Ore your eyes only. [SMM]

[Maikeru]

Spring had rolled its way into Kumo, this particular day taking place in the middle of it. The air was still on the cooler side, but the thick furs and layers of winter were no longer needed, leaving Kumo residents to make their way outside in long-sleeved shirts and sweaters as they awaited the sweet release of summer time. The snow on the ground still haunted their days, melting during the day then refreezing during the frigid nights when the sun’s respite left them.

This is the situation young Saitou Reicheru would find herself in, coming to rise at her usual time, ready to enjoy a rare day off, something most shinobi would kill, quite literally in some cases. But, as she rose, she would find the house empty. Her boyfriend, the young Uchiha medic, was nowhere to be found. Rare, as he usually slept until the very last moment, but not unexpected completely.

If she decided to take a look around, she would see a folded piece of paper laying on the bedside table. Upon any inspect, she would find that it was written in Maikeru’s handwriting. The note would read as such.

Hey hun,

So, uh, Kyouzou Houjyou, a member of the clouds council asked a favor of me. Guess there’s some mining operations that.. Something or another, I dunno, I said I’d talk to him. Well, I was supposed to meet him today and I forgot! I’m so swamped at the hospital, I was hoping you could help me with this. Sorry to spring this on you, but I promise to treat you to some Udon to make up for it.

Good luck!,
Maikeru.

Underneath the note was the time and location that he was supposed to meet the council member in question, inside his office in the Celeste Torres at high noon. Whether Reicheru accepted or not would be up to her. What would the young Kunoichi do?

 

[Saitou Rei]

Reading. That was her plan for today. No, not her Kumogakurian studies - those had definitely been boosted with the time spent in a hospital bed. Reicheru's days off lately had been spent reading up on the topography and culture of the area surrounding Kumogakure. Wait, hadn't she done this prior to moving to the village, you might wonder? Well yes, but that had been with a different intent. Then, she had been learning to assimilate and maybe one day even teach. Now, she was learning to search, and to hunt. She needed to know where those things would slink off to, where they would hide. They weren't going to disappear; there were so many. No, they would be there among them, recuperating from their loss and growing stronger… unless she had something to say about it. They wouldn't get another chance so long as she was still alive. She was going to…

Jolting awake, hair and pajamas sticking to every part of her drenched in sweat, Reicheru shot straight up with a first gripping her chest, gasping.

Slowly, the burning anger of her waking thoughts and the physical burning in her chest faded.

Trying to get a hold on her breathing, the girl turned to look around the empty room. Listening for a moment, the silence indicated that Maikeru must have already left. Sighing, she pulled herself to the edge of the bed to pull her slippers on, content to stay in her sweats for the day. That was when she noticed the note on the table. A glimmer of curiosity and hope filled her - only to be quashed by the letter's contents. "Well so much for that." Lamenting aloud, Rei reluctantly pulled herself together for a much busier day than she'd been hoping for.

Donning a light jacket, the spring time warmth of Kumo still cold to her native Fire blood, Rei pulled her boots on at the door and then moved to leave. Pausing just before she locked it, hands flitted to her sides, patting down her hips as if looking for something. Returning to the room, she retrieved her sword from the closet. After getting out of the hospital she'd been put on light duty, tasks she wouldn't need a weapon for. Of course, that had never stopped her before - she'd had it during the attack on the gates even though she was only scheduled to be scrubbing the coliseum that day. Yet lately, the Nanjirou had been very un-Nanjirou like, opting to leave her great-grandfather's sword at home in favor of a katana Maikeru had made shortly after they'd arrived. Unfortunately she wouldn't be scrubbing toilets today, so Rei figured it best to bring something she was more familiar with. Just in case.

* * *

Climbing the seemingly never-ending staircase of the Torre Celeste, the Genin's attention was focused solely on the windows. A multitude of groans would have escaped her lips if she didn't remind herself of the importance of the people sitting in the office opposite the doors she passed; every child's handprint, every splatter from a coffee spill, all tore at her poor custodial soul. Surely it wouldn't be long before Yuii sent her on another window-washing gig, God help her.

