Chapter 33 - Incendiarism

"I'm sorry, what?" Despite the clear lack of respect in my voice, I was not actually being sarcastic. I was genuinely asking for a clarification since what I had just heard couldn't possibly be right.

"Did you lose your hearing as well? We don't have time for questions, we were supposed to be leaving three hours ago." Kakashi responded with a bland voice. Yes, and whose fault is that?

"Isn't my evaluation next month?" I asked again. Kakashi was a lazy person in terms of anything that did not fall under the 'necessity' category, which meant that he arranged these mandatory evaluations to be as late as possible. My six-month deadline wasn't due until three weeks later.

"Hokage-sama wants to do a full-scale review of Anbu agents in two months, so every member of this team needs to have their assessments done by then. I have to move up the schedule a bit and yours is next. Nothing's changed, all the standard evaluation protocols still apply and I will take over if you screw up." Kakashi added helpfully (or not really) before I continued my next sentence.

"And the mission is in the Water Country, where the Bloody Village of the Mist - which is currently still in a state of unrest - is located." This time, I said it with utmost sarcasm in my voice. Just from the mission overview, I knew this was a kind of sensitive mission that couldn't allow any screw-ups - the kind that wasn't usually used for evaluations.

"You've never been there before, have you? Think of it as an opportunity for tourism." Immediately, I glared at Falcon, who decided that making a joke was the best course of action at the current moment.

"I feel like there's something going on, but I can't tell what," I mumbled as I surveyed my teammates in suspicion. All of a sudden, everyone became really quiet and put on their best mask face - just without the masks.

"It's just the timing. All the evaluations have been moved up, and you're unlucky that this important mission coincides with your evaluation just before Hokage-sama decided to do a full-scale sweep." Beside me, Zebra explained in his usual calm voice, not showing any hints of deception. However, after my experience with 'the sake incident', I didn't think I could trust his seemingly truthful tone ever again.

"So if I mess up, my career in Anbu is over?" I asked with a light tone while hoping that the answer was no. However, the contemplating look Kakashi gave me was not helping with my confidence.

"Well, not necessarily, it totally depends on how badly you mess up. Think about it this way, if one of us lost a limb, then you would know that you really messed up." I looked at my captain incredulously. Sometimes I wonder if he knew how cold his jokes were.

"And all of you are okay with this?" I glanced around the room full of veteran Anbu agents, looking for any signs of confirmation or hesitation. I truly felt that leaving their lives in my hands in a very hostile foreign territory was not a smart idea. Even if this mission were just an evaluation, it carried the risks of any normal A-rank mission. We could only learn on the field, after all. However, what I saw around the room were smiles (even Bear, who rarely smiled just because it wasn't his personality) that warmed my heart.

"We always go on each other's assessments, no matter how easy or hard the missions are because we trust each other. This one is no different." Otter said as she let out a chuckle, and around her, all of my teammates nodded. Okay, maybe this mission won't be that bad.

"I'll do the best I can, I promise," I said firmly, finally shaking off that hint of uncertainty in my voice. I held my right hand out towards Kakashi, silently asking for the folder that contained all the mission-related files. I'm bringing you all back alive so that the past tragedy won't happen ever again.

"So, Rabbit, now that you are in charge, any words you want to say before we head off to the kill zone?" Falcon asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes as I took the mission folder from Kakashi. I thought in silence for a second before speaking the words that would later be known as my special kind of 'encouraging' battle cry.

"We are going to the Bloody Mist, so if we mess up, then it will really be a 'once in a lifetime' experience. So let's eliminate some targets and stay alive."

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

I glanced down at the files, scanning every single word and every little bit of detail as I went through them for the fifth time. Something was odd in this mission briefing, and considering the fact that I was back onto a ship again, I had quite a few hours to figure out what the hell was odd about this particular mission.

After flipping through the report one more time, I returned to the first page. Finally, I laid my eyes onto one particular name in the contact personnel column. Yep, this was the odd part.

"This 'Terumi Mei', why is she on the file?" I asked the man beside me who was leaning idly by the deck rails. He wasn't paying much attention to me, though, seeing that his half-closed eye was glued to the pages of his book.

