Joint Investigation (C)

Spoiler:

Today's mission was little different than many of the others that Zurui had taken on since he began venturing out of the village more and more. There was once a time when he hardly saw anything outside of Kiri's walls, but ever since joining with the young Chuunin from Konoha, his situation had reversed. Though he spent more time away from what would naturally be called his home, he felt no strong desire to return, no homesickness. Often did he wonder if this was something more than situational adaptation, that maybe he didn't really have a home or wasn't the type to settle down somewhere. Self exploration such as this happens nearly every time a mission begins, because he always seems to be waiting on Akihiro. Today was no different.

Two long years had passed since Akihiro first met Zurui. And the duo had gone through a lot of adventures together. Truth to be told, it was hard to imagine at the time that a joint task force from the two villages would end up being so productive. Together they had done scouting missions, sabotaged factories, assaulted caravans, stolen a few valuable items here and there, and they had even assassinated a minor target in the past month. Their adventures seemed to always be so different that it was hard to tell what was going to happen next.

There was, however, one thing that did not seem to change: Akihiro always arrived "late". And by late, I obviously mean "after Zurui" and not necessarily after the arranged hour. Whether it was because Konohagakure's port lacked the fluency of ships that Kirigakure had or because he didn't have the stamina nor speed to travel too fast, Akihiro seemed to always arrive after his friend. Today was no different.

"Heyo~" Akihiro greeted the Kiri ninja. He had long since stopped apologizing for being late. "Have you encountered anything interesting regarding our mission here?"

"Nothing yet," replied Zurui. He opened his eyes only after talking, as though he'd spent the time waiting there in some kind of standing meditation. The Jounin looked out over the countryside, towards the large masses of shrub-looking bushes scattered everywhere on this side of the island. Though none were in immediate site, towns littered this Land like trash on the streets of a downtown metroplex, whatever that is.

"We'll have to start at the client's town. See what we can gather from the wreckage there." The Jounin said, looking in the direction that the destroyed town was supposed to be in. It probably would've been quicker to just meet there, but there was a chance that the enemy was still wandering about that area and it wasn't worth the risk of just one of them running into a whole group of powerful rogues. So, Zurui began walking the mile or two that lay between the two ninja and their first target. There was likely to be many as the mission went on; it was going to be a long one.

"Admit it, you were asleep when I arrived." Akihiro teased the Kirigakure ninja. He knew very well Zurui would meditate like this often, but he liked poking his fun at the Jonin. Looking in the general same direction of Zurui's gaze, Akihiro got more serious and nodded in agreement. That was their first and only clue so far, and if there was probably a lot they could learn from the town's ruins. From the types of attack that their enemies had used to roughly how many men had been on the scene, there was a huge variety of information that the two simply could not let escape.

He walked alongside Zurui in silence for a while, pondering on whether or not their client's claim that there was a group of fanatics trying to resurrect their leader was actually true or if this was just a simple case of regular ransackers. "Hey, about the claim that this group is aiming to resurrect a person. What are your thoughts on it? They'd have to be wielding one hell of a jutsu if that is true."

Akihiro would wait for an answer whole the duo kept on walking. Eventually they would arrive at a hill from which one could see the town-or what was left of it. Some houses were still smoking and there were bodies spread across the streets. The worst part however was that there had been some sort of...crucifixion? But not just one, there were many townspeople nailed to houses, signs and whatever else the ransackers could shove a nail into. The sight was quite...horrible. Akihiro frowned. "Jashinists?"

"Whatever the case, we'll need to treat it as a possibility." Zurui replied, having only given a muffled 'heh' in response to the sleeping quip.

The two made it to the town in little time at all and what they saw was as horrible as anyone could have expected. With people nailed to everything in site, it certainly seemed like the small religious cult that Akihiro mentioned. Zurui himself was unfamiliar with that group's particular method of operation, but he'd not heard of any sacred Jashinist leader -unless they wanted to bring their god to life.

