บท 8: Chapter 7: Team Assignments and Threat Assessments: Wave Arc Part 1
Having made it home in time to see Setsuki off to the Academy for the graduation exams had lightened his day quite a bit. It was more than a little bit problematic seeing his former family once more, and he had gotten quite an accurate read off of them.
At the current moment in time he was going through his sword stances outside of his home, as it allowed him to think and he would need to be careful that he didn't cause any incidents that would allow anyone to take advantage of him. While he was training, he thought back to the sensations he had felt from everyone that had been confronting him earlier.
One of the few abilities that he had managed to conceal from everyone but his betrothed was a minor empathic ability. It didn't cover a very long range at all, maybe twenty feet at best, but he was almost always on the money when he was 'reading' people's emotions. This particular ability had made it impossible to lie around or to him.
Thinking back to his earlier confrontation he realized that his sisters had had no idea that he was treated so poorly and that their emotions had been ones of regret, remorse, and sadness. There had been absolutely no sense of deceit coming from either of them, and as much as he hated to say it, there was nothing deceitful coming from any of the women there. That would make it easier for him to eventually forgive them as he didn't hate them; it was more a deep and abiding anger at their foolishness.
The only ones that he could honestly say that he would be carefully watching were Minato and Jiraiya. Minato was far easier for him to read, and the fact that when he had mentioned his ability with seals there was a burst of jealousy that flared into being within him. That and the fact that he had felt no remorse or regret just rubbed him the wrong way.
The Gama Sen'nin was the one that was taking up most of his thought processes this morning though, and that was due to the fact that one of the subtle emotions that he had caught flashes of was desperation. It had occurred several times throughout their confrontation, and it had thrown him off trying to pin down who it had come from. Knowing as he did that desperation drove people and animals to go far beyond their normal limits, Ikari could see that he needed to be extremely cautious when around them and vowed not to be around them alone for a while.
Hokage's Office
Rubbing his temples in agitation, Itachi was troubled over new information that had come from the T&I department. Apparently the person that Ikari had captured during his Jonin test was a spy for Orochimaru, a traitor by the name of Yakushi Kabuto. They had determined that the Snake Sen'nin was going to attempt to destroy Konoha during the next Chuunin exam which was in eight months, and it was set to be in Konoha.
Currently Hiruzen and Hiashi were in his office trying to hammer out the best approach in trying to resolve this issue. Looking at the both of them, Itachi cleared his throat. "Wasn't there something in Fox's report from Kiri about the Yondaime Mizukage being under the influence of a genjutsu?"
Lighting his pipe, the Sandaime puffed away as he thought back to the report that he had received. Nodding, he pulled his pipe away for a moment to respond. "Hai, there was indeed a mention of a Sharingan induced genjutsu affecting him, why do you ask?"
Tilting his head to one side, Itachi smirked as he realized something. "Why don't we attempt the same thing here, utilizing our very own Fox ANBU and his Kekkei Genkai to induce a controlling genjutsu so that we can receive new intelligence on just what the snake is planning, as well as to control what information he gets as well as sending falsified information back to him?"
Nodding as he thought about what the Hokage was planning, Hiashi turned to Hiruzen as he went over the idea in his own mind. "Also along with the genjutsu we could reinforce it with a seal of some kind. Speaking of seals, Hokage-sama, I would like to pay for an S-rank mission to design an alternative to the Caged Bird seal, so that I can unite my family as well as protect my bloodline."
Frowning slightly, Itachi nodded. "Agreed, and I think I know just the law to back you up if your council of Elder's gives you grief over this issue. It dates back to the original charter of Konoha and was a stipulation put in by both the Shodaime Hokage as well as the Daimyo of the time."
Smiling gently at the plans being put into place by Itachi, Hiruzen agreed to both of their ideas. "I do believe that it is time for me to put the last of my mistakes to rest, and I have eight months to get back into fighting shape, as I am almost positive that Orochimaru will be coming after me as a primary target."
Agreeing with his two advisors, Itachi laid out his ideas for allowing them the greatest opportunity to come out on top, no matter what the snake traitor had planned.
Sōjin Manor, later that week
Having taken a shower and relaxing with some light reading, Ikari look at the time as he waited with Mikoto for news of what the team assignments were. They were chatting over a cup of tea when the Uchiha Matriarch decided to talk about her encounter with Kushina earlier in the week.
