A/N: So with this chapter, the word count for the story have officially reached approx. 100,000 words! This section will mostly deal with the 'adventure' tag I put on the story, so yeah for adventures and stuff...
Beta'd by the humorous Alice J, you all should thank her for the title, even though it's completely random and doesn't make sense at first sight, I just can't pass up her suggestion.
Chapter 16 - Operation Oolong Tea
One month had passed since I entered Team Ro, and I was happy to say that I stopped waking up automatically after three hours of sleep. It had been a running joke in the team ever since they found me waking up in the middle of the night exactly after three hours of sleep, even though I was pretty sure all of them had done it once.
I had joined in on those team training exercise, or as my teammates liked to think about it as "Let's beat the crap out of Rabbit the rookie" exercise. They were purely taijutsu and weaponry exercises since ninjutsu with six Anbu trained in heavy assault tended to get a little out of hand. Still, for the first ten days, I was the always the one who got beaten like a sack of potatoes. As days went by, my speed and reflex got better, but I was still far from their level. Although, I definitely could give them a run for their money before they could beat me down like a ragged doll. Hell, just a few days ago, I actually got a chance to dislocate Falcon's shoulder, and that deserved something.
Otter was a nice person, but that only applied when she wasn't holding her katana. She was absolutely fierce and ruthless in kenjutsu training, but still, after a few days of training, she had gotten the permission for me to use my twin swords in battle instead of the standard Anbu issued straight blade.
I stood in the shade on training ground 13, recuperating after the last assassination mission I took with Captain. Although on most of the missions Team Ro moved as a team, there were some special occasions where only a few members were asked to take a mission based on their specialties. For example, if there was an assassination mission, It was usually just me and Kakashi; if there was a tracking mission, it was usually just Otter and Falcon. The Anbu system was complicated since they got assignments directly from the Hokage. Now, the real point was, I was never allowed to go on missions alone. Someone was always there to keep an eye on me, be it Kakashi or my other teammates. I guess that it was reasonable, seeing that my brother's history didn't exactly spell out 'trustworthy'. However, given that Hokage-sama did place me here, I should damn well take full advantage of it.
Like I said, I was recuperating and Naruto decided to take a swing at me. He was aiming for my ribs, but like usual, I sidestepped and grabbed his arm, twisted it and threw him on the ground.
"Once again, Naruto-kun, stop aiming at such predictable places, and keep your shoulders down, it will hurt more when you tense up like this." I said exasperatedly as I released his arm and he jumped up from the ground effortlessly, ready for another round. Little energetic brats, I could never beat him down to the ground and make him stay there unless I kill him.
"Now, when you are grabbed by your opponents in taijutsu, the first thing you think about is not how to pull back, but rather how to hit them so they can let go." I explained to the little ball of orange as clearly as I could, but Naruto just looked at me with those confused puppy eyes.
"Okay, I am going to aim at you and I want you to grab my wrist as if you want to restrain me and then I want you to aim a punch at me." I commanded as I got into the standard taijutsu position she taught at the Academy. With a huge nod, Naruto also got into the position like an eager little tiger.
Using a rather slow speed in my opinion, I aimed at Naruto's head and his small hand raised just in time to stop my fist in the track. After successfully grabbing my wrist, Naruto threw a punch at me just like I told him to. Quickly, I turned my body to avoid that punch, and using the momentum I gained, I thrust my other elbow at Naruto's neck with a sharp motion.
My elbow stopped at an inch from his neck as he released his hand and gulped in fear. However, as soon as I retracted my arms from that dangerous position, Naruto's fear quickly turned into awe and excitement.
"Sometimes, the offense is the best defense. Want to try it again?" I asked with a smile and he nodded furiously.
Naruto was about to have another go when I heard a large explosion and smelled something burning to my right. When I turned around and saw one side of the forest burning, I cursed and immediately rushed over. While I was running, I did a hand seal and waved my hands towards the burning trees. The water from the nearby river flew up and doused the flames, then the trees were left charred with smoke.