"I doubt it. Said the Jounin as he began wandering through the blood soaked streets. Homes were in ruins. Pieces of mutilated corpses were strung all throughout the streets. and alleys. What few structures remained standing had people nailed to them, all with a horrified expression or no face at all. Closer inspection revealed the marks of torture. It was disturbing scene, but that's not why they were here.

Zurui began entering buildings and homes, seeking any sign he find that might prove useful. There were phrases written in blood along the walls and floors of nearly every place he entered, some warnings to leave this Land and others in some language completely foreign to him. Had it not been for their repetitions all throughout the town, he might have taken it for gibberish scribbling. Eventually, he knelt to get a look at the lettering of one such message.

"Well, it's definitely some kind of ritual. Do you see anything we could use to track them?"

"Huh, I honestly didn't think there could be anyone worse than Jashin followers." Akihiro kept walking through the town. The random limbs spread around the site made for a quite a horrible sight but he quickly got over it and began to examine the seemingly random scribblings spread all around town. They were quite literally everywhere and could be found in many odd places. Some limbs had them tattoed on their skin while buildings had them painted all over. A marble fountain had a lot of them actually carved into the stone.

"Well whatever kind of ritual it was they sure took their time with it. There are strange markings all around, including some carefully carved into the fountain over there. Even with twenty people this would take hours, not to mention none of the townspeople seemed to have been able to get even close to escaping." Akihiro kept going through different buildings, so both of them could cover the town faster. There was a creepy silence in the air, and a thin mist began to rise. Far in the distance, a few ravens could be heard. They were probably waiting for them to leave so they could feed on the dead. Akihiro kept on looking for survivors but there seemed to be none to be found.

"I don't think anyone survived. But judging from the wounds on the mutilated bodies, they're using long blades." Akihiro picked up an arm and pointed at where the joint with the shoulder was supposed to be. "Look, clean cuts. I would say a scythe, or a longsword. Katanas or wakizashis could also cause this. Which is strange because most ransackers use maces or axes because they're simpler to use for murder."

Zurui considered the evidence. "The majority of their time is spent on torturing, killing, and making these marks. That's their priority here. The ransacking is likely just to gather resources necessary for survival. Yet..." He looked around the small building. "I see no items here. If everything beyond the ritual is for survival, then they must be selling non-food items, which means they're affiliated with the local black market." It wasn't a huge leap to begin with, but it gave them a direction to search. If they were loyal customers to a fence in this Land -and they would be, given how much they've already stolen- then that fence will have a good idea on where to find them and, if not, would be their next destination after sacking the next target.

"We'll need to question all the fences in this area, maybe in the whole Land. That'll give us some indication. In the mean time..." He continued, creating a group of shadow clones, "We'll have clones survey the land for past and future targets."

"That's a lot of shadow clones..." Akihiro commented. He knew the theory to the jutsu but he had ever actually tried to put it in practice. Right now however shadow clones would be a major help to the group so perhaps it was time to give the jutsu a chance. The young Uchiha extended both his index and middle fingers on both hands and the made the hand-seal for the shadow clone technique. surprisingly, it worked rather well on the first try although Akihiro only made a single clone. He was surprised.

"Oh, hey there."
"Heyo." the clone replied.
"You know what you gotta do right?" the clone nodded and dashed off into the distance. It wasn't much but any help was welcome. Now it was time to discuss the plans.
"I found a small map on one of the houses." Akihiro took it from his pocket and showed it to his teammate. The map was pretty crappy and clearly hand drawn but at least it gave them a general idea of the direction of the closest town. "I supposed we could start here." The Uchiha pointed out the town on the map. "It looks like the larger town around here. If there's a fence or any sort of criminal organization, it should be based there."

Trained Kage Bunshin 217/200 words

"Good work." Zurui commented. He studied the map for a moment and, upon gathering his bearings, trucked off in the correct direction. "So, talking to yourself, huh?"

The next outskirt town they'd found themselves in was considerably busier than the last in that people here were actually alive. It was surprising, given the proximity of this town to the previous one, which gave Zurui concern over the method by which this mysterious group selected its targets. He'd have more information to make a hypothesis once the clones returned.

