Spooky, Scary Scam Artists

Mission being done:

Spoiler:

“Tickets here please.”

301 Reiki was a dilapidated old warehouse with broken windows, moldy wood and holes in the roof. Which didn’t make it stand out from most of Yugakure no Sato aside from its size. At the main entrance was a line of people from all walks of life, eager to show their ticket to the two doormen. Or man and women to be accurate. He was a burly-looking man of middle age with a bald head and a small patch of beard on his chin. She was smaller, but her short, blond hair and toned muscle excluded the same “Don’t fuck with me” aura as her colleague. Despite their intimidating posture, both individuals put up a friendly smile to each of the customers as they handed in their ticket and went inside.

“We only have one ticket in between the two of us.”, Yazui whispered to Kinko. The two were concealed behind some large, snow-covered bushes on a hill overlooking the old warehouse.  The ticket in question was currently somewhere in Kinko’s pocket. “I’d suggest one of us getting in line posing as a tourist and ambushing them while the other one acts as support.” The hill was covered in thick bushes and shrubbery on its downward descend, not ending until on the opposite side of the road and five meters from the entrance. “With all this cover, I could easily put the two of them under a genjutsu before they even notice me, so I’d be good for support.”

He looked over at Kinko. He remembered when the two first joined Yugure. Yazui had been cautious in approaching Arantima and Kana Mi whereas Kinko had casually strolled over to them. It was clear both men had a different way of doing things. And if that moment in the past was any indication, Kinko was likely stubborn enough to do things his way regardless of what Yazui was planning. Which is why he preferred to discuss their plan beforehand. If Kinko wanted a different approach, Yazui wanted to know before they acted.

“Or do you have a different suggestion?”

---

351/351

The trek to 301 Reiki did not take long nor was it hard to find. While the village was close, it was also small. There were few buildings and even fewer roads. Reiki was a smaller back alleyway, one of the lesser known roads to travelers but Kinko and his partner had settled long enough to know the village well enough. Kinko observed the building and what appeared to have been the two doormen, well, two door people. The two seemed rugged and from the area, more from the underbelly. Kinko could smell their filth from there, not the physical filth but the spiritual filth. He was certain the group had been scamming travelers. Nothing mad Kinko more furious than the exploitation of others, especially when people had no skill, no contribution to society. While these individuals may have had skill, or were able to contribute, they were not. Kinko could understand the atmosphere they are in but was extremely judgmental of their character.

The convex of thoughts were interrupted with the ticket. Kinko pulled it out of his pocket and was curious if whether the ticket was already used. He was not sure what the verification system was, worst case, Kinko could buy a ticket if this ticket was rejected. If only Kinko had fake money, he would make sure to get it back anyway.

Kinko listened to the plan that Yazui had come up with. And while it was an okay plan, it wasn’t flawless. Yazui failed to realize that Kinko is surely much more intimidating than he was. Kinko would never be a target! It did not help that Kinko and Yazui both typically were in supportive roles, with no natural indication of who would be the primary aggressor. Without regard, Kinko let out an exhale, one of frustration, generally because he was not certain how to handle this. Should he challenge this plan for his ego or should he be cooperative and trust Yazui to cover his back, if needed. Kinko failed to recognize this as an opportunity to go undercover, most people don’t have that opportunity often.

Kinko looked over at Yazui with disappointment filling his eyes, he acquiesced to the plan. “Sure, Yazui. I will go.” Flipping the narrative to make him the hero, him the tribute. “I trust you will watch my back.” He said, in a way suggesting that Yazui knew he would help him…if he ever needed it. The cocky bastard, nodding towards Yazui.

The young vampire roughed up his clothes and hair a bit, trying to blend in. Catching a breeze, Kinko shifted towards the walkway, like a simple civilian. His shoulders drooped, his feet shuffled, and his eyes faced down, as Kinko played the character. Slowly walking up towards the two workers. The two workers, looked at each other, smirking. “Hello…ummm. I have this ticket. I’d like to join. I am doing this as a test of courage…ummm…” He said with a higher pitched voice, thrusting his ticket from his pocket towards the man. Kinko made sure to show off his jewelry, the rings on his fingers, surely worth at least SOMETHING. The man snatched, the ticket from his hand and made a confused face, looking over at the women. The lady nudged him, her eyes pierced the silence, gazing at the rings. “Right along this way, brave sir.” The man said opening the door for Kinko to enter. “…” Kinko replied as he shuffled his brave feet through the doorframe.

The two followed, not to immediately ambush Kinko but instead, shouting. “Last call, we ALL meet in the back behind the shed in two minutes.” It was loud enough and the door was closing, allowing Yazui to hear if he were paying attention. Kinko, followed suit, walking towards the backdoor, following the crowd of 5 others. Two men and two women, they looked like travelers. Not entirely a lot to their names but enough to take the time off of their journey. None were shinobi but all were about to be saved, not by the ghouls but the ghosts of Yugure.