Finally, she reached the office of the council member in question. Three firm knocks would ring out in the hallway and within the man's office. Assuming she were invited in, she would give a deep bow and introduce herself: "Councilman, my name is Nanjirou Rei, genin infantry. I've been instructed to report here about a mining operation taking place today."

[TWC: 602/3000]

 

[Maikeru]

As Reicheru entered the office she would see behind the desk a rather scrawny man, with black hair that had been shaved into a bowl cut of sorts, with one of the thickest mustaches the young Kunoichi had likely ever seen. Across his desk were various devices it looked like he had been tinkering with, the most notable of which was a standard analog alarm clock with dynamite duck taped around it. As she entered, the man looked up from work to the young Kunoichi. Putting down the device, he began to speak to her in a very deep northern accent, his words seeming to accent themselves.

"Nanjirou, didn't I request that Otani boy?" He asked her, raising a thick eyebrow in curiosity. "I could swore I specified him like seven... eight times. give or take. Well, whatever, come in and take a sit. No use crying over spilt nitroglycerin is there?"

With a gloved hand he ushered for the girl to take a seat across from him, before pulling out a thin folder and setting it in front of him. Flipping through a few of the pages, he was silent as his eyes darted across the words on the page, before focusing back on Reicheru. Shaking his head, he returned to the file before speaking.

"Well, you're a bit scrawny, but, you should do just fine. Now, look here." Pulling out a photo of a section of a map of Lightning country, he placed it near the girl so she could see the spot clearly circled in red marker. "I've got about two, three million yen worth of ore in this mine that Kumo desperately needs for.. stuff..."

With a subtle, quick movement, he swiped the alarm clock dynamite into a desk drawer before continuing.

"So, of course bandits are gonna try and steal it. Why wouldn't they. Usually we get a Chuunin or two to come with us, but, I've learned that there are some Genin in the village who are far stronger than their position shows. I'm not one down to turn down cheaper, just as efficient, labor you see. So, I need you to help my boys out here and protect them while they do back breaking menial labor for little pay. Get it?"

Reaching under his desk, he pulled out a large pickaxe, laying it heavily on the table in front of him.

"Oh, and if no bandits are there, make yourself useful and help them get some ore. I hope you have experience with mining. If not just like.. swing at.. I'm sure you'll be fine."

 

[Saitou Rei]

Okay, so Reicheru was no chemist, but she was pretty sure spilt nitroglycerin was exactly the sort of thing worth crying over. As she took a seat across from the councilman, she hid her intrigue at the way the man presented himself, his accent (which she thought was fantastic), and the types of devices he chose to surround himself with. Of course, the village - heck, the country - needed guys like this given their topography. Still, the presence of an explosive in even the general vicinity where it was presumed one could find the Raikage was… disquieting, to say the least.

She had a harder time hiding her annoyance at his assessment of her physique. Granted, her training had been lax leading up to King Maji's attack on the gates, and her time spent in the hospital certainly didn't help, but since then her building paranoia hardly allowed her rest. Oh well - she understood the critique given the fact that he'd been anticipating Maikeru. It was nitroglycerin not worth crying over - she'd prove him wrong anyway.

Honestly, if it weren't for the process one went through to get on the council combined with how endearing his accent and cadence were, she'd wonder about how straight-laced this guy was given how vague he was being and… well, the explosive that now sat in his desk. Chalking it up to the fact that a Genin like her didn't need to know the ins and outs of the operation itself, just her specific duty, Rei concerned herself more with the location Kyouzou-san indicated on the map. It was beyond the village perimeter - somewhere she'd been expressly forbidden from going by Kagetsu-sama upon their transfer. Though she was a surprise replacement, Maikeru had been placed under the same restriction - surely this council member would know that if he'd been so interested in the boy. 'The gates were just surprise attacked by a giant monster we didn't even know existed. Anyone with this sort of clearance is probably a little preoccupied,' she reasoned with herself. Yeah, there were bigger fish to fry, and with her being so close to being able to petition for a Chuunin exam anyway perhaps the Main Branch Sennin simply chose to look the other way this time around.