The people bustled about the streets as though blissfully unaware of the danger roaming these lands. They might actually be unaware, but given the economy of this area, Zurui thought it more likely that the daily stresses of their lives were simply too great to allow concern over a threat that wasn't immediately present. Quickly, the Jounin spotted the area of town where an underworld sort of place would exist, if there were one. You can always tell by the overall state of decay: trash in the area, dead animals, blood on the walls, etc.. The only abnormality to this is a powerful, organized criminal unit that would more fiercely enforce laws against such disarray, but this area was far too impoverished to support that kind of thing.

Upon finding his way there, Zurui began conversing with the locals to ascertain the whereabouts of any kind of fence. There was apparently a few local ones, but there was one man in particular that lived a much more lavish lifestyle than any of the other townsfolk. That was likely their target. His home was located just outside of town, a normal house by average standards but practically a mansion where the people here were concerned.

"Well that's kind of disappointing..." Akihiro commented. Judging by how villages spoke of this guy Akihiro had expected him to be living in some kind of mansion. But deep down he knew he shouldn't expect much after all the most modest housing in Konoha was a mansion when compared to the slums these people lived in. Examining the house he began looking for an entry point...the only hard thing was to choose really. No window had bars, there were at least three doors leading inside only one of each seemed decently locked. From where he was standing Akihiro could identify at least three holes on the roof although there could potentially be more considering he couldn't see the whole rooftop. This guy certainly lived better than the rest of the town but the only thing this house had that the others didn't, from outside, was size. If he had any guards, there were none to be seen.

"You wanna go in busting doors or do this quietly?" Akihiro asked. Once again, both plans were valid.

Considering the quality of defense they were up against, Zurui had little concern for what might be lying in there. At least, that's what he'd normally expect. Having gathered some experience in the criminal world, he realized that sometimes the best defense was an unassuming exterior. There could very well be a mass of thugs just waiting for them inside. To be honest, that sounded like fun. "Front door."

The Jounin walked up to the door and kicked it in. The thing wasn't even locked; it never needed to be. Anyone dumb enough to break into this place would be dead soon thereafter anyway. Taking a step inside, Zurui found himself facing a unit of armed guards tasked with keeping the home safe. Their appearance portrayed them as bodyguards, likely tasked to keep safe the owner of the home wherever he might be. The fact that they were here was promising. The men readied their weapons and began to engage. They might've demanded answers had Zurui simply walked in, but by breaking the door, he revealed his presence here as one dedicated to violence, so violence they would give.

"Door kicking it is then." Akihiro shrugged. Over the years he had learned Zurui could be a man of few words when on a mission. He only spoke the exact number of words needed for Akihiro to comprehend their next step. So as the Jonin moved on towards the door so did he, right behind Zurui. With a loud bang, the door was kicked in and the duo found themselves face to face with a bunch of armed thugs.

Akihiro thought it was a fair assumption to believe these guys weren't professionals. After all this land was quite poor and so was the house. If they were really good at their job, they would have already been hired by better criminals. Alas, the fact that they were bad at their jobs didn't mean they would just surrender without a fight so Akihiro readied himself for combat. The initial hall was quite small and tight for a large fight, so Akihiro decided to try out a new technique to clear up the place. With a quick set of handseals he inhaled and released a stream of vacuum bullets. It had the effect of a machine gun and those who weren't immediately hit had the good judgment of running away through other divisions. "See if you can get a location from one of the wounded ones." Akihiro suggested.

Trained Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere 226/200 words B ranked

"On it. Clear the house." Zurui replied. He knelt down beside one of the fallen, a man grasping for dear life at his poor injured spleen. "Ta-" "I'll tell you everything I know! He's in the other room! Right over there! Oh god! It hurts so much! Please, please save me, I just want to-." The guy was interrupted by a knock-out punch. "Don't interrupt me." Zurui said.

