Chapter 15: Planning
The three already knew that the captain was going to spend the whole night investigating the village and that he would not inform them of the current situation until tomorrow.
Their task was just to blend into the village, get lodging and wait for Canteen to inform them tomorrow how they should proceed.
"Well, I was tired of sleeping outdoors anyway," Nomad said.
"This..." Custus looked like he wanted to say something but she just looked at both of them for a few moments without saying anything.
"Is something wrong Custus?" asked Rasa confused, while Nomad also hoped to know what was wrong with her.
"Well, if I remember correctly, the captain said that our cover story was supposed to be that you two were related and I was the wife of one of you wasn't it?" said Custus to the two of them.
They both nodded not understanding the problem.
"Yes, you already made it clear that you preferred Gold as a fake husband over me, what's up with that?" said an irritated Nomad.
"In that case, what would we say at the hotel?" asked Custus.
"Simple, first we will look for an inn where everyone can have their own room and as the last option we will ask for only two rooms," said Rasa lightly understanding Custus' problem.
It was obvious that she was worried about the two of them having to share a room by saying they were together, but if it's an inn they can simply split up as they want in the inn, and in case it's not possible, the worst that can happen is that Rasa and Nomad will have to share a room.
The captain had decided that they would use that cover story only because it was common for young couples to travel from town to town.
The three of them naturally walked through the town and then entered an inconspicuous hotel.
Although the hotel area is small, the interior decoration is also very beautiful.
And it doesn't seem to be overcrowded, because it remains unnoticed, so there are few guests inside.
So there is absolutely no problem to accommodate the three of them in separate rooms.
The owner of this hotel is an older couple.
After Rasa asked for three rooms, the old lady took the three of them upstairs.
The rooms are quite spacious.
"Must surely come from far away, do you plan to stay?" asked the hotel mistress, with a kind smile on her face.
She watches travelers throughout the year and usually encounters many clients who are looking to settle down and seek work to support themselves or their families.
Many often seek safe and quiet shelters where they can raise their families in peace, although peace never lasts no matter where you go.
The three people in front of her are not much different from her other clients, all men or women who travel hidden from public view to avoid trouble and conflict, they all try to keep a low profile so as not to be targeted by anyone and she can understand that.
The slightest thing can ruin anyone's life or cause anyone's death.
Rasa and Custus didn't dare to say much, for fear of saying the wrong thing.
But Nomad replied in a bored and tired voice:
"Look, for now, we just want to rest."
"Oh, I see, you sure are tired, how rude of me" the woman politely apologized for keeping them.
"Don't worry ma'am, my cousin can be a bit out of place sometimes. For now, we're just here to look around, then we'll decide what to do" Rasa replied calmly.
"So are you here to travel?" the old lady then casually asked.
"We don't know yet, there is the possibility of staying, it all depends on whether my wife decides," Rasa said warmly drawing Custus to her side, she followed his performance and clung to him in a warm hug.
"Of course. A happy life is only achieved with a fulfilled wife, I hope you both find your stay pleasant!" smiled the woman as she looked at the couple.
While Nomad simply looked at the whole thing with annoyance.
"By the way, Madam, have there been any bandits around here?" asked Nomad suddenly remembering that the village seemed to be quite prosperous as to be true what the salesman told Custus.
Rasa and Custus looked at Nomad and both felt the urge to hang him for being such a fool.
'This idiot, how could he ask her that' they both thought.
"Huh?. When ... Of course, there is no such thing." the woman seemed surprised by the question but then quickly answered.
"Young man, our village is a very peaceful and prosperous place now. Under the leadership of the village chief, everyone is very rich. How come bandits exist?" the woman explained again.
"I see! forgive my cousin again, he is afraid of trouble so he tries to avoid it you may know" Rasa quickly commented.
Then, after a brief exchange, the woman withdrew.
When the woman came out, Custus asked irritated:
"Nomad, do you really want to ruin everything?"
" Huh?, come on, it was just a question, besides now we know something strange is going on because of how she reacted, don't we?" defended Nomad.
And so the two began to argue with each other.
Rasa could only sigh and shake his head as he listened to the two argue.
