Greed. Power. Fear. (Solo B-Rank)

[Mishiku]

Tetsu lunged forward to wrap his arm around the man’s throat as tightly as he could and then lined the kunai up with Himura’s jugular with his free hand. ”You’re right, you know.” He pressed the knife in enough to just barely break through the captain’s skin. ”Proof is a tough one, let’s just say you tragically died in the gang fight that broke out instead.”

The ambush took Himura completely by surprise, he couldn’t sense his chakra until he was too late and now his life was in the hands of this shinobi. He just hoped that this one didn’t have a murderous intent like the young woman down below but he wasn’t going to hold his breath. Then again, this wasn’t some mercenary here to kill him, this was a cloud shinobi.

“You can’t kill me.” Himura said hesitantly before slowly regaining his confidence from the initial shock of Tetsu’s appearance behind him. “I’m the captain of the Yakani police force and what would you kill me for exactly? Being in the club and associating with gangsters? You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. Cloud shinobi come into this city and think they run everything, you all are fools.” Himura knew the boy wasn’t going to kill him because if that was the case he would already be dead by now. No, the boy wanted to use him as leverage to buy him and his comrade’s freedom. If the boy had killed him now then their fates would be sealed indefinitely, the shinobi woman was skilled, no doubt about that but there was no way she could eliminate Hilgo and with that knowledge Himura was comforted knowing that he held all the cards. “You handled this situation poorly, boy. Your actions have gotten you and your partner killed!” Himura laughed out loud. He looked down to find out the fight between Hilgo and Hisa had already begun.


Hisa’s attacks were hardly having any effect on the man despite her release of her chakra. She was merely feeling Hilgo out, looking for any weak spots but the man displayed none that Hisa could catch onto except for one. The man’s skin was unnatural when it came to how hard it was as if his skin was armour but Hisa also noticed that the man was slightly slower then her and that gave her the advantage of speed but what was the point if her Gentle Fists techniques had no effect due to the armoured skin the man possessed? The man quickly formed hand seals and two giant rock shaped fists erupted from the ground to the side attempting to crush her. Hisa ducked down, narrowly dodging a gruesome death but before she could regain her balance Hilgo was upon her and tackled her into a wall. Hisa countered with a explosive note on the man’s shoulder as she was hit, the force of her back hitting the wall took the breath out of her but Hisa immediately activated the explosive note. The blast radius splintered the surrounding chairs and tables, Hilgo emerged from the smoke clutching the right side of his body in pain from Hisa’s explosive note.

“Yes, so if given enough force I can crack his armour.” Hisa thought to herself.

Hilgo, gritted his teeth in anger but it slowly turned into a coy smile and then he began to chuckle, before outright laughing. “It’s been quite some time before someone inflicted pain on me, I have to appreciate the opportunity that I have right now. I haven’t seen a woman fight as fiercely as you since Freya herself.” Hilgo said as he stood up straight, his chakra beginning to swell. “Let’s see if you can continue to entertain me little one.” Hilgo’s body began to undergo an unnatural metamorphosis as his skin began to turn into what looked to be a steelish rock. [Tetsukawa - Stone Armor Jutsu]. Hilgo’s weight dramatically increased to the point of the floor that he was standing on splintered before sprinting towards Hisa with a renewed vigor. Hisa’s eyes widened with surprise as Hilgo was already upon her,

“His speed has increased!” Hisa thought to herself as she rolled out of Hilgo’s way at the last moment, barely avoiding the stone clad man before he grabbed her leg and threw her around like a rag dog smashing her against the floor, one, two, three, four times. Each hit Hisa screamed in agony from the sheer force of her body being slammed onto the ground by what in all purposes was a giant to her. Hilgo swung Hisa over his head before throwing her in the direction of where Tetsu and Himura were at, her body smashed through the balcony before bouncing off the ceiling then hitting the ground merely a few away from where Tetsu was standing. Hisa was beginning to fall in and out of consciousness, it was clear that she couldn’t compete with Hilgo, not at her current level anyway. She slowly got to her feet, her body exhausted from the beating that it had endured but she continued to push herself to give Tetsu an opportunity to figure out how to save the situation. If she survived this entire clusterfuck she would make sure to knock Tetsu the fuck out for screwing this whole thing up, this was supposed to be a recon mission but it turned into a battlezone thanks to him.