"Sasuke, you idiot! What the hell, I told you to practice your control, not burn the forest down!" I yelled at my little brother, who refused to look at me in the eyes.
"I was just trying to see how much chakra I can use for Katon: Phoenix Sage Fire." Sasuke complained, trying to argue with me and I just glared at him.
"Okay, I got it, sorry…I won't do it again." Sasuke lowered his head in defeat.
"I told you to get the fireballs around the trees into the water, not crash them. Geez, I know that you want to try out the jutsu, but that's not how you use it. Phoenix Sage Fire is a long range jutsu for a reason." I said to Sasuke patiently, hoping that he could actually calm down and listen to me.
"Haha, teme, you are screwing this up!" Naruto laughed as he came up behind me and I could just feel Sasuke ready to do something stupid.
"Naruto-kun, you are not much better in listening to my advice, your taijutsu is basically run into the enemy and hope it hits. So like I said, relax your shoulders and actually prepare your hits so that they aim at places." I said to Naruto, who scratched his head with an awkward smile. The next few minutes went consists of a lot of shouting and screaming with lots of insults such as "teme" and "bastard", "deadlast" and "dobe". I covered my face with one of my hands and silently ask myself why did I spend my resting time on this.
Suddenly, my felt my tattoo flared up under my shirt. It's Captain regrouping the team for a mission, and it usually meant that we only have fifteen minutes to get ourselves ready.
"Hey, kids, I need to run now, got a mission. So you guys stay safe and keep on practicing." I said to the two battering children in front of me and they immediately stopped chatting. Sasuke and Naruto gave me the disappointed puppy eyes, but I continued to stare at them with a straight face.
"Oh, come on! You almost never come back, and now you are finally back after a week, you are going to leave again?" Sasuke asked with frustration, and all I could do was smile at him sadly. I knew he was bored. Sadly, after the incident with Itachi, the Hokage was not allowing anyone to graduate early anymore since people were protesting that early graduation could potentially lead to mental instability (trust me, it really had nothing to do with that). As a result, Sasuke and Naruto were pulled out of their current classes and they would join again when they turn eight.
Sasuke spent his time arguing with Naruto, practicing jutsu or staying at the Nara compound, since he hated staying at the Yamanaka compound. I had no idea why Jonin Commander Nara would let Sasuke stay at their places when both Shun and I were out; Naras liked to keep out of troublesome business by nature. It would be more likely if Jonin Commander Nara were instructed by the Hokage to keep an eye out for Sasuke, just like how he was keeping an eye on me in Anbu. It was all precaution and I wasn't dumb enough to assume they would let two Uchihas run wild after the massacre, no matter how kind the Sandaime Hokage seemed.
I couldn't be there for my little brother; in fact, I had to admit I was not making much progress in Anbu. I couldn't find any information on my brother's whereabout, or any active mission in retrieving him. It was like he didn't exist, remembered as a murderer, but forgotten quickly. The Uchihas were of the past now, buried by history. I shouldn't rush it, it had only been one month, and it's not like Anbu was a supermarket for information.
"Sorry, Sasuke, I know I say that all the time…I'll definitely be back soon, it won't be long!" I said gently as I kneeled in front of him so that my face was at the same height as his.
"...It's like you don't even want to come back…" My heart sank as I heard Sasuke's quiet mumble. It was not like one of his temper tantrums, this time, he voice was full of the kind of doubt and sadness that I wish he would never know of.
"You Idiot." I said crisply as I placed my hand on his head and rubbed his already defiant hair, making it even more disorganized, "Where else would I go when you are right here in Konoha? Why wouldn't I return when you are everything to me?" Sasuke grunted and complained in annoyance, but the doubt and uncertainty in his eyes faded just a bit.
I didn't know how to lighten up the mood, it was really not my forte whatsoever. However, for once I was glad for Naruto's loud nature. Naruto started an argument with Sasuke and just for the sake of his pride, Sasuke took that argument and ran with it.