"Ikari-kun, I wanted to let you know that the Uchiha clan will back you in whatever you desire as far as the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans. I don't know if I told you this but I ran into Kushina earlier this week and tore strips out of her hide for failing as a mother, and I must say that whatever you said and did in the Hokage's Office must have been eating at her something fierce because she just stood there with her head bowed and took it. She and I were the closest of friends when we were younger, and I can tell you that she would never have taken something like that before." Here she paused and took a sip of her tea, before sighing and continuing from where she left off.
"I'm not saying to accept her back as your mother, as I don't believe that thirteen years of absence can be made up for, but I do believe that you might at the very least extend her an olive branch and see what comes of it. There also exists a possibility of a familial relationship with your sisters as I believe that they are deserving of a second chance, even more so than your mother." Having said her piece, Mikoto sat back and watched as Ikari came to terms with the information she had laid out before him.
Stirring his tea by slowly swirling the cup around in his hand, Ikari sighed. This wasn't quite unexpected news, and to be quite frank he had felt the same way to a degree. Granted, at the same time he was quite conflicted about what he should do, but his turmoil over the situation had calmed somewhat, given the perspective that Mikoto had given him. Nodding reluctantly, Ikari set his cup down before speaking.
"I agree with you, and to be honest I was thinking that the best way to extend that offer to her would be in asking for her assistance with a mission I was given, seeing as she has quite a bit of experience with fuinjutsu. I would only ask that you allow us to have that meeting here, with you and Itachi acting as mediators, if that's ok with you?" After asking this particular favor he picked his cup back up, and taking a drink of his tea, leaned back in his seat to await her answer.
Deep in thought, Mikoto considered his request. Despite her utter loathing of how poorly Kushina had chosen, she still missed her friend from long ago, and realized that she had simply chosen wrongly to follow the foolish plan that they had come up with, and had done so blindly. Sighing aloud she nodded. "I agree and I will talk with Itachi-kun about it. Now where are Sasuke-kun and Setsuki-chan? They should have been back by now, it doesn't take that long to get to know your squad and get to the details of the Genin test and come home."
As soon as she had said that, they heard the sound of the door opening and two sets of footsteps heading their way. Standing to greet them, Ikari waved to Sasuke and walked over to Suki-chan and hugged her. Returning the embrace, the youngest Uchiha leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.
After everyone was seated, he turned to her and cleared his throat expectantly. "So who are your teammates and who's your Jonin sensei, Suki-chan?"
She looked up at him from where she was laying down with her head in his lap and smiled. "My team consists of Kiba with his ninken Akamaru and Sasuke, and Hatake Kakashi is our Jonin Sensei."
Smiling down at her, Ikari ran his hands through her hair as he chuckled softly. "Keep in mind that he's almost habitually three hours late unless it's for anything under an A-rank mission and you'll do fine." He laughed a little harder upon seeing her adorable pout and looked up to see Mikoto chuckling lightly.
Nodding her own head in agreement, Mikoto smiled as she thought back to many occasions that she had run into similar scenarios with the Copy Ninja. "As much as I wish I could say otherwise, I cannot disagree with Ikari. Although," turning her gaze on the young man, "I would have thought that he would have shaped up somewhat, having helped raise you."
Shaking his head in embarrassment, Ikari sighed. "Unfortunately it was not meant to last; however, I have managed to assist him in some ways, which have ensured that he won't be as bad from here on out."
Two Weeks Later
Having spent much of his time in designing two new seals from scratch had been very draining, especially since these could be considered Master level seals. The first one he had started on and finally finished was the new seal for the Hyuuga clan.
There were three main parts to this seal: First was a genetic sequencing and locking seal, which once the seal was applied, it would automatically be passed down by combining with each individuals DNA and locking it into place, thus making the entirety of the seal permanent.
The next part of the seal had been even trickier, as it prevented the theft of the bloodline through force or trickery. It was setup in such a manner that any drug, poison and/or genjutsu used to try and steal the bloodline through reproduction would instead cause a temporary sterility seal to trigger. This was only capable of being reversed by a series of twenty-five hand seals that would only be given to the clan head, as well as a select few other trustworthy individuals.
