Capítulo 19: Lost and Found
Quest Updated: The Organ Trail
Completed: Meet Arai at the Warehouse at 6am.
Guard the wagon on its way to the second stop.
The sun hadn't quite risen over the horizon yet, which provided a cool atmosphere for us to be on our way. Apparently, Takayama was another day's travel, and we should make it there after sundown. After that, it'll be two more days until we reached the border and Kusa will get their shipment.
The trick would be to find the package they sent off to Takayama and crack it open to see what they're smuggling. My bets on a refrigerator with preserved organs, using water-chakra in a seal network to keep everything cold.
But who'd buy organs in a Ninja world?
Maybe they're organs connected to a Kekkei Genkai? Maybe there's a bloodline out there that makes a liver super-powerful that allows total immunity to poisons? Or at very least alcohol. Super-powerful lungs that never run out of air? Let's you have super breath. Oooh, an iron belly that lets you digest metal!
…wait, that was an actual thing in my old world. Huh.
I'm just trying to think of something that doesn't involve eyes because everything in Naruto is about eyes. There's the Sharingan, the Byakugan, the Rinnegan, the Portalgan… you know what I mean. Maybe there's bat ears! Let's you have super-hearing to contrast the Byakugan.
But most likely, if I were honest with myself, it had something to do with the Byakugan because since the Sharingan is mostly out of reach of the other villages, everyone's got their sights set on stealing the all-seeing eyes from Konoha.
Assuming that word of what I can do hasn't spread to everyone else, that is. I know that sounds horrifically arrogant, but I've hit the super-power lottery. What with, being able recover completely with a goodnights sleep, I'd become a walking organ factory while they figured out how to exploit the various perks and jutsu I've collected.
Oh, now I'm paranoid. That'd be worse than helping Hisako and Nichiren with their poison-healing loop. I already had one dangerous quest where I was the target, do all of these horrific quests have to have me as a target?
I really hope not. That would be horribly stressful and terrible quest-writing besides. This is a whole world, it can't all be obsessed about me!
"Whoa, whoa," Arai said, pulling the horses to a stop.
"Is something wrong?" Kakashi asked.
"Nature's calling," Arai said, standing up and hopping off of the wagon. "Mind the horses for me?"
"Might be a good time to stop for lunch, actually," Kakashi replied. "I'll tie them up for you."
"Thank you, Shinobi-san," Arai said with a bow before he charged into the forest.
"So, do any of you have food left?" Kakashi asked us.
"I'm set," Nichiren nodded.
"I've got enough," Hisako replied with a frown.
"Foods optional," I answered.
Kakashi was quiet for a second, looking at me with exasperation. "But do you have any on you?"
"Of course," I replied. "I might want a snack later."
"There we go," Kakashi eye-smiled. "You mind eating something when Arai gets back so you at least look somewhat normal?"
"Has he said something while I wasn't paying attention?" I asked with a frown.
"No," Kakashi answered. "Just it's better to act normal until circumstances prod us otherwise. Don't want someone who goes to other nations regularly to have strange stories to tell, huh?"
That…made sense. Arai having strange stories to tell about me would clue in the other nations, which would be fairly hazardous to my health. So I sat my rear end down and grabbed out some rations from my storage scrolls.
I remember from my past life that it was usually good to finish your meal about the same time everyone else does. So I slowed it down to keep up appearances. I think it's to form commonality? It's easier to do something if everyone around you is doing it? That sounded right.
Charisma Check Success: 4/4.
Yay!
I managed to hold off on my eating, finished just after Hisako.
But Mr. Arai had yet to come back.
I didn't like it.
"Kakashi-sensei?" I began. "What are the odds of bandits operating within Konoha's borders?"
"…better than I'd like," Kakashi answered slowly. "But not all that high. Why, are you getting something?"
"No…" I replied. "But I don't think it takes that long for someone to go to the bathroom."
"Maybe he had to go number 2?" Nichiren piped up.
"It's possible," Kakashi stated. "I'll go see if I can find him. You three stay here and guard the wagon."