"Why don't you try some chakra control exercise with Naruto-kun while I'm gone. From what I was seeing, I think both of you could use some exercise. I taught you how to do it once, now teach it to Naruto-kun, won't you?" Under the background of insults and yellings, I said quickly for lack of better words. Before Sasuke could say anything back, I flickered away towards the Anbu facility. I was running away and I knew it, but I was too just ashamed and useless to stay there.
I arrived at locker room 15 quickly and changed into my gear quickly. Right after I put on the rabbit mask, everyone else arrived one by one in their gears.
"Good, we are all here. Team Ro received a mission assignment from Hokage-sama." Hound announced as we stood by our locker and listened carefully. "The intelligence division received reports of a Konoha missing-nin in the Land of Tea." he pulled out a black Konoha bingo book and flipped to a certain page before he showed it to us.
"Watanabe Nobu, former Konoha Tokubetsu Jonin, defected during the Third Shinobi war along with three more Chunins. Specialty: explosives." Falcon read the pages out loud, then he voiced the question we all had in our mind "But this is a high B-rank criminal at best, and two or three of us could take care of that. Why assign the whole team?"
"The problem is, our intelligence division didn't acquire this information on their own. Instead, it was reported by the Tea Daimyo. Watanabe Nobu was reported to be planning an assassination of the Tea Daimyo and his families, in order to take over the Land of Tea, at least that's what Hokage-sama heard from the Fire Daimyo who heard it from the Tea Daimyo." Hound explained and immediately, there were sighs and groans in the room. The point of this being assigned a higher priority than it deserved was clearly because the Hokage needed to keep good relation with the Fire Daimyo. The Fire Country and the Land of Tea had a good relation with each other, and they traded each other in crops and tea very often. There was also the fact that the Land of the Tea was by the Fire Country's border, and having a Konoha missing-nin assassinate the Tea Daimyo was definitely going to damage the foreign relation.
"So I guess we are also on protection details because the Fire Daimyo needs Konoha to show that we sincerely care." Zebra summarized with a sour tone. Nobody liked guarding missions, especially when our clients are civilians who couldn't fight. For us, the killing was usually much easier than protecting, and the fact that this was a mission we couldn't fail just made our lives harder than usual.
"Good, so we are all on the same page here. Mission objective: Eliminate Watanabe Nobu and those associated with assassination; protect the Tea Daimyo and his daughter. We are expected in three days, so start packing, we leave in ten minutes." Hound ordered, there was a round of "understood" before we started to pack our supplies. I opened the locker stared at it blankly, there was really not much to pack, weapons, spare weapons, storage scroll for basic survival supplies… and that's it. I slammed the locker door a little harder than I should while I was thinking about all the time I screwed my little brother over. There was a loud sound and suddenly people in the room were staring. I shrugged my shoulder and ignored them; in turn, they ignored my little outburst.
The Land of Tea was located South of the Fire Country, in a small strip of land that branched off of the continent. They had no active Shinobi village, but rather, a normal military, who would be screwed if a bunch of Shinobi decided to take over. The Fire Daimyo couldn't let that happen no matter what, the political effect and the economical effect that was just too great, even if the new leader was not a Konoha missing-nin. The Land of Tea was probably safer to remain a sub-country beside the Fire Country, at least, in the Fire Daimyo's perspective. There was also the fact that the Fire Daimyo really liked to drink their tea (there really was a paid C-rank mission on transporting premium oolong tea from the Land of Tea for the Fire Daimyo).
Unlike the normal covert missions, we had to report to the Tea Daimyo, but that just destroyed the point of us trained in stealth and secrecy. Apparently, investigating around in a foreign castle spelled 'HOSTILE' even if we were protecting them.
We passed the border like shadows, but we ended up having to stop in front of the castle and explain our mission to the castle guards. The guard looked a bit stunned and angry, but he still led us to the Daimyo.