"What does your file say?" He answered me with a question without lifting his eye from the book.

"Not much. Kirigakure jōnin, that's it. It says that she is the information provider for this mission, but the question is why. No shinobi would willingly betray their village without a reason." See, here was what I didn't understand. Our target was a group of Kiri-nin that was a part of the pro-genocide faction, but other than that, there wasn't much information about it. Terumi Mei, on the other hand, had even less information. The only thing on her was the fact that she was a Kirigakure jōnin, rather than a missing-nin. The Hokage had ordered us to meet her for further information since for some unknown reason, she had commissioned the mission, and for some reason, the Hokage had agreed.

"It's not betraying your village if you don't even have a unified village, to begin with." Suddenly, Kakashi murmured beside me, "What do you know about the situation in Kirigakure?"

"The country is in a state of civil unrest ever since the Yondaime Mizukage ordered the genocide of all of those with Kekkei Genkai, and that the shinobi training in Kirigakure is especially brutal and ruthless. Anything you want to add, please do so now." I turned towards him and looked at him expectedly. Now that he had brought it up, he might as well finish the explanation.

"Ever since the end of the Third Shinobi War, the Yondaime Mizukage had been purging those with Kekkei Genkai, it was almost like a national sport. However, the village is split because of the Yondaime Mizukage's reign and policy, so right now, the civil unrest is not only caused by the terror of prosecuting the Kekkei Genkai users but also from the active fighting of rebellion groups that are against the Mizukage's rule. As for Terumi Mei, she and the Hokage-sama must have made a deal, or else we wouldn't be sent to the enemy territory." Kakashi replied calmly as he flipped another page of his precious book, it was as if none of this had anything to do with him, despite the fact that both of us owned the sharingan, a very distinguishable Kekkei Genkai.

"Is she trustworthy? If she is still a jonin in Kirigakure instead of being declared missing-nin, she must have been under the Mizukage's command. Why hire us to eliminate the pro-Mizukage faction?" I continued to question. This mission was important to me, not just because my career was on the line, but also my teammates' lives were at risk. I couldn't afford to make rash decisions with just limited information.

"That's for you to find out, isn't it? If you want to know what deals she offered, what motives she has, or whether or not she will keep her promises, then go find out yourself, it's part of the job of being a leader. I trained your intuition well over the years, so use it." He said it so nonchalantly that I just wanted to grab his novel and throw it into the ocean so he could at least pretend to look like he cared. However, the only thing I could do at that moment was to sigh. I supposed that this was the closest thing to a vote of confidence from him, ever.

"So we are going to the Bloody Mist to kill a dozen shinobi under the crazy Mizukage's rule, just because of a woman, who has a very suspicious background, suggested us to do so?" Sometimes, I felt like sarcasm was the only thing I could do.

"If it makes you feel any better, that dozen shinobi would gouge your pretty little eyes out and burn you at the stake." If that were the case, then we have a very different definition of what's comforting and what's not.

"Let them try and see how it goes. Besides, if my eyes go, yours wouldn't be safe either." I shot back with a snort. The sea was calming and without a storm, but the vast blue body of water seemed to be fading into a grayscale the closer we got to Kirigakure. I wasn't quite sure if it was because of the shrouding mist or just my mood playing tricks on me.

"I can feel your heavy clouds all the way from here. It's your evaluation and you've done this before, it's no different from the previous ones." No, I've never had a mission to Kirigakure before.

"It's hard not to be anxious when you have to pick up from where you fell down the last time," I whispered lightly, unaware of the fact that I had expressed my thoughts out loud. Daichi's death was still a sensitive topic for more than half of Team Ro, including me. The casket had been closed for eight years, yet I could still see that scene vividly as if it were only yesterday. I had long accepted the fact that it would never be forgotten as long as I still had a say in that matter.

I watched Kakashi stare at me with mixed emotions before he retreated back to his book. I didn't know why, but at that moment, I felt very irritated by the fact that I couldn't beat a novel in gaining his attention even if we were on an important and dangerous mission.