'He may be an idiot, but he's right that the old woman's behavior was strange, something is going on' analyzed the situation Rasa to himself.
"Alright, we can't go back in time and take back what Nomad said, our task is to locate and kill these bandits, why does she say there are no bandits in such a strange way?, I don't know, but tomorrow we will mention it to the captain and he will decide, in the meantime be prepared for whatever we should do tomorrow" after saying that, Rasa retreated to his room.
Nomad and Custus looked at each other angrily and even though they couldn't see each other because of the turbans covering their faces, they both knew the look the other was sending to each other.
After a few seconds, they turned and went to their own rooms as well as Rasa.
The next morning, after a simple breakfast, Captain Canteen came to Nomad's room and called Gold and Custus.
The three sat on the floor, listening intently to what Canteen was saying.
"The mission target is just outside this town, they have a base far enough away to not be noticed, I will take over tonight from the Jonin and you will take care of all the bandits and civilians that are inside this radius of the base. kill everyone there! Pay attention to everyone" said Canteen pointing on a map to the area where the rogue Jonin's base and the group of bandits were located.
The three nodded and looked at the location of the base which was a few kilometers from the village, far enough away and hidden enough that no one would notice them.
"This is your mission. Inside this scroll there is a map where I indicate to you all the places you must check inside the Base, I will be in charge of eliminating the Jonin on my own, as well as extracting as much information as possible from him and you will do the rest, any doubt?" asked Canteen to the three of them.
"Did you get to see how many are the bandits and their rank?" asked Rasa.
"Yes, there are many bandits, but mostly trained civilians without much experience and only a few of them are errant ninjas, but they seem to be only lower Genin and Chunin."
"Then it won't be a problem," commented Nomad arrogantly.
"Don't underestimate their strength or the strength of you and your teammates. Don't be too arrogant, unexpected things can always happen, stay on guard at all times" said Canteen first to Nomad and then to everyone.
All three nodded.
"Good, as soon as I finish with the extraction of information from the target and eliminate him I will see about going to meet you at the enemy Base" Canteen confirmed to them.
It was obvious that they should be more than capable of dealing with this situation without problems, but as the captain said, it's better to be cautious.
Canteen looked at the three faintly, and said to Rasa:
"Gold, from now on, while I am gone, you are the squadron captain. Then it's up to you to command and analyze the enemy's intelligence, and then set targets to eliminate them."
"Understood" Rasa replied calmly.
He was already expecting this to happen, after all, he was the only one of the three in the group who didn't usually argue and despite looking like the youngest of the group he was the most analytical together with Custus, but she got too sidetracked by Nomad and his nonsense, and Rasa just ignored that.
"Good luck everyone" Canteen pulled out a scroll and threw it to Rasa, then turned and left, he quickly disappeared.
Rasa took the scroll and began to plan along with Custus and Nomad how they would make the attack.
Canteen had left the three of them on the scroll the exact times he would deal with the Jonin and when they should act.
So the three of them started planning everything based on that.
Chapter 16: Priority
That same day at night, on the outside of the village, Rasa, Nomad, and Custus were watching from a far outdistance the base where the bandits they had to eliminate were located.
Only the dry desert wind and the constant movement of the sand were the only things that could be heard at this time of night.
"Okay, be ready to act..." warned Rasa to his two teammates.
"Right..." nodded Custus.
"Indeed, today those desert rats are going to meet their death..." said Nomad with bloodlust, he really loved to fight.
After saying that, Rasa separated from the two and approached on his own to the surroundings of the base, hiding from the bandits' sight.
Rasa went inside the base and positioned himself in a dark alley, then covered his left eye with two fingers of his hand and with his free hand began to seal:
"Third Eye," said Rasa and after a while, he began to form seven eyes of sand dust that floated in different parts of the base.
That's right, he stole this technique from Gaara and replicated it.
Rasa only had to connect the eyes he created with his optic nerve using chakra, which allows him to see whatever is in the field of vision of these eyes.
For him it was like seeing 7 screens at once, it was difficult but after a lot of practice, he managed to focus his attention on up to seven eyes at once.
These eyes give Rasa a useful method to perform overwatching without being noticed.
Now he had decided to go ahead of his team and do a reconnaissance of the base first with this technique.
