Chapter 11:
Team 3 spent the rest of the day strategizing and looking over the map they had been given.
"There are only 16 pieces of essential intel total, and considering how many teams we saw earlier, competition is going to be tight," Heiko mused, tracing her fingers over possible routes to their targets from the hotel.
"I think this one is the most promising," Takanome pointed to a target that was situated in a trainyard on the edge of the city. It was quite out of the way compared to the other essential targets, most of which were closer to the registration building.
"Sure it's secluded, but it's also far away from any bonus intel," Shodo commented.
"I don't think we should be worried about procuring bonus intel, I'd rather just get this done and get out," Takanome countered, his brow furrowed.
"Well we need to get to the registration building right? How about we go to the train station and then if all is good on our way back, we can hit this bonus intel here." Heiko indicated a target that was situated in a multi-story office building that was directly on the path from the train station to their goal.
"Works for me."
"I will concur with that."
"Alright, then let's get ready to smash this thing."
A few minutes before sunset, Team 3 slipped out of the window of their hotel room, obscurement seals inscribed onto their clothes. To an outside observer, they would look like the faintest shimmer of the air in the fading light of dusk. They made their way across the city towards their target, one of two train stations in the city according to the map, and was the one designated for cargo purposes. Trains had only been a semi-recent invention, a collaborative project between the Land of Iron, Land of Snow and Land of Fire's national universities that had quickly revolutionised transportation of both people and goods.
As they arrived, they perched on the corner of the roof of an office building across the street from the station. The central administration building was surrounded by a semicircle of tracks, trains and sheds, each a possible location for their target. Samurai could also be seen patrolling the area, their armour glinting in the red light of the setting sun.
"I'm going to do a sweep, see if I can locate the brooch," Takanome whispered, Shodo and Heiko scanning their surroundings for other teams. Takanome flicked on his Byakugan, quickly detaching his point of view and moving it towards the admin building. Takanome increased the matter-penetration of his vision, to the point where the brick walls of the building became as clear as glass, revealing a myriad of samurai soldiers patrolling the building. However, a thorough inspection of all possible hiding places yielded nothing, the brooch nowhere to be found.
"It's not in the main building, I'm going to have to get closer to the outer sheds in order to check them." Sure Takanome could see inside the sheds with his Byakugan, but not at the level of detail needed to check for the brooch.
"Understood, once the test begins we will start at the eastern edge and work clockwise around," Shodo ordered. She opened her mouth to say something else when Heiko hissed and dropped below the edge of the roof, pulling her team down with her. Even though they had the obcursement seals, she didn't want to risk them being seen by what she had spotted.
"Hidden Stone at 3 o'clock." A trio of red-jacketed stone-nin had taken up positions on the building next to Team 3.
"Their chakra signatures are average sized and don't seem to be special in any way. Tall one is a weapons specialist judging by the density of kunai she is carrying. Other two have no discernable combat features." Takanome reported, Byakugan now inspecting their competitors. "Should we engage them or try to avoid?" Shodo considered the question for a moment before her expression hardened.
"As soon as the exam begins, we will eliminate them as fast as possible. I don't want anything around that could throw a spanner into our plan."
"Lethal or Non-Lethal?" Heiko asked, drawing a kunai from her pouch.
"Non-lethal, we should have the element of surprise, and I don't want to piss off the Hidden Stone any more than we already have." Her teammates nodded, the three of them poised to strike.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, a loud siren sounded throughout the city, evidently their cue to begin. Immediately, Team 3 leaped across the other building, and fell upon their enemies in a storm of steel and chakra, each of them taking a different stone nin. Takanome locked his enemy's movement with a series of rapid gentle fist strikes. Shodo and Heiko dispatched their targets with similar efficiency. They knocked out and tied the stone nin up and then proceeded across the street towards the train station.
Takanome flipped on his Byakugan as the group leaped over the wall surrounding the trainyard, once more scanning the outlying sheds as Team 3 made their way over to the closest one, slipping past a samurai patrol on the way. Takanome quickly scanned it, revealing a storage area for various tools.
"It's empty, let's keep moving," he murmured, signaling Team 3 to shift to the next building in order to repeat the process there. A few buildings later, Takanome noticed a sparkle of green nestled in the back of a filing cabinet in a wheel maintenance workshop, which they were sitting on the roof of.
"It's in here; Shodo have you got that seal you mentioned? The portable hole?"
"Yes, is there anyone inside?"
"One samurai near the door, if you put the hole around here, he shouldn't notice it," Takanome indicated a spot at the back left corner. Shodo drew a circular paper seal from her bag, and stuck it to the roof. Team 3 stepped back as the seal flashed blue and the inner pocket dimension of the storage seal base extruded into real space. The result was a hole in the roof, although where the edges should have shown a cross section of metal, a black void had taken up residence. Takanome dropped down behind a desk, feet cushioned with chakra as he watched the samurai guarding the door. The man was facing away from where the portable hole was, rather looking towards the front door.
Takanome vaulted over the desk, a single leap taking him across the room before the samurai could react. He slammed his palm into the man's helmet, smacking it against the wall. After the armoured body slumped to the ground, Takanome gave him a quick once over to check he had no serious injuries.
He then quickly shifted to the cabinet and retrieved the brooch, tucking it away into his kunai pouch. A quick wind-boosted jump landed him back on top of the roof, Shodo closing the portable hole behind him.
"I've got it, now let's see if we can't acquire some bonus intel from that office building." The group leapt from the roof of the workshop and rushed for the outer wall of the trainyard, effortlessly climbing up and over it, continuing to a roof across the street.
Team 3 started moving at full tilt, leaping across roofs throughout the city towards the office block. Takanome kept his Byakugan active the whole time, and almost missed his step when he saw what was happening.
The first thing he was drawn to was the massive bank of fog that was quickly rolling in across the northern half of the city, the chakra signatures of the Hidden Mist team he had been drawn to earlier woven into it. The cloud effectively blocked his vision completely in that direction, and he quickly informed his team that they should avoid moving in that direction at all costs. Not only would his Byakugan be useless, the obscurement seals would not stop the mist from being displaced by their movement.
The second point that had caused Takanome to almost stumble, was the obvious fact that many of the teams had ignored the order to avoid killing if possible. He spotted many groups of fading chakra signatures, and a significant number of dead bodies strewn on roofs and in alleyways. Takanome shuddered at the thought of some poor Land of Iron citizen taking out their garbage the next morning only to find the corpse of a child in their bin.
Soon enough the office building came into sight, their only disruption having been a close call with a sand team. Team 3 perched on a large flat rooftop nearby, Shodo and Heiko keeping watch while Takanome scoured the building for the scroll.
That was, until a blast of lightning split the air.
Hey readers, it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that (and the short chapter), just been swamped with Uni, getting pretty sick (not Corona fortunately), and the whole Covid situation in general. I've got a break coming up though, so hopefully I can pump out some good stuff for you guys. As always, thanks to TheMasterDoughnut for Betating, and to the r/NarutoFanfiction Discord for helping out. Stay safe, and leave a review if you enjoyed/have feedback.
Thanks for reading
Unicorn out