Starring:
Date: July 18, 2015
Summary:
Suspecting their may be a traitor inside the administration of Konoha, Hige sets up a false mission to see if his theory is correct.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Cold Case - Sniffing out a Traitor"
Land of Fire
It's a fairly decent day in Konoha today. Snow blankets the ground but the weather at this point in time is cloudless and sunny. Besides the fact that it makes the snow blinding, it's not all that bad. It's not even freezing out, just a bit cool is all. Early morning is what it is, and messages is what everyone gets. His team receives the message of course because they are his team. Zori get's the message for some odd reason as well. Obviously because it's Zori's plot, even if the other teen may not know why he was summoned. They were all instructed to meet at the gate after breakfast and be prepared to be gone the whole day.
Hige and Konsho are already there, waiting at the gate in what has at this point become a rather familiar pose. Hige leans back against one of the open gate doors with his arms crossed over his chest and one foot resting against the door. Konsho sits nearby, watching outside the village for anything that might catch his interest while they await the arrival of the others.
Shizuka casually walks her way towards the entrance and wiggles her fingers a bit. She seems rather calm about heading into another mission, so close after the recluse mountain mission. Nevertheless, Shizuka makes her way towards the entrance and waves towards Hige as she spots him. It's not hard to spot she's improved a little, though she's still mopping up the last of her bread from breakfast.
Zori received the message. While reading it he raises an eyebrow. Interesting.. Im being summoned to the Konoha gates. I wonder why.. Zori packs up his supplies into his backpack. Equipping a set of wires on both of his wrist, he heads out his room flinging the backpack unto his back. He chooses to walk to his destination this time. Zori arrives at the Konoha gates, walking into the area. He would then stop in front of Hige, looking directly at him. "Whats up?" Zori seems to be treating Hige with a little more respect then before. What happened? Either way Zori ignores the others.
Arriving at the gates, Kajiru is a little annoyed at the sight of Zori. She either way arrives as she was ordered and smiles at Shizuka. She moves up to beside her and runs a hand through her hair, "What's up?" She asks Hige and then glances over at the others for only a moment.
Hige looks over each of the three as they arrive, nodding to them in greeting. Once everyone's there he pushes off of the gates and steps forward, hands moving to his pockets as he looks them all over. "We're going on a mission to follow up on a lead I have. I'll explain more once we're on the way. We've got a few hours to travel so I'll be able to fill you in as we go. Just know that I expect we'll run into some trouble so be ready for anything. Understood?" He looks between them all, eyes narrowing slightly. "This is going to be dangerous, so I want to watch each others backs. I won't take any snort on this mission. Treat each other professionally."
"Done." Shizuka says with a nod, smiling to Kajiru as she comes up. "Lead the way and I'll do my best to cover you guys." She looks to Zori, but doesn't acknowledge him. She doesn't frown at him, but she DOES expect him to follow Hige's orders…..at least.
"Heh, Alright" Zori looks over at Kajiru and Shizuka and gives them a smirk. He turns back around blank faced back at Hige. "So were going through with it afterall" Zori waits for Hige's further instructions. Of course im going to protect the others.. Hehehe.
A look at Hige and she gives a nod, "Fine." She states simply enough and then looks to Zori for a moment before looking to Shizuka, "Just do your best." She nods her head and smiles, "That's all anyone can ask." She grins, "I'll just be awesome is all."
Hige looks over the three before he nods, "Alright, let's go." With that Hige turns and takes to the trees, moving at a moderate pace so that the others can keep up and it won't tire them out. Hige takes point while Konsho picks up the rear as he always does. "Everyone keep your eyes and ears open. I don't expect trouble but at this point I can't be entirely sure." He continues to travel in silence then, not explaining anything as they go like he said he would. He seems surprisingly focused as he moves, semi-feral eyes staring straight ahead.
Shizuka is in the middle since Zori would probably be in front of her, being faster and more into close combat than she is. She does keep close to Kajiru though, and focuses her chakra when she needs to. But she doesn't use the Byakugan yet. It would be more draining to use it wil moving.
Zori hears Hige say lets go. "Alright then, eyes and ears are open." He quickly follows Hige into the trees moving in front of Shizuka. He is now behind Hige moving at a moderate pace as well. Zori summons a bunch of wires within the area. Zori listens for any vibrations through the wires, he focuses chakra while doing so.
A nod to Hige and Kajiru is on her way as well. Moving as quickly as she is able. Even as they move along, she is sniffing at the air and listening to the area around. She keeps pace very quickly and easily, quite the quick little genin. She doesn't have much to say for now.