"Welcome, Konoha Shinobi. I am the Daimyo of the Land of the Tea and this is my daughter Fukiko." The Tea Daimyo greeted us from his throne. He was a plump looking man in his sixties, he wore his giant fancy robe along with a headpiece with the Land of Tea symbol etched on it. Beside him was a beautiful young girl dressed in delicate kimonos and flowery jewelry. The princess - Fukiko - was a different kind of beauty than what was usually perceived in Shinobi world. Her body shape was too slim than what was considered battle healthy, and her arms seemed too delicate to hold weapons. She was a Yamato Nadeshiko, but those who survive in the Shinobi world were kunoichis who fought as hard and as ruthless as men.
"It is an honour to have an audience with the Tea Daimyo-sama. We were sent by the Sandaime Hokage-sama to protect you and your family as well as to eliminate the threat of your assassination." Like always, it was Hound who spoke up and explained our missions while the rest of us kept silent.
"I am glad! I was really worried but now I see I can rest assured. Konohagakure does indeed produce lots of strong shinobis. However, the mask seems completely unnecessary in my court." The Tea Daimyo began the sentence with a lighthearted laugh, but soon, the joy in his words died down. I could almost feel my teammates scrunch their eyebrows behind the mask, it was bad enough we had to identify our mission before it was complete, so there was no way we are revealing our identities to strangers.
"My apologies, Daimyo-sama, but it is a protocol for my squad. If you will read the letter from Hokage-sama, I am sure you would understand the reason for it." the Tea Daimyo stayed silent for a few minutes as he read the letter prepared by our Hokage-sama. Finally, he put down the letter and said: "Very well, I see the reason behind it. Now, I wish to understand your plan of how to guard us and eliminate that shinobi."
"At the time being, some of us will be guarding the palace, while others will be tracking the enemy. Once we identify the enemy, we will move to neutralize all threats." Hound answered briefly with lots of ambiguous answers.
"And will some of you be enough? I see only six of you here, and you plan to use some force to search the enemy, how will our safety be guaranteed?" the Daimyo frowned.
"We are all capable shinobis here, and we will do all we can to protect you and your daughter. It would be easier to neutralize the threat as soon as possible." Hound responded in a completely professional voice but knowing him, Kakashi probably was trying really hard to be done with this.
"Fine, but I have one condition. Anyone who guards my daughter must be a female, in order to protect her honour." the Tea Daimyo said sternly. I wanted to shake my head at that moment, the only female team members here were me and Otter, but Otter was specialized in sensing and tracking, and that probably meant I would be left on guard duty to a princess.
"You shall be dismissed." the Tea Daimyo announced before we left and room and retreated to the corner of a hallway.
As soon as we were alone, Hound signaled us 'You heard me, three of us will be on guard duty and three of us will be on tracking. Otter, Falcon, you two are with me on tracking. Zebra, Bear and Rabbit will be on protection details in the castle until we come back." All six of us signaled 'Understood' before Hound continued.
'Zebra you will be protecting the Daimyo, Rabbit, you are protecting his daughter. Bear, survey the castle discreetly, so we get all the possible entrances and exits for the castle. Zebra, Rabbit, identify yourselves before your clients so they don't freak out.' Hound pointed out, and with a heavy heart, I nodded. That was the last instruction he gave us before the three on tracking team plus Bear dispersed, leaving Zebra and me behind to guard the helpless civilians.
"Yeah, I know, we got the sucky jobs." Zebra muttered to me before he walked away towards the direction of the Daimyo. After a moment of silence, I nodded in agreement. But Captain's order was absolute unless Hokage-sama said otherwise.
It wasn't hard to find Lady Fukiko's room, considering how many servants she had. The servants escorted her to her spacious suite and closed the door behind her, but before they could close it completely, I slipped through with a body flicker. When I appeared in front of the startled teenager, I realized I completely forgot about the part where we don't freak out our clients.
"Please don't fright, Lady Fukiko, I was ordered by Hokage-sama from Konohagakure to protect Lady Fukiko of the Land of the Tea. Please continue your daily life as usual." I said quickly before the girl could scream. Thankfully, she clearly had some training in lady-like manners, because she quickly composed herself in front of me.
"I saw you before in my father's court, you must be one of them sent to eliminate the threat of assassination." She said and I nodded.
"Who are you?" She questioned with curiosity.
"You may call me Rabbit." I answered briefly.