Translation: Stay here and don't endanger yourselves. That's fine for Nichiren and Hisako but I need EXP. Like…now. I'm getting restless. The last mission, I had earned almost a thousand EXP within the first hour. This one, almost a day and a half with no EXP to be found.
Kakashi shunshin'd off and that left us alone.
Asking about a persons loved ones might be good.
"So…Nichiren," I started. "How's your parents?"
"They're okay," Nichiren shrugged. "Stores got some more employees, so they don't need me to work anymore."
"Cool," I nodded. "Cool."
Everything was quiet for a few minutes.
"So Daisuke," Hisako asked. "If you don't train, what do you do in your spare time?"
"I read books," I shrugged. "I like to think about…things."
"What kind of books do you like?" Hisako asked, sitting by the wagon and leaning against it.
"Fiction. Lots of fiction," I nodded. "I still need to read 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi', that's been sitting by my bed for weeks now."
"Wasn't that written by Jiraiya-sannin?" Hisako asked with a frown. "The same guy who rights sensei's pervy-books?"
"Yeah," I replied with a shrug. "I don't have any interest in erotica, though."
"Really," Hisako said. "Good on you, I guess."
"Thanks?" I said.
Perception Check Success: 8/5.
"Hit the deck!" I shouted, ducking under the trio of shuriken that embedded themselves into the wagon around me. The horses tied bucked and whinnied in fright.
"Oh, man!" The voice was unfamiliar. "Look at the three little Genin!"
I turned and looked, seeing a trio of bandits. Each of them wore blank headbands, which identified them as homeless nin. They were dressed in scraps of armor; the trappings of poverty, which meant they weren't very good at their job by Village standards and had to scrape to get by.
In other words: Bandits.
I stood up and took a stance. Hisako drew her kunai. Nichiren grabbed a smoke pellet from his belt.
The first one, a skinny and short individual with a large grin on his face. His hair was only a small fuzz on the top of his head, clearly young. I'd put about late-teens or early twenties.
"That's adorable," The second one, a big man with a straw-hat and wraps on his hands like gloves, said. He had that thick jaw that lent itself to the image of an idiot. "They think they have a chance."
"Just don't damage the wagon," The third, who was in the middle in both height and weight, wearing a blindfold with twin-blood stains. Did he lose those recently? "And be fast."
"Where's our sensei?" Hisako snarled, bringing her kunai up in a defensive position.
"I don't know," The small one said, his smile getting larger. "Don't care. Not your problem right now."
"I'll give you guys one chance," I said with a raised eyebrow. "You guys tell us where you hid the driver and you can leave. You stay alive, we get to finish our mission, everyone wins."
The large one held his gut in condescending laughter.
"Pfffft!" The small one ended up laughing too. "Whatever. How about we just kill you and take your stuff! That way we win and you lose."
…alright.
The small one was obviously the speedster of the group and going to be the most troublesome. I sent chakra-threads that wrapped around his throat before he even knew what was happening, and brought his face to my waiting fist.
His brains covered the dirt path in front of us. In my previous life, I might've been repulsed that I didn't do more to de-escalate the situation, but these guys were willing to kill twelve-year-old's and thus they need to die.
Even if those twelve-year-olds were Genin and included a minor eldritch abomination.
+50 EXP.
3030 more to go.
"So, where's the driver?" I asked with a blink.
"KILL YOU!" The big guy roared, charging right at me, arms extended.
I was just going to wait for him to come to me, duck and take out both of his legs. I didn't think a blind man would be able to direct us to where Mr. Arai was being held, so, I wanted to keep the big guy alive. I wouldn't have minded letting the blind man live regardless, since he seemed to be the brains of this caper and we'd need info.
Complications arose when a shuriken found itself buried in the large one's throat, right in esophagus. It didn't look like it went in all the way-
Perception Check Success: 8/6.
Medicine Check Success: 30/30.
-and it looked like the shuriken missed both arteries. So, I guess he's going to survive that injury.
Hisako leaped forward and Nichiren dropped a smoke bomb. I slid through the smoke in a panic, desperately wanting to avoid either of my teammates getting hurt. I found the large one and hit him with several punches, leaving me relatively sure that I hit him in the kidney as he fell to the ground…I hope Hisako didn't actually kill him, but I couldn't see through the smoke.