"Why the hell would you bring that book? You know that it will most likely get destroyed in the fight even if I were kind enough not to throw it in the ocean." I muttered with annoyance written all over my face. This time, Kakashi didn't ignore me. Instead, after a moment of silence, he put his precious book back into his pocket with such care that one would think it was an ice statue instead of a shady novel.

"If any harm comes to my book during this mission because of your decisions, I'll automatically mark you as a fail." He said to me in a dangerously serious tone, and I had no doubt that he would do it. See, my career couldn't even beat a book in terms of importance.

"Thanks for the warning," I muttered begrudgingly. After a second of thought, I added, "Why don't we just change the primary mission objective to the protection of your, what was it? Limited edition of the third book bundled with extra scenes?"

"You could, but then you would really fail the evaluation. Also, it's the only the bookstore edition of the second book. Who in the world brings limited edition on a mission in a messed up country." I looked at him incredulously, only to realise that he was completely serious. Huh, so you do know that it's a mess up country with the mortality rate shooting over the roof.

Shaking my head helplessly, I turned back to the ocean, letting the blue scenery fill my field of vision. Going on an island that was isolated by the sea had not been on my to-do list ever since the mission to the Land of Snow. The only consolation was that this time, the distance across the sea was shorter and there were several islands in between. Well, you only learn from past experiences, and yes, I do have a lot of examples to learn from.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

'Sensors, on watch.' I signed to Otter and Falcon as we approached the meeting destination. I didn't know if the other party also had a sensor or not, but I would take the safe approach and assume that they had one. So far, during our travel, we had seen three explosions, two dead bodies rotting on the side of the road and one skirmish between two opposing groups of Kirigakure shinobi. With no exceptions, we steered clear of all of them.

'Foreign party approaching, three identified. They are not suppressing their chakra.' Otter responded with hand signs as I signalled the team to stop. Not suppressing their chakra? They are either stupid, confident, friendly or all three. I narrowed my eyes at the empty field in front of us as we crouched in the trees, trying to detect any signs of human movement within this desolated part of the forest.

'They stopped moving, just on the other side of the clearing, must have a good sensor on their side as well.' Beside me, Falcon signed. Whoever chose this place for meeting knew what they were doing. The clearing was small enough that a sensor could cover the area with no problem but large enough that most ambushes from the forest could be evaded. Adding to the fact that this region of the Water Country was very desolated from the purging and fightings, it was the perfect spot to conduct a diplomatic meeting between two untrusting parties. Now it is just a matter of who decides to take the first step.

'Falcon, Bear, please go survey the surrounding forest, the rest are going to meet our guests with me.' I signed quickly to the rest the team as we dropped down onto the ground from the trees. The Kiri informants had been kind enough to show a sign of trust by not suppressing their chakra, and it just wouldn't be right if we didn't return the gift.

Cautiously, we walked into the clearing; just because we decided to take a step first, doesn't mean that we would let our guard down. Within five seconds, I saw the bushes across the clearing ruffle. Immediately, I caught three blurring figures jump out of the bush. My fingers tightened around my swords instinctively until I saw the three said figures land in the clearing as well, just a few meters before the four of us.

"Konoha-nin?" The woman that seemed to lead the trio asked in a cautious voice. The two men - one had an eyepatch while the other younger one clenched tightly onto his giant sword - also seemed very tense and cautious by our sudden appearance.

"Yes, and you must be Terumi Mei," I stated emotionlessly as I eyed the trio in front of me critically. The man standing a little to Terumi's left was wearing an eye patch, but his other visible eye darted around the surrounding forest. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was the sensor of this group. Now, when did eyepatches become a popular fashion statement?

"Don't be nervous, some members of our team are surveying the surrounding forest. Just in case there are uninvited intruders." I remarked to the eyepatch man and he looked slightly awkward being caught in such a blatant act of distrust.

"Of course. Now, I'm going to assume that you are the speaker and that you know what you are being asked to do. I would like to talk to you about the details of the plan as well as what I can provide you in return." Terumi Mei said with a perfectly polite smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. Casually, she raised her arm and signalled for us to walk away from our individual teams. After a moment of hesitation, I walked after her to a position about twenty meters away from the main group.

