Crush the Cartel (Flashback Mission)

Continued from https://thegladiusrp.forumotion.com/t1111-friendly-consultation#4007

Noting that the smaller woman’s face grew stern at the mention of what happened to Oriana meant that they were more similar in mind than she had first realized. It was nice, finding a kindred soul amongst all the people of the village, and in discovering a new friend. She hadn’t known when the line had been crossed from a simple professional relationship to true friendship, but it had, and she could honestly say she knew it was simple and pure. She was still Niko’s boss, and the professional nature of their interactions in public would remain much the same should they bump into each other at the market or something… but when they were like this, maybe she could let her guard down, just a little bit.

She gave a smile that didn’t belong on Niko’s face normally… the smile that belonged to a predator, a hunter, someone who knew how to be merciless when she had to be… someone with a dark side. “The dead can’t lead you to more.” Even now, if she ever visited the bastard in that cell, he would recoil in terror at the things she had been capable of in order to extract the information from his mind. Sure, she could have probably found someone capable of diving into his mind and getting it that way, but about this, Niko had her teachings of Phenax, the God of Deceit, was also one of the ways to find the truth. She would give him a glimmer of hope, just enough to make him do anything she asked, only to crush it brutally before him.

She was glad that the woman was alright, although she couldn’t recall anything she had ever read stating that a coma could lead to subsequent nose-bleeds… maybe she would look into it later. Something about that statement didn’t sit right with her, and if it was true, maybe she could find a solution to it and help Ryuko somehow. She wasn’t a medical ninja yet, but she sure as hell knew how to read a book, and it was something she was studying anyway. She wanted to make a comment about the woman’s attendant but decided to wait until they were outside of the servant’s earshot before speaking on the matter. Hearing the challenge be issued, she gained that predatory smile once more. “I’ll take that contest, and so long as none of them escape, be willing to put a wager on it.”

Niko, in regards to her Ninja style, was the stealthy huntress, very Spartan in how she moved, worked and acted when in combat. She wanted her shield right now, and as they left the home, glanced at the practice wooden ones on the ground just outside with a little longing before continuing their trek. She wasn’t skilled enough yet… but soon. Very soon. With Ryuko’s help, she was going to be able to advance quickly enough to never need to worry about it again. Now that they were away from the house and walking, she would explain the wager. “If I win, you have to come by for dinner at my place sometime. I love cooking… it’s… relaxing. And I’ve been told that I am a decent chef.” Granted, none of her food had the added benefits that those with knowledge in chemistry had, but she certainly could match anything they could muster via taste. She had considered Chemistry, but losing combat capabilities as a side effect was not something she wanted to risk.

But now that she was far enough away from the attendant, it seemed like a good time to ask a question. “Forgive me, I don’t mean to pry, but the only reason I let Sophie come into my home without question was that I thought she was one of your partners…” she paused, realizing that she was talking to someone who didn’t understand the teachings of Nyx, and shook her head and rolled her eyes for a moment, holding up a hand at the realization to ask for a pause to let Niko explain with a nervous smile. “And forgive me again, because I need to remember that most people don’t have multiple partners. I just… I don’t interact with people who don’t understand the teachings of Nyx often, which all of my family knows and understands.” She had made a bit of a social blunder, revealing how out of practice she was regarding talking with a peer that wasn’t related somehow.

--

The Blacksmith wasn’t the only one who had relationship status on their mind. Ryuko was simply happy to have made a friend professional or otherwise since her circle of acquaintances was quite small. Probably smaller still if you only counted those that were still among the living after she’d been asleep for two years.

It would be nice to be able to talk with Niko about non-work-related matters or to just hang out with her in general but if she took up the offer to join the Thundercats that would come sure enough in time. Ryuko didn’t really see her position as being much of a problem since, in the end, they were both the same rank even if one of them was from the administration department. At the end of the day, they were still just a couple of Jounin.

“They do say Dead men tell no tales... “ replied the priestess in a jovial manner even while knowing that wasn’t entirely true. As a medic, she was fully aware that even a dead body still had secrets it could reveal. Not to mention the fact there were ways to extract information even beyond the grave.

She’d even read about it being possible to bring back someone from the other side although such processes were always difficult and in many cases extremely immoral in how they were done, not that she’d done much research into the subject in particular.

She giggled when Niko invited her to dinner in roundabout fashion. Not that she even needed to make a wager to bring that about. “Sounds to me like I come up ahead either way.” remarked the priestess casual. “If I lose I get fed? If it’s even half as good at the tea you served earlier then where do I sign up? And If that’s the case what do I get if I win?” came the rapid-fire barrage of questions.

Needless to say, she was tickled pink at the prospect. She literally couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten out because she was subconsciously blocking the events that had transpired just before falling into a coma from her memory without even realizing it.

They were up against some mafia types and it was only a b rank mission so she wasn’t expecting heavy resistance. Her equipment was still a bit on the outdated side since she hadn’t yet gotten around to forging her heavy-duty battle gear for going up against the likes of Shiori but she’d hardly need it for a bunch of thugs. Even if they had ninja of their own on the payroll Ryuko wasn’t S-rank for nothing. If worse came to worse they could simply gather intelligence for now and come back with reinforcements later since a drug lab on this scale couldn’t be moved in a day.

The priestess tilted her head wondering at first what Niko meant when she said she thought that her lady in waiting was a partner. That was a word that depending on the context could be used in many different ways. In a way, Sophie WAS Ryuko’s partner even if it wasn’t in a romantic sense. They did live together after all and the girl took care of many things for her.

You could say her teammates were another kind of partner. She was financial partners with Ayano, and being the Raikage’s attendant she was basically one of her hands which was another kind of partner still.

But while she’d lead a sheltered life for much of her existence Ryuko was no longer the naive little girl who didn’t know what sex was. Those illusions had been banished years ago when a man just a few years her senior had tried propositioning her when she’d been out hunting for a special metal egg to display at the local church. When she’d told her teammates about what had happened their reaction had been explosive, to say the least.

“Just to be clear. When you are referring to partners, tis in the intimate sense correct?” asked Ryuko, her eyes narrowed slightly as she made absolutely sure she understood the question Niko had been asking her.

It seemed that if she was correct that Niko had picked up on the fact that the priestess swung for the other team even if she wasn’t trying to broadcast it and that Niko didn’t really mind but Ryuko needed to be sure before she further broached the subject since it could be a delicate matter to deal with depending on the person she was speaking with attitude.

She still remembered how harsh Natsuru had been when she’d first come out. She’d come around quickly enough but the initial reaction had been like taking a physical slap to the face. That wasn’t an experience the priestess was eager to repeat. Plus she had questions of her own about the multiple partner thing she wanted to ask but didn’t want to end up putting her foot in her mouth if she had gotten the context wrong.

[5]

Niko hadn’t really thought about it that way, as Ryuko gaining something out of the deal if she didn’t win, but all in all, that was fine with her; she loved to cook, and to have other people enjoy her food. “You can ask for whatever if you win… as for me, I just really like cooking, and you have to be completely and absolutely honest when you try it. If I mess something up, the only way I’ll get better is with harsh truths.” That was the real part of the deal; a lot of people had a hard time saying things with brutal honesty, and if that was included as part of the wager, it would balance things out.

The blush returned to her cheeks as she heard the smaller woman ask for clarification on what was said earlier. “I was referring to a Soul-Bond Partner, yes… and I apologize. I forget people don’t generally talk about that sort of thing often, and jumped to conclusions without thinking. I don’t get to talk to many people outside my family often. I guess I’m rusty with the whole social thing… makes me nervous for the dinner you invited me to.” She gave another nervous chuckle, and her hands were idly twirling the steel senbon between her fingers, but this was more than just cosmetic. She was warming up her hands.

But this realization meant that Niko knew far less than she liked about her new friend. Perhaps they would have to have a nice long talk when she made the dinner, which she planned on doing if she won or lost, but Ryuko didn’t need to know that. She mentally was still face-palming because not only had she accused the smaller woman with having a relationship with her servant that was beyond professional, she also had simultaneously accused her of liking women, which she had absolutely no right to do or evidence to promote. She was going to have to pray that Ryuko wouldn’t be offended and be understanding of the situation. She could also further focus on the mission, which would hopefully begin in earnest soon to hide her embarrassment.

--

Ryuko managed to keep her expression steady as Niko offhandedly gave her a blank check if she managed to win their little game. Luckily for her she had a good poker face when she needed it since the prospect of getting to ask just about anything within reason was an exciting one. Though the type of things she was brainstorming to ask where so humble one almost had to wonder why she’d even bothered getting worked up about it. Perhaps she’d ask for a hug or some homemade cookies.

“Understood. I’ve had to deal with many people who sucked up to me merely because of my station in life. Their empty praise was worth less than the oxygen they consumed speaking. “ It was her way of confirming that she wasn’t going to hold back her opinion if the food she was served had issues. She was no snoob that looked down on things eaten by commoners but that didn’t prevent her from giving a fair evaluation either.

The two of them continued to talk as they ran at speeds that would put an olympic sprinter to shame. It wasn’t long before the village they were looking for came into view in the distance though it’d be a few minutes still before they managed to arrive. Once they did the first obstacle they would have to overcome was finding the drug lab's specific location. The scouts had managed to narrow it down but they hadn’t been able to pinpoint details such as the specific building or the number of goons that might be operating out of it.

Normally Ryuko would have left that to the Chunin to further pin down before making a move but she’d been out of the game for a while and needed the practice to keep her edge. It’d taken a lot of work and effort to get to the point where she was and she couldn’t afford to let herself get dull from doing too much paperwork all the time.

“No need to apologize, you were half correct at any rate. I view Sophie as something more akin to a big sister rather than just a mere servant. That said I feel no romantic inclination towards her even if I do fancy the fairer gender.” said Ryuko outright admitting to the fact she was a bit of an oddball. Treating your retainers like family was somewhat unusual to begin with so she couldn’t blame someone for coming to that wrong conclusion if they had an inkling towards where the Priestess’s inclinations lay.

“I’m afraid I’m very much single. It’s hard to meet people when you’re busy running a major metropolis like the one we live in, never mind the extended coma.” said Ryuko emitting a long sigh. “Tis one of the reasons I joined the church to begin with. To avoid being married off to some random gentleman I’d never met before as if often the case among nobles. Not that I’d awoken to my orientation at that point.”

She hadn’t realized she was gay until she’d after she’d left the monastery and joined the village. That was the first time she’d been able to interact with peers her own age on a more regular basis. It’d taken her quite some time to come to an understanding about her own feelings and even longer to admit them out loud.

“You said one of my partners though as in plural. And that most people don’t have multiple ones. Does that mean….” Ryuko started to say before quickly cutting herself off from asking directly if Niko already had a lover and took a different tack. “Is that sort of thing more common with followers of Nyx? How does that work exactly?”

She was genuinely curious. The idea of having more than one partner in that sense had never really crossed her mind. Nobles were obsessed with bloodlines and thus women like herself were expected to remain pure until marriage. How that exactly was supposed to work when she was only interested in other women was a question she still hadn’t answered. It wasn’t like she was entirely disinterested in the idea of having a child to pass her holdings onto after all.

For Noblemen however that was another story. A casual fling for them was something to brag about. Unwanted heirs could simply be swept under the rug, kept nearby as servants as a backup just in case something happened to their primary line. It wasn’t uncommon for them to keep a mistress or two on the side.

Ryuko hadn’t mentioned her feelings for Nozomi yet because to say it was complicated would be the understatement of the year. How do you even begin to explain falling head over heels for an internationally wanted criminal. One you’ve only met in person twice and the first was during combat?

The priestess held deep affection for the missing nin because they had connected on a spiritual level when she’d attempted to heal what should have been a fatal wound that Nozomi had taken, ostensibly so that they could get more information out of her. She was well aware it could be simply a case of the Nightingale effect but was so starved for affection that she wasn’t really sure she cared if that was the case

The biggest problem was she didn’t really know how Nozomi felt about her. Not enough to leave Shori’s side at any rate. They’d spoken a bit in secert at an all hallow eve’s ball a few years back but Ryuko hadn’t managed to get the dance out of her date that she’d been longing for before they parted again.

