"Took your sweet fucking time…" the Supreme Leader rolled her eyes when the Stars walked into her tent once the newly appointed Southern Regimental Commander left the tent and the heated rumblings ceased. "Did the human-caterpillar decide he's too high maintenance to attend?"
"He's still recovering from the last mission, ma'am." Shige-H crafted a quick lie. "He should be ready for action soon enough, it's nothing major, but we figured it would be best if we relayed the contents of the briefing to him later on."
"At least this one has the decency to not parade displaying his weakness for all to see. It's the least weaklings can do." Regimental Commander Harcel beamed his teeth to everyone with a faked, pleasant expression as if he hadn't just insulted a member of the Stars in front of their faces.
"Shut the fuck up, Harcel. I've got no fucking time for you stirring shit. Shit's been fucking crazy enough already as it is!" the Supreme Leader hammered her arm with a commanding bawl. "Thing is, you guys, there has been a massive stick driven into all of our collective asses, and it's bleeding our rears like crazy. I hate to pull this shit on you but I'll need you on the field as soon as possible."
"Ma'am!" Shige-H bowed, with the rest of the Stars following. Mana first, immediately after her leader. Skaven a moment after, but not without sighing in hindrance while Endo seemed to skip along the blade's edge for the longest time, bowing just a blink before someone would have raised their voice at him. This was the Stars pledging that they would do whatever needed to be done and that they were listening for their orders.
"Mana, you're wearing your old garbs. That means you're planning on coming back to the stage soon? I mean some real, big-shot, hall-filling magic show distractions and not those charity cases you've been doing lately. I gotta say, I could really use that offer you made about that World Magic Shitshow Whatever… We could use a bunch of agents capable of walking in and out of ninja villages without raising too much noise about now. Especially now." The Supreme Leader looked at Mana with a solemn stare.
"Yes ma'am," Mana nodded. "All I need is to send a message to Hiro-san in Konoha, and we can set the World Magic Tour up in a few weeks. I'd be calling in some favors by asking him to advertise without proof that I can be a major draw again, but I've been practicing my sleight of hand. In terms of technical skill on the stage, I'm as good as I ever was. No one would suspect this to be a ploy and not a legitimate show."
A tiny glint in Shige's eye telegraphed pride in her comrade's ability to have faith in her skills again. Mana had crawled through broken glass and bawled her eyes and throat out on her way back, but she was ready to pick her life up and stick it back together from the broken shards she found after the prison stay.
"A few weeks is really fucking inconvenient, but let's not rush it just yet. Send your hawks. Would it be possible for you to perform in a few ninja villages before the big event? The Allied Ninja need you guys to snoop around in a few places as soon as possible really fucking badly." The Supreme Leader asked.
"I suppose that wouldn't be outside the realm of logic and possibility." Mana shrugged. "It depends on the ninja village and how we play it, however. I can try making the shows pass as a pre-tour roadshow meant to hype the main event up. It's an excuse, at the very least. How well it'd go I cannot guarantee."
"Ma'am, with all due respect, we'd like to know what this is all about. We're right after a major assignment in Konoha which resulted in us facing off against an entire group of high-ranking ninja. Have there been complications with the reconstruction plan?" Shige-H inquired.
"That would be to put it lightly…" a dark-haired woman in a pink robe and a halo of steel hanging behind her–the new Eastern Regimental Commander spoke up. "I'm afraid that the Allied Ninja will need to bet everything on their Stars again."
"Just like I briefed you before, I've sent you guys to secure the supplies for the reconstruction while I've sent another skilled group of ninja to secure the workers from both Land of Earth and Land of Wind. Even Kumogakure spared some of their political prisoners in Iwagakure. The problem is that we haven't heard from that group in a few days now and we have good reason to believe that those workers have disappeared." The Supreme Leader explained.
"Disappeared, ma'am?" Shige-H muttered, asking for elaboration.
