Partisan

Marches of Man: the Black Shields. [ALWAYS OPEN]

Tsk, you're gonna be waiting a long time. I have exams, remember? I just finished (read: fucked up) my first exam and currently studying for the second. It might be a while before I can post again.

Plague of the North

He's going to Korea. Korea hates roleplaying. The only role they can play is the role of servant.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

@Raijinslayer
@Akashi Mayhiro

You guys are good to go again.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

Saburo Uchiha, “Kimyōna”

Get Paid

---

Saburo was on his way to the bar when Akio clenched onto his arm hard enough to force him out of the genjutsu. A brief moment ensued where Saburo looked around in a confused manner before realizing where he was. He looked at Takeshi, who was sitting at the bar drinking already, and then to Akio who was at his side, nearly keeling over. His eyes closed and opened again unvealing the two sharingans again. Not only was this a proper time to find out what was going on, it was also useful to figure out where they should go. The man with the dragon tattoo had vanished after all. How come Takeshi knew about the Mangekyo sharingan.. isn't that an Uchiha secret? he wondered before his eyes shot over to Takeshi and then back to Akio again, not realizing that the Mangekyo Sharingan had become common knowledge after the great war all those years ago. With the help of the Sharingan, it was all clear to him - a genjutsu in the music. Clever. He placed his hand on the back of Akio's shoulder and shot in some of his foreign chakra to dispel the genjutsu. He thought about doing the same for Takeshi but a single glance uncovered to him that Takeshi had it all figured out.

With rapid movements his eyes went from side to side, uncovering clues and hints about the mans location until he found the chakra of the man that had passed by earlier. Without saying a word to either Takeshi or Akio he moved on, grabbing Akio by her wrist and pulling her with him. It seems he was oblivious to common courtesy too as he gripped her wrist rather hard. They would follow the man with the red dragon tattoo, who seemingly had freed him from the genjutsu near instantly - no doubt a boon of being affiliated with the place.

He entered a tunnelway that was dark and very dimly lit, only some tubes with flickering lights in them on the ceiling. Saburo closed his eyes again and opened them to undo the sharingan, as he had little need of them in this moment. The man led them on for some time until he came into a large open chamber with numerous Yakuza looking men sitting there with a single head honcho at the top, whom had a large scroll on his lap. He was petting it, almost like it were a cat. On his eyes were dark shades, which was weird since the room was slightly lighter than the tunnels, but still not very bright.

The room had several pillars in them, holding up the ceiling, and in most places there were sitting cushions where some.. lightly dressed girls were sitting. Most of them were looking rather bored, no doubt here to earn money and then go home. It seemed Akio and Saburo had not been spotted yet however, it was just to hope that Takeshi wouldn't run in and ruin that. “Akio, stay back, please. I will confront them, and I will ask for the scroll. They look like friendly guys so I expect they shall give it to me, denoting that I think these people are not criminals at all, just misunderstood. I hope you can provide me with a backup solution if they turn out to be the opposite of what I expect, Akio-chan!” he whispered to her before he smiled at her with that obvious fake smile. There were several positions she could take up such as the overhanging wooden poles that were meant for supporting the pillars, although in this case they'd provide excellent overwatch positions.

Without wasting more time he walked up to the center of the room, being gawked at by both Yakuza men and some scarcely clothed women, who seemed more impressed than dumbfounded, while the Yakuza men seemed more amazed at the audacity of this boy. Saburo didn't mind though, he was used to it from his time in the 11th corps, where he would use this strategy often to surprise his enemies. It was a dangerous tactic, where Saburo could easily die if his teammates were too late, or if he didn't anticipate the attacks well enough, but his Sharingan made up for that danger.

“Konichiwa, Yakuza-senpai. I am Saburo Uchiha of the Konohagakure village, denoting I am a Konoha shinobi from the Konoha armed forces which is a part of the allied shinobi alliance. I am here to retrieve a scroll that was recently sold to you by a thief that stole from the Land of Iron, and since it was obtained illegally I am sure you will understand my wish to retrieve it in name of the samurai. So if you can just hand over that scroll, I can leave this fine establishment again and I can leave you to your legal bussinesses!”