The other thing that was apportioned to that second part of the seal was designed for both genders to activate the temporary sterility before leaving on missions in case of capture. That particular sequence of hand seals was taught to everyone who was Genin and above in the clan once he had gotten the approval of Hiashi.
Third, was the portion of the seal that was designed to destroy their eyes capabilities in death, along with the genetic material that could be harvested to try and pass on their Kekkei Genkai via artificial insemination, or any other means of passing it along.
The new seal was inked onto the stomach, and once completed and sealed, disappeared from sight, and the most surprising bit was that even held true while they were molding chakra, which was quite a bit different from his own seal.
The other seal that he had been working on was another combination seal. This one was designed to cast a mind-altering genjutsu, conceal the chakra holding the genjutsu in place as well as the seal itself, and a dead man's switch that would instantly kill the target it was emplaced on under certain conditions.
Having finished with both of his missions in record time had been exhausting to him, and in fact, if it hadn't been for the young woman who was his intended, Ikari would have been far, far worse. It always seemed that she was there to calm his frustrations and ease his tension, which he thanked Kami above for. Setsuki was clearly capable with her hands as she had on more than one occasion massaged him to sleep, as well as kept him company while he struggled to complete the seals.
In return, he acted as a sounding board for her ideas, as well as allowing her to vent about the stupidity of the D-rank missions that they had to go through. Ikari trained with her in both ninjutsu and fuinjutsu when they had down time, which relaxed the both of them, allowing them both to spend time together as well enabling them to calm their thoughts and soothe their frustrations.
As the weeks passed and he finished his missions regarding the seals, Ikari found a measure of peace in helping the Hyuuga clan heal through removing the Caged Bird seal and placing the new seal on each and every one of them.
Four weeks later, he was returning home from a routine bandit elimination mission, when he heard his name being called. Stopping in his tracks, he cautiously determined that he wasn't hearing things and headed in the direction he had heard the voice coming from. Minutes later he burst from the trees that he had been hopping through into a clearing where he chose to stop and wait. His patience was rewarded when Pakkun burst through the underbrush and skidded to a halt, panting heavily.
Taking a moment to unseal some dried deer meat and a bottle of water, Ikari gave his Aniki's summon a minute to catch his breath as well as get some food and water in him. Once he had finished, Pakkun sat back and nodded at the young man. "Arigato Ikari-san, I bring a new mission and a call for aid. Kakashi and his team recently took on an escort mission to Nami no Kuni, and the client wasn't exactly forthcoming with all the details that were needed to properly assess what level team was needed. The day before yesterday they were engaged by the Onikyōdai, two C-ranked nukenin from Kiri, whom they disabled and interrogated. It was from those two that they learned who the actual threat in Nami is, a man by the name of Gato."
Holding up a hand for the dog summon to pause so he could process everything, Ikari did his best to recall everything that he had heard or learned about any Kiri nukenin. After staying like that for a moment, Ikari looked back to Pakkun. "Are the two of them still alive and were there any serious injuries to anyone on Aniki's team?"
The small summon took a moment to scratch his ears and then turned to look up at him. "Yes they're both alive, and no there weren't any injuries to his team. I just got done passing along the info to the Hokage and here to pass along the info as well as a change in your orders. The Hokage wants you to make your way to their location as fast as possible, and assist them in the completion of their mission. There is an additional task for you, and you alone, and that is for you to eliminate Gato and as many of his thugs as humanly possible."
Nodding once sharply in affirmation of his new orders, Ikari bit his thumbs and ran them over his tattoos, channeling chakra through his hands. Two puffs of smoke later and there were a couple of other summons in front of him, and he greeted them while writing a short message to the Hokage. "Yuri-chan, I need you to bring this scroll to the Hokage as quickly as you can."
Once he had received acknowledgement from her, he then turned to the young eagle. "Jinsoku-kun, I need the Boss to reverse summon me to your aerie and send me to where my intended is, as she is the only other summoner for your clan, and I am needed there urgently."
Having received affirmative responses to both of his requests, Ikari seated himself on the ground as they both disappeared. Once more turning his attention back to Pakkun, he smiled slightly as he spoke. "Whenever you are ready to head out go ahead and do so, Pakkun, as I will be there within the next five minutes or so."