Hige is silent until they are almost an hour outside of the village, at which point he calls a stop in one of the many large trees and motions for the others to gather around him. "There's a traitor within the village administration," he says once everyone is gathered, serious eyes scanning the three for their reaction at this news. "Whoever this person is they seem very intent on making sure that any lead I come up with in searching for Zori's friend's killer ends up gone by the time we arrive. I have tested this theory and found it's true. Unlike last time where I just watched, this time we're going to capture the leader of whatever group is sent to try and stop us."
He lets that sink in for a moment before turning to point in the direction they're going. "A few miles ahead we'll reach an abandoned cottage. I submitted a mission briefing saying someone was hiding there that had information. I believe they will have sent men to kill the person and stop us. They won't have the chance since there really isn't anyone there. And they'll still have to deal with us. I don't know who else might be involved, but I trust my team. And Zori has been with me the last few times so I know he's not involved. We can kill the others, but leave the leader alive. Any questions?"
"None here, Hige." Shizuka says before looking to Zori. It explained a lot about Zori, but it didn't excuse his behavior at all. She shook her head before taking a breath for herself. "How do you want it to go down, Hige?"
Zori had stopped into the large tree when told so. He listens to Hige for a moment. His eyes peering around for suspicious activities. His wires are within the area as well waiting for any type of physical contact upon them. Zori responds to Hige "Hmm..i see. So leave the leader alive.. and kill the others. Hehehe. Sounds delightful." Zori says in a dark tone as he chuckles slowly. His grin resurfaces upon his face as he stares at Hige. His eyes dart over to Kajiru and Shizuka. He wants to say something to them but he figures that they wouldnt be listening to him anyway. Zori then focuses more chakra into his wires to try to increase the sensation power of them.
Rushing along, Kajiru nods to this and then grins as she listens, "Good…" She chuckles, "I'll pin him down and make him talk!" She declares though quietly. She then immediately takes a breath and starts to change. Her fingers like claws, her toes, too. Her teeth becoming tiny daggers as her ears move up into fuzzy half circles. A fluffy tail sprouts as she prepares and continues to look around. A growly little voice comes out, "Ready."
Hige looks between each of the others as they speak to make sure they understand what they're dealing with and what they're doing. In the end he nods. "It's going to go like this: Konsho and I will play bait to draw them out of the cottage. You three will hide in the trees surrounding the cabin and attack once they're all out. While you take care of the ones outside Konsho and I will clear the cabin to make sure no one is hiding. If this group is like the others the leader will likely have a big mouth and shown reverence among the others, so he should be easy to spot."
Hige looks over them again, especially Kajiru as she sprouts a tail. Aww, how cute! "Remember what I said. Watch each other's backs." His semi-feral eyes settle on Zori at that. It's unlikely Hige will take any snuff from the other boy at this point, especially considering he's still even helping him with this thing. He could've just dropped it when Zori caused trouble, but he didn't. "Alright, let's go." Hige turns then and continues on through the trees. It only takes them another five minutes to reach the destination and Hige signals for the three of them to surround the cottage from the trees.
As they arrive Zori would be able to tell there were four or five based on the vibrations from inside the cottage, certainly not a single man. A shadow moves in front of the window on Shizuka's side of the cottage, then vanishes again. And Kajiru would be able to smell the stench of the men inside, overpowering as it was, mixed in with the faint smell of blade oil.
Nodding, Shizuka goes to hide in her designated spot. once there, she watches the cottage with her normal eyes, since the Byakugan would only hinder her at this point. She nibbles her lip, but she was going to watch over her team as best as she could…..even Zori…if it came to that.
Zori notices Hige gave him that semi feral look he looks at Hige and responds "Protect each others back.." Zori sighs. "I got it." Zori nods to Hige. It was then moments later he could feel vibrations coming from his wires. 4? No.. wait 5 of them or is it 4?. Dont matter im ready to kill them all! ..except the Leader. Man that Hige has gotten soft. Zori looks at Hige, Shizuka and Kajiru "I feel the vibrations of 4 or 5 of the men coming from inside cottage. Its definately a group of them." Zori turns his head to the cottage as he glares down at it.
Slipping up quietly, Kajiru doesn't say a word. She doesn't want to be heard let alone seen. She slips along silently and looks at Zori only to hear him before she looks forward. She sniffs and wrinkles her nose, shaking her head a little as she growls ever so feintly. She moves into a good position to try to rip apart the first non-leadery person she can get her claws into.