He said it all with a big smile and closed eyes, as if he was truly happy to be there and he truly meant his words. The Yakuza thugs looked at him with curious eyes, while the boss simply grinned as he stroked the scroll some more. “Ah, sure. Come get it.” he answered and he then held out the scroll. Saburo smiled and nodded. This wasn't suspicious at all! Slowly Saburo closed in and reached for the scroll, which the man suddenly retracted. The swooshing sound of a sword being swung was heard and Saburo was first to react, bending his body back, extending an arm to catch him and landing on his hand, before doing a full backwards handspring.

Saburo seemed remarkably graceful during that handspring, as he stood in position as if he were simply standing there normally. The Yakuza boss simply stood there grinning - ofcourse he didn't expect to hit, this was a shinobi after all. But a dumb shinobi if he came here alone. The half naked women gawked, and started whispering as they were about to witness a showdown. The Yakuza men sprung into action, forming a circle around Saburo enclosing him in their grip, more or less. Never the less Saburo didn't flinch for even a moment as he raised a hand in the air. A strange thing to do, to the Yakuza, but in reality it was a signal to Akio and Takeshi (if he had arrived) that he wanted them to stay back a moment longer. “Please, I am sure this is a misunderstanding. I mean no harm, honest!” he said as he looked around the group, folding his hands behind him as he stood at ease. There was not a sign of tension in the boy's body. Without even answering Saburo a Yakuza man charged forwards with a metal rod, swinging it wildly. All Saburo did was pivot on his feet, extend his left foot backwards and slide underneath the attacks, his hands still behind him on his back.

“Please halt your attacks, I must warn you, I may use lethal force if you continue, good men!” he said again as he slid underneath the second attack gracefully, almost as if he was performing a Hyuuga battle form training. A third attack came and Saburo again pivoted on his feet, evading the attack easily as the man ran past him swinging wildly again. “This is your last warning, Yakuza-senpai!” The Yakuza boss who had now seated back into his chair spoke up loudly, ordering his Yakuza men. “Kill that Uchiha boy! If he is an Uchiha, I want his eyes! Finally we can stop the Minamoru's and their reign supreme over the Dojutsu trade.”

With that another man charged in and swung his knife, which was again gracefully evaded by Saburo. Instead of leaving his hands on the back of his body he moved them up this time in an open palm movement. Graceful as a Hyuuga he started a counter attack, encountering the man frontally. He sent out his left palm, striking the man on his chest, before his right palm struck in the abdomen, and then two more palm strikes were sent out at a rapid speed, almost invisible to the naked eye. “4.” Saburo stated before he sped up even more, sending out the same amount of strikes again. If anyone was paying attention it would look like he was performing a gentle fist style, although that was near impossible since Saburo had no byakugan. “8.” He said and by now his arms were essentially just a blur of rapid shots of palm strikes. “16.” The only thing audible beyond this was the rapid sounds of the man's chest and abdomen being pounded with palms.

“32. Please, lay down, or you'll strain yourself.” Saburo said before leaving the man alone again, turning his back on the still armed man. The man frowned and seemed fine, and attempted to step forward to stab Saburo in the neck. But as he attempted to move he suddenly erupted in yelling, before laying down and knocking himself out with pain. It would all seem rather strange, an Uchiha performing the Gentle fist. In reality, it was simply a mimick - there was no gentle fist or chakra involved, it was simply a perfect mimick of the attack style they used but using more force and more connection to forcefully damage the opponent with physicality rather than chakra.

The attack would be a clear indication to Akio and Takeshi to join in, and help Saburo obtain the scroll. If they were smart, they'd go after the scroll first so they could simply escape, but Saburo had his doubts - both of these people seemed to enjoy fighting more than smarts.