“Tetsu, make sure you actually have a plan of getting out of here alive and have something of value that was worth all of this for the mission,” Hisa said before focusing her undivided attention towards Hilgo as he waited for her to make her move. “I’m going to give you one last chance to find a way out of this mess but that’s all I can manage.” She clapped her hands together and closed her eyes, focusing within and building her chakra to greater heights. “I hoped I wouldn’t have to use this technique until I had better control over it but it seems like I have no choice. I just I can survive the process.” Hisa murmured before an explosive green chakra began to illuminate her body. The ground felt as if it was shaking from the sheer intensity of what she was unleashing. Suddenly the green chakra disappeared and everything went silent similar to the calm before the storm, Hisa opened her eyes, “First Gate: Gate of Opening, Release!” Green Chakra violently burst forth from Hisa from the release of her first chakra gate, she continued to power her body up, “Second Gate: Release!” Hisa’s green chakra intensified, the ground rumbling from the sheer force she was displaying. Hilgo was amazed by what he was seeing, he had never seen anything quite like it before and it made his blood boil with excitement.

“Yes, throw everything you have at me! Give me a worthy fi--.” He trailed off before feeling a surge of wind rush past him before realizing that Hisa was not on balcony anymore but behind him! “Impossible……” Hilgo thought to himself before being struck from behind in his kidney. Hilgo, gasped out in pain as he was sent flying through a nearby wall. Hisa body flickered to where Hilgo was lying before striking him again sending him flying back to the center of the club. Hisa moved again with blinding speed before she stopped midway from the pain of her muscle fibers beginning to tear. Hilgo took advantage of the gap in Hisa’s combo and wove a set of hand seals as large earth-like boulders erupted from the ground towards Hisa. The young shinobi threw up her guard as the massive shoulders smashed against her sending her flying back, she flipped in mid-air and regained her balance. “I have to finish this now before it’s too late.” She thought as she leaned her body forward and darted towards Hilgo again to make one final attack. Seeing the attack coming, Hilgo rose his leg high before smashing it into the ground (Tremor Strike) causing a shockwave of earth and debris heading towards Hisa. The young shinobi shifted her body to the left, dodging Hilgo’s attack and appearing to his unexposed right flank. Hilgo’s eyes widened as he attempted to guard himself from the impending attack but it was already too late, “Eight Gates Assault!” Hisa launched a barrage of strikes hitting Hilgo’s chakra points and utterly destroying them, before concluding her combo with a final strike that made Hilgo cough out a tremendous amount of blood before being sent flying through the front door of the club.

Hisa took a deep breath and exhaled before falling to the ground, her body utterly exhausted from going beyond its limits. Her muscles were screaming from the stinging pain of the fibers being torn from the effects of releasing two chakra gates without much control. She had won, she knew that Tetsu could handle the rest and for now she wanted to rest before getting back up if her body would let her that is.

“Finished so soon?” A familiar voice was heard past the club doors in the direction of where Hilgo was sent. Hisa struggled to lift her head to find that Hilgo was indeed still alive but looked as if he was on the edge of death’s door. Blood oozed down from his mouth and the steelish rock armor that coated his body before was now gone.

“If I hadn’t of reinforced my armor at the last minute of your attack then indeed I would have been a dead man but now the tables have turned little one and I will give you a warrior’s death. You have been a worthy adversary Hisa.” Hilgo statted before kicking the immobile shinobi onto her back then dropped to his knees and wrapped his hands around her neck to strangle her. Hisa attempted to move her arms in the last attempt to stop the man but she her body was too exhausted. Hisa gasped for air and tried to pry Hilgo’s hands from her throat but he was too strong. “Is this really how I die? I gave it my all father. I tried to live up to your expectations but in the end it just wasn’t enough.” She thought to herself as the world slowly started to go black.

OCC: You can either save Hisa and risk Himura escaping or let Hisa meet her fate and have the opportunity of leveraging Himura. Your choice. Choose wisely as either option will have massive consequences for future missions.