She’d been planning to confront Nozomi during the Jounin tournament and essentially trying to talk her into leaving the society altogether and reform into a respectable member of society again. Words alone would never be enough but she knew Nozomi respected strength and that if she could put up a good fight there was a chance she could be swayed.

Of course she had fallen into her coma before she’d even had a chance to confront her crush in battle. There was something about the events of that day she was forgetting, no that she wasn’t allowing herself to remember but in the end the opportunity had slipped through her fingers.

She’d been tempted to abandon her duty and go chasing after Nozomi herself upon waking up and had managed to resist almost solely on the basis that she had no idea where to begin looking. Well that and the fact Kumogakure seemed to need her more now than ever. The idea of letting so many people weighed heavily on her.

Did Nozomi like her? The evidence she had on hand such as the sakura petal that had been left behind in her hand in the hospital room suggested that might be the case. But even if she did, was the priestess the only one Nozomi had feelings for? Considering how she admired strength it was likely she had some feelings towards the leader of the society Shori as well.

The idea of them being together induced an incredible surge of jealousy in the priestess, one that even her poker face couldn’t hide as her eyes burned with a strange intensity. The idea of sharing Nozomi with someone else was almost inconceivable.

At the same time Ryuko would be lying through her teeth if she said she wasn’t feeling an attraction towards Niko as well. The blacksmith’s incredible looks were more than enough to turn the head of even a straight woman in her direction, but if that was all she had going for her it wouldn’t have resulted in the mixed feelings that were now gripping the priestess hard, making her feel very guilty.

Good looks were nothing without a good personality to match and Niko had that in spades. The two of them were such birds of the same feather on several topics so far that it was almost scary. Her kindness, her compassion, her work ethic all served to make her seem like an incredible catch if she was available. That was just one of many ifs in the equation though.

Was it cheating if Ryuko went for a relationship with another woman when technically she wasn’t together with Nozomi in the first place? Was she being selfish for not wanting to share Niko with other people if they got together? Was it even appropriate for them to be in a relationship in the first place given the power dynamic that placed one above the other on a professional level?

Taking those questions Ryuko shoved them to the back of her mind, She had no time to be distracted by such frivolous matters. When she was out on a mission she needed to keep a clear head. If she went in distracted it could cost them everything.

They were almost at the gates of the village now and she could see a suspicious individual brazenly peddling small packages of white powder packed in clear plastic bags from the side of the entrance to the small but steady stream of people coming and going. She’d never expected to see them dealing right out in the open like this in such a blatant manner. Where they simply that confident they wouldn’t be caught since they were out here in the sticks or where the people pushing these illict subsitences just that stupid?

“That’s just way too obvious… Do you see anyone who might be with him?” asked Ryuko as she scanned the nearby area and crowd with her eyes. There was a chance albeit slim that the drug runners had picked up on the Chunin scouting for them and set up a trap.

“Do you suppose we should try and lure him into an ally on the pretense of making a large purchase?” She asked Niko. She was feeling leery about confronting him directly right at the gates where people could see. Right now they had the element of surprise on their side but if they made a scene in public it could end up putting the lab on high alert making it that much more difficult to raid.

Of course he might not even be with the drug lords they were looking for to begin with or if he was part of them he would be on the fringes of their organization. Either way they couldn’t afford to overlook such blatant illegal activity taking place right under their noses. With any luck an interrogation would prove fruitful.

[6]

Niko nodded at the idea of someone giving praise who didn’t mean it and/or used it as a means to an end rather that ensuring that it was genuine. She didn’t care for lies or deceit, even if her job occasionally demanded it, it didn’t mean that she had to enjoy it in any way, shape or form. Hearing that she wouldn’t need to worry about that from Ryuko was a pleasant thought.

Hearing about how she felt about her ‘servant’ made her feel better about the whole ‘master-servant’ thing that had been rolling around in her mind. Some treated them much the same way as slaves, and she was glad that the smaller woman running beside her was not among those. Hearing that she had an inclination towards women, however, made Niko rapidly realize something as she processed it. Luckily, in Niko’s eyes, she herself wasn’t too much to look at and probably hadn’t done anything too badly earlier, just showing off her dresses. She did relate, however, to the being-too-busy-to-date thing.

“I hear you there. I mean, I haven’t even really even had time to think about it, and I know there are plenty prettier fish in the sea,” she took a moment to wave at Ryuko for a moment as an indication of her next statement, “case in point. I also think the idea of fixed and arranged engagements is absolutely horrible. Two people can’t be forced to even like one another, much less bond on the level required for a real relationship.” She hadn’t even thought about how her compliment could be taken the wrong way, completely oblivious and it obvious to the casual observer that she thought of herself as average.

And then the question arose regarding the multiple partners. Luckily, this was something that was easy to explain. “It was something that came about a few generations ago when the numbers of Kanuchi began to decline steeply. We had always taken in Foundlings, which is essentially adoption. My father was a Foundling, and grew up with my mother before they got married. But yes, in an effort to ensure our survival, we also introduced Polygamy into our teachings, which was something that had been taught for generations but never really practiced. It doesn’t seem to have worked though… you are looking at one of the last Kanuchi on the planet, to my knowledge. Too much war.” She would take a deep breath and sigh, but shifted the topic quickly. “As far as orientation, that is something that I don’t even know for myself. At least you have discovered that much.” She gave the other woman a smile and giggled lightly, enjoying their bit of girl talk.

Unfortunately, it seemed it would have to wait before they could continue the conversation, because they had arrived at their destination. Niko listened to what she said, nodding in agreement that this was too obvious, her expression having completely changed; the softness in her eyes and face were gone, replaced with something that could only be called a warrior and professional, like someone had flipped a switch. She held up a single finger, squinting for a moment before placing her hand on the ground and closing her eyes, extending her senses. She didn’t even open her eyes again before speaking. “It is definitely a trap. Several people are lying in wait. I suggest I send a Shadow Clone in casual clothes forward to spring the trap, and we flank. There are five on the right, four on the left, hidden in the alleys and such. Shouldn’t be too difficult to track them down. Then we can take care of getting information from our bait.”

She would wait to see if she approved of the plan before doing anything, knowing that one of the important factors to any partnership was communication and understanding; not being on the same page would only result in mistakes.

--

At the mention of plenty of pretty fish in the sea and Ryuko herself being one of them the priestess raised a slight eyebrow. The idea that she was the nicer looking of the two of them was laughable. It would have been funny if that was enough to make her trip and faceplant but she was far too agile to be making such careless mistakes.

When it came to looks the priestess wasn’t ugly by any means. But she wasn’t at the level where she needed to fend men off with sticks either. When she was younger she used to wear her ritual face paint more often to help deter unwanted suitors but it was debatable how effective it was or if she even needed to go to such lengths in the first place.

In truth Ryuko knew she had above average beauty but the problem was she was surrounded by supermodels like Natsuru and now Niko who made her almost seem plain in comparison. She was no washboard but she was still on the modest side and that made her feel very self conscious at times. In a way it was very flattering that Niko saw her as the better looking of the two but the reality was that if they got a group of men together seven out of ten of them would prefer the blacksmith who had curves in all the right places to her.

“Tis just the usual for nobels. Marrying for love is usually the stuff of fairy tales for us. Tis a lucky day indeed when we know our betrothed ahead of time. For the common folk many look upon us with envy at our power on status, never realizing the price that must always be paid.” said Ryuko matter of factly.

For her father the best way to use a third daughter like her who was a spare of a spare would be to strategically marry her off. She might not be a supermodel but she was still good looking enough to be quite the catch. If he could find the right husband for her it would grow his own power and influence by giving him stronger ties to another noble household.

The only reason he’d allowed her to go to the church and join in the first place was out of embarrassment when he’d tried to sell her off at the tender age of ten and failed due to the shifting political landscape at the time. Even that had been a calculated move since he knew she would be more likely to be selected as a Vestal than a commoner putting her into a position where she was one of the top movers and shakers in the entire country.

Even that wasn’t enough for the silly old-coute. He was still looking for potential marriage partners on the sly even if he no longer had the power to force such a thing on her. If he knew what lied ahead in the near future and how Ryuko would achieve far more than he had ever dreamed of being possible he would likely faint from sheer glee.

They didn’t have time to talk about the rest of what Niko had said about why her family had practiced polygamy and how she was now one of the last members of her clan due to the horrors of war. A subject Ryuko could speak about on great length which wasn’t surprising when you considered the god she was a priestess of was the god of war and wisdom. She would happily dedicate the better part of her adulthood if meant preventing more wars from occurring.

The village system had brought much peace to the elemental nations compared to the constant warfare that took place previously and there had yet to be a major conflict between any of the 5 great nations but that did not mean things were all hunky dory just yet. The sacking of Iron a few years back was just one example of the atrocities that still went on in this world. Her ultimate goal in life was to secure a peace treaty between them and maintain it for as long as possible.

There was only so much she could do that was humanly possible. The idea she could end all warfare forever was utterly unrealistic. As long as life existed so too would conflict and she wasn’t about to attempt to do something as foolish as genociding the planet. All she could do was try and leave this plain of existence a better place than when she’d arrived and hope that future generations would carry on her work.

There was so much she wanted to tell Niko about how she had figured herself out. She was hoping that by doing so the woman would be able to put that advice to use. After all it was very very frustrating not knowing things about yourself like that. Not knowing that she was gay and yet having all those strange feelings had been both very confusing and frustrating to deal with.

Ryuko grinned as Niko went to work pointing out the thugs that were concealed waiting to ambush those that tried to confront their point man. Having a sensor type around sure was convenient. There were things that Niko could do that Ryuko couldn’t and vice versa which is why they were likely to make a good team when working together.

“Das’t I was hoping to do things quietly.” muttered Ryuko. Springing the trap on purpose was likely to cause a commotion but it wasn’t like they had many options on the table either. With the numbers they were dealing with taking them all out without causing a scene of some sort would be difficult for just the two of them.

“Ok, we’ll hit them hard and fast and without mercy. We mustn’t give them time to alert the lab that we’re here.” replied Ryuko as she took out a set of five Kunai with one hand from her belt pouch. One for each tug she intended to take out, permanently. It would take time to move the entire lab, time the mafia didn’t have now that they were on the scene. The problem was that if the key players behind the production of rage got away there was a chance they could start up again elsewhere.


“You take the left and I”ll take the right and we’ll just consider us even for our little game.” remarked Ryuko indicating that she wasn’t trying to take the higher number for herself just to get an early lead but rather because of the two of them she was the one slightly better equipped to deal with the extra baggage. She had a long, long history of bandit slaying by now and with her experience was less likely to get hurt dealing with slightly more on her plate.

“We can leave capturing the bait to your shadow clone if you’d like but I’ll also be ready to assist should you need it. On your mark we’ll make our move.” said Ryuko, giving the blacksmith a thumbs up. As a ninja she was good at killing but she was just as good if not better at the delicate art of live capture.

A lot of people didn’t realize that capturing someone without seriously hurting them was often way harder than just slaying them outright. Ryuko had managed to capture the battle maid Masyuo during the Jounin tournament which just went to show just how darn good she was when it came to taking prisoners.

[7]

Even though she hadn’t had time to reply directly because they had reached their destination, she had nodded to inform the smaller woman that she had heard the information and understood it. Niko couldn’t imagine having someone control her life like that; one of the few benefits of raising yourself from eight years old was that she was her own boss during that entire time, and although she had been forced to grow up quickly, that sense of freedom was one of the few things she looked back on and actually cherished. Ryuko must have been under so much pressure from those type of parents… but at least she had them. Niko wondered which was better, but ultimately discarded the thought; there was no winner or loser in that, only pain and emotions that were best left alone and sealed away.

Hearing what she said made Niko think again for a moment.

“OK, new plan. Setting aside our little contest. They would know your face, but not mine. I will go out there and pretend to be interested, and do a little extra to draw their attention. While I have them distracted, you create one shadow clone and deal with the people waiting in ambush on each side, you taking one and the clone the other. They aren’t very strong, and their hiding places are pretty typical. You can use the rooftops to get to them unseen. I’ll simply walk up to him using the dress you said was ‘too much’ earlier using Transformation Jutsu. Should be enough to look like a wealthy patron-to-be, right?” If the woman’s earlier reaction was any indication, it would certainly get their attention, even those who were trying to keep watch. While she didn’t think that she was that good looking herself, she knew that others didn’t see her the same way, and perhaps it would be enough to hold their gazes long enough for Ryuko to eliminate the threats.