"First of all, I would like to thank the Hokage for agreeing to my request." The woman said calmly, with the smile still plastered on her face. She was comfortable at this, it wasn't hard to tell that she dealt with people in high positions all the time. However, before she could continue, I cut her off quickly.

"Before you continue, let me remind you, Terumi-san, while Hokage-sama did hear your request, however, I will be the one to decide if the request is worth acting upon. Konoha will not be risking shinobi's lives based on unreliable information." Kakashi said that I could find out information on my own, and this was exactly what I planned to do.

"Oh? I am hurt to hear you say that, Konoha-nin, or should I say, Uchiha. Surely, you understand that the targets I am asking Konoha to eliminate are genocidal shinobi who won't blink an eye to kill people with Kekkei Genkai like you." She said with a newfound interest in her smile as she brought up her fingers and pointed at her eyes. How the hell … See, this was the problem of having a unique physical characteristic that the mask couldn't hide. I swear, I only flashed the Sharingan for a brief moment while in the jungle, but somehow, she had caught that.

"I do, but that's not why I'm here. You see, I am here because Hokage-sama sent me here, but the real question is, why are you, a high-ranking jōnin under the Yondaime Mizukage's command, here?" I wasn't the type to drag this out unless of course, I was talking with Danzō. Terumi's smile turned into displeasure for a second before it finally disappeared and she placed one hand on her hip as her eyes ran over me judgingly.

"Didn't anyone teach you not to ask for a woman's secrets?" She said in a dangerous tone, but I just shrugged. "However, I suppose that some sacrifices must be made in order to gain help in this day and age. Indeed, I was under the Yondaime's rule for a long time, but I'm sure you will understand my motive once you see this. Now, don't be frightened."

I watched with curiosity as she brought her hands up to her mouth and turned her face away from me. She looked as if she were about to use Katon: Great Fireball, however, instead of a giant fireball shooting out of her mouth, it was sort of a molten material that immediately covered the ground and started to scorch it.

"Lava release, no wonder… you are a Kekkei Genkai user." Amazing, I thought Kekkei Genkai users had gone extinct in this land. Yet, she had somehow survived under the Yondaime's rule with a hidden Kekkei Genkai all the while gaining her Mizukage's trust.

"So, are you convinced now? Or do you want to ask for another secret?" She asked me mockingly as the ground continued to burn and melt under her lava release.

"Just one more thing, I want to confirm how you plan to make your promises come true, Konoha doesn't act on empty promises," I stated with a straight face, which wasn't hard considering I literally had the mask on. I actually had no idea what she had promised Konoha, but I had a feeling that the risk was worth it.

"Like I told your Hokage, now that the Yondaime is missing, his reign will fall apart quickly with the people's dissatisfaction. Once the extremists are gone, I can―" The woman started in a slightly annoyed voice, I could only imagine how much she wanted to finish this job as quickly as possible. However, in the middle of her sentence, she abruptly stopped herself and eyed me with anger. "You little brat, you didn't have this information before, but now you do."

Against her accusation, I just shrugged again. She didn't need to finish the sentence for me to figure out what she was aiming for.

She was aiming to become the Godaime Mizukage, and she would have a damn good chance of becoming one.

The people of the Water Country wanted the violence to stop after seeing the political and economic results of the Mizukage's reign. The only problem for her was probably the extremists who wanted to continue the Kekkei Genkai hunt. Terumi Mei needed them gone, but she couldn't openly start another purge, not when the whole country was already sick of the violence. I guess that she probably promised the one thing the Sandaime Hokage held as his ideology: Peace. Konoha was the closest village to Kirigakure, but Kiri had always been at war with Konoha in the last three Shinobi wars. With Terumi Mei as the Godaime Mizukage, Konoha might be able to finally establish a peace treaty with Kirigakure for the first time in decades.

