Starring:
Date: February 25, 2015
Summary:
After Daisuke receives instructions from the first Hokage, he takes Atsuro and Hige on a mission to retrieve a dangerous scroll.
First Mission of the Campaign - Final Farewell
"The Scroll Thieves - Part 1: Arrival and Scouting"
The Land of Fire
The threat of the Silence army was a mere week gone and the Leaf village was slowly recovering when a small scroll arrived at the hawk's nest messaging center of the village. The seal on the scroll was enough to have the Head Messenger take action, rushing to the office of the Hokage and interrupting what was mostly a boring meeting between Tobi and Daisuke. The Head Messenger quickly apologized and placed the scroll on Daisuke's desk, who immediately recognized the seal. "Hashi.."
A few hours later, after reading the scroll and discussing with Tobi, Daisuke had sent out scrolls to two particular individuals, one being his Jounin Commander and most trusted friend, and the other a promising pupil of his who had been involved in recent scandal but proven to have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The message was simple, an A rank private and very important mission had come up and the Hokage was requesting their help. Meeting time and place was set for the side gate just before dawn. And that is where Daisuke currently waits.
An urgent mission? The Jounin Commander is on the case, even though the Hokage is already, and there aren't any jounin to command. "Gosh," says Atsuro to Taizen, "I'm starting to wonder if Daisuke isn't just calling on us whenever he's bored now…" The two of them share a glance, then Atsuro shrugs as they approach the side gate, where they're to meet with Daisuke. "Daisuke-sama!" he says cheerfully, "What's all this then? You have a mission for me, you, and Hige? That's kinda an interesting set of skills to be calling on." Taizen sits down on his haunches. "Hello, Daisuke," he says, "How are you today?"
All of his many youthful years since the creation of Konohagakure and Hige had yet to actually meet the Hokage. Sure, he's seen him around the Village but has never had a reason to actually meet the man. Never really thought he'd have a reason to do so either, unless he made good on his threats to Atsuro about trying to have Daisuke give him more free time for training. Of course that has yet to happen though it might need to in the future. Hige's training is very important, surely more important than whatever Atsuro does sitting in an office. Right? Right??
When the younger Inuzuka receives the message he is fairly well surprised, dropping it on his bed for his nin-pup, Konsho, to read while he prepared. His pack was always ready and it only took a few moments to add a few things to it he might need, like some extra water. Once it was near time to meet the boy and his ninken made their way out to the gate, offering a nod of greeting to the three already waiting. He probably should bow but, you know, just not something he does. Konsho yips a greeting to those gathered as well before he trots on over to Taizen and reacquaints himself with the older ninken's head. Ahh, this'll be a good trip to just let Taizen do all the running.
"Shhh." Daisuke says to Atsuro as their arrive, crouching down to great Taizen appropriately with some scritches. He would wait for Hige to arrive before talking any further. Once the younger Inuzuka arrived, Daisuke would address both of them together. "I have called you guys here for something that must remain between us for now. Atsuro and Taizen, you are here because of your strength, your senses, and because we work well together. Hige and Konsho, you may wonder why I called on you." he says, looking over to Hige. "Not only has Atsuro taken you on his team, but you have been quite active within the village. The biggest factor for me inviting you is to observe and evaluate." he says, knowing this will probably put pressure on the boy, but perhaps that is what he wanted to see.
Daisuke rummages in his pocket and produces a small scroll to give to Atsuro. "My aunt, the First Hokage, left me in charge years ago to go face a hidden threat to not only the village but the Country and potentially the continent. This is the first time she has communicated back from that mission, and it is of the utmost importance that we complete this task." he explains to everyone quietly. "The target is a man named Hanta Hito, a well known black market dealer and collector of rare and valuable items. The item in question is called the Life and Death Scroll, I will leave what it does to your imagination, as we shouldn't be required to open it. The mission is to obtain the item from a highly secure facility in the Northeast of the Land of Fire, near the Waterfall border. It just so happens that he is holding a party in three days which we will be attending."
"Oh," says Atsuro, "Sorry." Taizen lifts his head up to allow Daisuke maximal scratching access to his throat area. He's quickly forced to put it down again when Konsho climbs on top of it. "Hey, kid." Atsuro attempts to give Hige a pat on the shoulder. Frowning slightly, Atsuro accepts the scroll from Daisuke, opening it up to read it. "A highly secure facility?" he asks, "Or more like an estate? Cause I don't think I'd hold a party at a military base or something." He rolls up the scroll. "Anyway, do you have something to disguise us? I know I'm the ultimate party guest, but I think bringing in a couple of dogs is going to blow our cover really quick."
