Starring:
Hige/Yasei, Yasuo/Akumu, Kurome/Shiki
Date: May 4, 2016
Summary:
The ANBU have been called on a secret mission from the Daimyo himself. They are to kill a diplomat without being seen. Can they do it?
"Death of a Diplomat"
Land of Fire
It happened once again. A special mission was assigned to a rather special team. The letters had gone out to Kurome and Yasuo, written with special ink the ANBU used that had to be heated to be seen, then washed away after a few minutes to never be seen again. Their normal meeting place about a mile outside the village was set. Yasei wears the normal ANBU gear minus the sword, his mask pulled over his face and his hair standing up in a spikey way for the moment. Konsho, or Shiawase, was there next to him, fur as black as night. And next to him was Kizokue, or rather Obake. A bit of gray was blended into his otherwise pure white fur, giving him a ghostly appearance. And there they wait for the arrival of the others. Oh yes, and it's late night, summer, so warm and cloudless.
Having received the letter, Yasuo, or rather Akumu, would show up at the meeting place, adorned in normal ANBU attire, lacking the sword as well. The way his extremey long hair flows around the mask, it almost looks like just a skull. As he arrives, he nods to each of the Inuzuka trio then waits silently for the last member of their party to arrive so the mission can be explained.
Kurome eyes the letter and would swiftly get ready when the time came. She also had to take a moment to get all her ANBU gear in order before she set out. "Shiki reporting for duty," she says simply once she would arrive, giving a nod to Yasuo and the Inuzuka. She wasn't late :| They all were just early, gosh…
Yasei nods to Akumu as he arrives, then to Shiki as well, saying nothing for how late they were or were not. He simply acknowledges their presence before explaining the mission. All professional and such. "The Daimyo himself has ordered this mission. There is a caravan traveling south and east of us on their way to the Land of Water. With them is a delegate from another nation. Our mission is to steal the sword from the Captain of the Guard and use it to kill the man, all without being seen by any of the others. Questions?" He looks between the two then and waits. He'd already gone over this with the ninken and they knew what they were going to be doing.
Nodding to Shiki as she arrives, Akumu acknowledges her before turning his attention back to Yaei and awaiting their instruction. So an assassination coupled with framing one of the man's own protectors for the assassination. Simple enough. "Only what our exact roles are," he states when asked if they have questions. He assumes his will be something to do with using his Byakugan to help spy out their targets' exact locations.
Shiki can't help but wonder if maybe she wouldn't be very useful again. Maybe she would serve as a good distraction? The woman would nod to Yasei, though, when he told them of the mission. "Understood," she says, eyes turning a pale red that could almost be called pink. Three black tomoe interrupted the color, a symbol of her having mastered her Sharingan.
"Of course," Yasei says with an understanding nod to Akumu. "I'll be relying on you to locate the diplomat as well as the Captain." He looks to Shiki then before he speaks once more. "Your duty will be to watch all the guards and any other movement inside and outside of the camp. If it's patrols then memorize the routes. Find us the best way in. Assuming the Captain is sleeping, Shiawase will grab the sword. We'll figure out what to do from there depending on who's asleep and who's awake." He looks between the others once more to make sure there's nothing more before he nods and turns to jump tree-ward, heading out towards the mission location with Shiawase bringing up the rear.
About what he figured. Akumu nods to Yasei, saying, "Understood." He gives Shiki a brief glance then turns to take off with the Inuzuka trio toward the location of the assassination through the trees. Unless spoken to, he is silently as they move along, using his Byakugan to keep an eye out on the area around them as well as to notify them when they are near the area or if there might be enemies or other factors in the area that were not anticpated.
"Sounds easy enough," Kurome- Err, Shiki- would note casually. She would stick nearer the back of the group, letting Yasei and Akumu take over on the scouting while she would just keep an eye out for general danger. She didn't need to be uptight on the first leg of the journey, so she was trying to make sure she didn't get tired just yet.
The group moves quickly and quietly through the night and don't run into any problems along the way. They spot a group of bandits sitting around a fire, celebrating their latest haul. Another camp of travelers who were already asleep for the night. Various people doing various things along the way. And then they finally reach the location for their mission to begin.
The camp took up a good sized area. There were near twenty tents pitched in ever growing circles around the middle tent where the diplomat likely slept. Next to that tent was one smaller, yet larger than the others. The Captains tent?
