Shin Maru, Topaz
The young man first seemed confused by what Daisuke was talking about. Then he realized that he meant Shin's lighthearted nature might bother the rebels they were working with.
"Ah, I get it," Shin relented, putting his hands behind his head in a comfortable position.
"I'd disagree though. I'm not fueled by insensitivity, just confidence. That's something everyone could use." Despite not agreeing with Daisuke he didn't press the matter further, as it wasn't a big issue and it wasn't that difficult for him to tone his attitude back. They didn't have to wait around long, however, as the strange Saburo soon arrived followed by the man in charge of the operations, Tento.
The team was briefed as they walked to a planning room. The job sounded simple in proposition but that didn't mean it would be easy. Two jonin guarding a building of interest and an unknown amount of reinforcements on the inside. Shin, Daisuke, and Saburo were supposed to deal with the jonin and the rebels would handle the rest. Three strong chuunin versus two strong jonin. While Shin's confidence didn't falter here, he did feel as if Tento wasn't mentioning something. After all he didn't say why the building was important or what was inside it. But then again he may not know the answer to either question so Shin didn't bother to ask. He simply kept it in the back of his mind, planning to stay wary for the duration of the mission.
Daisuke was the appointed leader and he was quick to start coming up with a game plan. Saburo gave a strange mention of the ratio of field hours each of the three had taken, Shin wasn't sure how he felt about that being he had the most hours but at the same time Saburo was able to know things about him that even he didn't know. Shin shook off the thought and decided to add his two cents to the plan.
"Yeah, I'm at my best fighting at close to medium range," Shin confirmed.
"However I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeves. My family's techniques are pretty effective. If we can get an undetected approach I can dispatch one of the jonin without having to fight. I don't think using that technique a second time will work, considering the second jonin will be prepared for it, but taking it from two opponents to one is something worth trying. I've just got to get within thirty meters or so and have a line of sight on them." The Jade Crystal Prison technique has always been a classic in the Maru family, being so effective at handling a single opponent that it can win before the fight even begins. While it has a very fast activation it isn't so fast that an aware opponent can't dodge it, so once a foe has knowledge of the technique they will be able to predict it and avoid it. Otherwise it is the equivalent of a blindside sucker-punch. Only more lethal.
"If we can do that then our job goes from easy to easier. Think we can pull that off?"
Tsukiko Umene, Honeybadger
The two younger jonin were quick to catch on to Tsukiko's plan. It was a simple one anyways but with Yamato's track record of insubordinate behavior and Aoi's general airhead nature it was possible they wouldn't go for it. Thankfully they did, though not without being annoying in some way.
"Your tongue won't be so sharp after I cut it off," Tsukiko threatened Yamato half-heartedly, her voice reverting back to normal. She was mostly used to his bullshit by now but she still couldn't let his insult slide. After clearing her throat her voice changed back to the disguised voice.
"Let's move." Tsukiko began to lead the way into Kiri, walking much more slowly than usual to match her disguise. An granny walking like a healthy, athletic woman would surely be suspicious after all.
What was most supsicious, to Tsukiko at least, was the lack of the guide. The trio first passed through the meeting point location as they entered Kiri, yet there was nobody there. Literally nobody, not even other civilians. The street corner was devoid of life or business.
You've got to be kidding me. A no-show. The old lady turned her gaze to the two kids that were walking besides her.
"It seems your uncle isn't here. I suppose we have to find him ourselves," she said innocently, though the hidden message was fairly easy to pick up on: they were moving on without him. Tsukiko decided to maintain her pace, allowing the younger Aoi and Yamato to walk ahead of her while still maintaining some level of control over the direction the group headed. Naturally they walked towards the industrial looking part of town, and as they went deeper into Kiri the more people they found. The outskirts were mostly devoid of human interactions for some reason but civilians still marched about their business further in. Granted the atmosphere was glum and depressing. Much like Konoha's current state but only much more extreme here.
At the civilian pace they were taking it wasn't a quick trip, but it was an inconspicuous trip. The trio eventually reached the industrial part of Kiri. The people that walked around here were mostly men, making the team start to stand out somewhat as they navigated the streets. This bothered Tsukiko but she knew their cover would hold up. After all the target factory was somewhere around here. She briefly closed her eyes as she remembered the blueprints they were given earlier. Of course she could just check them, as they were on her person right now, but that would be too suspicious. Basing off her memory, however, Tsukiko was confident she could identify the place. When she opened her eyes and looked ahead she realized the largest factory was dead ahead and had shinobi guards out front. It didn't take a genius to deduce that was the target.