"Understood, you've got nothing to worry about sir. I know I may not look it, but just like Akira I'm a veteran…" Though she knew this man had access to her full file, she preferred not to mention her time in Leaf when possible. Even bringing up her Shimogakure war experience at all was unlike her, probably prompted by still being bothered by his 'scrawny' comment. "…your men are in good hands." Reaching to take the pickaxe, she was thankful for the thud it had made when the mustachioed man had laid it down so she wasn't caught off guard by the weight of it. "I admittedly haven’t had the opportunity to gain that kind of experience, but I'm familiar with weapon handling, I'm sure it can't be that different. Plus, I'm a quick learner."

Flashing a confident grin, she finished, "Where should I be meeting them then?"

[TWC: 1133/3000]

 

[Maikeru]

"Ah right, the meeting..." The man said, scratching the back of his head with a single finger. He began to shuffle through his desk, throwing various objects into the air which landed with heavy thuds on the floor. Sticks of dynamite, gunpowder, a few matches, how this man had not yet blown himself or the Torre Celeste up was an astounding mystery. Finally, he came back up with a few stacks of paper. Licking his thumb, which was still covered by gloves thick with gunpowder and other dirt looking materials, he shuffled through the papers before finally throwing them to the floor as well. "Oi, Aimi, get in here!"

At the utterance of the mans yells a young woman appeared with unnatural speed. She was scrawny, almost like a stick, with long black hair that framed a meek, bespectacled face, she was very much the secretary type. Entering the room she stood with her hands at her side, before giving a deep, respectful bow.

"Yes, councilor-sama?" The girl's voice betrayed her appearance, holding a fair amount of confidence in it hidden behind a layer of respect and formality. "Is there something I may assist you with?"

"Yea, the girl needs to meet with uh.. Raiden, what's his name? With the beard and the gut?" The councilor said, imitating the man's physique with random gestures of his hands.

"Hoheto-san is who you're thinking of." Aimi would say, adjusting her glasses as she made her point. "I can take her to him, if you wish."

With a dismissive wave of his hand, he ushered for the two girls to leave the office before moving to pull the dynamite clock out of his workshop. From the same drawer he removed a blow torch, more sticks of dynamite, and a screwdriver. If the girls had any sense of perseverance they would leave at this point, which Aimi did, ushering for Reicheru to follow her with a small wave of her hand.

"Apologies about Kyouzou-sama, he's a bit eccentric but he is the best in the village at this sort of thing. I imagine it's all the coal dust he's inhaled it's made him... a bit out there." She gave a polite smile, before beginning to lead Reicheru towards the exit of the Torre Celeste. "You'll be meeting Hoheto san at the gate. I wish I could escort you farther, but, I have much paperwork to do. As you can imagine working for him has a lot of... incident reports."

The girl would give her best smile, though clearly faking it through a small bit of annoyance. She would stay and answer any questions that Reicheru had, before sending her to the gate. At the gate, Reicheru would see a group of several men, all burly in physique, but one who stood out from the rest. With a short grey beard, portly physique, and kind grandfather like face, Hoheto Ishura stood out as the obvious leader of the group of men around him.

As she approached he was talking to three of the men, who dispersed when Reicheru approached to speak with him, having noted the Kumo headband on her person.

"Ah, you must be Otani-san." The old man said, giving her a large smile. "Not exactly what I expected, but, even the weakest trees can uphold the strongest storms I suppose."

Moving towards the carts, supposedly expecting her to follow, Reicheru would be able to note fifteen men in the caravan not including Ishura. There were three carts in total, each lead by a team of two horses that looked a bit different from the ones in Konoha. They were bigger, with larger muscles, probably specifically bred to be able to pull carts through the harsh weathers of Lightning country.

"If you have any questions now is the time to ask, but, here are the basics." He said, moving to one of the two carts that were empty. "You will walk alongside our carts, and protect us while we hike through the mountains. When we get to our digsite you will offer protection and aid where needed. We aren't expecting much trouble, and someone with the Sharingan should have no problems at all, so you have no worries young one."

He gave her another large smile, before climbing into the back of the cart, where his men quickly followed.

"Let us know when you're all set, and we'll take off."

