Shimura Assassination

Spoiler:

As any well known gang, the Shimura crew had long since decided to set up shop and make their presence known. They claimed several of pieces of land throughout the country as their own, with warnings and threats issued to any that might think of trespassing. Most other gangs are far larger than the Shimura, and simply scoffed at the threats, writing them off as not even worth bothering. The Shimura, in their pride, thought that this was a clear sign of other gangs respecting their power, so they began to act accordingly.

This growing boldness led them to expand their criminal dealings until, finally, they began to encroach upon the income of other gangs. Naturally, these gangs sought to set things straight, but in their isolation, the Shimura had been allowed to grow quite large. It would risk a much more expensive turf war to try and reclaim a few venture losses. However, the much cheaper alternative was to hire a couple of shinobi to take care of matters quietly. So they did, and it was Akihiro and Zurui that took up the job.

Because the Shimura made no efforts to hide their presence, finding their base was a piece of cake. It was located on a large countryside house near Tanzaku Town and was said to be the most heavily guarded of any Shimura property. Naturally, this was the most likely place to find the leader of the Shimura gang, and so this is where Zurui and Akihiro had decided to rendezvous for the start of their mission. They'd need to infiltrate the place and get a solid location on the leader, if he wasn't somewhere in there. Then, they'd need to track him down and put an end to him. Fortunately, as a criminal underworld mission, this task did not place any restrictions on them. The unfortunate part is that they only got paid for the one kill; any other deaths did not mean extra pay.

Akihiro arrived at the scene and found himself next to Zurui looking at the large mansion in front of them."Huh, I guess being a criminal pays well...We might be doing things wrong." he turned to Zurui and shrugged. The two of them had cross the law many times before and performed underworld jobs on many different occasions. In fact they were doing that just now. And yet here they were, relatively poor while a small-time criminal gang leader lived in a huge ass mansion. In a way, this made the task of killing him a lot more....pleasurable. Alas, they couldn't be thinking about taking the prize before they actually got into a position of taking the man's head. The first step would be infiltrating the mansion.

Akihiro took a look at it. It was walled, despite being a house. It reminded him of a small japanese castle, with white walls and black tiled rooftops. "Well I guess we should infiltrate. We're being paid to take the leader's head, nothing else. Let's not enter unnecessary combat...." Akihiro made a pause, and then smirked. "Who knows, maybe they'll pay us later to get rid of the rest of the gang. Alas, let's do this quietly." Akihiro quickly ran towards the house, using his ability to silently approach two of the wall's guards before putting them to sleep with a quick jab on their necks. Akihiro had a strange ability which allowed him to infiltrate places by temporarily hiding his presence- and it came in handy at times like these.

"In time, little Sparrow." Zurui mumbled as Akihiro left to disable the first set of guards. They were well on their way into the criminal underworld with all of the missions they'd completed over the years. The more they did, the more trust they earned and the closer they got to the top. Eventually, they'd be running it, but that was a goal for a much later time. For now, there was only the mission.

The Jounin slipped in behind the Uchiha and peered into the courtyard beyond the rails of the closed gate. They could leap over it easily enough, but there was a patrolling guard in the courtyard. They'd need to wait until just the right moment to make their move, when none of the patrols were facing their way, and slip behind cover somewhere within. Zurui couldn't see much without himself being seen from his current vantage point, but there was a shed inside the fence and on the other side of the gate from them. That would work well enough, for now.

Zurui held up his hand, motioning Akihiro to wait. Moments later, he waved the boy to follow, and quickly and quietly scaled the wall. Landing softly on the other side, Zurui dashed for the back of the shed, sparing only moments before the other patrol started in his direction. They'd be safe, for the moment, but actually getting inside was an entirely different story.

Akihiro tried his best to follow Zurui without being caught. Over the two years the two of them worked together they had done many infiltrations and by now they were used to each other's moves and way of thinking. Akihiro jumped over the wall and also landed softly on the ground, moving towards not the shed but towards a small bush about ten meters away from the shed. Akihiro figured the small shed would not be enough to hide both of them and so he chose to play the safest route and find a new hiding place. This meant he had to pay attention to the patrol and adjust his position to remain out of sight, circling around the bush as the patrol walked over here and there. Whenever he figured it was safe Akihiro would glance at the next part of the garden, where a small bush maze could be found. The maze walls were made out of leaves and bushes and were no more than 2 meters tall. A shinobi could easily jump over the walls and run over them, easily bypassing the maze. But Akihiro wasn't sure that would be the best idea, since there seemed to be several patrols inside and around the maze. On top of the walls they would be exposed, but if they went through the maze they could probably slip by unnoticed.

