Starring:
Date: August 27, 2012
Summary:
Three Konoha ninja are called in by a city's police force to assist in capturing a criminal organization. Before a the police raid an inn full of the criminals, Atsuro, Ryo, and Soren must find a stockpile of bombs.
Poster's note: Profanity filtered in obvious places.
"Getting Inn Trouble"
Yoriki, a city in the Land of Fire
Yoriki. A small city in a pastoral region of the Land of Fire, it's best known for its lovely traditional architecture. Large, gently curved roofs, thin shoji walls, and tatami flooring. Nearly every building in the city is built like this. This picturesque appearance belies the recent troubles in the city, however. In recent months, Yoriki has been plagued by a group of bomb-throwing anarchists. Just recently, the police have tracked the anarchists to a small inn in the city.
Believing that they can capture the majority of the anarchists, as well as the ringleaders, Yoriki's police have planned a raid on the in tonight. They've gathered a great deal of evidence on the inn and its patrons, but they've still got one problem: they don't know where the bombs are kept. And that's definitely a problem. If they don't secure the bombs swiftly, they might simply be smuggled out in the confusion of the raid and the bombings will continue. Or, worse yet, an anarchist might decide to take the inn down with him and set the bombs off. Neither outcome is acceptable.
After considering their options, the police have decided to hire some Leaf nin. The team won't be participating in the raid. Their main objective is to find and secure the bombs, ideally before the raid even starts. The ninja, and part of the police force, are currently hiding out in an out of the way alley not far from the inn. Atsuro, having just finished talking with the leader of the raid, walks over to the rest of the group. To avoid arousing suspicion, the ninja have been given kimono that blend in with the surrounding scenery. Similar in design (though not appearance) to those used by the police, they should allow for some weapons to be concealed in them and allow a reasonable level of agility. Even Taizen is wearing the kimono, having turned into a second Atsuro through use of Inuzuka techniques ("If anyone asks, he's my mute twin," Atsuro instructed).
"All right," Atsuro starts. "Once we're inside, they're giving us fifteen minutes before they start the raid. We need to do our best to get the bombs before it starts. They police know they're not on the main floor, so that leaves the upper floor, which is where they have the rooms, and the cellar. The question is how we enter. We could go in through a window on the second floor, or look and see if there's some way to get into the cellar from the street. Or we can go right in the front. Less suspicious if we're noticed that way, but we're a lot more likely to be noticed, and that means they'll be keeping an eye on us, even if they aren't actually wary of us. Any ideas?"
Ryo looks towards Atsuro and Taizen before thinking over the situation. "If I were hiding out somewhere and wanted to fortify my position, I would have set the base of the inn to explode. There would be more damage caused that way." He then glances around once more. "If we move in through an opening in the cellar, it may be trapped. Going in the front door may cause someone to want to detonate an explosion if they sense we're a danger."
The Uchiha boy had never been to this part of the nation. It was a very artistic place. He enjoyed most the sights and the fact that someone would destroy them with explosions seemed to be quite jerkish thing to do. "Why is it the police do not want us to do the entire raid? We have the man power to do it and the ability to ensure they do not get hurt."
Soren glanced at the both of them, adjusting his Kimono again. He -haaaated- formal wear. It was alway so uncomfortable. Needlessly uncomfortable at that. But a mission was a mission, and if this was required, he'd be happy to wear it. Although he had refused to remove his gloves. They were hidden easily enough, and they had the storage seals with -all- sorens weapons in them. No way was he losing those.
"So then, our options become, possibly get blown up by an itchy trigger finger, or try to sneak in, avoiding the traps. And the reason they don't want us to do the entire raid is because they don't want to feel useless. It's their job to protect these people. If we take that from them, then why are they here?" Soren says with a shrug. "Either way, we have 3 options currently. We walk in, act like we have reservations, and knock out dudes as needed, we sneak in, and try not to set off any booby traps, or one of us makes a distraction while the other two sneak in. Oppinions?"