Nami no Kuni
Kiba and Akamaru had the responsibility of helping Kakashi to their client's house after the battle they had just gotten into near the bridge that Tazuna was working on completing. They had gotten a little antsy just sitting there and waiting for their backup to arrive and had decided to push forward two days ago. Everything had gone well up until they had gotten to the bridge and that was when everything went to hell in a hand basket.
First was the arrival of Momochi Zabuza, one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri, who was a nukenin of Kiri. They had been held in reserve while their sensei, Kakashi, had engaged Zabuza. They had fought for the better part of an hour before Kakashi managed to get the upper hand, and then a hunter nin had come out of nowhere to swoop down and eliminate their target.
That was about the point in time where Kakashi had collapsed, seeing as how he had pushed himself to the absolute limit while using his Sharingan. Now they were currently moving towards Tazuna's home, Sasuke at the rear and Setsuki taking point, with Kiba and Akamaru hauling their sensei alongside Tazuna in the middle.
A few minutes away from Tazuna's house, they were startled by a puff of smoke that appeared a short distance away from Setsuki. As they drew their weapons and took up a protective formation around their sensei and client, the smoke cleared away, leaving Ikari in plain sight of all of them. Taking a quick look at them, his face cleared of any emotion and he turned to Tazuna. "Tazuna-san, my name is Sōjin Ikari, a fellow Konoha Shinobi and this team's backup. Can I assume that you were taking them to your home to rest and recover?"
As the older man came to his senses and nodded, Ikari relaxed just a bit and turned to his Aniki's team. "Excellent work on your formation and reaction time, I will be taking over command of the mission, at least until Kakashi recovers, possibly for the duration of the mission. Setsuki go ahead and pick up the pace so we can get Kakashi some rest and all of you some food." With a nod and a smile to her fiancée, she sheathed her kunai and turned once more in the direction that they had been headed in before his arrival.
As they walked along, the ANBU walked alongside each of them asking them detailed questions about their prior fights and tried to piece together a decent idea of just what had happened and what they were up against. Each of their stories meshed together well, and to be honest he knew that there was something wrong, he just couldn't figure out exactly what yet. The two most interesting tidbits came from Kiba and Setsuki and they were vague enough because of the distance and their inexperience that it took him a while to piece everything together.
Fifteen minutes later they all arrived at a two story home on the outskirts of the main town here in Nami no Kuni. Following along after Tazuna, they all stood patiently in the living room while waiting for Tazuna to get his daughter out to help them. "Tsunami, I'm home safe and sound! We have company, and one of them needs a bed to rest in."
There was a clattering of footsteps and then they watched as a woman came flying around a corner to greet them. "Otou-san, thank Kami you're safe!" She was blissfully unaware of the shinobi around her for the moment, at least until she let go of her father and smiled at him. Bowing slightly, as she had already connected the dots and realized that these were the ninja that her father had hired from Konoha, she straightened and smiled at them before speaking.
"Arigato gozaimasu for keeping my father safe and sound, if you will follow me, I will show you to a spare bedroom where your comrade can rest. Is he in need of any medical attention, or is he just wiped out?"
Shaking his head, Ikari smiled gently at the older woman. "No Tsunami-san, he is not in need of any medical assistance, just in need of a bed and a good meal later on. You have our gratitude for your kind hospitality, as well as our assurance that we will do all we can to assist your family and country while we are here."
Bowing slightly, he stood up straight once more and turned towards the others as they walked just behind him, following the lady of the house upstairs. Once they had settled in to their rooms, the young man checked in on his Aniki before moving downstairs and taking a seat at the table and gathering the Genin around him. "Alright, if I remember correctly Setsuki, you mentioned earlier that the hunter ninja used senbon to go in for the kill, right?"
Getting a nod from her in response, he grunted as he realized that he was more than likely right in his assessment of the situation. Turning to Kiba while he was still in thought, he cleared his throat before asking him the next question. "From what you told me, Akamaru noticed something odd about Zabuza's scent, and it wasn't until you had your run in with the hunter that the scent clicked for the both of you, correct?"
Taking a moment to think back, Kiba nodded. "Hai Ikari-san, the mixed scent that I got from Zabuza was partly his, partly the hunter's. Does that mean that they were working together?"