[WC:683]

Kinko seemed to agree with Yazui's plan, even though his fave and body language showed how much he actually disagreed with it. With dissapointment in his eyes, he almost slumped off towards the entrance. Was he... hurt? Offended? From Yazui's point of view, it was only logical what he was doing. He had always been focused on survival, and he expected others to function the same. Apparently, Kinko was of a more idealistic sort. Interesting, especially considering he came from the same cutthroat place that was Kumogakure as the Tenka.

The more interesting question was: did the rest of Yugure share his point of view?

That was something to be found out another day. For now, the priority was their mission at hand. Yazui would remain concealed within the bushes as Kinko approached the building. The pale young man arrived at the door, mumbling something Yazui couldn't make out as he displayed his ticket. The two doormen gave each other a suspicious look. Yazui brought his hands together as an instinctive reaction, ready to form the first hand seal for a jutsu and assist Kinko should their plan crash before it truly took flight. However, after a brief tense second the duo let Kinko in through the door. And with that, Yazui's partner had vanished from sight.

There was a brief moment of indecision as Yazui contemplated sneaking closer to the building. When suddenly a voice echoed from inside. It was slightly muffled through the wall, but Yazui could still make out the words.

Perfect..

Yazui would move out of the bushes and cross the road. With a combination of stealth and speed only possible to shinobi, he would circle the building. He would slip into the gap between 301 Reiki and the adjacent building and move up the wall, emerging on the roof. He would then head towards the back of the building, giving him a good vantage point over the empty back alley.

Moments later, the door would open and the hapless visitors would head out like lambs to the slaughter. From behind his circular sunglasses, Yazui would observe the tourists as they left the building one by one. They all looked like typical tourists, blank curious stares abound. Finally, Kinko exited as one of the last, followed by the two doormen. From his position, Yazui was about five meters removed from the ally. This put everyone in the perfect range.

"Ram, dog, tiger, boar, ram..."

His hands formed the required seals as he focused on Kinko. Placing ones own ally under a genjutsu seemed counterproductive, but this particular illusion allowed him to covertly deliver messages. In this case, Kinko would hear Yazui's voice coming from inside his head.

"Kinko. I'm communicating with you through Genjutsu. I'm on the adjacent roof. If I yell, don't look up at me!"

With his message delivered, Yazui would focus on the doormen. The man would move to the center of the alley, clearing his throat loudly and theatrically spreading his arms. He would begin to spew some verbal excrement about the so-called history of the village. Its specters and ghouls. Yazui couldn't help but smirk knowing the actual monsters lurking not too far from the village.

The man was clearly putting up an empty show. But what about the woman? From his vantage point, while the tourists were looking at the man, the woman was still standing near the back door. In the shadow of the building, her far smaller frame allowed her to go unnoticed by the tourists who were closely listening to the bullshit. It was a tactic Yazui recognized and employed himself quite frequently. Which is exactly why he focused on her. More specifically on her left hand, which slipped into her back pocket and retrieving four thin needles, each held between two fingers.

Senbon.

It was all Yazui needed to see to move into action. Forming five more seals, moisture from the air would gather in front of Yazui. Guided by his chakra, it formed a thin, reflective lens in between him and the group. If this didn't catch the attention of the scam artists, his voice suddenly would.

"Up here you assholes!"

These words would bring the eyes of everyone sans Kinko (unless his short-term memory was truly worthless) up to meet Yazui and his mirror. And a glance at this mirror was all that was required to treat anyone to a genjutsu-induced view of hell on earth. Fire, brimstone, the scalding heat and blood-covered corpses.... it was more horror than the tourists probably signed up for. It was unfortunate that they got caught up in the crossfire, but the genjutsu was mostly harmless. Most importantly, the two conmen would also be caught in its grasp. Giving Kinko the opportunity to end this nice and clean.

---

801/1152

Kinko stood around as the large man began his opening statement to the crowd. He was grandiose, dramatic, and had a bit of flair to him. Kinko was certain this hunk of a man would have been an actor, had he been born in a better set of circumstances. Regardless, Kinko was not fooled. He smiled as he knew Yazui would have been thinking the same thing. Those woods really are haunted...by us. A sly smile came over Kinko as he could not hold to withstand his thoughts internally. Truly, he must have looked goofy. But then he was so rudely INTERRUPTED. Kinko felt a shift in his chakra, in his mind. Not as if someone took control of the car, but like someone jumped in through the window.