Rasa can even manipulate the gold dust from the Third Eye technique to allow the multiple third eyes to also function as a listening device.
He can also use this ability to create multiple Third Eyes with his gold dust without the need to close one of his own, but if he does that it drains too much of his chakra and is not convenient since his reserves are not high.
Rasa observed various corners of the base.
In the base, only a group of people could be seen awake and keeping watch late at night.
Rasa can also see the occasional bandit awake drinking and fornicating, but most of them seemed to be asleep.
He quickly begins to take note on the scroll map of the number and position of all the bandits in the Base.
After finishing and seeing that everything was in order, Rasa decided to return with Custus and Nomad.
Rasa left the base and headed to where his team was waiting for him, upon arrival he approached them and sat down on the ground.
"How's the situation?" asked Nomad impatiently.
"Captain Canteen is right. They are a large number of bandits, and there are four main buildings where there is a constant guard with 4 people in each place" Rasa took out the scroll with the map and pointed out the position of the bandits in the base along with the amount of people.
"Are you sure that's the amount of people there?" asked Custus a bit perplexed when she saw what Rasa noted on the map.
"Yes, there are around a hundred people in the Base, but I'm pretty sure that only half of them are bandits and the rest are family members or women, untrained civilians" explained Rasa with a sigh as it was a very large number of people and many innocent civilians for sure.
"What should we do then, do we rush in?" asked Nomad.
"Of course not" Custus quickly rebuked him and Rasa just nodded his head.
"According to the information provided by the captain there are renegade ninjas, the biggest problem is that I don't know what level of ninja these are and I could only identify over 14 genin, but those Chunin were undetectable" explained Rasa in frustration.
He was not a sensor ninja so he could only detect some of the more reckless Genin but the more experienced Chunin or Genin who knew how to cover their Chakra were not something he could detect yet.
And in Rasa's team, none of them were sensor ninja, Captain Canteen was the one who could best detect the chakra of the others but that was only because he was an elite Jonin, and even he couldn't detect the elite Chunin who knew how to hide their chakra.
Therefore, Rasa with his Third Eye technique was the best option to get information.
"The information given by the captain is very vague, but at least we know that there are inferior chunin, so we should expect the worst and that would be that there are some elite Chunin or more than one" analyzed Custus.
"Agreed, therefore, we should expect the bandits to have at least one or two elite Chunin ninja, of course, it is unlikely but better to be sure and we should even prepare for the probability of more than two elite Chunin ninja" Rasa continued the analysis.
"If the other side really has more than two elite Chunin, then we can pack up and buy some souvenirs and run away" Nomad shook his head and said jokingly.
"Yeah, I think so too, but we can't do that like Anbus, the good thing is that our training is superior to theirs, and we have the advantage of surprise attack, for now, so we should be smart before we act" Rasa explained staring along with Custus at Nomad who was the biggest problem of the group.
"Don't look at me, I know how to follow orders and even though I am a genius and the strongest of the three, I still understand my limits. I can't kill more than two elite Chunin, for now, two is my limit," Nomad said.
"How can someone be so shameless as you?" asked Custus with a frown.
"Actually, Nomad, you really know yourself. I'm afraid you'll be excited and crazy to fight to the point where you won't care if it's three elite Chunin you're facing, and we don't need that, as we need to get the upper hand in case that happens" Rasa told him seriously.
"Okay, okay, so what's the plan?" asked Nomad.
"I guess there are only two possible situations now. One where we can complete the mission perfectly and one where we're just left to improvise and hold" Rasa explained.
"So...The first situation would be that they are just inferior Chunin with maybe one or two elite Chunin, a situation we can handle" Custus analyzes the situation.
"And the second is that they are more than two elite Chunin, in that case, we are in trouble and can only make time until the captain defeats the rogue Jonin and comes to help us or we somehow eliminate the elite Chunin" Custus continued analyzing Rasa's words.
"That's right, considering the number of bandits if they are three elite chunin it would already be a problem, but I think we could deal with the situation somehow, the real problem is if they are four elite Chunin, in that case, we are only left to hold them and wait for the captain to return" nodded Rasa.