I had no love for Kirigakure because they were the ones who had started this hunt for Kekkei Genkai; because it was a Kiri-nin who had killed Daichi. However, I had to give it to this woman, she was smart to figure out that the current Hokage had been the right person to contact. If someone like Danzō were to hear of this, then I was sure that we would be here for the assassination of Kirigakure leaders instead. Not everyone was nice enough to pass off an opportunity to destroy a village when its leader was missing. For one sinister moment, I sort of hoped that we were here for a different mission objective.

"Now that we are all clear, let's move on to the actual mission. Location, the number of forces, and the cleanup. Those are the resources you said you would be willing to provide, no?" I didn't want to respond to her accusation, so I just moved on to the next order of business.

"Their base is near this area, an hour's travel to the east. They have around twenty shinobi at their disposal, but I don't want you to kill anyone other than the five in charge whose information and portraits I have already provided to your Hokage. As for the cleanup, the Kiri-nin under my charge will handle it." She answered after a few seconds of silence as if she had finally figured that the previous exchange of secrets didn't really matter as long as the mission was done.

"You don't want us to kill more than the five, or is it an absolute need?" I asked out of the blue. At first, she furrowed her eyebrows at my question and didn't answer me, so I continued to speak. "As part of our agreement, the attack will not be traced back to you, but it cannot be traced back to Konoha as well. You can't expect us to turn a blind eye to any eyewitnesses." Surely, if the targets were surrounded by a tightly knitted pack, she would know that it was unrealistic to just single out the centre and ignore the others.

"I understand the necessity, but please do try to avoid that, we wouldn't want unnecessary people to be killed, do we?" Too late for that in this period of time. "We should return, your team seems worried." Without another word, she buried the signs of molten lava with a well-placed earth release before she walked back to the rest of the group whom we had left behind looking either very bored or very nervous. Oops, maybe I pissed her off a bit too much?

"Terumi-sama, is...is everything alright?" As we walked back to our teammates, the teenage boy with the giant sword asked shyly at Terumi Mei.

"Don't worry, Chōjūrō, I was just discussing the details with the Konoha-nin, and we are now more or less settled." She responded to the boy with a smile. Well, I suppose that 'more or less' is a nice way of putting it.

However, before I could say anything to my team, there was a pillar of smoke that appeared a few kilometres away which caught all of our attentions.

"Is there anything located there, Terumi-san?" I asked quickly as I watched the smoke continue to rise without any sign of being put out. That fire, it's too strong for any normal use like cooking.

"There are a few minor civilian villages in this area, but I don't know why it would be attacked, there are no known Kekkei Genkai users in this area," Terumi answered without hesitation. With one look at our respective teammates, we all realised what needed to be done. Soon, the nine of us were running at full speed towards the village that was burning in flames.

The village was being burned to the ground when we arrived at the scene. As we hid in the nearby forest untouched by the greedy flames, I watched ten shinobi drag a young girl away from her mother and attempt to push woman closer to the burning building as the child screamed past unrelenting tears. Those Kiri-nin, they were absolutely disgusting.

"Please, spare her! She is only a child! She doesn't know anything!" The woman wailed as a Kiri-nin kicked her away. The snake-like flame grazed her clothes, but no amount of heat could vaporise the tears on her face.

"Don't worry, both of you are sinners, monsters. I will make sure that you two can reunite in hell!" One of the Kiri-nin laughed with a sinister smile on his face. At this point, the child was already passed out from the intense heat. How could he smile? There is no way they are doing this out of fear; I can see it from their sadistic smiles, they are doing this for enjoyment.

"Terumi-san, you said that you would be in charge of cleanup. So, do you mind?" I asked the woman beside me without actually turning to face her. One of the shinobi, the one that was holding the girl in his hand, was right out of the portrait supplied to us in the mission file. She hesitated, looking a bit torn at the situation at hand. I couldn't blame her indecisiveness, seeing that I was asking if she would be alright with us killing them all. She was a Kirigakure shinobi, and despite the fact that many Kekkei Genkai users had defected from the village, she was trying to salvage the remain and rebuild it anew.

"Of course, I will take care of it." A few seconds later, I heard the confirmation. Now, that's the spirit. Without further delay, I started to issue the orders.