She would then wait to hear what the smaller Jounin’s opinion was of the new plan. There wasn’t a ton to it, but it held all the right elements, and would allow the trap to be defused before it was sprung. Plus, Ryuko was a Jounin of considerable power; to think she couldn’t handle a bunch of thugs in the spans of a couple of minutes would have been completely insulting.

--

Would they know her face? Niko might have a point about that. Ryuko was one of the most famous people in the entire country, enough so that like all the kage’s she even had an ninjabo action figure made in her image. Even after two years of being inactive it wasn’t like people would just forget about her overnight. If it was another country it’d be one thing but here she had a reputation and the criminals had a good reason to fear her since she’d been known to wipe entire bandits groups off the map.

“Well THAT Would certainly get their attention.” Ryuko remarked at the idea of Niko using that dress to distract them. It was the type of outfit that would cause man to stare while they were walking and result in them not paying attention and running into walls. Those of the criminal persuasion tended to think with their lower half more to begin with which meant it would be extra effective on them.

“However I don’t think tis would be wise for me to be using a shadow clone for something like this. Tis a wonderful jutsu when used correctly but one must be careful not to become over reliant on the ability to be in multiple places at once,” explained the priestess. Shadow clones excelled at gathering information and subterfuge or for doing quick manual labor but they actually weren’t a very effective force multiplier for combat as one might expect.

If you were to make one clone you would effectively split your stamina in half. For someone like Ryuko who only had average stamina as it went for a ninja that wasn’t always a great idea. The only reason she got away with that as much as she did for such a high level Jounin was because the fast bulk of her moveset was physical in nature being more of a hand to hand combat type rather than a long range caster.

That and she’d learned to become extremely efficient as medic to make the most use of what she had. But even with that she still had to be careful about what moves she made in order to not exhaust herself too quickly. Wasting half of her energy for such low level thugs was in her mind not efficient in the least.

“Do you know why Nariko is so powerful as the Raikage?” asked Ryuko rhetorically since she was planning to provide an answer in either case. Not waiting a second to hear the blacksmith’s reply she would grin and then elaborate. “It’s not because she knows the lightning release armor or has black lightning but rather because she’s really really effective at using the basics and getting the most out of them.”

Yes having the restricted level techs went a long way but Nariko could use academy level techs in ways most people could barely even conceive of. A little bit of creativity went a long way. Sometimes simplicity was the most effective solution. Having the fundamentals down could often be more useful than any big splashy attack. The way Niko herself was using the transformation tech was a perfect example of that.

“Niko would you mind if I quickly read your mind? If I had the exact location of those in hiding I could take them all out in the blink of an eye.” asked the priestess. Her statement wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Her baseline speed was borderline superhuman to begin with and it was trival for her to go even faster with the right fighting style. She could do such absurd things as run on water or on a vertical surface without even needing chakra to adhere herself.

Even the fastest olympic sprinters could only cover 100 meters in around 11 or 12 seconds while she could do it in 1 almost casual and almost double that if she really pushed herself. Given the small numbers involved and that she wouldn’t have to cover a lot of ground dealing with them would be like child’s play for her if she already knew where they were and didn’t have to waste time locating them.

Assuming that Niko would consent Ryuko made a move to place the palm of her right hand on the other woman’s forehead so that she could activate the Psycho Mind Transmission technique for just a split second. She was going to be very careful here and only grab the information she was looking for which was the thugs locations which being recent would be right on the surface. There was no need for her to dig deeper and pry.

[8]

Niko would nod in consent, tilting her head forward and closing her eyes, visualizing what she had sensed with her abilities and trying to project it to Ryuko. All nine enemies, their exact hiding locations, and even the basic layout of the buildings they were using as cover. What Ryuko would also glean from her mind, since it was something they had recently talked about, was the fact that Niko was absolutely oblivious to the dating scene. Not even so much as an interest in it, mostly because she worked so much that she always had a ‘more important’ thing to do. She didn’t even look at anyone the proper way, so it was no wonder that she had no idea what her orientation was; she didn’t have one yet.

The contact broke, and Niko was absolutely none the wiser that the extra information had been conveyed to the fellow Jounin, standing on her feet and performing the Transformation Jutsu to regain her dress and mentally prepared herself for what she was going to have to do. “Once I start talking, take that as the signal. I should have their attention by then.” She only knew what to do by watching other people, noting how some would break their necks if they saw certain things and taking mental notes of their behaviors. So, she moved to the main path leading up to the village and began to strut just a little bit, ensuring her hips, which were a bit thicker than your average girl, swayed as she strode forward.

She locked eyes with the man that was being used as bait, who turned and looked towards her for a moment while in mid-sentence with someone, abruptly stopped and took a moment to look again and outright stare, seeming to forget that he was in the middle of the conversation. Locking eyes with the man she continued her walk, intentionally not glancing to the sides where she knew most of the ambush lay in wait. So far, so good… not one of them had made a move, and she was relatively certain that she had their undivided attention for the moment. Finally reaching the man in the middle, she waited a second and came to a stop, cocking a hip and placing her hand on that hip, giving him a sly smile. “Oh, don’t let me distract you… weren’t you in the middle of a conversation? I’ll wait…” she was playing it off, not revealing anything and stalling for time while Ryuko initiated the plan.

--

-tt- Ryuko clicked her tongue, chiding herself for gleaning more information than she’d meant to while quickly skimming the surface level of Niko’s mind. She had wanted to ask about Niko’s dating life earlier but been too embarrassed to say anything out loud and now she’d accidentally invaded the other girl’s privacy.

To be fair it wasn’t like she’d had many chances to practice her mind reaching technique but that was a poor excuse for her less than professional use of it. It was one thing to extract secrets from an enemy who didn’t want to spill them otherwise but doing that to an ally and a friend made her feel dirty even if she hadn’t done it on purpose. Well at least the results had been more than worth it as she now had the location of where their potential ambushers were firmly inside her head. It was ironic that they themselves would now find themselves soon becoming the victims of an ambush from behind.

“Very well, at your signal.” Ryuko confirmed giving Niko a nod to ascertain her consent to following the plan. As her newest partner in crime transformed herself in order to better distract their prey the priestess quietly put away her kunai. These thugs were little better than street trash, hardly worth dirtying her knives over.

She would reserve Lethal force only for those that deserved it when she had to resort to it in self defense or defense of another. These types were hardly what would constitute a treat no matter what their number would be. There could be ninehundred of them and the only difference would be how long it took for her to mop them up.

Frankly speaking the type that ended up as hired muscle for the mob did so because of some basic deficiency. They were usually lacking in some department whether it be the brains or just having a chemical dependency that made it hard for them to get normal work. If they were the type to put in honest effort and improve themselves they likely wouldn’t be thugs in the first place.

Watching Niko put on a show with one corner of her eye and keeping an eye on where the ambushers were lying in wait Ryuko gave a grin at just how distracting her comrade in arms was proving to be. If she wasn’t a consummate professional herself she might have missed her mark and flubbed the plan.

The second Niko began speaking the Priestess took off like a rocket using the Ballad of the Dragoon fighting style to move with nearly unparalleled speed and precision. Even for someone with a trained eye might have trouble following her but for any civilians including these ruffians it would have seemed like she was teleporting, or at least it would if any of them had happened to be looking in her direction but right now all eyes where on the absolute bombshell that was Niko.

So captivating was her beauty that Men and women alike had stopped to gaze and of course the hired goons were no exception. They were hardly paying any attention to their surroundings now which made things easy for Ryuko as she slipped behind them at breakneck speeds delivering a hard precision karate chop the top back of their necks striking a nerve and knocking them out cold in an instant. As a seasoned medic and martial artist knowing where to strike people to have this kind of effect was simply a matter of course.

As soon as she hit the first first goon knocking him out she’d already moved onto the second not even given time for the unconscious body to slump to the ground. The elapsed time had been less than a second before she delivered her next blow. Move, chop, Move, Chop. The cycle repeated itself as she struck as swiftly as a bolt of lightning blowing all before her into dreamland. It hadn’t even taken her a full half minute to accomplish her task before it was complete.

This was their lucky day. Once the mission was done and they woke up she was planning to give them a stern talking to. If they had happened to be higher up in the food chain instead of the bottom rung they’d already have departed from this life rather than simply been knocked out.

The biggest issue now was that she had no way to properly restrain them. The amount of string she carried around to perform various jutsu with was nowhere near enough to tie up that many people. Well she’d hit them pretty hard so it was likely they’d remain out cold for a good while yet as long as a good samaritan didn’t try and rouse them with smelling salts or something. Maybe if she spotted a police officer or something in the village if they had one around she could have him look after the sorry lot.

As the final grunt slumped to the ground Ryuko silently slipped behind the man Niko was distracting and stood there with her arms crossed as a signal to her compatiate that her task was complete. Now she was simply making sure their mark had nowhere left to run while Niko tried to interrogate him. She gave a grin thinking how fun it would be to see how the other woman would try to pry information out of the bait that had been left out for them.

[9]

Niko’s Sensory was something that she almost always had going, especially during a mission, so she didn’t even need to look away to know that Ryuko had begun taking care of the culprits.  “Oh yes, I do have business with you…” she said, only barely having heard the man in front of her and responding in such a way that would probably be enough to keep his suspicion down.  Not that he could escape the red-haired Kanuchi at this range anyway, even if he did, but just to add a little icing on the cake, she cocked her other hip out and shifted her center of balance and crossed her arms underneath her chest, boosting them up a little bit and making them even more emphasized than they already were.  The ploy worked, and the man lost track of what he was saying and was blatantly staring.

That was about the time that Ryuko showed up behind the man, completely oblivious to the shorter Jounin’s presence, and still just staring.  But her presence would shift Niko’s demeanor all together; gone was the playful mask she was wearing, simply being present and holding the man’s attention, completely replaced with the truth of her emotions.  The man before her was repulsive, and reaching up and pulling a Senbon out of her hair, she looked at him with cold eyes as her hand blurred forward, reaching past him and driving the needle into the man’s neck, aiming for the specific nerve cluster that controlled motor functions near the base of the spine but without actually disabling him for the rest of his life.

Yet.

Now that he had collapsed on the floor, Niko crouched over him, getting close to his face,  which was now justifiably terrified.  “So… you are going to tell me what you know, or I won’t let my friend here heal you.  The needle that is in your neck is also puncturing your throat, just enough to allow the blood from the wound to slowly leak into your lungs.  You have about five minutes before you drown in your own blood, and if you tell us what we want to know, I’ll make sure that you aren’t in any pain.  Refuse…”  The red-head reached over, flicking the Senbon that was still in his nerve cluster, causing an obscene amount of pain and the man to scream in agony.  Once he was done howling in pain, she finished her sentence.  “And I will make the last five minutes of your life the most painful you have never imagined.”

She would leave out the fact that she hadn’t promised that Ryuko would heal the guy at all, only hinted that she would allow the Jounin to.  It was still completely up to her if he was worth healing or not.

--

Kyoski had been having what he thought was one of the best days of his life.  After a string of bad luck had made the world seemed like it was coming to an end things had finally been looking up.  He’d lost his job, His longtime girlfriend had left him and he’d even been evicted from his apartment.   Just when he thought he’d been destined to die in some gutter some kindly people had taken him in and given him a new job and a place to stay. All he had to do in return was help them hand out medicine to people who were willing to pay an not unreasonable fee.   That seemed simple enough and he even had some body guards to protect him so he saw no reason to refuse.

When the ten out of ten bombshell appeared stating that she had some business with him he couldn’t help but give a perverted grin in return.  This woman had an air of exocitcness to her that was nearly irrestitble, especially with such a tight fitting dress on that left little to the imagination.  His gaze inevitably feel upon the generous twin mounds on her chest and he drooled a little at the thought of being able to give those a squeeze.