[MFT]

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

"You really don't get it, do you?!" Tetsu barked out into the man's ear, pressing the kunai into his throat to emphasize the threat as his partner and the monster below duked it out. The boy almost couldn't believe that the man was calling his threat on this level; it was one thing to be bold, it was quite another to be stupid. Obviously, he must have saw that Tetsu was only using the threat to have Hisa released, but there wasn't even an attempt to negotiate, knowing this. Did he think Tetsu didn't have the nerve to go through with it? The boy was clenching his teeth as he considered this. Was he right? Tetsu wanted to kill the man in that moment, but he knew it wouldn't be that simple. Not just because he had never killed a person before, but because he knew what Himura was probably considering then, that the police chief didn't have even a shadow of guilt cast upon him yet, as far as the boy knew. It was a real issue killing someone in some high political office without some serious accusation being lodged against them. Not only this, but Tetsu had no idea if there were any witnesses left, casting their greedy little eyes on what he was considering doing.

What the man hadn't considered, Tetsu thought as the fight below dragged on and got more dangerous, was what was at stake. They both knew that Tetsu couldn't just stand there and hold Himura hostage as his partner got beaten to death, and this wasn't just a moral question. As soon as that brute got finished with Hisa, he'd be coming right back upstairs, and if Tetsu demonstrated that he couldn't slit the man's throat, the jig was basically up. Maybe. What Himura probably hadn't considered though was that there was a big cloud of the unknown looming over the whole situation, and that was the question of just how strong Himura was. If he simply let the man go and entered the fight, if Himura was weak, he'd escape. If he was strong, though, he'd jump in, and the two shinobi might be in serious trouble from there. Tetsu could imagine the police force might be a little bit like the hidden village, where the strongest tend to rise to the top, and this may actually be the only chance he'd have, not just to put Himura down in any way, but maybe even for the two of them to escape with their lives.

The boy watched as Hisa was smacked against the ceiling and collapsing on the ground, only to stumble to her feet once more to fight again. The truth was, he didn't want to do what he knew he needed to here, and the longer he waited to make a decision, he knew, the more likely both Hisa, and probably Tetsu, were going to meet their fates. Maybe the girl would win though, that was also an option, and she was actually holding out pretty well, he tried to tell himself. In a fight like this though, any moment can be the decisive, each blow could be the last one the girl could take.

“Tetsu, make sure you actually have a plan of getting out of here alive and have something of value that was worth all of this for the mission,” Didn't she think he knew that they were in deep shit? Maybe the girl just thought the boy had some infinite bag of tricks to dig his hands into. Couldn't she be impressed that he managed to get the blade in front of Himura's throat? He wanted to laugh, but things were just too grim. How was he supposed to know that this man was just too stupid to see Tetsu's threat as credible?

Tetsu gave the whole thing one more chance, and Hisa almost managed it; they could almost leave there with a complete win. In the end though, even if there was a witness, what that person would have been witness to was, in fact, an act of self-defense, even if that person lied. He needed to save Hisa, and he couldn't let Himura go if he wanted them to survive either. There was no question here, no option, just one choice and the boy's resolve to follow through with it. He tightened the grip on his knife. Were those things just excuses he was telling himself? He was a shinobi, and when you run out of tricks, this was the life you signed up for. Keeping the man's head in a head lock, he'd bring the knife out and plunge it into the man's chest. This wasn't enough though, he knew, to guarantee a kill. He didn't want to have to feel the man transition into death slowly, so he'd repeat the motion viciously, producing crater after crater in the man until he could feel him go limp, and then some more. He could feel the cracking of bones beneath his hand.

Whatever happened in that moment, he couldn't think about it, he had to move forward, plain and simple. He'd jump down, diving into the fray, between the brute and his beaten down partner. "Sorry I'm late." He tried to say in his familiar confidence, but his voice came out flat, lifeless. At the very least, he could now throw everything he had out there to take the man down. It was time to let out a bit of his pent up frustration here. He'd grab the man by his broad shoulder, turning him around as the boy drew his blunt weapon to strike the man across his cheek with. You made me do this. He thought to himself as he let out another satisfying crack, and then another. The man collapsed to his knees, and Tetsu would hit him again and again and again. Now he was going to sleep, but it felt too good to keep hitting him. He didn't want to look at Hisa either. Was he going to kill this man, too? When he drew his weapon, he knew he was thinking about blood transfer, which was obviously a stupid thought, considering that he grabbed the man with his bare hands. Now he was thinking about troublesome witnesses though. Another whack across the face, but he'd physically force himself here to pause and think.