'Hey! Get out of my head! You should knock first!' He thought as he knocked on his own head a few times. Luckily he was in the back, attracting little attention. Of course, Kinko got the idea, as the two initially clashed over each other. 'I wonder if he was the one who caused my nightmare the other night.' He said with a verbally huff while crossing his arms. That really was an invasion of autonomy and privacy. A smile crept on Kinko's face, 'He is going to need to teach me that...Hey! are you still there? Will you...'

His own thoughts were interrupted as the scalding string of words cut the air, "Up here you assholes!" Kinko without a hesitation quickly looked and without another hesitation quickly looked away. 'Oh my gods! That was close.' Kinko thought as he realized he was about to entirely fail to adhere to basic instructions, luckily, Kinko was quick enough to look away, looking away before he even finished his line. Kinko always thought it was funny when someone said asshole and everyone looked, perhaps everyone thinks they are the asshole? 'Sorry Yazui!' Kinko thought, making sure the Tenka was out of his head.

It was only a moment for the few tourists to really get what they were paying for. Yazui must have done this exact scheme before; it was executed fairly well. Within the moment, Kinko watched these people turn from curious to panicked. The tourists were fleeing from nothing, full sprinting into trees. The screams and begs for mercy reminded Kinko of a battlefield. The unrelenting sobbing, pleading, and pain cut through each other. Kinko stood still for a moment, wondering what Yazui was thinking. Kinko looked up at Yazui for a second, completely blank, full of judgment. Only for a moment before he nodded to him, "I will get the guy, you get the girl." Kinko said as he watched the man try wrestling his nightmares. Kinko will give it to him, the doorman was a fighter. It appeared a bleak attempt as the depression quickly overwhelmed the doorman, as he was being pinned down by nothing. Kinko watched as the doorman truly tried to get back up, tried to fight off the demon in his mind. Yet, with each second, each footstep Kinko took towards the man, he was fading. Inch by inch, his arms were being pinned down, his legs, and eventually, something wrapped around his neck.

This made Kinko's job easy. He was simply walk up to the man who was allowed himself to be captured. Kinko then stood over the man, and with proper measure, kicked the man a few times, mainly to those pesky ribs and lungs but perhaps, once or two to the head. Kinko was cautious not to cause enough physical harm to break the genjutsu, but enough to make a presence known.

Kinko pulled out the ticket and formed a handsign, slapping the ticket to the man's forehead. The man could not resist if he wanted to, completely gassed out, there was nothing left in his gas tank. 'Yeah, this guy is done.' Kinko placed a foot over the body of the man, as he turned his head to see how Yazui was doing. Most of the individuals had fled, others were also knocked out on the floor. Kinko would not have been surprised if someone had plucked their own eyes out. Kinko brought his mouth down to the ear of the man. In a devilish voice, in a confusion of reality and dreams, Kinko demanded, "Why do you do this?" The man who could barely move a muscle began to sob, choking on his own fears. "Yuto! It was Yuto's idea!" He said in shame. "I will release you if you tell me where..." The muscle man's eyes widened, Kinko clearly hit the spot. "Over the ridge through the creek, our hide out is mountain side, GET ME OUT!" The man said so fast it almost came out in ancient tongues. Kinko then smiled, showing his fangs and he pierced them into the neck of the man. Kinko was unsure how much time he would have to feed and he was not that hungry but Kinko would assist this man in passing out quicker. Before long, Kinko could see the color of the man dissipate. The young vampire collected himself as he slowly turned his body away from the man, wiped his lips of the dripping blood, looking for Yazui

[WC:879/1562]

Spoiler:

The quiet that fell as everyone except Kinko looked up to Yazui was like the silence before the storm. Then, the first desperate cries of panic began sounding across the alley. The ones first affected began pleading and screaming. Some feverishly looked around, others began running or hiding in corners or shielding themselves from whatever imaginary demons were poking at their flesh. They were caught in hell on earth, and Yazui was loving every bit of it. Knowing he was just a few hand seals away from having this much power over someone felt… exhilarating. As long he was the one dishing out the pain, he felt above it. Above them. The fact that the people he was “above” were only hapless tourists and more hardened shinobi would break through the illusion with little difficulty prevented Yazui from feeling too much like a big shot. Still, he enjoyed this little moment so much that he had to bite his lower lip to subdue a smile. He was well-aware of Kinko’s judgmental stare. For the sake of their teamwork, it seemed smart to keep up appearance.

With Yazui’s blank expression and his lower lip folded into his mouth, the man looked dopey. As if the tourists being caught in the genjutsu was an honest oversight rather than calculated collateral damage. Hopefully it would convince Kinko.