Given the seductive way the woman was talking he figured she was looking for handout. Technically he wasn’t supposed to be giving out the meds for free but it’d been awhile since he’d last known the touch of a woman and he gazed at her longingly.   Maybe if he played his cards right he could get a little service out of her.

At least that’s what he’d been thinking before she went and stabbed him in the neck with a needled she’d pulled out of seemingly nowhere so fast he hadn’t even had a chance to react before he found himself on the ground writhing in pain.


“Ow what the fuck was that for you bitch?” He complained.  He thought she’d just been some broad but it seemed to him like she’d gone off her rocker. “What the hell do you even want to ask me? I don’t know nothing.”  He groused in a bit of empty bravado.  He actually had an inkling about what this strange girl wanted since he knew his job was on the shady side but he wanted to look good infront of the man assigned to protect him.  Man he was expecting to come in any second now and save him.

“Your help won’t be coming. Tis seems they are too busy being dead.” spoke a voice from behind him. It was almost whomever was talking was reading his mind.   Little did he know that she was lying through her teeth about that last part. The way she was talking was so cold and matter of fact that it sent shivers down his spine.

Glancing over his shoulder as best he could he saw a face that shouldn’t have been their.  The red facial markings were quite distinctive and famous. Even a nobody like him had read about this woman in the newspapers.  The only problem was according to word on the street the Shrine maiden known as Ryuko was supposed to be dead.  The thought he was seeing a ghost was enough that he almost lost control of his bladder.    Maybe the Crazy hot chick wasn’t bluffing about his lungs drowning in his own blood after all and he was already slipping between this world and the next.

“Hakkin help me! I’ll talk, I’ll talk. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know please just spare me!” he begged as he began to sob uncontrollably making snot run down his otherwise handsome looking face.  Why did his luck have to turn on a dime like this just when things were looking up?

[10]

Niko rolled her eyes at his insults, and reached over and flicked the needle buried in his neck, letting him howl in absolute agony for a short time before speaking again. “That insult cost your thirty seconds of your life.” Niko honestly didn’t like to kill… she would avoid it when it was safe to do so and the margin for error was large enough that she didn’t need to worry. But there were some things that she just couldn’t forgive, and any time that someone took on slaves she knew that there would be no mercy for them. People were not possessions, and anyone who thought otherwise would be judged by Athreos.

This man would decide his own fate, and hearing him say he would talk she would smile and take a deep breath, calming herself. Perhaps he wasn’t past redemption just yet. “Excellent. You are going to tell us everything you know about the people who hired you as bait. What you do for them. Where they hired you from. What they look like, sound like, smell like. What buildings are where, and how they are designed. And speak quickly, because I don’t want you to run out of time…” And he sang like a canary. He didn’t know nearly as much as the red-head had hoped, but he had told them everything that he could. He looked towards Ryuko and gave her a nod, indicating that he was now in her care, and it would be up to her if she wanted to save him, or let him drown, as she slowly removed the Senbon and stood up.

Looking at the individuals still knocked out from Ryuko’s handiwork, Niko released her transformation and reached down to one of her gauntlets and began to pull wire from it, breaking off small sections and binding them up, putting them into a row in one of the alleys. Once that was done, she would rejoin Ryuko, who would probably be finished with their snitch, one way or another. Personally, she hoped that he would tell Ryuko, his ‘savior’ more than her, using the extreme side of the ‘nice ninja, mean ninja’ schtick, which had a tendency to work, but if the shorter woman had no compassion for the man, and he was dead, that was fine too.

She approached her and took a deep breath, centering herself again so she didn’t come off as the cold huntress to her friend. “So, let’s see what we have.” Reaching into a small pouch on her hip, she pulled out a small pencil and unfolded a semi-decent sized paper. She would then sketch a very rough draft of the town they were currently in, but it was extremely obvious that Niko had a high amount of artistic talent. She would then begin to transcribe the information she had gathered and Ryuko was telling her to make a very basic map. Once it was done, she would finally look up. “Alright… so there are three entrances, but these two naturally cause a funnel. If we set up an explosive tag on the last one, and then take one each, we can make sure none escape… unless you have a better idea of course.”

After all, they worked best when they came up with the plan together.

--

Ryuko hadn’t been expecting to be able to put her situation to use like this. The fact that she’d been in a coma for so long had given some the impression that she was deceased which had resulted in almost literally scaring the crap out of the bait. Being able to strike fear in the hearts of criminals was in her opinion always a good thing. It was almost a shame that it wouldn’t be long before word of her awakening spread and everyone realized that she was very much indeed still alive. Thought that too would spread fear among the cowardly lot so it was still a victory in her book.

After knocking out the hoodlums that had been waiting to ambush them she’d hardly had to life a finger to support Niko’s interrogation. The deft way her friend was handling this left the priestess feeling deeply impressed. Not only did she manage to pull out what they needed to know and do so quickly she’d done it without leaving any lasting harm.

The methods Ryuko had been considering were nowhere near as delicate. If he had refused to comply after intimidation had failed she would have put the fear of god in him by doing something extreme like yanking an eye. She’d found that once someone had lost a limb by your hand it made them fear losing another much more intense. The prospect of death was scary but also final, sometimes being left alive was a much more cruel fate.

Of course that wasn’t the case here. This man was just someone unlucky who’d been tricked into helping some bad guys out of desperation. Putting him in the dirt was far worse punishment than he deserved and wouldn’t help anyone. Once Niko was finished getting what she wanted out of him Ryuko set to work healing the man’s wound with a glowing green hand. A slight application of medical chakra and he’d be right as rain.

While she was at it she took the opportunity to read the man’s mind without him knowing just to confirm he was telling the truth. If Niko had been hoping that he’d blab more to the priestess as she fixed him the other jounin might be disappointed to find out that wasn’t happening as the man had nothing left to tell other then profuse thanks and promises to be more careful who he’d take jobs from in the future.

Finishing saving his life Ryuko quickly shooed the man off telling him to go back to his normal life. On the scale good and evil he was relatively innocent and had been punished enough, the mooks she’d captured on the other hand would be headed to jail and some hard labor to learn their lesson. Being ready to assault someone like they had was a much more serious crime after all.

“Great work Niko, you got everything you could out of him on the first try.” praised the priestess as she watched her compatriot sketch out a map of one particular wearhouse located by the docks. She’d left the task up to Niko because of the simple fact that while she could do a lot of things, the vestal had no artistic talent whatsoever when it came to things like drawing and painting. She could sketch a rough map if she had to in a pinch but it’d probably end up looking like something a child had scribbled.

“Tis a good plan you have Niko. Let’s stick with it.” affirmed the priestess knowing there was no point in getting too fancy here. They had other options since If Ryuko used the right jutsu she could blow a building like that away without even having to step inside if but that would be stupid of them to do before confriming the evidence first.

“That said be weary. These Mafia types aren’t complete fools, I wouldn’t be surprised if the leader had a secret tunnel in his back pocket that he wouldn’t tell low level employees about.” Ryuko warned. The bait was so low on the totem pole he might not know about additional security measures either. There was no telling what awaited them at the warehouse.

[11]

Niko gave Ryuko a smile at the praise she was being given.  “A side-effect of necessity… and enhanced by my studies into Iijutsu.  I’m not quite there yet, but soon I’ll be able to heal others as well, I hope.”  Hearing about the woman’s plan and her concern regarding the hidden tunnel brought a nod to her.  “Understood… once we get closer, I can use my Sensory to map the place out, and it won’t be a problem.  So let’s do that for now, and I’ll be able to draw a much more detailed map.”  Quickly she folded up the paper and replaced both it and the pencil back in her pouch, taking a moment to look around and note that the group of people that were now bound in the alley shouldn’t be a problem moving forward.  Without another word, she rose up and looked towards the docks, slipping into a much quieter movement as she slipped towards the target.

As they got closer, the warehouse in question in site, Niko slowed down just out of sight and waved Ryuko over, pulling out the paper and pencil again and then touching her hands to the ground, closing her eyes, and sending a pulse of chakra into the earth to enhance her senses.  She was able to see it all; the people walking around, the rooms, the halls, the doors, and the routes leading to and from… to include the hidden escape route near what must have been the boss’ office.  Once again she drew out the paper and pencil, flipping it to the blank side, and began to draw quickly.  This time, the detail was far greater, showing each of the side-gates, the main entrance which was inside the warehouse, and the small hidden escape tunnel that led out to the beach.  She frowned… unless they hit both the side-gates and closed them up, they wouldn’t be able to control the flow of people… but that heavily stacked the odds of their bet into the favor of whoever took the front entrance and began the assault.

It wasn’t like Niko was too object to losing the bet, though, so it wasn’t a huge deal.  She doubted Ryuko would be asking for anything outlandish with her winnings.

“We might need to revise the plan a bit.  I say we close off the side-gates with the tags, and I can wait around back.  It’s a narrow tunnel and I doubt anyone but the boss is going to use the escape route, but that leaves you with most of the work.  I’ll take care of anyone else who comes out, but I think the leader should be brought back with us.  Might have information we can use to find more areas that need to be purged.”  She then waited to hear what Ryuko thought of the plan, and began to pull out a few explosive tags from another pouch.

--

The more fun loving side of Ryuko was tempted to make a crack about being willing to give Niko personal biology lessons but the more rational side won out realizing that a comment like that could be misconstrued as flirting even if she was trying to be genuine with her offer.  The priestess was among other things a first rate medic after all so she’d make for an excellent tutor.

Speaking of tutoring she had several medical related jutsu she had invented herself and hadn’t passed down to anyone, not even on paper.  The village had already almost lost her once, if something happened to her before she trained a successor it would be a loss in terms of valuable knowledge.

In fact there was so much riding on her now that the feeling of responsibility felt suffocating.  In the short time since she’d woken up she’d already made herself indispensable to the economics of not just one but several nations raising an astronomical amount of funds overnight.   The tracks the money train was riding along were incredibly precarious and without a steady hand to guide the engine it would surely derail.

If she had any idea about what was coming in the near future that would make her responsibility now feel like a light breeze in comparison she likely would have run off screaming but instead she simply returned Niko’s grin.

“I can help you study if you’d like.” she made the offer in a much safer, more boring way.  The last thing she wanted was to be accused of was sexual harassment after and if she really had wanted to flit then their where better times and places for it then when she was on the middle of a mission.  Even one that seemed relatively low key at first glance could become dangerous if one grew complacent.

As they changed locations and Ryuko silently watched her compatriot map out the warehouse from the outside she had to admire the work.  She’d know in theory how handy sensory could be but this was the first time she’d ever seen it in action to this extent.    Using it to locate people was one thing but to discern the layout of a complex without having to physically scout it was impressive.  

She had to admit it would be a handy skill to have but at this point it was one she also knew she was unlikely to ever learn.   The priestess knew in her heart that she was near the apex of her potential as a human being.  There were only so many skills one could pack into their skull and make effective use of.  She likely still had room to improve when it came to more artistic stuff like drawing but when it came to combat she wasn’t likely to be able to learn more then one more skill at best.

It was hard to pick what that last skill should be when one had so many viable options on hand.  Should she learn chemistry to be able to make better poison and medicine?  The art of fuinjutsu so she could enchant her own equipment and not have to rely on others to do it for her?   Being able to summon a giant animal to fight on her side sounded pretty rad and the tactical advantage to even learning one other element was near endless.

Well it was another problem for another day. For now she was focusing on how best to go along with Niko’s plan.  She figured letting the blacksmith take the lead on the mission would be a good experience for her.  The best teams were those that had several people capable of leading them after all.

“Tis seems like you’re giving me the juiciest role.” Commented Ryuko with a sly grin.   If she didn’t know better she would suspect that Niko was deliberately trying to let her win the little bet of theirs but she couldn’t imagine for what purpose.   With Niko sealing off the exit there wasn’t a chance any of the mobsters would be able to make it past the priestess if she made a full frontal assault.  For someone who didn’t even have an advanced bloodline she was still quite a force of nature once she got going.


“You should get some bonus points for capturing their leader at least.” Ryuko said.  Given that the warehouse had a secret escape tunnel just like she’d  guessed it might, it wasn’t hard for her to surmise what the person in charge of the operations would do once her attack began. He’d run for the secret exit and straight into Niko’s waiting arms.