"Let's go through there." Akihiro whispered, pointing towards the maze. He waited for the right time when no patrol was looking and made a quick dash towards the entrance. Once inside he found himself surrounded by leaves and silence. Zurui would probably follow behind him and since he hadn't taken a turn yet there was no need way he could've gotten lost. Or was there?

Zurui carefully watched the patrol as Akihiro made his move for the bush. They hadn't seen him, which meant that infiltration was thus far a success. The Uchiha motioned for the maze and Zurui followed behind. The bushes were certainly sufficient to cover their movements, but given the nature of any maze, they also were unable to see and with the many twists and turns, the likelihood of running into a patrol increased. However, this was the safest route to get towards the door, since any other way would put them out in the open and possibly expose them to a patrol, thereby setting off an alarm and forcing them to fight their way through a whole mess of people only to find out that their target had slipped away right when the alarm sounded. That would be very unfortunate and a great pain.

The first turn was a simple t intersection. Zurui peered carefully left and right from the center of their path, so as not to expose himself too much to either side. He saw nobody coming at them, but a guard patrol taking another turn further down the maze towards the duo's right. They would have a better understanding of how the maze worked and, to fully complete their patrol, would need to explore every part of the maze. This meant that they were either heading towards an exit and not the one Zurui had entered, but another, which had at least a 33% chance of being the one at the door. That, or they were dutifully exploring a dead end and would have to turn around, potentially catching the two invaders in the process. The Jounin decided that they'd probably be able to handle that situation, perhaps even without being seen, and so he followed after them all the way to the next corner.

Akihiro and Zurui would follow these two guards for a while. They had to take extreme care in order to remain silent and not make too much noise while moving. Additionally, every time those two idiots (the guards, I mean) took a turn, one of the two shinobi had to peek over the corner to make sure they hadn't turned around. More than a couple of times the two ninjas got really close to being discovered but luck seemed to be on their side this time and they followed the patrol around for a good fifteen minutes until they reached what seemed to be the center of the maze. It was a circular area, filled with fountains and smaller bushes, surrounded by all kinds of different plants. Akihiro watched a night moth fly by a plant which was shinning a beautiful orange light. With a quick snap the plant opened up its leaves and snatched the poor moth which would probably end up being eaten by the plant. What a wretched fate...

"Remind me to not follow the light..." Akihiro whispered to Zurui, assuming he'd seen what he saw. The guard patrol stopped near a fountain and one of them sat by it, lighting a cigar. "God I'm glad we got the maze garden tonight. There's no other place where that snake will let us smoke on duty..." One complained.

"He still doesn't let us smoke here."
"Well what he doesn't know can't kill him!"

A double laughter followed. They were clearly distracted and had guided the duo thus far, but they didn't look like they'd be moving out of the maze anytime soon.

With the guards getting comfortable at the center of the maze, Zurui started to look around for an alternate route. They clearly weren't going to serve as guides any further, but this, being the center of the maze, likely served as a hub for all of the paths. Given the layout, they'd probably have to reach the entrance directly across from them if they wanted to make it to the door of the house with this method. He gave a quick thought to jumping over the bushes, but there was no telling waht was on the other side and if anyone outside of the maze would be able to see them. Going through the bushes would cause too much noise. So it looked like their only choice was to slip by those guards while they were distracted with talking and smoking.

Taking seats on the edge of the fountain facing an exit unrelated to Zurui's and Akihiro's path, that is, one that led to a side, the guards continued to chat, occasionally looking at each other and then the ground or the plant life ahead of them. Either of the last two would open up a chance to make a move, but as soon as the guards looked at each other, they'd be able to see the two invaders moving. Zurui started to make a move into the ground, but that kind of shift in the earth would alert the guards and he really preferred not to move in the ground itself if he could help it. For one, he'd have to drag Akihiro and losing contact could be dangerous. And two, you never know when a giant monster is swimming down there ready to gobble you up. So, he waited right until they stopped looking at each other and made a silent dash for the side of the fountain opposite the guards.