 

[Saitou Rei]

Wasting no time as she left the Torre and headed for the gates, Rei nevertheless took note of the treehouses along the route as she passed them. No longer snow-laden as they had been when the trio of refugees had first seen them, they looked even more like the one back… well, not home. Back in Konoha. My, how things had changed even since their arrival here. The pain she felt at the sight had dulled, no longer as poignant though still quite present. Now, now it would be the gates themselves that she approached that recalled to her mind a more recent, greater pain. Her hand instinctually floated toward the katana on her hip, as if waiting for some monstrosity to peer over the pass once more.

When she reached Hoheto, she greeted him with a deep bow as the others scattered. Thankfully the hair that hung in her face would hide the pursing of her lips at being called the wrong name, but as she straightened and went to correct him, she found that he'd already started moving on toward the carts. Momentarily distracted by the beautiful beasts that were hooked to the carts, the Nanjirou began to actually feel a certain excitement about this. She knew from her reading that Lightning was rich with natural resources and that as a result their weaponry was some of the best in the world, but today she would get to see where that all started! Of course, there was still one small matter to get squared away.

"Understood, Hoheto-san, no questions for now. Though, I should let you know, Otani Akira actually wasn't available for this mission. My name is Nanjirou Rei, and I promise you're in good hands. I've gone toe to toe with that Sharingan myself a few times, and the Nanjirou don't disappoint," an even and respectful tone, the words were meant less to indicate pride in her clan than to assure the mining company that the council hadn't sent their third-string leftovers. Granted, that's essentially what she was, but they didn't need to know that. "I'm ready when you are, you get to set the schedule here."

[TWC: 1494/3000]

 

[Maikeru]

"Oi, get the horses moving, we're pulling out!" A deep voice bellowed from the front of the caravan.

The miners quickly began to file into the carts, taking seats with their various tools resting between their knees. If Reicheru wished she could choose to either ride with them, or walk alongside the caravan, that choice was left up to her. Regardless, the caravan would begin its move through the large gates of Kumo, headed into the snowy mountains of the world.

The trip started off rather peacefully, and the view was amazing. The sun was high in the air at this point, giving the large snowy mountain tops a beautiful almost reflective quality. Small animals hopped between the thick, dense forest of evergreen trees, going through their days with little attention for the humans who intruded on their lands. In the distance, Reicheru would be able to make out small amounts of smoke that seemed to trickle over the horizon, the small dots of settlements further from the safety of Kumo appearing on the horizon.

Among the pleasant ambiance and scenic views, there was a loud crashing noise, like a gunshot going off before the smalling of a cart rang out through the area. Men and supplies were thrown overboard as the middle cart tipped to its left side, before spilling over. Depending on how observant was, Reicheru may be able to notice the shattered remains of a wheel splayed across the path. Chaos and discord quickly spread amongst the caravan as the horses were spooked, the horse tied to the broken cart taking off towards the woods, dragging it's load behind it.

"Reicheru-san!" Hoheto yelled, waving for the attention of the Kunoichi. "We're going to calm these horses, go after that one!"

With the orders given, Hoheto hopped from his own cart, running with all the motivation a man of his advanced progression could muster. He headed towards the front of the cart, where the horses were hitched, whispering into the large beast ear. Each second that passed, however, the broken cart headed farther and farther into the woods.

 

[Saitou Rei]

Keeping up a brisk pace as she walked alongside the caravan, having opted to do so in order to be in a better position to defend from any possible road-side ambushes like the one the medical supply caravan had encountered all those years ago in Leaf, Rei kept her eyes and ears on the road. She grew increasingly thankful for the jacket she'd put on, and began to even wish for a heavier one as she eyed the mountain landscape they were headed for. For now, she soaked in the warmth of the sun on her face and enjoyed the scenery as much as possible for one whose sole purpose was to defend against a possible threat.

So ready was she that when the loud disturbance rang out around them, as the burly men around here exclaimed "Raiden what was that?" or expletives as the supplies and horses were thrown into an uproar, she had already silently equipped herself with a kunai - longer than the typical, better suited to a swordsmen - and began attuning her own chakra to that of the environment about them in an attempt to identify the chakra signature of whatever it was that had caused the sound.