“One other thing before we begin, can you tell if any of the ships here belong to them?” asked Ryuko.  They must have made their base at the docks for a reason, it would make transporting the drugs by ship very convenient.    There was a possibility that some of the drug was already loaded up to be taken away or that some of these pushers could use their ship to slip away while the Jounin were busy assaulting the warehouse.

The priestess was meticulous and thorough when it came to this kind of thing.  She wanted to insure to the best of her ability that this drug never darkened the streets of her country ever again and as such would not overlook the slightest of possibilities.    Taking the leader in alive so they could learn of any backup locations he might have was only the natural course of action though he was likely the only one in that warehouse at the moment who would ever walk out of it again while still being alive.

[12]

Hearing Ryuko say that she could help Niko study made her smile warmly. “I’d like that very much…” she would say gratefully, accepting it and reinforcing that with a nod. She had heard of the smaller woman’s prowess with the medical field, and learning some of that might be just the break she needed in order to properly utilize Iijutsu on her own. She had been at a bit of a block in that regard, and being able to break that loose with a skilled teacher would definitely help if not solve the problem all together.

But then the focus came back to the mission as the woman claimed that Ryuko had the ‘juiciest role’ and Niko gave her another smile. “Maybe… but your skills are better at handling crowd control. I’m much more proficient with my enemies coming at me one on one. And maybe… depends if he puts up a fight or is slime and grovels at my feet when I catch him. Either way, I’m not too worried about it, so long as the mission is a success.” She then listened closely as the woman brought up a variable that Niko hadn’t thought of yet; the ships. They could be loaded with much of anything, and would need to be searched thoroughly, and that meant they couldn’t be allowed to escape.

“Give me an extra three minutes before you begin your assault. I’ll make sure they aren’t going anywhere and we can search them at our leisure once we finish the attack.” With that settled, the plan in place, she gave Ryuko one more nod, and then slipped backwards, using a Body Flicker to travel the distance she needed to move from cover to cover faster than the people around her could track. She slipped to where the boats were docked and quickly submerged beneath the waves in seconds, silent and deadly as a shark as she moved through the water. Quickly she moved to the anchors and pulled out her wire yet again, unspooling some more and binding the different chains together. Now, if they tried to leave, they would become greatly tangled and bunch up, held in place with one another and unable to drag three different anchors by themselves.

With that task done, she slowly emerged from the water, looking like a red-haired demon rising from the depths as she managed to get herself on top of the surface and walk towards the exit that she needed to guard. No one seemed to be worried about someone hitting them from the beach, so it wasn’t any bother for her to simply stand next to the door and begin to wring out her hair. Silently, the redhead had been counting mentally a timer that she had given Ryuko, and she smiled as she counted the last number, 180, and waited to hear the commotion that was about to take place, using her Sensory to track the woman’s progress. If, for some odd reason, she wound up needing help, she would receive it quickly and effectively… but she doubted any of them had a snow-balls chance in hell of catching Ryuko flat-footed.

--

Ryuko had an ulterior motive for saying that she would help Niko study to become a medic. It wasn’t as unsavory as trying to get into the other woman's pants like some might assume but rather the fact she figured it would be a good thing for implantation surgeries if some came up in the future for her to have a capable assistant. Even just one extra pair of hands could make the difference between the surgery being a success or not.

The priestess stopped and blinked as she considered Niko’s words that she was more suited for crowd control. While she did suppose she was able to make a pretty large lightning blast if she needed to. Even if she leaned heavily towards close range combat it wasn’t like she didn’t have any long range tricks in her back pocket. It was pretty hard to get to Jounin rank if you were nothing but a one trick pony.

“Heh so you can deal with the ships in just 3 minutes? You’re pretty quick on your feet yourself Niko.” Complemented Ryuko. Dealing with a group of thugs in less than a minute was one thing but disabling entire ships was something else. She was curious just what Niko was going to do to take them out of the picture but she figured more detailed explanations could wait until the post mission debrief.

If she just had to disable them Ryuko could do that easily enough. Her Thor’s hammer technique could punch a small hole through an entire building so it wouldn’t be too hard to sink a ship if she hit it in the right spot or at least slow it down enough that it wouldn’t be able to get anywhere fast. Of course the fact that it would be anything but stealth made it a poor option given they wanted to take the drug lab by surprise.

As soon as the allotted time passed Ryuko was off like a rocket throwing a kunai straight between the eyes of two thugs guarding the warehouse doors killing them so fast they hadn’t even had time to realize what had hit them. Stopping only for a split second to retrieve her weapons with a light tug and flicking off the blood so they wouldn’t rust she marched on slaughtering everyone in her path. She’d managed to finish off two people who had been in the middle of picking up a crate, a supervisor standing above them on a high railed off overpass before the remaining workers caught on to the fact that they were under assault.

“Don’t just stand there you fools, Protect the goods.” Proclaimed one particularly well dressed man even as he was in the process of turning and running away. A group of about six or seven people working on the processing line dropped everything and turned to face Ryuko while a couple others simply tried to flee past her only to find their heads rolling before they could even a meter past her.

“If you think you can escape you’re sorely mistaken. Your only path forward is over my dead body.” Proclaimed Ryuko as she casually backhanded the large warehouse doors slamming them closed with a loud bang. She’d hit them so hard she’d damaged the hinges in the process so unless one had tremendous strength like her or access to heavy equipment they wouldn’t be able to open them anytime soon.

So far she hadn’t displayed the slightest hint of hesitation in killing these men. Unlike the earlier idiots who had tried to set up an ambush for them at the town gates these people were clearly more than just hired muscle and more than deserved their fate. If anything they were getting off lightly facing her as she mercifully dispatched them in one blow rather than prolong their agony like a Jashinist might.

There were some bad guys she was more than willing to spare under the right circumstances. She’d once ran across a group of mountain bandits who instead of killing civilians and merchants and taking their goods merely charged for their protection along trade routes. Given their deep knowledge of the land and general hardiness, putting them to the sword would have been a waste of their talents so instead she’d hired them on as a mountain rescue service.

People that pushed harmful drugs like rage however were much harder to put to use. Even if they had a particular skill in chemistry their clear lack of morals made it much harder to trust them. Still she might be willing to spare one or two of them if they did the smart thing and surrendered.

This group at least didn’t appear too bright for people that had been mixing chemicals together just moments earlier and were attempting to rush her all at once. Flourishing her sword she dispatched them all with a single slice.

“Once again I’ve cut something worthless.” She muttered to herself as the entire group slumped to the floor around her. Stepping over them she sighed, so far so good as she had yet to come across anything that remotely constituted a treat. Still she remained on guard since there was still the chance the mafia had hired a missing ninja or ronin to act as a bodyguard.

“Hope Niko’s having better luck on her end.” Through the Priestess to herself as she spotted a woman attempting to set fire to the drugs and erase the evidence causing her to sigh. It looked like she still had quite a bit of work ahead of her after all.

[13]

Niko was waiting patiently on the shoreline, but grew a little more tense as her Sensory picked up a pair of chakra signatures moving through the escape tunnel towards her.  The second one was of no concern, a regular human by the sense of it, and probably the boss.  The first one however had a decent Chakra signature, and it caused her enough worry for the redhead to draw out both Senbon from her hair and stand in a ready position.  She could have hid and probably gotten then jump on the people approaching, but if she let them leave the tunnel, it would allow the boss to have an escape route, and opportunity while the Jounin fought the other, to escape.  That would result in the failure of her mission, and that simply was completely and utterly unacceptable.  Ryuko was inside, doing her best to take care of all the problems on the inside, and as she began her assault, the two explosions sealing off the side-exits had been the signal that their fates had been sealed.

She heard them talking clear as day, the fighter in front telling the boss to go back to his office and wait for him to finish dealing with the Ninja blocking their escape, that he would go an retrieve him.  That made things easier, because the frightened man listened, which meant she wouldn’t have to fight in the confines of the tunnel, and actually backed up to let the man come out of the corridor and into the sunlight.  He was a dark skinned man with dark glasses, rippling with muscle, and wearing a tattered Konoha Vest.  A deserter from the hidden Leaf?  That could be interesting at least.  Perhaps he would have some intel for them to gather… and fighting against some other nation’s style would certainly be more interesting than anything she would find normally in this country.  She was legitametly looking forward to it, and gave a silent prayer of thanks to Iroas, the God of Victory, for presenting her with such an opponent.

He soundlessly lowered into some sort of stance, and then launched forward at her, prompting the redhead to bring a senbon up to block his kicked, but then had to give way and roll backwards.  He was about the same speed as far as running, but he was physically stronger than Niko, meaning he was at least Chuunin level, if not a little higher.  She smiled, but not with the warm smile of the woman who was raising two girls, but instead the smile of a predator who had finally gotten a decent challenge, one who knew that this would likely result in one of their deaths… and could fight with all that she held dear on the line.  No one ever won a war by dying for their country; they won wars by making the other poor bastard die for theirs.  With that mindset, she waited a moment, and when the next attack came, deftly deflected the blow, simultaneously stabbing the senbon through the man’s calf.  It wouldn’t do much actual damage, but it would hurt like hell and make his movements that much more difficult, possibly even slow him down.

Niko lost track of time as she fought the missing Nin… but she kept her wits about her, ensuring the boss stayed safely tucked in his secret office, and fighting with everything that she was.  At the end of it all, Ryuko probably had ample time to finish fighting inside, and possibly even grabbing the boss himself and joining her on the beach.  The redhead was standing over the man, breathing heavily… she had been forced to fight far harder than she had anticipated, and it showed.  Her skin was littered with bruises, scrapes and caked on sand clinging to her skin from rolling in the sand and sweat, and there was even a trickle of blood coming from her mouth, but yet, she was still smiling like she was having the time of her life.  Fighting to this level was absolutely thrilling after dealing with those that hadn’t been a proper fight constantly… this was one of those fights where she felt like the opponent actually deserved respect, and she knelt next to him, who was laying on his back covered in knicks, cuts and punctures where her Senbon had slowly whittled him down.  He looked to her, near the water’s edge, and gave him a nod of respect, prompting the man to slowly reach and open his vest, revealing that it was lined with explosive tags.  Instead of being overly surprised, Niko nodded at the man’s conviction.  They would get no answers about Konoha, the man’s origins, or anything else… any move now and he would detonate it.

“You were strong and honorable, even if your choice of employment was flawed.  May Erebos guide you to the afterlife you properly deserve.”  That being said, she moved back towards the tunnel, the nameless Missing Nin waiting until she was out of range, a sign of respect, before lighting the explosive tags, giving him the ultimate cremation and death of a warrior.  Niko took a moment to get her breathing together before using her Sensory again to assess what the situation was, ready to grab the slimeball who had used this man’s desperation as a means to manipulate him into being his personal bodyguard.

—

Blitzing forward at her top speed Ryuko snatched the lighter out of the woman’s hands before she could set fire to the evidence and effortlessly crushed it within her own with a loud krunk sound.   Some might wonder why she hadn’t just killed the woman the way she had all the men so far and think it had something to do with sapphic leanings but that couldn’t have been further from the case.

If this woman had been one of the scientists who had come up with the chemical composition of the drug in the first place Ryuko or one of the other people responsible for its production the priestess would have finished her off without hesitation.   The reason she had stayed her hand was simple enough.  She’d been watching the people she targeted closely, paying attention to even the most minute of details and analyzing them.

This woman was dressed like a maid not a scientist and she was slowing clear signs of abuse that she had tried to conceal with makeup.  It was enough to fool the average person but Ryuko saw straight through it.    

“-tt-” Ryuko clicked her tongue in vexation now that she was up close she got a better look at the black choker the maid had been wearing. It had been made to look like it was just plain ordinary accessory but in reality it was an highly illegal enchanted slave collar which would force the wearer to obey orders from whomever first registered their chakra with it.   This woman wasn’t here because she wanted to be but because she had been forced to be against her will.

“Are you the only slave? Are there any others?” Ryuko asked her hurriedly out of concern.  The drugs were bad enough but the fact they had been keeping a slave to clean for them was beyond the pale.   Usually where there was one slave you could be sure to find more.   Once they caught the boss she was going to make absolutely sure he did not receive such an easy death like his underlings had been granted.