Where's the blind one?
The smoke actually started to clear, and the blind one was going through a series of seals nopenopenopenope.
More chakra-strings came from my fingers and I separated his hands, even as I rushed toward him. I tackled the blind man to the ground, I'll feel horrible about it later, and put him in grapple-hold designed to keep his him down and his hands pinned against his back.
The smoke cleared, and there was Hisako, leaning against the still corpse of the big man, trembling and with a mix of triumphant smile and panicked expression on her face. Nichiren…where was Nichiren?
With a great shout, Nichiren burst from under the ground, holding shuriken and ready to assist in the battle.
That answers my question.
The blind man beneath me was struggling, buckling and trying to get free.
Fuinjutsu Success: 52/45.
+150 EXP.
2880 more to go.
But I applied a seal to his head, blocking his consciousness from the rest of his body, ensuring that I gave it an 'off switch' so I could release it when I needed too. I got off of him and used chakra strings to drag him to the rest of the team.
I looked at Hisako. "Good work, but how are we supposed to find the driver with a blind man?"
Hisako's eyes went wide. Her right eye started to twitch. "I…don't know! He was going to kill us, I had to do something!"
"You mean try to kill us," I replied. "Whatever. We'll just have to figure something out."
She growled and huffed, sliding her kunai into their holsters and folded her arms.
"Not that I'm not impressed," I continued, taking my captive and sealing him against the wagon for extra security. "Because I am. Where'd you learn how to do that?"
"I trained to do it," She frowned and glared at me. "Like a normal person."
"No, I meant why you didn't freeze up in a panic," I replied with a frown. "That usually happens the first time someone's thrown into a combat situation, right?"
"Thanks Daisuke," Hisako's eye was twitching faster. "Your confidence in us is staggering."
"He's got a point," Nichiren said. "I kind of panicked while I was tunneling."
"Shut up Nichiren," Hisako growled. "You're not helping."
"Why are you so hostile?" Nichiren frowned.
"Why are we fighting when there's probably more enemies around?" I asked them both. "If there's more where these idiots came from, we need to start fortifying until sensei gets back."
"I actually am back," Kakashi-sensei appeared from the trees with a shaking and terrified Arai on his back. He looked at the carnage and was careful not to step in the exposed gray-matter. I couldn't tell if Arai was scared because he got kidnapped during his bathroom break or because he was shunshin'd by Kakashi back to the wagon. "So, it appears our kidnappers circumvented me and attempted to sack the wagon. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine Sensei," Hisako replied curtly.
"No one got hurt," Nichiren replied.
I nodded in agreement with Nichiren. "I managed to catch one. He's blind, so I assumed he's the brains of the operation, or they wouldn't have brought him along."
Kakashi let Arai down who was still trembling and hyperventilating. "Are you alright, Arai-san?"
"Yes, yes," Arai took a deep breath. "Thank you Hatake-san. I thought I was going to die."
"Mah, mah," Kakashi eye-smiled, waving it off. "It was really nothing. We're just doing our job."
"Thank you for doing your job so well," Mr. Arai bowed low. "You have my eternal gratitude."
"…well, in that case," Kakashi said. "You wouldn't by chance know if there's any illegal contraband you would be picking up at our next stop, would you?"
"No, Hatake-san," Mr. Arai replied. "Truth be told, inspecting the cargo isn't my job. We have loaders who are responsible for making sure everything is ready for transport at their designated time. I carry documents signed by them in case anything goes wrong."
"I see," Kakashi replied impassively. "We will need to take some time to interrogate our prisoner before we continue on."
"Take all the time you need," Arai nodded. "I'll be on the wagon when we're ready to go."
"Thank you," Kakashi nodded.
Arai got back on the wagon and put little cotton-balls in his ears, presumably because he didn't want to hear what was going to happen next. How much experience did he have with dealing with Shinobi?
Kakashi turned to me and looked at the prisoner. "…Daisuke…where did you learn the seal you bound him with?"