Hige pauses to listen to what Zori has to say before he nods and looks to Konsho. The two move back a ways before dropping out of the trees, giving it the impression that they walked into the area from the road by themselves. "This is it Konsho, I hope he's here." Hige says, frowning faintly as he stops a good twenty feet from the door. For a few moments nothing happens, then the door suddenly bursts outward in an explosion of fire.
"Well lookie here, we got ourselves an Inuzuka," one man says as he saunters out of the house, looking straight at the boy and ninken. Four others follow after, standing to either side of the man who is likely the leader given how they all seem to be following him for the moment.
"Not yet you don't," Hige says, smirking at the man before taking a few steps back, then turning and running. The man lets out a curse and starts to chase after Hige while the other four look confused. Why was he running? They're a bit behind their leader as they uncertainly start to follow.
When she sees Hige take off, Shizuka waits patiently as the leader goes after him, and the rest of them trail behind. She follows behind them until one gets tired, which doesn't take long because they're not trained. It's then she leaps out of the trees and attacks to silently knock the guy out.
Zori watches as the situation unfolds. When the men start to chase after Hige. Zori looks passed the leader glaring down at the other 4 men. He snickers when he see Shizuka going in for a sneak attack on one of them. Zori stays put, but his wires doesnt. They lash out at the one Shizuka is trying to knock out, if successful the wires would wrap up the man and pull him up into the big tree where Zori is. Zori would then stare at him, wires securely wrapped around his mouth to try to prevent noise if possible.
It appears that, in a way, three of the men are rather lucky. They come out with their leader, they all focus in on Hige. One will be attacked by a Shizuka. Another will be attacked by getting perhaps lashed by a string and yanked up into a tree. Another? Well, he's the unlucky one. Kajiru races up to the man on the far right and dives at him, claws extended. She'll attempt to knock him down and if she can't do that at least, she's going to end up latched on to him with claws and teeth. Her teeth will aim to sink into shoulder while both her feet and claws will start raking wildly while she shakes with her mouth to try to rip the poor guy apart. She's…not exactly a clean fighter.
The poor man doesn't even know what hit him. He goes down when Shizuka knocks him in the back head and starts to collpase, but is quickly taken back up by Zori's wires. Zori has caught an unconscious person. Worst fishing ever. The man caught by Kajiru lets out a shout when he goes down and he starts to scream until blood starts coming up instead of sound. It doesn't take long before he stops moving.
The scream and gurgling grabbed the attention of the other two apparently as they return to see what the noise was about. Upon seeing Kajiru's mess they stare in shock before letting out cries of their own and attacking. One has an unwieldy axe that he chases after Kajiru with while the other has a kunai that he attacks Shizuka with.
The kunai slices in the air where SHizuka was, but she had already ducked. Gettign in that close with a Hyuga was almost always a mistake. Grabbing the man's arm, she hit him with a two fingered thrust into his arm, then another into his shoulder, before her last strike was right into the man's diaphragm……if they all hit. If they did….he would be in serious trouble.
With the man pulled up into the tree, Zori stared at him. It seemed the man was unconcious. Oh well.. Too bad for him. "Unconcious? Good." is said in a dark tone. Zori snickers softly "Hehehe" His wires then begin to twist and squeeze the unconcious man.
The man coming at her with an axe gets growled at and stared at. She simply rushes under hte attack to attempt to pounce upon that man, too. It's probably best not to look her way, she's enjoying herself to a degree and begins to maul that man, too. Seems it's not a good day to be this guy or the last one Kajiru attacked. She's savage but effective in her actions only to stop once she feels him stop moving whether via unconsciousness or otherwise.
The man that goes after Shizuka seems surprised when she's able to dodge his slice, then the next thing he knows he can't move. With his chakra channels closed he feels a whole lot pain as he topples over, unable to move or even scream. That really hurts!
All that is seen of Kajiru's attacker is the axe as it goes flying haphazardly into the air and thuds softly into the ground nearby. After that all that's left is just blood and guts as Kajiru again tears another person apart. Poor poor guy.
As for the unconscious man that Zori kidnapped, well now he's unconscious and dead. Which kind of makes being unconscious a moot point doesn't it?
Shizuka leans over and chuckles. "Stay still and quiet, and you might live long enough to see incarceration." SHizuka says before she starts to race after Hige and his pursuer. And yes…she plans on keeping this guy alive and thanking whatever god he follows that a Hyuga is merciful.