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
"Rest assured, Lady Fukiko, I am a female shinobi." I guess I couldn't blame her for questioning. I was only twelve in this body, and with the chest binding and the armour vest I was wearing, it was hard to tell the gender except that I was a small, slim person.
"Ah, that's boring." Okay, I did not expect that response, clearly she didn't share her father's sentiment of conservatism.
"It would be nice if you seemed fun, but clearly, you are an old short hag who speaks like a machine." I couldn't tell if she was serious or not because she sounded like she was just saying what she thought without a single idea of how mean that sounded. What a great way to stay alive, pissing off your bodyguard.
"Father could have sent a fun servant to look after me, instead, all I get are those serious looking court ladies telling me how to behave. Then there's you, for someone so small, your speech is no fun, like an old prude." I was pretty sure being professional was being no fun. A spoiled teenager, I thought, I can't believe I have to guard a spoiled teenager. Still, I held my temper and shut up. After a few seconds, she stopped paying attention to me and I started setting up traps in her room to make sure no one could approach her without me knowing.
The awkward silence lasted for a few hours, until the sunset. The girl was doing some embroidery and then looking for some clothes. She ate her lunch with her father, so I escorted her from behind. There were no assassination attempts and the teenager's actions were completely normal. That's it, it's too normal, Lady Fukiko, despite being a protected spoiled brat, was not scared of the assassination at all. Most young girls living in a protective castle would cling onto others if they had known they were being targeted, but she seemed at ease, completely unworried. Of course, I couldn't jump to any conclusion, for all I know, she could have just been feeling rebellious against her father, or maybe she felt no goal in life and therefore not afraid of death.
"Rabbit, you can leave now, I don't like people in my room when I sleep. It's creepy." Lady Fukiko said to me annoyingly.
"But Lady Fukiko, it would be best for your safety if I stay with you. I will make myself hidden so you won't be aware of my presence." I argued, it's not like I want to be with her, but it's my job.
"Just stay outside of my room, then you can rush in if anything happens. Get out! Or I will complain to my father." She said with a pout, and I mentally shook my head. I walked outside silently and propped myself against the closed door. I had traps all over the room, most of them were non-fatal, just a little chakra detecting jutsu. But I put a few stringed kunai traps by the window, so if anyone tried to enter from outside without my knowledge, they would get kunai to the head.
Suddenly, I felt a breeze of wind and then the Hound was beside me. "How was the protection details today." He asked casually while leaning on the wall.
"Other than the fact I was called an 'old hag' by someone older than me, it's great. How about you?" I whispered the sarcasm, but underneath my voice, I signed 'no assassination attempt today, the client is suspiciously calm."
"Not much, still investigating. Otter is back to take your shift" Hound whisper and signalled 'found a possible base, continue the investigation tonight, the two of us and Bear will go tonight.' I nodded. The tracking team probably found a potential location, and Bear was definitely needed for raw fighting power, his wood release was not a joke.
Before I could respond, I felt the trap near the window activated. Immediately, I bolted for the door. While I pushed open the door, I heard the sound of kunai launching. With one body flick, I was beside the window, with a startled Fukiko beside me.
I scanned the room quickly with my eyes, there was no one but Fukiko here. Hound was standing by the door keeping the escape route confiscated and I looked out from the window. There was nothing in sight other than the guards patrolling the ground, yet the kunai trap was activated, strings were disturbed and all the kunais were launched. I counted, all eight kunais were stuck on the wall, which meant whoever disturbed the trap evaded.
"What happened?" I asked Fukiko, who stood by me with shock.
"How am I supposed to know? I just… just opened the window for some air, and then those things almost killed me!" Lady Fukiko said frantically. I eyed her from behind my mask, her breath was hitched, which was reasonable, consideration her encounter with the weapons. However, one of her hands was clenched tight by her neck and the other was hovering over her mouth. Usually when one was startled, they place their hands on their chest in an attempt to calm their heartbeats, however, Fukiko had one hand hovering her mouth, as if to hide it. For those untrained in lying, that was an instinctive sign for covering up. Also, the kunai trap could be activated if she really put her body out of the window far enough, but not the chakra signal trap, since it could only detect a chakra level developed above chunin level.