"It's perhaps the most curious case we've dealt with yet. Our ninja are gone as if they never existed. No one cashed in their heads on any Black Market points, no one claimed their bounties, and no country or rogue ninja group claimed responsibility. There have been no demands sent. The workers and our ninja are just… Gone. The last place they've reported from was Kusagakure, it's unclear whether they've made it out of the Grass Country." The Supreme Leader ran her hand across her tired face and baggy eyes. Managing this curious case must have been rough for the woman. She took off her military cap and placed it in front of her on the table with the world map.
"What if one country played you?" Endo stood up. "You thought it was a good idea to spread your favors just so that you don't align with any single country. What if someone didn't like it and sent a first-rate black ops unit to set this charade up?"
"What a fucking genius this fucking guy is!" the Supreme Leader whistled out. "To think that with all the combined brain pudding in this fancy tent, it has never occurred to us that one of the villages might have gotten pissed at us? Fuck. I should just eat my own fucking hat and appoint this dickwad the leader now!"
"Our spies in all the major ninja villages sent claims that suggest that neither ninja village appears to know that something has gone wrong with the deal. For all they know, the workers are either still en route or that they're already hard at work with the assignment they've lent us the workers for." Regimental Commander Harcel pointed out so that the Supreme Leader didn't need to do so in a much louder and more obnoxious way, signature to her unique mode of communication. The man scratched the bandages tied over the entire scalp of his head and the left upper side of his face as the grand scuffle with the Tailed Beast has left the commander gravely burnt and possibly lacking a left eye, depending on how well his recovery would go.
"So, this is both a whodunit and a rescue mission…" Skaven mumbled out with a raspy voice.
"It's a tough deal and an especially tough break for you lot, but I've got no fucking choice but to send you guys out. We're stretched way too thin now. Most ninja I've got are six feet under or working on other aspects of the Allied Ninja reformation. You've settled your shit pretty fast, all things considered. In an ideal world, those excelling at their tasks should be rewarded and allowed to rest and recover but no one has ever accused this world of being decent. I need you to bust your asses for me again." The Supreme Leader said. She looked somewhat apologetic to pull this on her Stars but everything about this matter exuded grand import.
"We will not disappoint you, Supreme Leader!" Shige-H declared.
"The sooner you get your shit together and set out, the better. I'll expect communication about your discoveries and potential theories and suspects. If I don't hear from you until the end of the week, I'll just assume that someone has kidnapped you or obliterated you from this world as well." The Supreme Leader said.
"Let us hope that this isn't exactly what had happened to our ninja and the workers they've collected. Confronting all the different countries after having lost their highly qualified workers would be a nightmare scenario for us. We'd be looking at a major quarrel against the entire world without a fortified headquarters and diminished forces." The Eastern Regimental Commander breathed out a hopeful breath of relief.
"Our relationship with Konoha is still solid," Shige-H reported.
"That may prove to be a fucking nuisance just as much as it's a godsend. The only allies that we see eye-to-eye to would be the rivals of one of the most powerful military forces in the world whom we share a country with? We'd all end up spilling our guts and fending off the world of all sieges." The Supreme Leader let out a raspy sigh. "You're excused. Do your thing again."
"We'll be watching your progress with deep anticipation," Regimental Commander Harcel chuckled to himself as the Stars left the administrative tent of the encampment.
While the rest of the Stars hustled to brief Damisan in on their assignment, Mana headed straight to the Aviary cage to send a hawk to Konoha for Mr. Hiro. Their deal was that Mana would give it some time for the collective wrath of the world toward what she had done to simmer down. It's been well over six months since that arbitrary condition should have been fulfilled, though Mana would have liked more proof that she could still fill the seats before she knocked on her old employer's door to settle this arrangement. The worst part was that she'd receive her reply while on the road. There was no way to know if she had an excuse to knock on a village's door before that.
The villages didn't know their workers were gone. That meant that the Stars would have no excuse to knock on the villages' gates and ask to just be permitted to snoop around. They'd have to keep it a hush-hush about this matter. Mana's magic shows could have been their only entry permit into any village. Before her fall from grace, Mana had been building up a reputation and worldwide demand for her performances abroad. She had to hope that still counted for something.