This attempt was interrupted by the command of the client. Though she silently wondered the wisdom of this, as they still hadn't spotted what had caused the issue that very well could have been a coordinated distraction, it wasn't her place to argue. "Yes sir," would be her simple response… or at least, it would have ended there if she hadn't taken notice of the shattered wheel as she began to move in the direction the horse had bolted in. Kneeling down, probably drawing the ire of the Hoheto and his men for not taking off immediately, the kunoichi looked at how the cart had fallen and tried to add up how the wheel had broken this way. No, that didn't make sense. This was it.

Standing, putting her kunai away and drawing her katana, Rei turned back to face the caravan leader. "With all due respect, Hoheto-san, this doesn't look like an accident to me. I'm not sure who'd want to interfere with our travel to the mountain, before we've even gathered any valuable material, but this" her left hand motioned to the splayed wheel, "leads me to believe there's been some foul play. My job is to protect you and your men, and a simple horse will be no issue to locate later. But it may well be someone's intention to pull me away from the group. What do you say?" Eyebrows raised, eyes locked with the older man but ears on the road, Rei waited to see if the man would insist on his first order… at which point, she would need to make an impossible between insubordination and putting her client in danger.

[TWC: 1974/3000]

 

[Maikeru]

It was a good thing that Reicheru's instincts were so finely tuned, as she would soon find out a few moments later. As Hoheto had said the men around the caravan quickly got to work, soothing the horse and taking care of what supplies had fallen from the sudden movement of the cart following the wheel being blown off. She would be able to notice that a few of the men, however, did not seem to be making the same rounds as their co-workers. Three of the men, in fact, hardly seemed to be moving at all. Instead, they were doing the bare minimum amount of work to not seem suspicious to the men around them, as their eyes casually shifted to the brown haired kunoichi who spoke to their boss.

Of the three men, one was much, much taller than the rest, making him stand out. While hiding in plain sight could be a good thing, it probably was never the case when dealing with a shinobi. As he bent down to pick up a fallen crate of explosives Reicheru would be able to see the shine of metal stuffed into the back of his trousers as his shirt and jacket were pulled up from his bent position. The exact details of what that was hidden would be unable to be ascertained, but there was certainly something fishy about it.

Even as she noticed that, if she was very attentive, she would be able to hear the shifting of tree branches from the nearby woods. It was slight, barely perceptible, and certainly unnoticed by the distracted workers. After a few more moments, with two men running off to catch the horse Reicheru had respectfully declined to retrieve, was when the ball dropped per se. From that rustling, there would be a whistling noise that echoed through the morning air, before an arrow lodged itself into the shoulder of Hoheto.

"Agh!" The older man would cry out, falling to a knee with a hand on his shoulder.

Another whistling, this time an arrow embedded into the chest of the one the miners, killing the man instantly where he stood. Blood eeked from his dead body, dying the snow and ground beneath him a deep, horrific, crimson red color before lightening to a pink where it soaked and melted the snow beneath it. From her position, she would be able to see two archers placed in the branches, hidden among the foliage. However, she had bigger concerns.

The man with the flashing piece of metal now moved quicker than before, a clearly untrained man charging the young kunoichi with an ornate dagger drawn and aimed at her throat. She had mere moments to respond, or this would spell her end. It was time to see what this Nanjirou was made of.

 

[Saitou Rei]

The whole episode began in mere moments, their whole situation flipped on its head as it were, as suddenly her client was wounded and one of his men lie dead. "Gah--" was the only noise that passed Reicheru's lips before gritting her teeth in frustration. Though her eyes were trained on the trees, the image of the man's body filled her mind. She should have seen them before; surely there was something she could have done to prevent that. 'Stop wasting time, or you'll have the same regret when the rest of the crew is dead!' she reasoned with herself. Reasoning that nothing vital had been hit on Hoheto, Rei chose to deal first with the archers. "They're in those trees, everyone take cover behind the carts--" she shouted as she began channeling wind chakra into her blade. She was trash with projectiles, but ninjutsu thankfully had it's uses in that area.

