Money Troubles: B-Rank Mission

The sun rose high over the misty village of Kirigakure, turning the air green as the light permeated the thick fog hanging about. Inazuma stood on the porch of her apartment, looking out into the thick forest behind. She stretched her arms and arched her back, causing the bones to crack and shift about. As she relaxed, she pulled a small scroll from within her cloak and unfurled it. Ina held the cloth between her hands, eyes scanning the paper, darting across the page. She read aloud, “Money has been missing from the city's treasury, leading the Mizukage to suspect a traitor. You are assigned to watch one of the suspected criminals and report back any strange behavior you might find. Do not engage the suspect rather report back to headquarters with any information you might find.” Inazuma looked up, closing the scroll and tucking it into her coat pocket. The fabric sagged slightly with the weight. Inazuma thought to herself, “Perhaps it would not be a good idea to carry around the mission when espionage was suspect. Better to have plausible deniability. Turning around, the young girl opened the sliding door to her housing and tossed the document onto her bed several feet away. She shut the door as she turned once again to face the quiet of the nature behind her lodgings.

Inazuma headed into town, footsteps smacking on the ground below. She formed the tiger seal, concentrating her energy into the tick mist that hung around Kirigakure. It condensed quickly into 2 identical clones of herself, running side by side with their caster. As she pressed forward Inazuma commanded her doppelgangers to split off, taking to the rooftops on her flanks. The young shinobi the concentrated her chakra into the rest of her body and used the transformation technique. Her body seemingly disappeared behind another shell of a person, taking the form of a small boy about 10 years old. He bore a worn down genin uniform, doing the symbol of the city across his back. “This should do,” thought Ina as she continued to travel through the ever bustling streets. Her destination was a small ramen shop located in the food district. Ina’s target was an accountant for the village’s treasury department; a low level chuunin who excelled more ay numbers and paperwork than ninjutsu and the like. But the again we all have our own talents now don’t we… Inazuma quickly and discreetly checked her sides with her peripheral vision, watching for her clones above. With a nod of her head she sent them ahead of her; one to take post high above the city and the other to go ahead to the ramen bar and wait at the ninja shop across the street. Ina sprinted forward, the form she was maintaining starting to strain her energy. As she herself approached the store she slowed to a crawl, dodging through the throngs of people packed in the streets that day. Ina finally made it past the mob, collecting herself before calmly entering the building.

A bell rang overhead as what appeared to be an eager young boy came bounding up to the counter. Jumping onto a free stool Inazuma ordered a small ramen. Looking around the room she surveyed for her suspect. His name as Kaito Kamei… Blonde hair, large square glasses, chuunin uniform… His headband however, had dark blue fabric rather than the traditional Kirigakure grey. Inazuma continued to survey the room, enjoying her ramen all the while. Then, out of the corner she spotted her man eating alone in a booth. He looked harmless enough, but underestimating one’s opponent would be a rookie mistake. Inazuma wondered if this could really be the guy. No matter; she shook herself out of it continuing to devour her meal. The food worked quick, revitalizing the young shinobi’s body; mostly quelling her rumbling tummy. Before she was able to finish, however, the man wiped his face and pushed back from the table. Ina quickly followed suit dropping more than enough money to cover the amount due. Making sure to maintain distance Inazuma signaled to her clone to follow him. As the man exited the shop the clone perched atop a support beam perked up, watching the suspect vigilantly. He continued down the streets moving slowly. For several twists and turns the clone on the ground followed him, the real Ina watching from the rooftops. “Perhaps he’s on to me… or suspicious of being followed.” She thought to herself. “Time to mix it back up…” Making hers decision, Inazuma had her ground clone veer off to visit a nearby flower cart. Still on rooftop Ina jumped silently behind her suspect. Several more minutes passed like this until he came upon a small, dilapidated building. It had worn walls and a sagging roof. Its doors and windows were boarded up with a sign labeled “Condemned” on it. Kaito stopped to the left of the house, a small hatch in the ground (presumably to the basement) in front of him. Ina had made sure to truly assimilate into the appearance she had taken, grabbing a stick off the ground and pretend fighting the air. So as the accountant looked over in her direction, he looked right through her. He then took a deep breathe, opening the cellar door as he did so. The man stepped down into the dark hole disappearing as he closed the heavy door above him with a thud. Ina proceeded to then drop the innocent act and move towards the door. She pressed her head close to the door, barely able to make out voices from within. As she moved loser she began to hear the slightly audible dialogue below.

“… I’ll be caught for sure! Then I’ll have nothing…”

“Silence!” barked another voice, though this one from a woman. “I have no concerns about you or your pathetic life. If you ever want to see your wife again you’ll do exactly as I say. Is that understood?” There was silence for several seconds… “Good boy. Now remember the plan; do you part exactly as we discussed and your wife goes free. I could care less whether you yourself are killed, caught, or none of the above. And if you love your spouse, you wouldn’t care either.”

Inazuma heard footsteps as the people below began to shit about. Thinking quickly she climbed a nearby tree, lounging lazily on it. She closed her eyes pretending to be asleep just in time as the cellar door shot open. The young shinobi continued to press them together hearing a heavy sigh followed by a familiar thud. As she sat there feigning rest, Inazuma had already “called” her clone on the ground and told it to watch for Kaito. Her sentry above kept eyes on the suspect as Ina slowly opened her eyes. Returning to the cellar door Ina slowly opened it, poking only her head in at first, followed by the rest of her body. Still in guise she tiptoed around the dark room looking for any clues or helpful items that might tell her who the mystery woman was. The from out of the shadows came the familiar sound of a kunai being drawn from its sheathe; the scrape of the iron against the hardened leather. Before she had time to react a figure jumped from with the darkness. An arm caught her own limbs behind her back, the weapon pressed lightly against her throat.

“Who are you?” hissed the same feminine voice from earlier, though it seemed much more sinister in person. Playing her part, Ina began to sob, moisture slowly condensing in her eyes. “I just came down here on a dare. Everyone says this place is haunted and they best me I was too chicken to stay in here for 5 minutes.” Ina began to cry hysterically. The woman loosened her grip speaking calmly as she did so, “This is private property… So when I let you go, I expect you to run out the way you came and never speak a word of this to anyone… You got it?” The blade slightly tightened on her throat, nicking the skin. Ina quickly nodded in agreement as a small trickle of blade ran down her neck. The woman released her grip sending what appeared to be a small, crying child from the premises.

Inazuma continued to play her part, running down the street for several more blocks before ducking into an alley. Ina released her transformation technique once again taking her own visage. Reporting in with her clones she processed the information they had collected. They had followed Kaito back to his lodgings were he had been for several minutes already. “Good,” thought the young girl, “hopefully that give me time to report back to HQ. I still don’t know when all this is happening so for now one of you will have to keep watch.” With that she released her technique on the sentry posted above Kirigakure, leaving one stationed near the suspects dwellings. She then began her trip back to the admin offices to report in.

Word Count: 1522

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There a reason this keeps getting passed over? Did I upset someone?

Approved, +900 Ryo, +7jp.

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