"In other words," Atsuro says, summing up Ryo's thoughts, "You want to go somewhere that would be open to the public, but allows us to avoid drawing attention to ourselves: the upper floor." He grins. "Okay, woah there. I might agree with your assessment of how to get in, but you're suggesting we do more work now? Anyway, the police think there could be as many as forty members of the group in there, in different rooms, and some of them will run away and some will fight. I dunno, ninja or no, subduing all of them /and/ making sure the bombs stay put is a pretty tall order."
He turns to Soren, hoping to get some input from that side. "You too, huh?" he asks, "Man, the balls on you two. It sounded like a reasonable explanation to me." He sighs and shakes his head, "I overheard them mentioning that they needed a couple more people to lead the charge on one of the other teams. Tai and I can handle the bombs on our own, if you want, and I'll talk to them so you two can go spill blood and beat your chests."
"Finding the bombs is priority. If one goes off we might as well kiss the raids good bye." Ryo hated to admit it, but the amount of people made it seem a little bit more like a planned operation would be wiser. "I was thinking maybe a service door in the back. We could move through maybe a kitchen or something and try to hit the cellar. That or between my eyes and your nose, we could probably tell if a window is trapped."
Soren shrugged. "And I make a mean 'drunk'. I'm pretty sure if I staggered in the front door, I'd catch enough attention without presenting any 'actual' danger." he says with a grin. "Give em something to laugh about, and you guys can go in, all sneaky like, and find out where they've got the bombs, you know? Just a suggestion. And that way, as few people as possible have to get bloody."
"Boy," says Atsuro, shaking his head. "You two just can't make up your minds, can you?" He takes a few seconds to come up with a plan. "Okay," he decides. "Soren does his thing and draws the attention away from Ryo and I who are sneaking down the stairs into the cellar. Tai'll stay upstairs, just in case Soren needs some backup. Sound good?"
Once the plan has been solidified, Atsuro informs the police captain, then the group heads for the inn. "Alright then," he says quietly. "Ryo and I go in first, Soren comes in a few seconds after and pulls their attention. Ryo and I find the stairs down to the cellar ASAP. Clear?" Once he's gotten confirmation, he steps into the inn.
Ryo listens to the plan and then nods his head. He was certain now that he could not use his eyes or someone would figure them out. After following Atsuro into the inn, he raises a hand up to his forehead. He gives a small yawn and tries to use his hand to hide his eye from scanning to the right of his hand. He finds the stairs where they are suppose to be. Then after that he follows behind Atsuro.
A few moments later, giving Ryo and Atsuro plenty of time to get to the stairs, the front doors of the inn are slammed open!
"Yo! Tourist in the hiz-*hic*… oof, that… tasted like Sake, rancid fish, and someone's foot…" he half yells, a bottle sloshing around in his hand (I wonder where that came from?), stumbling into the inn, over towards one of the people just standing in the lobby, hanging off their shoulder like an old friend who's drunk off his patook. "Yah kno sometin'? I'm not entirely sure where i'm a'…" he says straight faced, before he starts giggling like a maniac. "HEY! Does -anyone- know if this is the panda inn?" The actual Panda Inn happened to be acrossed town. "They have -fantastic- drink selecshun…"
With Soren's distraction drawing attention away from other people entering the inn, it's easy enough for Atsuro and Ryo to make their way to the stairs without getting caught. The stairs are off to the side and descend quickly to a heavy door. Atsuro tries it and finds it locked. "I'll get it open," Atsuro whispers, producing a lock pick and tension wrench, "Can you look around with your eyes, make sure nobody's coming down here?"
Unfortunately, one person hasn't been snared by Soren's act. A barmaid is making her way through the crowd, on her way to the cellar. Atsuro's going to need a while to pick the lock. So simply going in and hiding from her isn't going to cut it. At the same time, they can't afford to make a scene…
The reaction to Soren is mixed. Some people stare, some sneer in disgust, some laugh. "This isn't the Panda Inn," says the bartender, a sneerer, "And I hate to tell you this, buddy, but we're not in the business of sobering people up. Unlike the Panda, we don't serve watered-down /holiday/ but I bet you can't give me even one reason to serve you."
