she would heal people in some sort of building or hospital with heating.

Ishiaki looked at everyone else, including Tsu and Kenkyu. "Now if there's no more questions, I expect you all to review the material in the folders. I know there's not enough time to do so before we arrive, but try and learn what you might need. You can always take a second look at it later. We'll be arriving in a few minutes and you all know your duties."

Hinji finished looking over the material and closed the folder and awaited dismissal so he could talk to Tsu sensei.

Oita was scanning the papers quickly, absorbing the information at high speed. It still took him a while, but soon he had folded the paper and put it inside his backpack. He was sure he would need to double check things later.

Akane stood up, figuring that was the que to disperse and go get winter gear on. Hanging onto the folder under her arm, Akane left the room and headed back down to the quarters to suit up.

Kami leaned over to Kano for a little assistance. He knew she was still learning her kanji and she didn't feel at all dumb asking him what a few of the words were.

El scanned his file as best he could. Going through the pages over and over as if he were reading sheet music to memorize.

Kano was more than happy to lend her a hand at translating. He was stoked to show off on this mission. Everyone seemed to be in such a fit about what they were going to be up against. In a frozen place like this, he could actually cut loose with his fire jutsu and not have to really worry about burning anything down

Akane sat on the bed and opened up her folder once more, able to concentrait without the others nearby. She skimmed the sheets and exhaled slowly. Ishiaki was going to be there healing people too...why was she so worried about this? Not to mention, Kami would be around to give the villagers fresh medicines to aid in their mission. Still... handling someone else's life with as little experience as she had only made her nerves bundle up in a big ball at the pit of her stomach. It didn't help that the one time she tried to heal herself, ended her in the hospital. That wasn't encouraging at all.

"Right" Tsu said, clapping her hands together "If that's it... I think I'm gonna go check on the things and consider what we shall do when we arrive. If anyone needs me, then I'll just be down the hall." She began to walk out slowly, a serious look on her face.

Oita took a deep breath as he stood up slowly. What should he do now? They had time to kill for a little bit. He looked around for Akane and Kami, wondering if he should talk to them about what had happened a bit more. Perhaps he should make plans instead. Think about what he was going to use.

Seeing Tsu leaving, Hinji stood up and followed her out. He was bothered by the fact that no one officially ended the briefing and everyone just started off. "Tsu sensei! I have an idea I wished to share with you."

"Alright" Tsu said, pausing when Hinji asked to speak with her. She gazed up at him quizzically, wondering what he could possibly want to talk to her for. She didn't really know much about this mission, so it must be something a bit more personal.

"It's about hiring someone to help us with the area and asking questions." Hinji said to start out. "I can send my raven and a few shadow "scouts" that could survey the land and look around the area. I believe that it would save us valuble time as I can send them right now and they could be ready to report back as soon as we are ready to hunt down the enemy."

"Good idea" Tsu said, nodding to Hinji "You do that." She was still going to ask around for people though. Ravens and shadow creatures could help, but she knew that certain people would have a much better insight on where they were going to. Hinji's scouts would be very useful, but someone who knew the ins and outs of the town would be better. Might as well get both.

It was only a little while longer, just long enough for everyone to gather their things and prepare themselves for battle, they arrived at the Island of Eternal Frost