No. There could always be another witness, and Himura's, in the end, was one that he could possibly even justify. Here was the thing, as much as his tired brain could muster; he'd lift the slab of flesh up onto his shoulder. He was still alive. He'd bring the passed out body somewhere else, effectively freeing the brute from prosecution. Tetsu rubbed his eyes, moving his hands erratically around his face to wipe trails of sweat. If he let the man leave, though, what happens if they dig their way deeper into this? Then he'd just have to fight him again, and again, either kill him, or have him be a witness, and he also didn't particularly want to face this man in a group. He put the man back down, placing his kunai next to the brute's outstretched arm.

He knew Hisa would have something to say about this, but he couldn't stand to listen to her at that moment. He was simply going to leave, letting disaster fall where it might.

 

[Mishiku]

Hit’s amusement grew as he watched the young shinobi tighten his headlock grip around Himura. He was sent here to assassinate the police force captain as his usefulness to the Yakuza had come to an end but he never would have thought his night spent at the lavish club would have turned out to be so chaotic and yet so intriguing. He leaned forward to see if the boy was going to go through with the action of killing the captain, the struggle of either killing him or letting him go was written all over the young shinobi’s expression but what would he kill the captain for? Did he know how far Himura’s greed and corruption had spread throughout his management of the police force’s funds or did he just assume? Himura may have been greedy and overly ambitious but what the man didn’t lack was attention to detail and it was that reason coupled with his position in the police force that made him a useful asset over the past year. Hit glanced back over to the club’s dance floor to see Hilgo on the brink of death no less, choking the life out of the young shinobi woman. What a shame, the girl possessed talent and an aptitude to become a skilled assassin if she continued to hone her skills but it looked as if her time on this earth was about to come to an end.

“Surely you don’t intend to let her die in front of you, do you boy?” Hit thought to himself as he focused his attention back to Tetsu, the make or break decision was here, was the boy going to let his partner die and take Himura hostage or was he going to abandon Himura and save the girl? Hit grinned from ear to ear as the young shinobi did not disappoint with his actions, he plunged his kunai deep into Himura’s chest and repeatedly began to shank the police captain to make sure that the job was done. Hit began to record the killing of the captain with the Snapshot jutsu, seeing the surprised look on Himura’s face from the sudden realization that his life was at an end was almost worth the recording but Hit had a better idea on how to leverage this unprecedented opportunity. Tetsu jumped down from the balcony and immediately took action by knocking Hilgo off of the young shinobi woman and began to barbarically beat Hilgo senselessly by repeatedly smashing his weaponized fist into this face. If Hilgo wasn’t exhausted from his battle with the shinobi woman then maybe he would have stood a chance but in that state, he was a dead man. Hit contemplated on saving Hilgo from his demise but decided against it, Freya may be upset at the loss of Hilgo but the recording would more than makeup for it. However, instead of killing him which Himura figured the shinobi would do, the boy instead left him there, placing the bloodied kunai that Tetsu had used to kill Himura right next to Hilgo’s body in an attempt to frame the man with the police captain’s murder before grabbing his injured comrade and escaping.

Hit stood and emerged from the shadows to survey battle that had just taken place, bodies, blood, and broken furniture cluttered the area. He pulled a cigar out of his breast pocket and began to light it as he casually walked to where Himura’s lifeless body laid, the shock of being stabbed was permanently written over the dead captain’s face. “Look at you Himura, to see you die in such a pathetic way is almost sad to see but in the end, you let your guard down and were killed by a mere boy. At least in death, you gave the Yakuza the perfect opportunity to finally control the city.” Suddenly he felt a squadron of chakra energies closing in on the club, Hit swiftly made a short sequence of handseals and transformed himself into a security guard for the club. “Now, time for the act to begin.” He said with a grin.