As soon as Akio and Takeshi had joined in Saburo would forcefully jump back into the opening through which they had arrived. He was, after all, a ninjutsu duelist and not a taijutsu expert. The fact that he could pull off that former move had more to do with his opponent simply being 1 man, and the stupidity of the thugs in the fact that they attacked one by one. “It's not too late to surrender your scroll, as we simply need it. We aren't here to deal with you, non-criminal Yakuza-senpai's.”

Marches of Man: the Black Shields. [ALWAYS OPEN]

Yes you should, good sir.

Plague of the North

I'm still around too but you knew that. I have my exams this week so take your time please :)

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

Ayame Choko Fujitora Choko

Girei

---

In Amegakure, the rain trickles down on the muddy ground, seven years before current events.

Two figures, one tall, one short, step through the rain with proud but gentle steps. The rain flows on top of them, but their hooded cloaks prevent it from ever touching them. After more or less fifty steps, the duo halts and both take a look around, making sure they are not being trailed. As soon as it's established that there's nobody there the duo jumps up and dissapears in one of the many pipelines that litter Amegakure. “Strange to be back home.” the short one says as she makes a right turn into a pipe that crossed with the former pipe they were in. “Never realized I could miss rain.” the voice said again, serious but with a remarkably feminine undertone.

"Can't smoke for shit, though." A remarkably irritated voice said, that didn't seem as bucolic toward his hometown. In the shadows of the pipe they had solicited for extra mobility through the village hidden in the rain, a small spark illuminated the area they were in, only to have it permanently cremate the end of a typical cigarette in the hooded man's mouth. "So, where do we go from here?" he'd ask nonchalantly, exhaling smoke as he did so.

The man went unanswered for some time before the duo crossed into another pipe that had a dead end - or atleast, so it'd seem. “We go up.” the small figure said before bowing slightly through her knees and jumping up, up through the pipe before landing on a small platform. She put a few steps forward before hearing the light thud of the figure behind her. The figure then looked around before undoing her hood, revealing herself as Ayame to the rest of the room, which looked empty, but which Ayame knew to be filled with.. someone.

In the corner of the room was a slight growth of moss, with toadstools on it, and on the ceiling there was a large growth of whipvines and leaky spots that dripped onto the ground. Ayame trailed the leaks only to discover more moss and toadstools on the places where the water would land.. curious.

In the center of the room was a large, uneven stone table, but it was impossible to see beyond that table due to the darkness. The room was filled with a severely humid air, which wasn't strange for Amegakure, but certainly strange in pipelines like these, which were usually more dry and cool.

The only sound that was audible was a slight crunch of metal moving against metal as someone seemingly adjusted their position in the back of the room. Ayame stayed quiet as she tried to scan the room, to no avail. Rapidly she turned around and attempted to walk away and jump down the pipe again before something stopped her.

“Thank you..” a feminine, gentle and slightly quiet voice said, although a certain power in her voice could not be denied. “.. for coming.” Ayame closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before turning back around and walking closer to the table again, this time all the way up to it, before laying down her hands on the side of it and leaning on it. “Ofcourse.” she said, still scanning the room to see who was talking to her.

A slight creak, almost eerily like a broken door in an old house, was heard. A door slowly opened before a tall woman, hair black as raven's feathers and eyes white as snow, walked in. Behind her, small, creaky noises could be heard as something walked closer to the door.

On the womans shoulders an umbrella rested, and horizontally across her back a chokuto hang, although the woman didn't look aggressive at all. It was likely a good precaution, as any shinobi would take.

The creaking noises became stronger until footsteps could be heard in tandem. Slowly, a figure could be made out. A man wearing a very strange costume, the type we'd expect from some kind of over the top theatre attire for a historical play. It was generally colored in flashy gold, with red and white addied to the various shapes on his jester-like uniform. "Mistress, must I greet our guests as righteously?" he asked in a cryptic manner. This could only add tension to the duo, in which Fujitora kept his smoke lit and active. He wasn't all that stressed, as shady people came and went in these parts of town all the time. But, it didn't help that these people gave up a dreadful vibe that took the careless expression off his face.