Akihiro watched as the Kirigakure Jonin made a brave attempt towards the side of the fountain opposite to the guards. It had to be timed perfectly to work, and Zurui had managed to time his move in such a way. Akihiro watched the guards carefully after that, looking to make a similar move. But the two hand engaged in conversation and were constantly looking at each other now. They would have to wait a lot and they simply didn't have that kind of time. They didn't know what other challenges they would face tonight, and wasting hours on two guards was simply something Akihiro didn't want to do. Should morning come their target would leave and they would find themselves trapped within the house of a gang leader while bathed by daylight. That...didn't seem like a promising offer. No, they had to hurry.

From the shadows, Akihiro made a single hand-seal and cast the Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique. He used this to mask his presence, and now all he had to do was simply quietly walk towards the entrance they wanted to get into. The Demonic Illusion prevented the guards from seeing either him or Zurui, so Akihiro could afford the luxury of simply walking past them as long as he remained quiet. He signaled Zurui, placing his index finger on his lips which would signal him to remain quiet. With luck, they'd be at the wanted entrance soon enough.

With the guards engaging each other a lot more, Zurui knew that it would be difficult to complete the maneuver. He started to weave some hand seals, use the water in the fountain to silently drown both of them, when Akihiro casually walked by. The Jounin performed a double take before he realized what was happening. Genjutsu. Why didn't he think of that?

The two continued on into the maze, weaving through corners and turns, carefully avoiding any guard presence, but they encountered. This was lucky, but they were still left with the main problem. As they came upon the final turn, Zurui peered around the corner once more and saw that it was a straight shot to the front door of the complex. The only problem was that it was like a tunnel with bushes on either side and still a good sized gap between the end of the maze and the door. That was a lot of open ground with no way to see a guard approaching and nowhere to go should a guard patrol get to close. The best they'd be able to hope for is to dive into the bushes and hope they either ignored the sounds or didn't hear them. He didn't like those options, and he was wary of using Genjutsu on an area without having some confirmation that nobody would or could dispell it. Finally, there were the windows at the upper level of the house that could see directly into the path of the maze they'd have to take to reach the house. It wasn't looking good.

Akihiro glanced at the scenery and once again tried to evaluate the situation. It was clear that it would be quite difficult to pass through that area unnoticed. Especially because the moon was still shinning brightly on the night sky and unlike earlier there were no signs of clouds. He paused for a bit. It was one of the rare moments on which he really couldn't come up with a plan. It seemed like the whole situation was impossible and they were going to be stuck there for a while. Perhaps they could travel underground once again? No, that wouldn't be a good idea. A Doton jutsu of that sort of scale would easily be heard in the silence of the night. They were running out of options...Unless...

Akihiro had an idea for a special type of Genjutsu. "Listen. On my signal, we make a run for it. We need to be fast otherwise we'll be in serious trouble. " With a single handsign Akihiro extended his chakra outwards and created an invisible barrier at the end of a 25 meters range. Within this radius what this barrier do is simply change the look of whatever is inside the barrier for whatever is outside the barrier. So they could pass through that area in complete safety. There was a catch tho, if anyone stepped within the 25 meters radius they would be done for. "Go!" with that word Akihiro quickly but silently dashed towards the front door. Upon arriving, he used the walk walking technique to climb the wall, since the technique radius also went upwards he'd be safe there. Akihiro stopped next to a window with a light turned on, and waited for Zurui. They had little time, if they were going to enter it had to be now. Even it it meant killing whoever was inside that room in a flash.

Trained: Sparrow's Mirror Custom D-rank 150 words needed, over 200 typed

The Jounin followed Akihiro down the final stretch of the maze and into the masking barrier. Once they'd reached the window, Zurui leaned to get a peek at the inside. It was a hallway, leading to several rooms on either side with guards stationed on either side of the window, backs to the invaders, and a patrol walking an intersecting hallway further down. This was advantageous for the duo. They'd be able to sneak in through the window without the guards knowing until it was too late.

While the interior patrol still maintained visibility with the hallway, Zurui scribbled a seal onto his chest and got ready to make his move. Like the Uchiha, Zurui also had a personal technique that he’d been wanting to try out. It was a Fuuinjutsu, obviously, but one that should help give him a physical advantage because he’d noticed over these last two years that while he could overpower the average person, anyone with any sort of shinobi training typically outdid him, forcing him to use only his wits and techniques. They were potent enough to overcome any situation thus far, sure, but he wanted to try and even the odds a little more.