Akira had gathered three squadrons of Hunters to assist in the situation that was going on in the club. There had been multiple reports of a battle going on in Truth that was putting the lives of civilians in danger and a policeman had informed him that the young shinobi Tetsu, had also reported that the Yakuza were attacking the nightclub and that Captain Himura was present as well. The whole situation made Akira’s nerves on edge before he arrived on the scene and when that happened it usually foretold that it was going to be a rough week for him. Akira and the squadrons arrived to see that the front door was blown completely away which was the first of many bad signs, he stepped inside to see that the club was completely wrecked and reeked of death and blood. “Secure the area! Look for any survivors.” Akira ordered as the squadrons of police hunters fanned out. Akira walked around inspecting the crime scene, it was certainly a gang-related attack from the initial look but it all looked too…...chaotic to be that. The bodies that were slaughtered around the dance floor looked as if they were all battling against just one opponent. Akira knelt down next to one of the dead bodies to take a closer look to find the Yakuza symbol tattooed on the gangster’s back. There was no doubt that these men were all part of the Yakuza but why would the Yakuza announce their return in such an amateur display of carnage? The Yakuza were way too organized, disciplined, and well funded to make costly mistakes without there being a massive reward for it all. “What are you planning Freya?” Akira said before stumbling upon an unexpected individual. “Hilgo the mountain,” Akira said aloud as he surveyed the unconsciousness man’s body, he was almost completely unrecognizable from his bloodied and swollen face. “Well Hilgo, haven’t we seen better days.” Hilgo the mountain had been the face of the Yazuka organization ever since the diminishment of the gang ever since their leader Shirai was imprisoned and his ring leaders were either imprisoned with him or killed. The only two ring leaders that were left was Freya and Hilgo, although without medical attention Hilgo wouldn’t last much longer.

“Lieutenant! Come quickly you need to see this! It’s Captain Himura!” A police officer yelled from the second floor in the VIP section. Akira immediately leaped up to the second floor and was shocked to find the dead body of Captain Himura lying in a pool of his own blood. “Son of a bitch,” Akira muttered out as he knelt down to inspect the dead body, the body was still quite warm which meant that this was all happened very recently. It was already a huge deal when a cop is murdered in Yanakai but the city never experienced a murder case of this magnitude except for the assassination of Gaito. “Get the forensics down here immediately! I want this entire crime scene closed off. Nobody touches a damn thing until I say so!” Akira yelled out.

“Lieutenant! Come quick, we found a club security guard that could be a witness.” An officer yelled out. Akira walked quickly over to find a young security guard in a corner shaking uncontrollably with blood on his hands. The young man looked no older than 22. “It’s ok, you’re safe now son,” Akira said softly in an attempt to calm the boy down.

“What’s your name?” Akira said gently.

“Eishi.”

“Eishi, you mind telling me what happened here.”

“I don’t really know, all I know is a fight broke out which lead to multiple men pulling weapons out and trying to kill this girl. The girl started moving unlike anyone I had ever seen before and killed each of the men so easily. Afterward some guy held an older man hostage and then began to stab him multiple times. I began recording the incident while I was hiding and as soon as the man had left I ran over to the man and tried to stop the bleeding but it was too late. He died…..right in my hands.” The boy said as he began to form a few hand signs and suddenly a video projection appeared and began to play a video showcasing the actual murder taking place. Akira clenched his fists to the point to where he thought he was about to draw blood from his palms. It was that damn cloud shinobi! He knew that those shinobi were up to no good, as soon as they arrived everything was going to shit. Akira, turned to a nearby officer. “Make a city-wide announcement that the police captain has been murdered and that the suspects are two cloud shinobi! A teenager by the name of Tetsu and a teenage girl by the name of Hisa. I want every single hunter on and off duty to search the immediate district for these two and bring them in alive! They couldn’t have gotten far.” Akira yelled, he knew he should have trusted his instincts and not allowed those shinobi nowhere close to police business. Akira would find them and bring them to justice by his own hands. “Put a blockade on every exit of this city, I want to know every person coming or going from Yakani!”


Hit had played his part flawlessly. After showing the video the police were immediately on the manhunt for the two shinobi. The police had medically cleared him and thanked him for his evidence and that he was free to go. After gaining some distance away from the club, Hit released his transformation of the young security guard. He pulled out a headset and immediately contacted Freya.