"Zebra, please set up a defensive circle around the villagers with earth walls; Otter, Falcon, we are going to form a semicircle around the Kiri-nin and push them towards the flames, Zebra will join us after he's done. Bear, please get the kid out quickly and use wood releases to trap the shinobi. Hound, kill the main target when you have the chance." My orders were brief and concise; when fighting with multiple targets, closing in on them would severely limit their fighting space, but not so much for us. The civilians wouldn't be able to see what was going on within the earth wall, which meant we could use our jutsu without worrying about leaking our identities. As for the Kiri-nin destroying the village, well, they won't be alive long enough to see it.

"What about the others?" Otter asked beside me as she drew her shining katana. It was not just her, all of us were pulling out our weapons in preparation for the battle to come. This was what we came here for, after all.

"Elimination." My answer was simple, but it marked the beginning of the attack. Bear and Hound disappeared from view as the rest of us body flickered out of the trees and into the burning village. Zebra set up the earth walls efficiently as Falcon, Otter and I surrounded our shocked opponents. Good, keep the focus on us, forget about the kid.

The first kill was awfully easy, especially when your opponent was still stunned by masked shinobi appearing out of nowhere. As the shinobi closest to me jabbed a kunai at me, I locked his arm and twisted it in a swift motion until the shoulder popped audibly. As he screamed in the background, I flipped him onto the ground and slashed my sword across his neck.

Nine enemies left, eight chunin level and one jonin level, one hostage in the middle. This is actually not a too bad situation, I thought all of a sudden. Orochimaru was not within our capabilities, but this definitely was.

The next shinobi came at me with a well-aimed fire jutsu. It was all with good intentions, but a fireball, really? Playing with fire around an Uchiha is probably not a good idea for anyone. Without any hand seals, I blew out a proper Uchiha Great Fireball. The fireball was more than two meters in diameter and it swallowed up the Kiri-nin's pathetic little fireball as the shinobi barely moved out of the way, only for the flame to engulf his right arm.

However, the Kiri-nin that Falcon was fighting didn't have the great luck his companion had. Before that Kiri-min could even scream, Falcon had already kicked him in front of the Great Fireball and let the bright orange flame swallow him whole.

As soon as I heard the whistling sound of some kind of projectiles, I moved backwards just in time for the water bullets to whizz past my chest. I turned towards the source of the water jutsu just in time to see one of our original targets holding the little girl as a shield as he continuously shot out water jutsu at us. At the corner of my eyes, I saw Bear's shadowed figure. He was ready, I just needed to create an opening.

Quickly, that unfortunate shinobi whose right arm was burned off became my shield as I grabbed him and charged forward. Oh dear, he is heavy, I thought sourly even though it was my idea in the first place. As soon as I had placed the Kiri-nin in front of me as a human shield, three shots of water hurricane drilled into the Kiri-nin's body. So much for camaraderie.

As soon as the impact from the water jutsu was gone, I dropped the cold body to the side. I wasn't trying to get to the jonin in order to kill him, I had two comrades for that. I just needed to locate his position down to the millimetres.

The moment the view in front of me opened up, I locked eyes with the Kirigakure jonin. I could swear that the redness in my eyes pulsed as the jonin got caught in the genjutsu. His eyes glazed over, his hands that had been furiously making seals stopped abruptly, and his arm around the girl's neck loosened.

The next sequence of actions happened in a blur. Wooden columns rose from the shadows like slithering snakes. One of them gently wrapped around the child and carried her away from all the burning buildings. The others, however, restrained the Kiri-nin down like chains. Ah, he's dead. There is no way his head will stay as it is, not with Kakashi hanging around.

Sure enough, within a fraction of a second, I saw the tip of a blade sticking out from our target's neck. It only lasted for one second as the blade flashed because of the bright flames, then it was gone, leaving the jonin's head half hanging as its body stayed limp within the wooden columns.

I turned my attention towards my other teammates. Otter had managed to slay one Kiri-nin as she parried the other one for battle; Zebra was holding his own and winning against his opponent while Falcon was having a bit trouble parrying two at the same time. Without another word, I flickered towards Falcon as he elbowed one enemy backwards and locked swords with the other's kunai.