Hige can easily understand why Daisuke asked for Atsuro and Taizen's presence, what with the Inuzuka pair now being kind of important and all. Oh yeah, guess they might be strong too. Maybe. When the Hokage informs Hige of why he's there the boy quirks a brow in a faint show of curious surprise. Observe and evaluate? That sounds scary. Luckily Hige doesn't really care much about that type of stuff. As long as he can protect the village and his friends he could actually pretty much care less about what Daisuke things about him. Probably not the state of mind he should have but Hige is not the shy or worrying type. He does get angry though. Have to try and keep that more in check so Atsuro doesn't chew him out later.
As Daisuke explains Hige listens, his features changing into a faint frown as the scroll is described and their mission is laid out. A party, well then, that should be interesting. The boy exchanges a glance with his pup before returning his focus to the others. As per his norm when around talking adults, the boy falls silent and remains that way, eyes flicking between them as he listens fully but not voicing anything himself. At least not unless it's something that he feels really needs to be asked or discussed. So far that hasn't happened.
"The facility is underneath his estate, yes." Daisuke says to Atsuro, mentioning "Just outside of a town where we can acquire clothing." He figured Atsuro would be too interested if he mentioned they would be tailored clothes, so he leaves that out for now. "Our plan will be developed on the way, as timing is crucial. We only received the message late yesterday afternoon."
"If you both are ready, we should head out now. The town is a day's journey away, giving us little more than a day to get everything ready." he says, looking between Atsuro and Hige momentarily to see if they had anything else to ask. If not, or when any question had been answered, the Hokage would head out of the village, heading through the great Forests of the Land of Fire. He seemed a bit ansty, to anyone who knew him, but to those that did, Hashi was a very touchy subject filled with emotions.
Atsuro raises an eyebrow. "Clothing that will hide forty percent of our party being dogs?" he asks, "Well, if you say so." That's a rhetorical question, so he doesn't really expect Daisuke to answer it. At least not /before/ they get a move on. So he shakes his head. "I don't think I have anything to add," he says, "Aside from snide remarks, of which you already have a good sampling. Let's move out. Unless Hige has anything to ask?" He looks in Hige's direction, then once that's settled, he follows Daisuke out of the village onto the road, Taizen at his side as they start their journey to the next village.
It must be a pretty damn dire situation if they haven't even had time to truly plan. Not that he really cares all that much. Hige will do whatever he needs to, always has. When Atsuro looks to him the boy shakes his head before making to follow after the others. He easily falls into his normal position as rear guard, he and Konsho both keeping their senses alert for any signs of danger or people tailing them.
"Unlike Taiki who still lets such remarks get under his skin, my skin is already thicker than that." Daisuke remarks offhandedly as they move out. "I don't foresee any trouble along the way, but just in case keep those noses alert." he adds before picking up the speed as they move to the trees for a better travel speed, because leaping through trees with their hands behind them seem like the fastest way to go these days.
As they move through the forests, the sun comes up and brightens the Land of Fire, looking to be another nice Spring day in April. After a few hours of traveling, Daisuke calls for a break to replenish and begin discussion of the Town and Estate. Producing a high protein bar, he takes a big bite of it, letting the others get settled before speaking up. "Hige, do you have any experience with this type of mission? I know Atsuro and I have had to infiltrate a few estates in our time, though we usually blow our cover at some point and get into a brawl."
"Do such remarks get under your skull though…?" Atsuro asks with mock-innocence. He and Taizen speed along behind Daisuke, the both of them smelling for any sign of trouble, as instructed. Naturally, they don't notice anything out of the ordinary by the time Daisuke calls for a break. Atsuro flops down on the grass while Taizen sits down on his haunches again, near Daisuke. "I never blow my cover," Atsuro interjects. "I can think of at least one infiltration mission that Hige's been on recently. I debriefed his team just the other day. But it sounds as if he's constantly going out on missions behind my back…" He glances over at Hige suspiciously.