Thundering footsteps headed in her direction were the exact opposite of what she needed to hear right now. Turning just as the behemoth of a man lunged at her with the dagger, it took no time at all for the Nanjirou to assess his stance. Given his size it was no surprise that he'd learned to depend on his brute strength, and was now leaning forward into his charge and thrust to put as much of his weight into it as possible. 'Pathetic.' She nearly rolled her eyes as she ducked under his arm - she didn't even need to grab and pull it to keep his momentum going forward. The kunoichi simply gave a quick kick to his leading leg, and the man would fall. It wouldn't keep him down, but it would give her just enough time to retrieve her kunai once more with her free hand and plunge it down into his hand that held the knife, pinning him to the ground for now.

"If you could hang out down there for just a moment sir, that'd be great!" Picking up his dagger and putting in her tool pouch, Reicheru turned to make sure that the others had in fact taken cover behind the two remaining carts. Though she wanted to deal with the trees, she had to ensure that there weren't any other rotten oranges in the bunch ready to attack while her back was turned. Joining their ranks, she sheathed her blade and went through a flurry of handseals to summon two clones, a technique she hadn't resorted to often but learned the utility of in her fight with Kanagawa-san. While the two clones rushed off to deal with the goons in the trees, Rei used the chakra she'd been gathering into her blade and gathered it into her hands instead, pointing them straight up before a torrent of wind shot out and created a vacuum sphere around the group, serving as a sort of barrier just in case Big Guy got up or unexpected company came knocking.

"You, here, tend to Hoheto-san," Rei called to one of the men, extending to him a med kit from her pouch. As she handed it off, her cold slate gaze came to rest on the two men she'd noted dawdling with Big Guy earlier. In a flash, the two would find their feet sinking into the ground below them before resolidifying above their ankles, effectively trapping them in the only earth ninjutsu the kunoichi knew. 'Thanks Kahora,' Rei thought with a grin. "So, care to tell me what you and your friend were thinking?" as she spoke in an oddly jovial tone, she drew the dagger he'd attacked with. "I suggest answering quickly."

[TWC: 2581 / 3000]

 

[Maikeru]

Schlink!

The noise reverberated through the area immediately surrounding Reicheru as her knife found it's way into the palm of the man's hand, cleanly piercing through the bones and muscle of his hands to pin into the ground beneath him. At the sight of this, at how easily this small woman had outmaneuvered and dispatched this giant of a man, the archers in the trees eyes widened in surprise. This was supposed to be an easy job, after all, none of them were expecting Reicheru to be here. Anyone with attentive eyes would notice the archers leave their position, though their exact destination could not be determined. Either they had run off, or they had taken to find better coverage, only time would tell.

The two men who had been accused of working with the large man were quickly subdued by Reicheru's ninjutsu. They weren't shinobi, they had no way to defend against it, and they were terrified now. The fear was quickly evident on their faces, and even if they hadn't, the Mark of the King on Reicher's chest would practically be salivating at the dread and terror that it felt. The two men she had captured were on the younger side, closer to the 18-20 range, rather than the man she had stabbed in the hand who seemed to be in his late 20's to early '30s easily. The shorter of the two trapped men spoke up first, not even giving his 'allies' a chance to speak up.

"We didn't have a choice!" he practically yelled out, his hands moving in exasperated patterns as he spoke. "We needed the money, and no one was supposed to get hurt. They told us that they just wanted to delay the caravan, so we loosened the screws on the wheels. He paid a lot, and no one was supposed to get hurt!"

"Tobias shut your damn mouth!" The man beside him roared, slapping the smaller man in the back of the head. "We could have negotiated a deal you idjit, have you never dealt with a Jonin before?"

"Oh, right.." Tobias muttered out, biting at his thumbnail for a second. "We'll tell you everything, but we want to make a deal."

The groan of annoyance from both the man who had been stabbed, and the man standing next to Tobias, was almost deafening in its disappointment.