Nodding slowly at first, the younger Jonin frowned. "Alright, given what we know about the skills of the hunter ninja and their knowledge of human anatomy which was shown by the near-death state that they put Momochi in, I would say that it's pretty good odds that he/she has some decent medical knowledge. What that means for us, is that he could be back in action in a week to two weeks tops." Turning his head towards the Genin, Ikari smirked at them briefly.
Standing up and stretching, he walked towards the stairs and stopped just before making contact with the first step. "Eat hearty and sleep well tonight, because tomorrow I am going to be working with you three and training you." Once that was said, he resumed his journey up the stairs to the room he and Kakashi were in to plan out his infiltration and assassination mission to take out Gato.
When he got to the room the young shinobi sat down heavily on his bed and ran a hand through his hair. Knowing the three Genin, he would leave behind a few clones, both to help the older Jonin train his squad and to ensure that Tazuna and his family were protected. Going through a pouch at his left hip, he pulled out a scroll of supplies and started to inventory everything that he had sealed into this particular scroll, ensuring that he would have everything that he needed to succeed.
Unknown Location in Nami no Kuni
At this particular moment in time the two Chuunin level nukenin made their way back to the hideout that their leader had set up for them here in Wave. Tired, sore, and hungry, the two headed into Zabuza's room to check in with him and see how he wanted to handle the team from Konoha, seeing as how they knew that he had not been successful in eliminating their target as yet. As they opened the door, they were mildly surprised to hear the man that they had been looking for swearing up a storm.
"Damn it all, Haku! You couldn't have aimed those blasted senbon anywhere else, could you? I swear sometimes it's like you enjoy making me suffer like this, kuso!" The aforementioned individual hung her head slightly as he reproached her, and sighed sadly before responding.
"Gomen, Zabuza-sama, but there simply wasn't time to aim anywhere else, as the Copy-nin was in the way. Anywhere else I could have achieved the same outcome would have delayed your recovery by a few additional weeks or even longer." The girl was quite distraught, even though she didn't show a single sign of it in her face or voice. Turning as she heard the other two members of their group enter, Haku frowned slightly.
While she was grateful that they weren't dead, they had been fairly useless due to the fact that they had been taken out so quickly that not only had they had been captured and interrogated, they had failed in gathering information on their opponents. Shaking her head to clear it, she opened her mouth to speak when she was interrupted by their employer. "So it looks like the mighty 'Demon of the Mist' isn't so tough after all. Being beaten by a bunch of children, how low can you get, Zabuza?"
The midget, as they were wont to call him, was Gato, the man in charge of Gato Shipping. He was as dirty as any man could get, involved in just about any illegal enterprise you could think of or even name. Slavery, prostitution, drugs, weapons and stolen rarities, the list goes on and on.
Currently the greasy bastard was walking into the room followed by his two swordsmen. Walking up to the bed, he leaned forward with both his hands on the cane, and stared at her master. "I simply cannot believe the rumors were true about you, especially given your current status as well as the dismal failure that you have accomplished."
Shaking his head, Gato moved his hand to where he could remove the bandages currently wrapped around his lower face, intent on removing them so that he could see what was hidden behind them. He never made it though, as Haku snatched up his arm by the wrist and twisted it sharply, not only breaking the bones, but tearing the ligaments and tendons in his wrist and hand. "You will NOT lay your filthy hands on Zabuza-sama!"
Without a second's hesitation, she rapidly moved from where she was standing to immediately behind the two goons that he had brought with him and held senbon to their necks. "You will leave now, and I will ensure that Zabuza-sama is well enough to try again at the end of the week."
Glaring at the young ninja, Gato leered at her. "You bitch! You had better ensure that you follow through or I promise that you will live to regret your error today." Looking to his men, the midget tilted his head towards the exit and made his way to the door. Staring at the nukenin from Kiri one last time, he inwardly smirked at the fate that he had in store for them, then he turned his head and walked out.
The Next Day
Having had one of his clones' get him up early, Ikari was up early enough to have gotten a quick workout in. Upon entering the room he shared with Kakashi, he looked over at his Aniki to see him start to stir. Walking over to his side and taking a seat near the foot of his bed, Ikari smirked at him. "About time you rejoined us in the land of the living Aniki, I was sent in both as back up as well as to eliminate a certain target."