Hige and Konsho remain on high alert as they travel through the tree tops, heads on swivels and noses in the air. They seem to be able to match the speed of the older shinobi fairly easily although with their small size speed tends to be their thing. And with Hige forcing Konsho to train more in traveling the pup doesn't seem to get nearly as tired as he sometimes used to. Baby steps. When they stop Hige pulls out some of the jerky Kenta makes for the ninken and lets Konsho chew on that while he snacks on his own protein bar. The younger Inuzuka remains on alert while Daisuke and Atsuro being to talk and it takes a second for the boy to realize that he was being spoken to. Semi-feral eyes flick back to the Hokage before he shakes his head. "Nothing quite like this, no. I've had some infiltration missions, but nothing quite the same as sneaking into a party." His previous mission he'd only really had to deal with Kenta and Kyu, not other people. He takes a bite of his protein bar, swallowing the bit before he gives a fanged smirk at Atsuro, "Well ojii, if you weren't always so distracted maybe you'd take on some more." Pause. "And I can see you blowing your cover. Someone probably said you weren't the best looking guy there and made you mad." Another bite.
"I remember one time apparently I matched Atsuro with a red-headed dame to follow into a bar. Seems that was the wrong choice." Daisuke says, mostly teasing Atsuro at that point. "Either way, our clothes and some choice equipment in a safehouse Konoha owns in the town will be all we can take. Your swords and other bulky gear will be left behind in the safehouse." he says to them both, mostly Atsuro. "Invitations to the party are being procured and will be awaiting us in the safe house as well. The plan we need to come up with is who is going to stick around in the party as the look out and who's going underground. I believe the canine pals should think about outdoor lookouts as well, yes?"
From his lying position, Atsuro shifts onto one side and looks over to Hige. "Distracted with training you and distracted with keeping the whole village from falling apart. And nobody ever even thanks me." Then he shifts back onto his back and raise a hand. "It was a gambling hall," he corrects Daisuke, "And it was a man. And he wasn't a red-head. And I followed him without being caught at all." He lowers the hand again and listens as Daisuke gives additional mission details. "That sounds okay to me. Will there be some makeup or something to cover facial tattoos? That's another big giveaway." He pause, "You mean they should /be/ lookouts for us, or they'll be taking down the lookouts who might cause trouble for us?"
The boy snickers softly as Daisuke fills him in on some history. When Atsuro attempts to correct him it only gets a roll of the eyes and unbelieving "Suuuure.". Hige glances over to Konsho who has already finished his little meal and considers. Yeah, they could probably keep an eye from the outside and howl if they needed to alert the group. Makes sense. He looks back to the two old men and raises a clawed finger to scratch the side of his nose thoughtfully. "Ojii without his swords. How sad." He teases his teacher and verbal punching bag. The boy was also wondering about their Inuzuka markings. "Not to mention the claws and fangs…" he adds. Sure those aren't quite so apparent but they also aren't quite normal. "Think we can henge or would they have someone that might be a giveaway to, like a sensor?"
Daisuke waves dismissively at Atsuro's recollection of the facts, sparing him any argument over the details as it had already done what he had hoped for when Hige bugs him. "As for our canine members, I would like it if they could 'control' the balconies and roof, if possible. We don't want any unwanted eyes from above watching us make our move." he says, looking to Konsho and Taizen to see if that was too much. "As for makeup and such, we can get that. We do have a day of preparation in town before the party, which starts at 8pm." he says to Atsuro. He turns to Hige, who suggests a henge. "Whatever you are more comfortable with. If we need to ditch our faces, henge might be easier for you, or it might be needed to use in a pinch, for exactly that reason." he says to Hige as he mentions the potential presence of a sensor-nin or someone who could detect chakra usage.
"Huh," says Atsuro, "You two. Clearly, I have the most reliable memory here, and yet you choose to believe your delusions. Obviously I'm going to be the brains of this team. Now, tell me all about your ideas, please." He sits up, then looks over to Daisuke and nods slightly. "I know that Tai should be able to take down a few sentries without much trouble. He could also hide a sword in some bushes for me. Kenjutsu is my more, eh, precise method of fighting." He glances over to Taizen. "I should have no trouble," the dog says, wagging his tail. "Any chance we could find out about the sensor-nin beforehand, I wonder? One of those could really change how we have to do things."