Ayame noticed the change in atmosphere coming off of Fujitora's body - he felt the same thing she felt. This wasn't some regular shinobi.. not some regular slum-lord rogue that simply wanted to murder and earn money while doing it. This woman was greater than that, more powerful and.. more righteous. But they weren't here for that, this woman was a rogue nin and ultimately she had a kill order on her head - that's why they were here. This entire meeting was a farce to kill her, Ayame knew that and so did Fujitora. But.. maybe they should hear what she had to say before they assasinated her.

The woman in front of them waved the man's comment away, letting the jester like creature do it's own bidding. “You may be under me, Gian, but you are still a free person and you are still allowed to do as you see fit as long as it doesn't concern me..” she said gently and affectionately.

The mysterious man grinned at his supposed superior's response before turning his head to the duo. Making a couple of quick steps to keep the Jonin on their toes, he'd enter a halt. Out of nowhere, he'd simply perform a prolonged bow, one arm around his abodmen and the other outstretched behind him, as if he were some kind of cartoon character saluting the individuals while still in a play. "Hello, hello. Welcome to our humble domain. What do you require my fellow adventurers?" his voice was akin to a gentleman's, appearing inviting but all the while unnvering as a hint of dishonesty and malice roamed through his body language and the subtleties of his voice.

"The hell... Aya, any ideas?" Fujitora, still hooded, asked his sister. He wasn't sure what to do toward this peculiar situation. Were they hostile or just oblivious? In any case, they weren't like the thugs they'd usually kill off. “... none.” she simply whispered to him. It seemed unlikely that the woman in front of them did not realize this wasn't a meeting but a showdown, despite the faux meeting. She was too smart and strong to not realize that she was in danger. Yet she came alone with this jester.. It wasn't her concern however, and she fumbled under her long cloak, preparing atleast a dozen senbon. She kept her hands there, however, for now. The time to strike wasn't here yet.. however the plan Fujitora and Ayame had made was pretty failsafe. Fujitora would mark the woman then blow out his signature smoke, to cover the room and put everyone under a genjutsu. Ayame would quickly break free and end the woman, who had been marked, with a few senbon licked in a near instantaneously working poison. The plan was fit for usage whenever they deemed fit.

“Gian, you are scaring the guests.. please, stand in the corner. We will be done shortly and you can return to your sisters.” The woman that spoke to them was awfully quiet, and almost sounded friendly. This didn't seem like the woman that the duo had been sent to kill. Now the woman turned their attention to the two in front of her - Ayame and Fujitora. The man made another over the top bow before taking a couple of steps back, of course he wouldn't actually leave his superior alone, but the shadows concealed him.

“Fujitora.. man of smoke, man of drugs. Ayame, poison and senbon master.” she stated, looking at them with her pale white eyes. “Be careful, those eyes.. Hyuga.” Ayame whispered to Fujitora, never diverting her eyes from the woman in front of her. She couldn't be further from the truth, but in truth it did look like the woman was a Hyuga. “I've heard much of you, even in Kirigakure.. you two have made quite a name for yourself. Ofcourse, you two are also both loyal to Konohagakure, ultimately. I cannot dissuade you to join the Enlightened ones. But perhaps we can strike a d-”

“Fujitora.. no time for a mark. Smoke her.” the man nodded to his sister's demand, releasing a cloud of smoke in the area to trap his target and avoid intervention from her lackeys. To add to this, he'd apply a second genjutsu to his jail one. "Let's dance, Aya." having said the activation word, the parasite soundwaves induced the menace into a genjutsu of inverted direction, allowing Aya to quickly apply an assassination move.

Ayame undid her cloak with a simple upwards movement of both arms, which unclasped it and let the cloak fall down to the floor. She jerked both hands forwards towards Kusaru's last position and unleashed a hell of 12 senbon with poison on them. A sure hit, she was sure of it. To be sure, however, she grabbed another twelve senbon and flung them towards the dark corner in which Gian had crept, assuring that if he was still there (she couldn't see) he'd also die.