Once the interior patrol moved the past the hallway, Zurui activated the seal, flowing his chakra into it and then allowing it to take over. He felt a slight rush in his body as the energy powered up his system. He moved to open the window and he could immediately tell the difference. Much faster than usual, he was able to unlatch the window, swing it open, slip in, and take out the guard to the right.


Trained Seal of Finesse, C-Rank Custom, 283/200 WC

Akihiro watched carefully and in silence while Zurui drew some sort of seal on his body. Was it Fuuinjutsu? Most definitely the answer was yes. Akihiro was also quite fond of this battle style and he could very easily recognize it. But what he didn't quite recognize was this formula Zurui was using. It wasn't in any Fuuinjutsu related book Akihiro had ever read and that was strange. Did this man create his own Fuuinjutsu? So not even was he an elemental master but also a Fuuinjutsu expert? Kirigakure no Sato had certainly blessed this join task force with talent. Akihiro could only hope Konoha would have done the same. Alas, this was no time for such thoughts as they were on a job.

Zurui waited for just the right time and with a dexterity of hands that surprised Akihiro he silently opened the window and took out the first guard. Taken a bit by surprise with this new speed of his team mate, Akihiro allowed a slight delay between his and his friend's assault. This wasn't enough to allow the guard to utter a single word as Akihiro slit his throat with a kunai on the right hand and stabbed his heart through the back with a kunai on his left one. Better be safe than sorry right? Now they had to figure out where this guy was hiding. It was also probably a good idea to hide the bodies, but unlike other times this time they really had no way to dispose of the two bodies. Akihiro took a few steps into the hallway and leaned his ear against the door on his immediate right.

He heard a fart.

Rolling his eyes, he picked up a senbon launcher from one of the fallen guards, looked through the lock and also through the lock he shot a senbon at the shitting man's throat. The bathroom would be a good place to hide the bodies if they could somehow open it without making noise.

Using his newfound nimbleness, Zurui undid the lock on the bathroom with a few uncannily silent shakes of the nob. The dead man within did not object when the Jounin tossed both of the bodies inside and securely locked the door. That would take care of the bodies, for now, so long as no other guards needed to make use of the facilities. Zurui touched the seal on his chest to deactivate it, so as to prevent it from continuing to drain his power while he wasn't even making use of it.

He looked down the hall. There was a door on either side and then the intersecting hallway which the patrol had been seen walking along. They’d need to check both rooms to be certain, but he doubted the target would be in this part of the house. He’d be in the center of the second floor, the back of the second floor, or down in a basement floor, if this complex even had one. Even still, the Jounin moved to open the first unlocked door on the right. The room was lined with beds, more than a few of which had people sleeping on it. They were all men, and judging from the clothing lying about, they were all guards. If this was the barracks for the guards, the other room likely didn’t have anything of use either, save perhaps for some weapons, so they’d need to press forward, which meant avoiding more patrols.

"Hmmm..." Akihiro's thought process accelerated as he saw what seemed to be the guard's sleeping room. "If even one of these bastards awakens and decides to go take a leak, we'll be in deep shit." There was no other choice. The entire guard room had to be assassinated and quietly. His gaze turned towards Zurui and with his chin Akihiro motioned towards the wall in the direction of the bathroom. With any luck, this would be enough for Zurui to understand what Akihiro was about to do. Using his ability to step quietly and infiltrate places without being seen, heard or even sensed Akihiro stepped into the room. For a moment, even Zurui would feel his presence vanish. The only sound to be heard in the darkness of night was the muffled drip of blood from their necks. One, two, three... the sounds continued, very quietly until the eight was murdered. All of them silently killed in their sleep. Akihiro stepped from the shadows and suddenly reappeared at the hallway, back to where Zurui was standing hopefully guarding the entry and looking out for patrols. With a nod, the Sparrow would indicate it had been taken care of. Both his cloak and the kunai he was holding on his right hand were bloody.

Akihiro proceeded to open the next door, peeking through he found the room covered in darkness just like the first one. But his eyes were more than used to that now. This seemed to be a sort of torture room. Several prisoners, both men and women were attached to steel rings on the walls through the use of chains. They all seemed to be dead or asleep.