Konsho yips an affirmative to Daisuke when the Hokage asks about the ninken controlling the outdoors. Between Taizen and the pup it shouldn't be too much of an issue. He may be small, but he's deadly. Just ask the people he's killed. "Guess we'll go with makeup unless we run into trouble." The boy agrees with a nod, finishing his snack and dusting his hands on his pants. To show just how good the two ninken will be able to take care of business Konsho hops onto Taizen's head again and lays down. Yes, can't you see the killing chemistry here? Hige falls silent again as he's voiced his concerns and they're now being discussed. Not much else he has to offer at the moment besides possibly some more remarks about Atsuro which, while generally worthwhile, won't help the overall effort at the moment.
"We will see about being able to scout the area prior to the party. Shouldn't be a problem unless we get caught and they are put on high alert." Daisuke says with a nod towards Atsuro. Konsho and his 'killing' intent get a look, but that's all for now. "Killing is always a last resort, killing leaves traces." he says as he finishes up his protein snack and looks to the others. "Ready to get going?" he says to the two, "We are going all the way to town from here on, so finish up any other prep or food."
As usual, Taizen lowers his head to the ground in order to avoid straining his neck keeping up Konsho's weight. When Daisuke declares that the break is over, Atsuro hops right to his feet from the lying position. He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a fistful of beef jerky, which he guides under Konsho to Taizen's mouth. Then Atsuro himself produces and devours a dried sausage in record time. "I'm ready," he says, dusting a little grass off his pants. He turns back to Taizen and offers a hand to Konsho. Need you off, buddy.
Hige stands and nods to Daisuke once again. Konsho lets out a few sad sounding grumbles as he's shoo'd away from his mobile sleeping spot but it's all in good humor. He knows better, he just likes to be bad. And this is about as 'bad' as Konsho gets. Odd since he's with Hige. Once everything is set Hige prepares to again be the rear guard for the remainder of the trip.
As the sun makes its way slowly over the blue sky over the Land of Fire, the group of Leaf ninja dart through forests, over hills, along roads, and finally, as the sun is nearing the edge of the horizon over the far off mountains of the Land of Lightning, they arrive in the town of Sentai. The town was relatively large, though not modern by any means. The roads were busy and vendors lined the main street, traffic coming in and out was mostly drawn carriages and carts. People walking around filled the rest of them. The houses were mostly brick near the center of town, though as you walked further and further from the center they became wooden and more haphazard.
"First task is to check into an inn, then we will go check out the safe house." Daisuke says to the two as they arrive on the main road. "Soren isn't here so we won't be sleeping in a haystack this time. Lets pick something nice and secure." he adds with a hopeful look to Atsuro.
Atsuro and Taizen bound from tree to tree, following Daisuke along. Once again, they're on alert for anything dangerous, but the trip proves to be uneventful. They make no complaints as they travel, but it's something of a relief when they finally reach town. Atsuro takes a look around as they approach the town. "All right," he says, "An inn? I'm guessing that would be in the brick section of town. They probably don't have much here in the outskirts. Plus, don't you want a nice sturdy brick building to sleep in? And the owner will probably be richer, which means better food, nicer beds…"
A nice easy trip is just what the doctor ordered. Sure, it was a /long/ trip but they didn't have to deal with anyone interfering in their business and that always made things so much better. When they arrive on the main road Hige looks around the town in silence and takes in details, committing them to memory in case he might need it later. When Daisuke mentions Soren sleeping in a haystack, however, the boy is caught by surprise and blinks up at Daisuke, then Atsuro. He'd have to ask about that later, but it sounds fairly intriguing. And funny.
Even more humorous is when Daisuke gives a hopeful look to Atsuro and he can't help but snicker a little as the Hokage basically asks the other nin for permission. "Yes ojii, something very nice since Daisuke is paying." No 'Hokage', not even an honorific at the end of the name. He never really has been one for any of that.
Daisuke nods his head, looking back at the young whippersnapper that dared to call him by his name briefly before he says, "Lets get that taken care of, then." He lifts the hood on his cloak as they move into the busier parts of town, his red hair usual enough to draw attention of the unwanted variety. It was easy enough to find a nice inn, with a man-made hotspring bath and everything. The tatami-mat room would serve its purpose for the night, and perhaps the second night depending on how things went. The scroll mentioned Hashi required the item the day after the party at a specific time and place, so the mission could not fail, even if only Daisuke knew how important it was to her.