Zori squeezed the man with his wires till he felt bones cracking. He then tosses the dead man out the tree as the body falls down to the ground. "Hmm that was too easy." Zori still in the tree looks out the tree scanning the area and see's two men already torn apart, the bodies just laying there. "Looks like Kajiru's handywork alright. Heh. Not bad." Zori continues to look around and notices that Shizuka had subdued one of the men. Zori jumps out the tree sommersaulting landing next to Shizuka. Zori looks at the man and snickers. His eyes dart over to Shizuka "What are you doing? Kill Him! Better yet…Your too soft. I will do it. Mehehe" Zori's wires lash out at the man in pursuit of wrapping up around his neck, he would then be picked up into the air. Hanging by his neck. He glares the man.
After the death of the man she is on, Kajiru simply spits out what she can of his blood and then growls slowly. She looks over at the others and lets them fight out whatever it is they intend to fight out. Instead she starts to sniff about and listen, trying to figure out whate became of Hige and his 'quarry'.
Hige and Konsho aren't far off. They actually come around the curve of the path with Hige dragging the tied up leader behind him. He drops him and Konsho sits on the man to keep him from moving while Hige looks forward to check on the others, scanning the destruction in the area as well before looking to Zori and the man who is currently choking in his wires. Since the man can't move thanks to the chakra points being shut down he can only watch himself die. Hige just watches Zori the entire time, wondering exactly what might happen here.
Stopping when she sees Hige and Konsho, Shizuka smiles a bit, before she looks back towards Zori and shaking her head. "Hige, Stop him please." Shizuka says to Hige. "It's better to have two people to interrogate instead of one. That way if one of them lies to us, we can get the information out of the other."
The man still lingering in the air by wire, Zori turns his head and looks over at Hige. He could see that Hige had captured the leader. Zori snickers "Capture the leader..Kill the others." Zori eyes Hige "Isn't that right? Hige?" Zori's grin widens wide toothed showing top and bottom sets of teeth.
In this case, Kajiru has no opinion or anywhere to say to save them. After all, her claws are buried in blood and she is still drooling a bit of it, too. She simply moves to the side to graba bit of water to wash her mouth out with as she watches the proceedings.
"That's what I said Zori," Hige says, nodding. "However from what I can see you weren't the one that took this man down, so it's really not your choice. If she wants to take him as a prisoner she can. I said we can kill the others, not that it was mandatory. Let him go." Hige looks to the cottage a moment before turning to go back to the leader. "It's time to head back."
"Which means he is MY prisoner, Zori. Now. Let. Him. GO!" Shizuka literally barks out to Zori with an authority that is…..quite unlike her. Usually so calm, quiet and insightful, she literally reiterates Hige's command. No, she's not enjoying this at all, but Zori, to her is way too bloodthirsty to trust completely.
Zori moves the man closer to the ground. He lets go of the man. Turning his head over to Shizuka. "There..cry baby. I let him go." Zori turns his head away from Shizuka over to Hige "There…"
Shrugging, Kajiru walks over as she idly flicks her fingers a little as the claws recede. She turns back into her normal self and nods her head, "Well, what we gonna do about them then now?" She hmms and looks to Hige, "Seeing as you think what you think?" Seh then looks at the guy on the ground before she looks up to Hige, "I'm not good at interrogatin'."
"I have a place ready for them outside of the Village. We'll take them there and once they've recovered some I'll take care of the interrogating myself." Hige turns back to face Zori and the others, though his eyes settle on the former first. "Remember what I said about name calling members of my team, Zori? This is your only warning." He doesn't go into any of it, that's simply it. He turns once more and hefts the leader over his shoulder which is quite a sight considering his size. Konsho moves over to the other one and has Shizuka tie him up, then has Zori help put the man on his back. "Good job you guys. Dinner's on me when we get back."
Shizuka nods to Hige and smiles at his praise, which pretty much drowns out anything Zori can possibly say to her. She ties the man up fairly easily and gets him to his feet. "Now I suggest you behave yourself and come with us peacefully, or I let the psychopath finish what he started." BLunt, isn't she?
A frown as she looks at Zori and then she blinks and hears the only part that matters to her anymore. She punches into the air, "Yay! Dinner!" She declares and then starts to trot off all happy.
Hige leads them to a small house in the woods where an older couple lives. When they see Hige and Konsho they wave them in. A secret door is opened in one of the rooms that leads to into a small secret dungeon. The two men are deposited there and then Hige leads the team back to the Village only a mile or so away. And he does, indeed, treat them to dinner.