“Did you complete your mission?” Freya asked inquisitively.

“Yes. However, I believe I earned triple my usual pay after what I had just done. I just accelerated the finale of your plan and gave the city back to you” Hit said confidently.

“Is that so? What makes you so sure?”

“Turn on the news and see for yourself. Yanaki is ripe for the taking now and the cloud shinobi is now no longer a concern.” Not long after he heard Freya laughing over the events that had just taken place.

“Well done Hit. Your pay will be quadrupled and will be wired to your account immediately."

[MFT]
WC: 1,749

[Mission Complete]

OCC: Make one last post detailing your escape. Hisa is injured and cannot move freely without support. Also, you have the freedom in choosing how you find out about you and hisa are being hunted and how you will seek a safehouse whether that be on your own or an npc that will be incorperated into the mission finale. Your choice but choose wisely! Sorry it took so long for part 2 to end but I hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

Tetsu looked down at Hisa's pathetic and beaten body, grabbing her by her delicate wrist to wrap it around his shoulder, after the chaos had subsided, to make his escape with her. He wanted to feel bad for leaving her to get so beaten, he wanted to be concerned about her current state, at least a little, but all he felt, instead, was a sliver of gratitude that she seemed unable to say a word to him as they left. He had a feeling that was now pitting out the bottom of his stomach that maybe he had done something he was going to very much regret in a short amount of time. Nevermind mission failure, something like this could become a big enough scandal to destabilize the relationship between the hidden village and the rest of the country, with the death of the two young shinobi as mere icing on a cake that was made of disgrace. Tetsu turned off his earpiece. He didn't want to hear anything from their absentee mission leader either. He needed time to think, that was all.

At the same time though, he had to remind himself against the fog encroaching inward toward his thoughts, he didn't have time right now for anything but an escape. The police might have turned up here in a few minutes or a few hours, but he wasn't about to wait to find out which. Slipping out of the club by a back door, careful to cover his hand with a piece of his shirt as he turned the knob, he'd quietly jog out into the woods, if only briefly into them, and start jumping along the tree branches to start making their escape. He needed to buy time, casting multiple clones to run off in branching paths in case they were being followed, casting a blast of wind from his wind scythe to help disperse some of their scent on the off chance that the police department had any dogs working with them, and finally weaving some handseals together as he plunged toward the earth, diving straight into the ground to start tunneling for as long as he could manage it. The ruffled dirt on the surface might have grabbed some attention, but the boy reasoned that by heading above ground first, it would be quite difficult to find that spot in the middle of nowhere. If they could track by both tree top and underground path, the police might have a chance at finding them, but he had met some of those officers, and felt reasonably confident that this would buy the two some time.

He couldn't assume that the blame wouldn't be placed on the two shinobi. Tetsu didn't look for any witnesses, and any that remained would point to the duo as the killers, by way of both honesty and corruption, he was sure. In the forest, Tetsu was in his element; it was his home, after all. Now, not this forest, of course, but he knew how to forage, how to cover his tracks (and any waste the two needed to produce). He thought for a moment or two about hiding out in the hills, in the forest, and how they might fare there. Well, he started reasoning, it was senseless to consider your options without first considering if you even had a second option. If they could find a house to stay in in the city, that might be an ideal option for lying low, so, how to go about finding one... Loyalty, fear, or greed. Fear could work, but it wasn't a good tactic if you needed to leave the house frequently to investigate, which they did. With greed, you had similar issues, plus he doubted the two shinobi could scrape enough coin together to entice anyone in a city like this. Loyalty was possible though. In this city, plagued by organized crime, he was bound to come across people both loyal to those gangsters, and those wanting desperately to rid the city of them. If he knew a way to distinguish between those two groups, he might have a shot in hell.