"That was fairly easy." Daisuke says as they walk out of the inn after getting everything sorted and supplies dropped off. He leads them in the direction of the safehouse, keeping his eyes alert for any unwanted attention as they move towards the northern side of town, to a rather small looking shop with a small old grandpa and grandma running the desk.
Atsuro grins a little as Daisuke looks at Hige. At least, some other high-ranking ninja has to deal with that little… quirk.
"Not too bad," Atsuro says, once they've seen their accomodations at the inn, "A little traditional for my tastes, but it's a better room than Soren could ever hope to find. Which we discovered the hard way… Mind you, it doesn't seem like we're going to have a lot of time to sit back and enjoy things. Maybe a quick soak in the springs." Then they leave and head to the shop. Atsuro keeps his mouth shut here — he's not familiar with the safehouse.
If Hige noticed the look that Daisuke gave him the boy gives no real indication as he simply follows the others. He stays a few steps behind despite being in the town, always being watchful though he doesn't overtly appear to be. He's pretty good at that. And surely their group won't draw attention with the hood covered red-head, two people with cheek markings, and two dogs walking with them. What's strange about that that? Hige remains outside while the other two go get their room at the inn, just keeping an eye out and people watching to try and get a feel for things in the town. As they travel again to the shop he remains vigilant, especially as he feels their reaching their destination. He checks around to ensure that no one has been following them as he waits for the others to lead them in.
"We will see." Daisuke says as he opens the door to the shop and greets the old couple, who look thrilled to see him. Surely they don't get too much action running a shop and a safe house for Konoha-nin. "Good evening you two, I trust the fire is lit?" he asks, to which the grandfather presses something under the wooden desk and up pops a hatch with stairs leading down into the safehouse. Within the house itself underground are many weapons, crates, books, maps, scrolls, etc. Everything you would find in some garage of an old packrat of a ninja, long since retired and merely collecting everything they can. "The weaponry we can take is blunt and compactible, don't take anything bulky. Somewhere around here is a book on the Estate and the man himself from previous tails and scouting missions involving black market deals, if someone could find it." he says, looking over the various scrolls.
Not too surprising! Atsuro follows Daisuke into the secret room. "I get concealable," Atsuro says, removing his kunai and shuriken holsters, "But why blunt? If you're going to say because it won't cause conspicuous bleeding, you've never seen me punch somebody." Despite the complaints, he puts the two items aside, then starts searching through the equipment here. "Blackjack?" he suggests, holding one of the weapons up. "And Tai can keep the swords, right?"
Hige follows the others down into the safe house, giving a nod of greeting to the elderly pair before he and Konsho descend. The boy's eyes widen as he takes in the collection that's there, obviously quite impressed by it all. As Daisuke explains what they can and can't take, along with what they need, the boy chews his lower lip thoughtfully. "So no kunai…" it's more of a self musing than a question. He still has his claws and fangs at least. He's not much of a weapon type anyways. The young Inuzuka removes all the weapons he has and places them neatly off to one side so he can retrieve them later before going on a search for the book Daisuke asked for, Konsho helping look around as well. It doesn't take long with their combined efforts. "This one?"
"I'd rather he keep the weapons here in case of them making noise if they are not truly needed. But if he does that is fine by me. Can Konsho beast-human clone yet?" Daisuke says, looking over to Hige curiously just in time for him to find the book. Daisuke walks over to take it and look at it. "Yeah this is it." he says, studying some of the blueprint/mapped out designs of the entrances, exits, rooms, and the entrance to the underground area, which had no information. He passes the book on to the next person to take it after he is done, thinking.
Atsuro kneels down beside Taizen and starts removing swords from his vest. "I'll keep one on hand," he decides, "Not too much noise, but it's there if we need it. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I haven't studied much in the way of blackjackjutsu." He leaves Taizen with one sword, then hides the blackjack in his vest and walks over to where Hige has retrieved the documents, taking the book from Daisuke and looking it over. He kneels down to show it to Taizen, pointing out a few places of interest, then hands it over to Hige.