My first course of action was to slash the Achilles' tendon of the Kiri-nin that had been elbowed by Falcon. Unfortunately, this one seemed to have some foresight as he stepped out of the way immediately to avoid being immobilised. Without faltering, I slashed the ninjatō upwards towards his neck, but he blocked it quickly with a kunai.

Usually, dropping my sword in battle would be a horrible idea in which Akira-shishou would hunt me down for forever. However, as I surveyed the battlefield, I realised that with Bear and Hound freed up to help in the fray, the battle was close to completion. That also meant that the village was burning really badly, ready to engulf all of us inside. I didn't have time to wriggle my sword away from his kunai, not when I was using both hands just to hold one sword in place. So yes, I dropped the blade and let the force carry the Kiri-nin forward uncontrollably since there was nothing holding out against him anymore.

The moment my sword fell aimlessly towards the ground, I ducked beneath his outstretched hand to avoid being impaled by his kunai. Then, I jabbed my elbow into his stomach where his kidney was located. As he gurgled and choked in pain, I raised my hands to wrap around his neck and pulled.

A strike to the kidney could only be described as being really, really painful, the kind of pain that could cause you to blank out for a moment, but those precious seconds would be vital in battle. That blank moment was all I needed as his body slumped forward and fell ungracefully. The twisting motion came out sharp and swift, accompanied by a light crack and a disjointed head. It's been awhile since I've actually used my hand for the kill, but it still comes like a second nature.

As soon as I pushed the limp body off of my shoulder, I picked up the sword embedded in the ground and re-adjusted my grip. When I turned around at the burning village that had become our battlefield, I saw every one of my teammates standing above motionless bodies, waiting for the next order.

I looked around the village, the fire was still burning strong as the villagers diligently hid behind the earth walls Zebra made. Mei's 'clean up' troop didn't seem like they would come anytime soon, but I supposed that the point of clean-up was that there would be no trace leading to us, them, or the relationship between the two groups, so they were unlikely to show up until after we have left the vicinity for a good few kilometers. At this rate, the village would really burn down along with the forest and the villagers definitely couldn't run as fast as us. See, this is the problem of playing with fire, one should only do it when they are alone in a desolated area - one preferably without so many trees.

"Anyone with a water jutsu should use it now. Don't need to fully distinguish the fire, just bring it down to a manageable level." I yelled into the clearing quite unwillingly. Not something I had planned to do in a foreign land, considering my impression towards the Water Country was not good enough for me to save a village from the flames. However, the civilians are always innocent in a fight between shinobi.

Immediately after I gave out the order, everyone, save for Zebra and Otter, who didn't have a suitable water jutsu, started the seal making process. I made the three hand seals needed for a C-rank water release and blew out a wave of water towards the area closest to where the villagers were hiding.

It was ridiculous how long it took us to bring the fire down to a manageable level, considering the fact that it just wouldn't stop spreading. When the burning heat was reduced to shimmering glows, the six of us immediately left the village. If those villagers were smart enough, which I hope they were, they would forget about what had happened (aka, somebody died) and go hide in the forest where the misty environment would keep the fire from spreading. Now, if only our Kiri contact would come and clean up this mess like they had promised.

The target campsite was just forty minutes from the village where we had gotten side-tracked. If Mei's limited information was correct, then we still had fifteen shinobi to deal with, including the remaining four Kiri-jonin that we needed to kill. Of course, we could always just flood the place, although that might be a risky course of action. However, I suspect if I said 'let's just charge in', he would have put a big cross beside my name regardless of the state of his book.

"Falcon, Otter, got an accurate measure of individuals?" I whispered to the sensors as they concentrated on the campsite in front of us. The base was formatted just like a small military platoon, with tents situated in the middle along with a warehouse and a metal fence surrounding all of them. No doubt, they would have already seen the smoke and flames from our earlier battle, but they would probably only see it as the doing of their Kiri-nin. That also meant we had a little less than an hour to attack before they were alerted by the fact that no Kiri-nin had returned.