The moment passed, and Yazui nodded as Kinko divided their targets. With his work cut out for him, Yazui hopped down into the alley, drew a kunai and charged the woman. The kunai was held in his right hand. It was more of a defense to fall back on rather than a weapon for killing. After all, they still needed information. So rather than kill her, Yazui would try to knock her out and perform his mind-reading genjutsu. With this, he could read the memories of a victim’s last 24 hours. Hopefully these 24 hours would contain enough information to get to the bottom of this.

Coming within arms reach of the woman, who was crouched over and clutching her head, Yazui prepared to strike. But just as he raised his left arm to strike at her temple, two malicious eyes shot up at him.

“!!!”

He could barely step back in time to avoid the swipe of senbon-claws at his face. During this, he got a quick glance at her hand and saw the blood emerging from her finger tip.

“Clever girl….”

Using the needles she was already holding, she had utilized pain to snap back to reality and lure him into a trap. Unfortunately for her, Yazui was still the better combatant. There were a few brief exchanges of steel on steel. Senbon parrying kunai. Then, on the fourth exchange, Yazui saw his opening. The woman aimed a fith swipe, but overreached. Leaving her wide open in her recovery. Yazui dipped in and with a swift cut opened her throat. Blood poared on the floor as the woman gasped at the wound. She then sank to her knees, the life draining from her as Yazui looked over at Kinko. From his position, he could overhear the man pleading and calling a name.

That was all they needed to know.

Looking away as Kinko drained his victim, Yazui would perform a seal and cancel the genjutsu. Some scattered tourists were quick to recover, looking around them with a look of “what the hell just happened?!”. Others were still crying in a corner, seeking comfort with another. Several had wet their pants. A single one had clawed his eyes out.

“Everyone. I am terribly sorry this had to happen to you.”, he would say loudly to the tourists. “My partner and I dispelled the genjutsu that these two imposters cast on you. They were planning on stealing your valuables and killing you afterwards. But worry not, you are safe. Return to your hotels, lodges or hostels and try to come to your senses. Don’t be afraid to talk to a loved one about what you just experienced.” He would then turn to Kinko and give him a thumbs up, having just saved them from a PR nightmare.

“So… we done here? A hideout in the mountains he said, right? Better get going before they catch wind of what happened here.”

---

714/1866

Bewildered, shocked, and utterly impressed by the comedic gold that Yazui is. Kinko had the biggest smile expressing his 'You Dirty Dog', face while genuinely appreciating what Yazui did. Kinko would never say he was impressed but it was very good thinking, a perfect hint of manipulation, and the delivery was solid. Bravo. Kinko barely was able to keep his laughter in as his brave face was being prominently displayed. Of course, Kinko took the opportunity to strike a victory pose, Placing both his hands on his hips, like a superman, as his eyes gazed over the surviving victims. Honestly, Kinko thought Yazui was going to take the credit and charge these people for the show. Now THAT would be devilish. In a fashion of over inflated ego, Kinko would return the finger gun motion with his right hand in response to Yazui's thumb. Of course, Kinko would give Yazui a quiet round of applause, three claps, nothing more, nothing less. Kinko then did that frantic head nod in the direction of the woods. There was a route that Kinko and Yazui could take to get them to where they need to go but most important, regroup and regather and prepare for what will happen next. Once Kinko and Yazui were out of sight and earshot of the victims, Kinko looked over at Yazui and gave him a friendly push. "YOU DIRTY DOG!" He said with a laughter. "Brilliant." Kinko said as he was shaking his head in disapproval due to the moral implications. Kinko rolled his eyes but yet, confirmed. "Brilliant..." He said as the two trekked through the trees, the duo will have quite a bit to talk about.

[Exit]

[WC: 282/1844]

Claiming: (4,000,+25%) 5000 Ryo / (20, +25%) 25 AP

[Supplemental Claiming: 1844
+18 Vigor
Final 1800 WC used for https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t49968-mystical-palm-v7-2
First 700 used at https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t53416p10-food-brings-us-together]

Yazui smiled at Kinko’s compliments. He had honestly expected more judgemental stares from the opportunistic nature of the move, but perhaps Kinko was more pragmatic than Yazui had thought. He certainly seemed willing to push his own moralv boundaries if it meant achieving results or getting out of a sticky situation. This was a good sign; it made working together a lot easier. When this was all over, the locals would remember Yugure as a force of good, tightening their grip on the area. Some local support went a long way. And with the way some of the tourists looked at them full of worship and gratitude -especially the beautiful young blonde with the hourglass figure- Yazui could see how Kinko was getting off on this hero business.

“I have my moments.”, Yazui said smugly as the two continued their trek towards the mastermind. And hopefully the end of this little adventure.

[EXIT]

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154/2020

Claiming mission reward

Spoiler:

Stats:

Spoiler:

Jutsu

Spoiler:

Approved.