What an odd question from Daisuke. Hige nods slightly before adding, "We can but it tends to make me look more…feral." He admits. You know, longer claws and fangs, eyes even more crazy than they look now. "And if there's a sensor of some kind then they'd spot us for sure." What with it requiring a sharing of chakra and all. "Are you whining ojii?" Hige asks with a hint of a teasing tone as he takes the book to look over the pertinent pages, crouching so that Konsho have take a gander as well. Once they're done he closes it and offers it back to Daisuke should he want it. If not then he'll just put it back where he found it.
Daisuke nods to Atsuro, taking the book back from Hige and placing it on the desk with the scrolls and scattered notes. The general layout was known, they had a day… "Do we scout? We have the night, we could either relax and plan, or scout the house. We don't know if the sensor would even be there a day early, so we would be taking a big risk." he says, looking to Atsuro and Hige to see what they think they should do, whether they had enough information in the book blueprints or if they wanted more.
Atsuro glances over to Hige. "I'm just stating a fact," he says cheerfully, "Here's a couple more: Hige needs to watch his mouth, Atsuro needs a vacation." He shoots Hige a grin, then looks back over to Daisuke. "We could scout the outside," he agrees, "But if you want to go any deeper than that, that's… risky. It could blow our cover for the party, and we don't have any chance to get a feel for the area while we're welcome guests first. But like you said, they might have less sensor nin around. Less guards in general, maybe."
Hige doesn't seem to be paying much attention to Daisuke's question at first as he pets Konsho a few times. He really doesn't expect the Hokage to be asking his opinion on much of anything. The boy snickers softly to himself at Atsuro's 'facts'. When he looks up and notices that Daisuke was including him in the question he looks a little surprised, then nods slightly. "If we only have the blueprints to go on…we don't know what might have changed. We should try and at least get a look if we can, even if it's just outside. If we can get a peek inside that'd be even better." He stands then and looks between the two with a hint of uncertainty. He was not used to being ask for his input on things like this. Not by people so far above him.
Daisuke notices Hige's distraction and surprise but doesn't comment, instead listening to both of their inputs. "Alright, lets go take a walk and see what we can see for now in a bit of preliminary scouting." he says with a nod. He points a thumb to the wall where cloaks and traveling clothes and such were hanging. "Grab some, don't want you drawing any attention this early." he says to everyone before making his way up the stairs to talk with the old couple about cleaning up a bit down there while the others got dressed.
Atsuro grabs a cloak and throws it on over himself, then grabs a second and puts it on Taizen. It works surprisingly well, considering it's being put on a completely different species than it was intended for. He sticks around for a minute to help Hige and Konsho if they need it, then they follow Daisuke up the stairs, back to the storefront. He nods in thanks to the old couple, then moves to the door of the shop, waiting for Daisuke to signal their leave.
The younger Inuzuka peers after Daisuke for a moment before going to grab some clothes to change. Curse his small size. Everything's just a bit too big on him but it's not the first nor last time he'll have to deal with it. He throws on a small cloak before turning to consider Konsho. Nothing is going to fit him. Good thing he's a darker color because he's just going to have to sneak around. "I didn't realize just how close you and Daisuke were, ojii." He comments before they ascend the stairs again. "And do you really expect me to watch my mouth?" The last is said with a grin because, well, he knows better. It won't happen.
Daisuke looks over as the other two make their way up the stairs, finishing his conversation and filling the couple in on a potential return time for them to replace the cloaks and clothes they had taken. With well wishes, the Hokage is out the door, lifting his hood as he looks both ways. He heads north through the roads, the Estate up on the hill lit up like Christmas and easy to see. The problem comes when they near the road up the hill, as the gates of the Estate were pretty near the bottom of the hill and covered the whole hill. The front gate wasn't an option here, though Daisuke quickly veered off the road into the trees before the gate came into view. In the blueprints they had noted an entrance within the walls that previous ninja had used, and thankfully it was still there as they come to the northwest corner of the wall.
"Pretty close," says Atsuro, "We've been friends for years, actually. I bought him his first drink. And no, but it can't hurt to remind you now and then." He pulls his hood over his head, then helps Taizen do the same. They follow Daisuke out to the estate, staying silent as they maneuver around the complex itself. When they reach the side entrance, Atsuro whispers, "Are you worried about guards around the perimeter themselves? That might be something for Taizen and Konsho to handle tomorrow."
Hige pulls the hood of his cloak up, though it ends up pretty much engulfing his head and covering down to his nose. Sigh. With a little finagling he gets it so he can at least see a little better. As they travel he again becomes observant of their surrounding and rear, making sure no one is following them as they go. As they arrive he returns to his normal silent state and looks around, taking in the area as much as he can.