Approaching the indicated room while Akihiro was no doubt finishing any escapees, the Jounin readied himself for a fight. In his line of work, it was very common for whatever target they were after to be fairly proficient in some combat art. He kicked in the door, or tried to, only to find it was bolted shut. It took a few more times, but eventually his foot felled that worthless piece of wood and he entered. The fence was holed up behind his desk, shaking so violently that the desk was actually moving. [b]"Hey man," said the fence, "I don't want any trouble. Whatever I owe you, I'll pay, but hey, come on, you know, you don't wanna mess with me. I got friends, see? Oh man...they-they'll come for you! They're gonna come for you if you do anything to me so just-just...just leave alright? We're cool there's nothing here I ain't got no money or nothing come on!"

The Jounin slid the desk back with one hand and stared for a little while, waiting for the fence to find his nerves. Eventually, he stopped stammering, and Zurui closed in. "About these friends you have..."

There was screaming.

Akihiro nodded when Zurui told him to clear the house. At this point there was general panic and everyone seemed to be running away. Unfortunately, they couldn't afford for any of them to escape and risk alerting their main enemies. This was going to be a problem. Akihiro figured that if they were going to run away then the best place to get them from was the roof. He jumped through a window and quickly used the wall walking technique to get there.

From there he could see most of them running away. It was hard to pick a technique for this but Akihiro could think of at least one which would be incredibly useful in this situation. He inhaled once again and as he exhaled the young Uchiha released a stream of thirty air bullets that went through the air and ended up putting down every single one of the running men. It was quite hard to aim the jutsu but the sheer amount of bullets made sure he could hit at every last one of the bastards. Additionally most of the townsfolk had learned to recognize danger and stay away from it by living in such a dangerous town for years. So no townpeople were affected.

Akihiro heard a scream.

And back he went, into the window and towards the man's office. "Clear. What did you find out?" he asked, as he entered the place.

Trained Wind Release: Air Bullets B-rank 200 words needed 237 typed

"Seems he doesn't know their location," Zurui started, wiping the blood from his hands. "They come to a warehouse outside of town after every raid." The warehouse was where the fence stored all of his goods, so it was convenient for them to drop everything off there, take their money, and head off to wherever their base was.

"We'll need to go there and wait for them to arrive." Unfortunately, that meant another town would be hit, and there was no telling how long they'd be waiting in that warehouse. Fortunately, that left plenty of time to lay the necessary traps and have the meeting take place entirely on their terms. "I'll use the transformation technique to arrange the meeting as the fence would. He won't be walking any time soon. Are you ready to go?"

"Aye, I'm ready." Akihiro nodded. He didn't like the fact that this plan involved another town getting raided but they would be risking a lot more if they didn't go by this which was the most efficient method. It was only a logical choice and if there was anything Akihiro was good it, that would be logic. The two of them walked off the building and towards the warehouse. There were a lot of looks but people knew better than to mess with the duo who had just beat the living crap out of one of the town's most influential fences.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the warehouse. It was on the outer part of town which was a good thing because there they would be able to fight properly without risking hurting civilians. Akihiro took a good look at it. "Well, it's obviously guarded. We can't risk damaging anything or else they might suspect something on approach." There were two guards at the door, one leaning against it while the other was standing in front of him having a smoke.

"Mm." The Jounin started to think of the best approach. They were going to need to replace those guards with clones anyway, so having a base to build their transformation technique on would be helpful. To knock them out at a distance without causing any collateral damage could be troublesome, unless...

Zurui made a few quick hand seals and suddenly slipped into the ground. It was a move Akihiro was probably very familiar with by now, so he'd likely guess Zurui's plan of action here. The Jounin moved below the earth until he was at the point he knew the first guard would be, and with a quick snatch, he drug the man down until just his head was exposed. He started shouting, as expected, drawing the others near him. They took a moment to ponder what was happening and it was in that stretch of time that Zurui pulled the rest of them under, one by one. He rose above ground and confirmed that everyone outside had been dealt with. It wouldn't be long before their shouting drew out the people inside, as well.