"Mhm, they are suppressing their chakra level and the mist is blending all the signals together, but looking at the size of the camp and the density of the area as a whole, I'd say that fifteen is an underestimation. There are definitely more than that." Falcon answered me after a moment of quietness. When I looked at Otter, she nodded in agreement. Yet, I was so hopeful that our Kiri informant wouldn't screw up, but whether she did it on purpose or not is still debatable. My eyes ran over the compacted tents, scrutinising every little detail. It was exactly in this situation that the Sharingan proved to be the most effective.

"The smoke … Look at the streams of smoke from the cooking pots, there are at least five of them. They wouldn't waste unnecessary food resources in these times and five pots could feed at least twenty people, perhaps even two dozen." I whispered lightly and watched as a thin veil of dread covered my teammates.

A few more people wouldn't kill us if we were careful about our surroundings as we fought. However, if we went into the enemy zone expecting only fifteen, the chance of us exposing our identity would increase quite a bit. Even if we were to finish our job of assassinating those four, I doubt we could silence all of them without being overwhelmed, and that would be when eyewitnesses could come and subtly suggest Konoha as being the one responsible.

But would this benefit Terumi Mei? Certainly, I could see the appeal of having someone else to blame for the attack, after all, if there was one person who couldn't afford to be named as the instigator of this violent event, it was Terumi Mei. Alas, the working relationship between our two parties was a fickle one and what made it even better was the fact that we all had each other's reputation in our grasps. Or maybe she is hoping that we'd all die here so she can mop up the bodies … Just the thought of a day when one was in the Bloody Mist.

"You are pissed, very pissed. Stop being so pissed." The moment the air darkened around me, Falcon pointed it out quickly and I eyed him in a way that asked 'your point?'. Well, I think that my last emotional outburst with Orochimaru probably traumatised the poor man quite a bit.

"So, what are you going to do? Now that the information has been suddenly revised in the middle of the mission." Kakashi asked me in such a curious tone one would think that he was watching a drama play out in front of him.

A revenge plotline in an overly dramatic soap opera, if I were to be exact.

At this point, I was a hundred percent sure that Kakashi chose this mission for my evaluation on purpose. It was safe to say that I had many issues regarding Kirigakure ranging all the way from what happened eight years ago to the recent events. A part of me wanted to burn the campsite down with Amaterasu. It was a very tempting option like a few minutes ago.

But I couldn't. If our earlier encounter with the enemies told me anything, it was the fact that this region was definitely not completely secluded. Let's just say that my black flame was quite special in terms of its appearance. Besides, I was pretty sure that the point was, I shouldn't kill them all.

Kakashi was watching a drama, but who wasn't? If I wanted to pass this evaluation, I had to produce an ending that will satisfy him. This was where the criteria became blurry, because of he, as an observer, had biases towards the ending. Minimising the risk and maximising the productivity was the things he would want for an ending, but he would also expect the ending to fit with my personality - in other words, it had to be plausible.

In terms of minimising the risks, the best option would be to wait until one or more of our targets would leave the stronghold in small groups and then ambush them. However, that was not very productive and our clients were expecting the results to be fast and immediate.

In terms of productivity, I supposed that the standard procedure would be to sneak in for silent assassinations, and that was what I would have done if there were only one dozen people in their camp. However, between four jōnin targets, the rule of secrecy, and the fact that there were two dozen shinobi packed into that tight space where they had the full advantage of, Kakashi would have smacked me on the head because of the risk level.

Also, let's be honest, a part of him already expected me to start a killing spree.

I shifted slightly on the branch so that I could turn my head and get a better look at the village we had just left behind. The fire had long been extinguished, but the thick, black smoke was still hovering the forest like a permanent mark that reminded one of the violence that had transpired. Despite that, nobody in the area had even bothered to question the violence.

Assassination is an art of extremity. You either take the aspect of 'silence' to the extreme and finish the job before anyone even realises that there was a job in the first place, or you can make it extremely bright to a blinding level that throws them in all directions until you can erase your tracks completely.

After a few minutes of contemplation, I finally spoke up, "So, apparently, arson is a social norm here. In that case, why don't we play with fire for a bit?"