"Oh," I blinked. "I came up with it…about thirty seconds before you got back."
"…you can invent seals on the fly," I had never heard Kakashi-sensei sound so exhausted as he did right there.
"Yup," I nodded. "I'm hoping to figure out the seals the fourth used one day… the Flying Thunder-God? Then I want to improve them so I don't need kunai. Pretty sure it's possible, I just need…uh…"
Kakashi looked at me, being very still as he processed what I just told him.
"I'm done!" Hisako shouted, throwing her hands up in the air and walking further down the path. "I don't care what happens next, because I am done."
"Hisako," Nichiren said, extending his hand out with a worried expression on his face.
"Hisako?" Kakashi called out.
She whirled on her heels to face our Sensei. "Yes, Sensei?"
"Don't go too far," Kakashi ordered with a sigh. "And be ready to get in formation when we're done."
"Yes sensei," Hisako replied concisely before she started walking forward along the path.
"Daisuke…just how is your bloodline able to let you do all of this?" Kakashi asked.
"Mostly?" I started with a frown. Because Hisako was upset again. "I'm just really, really smart."
"That's it?" Kakashi said, with a somewhat desperate laugh. "You're really smart."
"Well yeah," I answered. "Because I have perfect chakra control, so I know exactly how it behaves. I have an exact understanding of how each hand-seal modifies chakra as I channel it through my body and how hand signs instruct the chakra how to the function when deployed into a jutsu. Seals are very similar; in that I know what pathways chakra takes to make certain effects. I'm smart enough to understand all this data, what it means, and how to apply it."
Kakashi's lone eye blinked several times before speaking. "I hope your research team is having more luck than I am of understanding what you can do."
"Sorry sensei," I replied with a what I hope was a sympathetic look. "You want me to wake him up?"
Kakashi took a breath. "Yes. We need to find out what he knows."
I pressed my hand to our captive's forehead and released the seal. His slow breathing immediately turned into a gasp and frantic breathing, trying to release himself in a panic.
"Don't struggle," Kakashi-sensei said, his voice taking on an odd emotionless lilt to it. "You're currently bound by an unbreakable seal and you have no chance of getting out unless you cooperate."
It's hardly unbreakable. In fact, I made it breakable on purpose so we could get the guy off our wagon later. I didn't say that because I don't think Kakashi wants me to interrupt.
"Okay," He sounded desperate. "Okay, alright. I'll cooperate. I just don't want to die…please…"
As a guy who has died before, I understood. Dying sucked. But he has undoubtedly committed murder before, given how ready he was to kill us. Homeless nin and all that. So…probably would be just if we ended him after words. But I don't know that.
Thankfully, the decision was technically out of my hands. Kakashi was the one in charge here.
"What were you hoping to gain by attacking this wagon?" Kakashi asked.
"…we…me and the others heard about this valuable piece of cargo," He said with a gulp. "Heard from our fence that it was so big that both Earth and Lightning were going to have a bidding war for it at a black-market auction in Kusa. We've been casing caravans for weeks…this is the first one guarded by Shinobi, so we thought it was here."
Well, shoot. That is big. Probably lots of people there, too. Lots of EXP.
"Do you know what this cargo is?" Kakashi asked.
"No," Our captive shook his head. "We had no idea, just that it was in a box and was really valuable."
"Were you working alone or are there more of you?" Kakashi asked.
"We're part of a gang," He replied. "We were supposed to watch caravans going from Takato to Takayama. We caught sight of the driver, he told us there was shinobi guarding his wagon to intimidate us so we kidnapped him, waited for a half an hour and took a round-about way to the wagon."
He took a deep breath. "Then the Genin happened."
"They tend to do that," Kakashi-replied. "Where's the rest of your gang?"
"They set up a base between Takayama and Kusa," He replied, his voice starting to shake.
"Is that all?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes," He said in a small voice.
I almost pitied him.
"Daisuke, you mind putting your seal back on him," Kakashi asked.
"Sure," I shrugged and did as asked, the seal writing itself on his forehead.
Kakashi briefly shook his head at himself.