"I've told you before man, planting people won't make them grow." Akihiro stated as he ran towards the buried guard's positions as soon as they had been dealt with. "But it sure is hilarious." he noted, "accidentally" kicking one of them in the face as he ran. Approaching the door he reached it just in time to see two guards coming out. With a swift movement Akihiro placed himself between the two and raised both his hands to his chest. His right palm was pointing to the left side while the left palm was pointing to the right side. Both palms were pointing directly towards one of the guards. Without saying a word Akihiro released the Wind Release: Nadeshiko-Style Hardliner Gale Fist. It was a ninjutsu that allowed him to apply B-ranked strength impact to his opponents without direct contact. Both of them were sent flying away into the surrounding forest. One of them hit a tree and was knocked unconscious while the other had the misfortune of hitting a rock with his head and dying on the spot. Both of them would be hard to spot from the way approaching the warehouse so Akihiro was certain these bodies weren't going to be a problem. There seemed to be no more guards inside, so Akihiro signalled Zurui to enter.

The inside of the warehouse made it look bigger than it actually was. There were incredibly tall shelves filled with all sorts of items plundered from the towns. The whole thing was a labyrinth but more of those strange scribblings could be found.

Trained:
Nadeshiko-Style Hardliner Gale Fist B-rank 270/200

"Looks like this warehouse is either under the protection of the group," Zurui begin, kneeling in front of the symbols, "or owned by them." He hoped the latter wasn't the case. The fence touted this place as being his own, and if that were true, then he was part of the group and they could have a lot more trouble with this mission than originally thought. Regardless, they needed to get this trap set. Whether the enemy was aware of it or not, it was their best bet to get the information they needed.

The Jounin made a few clones and set out to rigging makeshift traps out of the equipment within the warehouse, while some of the clones went outside to get a better look at those guards -after knocking them all out. The clones then transformed into them and covered the exposed heads with dirt. They did, of course, place a flower gently on top of each mound, as any decent person would do, before stomping them all flat so that nobody would notice. As soon as the preparations were made, all they'd have left to do was wait, and it could honestly be days.

Days did pass. One after the other. The two ninjas were careful not to be seen and maintain cover, and they lived off supplies stored on the warehouse. It was a time of reflection and alertness during which Zurui would no doubt "meditate" a lot. Sometimes the young Uchiha couldn't tell whether he was asleep or just with his eyes closed but it didn't matter. For two full days nothing happened and the sun crossed the sky followed by the moon. On the third night, however, a sound was heard.

First, it was laughing. A maniacal laughter, which honestly gave Akihiro the chills. And then there was more laughter. And more, and more. Akihiro was on the second floor of the warehouse by that time and he quickly yet discreetly glanced through the window. The sight was...creepy to say the least. There were many people coming in, Akihiro's glance counted at least 60 but there could be a lot more coming from the surrounding forest. They used strange clothes and stranger tattoos covered their skin. All sorts of symbols, similar to the scribblings were written on their arms, heads and other limbs. What made them weird however was that they shinned brightly at night. In a way it seemed like they were being invaded by fireflies.

"Oye Zurui, they're here." Akihiro whispered. They were probably unaware of their presence but maybe it was for the best. Could they really handle this many people?

"Hey, is your boss here? We've got a good haul today!" A man at the head of the entourage proclaimed.

"Not today, but he left us all the gold we'd need to pay you. Just drop it all outside and name your price." One of the warehouse guards replied.

The man cocked his head and looked around. It was unusual that their friendly little fence chose not to come out to meet them in person this time. Typically, he wanted to inspect every item personally and haggle prices for hours on end. The man shrugged, thinking that maybe the little guy finally got enough money to pursue larger goals. He was part of their fold, after all, and that afforded a level of trust sufficient to allow for alterations such as this.

"Fine." Haga said. He motioned the men behind him to bring the wagons of goods forward and they did, leaving them near the entrance to the warehouse. "No feast tonight?" He asked of the guard.

"The harvest was insufficient this time. Perhaps after the next." The guard responded, hoping that it would not displease Haga. This was a lie, of course, but this area did indeed have dwindling resources so it was a believable one. Fortunately, Haga did not press the issue. Instead, he shrugged and placed a hand on the guard's shoulder.