"Please calm down, Lady Fukiko, was there no intruder in your room?" I asked the angry princess.
"NO! I just wanted some air, and this happened. Did you put that trap on the window?" She yelled at me as she walked back to her bed.
"Yes, my apologies, but it was the best way to keep you safe."
"Then you should have told me." She yelled, "Leave, don't ever put something like that in my room again, you stupid old hag!" With that, she hopped back onto her bed and ignored me again. Quietly I walked out of her room, lightly closing her door behind me. Otter was also here, along with Hound, since she was supposed to take the evening watch.
"This is what I have to work with?" Otter asked me dryly and Hound turned away immediately.
"Yeah, good luck with this." I whispered lightly to my teammates before following my captain, knowing that she would most definitely set the trap no matter what our spoiled client said. Not a lot knows my pain, but Otter certainty will. Let's just say that she won't appreciate Fukiko's pattern of speech any more than I do.
When the assault team that was composed of Hound, Bear and me moved far enough from the castle, we were finally able to debrief the plans.
"Falcon and Otter had found some shinobi tracks and that lead us to an abandoned tea factory three hour's journey from the castle. We didn't find tracks of Watanabe, but we did find a band of civilians that seemed to be either working for him or following him. There maybe missing-nin in there, possibly all from Konoha defected during the war. So our mission tonight is to assassinate all the Konoha missing-nins, but not the civilians, they are not in our jurisdiction. Once the influence of the shinobi is gone, the Tea Daimyo can take care of the rest of the gang. Bear will act as a distraction, and Rabbit and I will move silently." Hound explained the mission to us.
Bear's wood release was a powerful offensive and defensive move, it would allow him to attract all the attentions and defend themselves at the same time. Hound and I were trained in assassination specifically and would be the best choice for eliminating specific targets. If not for that, I was sure that the tracking team could just flood the factory and be done with it (pretty sure that the trip back was to get Bear, not me, but hey, with Fukiko in the castle, I'm not complaining). Weapons don't have eyes, and apparently, killing civilian citizens in a foreign land was a big 'no-no' whatsoever. This was why we don't like protection missions, you never know when a sharp object decides to bounce the wrong way.
"Captain, I suspect there is a spy in the castle, and I suspect it to be Lady Fukiko." I spoke suddenly, and both Hound and Bear turned to look at me.
"And why do you suspect so?" Hound asked.
"She was lying earlier when the trap was activated, there was no way she could have activated the chakra signal. The kunai trap maybe, not the chakra one. Someone at least Chunin level was there at the window and she covered up for he/she" I explained, knowing that Hound would understand my suspicion. He was there, he also saw what I saw.
"Very possibly, but that means she was working with those who plan to assassinate her father." Hound commented, and we all fell silent because of that disturbing thought.
"We will keep an eye on her tomorrow, but right now, we focus on the this. Once we take care of Watanabe and his gang, it wouldn't matter if she were a spy or not." Hound concluded and we moved again towards the abandoned tea factory. But it would matter, I thought, at least to her father; the feeling of being betrayed by someone very close to you could destroy a person.
The old tea factory was more like a haunted house rather than a base of operation. The walls were stained black and brown and the wooden warehouse seemed to be crumbling at any moment. It wouldn't hold a lot of soldiers, not even close to one-tenth of the military of the Land of the Tea. However, one of the tokubetsu jonin specialized in explosives was leading them, and that meant normal military power couldn't overpower them unless there was to be a large number of sacrifice. To a country as small of the land of the Tea, large sacrifices in their military power could be fatal. Besides, it was Konoha missing-nin, which meant it was our problem to deal with.
We arrived at the factory and observed the dark building behind the cover of trees. However, we found no trace of anyone moving, there were no lights, nor guards outside the factory. Finally, we saw someone walking out the locked door; it was a man, most likely to be a civilian, and he was carrying something in a box.