Yasei crouches in the foliage behind a few trees before the break and the large clearing the camp is in. Feral eyes scan the area from behind the mask before he glances over at the other two humans. "Get to work."
As they arrive, Akumu continues to scan out with his Byakugan. He takes a moment to look the entire area around them over, going through each area carefully. Pointing at the largest tent, he whispers, "The diplomat is in there with two guards at his door." His finger then moves to the tent beside it, saying, "The captain is in there. He is unguarded… Most of the people in the camp are inside their tents, but a few are sitting at fires."
Shiki doesn't have the greatest eyesight, apparently, but she would eventually notice a pattern in how the different groups were moving. It looked like a patrol or three, but they were all lazy. She tried to memorize the paths that they tended to take, even going so far as to scribble some things down in the dirt… Which didn't work out well, but it helped her memory. When the time came to report, she offered, "We could slip in easily. There are several gaps in their patrols, and we won't encounter anyone if we time it right."
Yasei nods slowly at the reports, his own eyes watching just as well. "There's lamps on in the two tents we have to go into. Are they awake? Or do they just have a light on in another part of their tent?" He stares into the camp, not wanting to move until they knew everything they'd need and had a solid plan to continue on with. "Could you lead us around the ones outside their tents Akumu?"
"They're awake," Akumu answers then nods to Yasei in response to his request. He waves for them to follow then turns to begin leading them around through the camp. He uses his Byakugan to judge where to lead them around so they are not spotted or heard moving so they can reach their destination unseen.
Shiki would help Akumu a bit in directing their group. She had kept the routes in the back of her head, and she pointed out where they might run into trouble with two patrols crossing if need be. She was trying to be as careful as possible, of course. ANBU helped with her stealthy abilities, but not really by much …
There was definitely a need for stealth training. Yasei would have to remember that for later. As Shiki led them past the patrols Yasei would talk to the ninken. All non-verbal, really. Akumu is able to lead them past the soldiers off duty that are inside the camp with ease. By the way they're all acting they don't expect the diplomat to be any kind of target. If anything bandits would try and raid the place, but they'd be loud.
They end up near the Captain's tent and, luckily, the other tents have left a wide margin between them and the two leaders. This is where they stored items, giving the shinobi places to hide while they figured out the rest of the plan. Yasei has moved from whispering to hand signs, motioning to Akumu 'Where is the sword?'
Akumu scans over the tent for several moments while trying to pick out the details needed. Finally he spots the sword and says, "It's on top of a chest in the back room of the tent. One of your ninken could probably slip in and grab it so long as they do it quietly."
Shiki takes a moment to scan the camp, checking to see if anyone that might be bad for the team is awake. Of course, bad means 'relatively high levels of chakra', since she can see that sort of thing with her Sharingan active.
None of those within the camp have a high level of chakra. The highest is from the Captain and he's far from being a shinobi. Yasei would give a nod to Akumu, then motion for them to stay put. He and Shiawase move around back behind the tent to the secondary room. From there Yasei very carefully and slowly lifts the edge of the tent. Shiawase may be big but a lot of it is fluff. He flattens himself out and slowly scoots himself through the gap that Yasei has opened.
While they work on that there are other problems arising. People have started moving around in their tents and it seems like they might be coming out soon. Perhaps they came in at a changing of the guard? It's a bad sign.
As people start to move around, Akumu frowns slightly beneath his mask and motions for Shiki to move with him to a spot behind the tent that is shielded from view from most angles that someone might pass that he can pick out with his Byakugan. Hopefully Shiki can use her Genjutsu to make anyone who might notice them believe they haven't or at least signal Yasei that people are moving around.
Shiki moves with Akumu when she starts to notice movements. If anyone just happened to come over, she could maybe deal with them… But let's just say it was more than a little risky if they decided to check on the spot Akumu chose. Shiki's eyes shifted slightly in color, the pale shades deepening to a bright-red…
Obake moves with the other two, having stayed behind with them. Yasei and Shiawase continue to retrieve the sword, the overgrown pup slinking through much more quietly than you might think is possible. But with his strength he's able to lift the sword silently and take it back to Yasei, then slink back out again. Of course the movements haven't stopped by then and in fact they've increased. A few soldiers are coming out of their tents and stretching in the dark. The shinobi are hiding well enough however that no one has noticed them yet. Of course, no one really looks this far into camp. Yasei notices what's going on and motions quickly for the others to join him in the dark behind the Captain's tent.