"So, are we sending him to T&I?" I asked. "Or are we executing him?"
"He did attempt to attack one of Konoha's clients and barely threaten the cell guarding said client," Kakashi replied. "We have every right to execute him now."
I blinked. Time to be devil's advocate! "Sensei, if I may."
"Proceed," Kakashi replied, turning to me.
"He was also extremely cooperative and as a bandit he most likely knows the locations of others bandit gangs, their methods and list of crimes," I argued. "I could see the Daimyo being very happy at having the problem reduced to a fraction in the land of Fire. For a time, at least."
Kakashi weighed the options in his head. At least I think he was. "How would we transport him to Konoha?"
Flying Thunder God Seal Mk. II?
Fuinjutsu Check Failed: 52/100.
Right, that's clearly out.
"Can we get a hold of a messenger hawk and signal Konoha for pickup?" I asked with a frown.
"I didn't bring one," Kakashi shrugged. "And I don't think your teammates did, either?"
Hmmm…actually, I can seal. All I would need is to create something hawk-like…like Origami. I know we have a lot of paper in the Wagon, though I'm not sure using it would be a good idea. Then I would write a seal on the wings for direction and to compensate for the air like a real bird does and have it maneuver properly to give out the right messages. "Did you bring any paper?"
"No," Kakashi said, looking at me oddly. "Why?"
"I didn't either," I frowned. I looked up the path and saw Nichiren and Hisako talking. My hands formed a megaphone and I called, "Hey, Nichiren!"
He looked up at me. "Yeah?"
"Did you bring any paper?" I asked.
"Yeah!" Nichiren said. "You need some?"
"Yeah!" I replied.
"Okay," Nichiren took a moment to spare a couple more words with Hisako, who stood up and followed back. Nichiren had a storage scroll open and withdrew a thick stack of paper and he handed it to me. "Here you go. Why did you need it?"
"I had an idea," I responded, taking all of the sheets. I used strings to lay them out on the ground in a nine-by-nine square.
Ninjutsu Check Success: 55/50.
+150 EXP.
Each of the sheets melded together, the edged fusing and it became one large sheet of paper. I sent chakra-strings from each of my fingers and started to fold. The geometry in my head of each fold was clear in my head-
-Intelligence Check Success: 10/9-
-which was most certainly awesome. At the end, I only had to make a few tucks and adjustments by hand, but I had a slightly larger-than-average messenger hawk.
Fuinjutsu Check Success: 52/45.
+150 EXP.
2580 more to go.
A seal stretched its way over the hawk, darkening it enough to make it visible to Konoha, as well as adjusting airflow around it and giving it a route. It wasn't sapient by any means; it was more like a glider with automated fins. I attached a small rolled up piece of paper from the left-overs Nichiren gave me and wrote coordinates for our prisoner and telling the hawk to head to Konoha's mail-room.
I released it and it took to the sky, making a bee-line for the village.
"He is going to T&I, right?" I asked.
"…Yes he is," Kakashi said, looking up at the hawk. "That was…rather ingenious."
"Thank you," I said with a smile.
"Stick our captive by the road, he'll be picked up within the day," Kakashi ordered, and I complied, making sure he was at least comfortably leaning up against the tree.
"Within the day?" Hisako frowned. "We've been travelling for two."
"We've also been travelling at a civilian's pace," Kakashi eye-smiled. "That's big part of it."
"Alright," Hisako said with a sigh. She looked at me, then she looked away.
"Are we ready to go?" Kakashi asked.
We all gave our affirmatives. Kakashi tapped Arai on the shoulder, and he removed the cotton from his ears and snapped the reigns to drive the wagon forward.
Takayama was a fair bit bigger than Takato, in that it seemed like a proper city. We guarded the wagon through the gates, they way to the warehouse was longer. And interestingly, I spotted five casinos on the way in. My mouth started to water.
I remember in my old life, my religion had a thing against gambling.
But in my mind right now, it's not gambling. It's investing. Completely different things.
…I'm going to have so much money.