The Jounin nodded to Akihiro and stood watch as the Uchiha went to work taking care of the guards. A few seconds in and he heard the patrol making its other round. The bathroom had already been taken care of, but if they happened to see sleeping quarters' door open, they'd be inclined to check it out. So, with careful footsteps, Zurui moved inside the room and slid the door shut, leaving everything in darkness save for the light seeping in from the cracks of the blinded window. Once a few more moments had passed and Zurui felt confident that the patrol had gone, he quietly opened the door and peeked around its corner to ensure that nobody was there. The way was clear, so he awaited Akihiro to finish his work and moved on to the next room.

When he saw the prisoners lining the walls and machines obviously designed for torture, he simply shrugged and walked out. Had this been an official village mission, he might be inclined to save them, but they weren't getting paid for that this time around and they didn't need word of their actions or identities to get to the wrong people, good though the intentions of newly freed and ecstatic prisoners may be. They simply talked too much.

Zurui moved down the hallway and peered around the corners. The patrol was heading down to his right, leaving the left clear and of course there was a wall directly in front of him. He suspected that behind that wall was a room with an access point on the opposite side and the most likely place for the target to be. He'd yet to expect their approach, after all, and that was a good central point for a man in power to cling to.

Akihiro felt kind of bad leaving all of those prisoners there. But rescuing them was not their job at the present time. Perhaps later he could drop an anonymous tip to Konohagakure no Sato's council that there were civilians from the Land of Fire being held there, but right now he had more important things to do. In this case, taking a life was more important than saving many. Akihiro carefully closed the door and followed Zurui down the corridor. He was waiting for the older ninja to give him some sort of signal but that didn't happen.

So Akihiro had to peek himself, and he saw the two patrol guards walking right next to each other. They were ridiculously well coordinated and that kinda ticked off Akihiro. What sort of idiots would train coordinated patrols instead of combat abilities? If they had out half as much effort into improving their combat abilities as they did into coordinating their damn silly patrol walk, this mission would have been much more challenging. The two of them walked at a constant speed and with a single glance Akihiro was able to calculate the time it would take them to reach a certain point in their path. The young Sparrow readied himself, and by means of flying swallow and a couple of kunai throws he decapitated them at almost the same time just as soon as they reached a position from which he was sure could hit them. "Alright let's go." He said, picking up his kunais in order to avoid leaving any equipment behind.

The Jounin continued on, around the corner and into the next hallway. The patrols on this area had apparently all been dealt with, since he saw nobody else in sight. They weren't on alert, sure, but you'd think they'd have better security than this. Finally, they came to the door on the other side of that wall from earlier. Zurui opened it slowly and immediately spotted their target sitting behind a desk near the opposite wall. He spotted them immediately, naturally, but it was no use. The Jounin flung a few shuriken and just like that, the deed was done. The Shimura leader was too caught off guard to defend himself and went down in a flash. Zurui moved in to examine the body, waiting for Akihiro to confirm. Once that was done, they could take his head and claim their reward.

Akihiro followed in behind Zurui, covering his back while he completed the assassination. It was funny how they had gotten through all of that trouble for a simple shuriken throw to be the method of assassination. You would think Zurui would pick something more...creative. Alas, the shurikens were at the very least very efficient. Akihiro approached the body and took a good look at its head. "It's our target. We should take the head." he noted. He was certain this was their target due to his eidetic memory, but they should still take the head either way as proof of the deed done. Villages usually didn't require this but they *were* working for the underworld criminal organizations and this kind of was their style of doing things.

Akihiro grabbed a nearby cloth bag, and took a bunch of kitchen utensils from inside, carefully placing them down. Why did this guy keep kitchen utensils on his office? Alas, now was too late to ask. With the Flying Swallow, Akihiro neatly cut off the corpse's head and stored it inside the bag. Then the duo would leave through a window. Leaving was far easier than infiltrating, since there were many more options. They left with ni trouble.

[exit]

Zurui stood by while Akihiro took care of the head removal. He cringed a little when he saw the flying swallow technique activate, not because of what it was to be used for -he'd done that himself many times without trouble- but for some...unknown reason. He could also feel a kind of sting coming from his face.

Anyway, with the head stowed safely in a cloth sack, the two departed the compound. With some of the patrols taken care of and little care for who saw them on the way out, since an alarm made little difference to them by that point, the two were able to escape much, much quicker than they had infiltrated. Fortunately, there were no hiccups along the way and they were able to make it to the drop location without any trouble.

[Exit]