The woman simply stood there frozen, her trembling lips gabbing open and shut like a fish as she attempted to speak but with no sound coming out of her mouth, likely a side effect of her slave collar and being ordered not to spill the beans.   That was troublesome as the choker wasn’t something that could easily be removed safely since they would always be booby trapped to prevent the slave from escaping knowing their life would be forfeit in the attempt.

Suddenly the maid began waving fanatically with her hands as if she was trying to warn Ryuko about some danger behind her. Seeing this gesture the priestess grinned. It was nice to be worried about even if the concern was unnecessary she’d long since detected the presence of someone trying to sneak up on her.    She might not be a sensor but one didn’t need to be able to detect chakra for everything when they had such a sharp sense of hearing.

Whirling around she lashed out with a kick hitting a man straight in the gut as he was in the process of literally attempting to jump her and stab her in the back.  She hadn’t held back in the slightest using a full powered chakra enhanced strength kick to send him sailing straight through the metallic ceiling and to his death.

If the initial impact of her kick didn’t finish him off going straight through a metal wall and over a hundred meters into the air before crashing back down on hard concrete  at high speed certainly would.  There were only a handful of people on the planet tough enough to survive something like that and that man hadn’t been one of them.

Ryuko had only caught a quick glimpse of her as her foot had connected with his torso.  He’d had a jagged scar running across his face and an eye patch on his right eye. Honestly it was kind of impressive he’d had enough depth perception to try and have a go at her.   Unlike the thugs his movements had been much smoother and precise.

He’d  most likely been a low raking Ninja for some kind.  Likely a C-rank Chunnin if his tattered looking vest was anything to go by.   It’d just been his dumb luck to be up against an S-rank this day which meant he stood little better chance against her then the Mafia goons had.

Glancing over the areas of the warehouse she could see Ryuko saw no further signs of people lurking in wait, just several dead bodies scattered about and lots and lots of drugs that would need disposal.   She was considering if she should go looking for either the office where somebody might be holed up or go looking for more slaves when the sound of a large explosion shook the metal building making it rattle.  

“Niko!” Ryuko blurted out in concern. That had been much louder than the initial explosions her friend had used to seal off two of the exits which couldn’t be a good thing.  “Wait here, I’ll be back shortly.”  Declared the priestess as she ordered the maid to stay put and took off at top speed heading towards the source of the blast only to find her compatriot lurking near the mouth of the tunnel looking like someone had beaten the shit out of her.

“Das’t! What happened?” Ryuko exclaimed, going as far to swear at the sorry state her friend was in.   A quick look was enough to confirm it wasn’t as bad as it looked.  Niko was more dirty from being covered in sand, dirt and mud then she was seriously injured but it looked like she’d been through quite a fight.  If she had that tough of a time Ryuko would hate to see the state of whomever Niko had fought.

“Let me take care of your wounds before we proceed.” said Ryuko, feeling more calm now that she’d confirmed Niko’s safety.  Performing a couple hand seals she began to run glowing green palms over the places that the Blacksmith had been cut sealing up the wounds and making them vanish without a trace other than the dried up blood that had been left behind.

[14]

Niko kept her Sensory going… the only person left, Ryuko had blitzed past, but he wasn’t trying to run just yet. Still was just cowering under his desk and trembling in fear like the rat that he was, which was fortunate considering that Ryuko insisted on healing her a bit, which she appreciated. The pain was nothing she couldn’t have shoved to a corner of her mind, but more than that, the personal demonstration of the Iijutsu was a great way for her to watch and learn how it was done so she could work on replicating that ability in the future. She focused on feeling every repaired blood vessel, every small split in the skin re-stitching itself together… it was an amazing thing to experience first hand.

“He had a decent level Missing Nin guarding him. He’s back in the office under his desk, the coward. I think it was a Konoha Nin, and he used explosive tags to make sure we couldn’t recover anything… loyal to the end, even in exile. Honorable.” The respect was evident in her tone, but she had managed to win without major problems, but it had been a tough fight, showing Niko just how far she had yet to go. She wanted to be so much stronger… faster, more powerful… and yet here she was, only able to do so much. She partially knew that was because her focus hadn’t been on being a Ninja, and more on a Blacksmith… but that wasn’t the point. She had to believe, in her heart, she was doing the right thing with her life. Anything else meant that everything about her had been a lie… and that was simply too much to bear.

Fully healed now, she gave Ryuko a smile, not even thinking twice about the fact that the woman had basically just had her hands, glowing or not, all over Niko’s body. That was just part of the deal, and part of her wondered if she was going to need to do that in order to properly heal someone, but that was something she would learn in time. Ryuko would have learned through that physical contact that Niko’s body had a certain softness to it, but she was very muscular underneath that thin layer, her naturally prominent curves only accentuated by how hard she had worked and trained. Niko looked back towards the office. “What do you think? Bring him back to the village?” she asked, not exactly sure the best way to go about it from here, and also not the team leader as she got back to her feet, cocking one hip to the side and putting her hand on it, thinking.

--

Ryuko had ran her hands all over the blacksmith without a second thought and without a hint of embarrassment or blushing on her end. For her this was nothing more than a standard medical procedure. One of the first things you had to learn as a doctor was touching patients in what would normally be considered awkward spots.

As things stood she barely had a lewd bone in her body but that also might be because she’d barely explored her own sexuality much and had so little experience in the matter. She was so pure that even something as simple as holding hands could seem inceably saucy depending on the context.

For now she simply held out a hand offering to help Niko back up onto her feet not really thinking much of the gesture since she’d only done it in the interest of speeding along the mission and not out of any romantic overtures.

“Hmm, I must have run into his subordinate. Kind of makes me wish I’d held back a little more. Hard to learn much from someone you’d have to scrape off the pavement.” Ryuko commented with a sigh. Once she got serious she didn’t screw around. She was nothing if not efficient performing one hit, one kill as much as possible to avoid wasting excess energy.

It was a shame really how quickly things had been over. As a warrior Ryuko loved a good honest fight but she had to prioritize the mission. She didn’t have time to screw around trading blows with someone who was out for her blood and had literally tried to knife her in the back. Besides the power gap between them was too wide for it to be much fun for her even if she had held back a bit and not used chakra enhanced strength.

It was much better to go toe to toe with someone more her speed. Her fight with Masyuo in the Jounin tournament felt like it was just last Tuesday to her thanks to her coma even though in reality it had been years ago. Just thinking about how close it had been made her heart pump with excitement.

The fact that Niko was a woman who could keep up with her in battle even if only to a partial extent was one hell of a plus. If Ryuko hadn’t already been fixated on Nozomi it would have been enough to easily push her over the edge but instead she merely admired her compatriot respectfully.

“Oh yes, He’s coming back to the village all right. Somebody should stand trial for these crimes at least. After all he was keeping at least one slave that he was forcing to try and destroy evidence with. We need to check to see if he has more around.” Who knew what other secrets might lurk in that head of his. If they killed him they might never know if this was the only lab or not and soon find themselves back at square one having to investigate the problem from scratch.

“Can I count on you to find any the slaves while I take the scum bag into custody?” asked Ryuko as she took her baton and restlessly gave it a light twirl. She’d love nothing more then to give this scumbag a hard twop but beating on him now would just be counter productive. She had to do this by the book or it wouldn’t be proper justice anymore and simply vengeance.

[15]

Niko nodded to the knowledge that she would be taking the ring leader back to the village, and then again to the blacksmith’s ability to take care of the slaves. “I’m not quite a genius or anything, but I’ve studied Fuuinjutsu extensively, and my Sensory makes it a lot easier to inspect and understand the patterns inside and out, and it’ll help me find them if there are any more. I’ll meet you out front.” The mission wasn’t over until it was over, and Niko was ever the professional when it came to things like this. She gave Ryuko another smile of gratitude and began to walk inside, purposefully going around the idiot hiding that would be under Ryuko’s care. Considering the way she was twirling the baton, she had a feeling that he would be getting roughed up at least a little bit.

Moving to the main area, it didn’t take long to find the first slave cowering where Ryuko had left her earlier, unable to move. Niko was very glad that the collars weren’t tied to the ‘owner’s’ life force, or it would have killed the slave the moment that they had died. “Calm down. Let me take a look… I can help.” She waited another second for the slave to nod, and then got to work, looking at the collar and feeling the chakra woven into it. This was much like an extremely complicated puzzle, but luckily she was well versed, and it only took about half a minute for her to find the right area to disarm the Fuuinjutsu completely. Using just a bit of her own chakra, she rendered the Fuuinjutsu useless, and slowly removed the collar, effectively freeing the slave.

The young woman, who had a tan line from where the collar had been and likely given up all hope, had tears in her eyes. As much as Niko wanted to give her that moment, there was work yet to be done. “Help me help the others. It will go a long way if you vouch that I can help them.” The slave nodded, and showed her to where the others had been told to hide and wait for their masters to return, who never would. This final order bound them to that location, and would have kept them there until they died, if Niko hadn’t shown up. One by one, they all were granted their freedom. The redhead explained that they had the right to get checked up on by the medics in Kumogakure if they wanted to, but they had been given their freedom again to make that decision. Whatever they chose, they wouldn’t be allowed to stay here.

Niko strategically placed explosive tags on all the contraband and various areas of the building, targeting support struts and beams especially to ensure that the building imploded when she detonated these tags, and that everything would go up in flames. Once she was certain that the building had been cleared completely, she joined the slaves and Ryuko outside in front of the building. “Tags are set. I’ll ignite them once we are all at a safe distance. Let’s go home.” She gave the fellow Jounin a smile and stretched a moment, feeling the exertion from the mission all together and wanting to work them out of her muscles when a thought occurred.

“I guess this means you won the bet, huh? What is it that you want for winning?” she asked, smirking as she decided it was safe enough for a bit of playful banter. The slaves, who had been given a couple of minutes to grab some real clothes, food and tools before leaving and were carrying them now, began to either follow them or disperse based on their own desires. Freedom was truly a wonderful thing. Now that they were all clear though, a tiny pulse of chakra set the tags alight, and the warehouse everything was stored in exploded into a massive fireball, disposing of anything that might further taint the country Niko called home.

--

When picking between them for the task at hand Niko had been the obvious choice to locate and free the remaining slaves. With her sensory abilities she'd be able to find them much quicker that the priestess could.

No matter how much Ryuko boosted her perception which was already on the shaper side there was still a limit. It was more tooled to helping her out in a fight so that she didn’t trip over her own feet when she accelerated to her maximum capacity then for finding hidden objects or in this case people.

That and the fact that Niko knew her way around Fuinjutsu made her the ideal person to deal with the slave collars since she was the only person on site that had a chance of being able to disarm them safely. It made her extra happy that she had invited the blacksmith along for the ride.

If Ryuko had taken this mission on her own like she’d originally been intending to do things would have been a lot more difficult. If the man who had fought Niko had been able to team up with his partner that might have been enough to give even the priestess some degree of trouble.

Even if she could deal with those two she'd have been forced to call in support and wait for backup to arrive to deal with the slaves. The idea of forcing them to wait until they received their newfound freedom again would have left a very sour taste in her mouth.

She hated it so much when she was powerless to deal with a situation. No matter how much she trained, how much stronger she became their where still so many things that slipped through her fingers every day. Her hands could barely seem to hold one life, could she really be entrusted with an entire nation’s worth?

With thoughts of what was soon to be coming on the horizon Ryuko waltzed into the office to find the boss cowering pathetically underneath his desk. The only problem now was that he was clutching a dagger to his chest at point blank range. From where Ryuko was standing at the office door there was no way she could move fast enough to be able to stop him from stabbing himself if he was truly serious about it, not unless she could literally teleport anyway.

“Stay back, I won’t let you take me” The man warned, his voice trembling almost as much as his hands. Like a typical coward he was he was looking to take the easy route out rather than face a lifetime of prison and possibly torture. Luckily he was also the type of coward that was reluctant to actually go through with taking his own life.

“You’d better make sure you don’t miss. If you don’t die instantly I’ll FORCE you to live even if you don’t want to. Tis will be much more unpleasant than if you surrender peacefully.” warned the priestess as she held up a hand glowing with green medical chakra. As far as medics went she was one of the best in the business, as long as someone had even a sliver of life left she could save them from all but the worst most catastrophic damage.