Of course, that depended on A: Whether or not Shinobi were allowed entrance, most likely because Tsunade was allowed entrance. The question is whether they let her in because she's was a Sannin and they couldn't stop her, or if she was allowed in because she was a customer. Or B: If they'll allow twelve year olds in to 'gamble'. My gut says yes. My head says no.
But I think I'm crazy, so what do I know?
We got to the warehouse and Arai hopped down from the wagon as it was led away inside.
"Thank you again Kakashi-san," Arai bowed. "I cannot express my gratitude enough."
Quest Updated: The Organ Trail:
Completed: Guard the wagon on its way to the second stop.
Investigate the Second Warehouse for the Mysterious Package.
"Just doing my job," Kakashi replied. "Now, my team and I need to review what happened on the mission, if you'll excuse us."
"Of course, of course!" Arai beamed, walking away.
"Follow me," Kakashi beckoned us and we did.
He led us to another motel and went up to our rooms. This motel was higher-class than the previous one, built with superior materials and more decorative bedding. I imagine that there's a lot of traffic through Kusa, since it's a nation of diplomats by trade. Hence, Casinos.
That I will rob.
Without doing anything illegal.
…they see me rollin', they hatin'…
"Same orders as last time," Kakashi said, calling my attention to the here and now. "Try to stay out of random beams of light this time, alright?"
Oh ha, ha. "Yes Sensei."
"Good. You all have lock-picks?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes," Hisako nodded.
"Uh-huh," Nichiren answered.
"Picks for days," I replied.
"We'll back in the room at the same time," Kakashi checked the clock on the wall. "So in about two hours."
We went to our rooms. Nichiren and Hisako to sleep, freaking champs, only going two hours after a day-long hike and an attack and then on a stealth mission.
So what's the plan? After we figure out this Organ Trail non-sense, I ask and find a way to convince Kakashi-sensei to let me gamble in the casinos. Hopefully, I've gathered enough trust/respect in order for him to say yes.
Probably should throw in some safe guards. Pledging not to use all my money in the casinos is a good start. I'll stick with the house minimum, since I brought a few thousand with me regardless. That's just common sense. Then set a time which I'll leave the Casino and ask for Kakashi to come with.
…hopefully that'll be enough to convince him to say yes.
Eleven rolled around, and thankfully it was overcast, bringing all possible moonlight to a null factor. We arrived at this second warehouse much like we did the first, except with less jumps and more wall-crawling since the buildings were taller.
The warehouse was built exactly like the first one, but with more guards who were actually doing their jobs and patrolling the warehouse. We each ducked out of the way as one of the guards raised his lantern to the window.
After a few seconds, the lantern was lowered and Kakashi pried the window open. We quickly slid into the building, single file and following Kakashi like a line of spiders.
This warehouse was filled to the brim with boxes of all shapes and sizes. If what we were looking for was here, we'd have a very tough time finding it.
Sneak Check Success: 22/20.
Thankfully, there was no light for me to accidentally crawl into and I was quiet enough, if a little slow. Eventually, we made it around to the office. Kakashi signaled for us to hold as multiple guards had routes which had them face the office. When there was a gap, Kakashi dropped down, picked the lock almost instantly and disappeared inside the office just in time for a beam of light from a guard's lantern to pass over it.
We waited.
And we waited.
Nichiren and Hisako were starting to breathe loudly as the stress of hiding and the possibility of getting caught at any time started to take their toll. Once there was a gap, Kakashi opened the door and hurriedly waved us forward. We were in and the door was shut before we could get spotted.
Inside was a similarly built office, if not a little cleaner than the previous one.
"Nichiren, get started on the safe," Kakashi whispered. "Hisako, Daisuke? Search their files for anything. I'll keep watch."
Right. I dug out my set of lock-picks and got to work.
Snap.
Snap.
"Picks for days," I grumbled, putting in another pick. "Picks for days."
Finally, the tumblers clicked open and I was able to slide the drawer open.
You know, I wish Bethesda kept the lock picking mini-game from Oblivion for their future games, if only because that's how you actually pick a lock. None of that 'find the sweet spot' crap.
Ugh…let's see…this is all old material, the youngest by two years. I searched and like last time, I found nothing.