With a simple nod to Yasei, Akumu moves at flicker speed over to join him in the spot he chose to hide in. A glance would be given to be sure Shiki joins them before he looks to Yasei and waits for orders for what to do next. Patience is rather key in a mission like this, though he's apparenly got that in spades from waiting so long for an opportunity to escape the lab he was in.
Shiki is about as impatient as Akumu is patient, by the looks of things. She probably just doesn't like being right in the middle of the enemy lines so close to being detected, though, when she knows that if they happened to come over, she really would have difficulties in protecting her teammates and also completing the mission. Yasei's signal was followed swiftly, and she moved silently to join the fellow ANBU before looking to Yasei. 'What now?' she signals/asks.
There's no hesitation from Yasei. He taps Akumu and motions to the sword, then to the tent of the of the diplomat. 'Use your eyes, go in, kill quietly when there is an opening.' He looks to Shiki then. 'Genjutsu to hide?' It would be the easiest way to deal with these people, at least by staying hidden. Any deaths of the soldiers would be unnecessary and had a chance of ruining things.
Huh, so Akumu is to make the kill. He supposes it makes sense since he has the best chance of seeing if anyone might be near that could detect his movements. With a nod he reaches into his pocket and grabs a pair of gloves to put them on so as to keep his fingerprints off the sword. With that done he takes the sword and moves swiftly to the diplomat's tent, using his Byakugan to move around to where he can slip in quietly directly behind the diplomat where no one else would see. Assuming he gets in unseen and unheard, in a single motion he puts his hand over the man's mouth and nose to keep him from crying out and plunges the sword directly through his heart.
'A bit inefficient. Can do one at a time, but forgot to learn a stealthier version of a jutsu…. Sue me.' Shiki would tell Yasei. The woman would glance over when Akumu started moving, making sure to watch for anyone who happened to be moving around. She'd like to trap people in an illusion /before/ anything was suspected…
It's hard to tell Yasei's thoughts from behind a mask, but there's something about the look he gives Shiki that says she will fix that. He scans the area with all his senses before he nods in a direction opposite the way they'd come in. 'That way when Akumu comes back. The first guard you see that might spot us use your genjutsu.'
While they wait outside, on the inside of the tent things go as planned. The diplomat doesn't suspect a thing as he sits overlooking some papers on a makeshift desk. And then he's dead without even the ability to let out a sound. He slumps forward onto the desk, blood draining all over the ground.
As the diplomat slumps over, Akumu leaves the blade in him and turns to duck out of the tent the same way he came in. Using his Byakugan to avoid guards again, he makes his way back over to where Yasei and Shiki are. Assuming there are no complications, he signals to notify them that the deed is done and they can make their getaway.
Yes yes, she'll get right on that… Someday. Shiki would just incline her head slightly and her attention would be on the guards. She was trying to catch one of their gazes now, to sort of make a pre-hypnotizing effect to make him think everything is fine with life. Yep. Just as a precaution. The illusion itself is pretty strong, so he shouldn't realize that he was being put under a Genjutsu unless he was properly trained… Hopefully.
When Akumu returns and signals that he'd completed the task Yasei nods, then motions for Shiki to lead them out, casting her genjutsu on anyone they might come in contact with. He'd prefer to remain unseen if possible. There would be so much trouble otherwise…And he didn't like dealing with trouble. Moving from shadow to shadow the ANBU is quick and silent on their way out of the camp.
Assuming Shiki is successful in keeping them unseen, Akumu follows Yasei's lead out of the camp. He uses his Byakugan to be sure their path is clear and inform Yasei if it becomes otherwise. So far, though, it would seem they might have pulled this one off without a hitch.
Hopefully the group just didn't encounter anyone at all. But if Akumu happened to notice that they were on their way towards an 'enemy', then Shiki would focus her attention on the upcoming guard and 'convince' him that there was nothing to fear on this lovely, totally normal evening. As long as she just took the people one at a time, it would work out A-OK! …
With Shiki's genjutsu work on keeping the few guards they come across from seeing them, the group of ANBU make it out without incident. A little further on and they bypass the patrolling guards as well and are home free. They've barely left when they hear a cry of alarm go up from within the camp, signifying that the body had been found. Whatever happens after that the shinobi won't know. Yasei pauses only to glance back once the alarm sounds but then he turns to lead the team quickly back to Konoha. Mission complete!