"Your Uncle Enki works at that one, up ahead," she said, pointing out the building to Yamato and Aoi.
"We'll see if we can leave early to take you two home." Once again the message was clear. They would begin their assault soon.
As they closed in it was easier to identify the defenses. It was well guarded, no doubt. Just outside the front entrance was two shinobi and Tsukiko could already see one on the roof. She couldn't tell how many more there were, however, because all the smog interfered with her sense of smell. However she could detect a large number of strong chakra signatures inside, meaning there was probably upwards of a dozen guards throughout the building among the factory workers. She couldn't tell how many there were for sure. It was unlikely these shinobi were particularly elite, but they more than made up for it in numbers. Their chakra presence alone indicated that none of them were below chuunin, or if they were they had strong chakra. Regardless it wasn't going to be easy to take them all on at the same time.
The trio slowly approached the front gate, where two Kiri shinobi were posted. They didn't seem particularly suspicious of the group though they weren't about to just let them pass. One of them stepped forward into the middle of the gateway, signalling for the team to stop.
"What brings you here, ma'am," he addressed Tsukiko directly, recognizing the old lady as the guardian of the two kids.
"Oh, I came here to see if Enki Shizuru was working today. These are his brother's children and they are without a home now." The guard briefly scanned Aoi and Yamato, confirming that they looked like war orphans and deciding that the story wasn't implausible.
"I wouldn't know if there is an Enki Shizuru here or not. Please wait here while we have someone go and check." Tsukiko notably frowned now. She looked over her shoulder briefly at the street behind them. Nobody was around now. Then she looked back to the guards.
"Oh, that's fine. We can wait."The guard immediately in front of them turned around to start walking to the factory while the other one kept watching the trio. Tsukiko reached her arms out, putting a hand on Yamato and Aoi's shoulders. The gesture appeared to be one of comfort for two orphaned children. But rather it was a silent command. As Tsukiko released the two kids she had left a single kunai knife to each of them, using sleight of hand to arm them quickly. It was clear what they were to do with the weapons: kill the two guards. As Tsukiko retracted her arms from the kids she withdrew three shuriken, fitting them between her fingers. The sole guard on the roof of the factory was also watching the front gate, likely out of sheer boredom, and as such he needed to be handled as well. The younger jonin would handle the two guards that were close in a surprise attack while Tsukiko launched the shuriken at the distant guard. One of the throwing stars landed square in the shinobi's throat and the other two stabbed into his chest. While he was too far for a normal person to hear, Tsukiko could hear him gargle a few times after he collapsed. He would be dead in less than a minute and would be incapable of raising the alarm.
Once Aoi and Yamato handled the two in front of them, Tsukiko would break character and stop walking like an old lady, instead quickly moving inside and closing the gate behind them.
"Throw the bodies somewhere that can't be seen from the street," Tsukiko ordered, her voice back to normal. In a puff of smoke her disguise was gone and she was already pulling out the scroll that had been given to her earlier. She opened it up as she walked to the front door, going over the floor layout as she moved.
"Aoi, you'll go through the roof. There is a catwalk over the factory floor that likely has guards. You'll be clearing them out. Yamato, you're going with me through the front door. After the lobby there are two entrances onto the factory floor. We will split up there and clear the factory floor. There should be no more than twenty guards but probably hundreds of workers. Their lives are irrelevant so do as you feel necessary to survive and deal damage. I will block off the front door after we enter. Aoi, you will find the fire escape exits after you clear the catwalk and block them off too. We will try to minimize how many people escape."Whether it was intended as part of the original plan or not it had become very clear to the younger jonin what she was planning to do. Tsukiko was going to trap all the non-shinobi in so they would die when the factory went down. An actual massacre.
"If you feel like you cannot handle your opponents just try to escape temporarily so I can deal with them. Most importantly you two must not die, then secondly they must all die. Got it? Good. Now go, Aoi." The command to move out was given just as Tsukiko reached the doors to the lobby. Without slowing down she kicked them open, making a loud
bang noise that startled the people inside. There was two receptionists behind a counter and a single shinobi guard standing by the outside of the same counter. The rest of the lobby had chairs but there was nobody occupying them.
"Go through the locker room and seal the fire escape there," Tsukiko commanded Yamato, completely disregarding the shinobi before them that started to mobilize. In fact she immediately turned around, letting Yamato deal with the enemy while she closed the front doors and began to jam kunai knives into the sides of the doorway in the small gap left by the door.
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