"An estate like this, there will definitely be patrols. Luckily we came at night." Daisuke points out, opening the loose board and pulling back the metal to allow Atsuro, Hige, and canine companions inside before stepping in himself. The hill was grassy and there were numerous flashlight patrols that could be seen from a distance thanks to the night sky, making the task of sneaking across the massive grassy hill lawn a little easier. He waits for everyone to get together before suggestion Atsuro and Taizen, and their super senses, lead the way in case anyone didn't have a flashlight but was still out there.
Atsuro steps inside the gate, followed by Taizen. At Daisuke's command, he and Taizen take the lead, using their enhanced senses of smell, sight, and hearing to make their way through the ground without being noticed. Fortunately, the lawn of a rich man has things like fountains, hedges, and exotic trees to hide by. Atsuro stops the group hiding in a small cluster of ornamental trees as they get nearer to one of the buildings and points to a group of men standing in front of a small gateway, illuminated somewhat by their flashlights. "Looks like those two patrols are having a conversation," he says in a low voice, "Gonna be tough to get by that spot…"
Konsho and Hige follow after the others, the boy crouching low as they move in the darkness. While Atsuro takes the lead he, again, remains behind. His senses may not be on par with the older Inuzuka but he's still got some improvements over most people and he uses them to their full extent as they begin the sneaking. Can't you hear the Mission Impossible music playing in the background? As they draw up together and Atsuro points out the conversing men the boy frowns thoughtfully. He eyes the men and the surroundings, then without waiting or, you know, asking, he leans down to pick up a small rock. With practiced aim he launches it further down away from the gateway to hit a wooden bucket with a 'thwak'. Diversion!
Daisuke follows Atsuro until he tells them of their obstacle ahead. He looks around on the ground for something, bending down as he locates a rock. He stands back up and sees Hige is already throwing a rock. Kids these days. He sighs and drops his on the grass, watching the guards ask each other what that noise was. They eventually head out to go look, giving the group time to get into the gateway, and head straight for the house. Daisuke leads them, with the help of Atsuro's senses, to a back wall which he quickly scales with his application of Tree walking techniques learned years ago and some good leg and arm strength, reaching the roof and waiting for the others to come so they can scout the 'land' as it were.
Atsuro gives Hige a small grin, although it might be a bit tough to see in the dark, then he and Taizen stealthily move out from cover and pass through the gate, up to the rooftop with Daisuke. Taking the lead again, he takes them across the roof of this large building, traveling carefully along the edge so that they can see the patrols down below, but also reduce the risk of their silhouettes being visible against whatever light remains in the sky. Finally, they reach the opposite edge of the roof. Atsuro holds up a hand, indicating for the group to stop. He leans out, eyes watching a flashlight beam moving down below intently, then signals for the others to follow, as he and Taizen jump off, stealthily landing on a lower roof.
Yes kids these days! Adults just move too slow. Old people. Hige and Konsho trail the rest quietly, going up to the top of the house and crouching to get a lay of the land. As they move on the pair moves a little away from the others in order to get a view of the grounds in various directions in case they need it later. Better to have it all in hand. When he joins back up with the others and drops down to the lower roof he notices some windows with lights on and carefully moves along so that he can get a view inside of the building without having the light shine directly on him. He moves to the opposite side to do the same thing, to commit to memory what he can see to match back up with the blueprints to make sure there haven't been any changes. Besides, blueprints don't list furniture or anything. Once he's done with his own scouting he joins the others in silence, the boy the perfect epitomy of a shinobi in this instance: silent and unseen, even by the people in the building.
As the group move over the various roofs and note various exits, entrances, patrols, and other features, most of it seems the same as the blueprints they had back in the safe house. A few new smaller buildings, probably quarters for the guards and servants, have been added along the outside of the main estate, but the estate itself, however grand it may be, looks to be as it was last. With only a few near misses, the shinobi are able to accurately scout the premises and return through the weak point in the outer wall without being detected. Seeing the building first hand will definitely help them navigate the party the next day, so for now, it was time to return to the inn and enjoy some hotsprings and a nice long sleep. If anyone snored, Daisuke was fully prepared to smother them with a pillow.
