Starring:
Date: January 2, 2013
Summary:
Team two is tasked with taking out an uprising in the making.
"Seperating Church and State"
A rally point in Western Suna
Due to the distances between villages in the land of the Wind, murder was often something that could be accomplished without many legal issues. The land suffered many more issues with road side bandits and slavers than a majority of the other nations. It is only when multiple crimes or really bad crimes are found that help is usually called in from a shinobi village. That or someone has extra ryo to toss around.
Today's mission involves members of team two heading out to the western portion of Suna to deal with some trouble makers. It seems someone has been trying to gather support from local villages to make an army.
As Keiji approaches a large rock, he turns and faces Akina. "This is going to be the first type of mission like this for you." Keiji then draws a few pictures in the sand for Akina to look at. "This is a sort of rally point. Some guy has been gathering the locals and using their hardships as ways to control them. We are to find and eliminate this man before he becomes an actual threat." Keiji then draws a few lines in the sand map. "From what I can see, they have guard posted here, here and here. The leader is probably staying here. It seems to be the only actual building that is guarded. Still with me?"
As the team leader begins drawing out the map in the sand, Akina takes a small step closer and leans down to look over the details, memorizing as much as she can and points where the guards are posted at the building. The others, not guarded strangely. The girl frowns gently to herself beneath her mask with thought, wondering why this man they're supposed to kill is doing this; gathering people for an army. But in reality it isn't her place to ask. She's a shinobi. "Yes." Akina murmurs, confirming she was listening. "Can we slip into one of the unguarded buildings, then use your Earth Manipulation to move down and underground to the one that is guarded?"
Keiji ponders the question a moment or two. "It is possible but they might be using chakra nets." Chakra nets were an earth shinobi's worst nightmare. It was like being snagged before the mission even really began. "Besides we are not even sure who is in charge or that he is even here. I recommend we watch for a while. So long as they do not actually start a march, we should have plenty of time." Keiji states. His head then turns so he can glance back over the rock.
The frown deepens beneath her mask for a longer moment still at the mention of chakra nets. Those sound nasty to be tangled up in, for sure. "So is this a recon mission or assassination?" Probably a little bit of both if things get hairy. As Keiji glances over the rock, Akina leans forward just enough to reach out and brush her hand over the map, obscuring the details of it before it can be caught by someone else. Though it wouldn't have been long before the wind would have brushed the drawn map in any case. "Alright. What do we need to do, captain?"
After a few moments a crowd starts to gather before a small stage. Moment by moment the crowd grows larger and larger. After about an hour it seems that there is at least three or four villages worth of people there. Then a man steps onto the stage and begins talking to the people. He is talking to them about a religious leader. Some new chosen one to lead an army of a new god.
Keiji points a finger. "You might want to see this Akina. It seems we may find out who the ring leader is… or at least who the figure head is." Keiji's eyes scan over the different people. The guy had to have a trick or a lot of charisma up his sleeve to get a gathering like this together. "We will assassinate the figure head. Then the people should disperse." It looked good on paper. What all could go wrong?
Akina edges closer to him, kneeling close to the ground as she peers out at the stage in the distance. The people gathering… the sheer numbers was unexpected. Just how many had been rallied into this army? This cult? "Well at least it seems it would be easy enough to blend in with the crowd and take out the target without anyone being the wiser. In theory. Problem is that even if we take that one out, if he really is just a figure head then the real leader, then he would still be alive and still be able to do… whatever it is he is aiming for."
Keiji nodded his head at Akina's logic. "This is obviously some form of cult. If the leader is smart, he would not be within a hundred miles of here. He'd have sent a pawn instead to oversee the whole thing. Being as we will probably not know who is actually in charge, we need to do the next best thing and try to disperse the people. For us that means killing their faith. I am eager to see what tools they use to do this." he states.
Akina lowers her chin with a small nod of agreement. If she were leading a cult, she would do just that. Pull the strings from the shadows. But that's just her. "Hm. They will probably just replace him with someone else and say he has been reincarnated." She shrugs a shoulder lightly, but then nods again and turns her hooded mask to glance at him. "But killing this pawn off will work."
"I anticipate him choosing another leader. That will confirm someone else is pulling the strings. That will also give us our first clue as to how to find them. The more they pull the strings the better we can see and follow the strings. They always lead back."
Now on the stage, the man decides to introduce the new chosen one. As the young man appears on stage a genjutsu can be felt taking over. "Hello my children. Our god deems this land unclean. We are filthy. We must be cleansed…" the voice trails off in the usual speech of a religious zelot.
Akina lowers her chin with a light nod and shrugs a shoulder once, returning her attention back to the stage in the distance just as the crowd begins to stir and a man steps on stage. The light, it's so blinding that the girl lifts a hand out in front of her to shield her eyes from its brilliance. "Keiji… is that… what is that…" She winces beneath her mask. "That can not be human…"
Keiji placed his hands together to release the genjutsu. His eyes then scanned the stage spotting a man on the side of the stage. It is about that point that he hears Akina. She has been caught in the Genjutsu. With a grimace, Keiji reaches over and places his pincered finger into the side of her arm to break the Genjutsu. "That is how he is controlling the people. When he speaks, the man on the side of the stage there uses a Genjutsu."