"But if we did that, couldn't some bandits or civilians escape making it possible to leak Suna's confidential information?" asked Nomad a bit lost, but to the surprise of both Rasa and Custus what he was saying was logical.
"For precisely that reason, our priority is actually to first solve all the trash fish or desert rats as Nomad likes to call them," told Rasa.
"Of course, if we do this later we will lose the advantage of the surprise attack against the Chunin. But our task is to ensure that no one leaves this base alive and I believe this is the most viable way for that to happen looking at all possible scenarios," explained Rasa.
"I understand, we eliminate first those who can escape, and then we hold those who we know will give us a fight, if we can't defeat them ourselves, at least we know we can buy some time until the captain arrives to help us" nodded in understanding Custus.
While Nomad just waited for them to decide what exactly he had to do, he didn't care about all these strategies or possible situations, he just wanted an objective to fulfill his part and that was it.
"Alright, it's not long before we have to act. At this moment there are only 18 bandits on guard around the base, and another 10 more awake but drinking or fornicating, the rest sleep" Rasa informed.
"Perfect, the opponent's combat power will be greatly reduced if we can eliminate most of the sleeping ones without expending energy, it could be our only real advantage" commented Custus.
"Yes, the biggest problem is that there are also several civilians awake in addition to the bandits and as soon as they find out there is trouble they will probably try to run away from the Base, complicating our mission" explained Rasa tiredly as he did not know what to do to prevent the civilians from escaping from the base.
Custus also had a headache as she tried to think of a way to deal with the problem without any success.
Chapter 17: Nomad Solution
It was far from easy to successfully complete the mission if things turned out poorly.
They could first silently eliminate most of the sleeping bandits and gain some advantage.
But once they had done this it was probable that one of the bandits would end up alerting the other bandits in the base, creating chaos, and causing the civilians to seek to escape from the base while the remaining bandits would gather to confront them preventing them from eliminating the civilians escaping from the Base.
If this were to happen, the mission would fail as there could be a possible leak of information.
But if they don't do this, and decide to eliminate the civilians first to prevent them from escaping, the bandits would be more, and confronting them later would be even more difficult, worsening the situation and leaving little chance for the three of them to get out alive.
Well, in Rasa's case it wouldn't be much of a problem since if he used his control over the metal he could easily deal with the situation, but he still didn't want to expose himself, he had other plans that required him to keep his control over the metal hidden, but now he would be in a complicated situation if he didn't use it.
He already knew that it was likely that to successfully complete this mission, he would have to use his gold dust thus revealing his identity since Rasa was clearly the only one who could use this KeKkei Genaki besides the Kazekage who used the iron sand.
But the truth was that he wasn't too worried if his team found out his identity.
He didn't mention it before only because now being the recognized apprentice of the Third Kazekage could be an awkward situation with his team and he preferred to save himself trouble, but if it was necessary he would use his gold dust in front of them.
On the other hand, his control of the metal was another matter, unless it was life or death Rasa wasn't willing to reveal it to anyone.
"Oh I know, I thought of a wonderful way to take care of these civilians" Nomad suddenly said proudly as if he was a genius.
"Sure I hear you, say your great solution," Custus said sarcastically.
"Paper Bomb!" exclaimed Nomad with full confidence.
Custus and Rasa looked at him in confusion not understanding what exactly he had planned to do with the Explosive Tag.
"And tell us genius, how exactly would the Explosive Tag serve us?" asked Custus with a frown even though she couldn't be seen because of the turban she was wearing everyone knew she was doing it.
"Since there are too many civilians on the other side that can escape in the chaos, and so we can't attack the sleeping bandits, it's simple what we have to do, we plant Paper Bomb everywhere there are civilians and blow them all up" Nomad explained his reasoning very simply.
They both looked at Nomad for a few moments as if the idiot had suddenly turned into some kind of genius in their eyes.
"Actually that might work, if we do that the only ones who might survive the explosions are the bandits, so we shouldn't have to worry about civilians escaping" agreed Rasa who wasn't expecting such a convenient idea to come from Nomad.
'It's funny because I thought of many different ways to deal with the situation, but something as basic as that never crossed my mind, it seems I underestimated Nomad or maybe he just got lucky, but I'll give him credit this time' thought Rasa to himself.