Mana whistled at another hawk, offering it a chunk of well-sliced and refrigerated meat cubes that were stored for those wishing to use the hawks outside. Quickly, the magician penned another letter to Konoha, addressing it to the Village Protection before crossing it out and writing down Meiko's home address. After letting the hawk soar, Mana pocketed her hands and left the tent, heading straight to the Stars' tent.
"Did you send the letter?" Shige-H wondered. Skaven had been sitting on his bed, planning not to pack a damned thing for the trip ahead while Shige had been packing at the moment. Endo's stuff remained folded and stuffed in his backpack. Still since the Fire Country mission. Damisan's stuff had been packed already. This must have been what he had been doing while the Stars heard the Supreme Leader out.
"Yeah. We're not waiting for the answer, I'm assuming." Mana said.
"No. We'll have to get the answer and work from it on the road." Shige-H shook her head.
"It's not like those workers disappeared in the middle of a village, right?" Skaven waved it off while speaking in a raspy voice. He was none too pleased to be on active duty so soon. "We'll retrace their route from Kusagakure through the Grass Country and ask around. The place must have some vendors, some inns or something."
"They may not have been taking the straight, fastest road. For all we know, they may have been a bunch of scaredy cats and planned to walk around the mountain range or through the tundra." Endo pointed out.
"Endo, we walked to Konoha through the tundra and returned around the mountain range through the wastelands." Damisan pointed out.
"My point exactly…" Endo snapped his fingers, letting the part where he may have accidentally called himself and the Stars scaredy cats just run down his feathers like some trickling spring rain.
"How are you holding up?" Shige turned to Mana. "Back in your old threads, still feeling hopeful that we can find those workers and salvage them?"
"More," Mana admitted. "This mystery element, it almost feels alluring. I'm excited to get a crack at it. Something makes little sense, something here's illogical and wild and that keeps my hair standing and electrified."
"Ho! It's rare to see the witch herself fired up…" the corner of Endo's pearly whites twinkled. "Makes me feel wild, too. I'm liking this new you instead of the old and constantly dreary slump."
"Well, if we're all fired up and ready, may as well do this thing, I guess…" Skaven sighed.
"And I'm gonna help too!" Damisan pumped his prosthetic forearm in the air with a mechanical hiss of air forced through the vents in his elbow joint.
"Alright, let's solve ourselves a mystery and prevent a worldwide conflict, Stars!" Shige-H clenched her knuckles while leading the way out of the tent.
"Holy smokes!" Damisan shrieked out after leaving a patch of brushes and the cover of cloud-grazing trees and into a moist, wetland clearing of the Grass Country. A locale split evenly between sticky swamps, tree-sized mushroom forests, grassland planes, and birch forests. "Is it gonna be like this the whole way? How the heck are we going to find any traces of where the workers had gone?"
"I could use Mystical Wings to elevate myself and try scout the area from the sky. I've traveled through the Grass Country before. I know the main roads and suspect some paths that the ninja may have taken." Mana suggested.
"It'll be dangerous for you to split off and go alone. You may not be in the Fire Country but you still have the largest bounty on your head out of us all, no comparison. You were a Konoha Special Jounin, you've pissed off plenty of Black Market figureheads and now you're an Allied Ninja. Anyone with any modicum of fighting skill and ill will in them will be chasing your head." Shige-H advised.
"Huh, Mana's head is that treasured, huh?" Endo scratched his chin.
"You better not seriously be considering decapitating your own teammate for money…" Skaven squinted at the swordsman.
"Don't be foolish!" Endo hissed out. "As if I'd stoop so low as to take money from criminal lowlifes for my accomplishments. The only reason for slaying Mana would be if it would help me claim my position as No. 1."
"I'm so relieved…" Mana shook her head sarcastically.
"I'm not letting you wander off alone, even if you'll be patrolling in the skies." Shige-H sealed the deal. "We'll be wandering around the main roads, asking around the local innkeepers for anything unusual they may have heard."
"You're the leader," Mana shrugged.