Ryo activated his eyes for a moment as Atsuro moved to get the door. As he spotted the person coming towards the stairs, the boy deactivated his Sharingan. "I will be right back." he states as he moves towards the top of the stairs. He was preparing his story about looking for a restroom for when the two should interact.
As the boy got to the towards the top of the stairs, he crosses his legs and places one hand over himself. "Uh miss…" His eyes kind of squint upwards. "I really gotta go. I was looking for the restroom down here but there isnt one. Can you show me where it is? Pretty please….?" Then he starts to bounce like he really has to go…
Soren at this point looks at the Bartendar, and gives a -huuuge- grin. "No reason fo you ta serve me, nope… cause I'd like that lovely mamacita over there ta ins- Ah… se la vie… too bad…" he smiled back towards the bartendar. "Well… I'm -awesome- at Kareoke… lisun, lisun… Feeelings~" he more yells than sings, his voice sounding closer to a strangled cat than anything else.
Atsuro glances back as Ryo goes up the stairs. He smirks a little has he hears the conversation, even if it's a little tough to make everything out over the noise of the inn. That was lucky. He finishes picking the lock and opens the door. Thanks to Ryo, he has plenty of time to get inside and shut the door. No need to make arouse suspicion. For the moment, he simply hides near the door, waiting for Ryo to return so they can start the search.
The barmaid, meanwhile, is only too happy to help. "My," she says, smiling, "I don't usually see such cute little boys around here. Right this way." She leads him to the bathroom. Then starts walking back towards the cellar once Ryo's gone in.
Soren's 'explanation' of things only makes the bartender's sneer worse. "The comfort is wrong with you?" he asks. "You're telling me you came into a bar to /sing/? Lemme guess, the Panda kicked you out because some idiot who came in and got so sloshed— aw, quality with it. Look, bud, you've got ten seconds to quit singing and order something before I throw you out. If you want a room to sleep it off, talk to the landlord." He gestures over to a man sitting at a table in the corner.
"Thanks lady. It would have been really embrassing to wet myself." Ryo keeps up the act until after he closes the bathroom door behind him. He walks over to the toilet and pretends to act like he's going just incase the lady was still outside the door. "Oh yeah… wow. Thats quite the stream." He then flushes the toilet and moves over to the sink. After turning the water on for a moment, he's done. He then makes his exit from the restroom. Now he scans the area and once its safe makes his way back to the cellar. 'I really need to learn the shadow clone jutsu for this stuff…' He then knocks lightly on the door before opening it up and sliding into the cellar. He carefully closes the door behind him.
Soren stops singing immidiately, laughing like a maniac. "That's what they told me before too! A'ight, I'll get a hot bottle of Sa-" he puts his arm on the table… realizing at that moment, he still had a bottle! "Ah! I'm a tricksy one I am… Aight, I'll go talk about gettin' a room… and give people a round on me!" he yells. That outta get a cheer. Soren stands again, stumbling along, and working his way over towards the landlor, being sure to stumble into a couple of the nastier looking folks in the inn, before plooping down next to the landlord, leaning on his shoulder like a buddy. "How's it goin' Kome-pa-dray?" he says with a huge grin on his face.
It's probably lucky for Ryo that Atsuro didn't hear the comments on the 'stream.' The kid would never have heard the end of that one. "Barmaid left," Atsuro says, "Let's search this place. Unfortunately, I don't know what kind of bombs we're looking for. But I'll try to smell around for anything that smells… bombish." The cellar is only a single room. There are a number of big casks up against the wall, bottles of wine and other liquor on shelves, a table with a bunch of empty bottles on it, and a pile of rags in one corner. "Bit of a draft in here," Atsuro notes, frowning, "That seems odd…"
The bartender's sneer turns to a look of horror. There's absolutely no way he'll get paid for that, but everyone seems to have heard it already. So much for him, but the landlord now has to deal with Soren's unique brand of… uniqueness. "I'm, uh…" He seems a lot more nervous than the bartender, "It's going… well?"