With an utterly horrified look on his face the man dropped the knife letting it quietly clattered to the ground. He really was a big chickenshit at heart. As much as Ryuko wanted to break him in half this is where she needed to show some benevolence. It was likely the last kindness he would ever get. If he had half a clue about the fate that was in store for him he wouldn’t have hesitated to plunge that blade straight through his inky black heart.

“You are under arrest for the production and distribution of illegal drugs, the act of keeping slaves, attempted murder, attempted destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice.” She declared as she produced the singular pair of handcuffs she had on hand and slapped them over his wrists after pulling them behind his back. For someone like her these cuffs would be little more than a joke. She’d be able to snap them so easily they would barely even count as a restraint but they were more than plenty to hold a civilian like him.

Picking him up by the scruff of the neck she began to carry him around like he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes as she went and linked back up with Niko outside the building favoring her compatriot the best smile she’d produced so far in the entire day basking in the feeling of a job well done.

“If we burn that junk the fumes won’t be toxic will it?” asked Ryuko to her prisoner with a glare in her eyes expecting him to tell the absolute truth. Lying to her at this point would only get him in even more trouble and he was already up over his neck in that.

“Nah, long as you don’t snort it directly that stuff’s harmless.” admitted the drug lord readily. Feeling relieved Ryuko gave a thumbs up to the pending fireworks display. Once the building was gone in a massive fireball the only sample of the drugs that remained would be a small dose the priestess has saved in a baggy to use as evidence at the court hearing. She wasn’t about to let this slimeball walk by carelessly destroying every trace of his wrongdoing.

“You know, I don’t really feel like I’ve won. Sure I might have taken out the higher number of thugs, but there’s something to be said about the quality of the ones you took down. How about we stick with the dinner you originally planned. Maybe afterwards you can help me get geared up for a special mission to take on a god if you feel up to it.” suggested Ryuko.

She could make most of her armor herself but she was going to need some help to upgrade all of her kunai and shuriken to something that could actually scratch the target she was planning to be facing off against.

[16]

Hearing that the contraband burning wouldn’t cause any problems had been all the encouragement Niko had needed to enjoy watching the building and all its contents explode. She looked towards the blaze as the building collapsed in on itself a little longer than was strictly necessary in order to ensure it was properly destroyed before Ryuko’s voice directed at her brought her out of her revelry and into the present. She turned her emerald gaze back towards Ryuko and gave her a small smile, and a nod. “That sounds like a plan. I’ll have to see what I can whip up to make it a night to remember.” Already her mind was going over recipes and information she had gathered earlier in the day, but realized that she didn’t know what the woman’s favorite food was. That needed to be rectified immediately, and they had some time on the walk back from the village.

“What are your favorite kinds of foods? Any allergies?” The answer was more than just information she would use to cook up something amazing, but also would give her some insight into the woman’s history. Usually you could tell quite a bit about a person’s upbringing based on their preferences, and food was one of the simplest ones because literally everyone needed to eat, and had opinions on such a thing. Asking about the allergies had been something that she simply wanted to be sure to check and make sure of, just to make sure she didn’t accidentally put the woman into a food coma that was more literal than anything else. She had to make sure that the young boy she met that came by the shop every so often asking for food didn’t get anything with peanuts in it or he would break out in hives. Food allergies were weird.

As they walked, she took a moment to pivot, walking backwards for a moment to check on how many of the survivors had peeled off and how many were actually following them back to the village… just three had stuck with them, one of which being the same one that Ryuko had confronted earlier. They didn’t exactly seem in the best of spirits, seeming more shocked that they were free than anything else, and if the redhead had to guess, were simply following them because they didn’t have anywhere else to go. Pivoting again to spin and begin walking forward, she took a deep breath and sighed. It was nice getting something done like this, putting a positive vibe into the world. She wouldn’t trade it for anything. “I don’t know about you, but I need a nice, hot bath. I hate this gritty feeling of sand and dirt.” It was an idle comment accented with interlacing her fingers and stretching her arms upwards towards the sky, giving her a good stretch, unintentionally showing off her curvature once again.

--

Taking a long moment to indulge in the fireworks display Ryuko had a huge grin on her face. She’d heard that it was usually men who enjoyed explosions but she had a particular fondness for them as well and the bigger the better. It was probably a good thing for the world she hadn’t been born with the blast release or who knew what kind of mischief she’d be getting up to.

Sometimes she wondered what it would be like if she didn’t need to remember such high minded ideas such as collateral damage or evidence and could just wipe out a problem building in one big merciless blast. With a sigh she looked at the remaining slaves that they had freed, reminding herself why it was worth it to do things the hard way instead of taking the quick expedient route.

Part of her wondered what she was going to do with them all if they kept following her and Niko like this. Taking care of that many refugees would be a total pain in the ass but they had saved them so now it was basically their responsibility to do something about it. Luckily man of them must have still had homes to return to as they eventually split off on their own leaving a much more manageable number to deal with.

“Alright you lot.” She called out to get their attention. “The Church of Hakkin has room for you if you need a place to stay. Once you’ve been fed and had a chance to rest and clean up we’ll see about finding you appreciate work so that you can get back on your feet” she announced. Being in charge of administration had its perks, if nothing else it wouldn't be too hard for Ryuko to find the former slaves a job somewhere in the village.

The thought crossed her mind that some of them might be plants, placed at the site of the drug lords so that they could be “saved” by Kumokagure ninja and brought back to the village to spy on them. Ryuko crushed herself at being so paranoid. Now she was going to have to gently probe their minds in their sleep just to make sure they weren’t up to funny business.

“Thank you mam. You must be a Saint sent by Hakkin to save us!!” exclaimed the Maid that Ryuko had first encountered. She’d been called that word a lot lately but she sure didn’t feel like one. If she was really going to save anyone she should have prevented them from falling into a situation where they had to be saved in the first place. The fact that so much corruption still existed in her country under her nose despite her best efforts to deal with it made her feel like she wasn’t living up to her god’s ideals.

“Hum, this might sound surprising coming from an aristocrat like myself but I’m partial to a special type of Ramen known as the King of Kings, Thought if I had to name my absolute favorite food tis green apple flavored candy.” said the priestess, her mouth practically drooling at the thought of munching on some noddles.

The King of kings was a netsu ramen with roasted pork shoulder, soy sauce marinated soft boiled egg, narutomaki, menma, wakame, and nori. It was just the right level of spicy to give your mouth a pleasant tingle without making you feel like your tongue was on fire. All she needed was a nice light beer to go with it and she’d practically be in seventh heaven.

“What about you Niko? What do you like to eat?” asked Ryuko tilting her head slightly sideways in curiosity. Would she say something more common like you’d expect or surprise her with a more refined dish? Just learning small new things about her felt thrilling and exciting.

Watching Niko stretch she felt a strong sense of longing in her chest, but it was a kind of longing she didn’t want to acknowledge. It made her feel disgusted towards herself that she was drawn towards two women at the same time. Was it romantic feelings she held or merely lust? In either case her lack of devotion bothered her. She despised philanderers who just slept around with a bunch of people and couldn’t commit.

She couldn’t help but wonder, where her feelings were real? Or was she simply looking for an easy way out since the object of her desire remained so far out of reach, all but unobtainable. All these questions were making her feel far more filthy than the sweat she’d worked up running the mission. She was longing for a cold waterfall to meditate under.


“My family owns and operates a fairly exclusive hot spring resort out in the countryside. Wanna stop by on our way back to the village?” asked the priestess trying to sound innocent about the whole thing. She knew she was just asking for further temptations at this point that she didn’t really want to deal with but sometimes she just couldn’t help herself.

It would be both a sort of mental training and a way to punish herself as she’d be forced to have something very distracting right before her and yet restrain herself at the same time. Maybe she secretly had some masochistic tendencies or something lurking deep inside her.

[17]

Niko thought about what had been said in regards to the food. Making some amazing noodles wasn’t all that hard, but the toppings and broth were what really made it stand out, and already her mind was mixing herbs, using experience to guide her mental mapping of the food she would come to create for the meal. She would surely be able to create something astounding to impress her new friend with, but then she mentioned a certain sweet that was her true favorite, and instinctively she put her hand into her pouch and withdrew what she had.

Shunko was a creature who required positive reinforcement, and with the girl’s love of sweets, Niko had discovered the best way to do so was to have a good number of a new type of treat she had made on hand to give to the younger Kanuchi when she had done something particularly good. These small candies were wrapped in a thin layer of plastic, and were of several colors; red, green, pink, blue and orange. Each of them had a distinct flavor, but there was one thing they all had in common; they were very sweet, and quite sour. They were a hard candy as well, which meant they would last a very long time and were easy to transport, and consuming one would generally last a considerable amount of time because they were meant to be sucked on and not chewed. She hadn’t coined a name for them yet, and had considered a few, one of which was something absurd like ‘Jolly Rancher’ or something. One of Shunko’s ideas for a name that made absolutely no sense.

Regardless, Niko pulled one of each flavor out and into a different hand. Green Apple, Blueberry, Watermelon, Cherry and Orange, respectively. Putting the rest away, she then reached out and put them into Ryuko’s hand. “Try them. I made them myself. If you like Green Apple sweets, these should be right up your alley. As for what I like, I will eat much of anything that has a very good fried rice mixed into it… and I do not mean your garden variety either. It has to be cooked right with the right ingredients, but if you do it properly, it will make any meal much better than without.” The other major upside to the dish was that it was insanely easy to make, and inexpensive to get the ingredients for, which had been extremely important for a great many years.

Hearing about the Hot Springs got her attention with a vengeance though; her head whipped around and gave the smaller woman her undivided attention, excitement obvious in her emerald eyes. “Can we? That would be absolutely divine. A nice, hot bath.” Her eyes were half-lidded for a moment as the idea of what was to come drifted through her mind like a daydream, the very idea of it enough to make her have a physical reaction. After a second or two like that, she blinked and shook her head, trying not to let herself slip further into that daydream. She still needed to be present, her and now. It was quite possible that their return trip could be perilous, and complacency was a great way to get killed.

--

“Much obliged” replied Ryuko as a way of thanks as she took the proffered sweets. For a brief moment she actually let the overly serious mask slip from her face and bounced up and down with excitement like you might expect from a woman half her age. She had a bit of a sweet tooth and though she had more money then some minor villages she didn’t often indulge.

She burned a lot of calories with her daily training regimen and superhuman feats which meant she had to eat more than the average person but she tended towards healthier meals simply out of concern for her weight. She’d seen other ninja ruin themselves by using vises to cope with the stress of their day to day work and didn’t want to follow in their footsteps. That was part of the reason why when she drank alcohol it was only ever lightly and never enough to actually get pasted.

It didn’t take a genius of her caliber to guess which flavor corresponded to which color. Deciding to save the best for last Ryuko unwrapped the plastic off the pink one and popped it into her mouth, tucking the rest into a pocket to savor later. As she started to suck on it an intense combination of both sweet and sour washed over her tongue making her shiver ever so slightly.

“Wow, this is good.” she exclaimed. It was hard to believe that Niko had whipped them up herself. They were better than some professional level products the priestess had gone to the trouble of importing from overseas since they were quite hard to find locally otherwise.

“I bet you could sell the recipe to Ayano and make a mint of the royalties.” mused Ryuko out loud. That would be one potential solution to Niko’s money problems that wouldn’t involve charity. If there was one thing the priestess was good at besides fighting it was making lots and lots of dosh.

Maybe Niko had a bit of Japanese spirit in her after all if she liked rice so much. It was one of the most loved dishes in all the elemental lands. Frying it could go well with chicken though Ryuko slightly preferred the steamed verity. Sticky rice was so good she could eat it by itself without needing a side dish to supplement it.

“I don’t see why not. Normally tis reserved for high class clientele but nobody working there would be so foolish as to deny any guests that I might bring.” their was a good chance someone as beautiful as Niko might be able to get in anyhow as long as she had the money for it but the former slaves normally would never be allowed near such a place. It would do them some good to get a bit of luxury treatment after their ordeal.