Nodding his head in understanding, the older Jonin sighed. "You're never going to let me live this down are you Otōto?"
Shrugging his shoulders as he smiled and chuckled, the younger man stood once more. "Maybe someday, Aniki, but until then? I think not…" Growing serious for now, Ikari walked over to his gear and dug in one of his pouches for a moment. Finding the right scroll only took a moment and he grabbed it and headed back to Kakashi's side. Handing it over to him to read through, Ikari returned to his side of the room and stripped off his shirt so he could wipe down a bit before taking a shower.
Shaking his head as he chuckled internally, Kakashi opened the scroll and reviewed the orders that lay within the scroll. The amendments to his mission weren't all that surprising to him, as they had started off with what was supposed to be a C-rank, which had been upgraded to B-rank after they had had a run in with the Demon Brothers. Finding out that they were working for Momochi Zabuza and an unaffiliated shinobi had bumped their mission up to A-rank easily. Knowing that he had Ikari to back him up was a huge relief, even knowing that he had a separate mission to accomplish that was easily A-rank if not S-rank, considering the fact that he was going after Gato.
Rolling the scroll back up and burning it, Kakashi lay back in bed and ran through his training regimen for his Genin. Having ensured that they had mastered the tree-climbing exercise and at least knew the water-walking one, he decided that he next step would be to figure out what their affinities were and work with them on a couple of jutsu as well as having them work on mastering water-walking. Sighing, Kakashi rolled to his side and slowly got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom, passing Ikari as he did so.
Having showered as fast as was humanly possible, the younger Jonin exited the shower and headed back to his room to dress. While he was doing so, he mentally reviewed his objectives, and made sure to figure out what priority each was given. His highest priority goal during this mission was actually two-fold, and those two goals were: eliminate Gato and find out where Zabuza and his lackeys stood on the new Mizukage. The other goals paled in comparison, but that was a slight differentiation as far as where they rated.
Mentally grumbling at himself, as he figured that the only reasons that he had been sent were his location as being the nearest to them, and his success rate on missions such as these. His stealth capability was among the highest in the ANBU, and the Hokage was hopeful about trying to turn the missing-nin away from their current course of action and have them return to Kiri. Knowing that Ikari had the only copy of the scroll from Terumi Mei pardoning their actions if they'd simply return to Kiri was a huge endorsement for him to come and backup Team 7.
Finally dressed, Ikari headed downstairs and greeted Tsunami and Tazuna before heading outside and summoning from both available clans. Having channeled a full quarter of his reserves evenly between them, a rather large cloud of smoke appeared in front of him. To his right were five eagles and his left five two-tailed foxes, and as he looked them over, he realized that he didn't know any of them. Nodding to himself, he smiled down at them and crouched down to speak with them. "My comrades from the Kitsune and Washi clans welcome. I have an important task for you, and it needs to be accomplished as quickly and thoroughly as possible."
Here he turned his head to the eagles and focused on them. "For you five, I would ask you to find the location of any camps of bandits or thugs and give me a rough estimate of their numbers. Take your time and feel free to hunt as needed, report back here just before dusk this evening." After hearing their agreement, Ikari turned his attention to the five Kitsune as the eagles took off. Giving them a minute to leave the area, he cleared his throat and met each of their eyes.
"I have an entirely different mission for each of you. There will be two pairs sent out, each one to accomplish a different mission, while the fifth one will be assisting me by helping to guard the bridge builder Tazuna. The first pair will be looking for Gato and finding where he is, and be capable of giving me a count of how many innocents there are as well as the number of thugs he has there. Your other task will be to study the layout of the building and be able to give me a general idea of where everything and everyone is. The second pair is to follow me to get a couple of scents and track them down. I want to know their habits and numbers, any other relevant information is a bonus. The same applies for each of you but the one who will be assisting me in guarding Tazuna, in that you are allowed to hunt for food as needed. There will be food provided for the one who goes with me."
Standing up once more, he looked each of them in the eyes and smiled. "One last thing, stealth is a must. I don't want any of you to be seen, heard or detected in any way, shape or form. I'm going back inside for a bit, so I can coordinate with the team and grab some food. I will have something for the one who is chosen to go with me, who should wait nearby." Getting nods from each of them, Ikari returned to the house and walked back inside to grab a bite to eat and work up a plan for the week so that they would be prepared for any eventuality.