Ryo looks around at the empty casks against the wall. "Where is the draft coming from?" he asks. The boy then wanders around looking at different aspects of the room. "Maybe they are making the bombs upstairs…" He then glances around. "That draft isnt coming from one of the walls is it?" Ryo decides to activate his Sharingan just incase. He was hoping it would not pick up anything out of the ordinary, but you never know these days.
Soren can't help but scrutinize the landlord a bit closer at this point. "Huh… you… ya look like yer a bit… nervous… got some ruffians comin' in 'ere? Point em out, I'll givem da good ol' watfer…" he says, stumbling to his feet, throwing a couple of fake punches, nearly throwing himself off balance completely in the process. He drops back down onto his seat, and leans back over onto the landlord. "Ooh… don't let me do that again…" he says, looking rather misreble now, his other hand coming to his stomach. "Come on, have a drink! It'll help!"
Ryo's sharingan does indeed pick something up. Behind the wall with the casks are a number of tiny sources of chakra. Insects. "If you're suggesting it's from a secret room," Atsuro says, "That seems like a pretty good place for hiding bombs." He kneels down by one of the casks. "Incidentally," he adds, "This one contains alcohol. Pure alcohol. And with all those bottles, I think we might be close."
"What?" says the landlord, "No, no I'm fine. Just fi— " Anything else he has to say is cut off by a yell from outside.
"Attention!" comes a deep, authoritative voice, "This is the Yoriki Police Force! By order of the government of Yoriki, all persons inside this building are under arrest in connection with a known criminal organization. If you are not involved with this organization, surrender and you will be released as soon as possible. If you are a member, surrender will be considered grounds for leniency!" The announcement continues on like that, but obviously the raid is about to occur.
Ryo nods his head. "There is some form of chakra there. It reminds me of looking at a Aburame. They look like little bugs with chakra. We are running out of time, lets hurry up." the boy states. He moves over to help Atsuro find a way into the room. He keeps his Sharingan activated incase anything else should arise.
Soren grins ear to ear at this point. "Ah… buddy, you gotta problem there. If'n your not wanting to be arrested, I suggest you go out there and sort this ting out, before they sort out your door." he says wit a grin, his eyes sharpening up a bit, behind that dazed, dopey look, scanning the crowd for anyone that might be moving suspiciously.
There's no real trick to the wall. It opens up after a little pushing, revealing another room behind. There's a table, covered in boxes. A brief invesigation reveals that the boxes are full of bottles with rags stuffed in them. "These smell like alcohol too," Atsuro notes. It would be fair to say that they've found the source of the bombs.
Mere seconds after the announcement finishes, members of the police force begin streaming into the inn from every entrace. The bar erupts into chaos, but the police are professional and manage to keep things from getting too violent. Well, there's one exception. One man is pushing and shoving his way through the crowd, obviously making his way for the stairs to the cellar.
Ryo nods and looks around the room. "Looks like we are just in time." the boy states. His eyes then catch movement coming towards them. "I think we have someone moving towards the stairs. It's hard to tell." He then picks up an empty bottle and moves towards the cellar door. The boy lines his body up with the wall hoping to get a good jump on the guy if he is coming down to ignite the explosives.
It's at this point, that Soren simply hops up from his chair. "Well, it's been nice talking to you Jii-chan." he says, seeming to sober up instantly, before flickering over, and tripping up the fleeing guy as he goes for the stairs. "Woah! Where you going dude? You're gonna miss the fun! Atsuro! Ryo!" he yells down the stairs. "We good!?"
Soren's attack couldn't have been better timed. The poor guy falls down the stairs, landing with a thud at the bottom. "Unnnnh," he groans pitifully before passing out. Atsuro opens the door to shout back up to Soren. "Yeah," he calls, "We've found them. Come on down here and we'll wait out the storm, eh?"
From there, things go pretty much as the police had hoped. Most of the anarchists are captured, and those few who got away weren't able to take the bombs with them — or use the bombs to take the police with them. In any case, it's a success on the part of the Leaf nin.
The three are given profuse thanks by the mayor of the city, and, as a bonus for their help, are given a few days all-inclusive stay at an inn that isn't frequented by criminals. They get several days of good R and R, and then it's back to Konoha to report their success.