I slid the drawer closed and opened the bottom drawer.
"The safe's open," Nichiren whispered, pulling it open.
"See if there's a false bottom," Kakashi said, still keeping an eye on the significantly more vigilant set of guards.
I looked over from my cabinet, which only had things as far away as a year ago, to look at the safe. Like the last one, it had a lot of Ryo in it, as well as keys hung up on the inside of the safe door. Predictably, it had a false bottom and also predictably, this one had stuff in it.
Not nearly as much as the last one, but it had stuff in it. Specifically, a single, plain looking envelope tied together with a string. Nichiren undid the string and read. "Huh. The package is here."
"Does it say that?" Kakashi asked.
"It's orders from a Morita Seiho, telling them not to ship the package until after the wagon guarded by Shinobi has gone past," Nichiren reported. He looked up. "I think they were going to use us for a bait-and-switch."
Quest Updated: The Organ Trail
Completed: Investigate the Second Warehouse for the Mysterious Package.
Find the Mysterious Package.
"The wagon getting guarded by Shinobi gets attacked for the cargo," Kakashi mused. "The Shinobi may or may not drive them off, but if the attackers win, they leave disappointed since there was nothing particularly of value on the wagon. While the attackers are replenishing their numbers, they send the illicit cargo through to Kusa unmolested."
"Do we know who Morita Seiho is?" I asked with a frown.
"The man who hired us," Kakashi sighed. "He's been the company's liaison to Konoha for many years now. If something caused him to turn on Konoha, it must be very large indeed."
"He might've always been corrupt," I offered. "Just didn't make such a big play until now."
"Maybe," Kakashi replied. "But now we need to find the package."
"Yup," I nodded. "Should we take out the guards first or make this an all-stealth run?"
Kakashi looked at him oddly. "…can you do it without killing them?"
That made sense. They, most likely, were just people doing their jobs and didn't deserve to have their brains splattered all over the floor. "With my seal, yes…though actually… does anyone here have knock-out gas or poison?"
"Can you make a jutsu for that?" Kakashi asked with a risen eyebrow.
"Uh…" I thought in my head. Probably…need the ram sign, maybe combine it with dragon and horse, throw in a couple of snakes… Although the knock-out gas might be a little challenging. "The jutsu wouldn't be a problem. The gas itself will be, though. I don't know how to make a sedative like that."
Seriously. I mean, I was familiar with poisons, but beyond the lethal ones and how to treat them, I was almost at a lost.
Medicine Check Failure: 30/45.
Thanks, game.
Hisako made an uncomfortable sounding grunt. "I…uh…I brought a sedative to dip my senbon in. Would that work?"
"Perfect," I nodded. "I might use it all, though. Is that okay?"
Hisako looked at me and eventually sighed. "Yeah, go ahead."
"Thank you," I beamed. "Really, I appreciate-"
"Just…hurry up and use it," Hisako was fighting a smile across her face as she dug out a vial and handed it to me. "Before I decide we need a new plan."
I took the vial and made my way to the door.
"Wait for my signal," Kakashi ordered.
I waited, crouching on my knees, prepared to bust through the door.
"Go, quietly," Kakashi whisper-snapped.
I quickly opened the door and shunshin'd to the top of the roof. I looked down at the web of guards as I focused my chakra into the vial of sedative. Horse, snake, dragon, ram, snake, dragon, ram.
Ninjutsu Check Success: 55/45.
Medicine Check Success: 30/30.
+150 EXP.
The jutsu sucked only some of the sedative out of the vial, spraying it in a fine mist that deliberately targeted each of the guards. I watched in fascination as each guard was brought down, knocked out by the powerful sedative. A total of nine, brought to the floor, their lanterns clattering to the surface.
I dropped to the top of a shelf of boxes and hopped over to the office door. "Okay, we're good."
They each walked out of the office and I handed Hisako her bottle. "Turns out I didn't need it all. Thank you."
"Don't mention it," Hisako said, taking the bottle back with a small grin.
"Find the box," Kakashi looked around the warehouse. "It should be labeled don't ship until July 6th since that's when they expected us to be gone."
