Kaen had been regularly assigned to leads squads varying in size from three to twenty in these tactical raids on Unbent strongholds. The Unbent were rarely coordinated enough to organize any matter of defenses, but anytime a larger group of the abominations gathered in any previously fortified location, command referred to it as a ‘stronghold’. So now, as he and his team waited out in the middle of the harsh wastes, his scouts watched as more of the mindless creatures shambled into the abandoned village.
The more Unbent that gathered in one place, the more dangerous any sort of assault would be. Curiously, this also seemed to draw more and more in from a growing area, so waiting until the swarm grew ever larger helps save the shinobi forces time in hunting down stragglers. It was up to the commanding officer for the mission to determine the time to strike, based upon a vast multitude of factors, and with his experience in culling these hordes, Kaen had gotten extremely capable in determining the exact time to strike, with whatever sized forces he had available to him.
They had been camped here for two days, waiting for any signs of change as their numbers swelled, when one of his scouts signaled for Kaen’s attention. It was a rare occurrence for word to come directly from ANBU HQ while in the middle of an assignment, but the sunan vest wearing fox that was rapidly approaching from the east could only have come from one source. Kaen and some of the others recognized the animal, one of the many messenger beasts that the ANBU utilized whenever their forces could not spare a full shinobi to deliver a message. Out of breath, the fox leaps through the ranks and scurried up to Kaen, reaching over with his snout to unbutton a pouch on its vest that contained a narrowly rolled scroll.
This fox was not one of the more advanced animals under the ANBU employ that could talk, but it was intelligent enough that some suspected it just didn’t want to do so. The fox sat down, panting heavily as he waited for Kaen to retrieve the small scroll. It was sealed with a few drops of wax with the ANBU seal. The message within was short but urgent, bearing Kaen’s codename at the top, “report back to HQ immediately, you have been requested for a high priority assignment.” The men near Kaen could not see what was written, but it was plain on their faces that there was hesitant curiosity as to what would force HQ to send a message out to a remote squadron in the middle of an important defense mission.
The more Unbent that gathered in one place, the more dangerous any sort of assault would be. Curiously, this also seemed to draw more and more in from a growing area, so waiting until the swarm grew ever larger helps save the shinobi forces time in hunting down stragglers. It was up to the commanding officer for the mission to determine the time to strike, based upon a vast multitude of factors, and with his experience in culling these hordes, Kaen had gotten extremely capable in determining the exact time to strike, with whatever sized forces he had available to him.
They had been camped here for two days, waiting for any signs of change as their numbers swelled, when one of his scouts signaled for Kaen’s attention. It was a rare occurrence for word to come directly from ANBU HQ while in the middle of an assignment, but the sunan vest wearing fox that was rapidly approaching from the east could only have come from one source. Kaen and some of the others recognized the animal, one of the many messenger beasts that the ANBU utilized whenever their forces could not spare a full shinobi to deliver a message. Out of breath, the fox leaps through the ranks and scurried up to Kaen, reaching over with his snout to unbutton a pouch on its vest that contained a narrowly rolled scroll.
This fox was not one of the more advanced animals under the ANBU employ that could talk, but it was intelligent enough that some suspected it just didn’t want to do so. The fox sat down, panting heavily as he waited for Kaen to retrieve the small scroll. It was sealed with a few drops of wax with the ANBU seal. The message within was short but urgent, bearing Kaen’s codename at the top, “report back to HQ immediately, you have been requested for a high priority assignment.” The men near Kaen could not see what was written, but it was plain on their faces that there was hesitant curiosity as to what would force HQ to send a message out to a remote squadron in the middle of an important defense mission.