[center][h2][color=moccasin]Tsukiko Umene[/color][/h2][/center]

Time flies when you're having fun, but the past two weeks were a slow-moving hell for Tsukiko's team. Whether the three kids knew it or not it would be for the best. Tsukiko was certainly a harsh leader but an effective one nonetheless. She made sure that her team had visited Amegakure prior to this operation, to memorize the area and plan ahead. With Kazuki's assistance, Tsukiko even prepared hidden explosive tags around the area they would be holding. Two sets, so to speak. Throughout the area she made sure to place exploding tags along the ground and have her team memorize their positions before Kazuki concealed them. These would be for emergency uses as the kids can activate them by running over them and the delay would be just long enough for them to be safe. This is to provide further resources to use during the battle. The other set of explosive tags was set in a large ring around the area with all the tags spaced out but connected via wire. This was part of the exit strategy, as Tsukiko would detonate these all at once to cover their escape.

After their field trip they moved on to the real training. On top of a tough physical regimen, to make sure they were all at peak strength and capability, Tsukiko made sure to teach them practicality. How to make a fight [i]unfair[/i]. How to specifically kill other shinobi. To get in the head of their opponent and predict their downfall. How to ambush, trap, use their environment, and most importantly how to get out of tricky situations. Every time they stepped out of line or had an attitude they would face verbal and physical punishment. Tsukiko didn't expect them to like her, even after all of the training would pay off. But that didn't matter. Senhime wanted results, the Jiyutai needed results, so Tsukiko made sure to give them results. Rin, Kazuki, and Takeshi had become more efficient soldiers. More efficient killing machines. True rebels that would take on larger forces and win through sheer guerilla warfare. At least today they would, so Tsukiko expected.

The team was spread out across a wide area, hidden among the civilians. They had already anticipated that the majority of reinforcements would come from the West and North, so the three kids were prepared to distract, hinder, and otherwise intercept the brunt of the Hamajo forces. Tsukiko herself, however, had positioned herself to the East of the statue. From there she had figured she would intercept the flankers who would take a wide route past her team. After all the Hamajo forces would prioritize getting on-scene, so even with an interception team in the way it would only stop some of the forces. A good leader would order a sizeable portion to go around the problem while their front line would fight the interception team so as not to lose time. Tsukiko would prevent this from coming to fruition.

When the crowd before the statue began to grow nervous at the sight of Akumako and her team, Tsukiko knew it was time. She had commandeered some of the Jiyutai's radios for this operation, making sure that Rin, Kazuki, and Takeshi all were able to hear her orders no matter the distance. They all had small, easy-to-conceal earpieces as a means to relay information. The middle-aged woman brought her hand to the earpiece and gave the command. [color=moccasin]"It's begun. Prepare to intercept any and all forces."[/color] It was all she needed to say. They had laid out the traps beforehand, memorized the locale, and planned accordingly. They even had the element of surprise on their side. [i][color=moccasin]Two minutes, tops,[/color][/i] Tsukiko figured. [i][color=moccasin]All they have to do is distract for two minutes.[/color][/i] The kids all knew to prioritize their own safety on this particular mission. They would be chased, which would give even more time for the rest of the Jiyutai, as opposed to standing their ground and dying. Normally running away would be a bad idea, but this situation may well call for a bit of footwork to get the job done.

And so footwork she performed. Tsukiko blended into the crowd of civilians rather well, but with everyone running away she was beginning to stand out like a sore thumb. It was time for [i]her[/i] to get to work. After activating her Hiding with Camouflage Technique, she had become perfectly invisible and thus almost completely undetectable. Her first move to action was to jump up to a nearby second-story windowsill, to get a higher view above the crowd and pinpoint any Hamajo shinobi that were already on-scene at the start of the attack. Immediately she spotted three, though one of them was going to get to the statue team before Tsukiko would reach him. They could handle one person, so Tsukiko brought her attention to the other two that were beginning to move in.

Tsukiko was always fond of the spear as a weapon. Most shinobi would prefer a ninjato or their kunai as their weapon of choice, which is why Tsukiko came to learn how to counter this. The spear had more range, more control, more leverage. The fool who would think they could cross blades with Tsukiko would never live long enough to learn this. The downside to spears, however, is that they are large and ill-suited for stealth. For times like this she kept a ninjato to complement her style. And now was a great time to use it. She held the weapon in a reverse-grip, something that was also not widely considered among shinobi, and pounced towards the nearest Hamajo soldier. He was in the process of drawing shuriken as he ran, likely to take a ranged attack on the statue team. He would never see what hit him. Tsukiko landed directly behind him, bringing the business end of her blade across his calves. She followed through with the motion, spinning around while rotating around her target, allowing her to slash him again across the side of his neck before he even hit the floor. He was incapacitated, would lose consciousness within twenty seconds, and would die in under a minute. Her next target wasn't fully stupid, having seen this unfold from the corner of his eyes and already turned to face the invisible Tsukiko.

None of the blood had gotten on Tsukiko, so all she had to do was flick her wrist and the blood that was on her ninjato slid cleanly off the polished surface. A normal person would be confused and in fear before the sight of a shinobi being mangled by thin air, but a shinobi would only be in fear. This man knew what was coming to him and attempted to ready himself, bringing his hands up to perform handsigns for a jutsu of some kind. That was unacceptable. Tsukiko dashed forward and covered half the distance to the man before jumping several meters to the side. The technique her opponent used was some kind of small-scale mist, spraying out his mouth. No doubt an attempt at pinpointing her position. But Tsukiko had expected he would try something like this, which is the reason she jumped to the side to begin with. This gave her plenty of room to get out of the way, jumping to the side one more time before taking a direct line to her target. He had expected her to go straight for him, which would've allowed him to detect her, so he was confused that his mist wasn't picking her up. He was less confused when Tsukiko's ninjato stabbed completely through his left lung from behind. As she pulled her blade out she slapped an exploding tag onto his back. With one final kick off the falling man she was flung into the air, landing on a lamppost as her springboard was consumed in a fireball. He died screaming but there was no other immediate Hamajo forces that would be within earshot except those already at the statue, whom should all be occupied if Akumako's team was doing their job.

[i][color=moccasin]Any number of powerful assholes is already on their way here,[/color][/i] Tsukiko thought, looking to the West. The Hamajo Palace was North and the Amegakure barracks were to the West, but the brunt of the city was to the South and East of the statue. This was the reason she had chosen to split the team in this fashion. Rin, Kazuki, and Takeshi were all close enough to assist each other but they all had the majority of reinforcements to handle. Tsukiko had less potential targets but a wider area to cover. As she began to move, already on the hunt for incoming forces, she couldn't help but feel like something was amiss. [i][color=moccasin]It isn't a matter of if Hamajo or his cronies will show up, it is a matter of how many...[/color][/i]