As the smoke arose, Gian had immediately reacted to the assault. Diving in the smoke, strangely enough the effects of dependence and overwhelming physical tension of being in it had no effects on him. Added to that, the inverted directions were nothing to him either despite hearing it clearly. Using the smoke to his advatage, he'd remain concealed in order to creep on Fujitora from behind, dual blades rubbing against the back of his neck. Ayame would have noticed that the jester had not made the effort to even dodge them as direct hits could be heard, however, they all seemed to have been countered by one metallic object at the same time. A remarkable feat that normal weapons couldn't achieve. The various holes on his costume would leave even more doubts to her mind as she noticed no shot was missed. What was inside, however, was concealed by the mass of clothes.

"Heh, heh, heh. Guess this relationship is moving a little too fast for you huh?" the costumed man said in mockery to his already submitted opponent. Fujitora, unsure of how he should react and still lacking in strength, didn't move nor talk.

The first thing Ayame noticed was the fact that the woman had vanished, seemingly impervious to the dependence effects of her brothers jutsu. As such she also noticed all twelve senbon sticking out of her former location. It seemed she had completely 100% vanished. A quick glance at Fujitora however uncovered that the man named Gian was standing there holding Fujitora hostage. She clenched her teeth as she reached for her back, pulling out her dai-senbon. She formed a tiger seal and quickly ran a chakra spool through the loop of the needle, before hauling her arm back and then extending it towards Gian. But before she could release the dai-senbon, she felt the cold touch of icy steel against her arm, stopping her from attacking Gian.

From nowhere the lady that was there earlier body flickered back into the room, her cloak still flowing from the sudden movement as her battle armor uncovered itself projecting a slight shiny reflection onto the rest of the room, as did her chokuto. It was then that Ayame realised that they had been completely outclassed, and that these two were not even average jonin rank rogue shinobi.. The woman's white eyes flashed against the black eyes of Ayame as the womans cloak settled. “Kusaru...” she said to the woman, who didn't give a facial reaction to what Ayame said.

“I said.. we can strike a deal. I can give you all you want, but in return..” She didn't finish her sentence as she slowly raised her chokuto from Ayame's arm, revealing she hadn't even cut it or done anything. Without giving as much as a word to Gian, the man would know to stand down and release Fujitora too. “Let's go.” she said with a slightly creepy, but friendly smile. She walked away into the room she had initially come from, leaving Gian behind to guide Ayame and Fujitora away into that room too.

The jester chuckled before retracting the blades in his palms as of they were integrated in him before walking in front of the two siblings. Bowing once more to them in order to congratulate them on their loss before guiding them to the designated room.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

Ayame Choko, “the Sewstress”

Gehika

---

Ayame stopped on the branch she landed on and grabbed onto it with her hands to stop herself from keeling over. Slowly she rose up to stand straight, standing next to Haruka in an imposing stature. She crossed her arms and tilted her head at the young boy. Granite Guard, huh? Technically they hadn't gotten permission to travel here. The boy was fully right in stopping them, but Haruka raised a valid point. Did they really want to start a war for something so simple? She let Haruka finish before responding to the boy. “Tsk. Brats like you should just stay home. We're on a mission, so get out of the way.” Her answer was meant to draw him out as she prepared her senbon under her long sleeves. A quick glance to Haruka, then Sentou and Daiki, would confirm to them her plan. Under her breath she spoke to Haruka, glancing at him shortly again and nodding. “I will end the fight quickly, but be ready for the ronin. He will be closeby.”

Without as much as a second more to waste she threw both hands forwards, throwing six senbon licked in paralyzing poison at the boy. She augmented chakra in her hands quickly and clapped her hands together, before yelling out. “No time for play! SENBON JUTSU: A thousand needles!” The technique name was a mock name as the sound of the clapping motion brought anyone that heard the sound of the clap, including Daiki, Haruka and Sentou under a genjutsu. As if out of thin air a thousand (fake) needles appeared all around the young boy, heading straight for him. He'd grow under the impression that there was nothing he could do to dodge this, as would Daiki, Sentou and Haruka. The technique would, most likely, look very impressive, even though it was a rather simple genjutsu.