“Say Niko, what do followers of Nyx do after a hard fought battle?” Ryuko was curious to learn a little more about her friend’s religion. In her case she’d celebrate by knocking back a nice cold beer in order to commune with Hakkin and report on her results.

[18]

Watching Ryuko literally bounce with excitement was more than enough to justify the need to spend a little more time making more of these sweets. She would need to make a second batch too, as a gift for the smaller woman as thanks for helping her with the work she was going to put in to help her get the Hellforge back on track. Being able to reopen those doors would be absolutely a dream come true. Her honest praise brought a smile to the redhead’s face. “I’m glad you like them. They are Shunko’s favorite too. And I have always been hesitant to sell recipes… been asked for my tea recipe a lot of times, but then it would lose it’s status of being ‘special’, you know? People would associate it with being a part of that restaurant instead of me. Might sell them as a side-item when I open the Hellforge though, if your interested.” Another warm smile at her own small joke, but it was a serious thought. Maybe even give some away when someone made a major purchase.

She nodded at the information regarding how it wouldn’t be a problem to visit those private bath-houses, glad to see that she was including those who were following the women into the equation. “I can have a Shadow Clone keep and eye on our prisoner too.” While Ryuko seemed to be a little more hesitant to use her own clones, Niko had no such problems, especially if it meant she could enjoy a wonderful bath and help get clean. Hearing her question about the Followers of Nyx, she smirked and thought for a moment.

“Well… lets see. I would probably offer a prayer and offering to Iroas, the God of Victory. He represents the honorable side of warfare, which is definitely how I felt my fight went. You, however… you would be offering up to his twin brother, Mogis, the God of Slaughter who represents the darker side of war. They often fight, those two. Typically you would offer some of the blood of your enemy, and I would offer an enemy’s weapon.” She pulled a Kunai out of her pouch that looked far more worn and beat up than what Niko used. “Mogis prefers his offerings burned, while Iroas prefers his buried, and a short prayer. Once we are clean, if you are interested, I could show you.” It was nice to have someone who, even though they weren’t a part of the Kanuchi Clan, be interested in the religion instead of just thinking she was weird.

--

From the sounds of it Shunko had good taste. Ryuko was looking forward to meeting her. If her personality was even half as colorful as Niko’s then she'd be a pretty fun person to hang out with. When it came to making money, selling it on a mass scale would have been the fastest way but that didn’t mean there weren’t other options.

“In that case why not make it your store’s speciality. That way it could act as both an additional source of revenue as well as another reason for people to come visit.” said Ryuko sounding almost more like she was some kind of merchant then a ninja. Well it was true that she owned her own store so maybe she was a bit of both in the end.

Half the battle oftentimes was getting people into the store in the first place. If Niko could get additional customers who came in to buy candy and walked out with a kunai or some leather armor then that might be enough on it’s own to help the business thrive.

The funny thing was that the priestess had such a knack for making money when she cared so little about currency in the first place. She already had enough to be set for life and didn’t really want more for herself, but at the same time she wouldn’t mind raising more for the country overall to help develop it more and raise everyone’s standard of living.

Listening to the blacksmith talk about her gods Ryuko nodded along politely as was appropriate. She genuinely loved learning about other theologies and mythologies so getting a first hand account like this for one that she’d have trouble finding a book about was like a special treat in it’s own right. It was funny how some religions were monolithic centered around one god and some like Niko’s apparently had an entire pantheon of them.

“Just for the record, I do not enjoy having to kill anyone even when they more than deserve such a fate.” [/b] Ryuko protestested lightly. She wanted to make it quite clear she wasn’t some murder machine that got some kind of sadistic pleasure out of her job. What she did was simply a matter of necessity. She often tried her best to think of another way to bring things to a close but reality was harsh.

Imprisoning people was expensive. It wasn’t practical to do for everyone who broke the law and in some ways cruel to those that couldn’t be rehabilitated and released back into society once their time was done. Keeping someone alive only for them to suffer was far crueler than giving them a swift release.

[b]“Yes please, I’d like that very much.” said Ryuko solemnly. She couldn’t wait to see Niko’s face when she was crowned Raikage in the near future and made her proclamation about the state recognizing all religions that wished to register. Being officially recognized on a national level was usually considered quite a big deal after all.


“We could simply hot tie him up like the swine he is and leave him with security.” Ryuko suggested not wanting to waste Niko’s energy. Sure it would only be a clone standing guard but the real Niko would still have the memories of every drule moment spent having to watch over human experiment, not so much that to make sure that he didn’t escape but so he wouldn’t have a chance to hurt himself.

Technically Ryuko COULD pull information out of a dead body but it was a pain in the ass and more difficult than reading the mind of someone that was living so she preferred not to. There was a little irrational part of her that was always worried someone would spring up from the morgue table as a Zombie while she was distracted trying to extract their memories.

Any ninja worth their salt would be able to get out of being tied up so simply but the drug lord was no ninja. Nobody had ever taught him the proper technique on how to wiggle free and he lacked the strength to break his bindings with raw force.

Arriving at the hotsprings Ryuko quickly lead Niko and the female former slaves to the girls changing room. Unfortunately for the males that had followed them this facility did not allow for mixed bathing. The Rose clan was far too proper to allow for such degeneracy to take place under one of their roofs.

It was only once they were actually inside the change room that the priestess realized she had a slight problem on her hands. She almost never actually had to change her own outfit, almost always having her lady in waiting Sophie on hand to switch clothes for her. It was simple something that nobles did, born from many of their outfits being too complicated for any one person to put on themselves.

She was far from helpless but the main zipper on the back of her battle dress was difficult even for her to reach. She might have insane yoga like flexibility that would make a cat jealous but she was still mostly human in the end.

“Would you mind lending me a hand?” asked Ryuko as she turned her back to Niko hoping that her friend would unzip that particular one for her which would allow her to do the rest of what she needed to slip free of the constraining outfit without too much difficulty on her own. It was more elegant to ask for help then straining herself like an idiot.

[19]

Niko nodded at the idea of making it a store specialty. “And if kids come in for the candy, they might bring their family with them who will look at my wares. No downsides to this idea… I like it.” She gave the woman a bright smile. The conversation turned then, shifting to the battle that had occurred and Niko nodded again, offering more explanation. “You do not have to enjoy it for it to be considered a ‘slaughter’. There was no one even remotely close to your level to combat, and you whole-sale killed them all… in my mind, it fits the definition, even if you were not fond of the necessity of it.” She gave her a smile of reassurance; she never had a doubt in her mind that the woman was the type to enjoy killing others.

Niko could count on one hand the people she had truly enjoyed killing.

She smiled again and nodded when the woman agreed to pay their respects to the gods of Nyx after their bath, already looking forward to it. But that smile faded as she said they could leave him with security, and she shook her head in disagreement. “All it takes is one of them being a little more gullible than the others, an offer of a large amount of Ryo, and this guy is gone. It’s no bother to use a clone to make sure that doesn’t happen.” She threw up the hand-seals and another copy of Niko appeared next to them, taking custody of the man and walking him over to security where she would ensure he didn’t go anywhere.

Once inside the changing rooms, Niko was undressed quickly. One major advantage to designing and making your own clothes is that you could add in simple features like a one-pull string, hidden in a flap, that allowed the whole thing to come apart. This quick-release feature came in handy quite often as the lime-eyed blacksmith couldn’t count how many times a little bit of her clothing had caught fire in the forge for one reason or another and had to be removed quickly. By the time she had heard the other woman’s request for help, she was completely de-clothed and her clothing neatly folded into the cubby on the wall.

“Of course.” She moved over, sliding the woman’s hair out of the way and grasping the zipper, pulling it down and helping her gently shimmy out of the vice-type clothing she seemed to be in. She then gave Ryuko a hug from behind, her chest pressing into her back for a moment. “Thanks again for helping me get my Uncle’s Forge back. I won’t forget… that’s a promise.” She then took a few steps towards the hot spring, her hips bouncing as she went, forgoing even attempting to cover herself up with a towel. If someone had a problem with that, they could fly a kite; she was dirty, sweaty and wanted to be clean. Turning at the door, she paused and cocked her hip, her body completely devoid of hair aside what was on her head, and if one didn’t know that Niko could never do it on purpose, you could mistake her as posing for Ryuko.

“You coming?” she asked, smiling. Once she got confirmation, she would lead the way to where the hot water awaited them.

--

It seemed Niko hadn’t been attempting to run a store for nothing. It seemed she’d learned a lot about business from her Uncle since she grasped the idea Ryuko had been going for with the Candy as soon as the Priestess had suggested it. With the amount of business sense she had it was likely she would have come up with the money she needed to pay off her loan soon enough even without Ryuko’s intervention.

“Ah, now I understand.” said Ryuko nodding as Niko explained why it wasn’t about enjoying slaughter but more about how one sided the fighting had been. “Sadly once one reaches my level tis not often they run into a proper match on the field of battle.” she said wanly not sounding entirely pleased by that.

It was a bit of a mixed blessing and a curse. As a warrior she’d love to match off against someone who could give her a good fight but those were few and far between and as a ninja she was relieved there weren’t too many people around who could truly give her much trouble anymore if she went all out.

Once she mastered the new power inside her that would become only moreso. With her equipment and summons she had the potential to become something of a one woman army. Her defensive ability would be so off the charts that she wouldn’t be surprised if people started referring to her as a walking fortress.

There was a certain irony that her deadliest technique would only be useful if someone was trying to hurt her first but was utterly worthless in more peaceful situations. It was a tech she’d developed herself, a tech that only she could use and it was perfect for someone like her who was ready for war but preferred peace.

As Niko gave the priestess a hand with her clothing Ryuko breathed a sigh of relief at not being called out for using the quick release feature she had built into her battle armor. She’d built it herself after all and there was no way she’d overlook the existence of stuff that would be dangerous to her if she couldn’t take it off quickly in a pinch.

If asked, her excuse would be that she refrained from using it since it was an emergency feature, not something to be used for day to day wear. It wouldn’t be lying to say it’d be harder to put back on again after using the quick release since she’d have to fiddle with the clothing to reset it back to its normal state first before it would be wearable. But that wasn’t the whole truth either since with how dexterous she was it would only take her a few seconds to make the adjustments.

Really she was just looking for an excuse to bond a little more and got more than she bargained for. She felt like her eyes could have nearly popped out of her skull from surprise as Niko embraced her from behind in the nude while both of them were naked with not a strip of clothing on them.

The priestess could feel her pulse quicken in excitement of the sensation of having twin peaks pressing against her shoulder blades. Finally she understood why she had been making her friends uncomfortable with her own innocent naked hugs all those years ago in the hotsprings before she had awoken to her sexuality. Just being touched like this was getting her all sorts of worked up in ways Niko had likely never intended making her harder even for her prestigious mind to think when it was caught up in more primal urges.

Her longing to be held, to feel safe in someone else's arms was papabile. Seeing Niko stop and seemingly poss for her was only intensifying it. The blacksmith was sexy in all the right ways clothed, but seeing her pristine skin caked with sweat was simply breathtaking. Her radiance was such that she could put the statue of Venus de milo to shame. Simply calling her beautiful felt almost like it was underselling it.

Gulping audibly, Ryuko flashed her friend a wide grin as she forced her mind to ignore the temptation before her with the iron will she had forged spending years meditating at the monastery. This wasn’t going to be easy to endure, but what trail would be worth undertaking if it was easy?


“Tis no need to thank me. All I did was provide the opportunity for you to help yourself.” said Ryuko modestly as she made her way to join her friend in the bath. For now they both needed more time to think before seeing which was to take this relationship of theirs and she didn’t want to push it.

Niko wasn’t sure if she what she was into yet and the Priestess didn’t want to force her in any particular direction. A lot of woman where at least partly bi-sexual but coming on too hard wouldn’t be healthy for either of them. Besides she still had to think long and hard about what she herself wanted to do without betraying her own convictions.

“Yes, I’m Coming.” said Ryuko as she hurried to catch up. It had been a long day and it would be nice to end on a good note. A nice hot dip in the springs might be just what she needed to clear her mind of her worldly desires. In any case she was looking forward to spending more time with Niko from her on.

[20]

-Exit-