Custus on the other hand seemed reluctant to believe that Nomad's stone head had come up with such an efficient plan to deal with the situation and she hadn't.
"I told you, I'm a genius" stated Nomad proudly.
"TCH, it was just luck" commented Custus unhappily.
"Is that what I hear envy maybe?" scoffed Nomad.
"You...!" Custus was about to explode with anger.
"That's enough you two, after the mission argue all you want, now, how many Explosive Tag do you have?" asked Rasa to the two, causing them both to unwillingly calm down and check the number of explosives they had.
"This..., it's not too much. You know, they're pretty expensive so I only brought about 15," Nomad said a bit embarrassed as he grabbed the back of his head.
But it was true, Explosive Tags were something that ninjas used to buy at high prices since in Sunagakure not many were made and it was more difficult to access them than in other villages, although it didn't matter the village, in all of them it was expensive to buy Explosive Tag.
With the payment of a C-rank mission, only about 15 explosive talismans could be bought, but one had to keep in mind that silver was usually used to replace the equipment used in the mission and the daily life uses, so it was not anyone's priority to spend that much money on Explosive Tag.
"Don't worry Nomad, it's a good amount. And you Custus?" said Rasa in understanding.
She seemed to be even more embarrassed than Nomad for some reason.
"Well... I don't usually use Explosive Tag for anything so I only have the basic 7 explosive tags" whispered Custus with obvious embarrassment at the awkward situation.
"Pfff, only 7, now we're really screwed, unless Gold has more than 30 Papers Bomb, we won't even get to eliminate half of the civilians," said Nomad laughing mockingly, making Custus only get irritated and start arguing with him again.
'Good gosh, those two don't stop for a second, they're like cats and dogs' thought Rasa.
"No need to argue, I have about 35 explosive tags, so that should be enough to at least eliminate or incapacitate all the civilians," said Rasa, causing Nomad and Custus to stop arguing and instead look at him strangely.
"Tell me Gold, why the hell do you carry so many talismans with you, do you always think about blowing things up on missions?" asked Nomad who seemed to be quite interested to know the reason for him to carry such a large load of explosives.
And even though Custus didn't say anything, she seemed to be paying close attention to what Rasa would answer, which gave her clear intrigue away.
"It's simple, if I find myself in a situation where I know I'm going to die I'd rather be prepared to take someone with me," Rasa said calmly, making Nomad and Custus shudder at the thought of an enemy that is about to be eliminated and suddenly detonate 35 explosive talismans.
'Terrifying' they both thought and both vowed to make sure from now on that their enemies did not have the same crazy ideas as their teammate.
If a ninja of Chunin rank were near the explosion of the 35 explosive seals it was likely that they would not survive and if they did, they would be crippled at the very least.
Only a Jonin could survive that without much injury.
The three of them prepared the plan to follow to complete the mission.
Rasa and Custus would be in charge of placing and distributing the explosive seals in various strategic positions of the base where all civilians would be affected and then they would also make sure that all civilians had been eliminated.
Nomad, on the other hand, had the task of being the distraction once the talismans exploded, he was to lure the bandits so that Rasa and Custus could eliminate the civilians who managed to survive the explosions.
If everything went off perfectly, the explosives would not only take out the civilians but also eliminate a good group of sleeping bandits.
IIf things went average, the explosives would take out or incapacitate most of the civilians as well as a small group of bandits.
And if for some reason luck was not on their side, the explosives would only manage to eliminate a good amount of civilians leaving some alive which would have to be eliminated by Rasa and Custus, and if they were unlucky it was likely that many of the bandits who were asleep would not be affected by the explosion.
But the last option was extremely unlikely as Rasa and Custus planned everything in such a way that it should go perfectly, but who knows, anything can happen in this world and Rasa knows that better than anyone.
" Remember my words, do what you can, if you can't, hold them off until the captain arrives, don't get excited, don't think you can beat them all!" said Rasa staring at Nomad who was the one most likely to get carried away in the fight.
They had already seen in training how he used to fight without caring if the enemy was stronger, he would just go to fight head-on like a psychopath.