In reality there were only six senbon that flew towards the boy headed for the neck, the heart and the lungs, as well as various main arteries. It would take a senbon master to accurarely hit these spots, and luckily for team Ayame, she was actually a senbon master. The genjutsu ended as soon as the tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk! sounds of the senbon hitting their marks were heard. Slowly the other senbon that were part of the genjutsu would fade out and fade from vision. Without a further sound the boy swayed from side to side as Ayame pushed her open palm forwards, controling the senbon with her chakra in them. “Luckily for you, I only brought non-lethal poison today..” she muttered as she pushed the senbon is, slowly at first before she quickly pushed her palm further.

With that the boy fell down to his left, motionless but still breathing. “Haruka! Hide that body. He'll wake up in an hour. Daiki, Sentou, get in position to start trailing the ronin once I hit him.” She said as the turned around, not even caring about the boy that much. He was annoying, and she went over bodies if it would get her towards her goal. Her long cloak flowed behind her as she turned, unvealing some of her leg as she wore green shorts underneath, with only a single fishnet stocking on her right leg, the left being bare. Slowly the cloak fell back in position covering her once more.

---

As soon as everything was ready the team had gotten in position again waiting for the ronin to pass. Almost half an hour passed before a lone man with a sword walked down the path closing in on Kannabi bridge. Ayame waited briefly as he walked closer before she jumped down behind him. “Going somewhere?” she asked as she once again crossed her arms. The long cloak flowed behind her before settling in again, like the dust she had kicked up with her landing. The ronin stopped in his path but didn't turn, instead gripping his sword somewhat tightly as he turned his head 45 degrees. “Merely travelling..” the man answered, now fully turning to the side to take a closer look at Ayame. It didn't seem like he recognised her.. not yet. But his words said something else. “What about you.. miss Choko?” A cheeky grin came upon his face as he now turned his body fully towards Ayame and taking a defensive stance. His right hand rested on the hilt of his blade, which was slightly pulled outwards revealing a centimeter of his blade. His left hand held back the large scroll he had with a strap over his shoulder - almost like a summoning scroll for a giant summon.

Ayame didn't grant him the pleasure of a response and simply moved her hands forwards again like she had done to the Granite Guard boy. Six senbon flew towards the man again before Ayame started forming handseals. It seems she wouldn't go for the genjutsu technique again. “Senbonjutsu: Senbon Coffin!” she said as she suddenly vanished in what seemed like a bodyflicker. She moved so fast only a person with a sharingan would be able to see where she was going. She quickly flickered towards numerous positions around the ronin, throwing senbon at every position before vanishing again. She needed to assure her target was hit with atleast 1 senbon.

With a flick of the arm the ronin pulled out his blade and slashed the senbon away before realizing something was going on on behind him. With some agile movement he turned around and slashed away three more senbon before he felt a stinging pain in his back. “FUCK!” he yelled out which was the cue for Ayame that she had hit her mark atleast once. With that done she retreated to her original position in a final flicker before waving at the man. “You'd better get to Iwagakure soon. They might have an antidote for that..” she said with a mysterious smile on her face. Ofcourse, it was a trick to get him to run, further expending his stamina. This was the cue for Daiki and Haruka to start trailing the man slowly, keeping up with him until Ayame gave the signal whilst Ayame and Sentou stayed behind the man to cut off any retreat he'd have. The poison would take about five minutes to kick in, so he wouldn't get far anyway. But it was important for Sentou that she had the time to use her chidori on the man's legs, something that required good accuracy and time to set up. In which case, Haruka and Daiki would need to keep the man busy for that time, keeping him in one place if at all possible.