"Look, Miss. We were just doing what we were paid to do, and we're not with that guy that you uh.. holy wow you really stabbed him." Tobias said, speaking up again. "We'll tell you what we know, but it isn't much. You're better off questioning h-"

Tobias' voice was cut off by the blood-curdling scream that suddenly echoed through the entire area around them. Looking around it would be quick to find the source of the cry of anguish. The giant man, the one who had been stabbed by Reicheru, was now staring up at her with eyes that were full of hate. Blood ran down his mouth, seeming to pour from behind closed lips, before the man spit on the ground in front of him. There, on the cold, snowy earth, laid a large hunk of bloody flesh. His tongue. The man had bitten off his own tongue.

 

[Saitou Rei]

With Tobias the Fool running his mouth, relief rushed over the kunoichi that she wouldn't have to go to questionable measures to get the answers she wanted. Their job had been to delay the caravan? What could anyone possibly want with a few miners, horses and a cart full of pickaxes? As her narrowed eyes shifted between the two trapped lads, she wracked her brain for a possible endgame. Her thought process was suddenly and aggressively interrupted by the Big Guy's scream.

Realization of what her attacker had done set in slowly, but once it did it felt like a rock settled in her stomach. What secret could be so important that what seemed like a simple grunt would bite off his own tongue to keep it? As quickly as she could, she scrambled to where the tongue lay while her mind once more went into overdrive analyzing her options. She knew some medical jutsu, but certainly not one strong enough to reattach an organ… at least not properly. If it weren't for the fact that she actually needed answers, she might have considered permanent disfiguration further. Instead, she covered the tongue in snow, vaguely recalling that things like fingers could be reattached if kept on ice. Maybe that applied to tongues too?

'The answers weren't kept on his tongue…'

The thought that intruded in her thoughts, surely coming from the Mark, froze the girl where she stood. 'Last time I did that…' Flashes of the memories of the King played before her eyes, along with what had followed on the battlefield. Feeling her heartbeat picking up, pulsing so hard she was sure it was visible, Rei attempted to push the thought away -- with no success. She felt the eyes of the men whose safety had been entrusted to her looking to her, awaiting what she would do.

Steeling herself and taking a steadying breath, Reicheru looked down at the bloodied, angry man. "Good effort. But I'll be taking those answers now." Flowing through some hand signs, she placed a hand on his head as she landed on the final sign for Mental Infiltration. "Who hired you, and why?"

[TWC: 2941 / 3000]

 

[Maikeru]

The sensation of her chakra crawling through the mental defenses of another would not be an unfamiliar one to the young Kunoichi, but much like when she messed with Maji, she would feel a wall surround the man's mind. Unlike Maji, however, the raw power of her chakra shattered through the last of the defenses around the secrets held inside of the man's memories. It would feel like Reicheru's consciousness was being ripped from her body, sending her flying high into the sky, the surrounding landscape blurring and running together until it was nothing more than a mess of colors.

When Reicheru snapped back she would find herself in a dimly lit room, and her perception of height would be slightly off like she had grown several inches in an instant. In the shadows standing across from her in the room was a figure that appeared to be male in size, about her size with a slim but masculine build. Black eyes would stare back at hers, before a deep, gravely voice would echo out in the room.

"So, you know the job, do you accept?" The man spoke, crossing his shadow covered arms across one another.

"Yea, but it's such a weird request. Why do you give a shit about the miners." The voice came from Reicheru's mouth, but she didn't speak them. The voice was masculine in nature, not as deep as the opposing man's but certainly deeper than hers. "It's just an ore retrieval operation, what's the big deal?"

"I suppose you would see it as much." The man said simply, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Don't let details worry your simple mind. Let me just say this, why do you think Kumo's gate is so impregnable? Do you really believe it to be her gate keepers?"

"Tch, whatever," The man said, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "But, what about you? How can you afford to pay me as much as you are offering?"

"Oh, don't worry about me," The man said, laughing slightly. "You'll never remember even doing what I asked."

From the shadows, Reicheru would see a very familiar red glow that she had become accustomed to during her youth in the Leaf, the Sharingan. As soon as the three-pronged optics met hers, she would feel herself being pulled back once again before snapping back into her own body, that apparently being the extent of the man's recent memories. When she came to, she would find that his screaming had stopped. Not only that, but his eyes had rolled back in his head, and he seemed more or less comatose.

"Miss Reicheru.." One of the men would ask, approaching her slowly. "What did you do to him?"