Traveling through the swamp proved to be a far larger hassle than initially predicted. Shige's plan to head through the main roads had backfired in a way that left the Stars clamping through waist-high mud while blades of grass solid and razor-sharp enough to slit a man's throat and leave them bleeding out while they drowned in mud brushed against them. Mana had preserved her chakra and just stepped through the swamp alongside everyone else, and she'd been regretting that decision ever since. The swamp expanded for kilometers in all directions, and traveling at high speeds was near impossible with this terrain.
"We'll be setting up camp the first instance of solid ground beneath our feet that we find." Shige-H declared.
In what may have been the only instance of good luck befalling the Stars, that wasn't too far away. Having traveled almost 800 kilometers during the evening at an unimpressive pace, the wet and worn-out ninja finally found a place to camp around.
"There really should have been an inn somewhere around these parts." Damisan removed his prosthetics for some maintenance and manual removal of mud from its various pumps, vents, and crevices. Skaven volunteered to help since the self-puppeteering shinobi lacked the limbs to perform said maintenance and watching him use his mouth and tongue for that just made the whole affair feel profoundly sad. Especially since the poor guy now felt anxious about removing his mask in front of his own allies after what had happened that morning.
"Hey, do you guys wanna see me use a welding tool with just my teeth?" Damisan grimaced sheepishly. "Maybe I should also get a freak show act going. What do you guys think?"
"Freakshow is right…" Endo growled, picking up the welding tool out from the open ridge in between the jaws of Damisan's mask and flung it outside the tent.
"That was so irresponsible!" Damisan yelled out. "What if it got lost in the bog or something?"
"Honestly, couldn't have cared any less if I wanted to." Endo shrugged while Damisan wriggled like a caterpillar outside to pick up his discarded tool. A low-pitched growl picked up when the handicapped ninja stuck out his head outside of the tent and froze in place.
The face-to-face meeting with a quadrupedal, growling feline creature wearing a skull helmet that rendered it near-faceless with the stench of blood reeking from its fangs as it growled made Damisan forget he could move. The armored beast lunged at once, like a thunderbolt engulfing Damisan's entire mask inside its mouth and smacking the armless and legless ninja about like a sack of flesh, trying to crack the adamantine nut of his mask with its fangs.
The rest of the Stars jumped on to their feet as the feline beast dragged their companion out of the tent and began thrashing about with Damisan stuck in its jaws, crashing the poor fellow into trees, wet mud, and dragging him across the razor grass though the steel mask didn't break. The sound of tearing cloth filled the air as their tent fell apart and rip at the mercy of more bestial claws. One of the black, skull jaguar crowd stomped out the fire in a completely uncharacteristic behavior to an enormous cat while an entire horde of the wild beasts moved in on the Stars, having crept up on them and surround them from all directions.
"Are you serious!? How did they surround us?" Endo hissed. "I thought we had a fucking sensor with us!"
"Ninja animals exude a whole different frequency of chakra. Unless you are familiar with it, it would be difficult to sense it while looking out for human threats." Mana admitted while dodging out of the way of lunging jaguars. Their combat prowess was not deadly to ninja such as them, which must have been part of why they could sneak up so effectively. Their different chakra frequencies and low signatures, peerless skill in natural stealth, resulted in a deadly combination.
"Stay on your guard!" Skaven advised while wielding a kunai and weaving around lunging grand cat predators. "These guys are behaving way too odd to be just random wildings. They're someone's alright!"
"I can't sense any signatures within a quarter of a kilometer of us!" Mana yelled out while freezing in place as sharp pain littered her back and she stumbled onward. A quartet of cuts littered her back with skin-deep gashes that let out puny trickles of red.
"Why am I not fucking surprised you can't sense jack shit?" Endo grumbled while stuffing the handle of his Sword of the Thunder God into the mouth of a jaguar, trying to gnaw at his face and causing the beast to gag.
"Careful, slow and steady, watch your backs. This is someone who might know we have a sensor in our midst working, they've taken every measure to avoid detection so far. There must be a point to that!" Shige-H pointed out before her shape blurred and fell to the ground, pinned by a man-sized iron spear. The leader of Stars coughed up blood as the focus of her eyes dulled in the moment she flirted with death's embrace.
An unseen assassin had been working the Stars from afar, putting their mission objective in jeopardy.