With her part done, Ayame retreated into the branches, where she'd meet up with her team who'd likely have been watching the short bout. “He's not very strong, but he's agile, fast and smart. Be careful. Daiki, Haruka, start trailing him while me and Sentou stay closeby. Don't reveal yourself until I give you a sign, and then keep him busy by talking to him, or whatever. Make sure he stays in one spot so Sentou can incapacitate him at the legs. Go!”

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

Saburo Uchiha, “Kimyōna”

Man of the World

---

Saburo looked around some more before he felt his phone buzzing. Bzp! Bp bzp! With a surprised face that didn't mix in with the local populace, he picked the phone from his pocket and then tried to find Takeshi. The boy was standing amidst a group of Kumogakure civilians but looked intently towards a single man, trailing him. Without missing a beat Saburo jumped onto a nearby roof and used his phone to quickly send out a similar message to Akio, notifying her of their current location.

Akio-chan, we have found a man that can lead us to the Yakuza hideout. We are currently on a main street, but the Yakuza man is headed for a street with red lights, otherwise known as a red light street. Please obtain information and intelligence as to why the lights are red and meet us as soon as possible. Saburo.

With the message sent he used his vantage point atop the buildings to jump from building to building, on Takeshi and the man's trails. This was what Saburo excelled at - trailing, intelligence gathering and takedowns. But sadly for him he couldn't take down this Yakuza member. He was likely too lowly ranked to be of importance, and besides that, their plan was to ask back the scroll in a friendly manner. Killing a man would hardly accomodate that, would it?

After some time trailing they arrived at a shady looking house with graffiti tags all over it in the red light district. The man knocked on the door three times, paused for a second, then knocked again before firmly kicking the door. After about a second a man slid open a sliding viewport in the door and then opened the door. It must've been some sort of code. Saburo jumped down next to Takeshi with a serious look on his face. “I think this is it, Takeshi-kun. After all, this is where the man lead us. And if this is not it, well make it, it.” he said with the most serious face Saburo could ever show. He didn't wait long for an answer as he marched up to the door, banged on it three times, paused for a second, knocked once more and then kicked the door. A man appeared in the viewport again and looked at Saburo with questioning eyes. “Konichiwa, comrade! I am Saburo and I want to enter this building! After all your Yakuza-lord criminal man summoned me and my own comrade right there!” he said as he turned his body and pointed at Takeshi-kun.

Obviously the man was kind of weirded out that the boy was so straight up. He was even wearing a Konoha flak-jacket, indicating he was part of the shinobi forces. Never the less Saburo continued, and by now Akio likely would've caught up with the group. “Don't worry, I mean you no harm! I can even pay you a few Ryo if you want that!” he said with a serious face. It took him a moment to realize that, perhaps, he would be easier persuaded if Saburo used a friendlier face.

Slowly his lips turned into a fake smile and his eyes closed to feign happiness. The man just frowned and then opened the door with a loud clunk! Before entering, Saburo would look at Akio-chan and ask with peering eyes, “Akio-chan, have you gathered intelligence about the red lights here? Please notify me. It seems to be crucial to our mission.” The whole concept of whores or whorehouses seemed largely unfamiliar to Saburo, who had after all spent most of his life living in an underground training facility. Likely, the concept of 'sex' was unfamiliar to Saburo too.

With gentle steps Saburo walked into the compound, large booming music meeting his ears as he entered the hallway. Not frightened by it, he continued indoors and walked into what looked like a sort of nightclub. Strange.. they couldn't hear the music outside. The walls must be very thick cement. Upon hearing the music, however, Saburo started acting a bit strange. “Akio-chan.. Takeshi-kun.. I am.. a bit tired.. please, walk me to.. the bar. I want.. a drink...” he'd say as his eyes slowly closed. Likely Takeshi and Akio would feel the same effects upon hearing the music. It was a simple trick by the owners of the club. Genjutsu-music that made people want to buy drinks. It was somewhat innocent, although it didn't really conspire with the Shinobi rules.

Plague of the North

Well, really we're just waiting for Kyle to post collabs or intro's to the scenes - there's really not much to post I suppose.