"Hai Sensei," I replied.
We looked and…wait, I had Iruka's sensor jutsu. Let's see if I can get anything from it.
I made the seals, the wave of chakra went out, causing all of my teammates, sensei-included, to look at me and from the jutsu I…got…a flare of chakra back. One that straight up confused me.
"It worked this time," I smiled, though I'm sure my confusion was in my voice. "I think our box is this way."
"What worked this time?" Nichiren asked.
"Back at the house, I tried to use an echolocation jutsu," I explained as I lead my team down an aisle, careful to step around the guards. "It would send a pulse of chakra out and bounce back whenever it hit something. Back then, I couldn't get it to bounce back…now it did."
"You sound confused," Hisako stated.
"I am confused," I replied. I got to the point where I felt the chakra flare. The box was two feet tall and wide, marked for the correct date. "This is it."
I grabbed the box and started to slide out from under the shelf.
"Open it," Kakashi said.
I obliged, ripping the top and sides off, revealing several large scrolls of fabric, held together by a plastic top. I took the top off so the fabrics fell away revealing…oh boy.
Quest Updated: The Organ Trail.
Completed: Search for the Mysterious Package.
Talk with your team.
Everyone looked at the contents with wide eyes. Nichiren's jaw was slowly opening to a gape.
"This is certainly bigger than I thought it was," Kakashi said finally.
Inside was a glass case with seals inscribed on it. The glass case contained a man, curled up in a fetal position with several binds placed on his ankles and wrists, each of these sealed. He had black hair which went down to the small of his back, which looked greasy, as if he had been like this for a while.
Perception Check Success: 8/3.
On his forehead was a green seal, with a freaking swastika right in the center. This was a member of the Hyuuga's branch family. How did he get here? Where was he going? …Suddenly Organ Trail made a lot of sense.
He was breathing slowly, so he was alive, if only barely.
Fuinjutsu Check Success: 52/50.
It appears the seals on his bindings were in place to slow his metabolism down, put him in a state of suspended animation. The seals on his glass case were there to reinforce it, and make it more resistant to breaking. He was alive because the seal on his forehead would destroy his eyes, which were the most valuable part of this little captive. Earth and Lightning would definitely be interested in a package like this.
I wonder how they were able to keep this quiet from Konoha.
Could I disengage these seals?
Fuinjutsu Check failure: 52/65.
Yeah, these were a little bit beyond me. I mean, I can see where the chakra and stuff links together pretty well in some areas, but the form seems a little confusing in others.
"Kakashi-sensei," Hisako started, looking thoroughly creeped out. "Do you know who this is?"
"I do not," Kakashi replied. "He's a member of the Hyuuga, kept alive for his Byakugan. Most definitely going to be sold to either Earth or Lightening, assuming they didn't try to steal him first."
"So what do we do?" Nichiren asked.
"The first thing we need to do is get this box back to our rooms and alert Konoha," Kakashi responded swiftly. "Preferably the Hokage, he can decide who can be trusted with this."
"Do you need me to make another messenger hawk?" I asked with a frown.
"The post office should have its own hawks," Kakashi replied. "Especially ones trained to go straight to the Hokage. Unless it would help you reach a power-spike, I think we can just use one of them."
"It wouldn't," I replied with a shrug. "I only get closer by creating jutsu, not using old ones."
"Alright," Kakashi said. "Can you put the box back together?"
I nodded. "Yes, Sensei."
I used strings to assemble the scrolls of cloth back together and hold them together as I put the crate back together. Since I only ripped it off the nails, it was surprisingly easy. Then I wrapped it with a set of chakra-threads to keep it together. Then I lifted a box up and whoo it was heavy.
You are now over-encumbered.
Shut up, game. I know.
"Daisuke, I can carry that," Kakashi said, taking the box off my hands almost effortlessly. "No need to break your back for it."
"Right," I said, breathing heavily. "Thanks, Sensei."
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Leylin_Farlier The Previous was a Fanbased Work of Fiction, written by Fulcon. Naruto is owned by Shueisha, Viz Entertainment and Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the Official Release.
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