Later That Evening
After dinner that day, Ikari nodded at Kakashi who had already gotten his team to rest for the evening. Having been briefed on what his plan was for the day as far as gathering the necessary intelligence, he nodded back at him and followed him out the window. The two Jonin rapidly moved to the designated area near the house and waited for the younger man's summoned creatures to arrive.
Five minutes later there were near silent wing beats, as well as some bushes gently rustling. Both of the men standing there were cautious as they waited, and once the ten eagles and foxes were gathered around them, Ikari went through a short number of hand seals and raised a privacy barrier around them. Turning to the eagles first, he greeted them and spoke, as he pulled out a map of the area. "What do you have for me?"
The largest one of them there hopped forward a couple steps and bowed, his wings swept behind him. "Greetings Ikari-sama, I am Ōarashi, and have compiled the information you asked for. At these two locations, here and here,"he hopped forward and pointed out two locations with his talons. "There are around three hundred bandits each, and we sensed no chakra sources among them. There are no major buildings at the first site here, only tents and a guard tower of sorts. At this location however," here he pointed at the other site which was close to the eastern outskirts of the town, "There is a rather large building that we believe to be Gato's headquarters. There are a large number of bandits there, and a few small chakra sources, as well as a couple of rather large storehouses all encircled by a six foot stone wall. There are two guard towers here as well."
After watching as the eagle finished pointing out the important spots, Ikari nodded to them and absently pulled a scroll from a pouch at his hip. As he unrolled it, he looked over it momentarily and channeled a bit of chakra to one of the seals, and grabbed a bag that popped out of it. Tossing it to Ōarashi, he thanked them and dismissed them, then started making notations on the map. When he was finished, he looked up and turned to the Kitsune, and motioned them forward.
The pair that had been tasked with tracking the nukenin from Kiri reported first, and the vixen that greeted him was a glossy black with white and red tipped tails and feet. "Ikari-sama, it is a pleasure to finally meet you, I am called Yorubara. I have compiled all the information that you assigned to both our teams and I am ready to present it."
Getting a nod to go ahead, she looked to the other three who had been sent out and nodded to them. They positioned themselves around the map and readied themselves to present the information. Clearing her throat, she began presenting what they had gathered. "At this point in time, there are only four chakra signatures that we tracked down to a hideout about five minutes travel south from the bridge. Three male, one female, with one of the males being the strongest, followed by the female, and then the other two males whom may be brothers by the way their scent is similar."
Watching as one of the other Kitsune pointed out the approximate location on the map, Ikari calculated the distance between the hideout and Gato's headquarters as he motioned for her to continue. "The building, which we have confirmed is indeed Gato's staging grounds for Nami, is two levels above ground and one below. The level below ground is rife with the scents of fear and mating, and there are many women and children caged down there."
The only sign that he had heard what was said was a glint in Ikari's eyes that appeared momentarily, as he watched the other three foxes scratch a rough layout of the building, floor by floor. Kakashi's response was his eyes hardening as he revealed his Sharingan in order to better memorize the layout of the building.
"The first level above ground has a vault and the rest of the rooms are used as a makeshift barracks. The second level though is used for Gato and his bodyguards' residence and office. There are an additional fifty men who are in the building and twenty of them have Genin level chakra, but don't appear to be shinobi."
Hearing that, Ikari snapped his head up to look at the vixen, who nodded in affirmation. Turning his head to the older Jonin, the younger man ran a hand over his face. "Have you blooded your team yet?"
Shaking his head, Kakashi looked to his young comrade and then back at the map. "No, they haven't, what did you have in mind?" While he waited for Ikari to speak up, he looked over the map and thought about different plans of action that he could take. Finally he looked back up at the other shinobi and took a moment to assess him as a ninja and as a leader.
Ignoring the gaze of his Aniki for the time being, Ikari absent-mindedly unrolled the sealing scroll and unsealed a smaller bag and tossed it to Yorubara, who caught it with one of her tails. The five Kitsune all bowed and disappeared in a puff of smoke, while Ikari turned to Kakashi and smirked. "In three days we will take out the bandits and Gato as I have a plan to do so, and I will need you and your team to help me out. Normally I wouldn't dream of taking an unbloodied team, but I may not have a choice here."
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