The boy started thinking about death. Not his own, but something far more practical. Aggrieved family members were a good place to start. If you had lost a brother, daughter, son, or sister to gang violence, you might be inclined to help, and all the better if that person was nothing more than an innocent bystander. So, they were looking for someone poor, most likely; poor and grieving over a murder. The morgue might have records of recent murders, along with family relations. Tetsu, finding a spot that seemed secluded, bent down, and gently rolled Hisa down into a cleared opening. It was a gamble. Finding such a person, capturing their loyalty when they might have no interest in involving themselves, or might have stakes in the Yakuza winning. It was a gamble alright, but not all gambles are equal. What he was looking for, then, was the murder of a child. That would pretty much guarantee a vendetta, and one that the two shinobi could fulfill. Besides that, staying out in the forest was only good for hiding, but it was about time that the two shinobi made some friends that knew their way around the city.

Breaking into the morgue for a shinobi, and one who was an agent in KSIS, no less, wasn't exactly the height of challenging infiltration. Something like this might prove difficult in the hidden village, where a bunch of creeps were always lurking and looking for eyes or bodies or heart, but things like that rarely went on in the countryside, and so security was pretty much relegated to locks.

He had to wake Hisa up though, there was no getting around it. She either needed to hide and stay aware of her situation until he returned with some news, or else come with him. The boy realized as he stared down at the unconscious girl that for the first time during this mission he felt an uncomfortable pang of anxiety welling up inside of him, and not the sort that could easily be brushed off with a quip. He didn't want to hear from Hisa at all. He knew that he had fucked them both, and his attention to their survival was at it's boiling point; he didn't need her lecture. As he pushed against her limp body, he briefly remembered what holding Himura felt like. "We're in trouble," He said dryly, "Come with me or hide yourself, I'll be back soon." Without waiting to hear her response, he turned to leave. He knew she'd want some kind of an explanation to go along with the comment, but frankly he had higher priorities than easing any panic Hisa might be succumbing to.

Once inside, he looked for paperwork, invisibly. He'd have to cross reference any addresses to what he thought might be the poor parts of town, but ultimately that aspect of things were secondary anyway. There were a few children that had been killed in the last few months, by the looks of it, and one of them was recent enough that they were actually holding a funeral for the child in two days. This one had been killed by a partially collapsed building, not exactly clear murder, but he would put money on the likelihood of that collapse being the result of corruption at the development phase of the construction project. He would take his chances on a fresh death over a certain murder.

He didn't have any clean clothes, and his mind was racing. He knew this left him vulnerable to making mistakes, but it didn't matter, because he needed to make choices and act quickly regardless of the state he was in. He'd break into the house of the father, roughly, by the top window. The window was out of view of most of the neighbourhood, and he was invisible, but he still felt the need to rush, even with his hands shaking. He was hungry too, it turned out. Once inside, he'd listen quietly for a response to his commotion. Nothing apparent. The boy thought for a moment the house might be empty, and, after looking into several of the upstairs rooms, made his way down to the living room to wait for the man. A man who was sitting on his couch, apparently sleeping in that sitting position.

"Kamaru?" The man's eyes opened slowly, but it was a moment before he seemed to have gained some recognition for where he was. He didn't jump at the voice, but he looked confused.
"Yes?" He answered after a moment, apparently not bothering to question why a teenager was in his house, and not seeming very worried by the blood either.
"Your daughter was killed. Do you know why?" The man sat motionless for a moment, and then the tears started rolling down his face, and then the snot. He grimaced and half-heartedly tried to cover his face. This pained expression very suddenly turned to a look of shock though, and then anger.
"Was it you?!" He grabbed a nearby vase and swung it at the boy, but it obviously hit nothing but the floor. Tetsu realized though that he might have phrased the question poorly, but still gleaned from that that the man probably had some suspicion of murder.
"No, but you think it was because of someone then, don't you?" The man spit in response, so Tetsu continued, "I don't know you, and I'm not going to pretend to care about your daughter or your loss, but I am going to kill the ones that are responsible for it, if you'll help me."
"What makes you think you know who's responsible, if you don't even care about her?" The man said after a moment.
"It's the Yakuza, isn't it?" Silence. "I'm killing my way up to the top, and now the corrupt police here are after me. Help me, and you'll get your revenge."

The man sat in silence, staring at the floor, but gradually, his breathing became deeper and more intense, his nostrils flaring as the tears poured quietly onto the floor. "Yes." Was all he said.

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OOC: Topic Left. Great mission, can't wait for the next one!