The pinch on her arm was sharp and quick, breaking Akina from the affect of her jutsu. She shakes her hooded head hard to herself as she takes a sharper breath, forcing herself to concentrate after the distraction. "Eugh. Low blow…" she murmurs under her breath with a thinnest hint of a growl in irritation. "Thank you, sensei. Now that we know there is jutsu being used, maybe even shinobi here."
"Yeah, shinobi influence changes this thing quite a bit. Do you have any techniques capable of killing this guy without directly implementing us? Like poison?" he asks. He was about to send her after the man. He could easily stab him in the throat with a pincered finger, but that would give it away that an assassin got him. He wanted people to believe their chosen was called back to which ever god he claimed to be from. "We better hurry before he leaves the stage."
"Undetectable." Akina murmurs, her voice hinting with a bit of smugness even hidden under her mask. "One senbon is enough to take down a fully grown adult. Only question is, how many would it take to hit him. The guy off stage may be a genjutsu expert, but there is no way to know if their leader is a shinobi as well." It doesn't bother her though. This was exciting, invigorating. And no one besides Keiji will ever know of this either. Her grin grows and her fingers curl at her side as she pulls out a set of three poisoned senbon, separated between her fingers.
Keiji grins towards Akina. "Henge up. We will make our move. I am going to get a good look at the other guards. With everyone under a genjutsu, they might not even notice you." Keiji states. Soon he places his fingers together. After a puff of smoke he looks like one of the villagers. "Follow me." he states. He then starts moving slowly through the shadows of the rock until they are close to the crowd. He waits for the guards to be looking away and then motions for Akina to follow him. Once inside the crowd, he gives her a motion to get closer.
Akina smirks to herself beneath her mask, but she remains silent as she lift her hands, fingers extended. The puff of smoke encases her as she follows her team leader's lead, appearing a moment after as a brown robed man in his early forties. Exceptionally plain though his features are worn from the harshness of wind. And just as Keiji moves closer to the crowd she does the same, the man's shoulders hunched with his eyes fixed on the angelic vision on stage.
The henged Keiji moved further into the crowd. They were like a group of zombies paying attention to the man on stage. Keiji does some hand signs and places his hands against the ground. He is clearing a cavern beneath it for their escape. He offers a nod to Akina. All she had to do was toss the poisoned senbon at the guy and dash to the entrance of the cavern. Unfortunately for the moment, there would knowledge by at least one that there was some shinobi involvement.
Following Keiji deeper into the thrall, Akina makes sure not to stand out too much and resists the urge to look around her if only for a moment. She slows her steps to a few feet away from him as Keiji forms a cavern from the earth, giving her a nod. The henged kunoichi has to keep herself from smirking again, fingers tightening on the senbon between her fingers. The arm blurs with sudden motion and the poison senbon is thrown at the man on stage, quick and smooth with practice.
"Our god shall protect us from the armies of the evil daimyo! Ugh…" There is the sound of slight pain as the senbon hits into the chosen one's arm. He claps at it before looking out into the crowd. Obviously this was something he had not expected.
Keiji then takes off darting through the back of the crowd. He left the cavern there for Akina to make her exit through. Once he has drawn their attention he dashes behind a rock and there is a small puff of smoke revealing that he had been a shadow clone.
Under the surface Keiji waits for Akina to get inside the cavern before he closes up the exit. "You did well. Now lets go." He was planning on going deeper before trying to move just incase those shinobi had placed chakra nets.
It connected, the first try. Luckily she had been practicing for a while now or otherwise she would have missed and drawn attention. Dipping her middle-aged, thinly balding head, Akina is quick to disappear in the direction of the cavern mouth and jump into it, waiting only until Keiji closes it up before she releases the henge. The smoke swirls around her only briefly and the robed, masked figure reappears appears in its place. "He will not live through the day." Akina smirks. "Buy me cake when we get back?"
As the crowd went chasing after the man only to come up empty, their chosen one was helped off the stage. Needless to say they came up empty in their search. Now with the obvious issue at hand, whomever was pulling the strings had a dilema to deal with.
In the cavern Keiji raised an eyebrow at Akina. "First I need to make a report on this so that the issue can be monitored. The council may know more than they are letting on, but incase they do not. This take priority. Then we can do cake. Fair enough?" he asks.
"Of course. But I will keep you to your word." There's some humor in her voice, but it's time to get back to get back to business. They needed to get back to the village, Suna. Report what they've seen and conclude this mission as a success. "Chocolate. And do not think for a moment that I will share either." When he opens the tunnel further Akina turns and follows it with a quickened step. It wouldn't do to linger.
