ALPHA BASE (SUNA DESERT)

If no one had told you where to look, it could never have been found. If you didn't know the right people you wouldn't have heard of them. If you stumbled upon it by accident you wouldn't live to tell the tale. They were the Red Dawn, their base buried deep in the heart of the desert, concealed under the unforgiving sands. Here, at one of many bases dotted across the continent, they train, live and organize for the various high risk and often illegal missions they are hired for.

When a Country cant rely on its own they call the Red Dawn, when the stakes are to high for failure they call the Red Dawn. They are the outcasts and the traitors, the forgotten ones from countless backgrounds. Sal Norongachi was one of them. This base and dozens more like it had been his home since before he could remember, raised by murderers and criminals since the age of 4. They were his family, his brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers one and all. The 23 year old had survived, that was the important thing. The survival rate in the RD meant that the majority of their members perished within the first year and yet here he was, 19 years and counting. Still alive and kicking.

The base was by all accounts a massive space separated by temporary partitions into training rooms, living quarters, kitchens, mess halls and the other assorted essentials that went into any Military base worth its salt. Currently he sat in the mess hall, chewing down on some flash dried meat that had more in common with leather than the animal it had originally come from.

"We make all that money and this is what you feed us Li'Sha?" He said, his left cheek stuffed with the disgusting food, to the founder and leader of the RD Mercs.

"Shut yer mouth Norongachi or ye'll catch my boot in yer gob and then you'll see what leather really tastes like" She growled and you wouldnt think this woman had found and raised him like a son. He simply smiled at her and continued eating.

Natsu had stayed at Suna for a quite a while now and it seemed he was enjoyign the place. He was a free ninja with nothing to do. He has been free for about two years now. There were so many wonderful things indeed, but except for those time he was the target of many bounty hunters and such. Right now he was only focused on getting something very important accomplished other than finishing his Hoshi training. This was getting very tiring. going from place to place with nothing really interesting to do. He had to do something before he went on one of those long missions. Now it was a matter of time before someone came looking for him to do complete a mission with him as a teammate.

He preffered to do somethings on his own which he grew fond of... Besides he was use to being alone from the start. Unless the job required someone to accompinied him, he would agree to it. He passed by a shop where he was supposed to stop three days ago. People outside of the shop felt like they were inside because of the loud voices coming out of the shop. That's one thing that really irritated Natsu, screaming and arguing. If he could just cut off his ears and shove them up the other person's noses, he would been glad to hear their complaints and nagging. "Alright, Alright, my paying will arrive soon enough. You can trust me, none of my bills have ever miss you. I know they have been late for so many times, but just let me handle it.... Thank you, I highly appreciate it.He rushed outside while waving at them. The reason why he left was because they would of probably yelled at him for no apparent reason like most time. This time he wasn't going to let the same embarrasing moment replay itself.

He was walking on his way to the park just to see how it was going... He used to do the same thing for ages. It seemed like the wind was blowing really strong today which was the way he liked it. Natsu today was wearing a black shirt and pants with red linings and a white yukata (summer kimono) with light blue patterns worn sloppily, draped over the left shoulder. His yukata seemed like it was going to rip off from the hard wind. He wanted to change his clothes rigth about now. He thought that a bad weather was going to approach Suna and stay there for a while. He wasn't going to stick around for that to happen while he could be at his comfortable house. Today seemed really off, almost nobody in the streets, no kids playing in the part. Was someone dangerous around enough to scare almost every civillian scared of that or was it something else. It was most likely that part of town, so he took hsi mind off it.

He was walking to the side of the park while he happened to stop and stood right infront of a tree without leaves. He decided this was a perfect spot for his to rest a little before the weather got any worse. He didn't stay there for much... Several minutes later he was lost, far from the village, he was looking to at every direction possible, he had one-fourth of a chance of getting back to the village he was most likely in the desert surrounding all of the Nation of Wind. This wasn't a surprised he knew he was going to get lost someday he was about to take a step, but he stood right there facing some sort of base which caught his attention. He decided to just enter slowly while being very cautious. He wasn't the type to not think rationally. He noticed some people around, but weren't your daily normal looking villagers... What have I walked into...... again.

In the messhall red warning lights began to flash. No alarm, just a stream of red bulbs flickering on and off across the base. Someone had triggered the bases perimeter alarm a complex array of mechanical and jutsu based safe guards that spanned out all around the base hidden deep in the sand. Li'Sha barely moved and just nodded to Sal who gave a sigh and got up making his way to the stairway that lead to the concealed entrance to the base.

He reached the staircase and walked up to the heavily sealed door. To the right was a small number pad, he punched in the sequence and the doors slid open silently, pushing the sand atop them aside. He slipped out and the doors sealed themselves, the camouflage coating making them melt into the sand once again.

Sticking to the dunes the Merc slithered across the sand until he caught sight of the intruder and then thinking 'screw it' stood up and approached in a nonchalant fashion. He stopped some feet away and then reaching into his pocket extracted a cigarette and lit it up.

"Look a bit lost mate." He addressed the stranger, exhaling a plume of smoke.

In the distance Souma could barely be seen travelling towards the RD Base. He had left before to go visit the Suna village to get some things and was now making his way back to the base. From a distance all that could be seen was a jet of sand shooting towards the base, every step Souma took made the sand shoot out leaving a trail like a speedboat through water. He could see a figure standing in front of the hidden entrance, this was a positive for him because usually it would take him a while to find the exact position of the base and would spend time hitting the sand at estimated places until he got it right.
As he drew closer he saw the figure much clearer, Souma didn’t notice the person to be part of the RD. Souma suddenly saw another person emerge from the bases, this time he knew who it was, “Ah, Norongachi.” He said to himself speeding up at little and slowing down as he drew closer to them. He was a distance away when he stopped running and began walking. “Heyyyyyy Norongachi!!!” He shouted has he drew even closer standing beside the new guy and examining him up and down. He turned to Sal and asked pointing towards Natsu “What’s with the Kimono Guy?”