Hound gave the order immediately after having confirmed there were indeed suspicious persons inside. 'Bear, start the distraction. Rabbit, find any possible targets and eliminate them' our captain signed.
Bear moved first, and with a skilled body flicker, he was standing in front of the tea factory. After a flash of hand seals, he slammed his palms into the ground and let dozens of wood pillars rise from the ground, slamming them into the tea factory. The moment the attack began, the Hound and I bolted, him looking to the left while I looked to the right. I was aiming for the back window, because once Bear's attack in the front started, the targets would have two choices, stay and fight or run away, and either way, the back window was the ideal place for identifying targets and assassination.
I ran around the right side first, looking for any place to escape. There was a back door and a back window about ten meters apart from each other on the right side, and it seemed like people were already running out of the door. Using my sharingan, I began to search for anyone's chakra coil who was more developed than usual, unfortunately, they all seemed to be civilians. I quickly bolted through them, tapping every one of them with a small surge of highly concentrated electricity at my fingertips, rendering them paralyzed, but still alive.
I went inside through the back door and started searching for shinobis from the chaotic scenes. To my surprise, there were no shinobi appearing on my vision. There was a chance that they were suppressing their chakra signal, but I doubt that's their priority when the attack happened. Nevertheless, I went on observing their movements.
I sighed when I couldn't find anyone with shinobi characteristics. Hopefully, Hound had already killed them. I proceeded to paralyze everyone who was not yet subdued by Bear's wood release. The whole ordeal lasted less than ten minutes, and the whole base was out.
"Found our targets?" Hound asked me when we regrouped, and I just shook my head.
"Me neither, they either have another base separated from the civilians, or they must have run away before we got here. Maybe they found our scouting trace earlier, or maybe our little princess tipped them off." Hound concluded after he checked the surrounding areas "Either way, they've gone into hiding."
"Captain, there were eighty-three civilians and dozens of crates containing explosives." Bear reported and for the first time, I looked at the crates that were stacked inside the factory with interests.
"They were raw explosives?" I asked and Bear nodded, confirming my suspicion.
"They are not running out of the country, they are still here waiting for the chance to strike." Hound said immediately, thereby confirming my suspicion. There was a pause before Hound continued with the line of reason, "Supposedly, if Lady Fukiko is in line with the missing-nins, then if they succeeds in killing the Daimyo, then Lady Fukiko will become the next ruler of the Land of the Tea, and when that happens, she is allowed to grant immunity to Watanabe and his gang, thus allowing them to live in the Land of Tea with no punishment. So it doesn't matter if their hideout was found or not, as long as Watanabe succeeds in the assassination, their freedom will be guaranteed."
"And he probably has lots of explosion seals ready on them." Bear muttered and Hound nodded.
"If they were to give the seals to Lady Fukiko, then she would have the perfect opportunity to assassinate the Daimyo. She probably doesn't have the seals now, seeing the raw explosives, they were planning to stage the death as a riot with the cover of raw explosives. But now, it may be her only way." I finished that line of thought, realizing just how dangerous Fukiko could be with her acts of innocence and her position in the court.
"We need to regroup with our teams and warn them about Fukiko, for the next few days before we find Watanabe. She must be isolated no matter what." We all nodded at our captain's command.
"What about the civilians and the explosives?" Bear asked and Captain answered "Alert the authority of the Land of the Tea and let them take care of it. We have four missing-nins to take care of." Then he asked, "Say, Bear, are there any events recently that will force Daimyo to come out of the palace?"
"There is going to be a Tea Festival in two days, and since it's an annual national festival, the Daimyo usually makes an appearance at the end to announce the winner of the 'Best Tea Contest'." Bear responded diligently. An annual festival would be a perfect place to strike since the Daimyo would not be surrounded by the Palace walls.
"What an amazing coincidence." Hound uttered sarcastically and I couldn't agree more. Got to be careful with coincidences, they will either save you, or they will kill you.
A/N: "Art is a bang!" - Deidara... So next chapter deals with explosions, but compared to Deidara's, this guy is a small fry, so practice for later encounters?