"Very well, friend. We'll meet again in a few days and when we do, He will be that much closer to rebirth. Take care!" With that, Haga turned to his men and shouted with a fist held high. They responded in unison and turned back to march away.

Zurui's clones waited until they were nearly out of sight before beginning the operation. One clone left to pursue the group in secret, taking care to avoid being spotted while tailing them back to what he hoped would be their base. The other clones, however, dispersed. Before the smoke had even dissipated, Zurui himself burst forth from the warehouse door, looking into the direction that the group had gone. They'd need to tail his clone at a safe enough distance so that if it were spotted, they wouldn't also be. With this and the clones made earlier, they'd be nearing completion of the mission. All that remained was to find their base and determine their power. With Haga Bumira leading the group, Zurui was beginning to worry.

Akihiro watched from the window as the events unfolded. For a moment he worried they might get caught but Zurui's clones were able to improvise quite well and deceive their enemies. This was a good. A battle here against these many people could prove to be troublesome. They would probably be better off catching their enemies off guard at their own hideout. Zurui busted through the door and Akihiro followed behind him. He was the clone's creator and he would know better how it moved so Akihiro decided it was a good idea to stay behind Zurui and let him lead the way. The walked, ran and jumped in the utmost silence for a few hours as they ventured deep into the forest. At some point the sun stopped shining through the tall trees and it was like night fell all around them. They would eventually reach the entrance of a grand cavern entrance. After making sure it was safe, the duo went in and began exploring it with care. There was a complex network of tunnels but after taking a few turns here and there Akihiro managed to deduce the general pattern of the tunneling network and lead the team further. They would come upon a rather unique sight.

As they came upon the underground city, Zurui started to grasp just how deep this organization ran. That's what they were, now, an organization. No mere group could inhabit so large a space nor command an army's worth of troops. Those that they had seen were clearly only a portion of the overall force, which meant this would be as far as they went. To go any further was too great a risk and now they had an idea of how powerful these crazed people were. They'd need to return to the surface and, pending the success of their clones, the mission was at an end.

"That should cover all the bases for this mission. Assuming our clones managed to locate the other villages, we'll be done as soon as we return to surface and write a report." Zurui wasn't fond of what would be on that report. This great a force would require an equal or greater response from their villages, and since he was a Jounin and had scouted this all first-hand, he was sure to be tasked with leading that force. Of course, that was only if Konoha and Kiri deemed this organization a threat and didn't choose to forsake the people of the Land of Waves to this slaughter. He'd wait for Akihiro's input, though, before leaving.

Akihiro merely nodded. This thing wasn't a hideout, it looked more like a huge underground village which obviously the two of them couldn't take alone. They were here only to gather information and not to go on some sort of suicide mission. It was a shame they weren't able to learn anything about their enemies fighting abilities but if they had such a strong presence then that must surely mean there had to be incredibly strong people. Or at least an incredibly large army.

"We should really get back to our villages and report this. these guys seem to be a very serious threat. Let's head back from where we came from. We oughta be careful tho, not to alert any guards that may be taking rounds patrolling these tunnels. Follow me." Akihiro had memorised the entire path they took and kind of predicted the entire map of the tunnels. In a way, there was a pattern and all the tunnels made sense like they were part of one huge spider web. Could that be relevant information? Akihiro wasn't sure. But he'd draw the map from memory as soon as he got back to the village. The duo went through the tunnels, out of the cave and began their trip back home.

[Exit]

Fortunately, the Konoha shinobi agreed with Zurui's analysis, and the two of them started off. It was also lucky that Akihiro had so great a memory; Zurui's was good, for sure, but even he'd have trouble trying to remember which paths led where and what directions to avoid. Akihiro navigated the maze like it was drawn on the back of his hand and before he knew it, they were on the surface again. He'd have to leave the redrawing of this place to his ally, while the other details, like which towns had already been struck, which hadn't, and which seemed likely to be next, would be left to Zurui, as his clones had located most of them. With that, the mission was complete, and the two took their leave to report back to their villages and await further instruction.

[Exit]