Nikkō didn't speak on the way to rejoin the others; she was too busy thinking. What could possibly be significant enough about a yakuza banker that it warranted a flash priority message? The yakuza were a good source of missions and useful for keeping civilians alive and in line so that ninja could focus on other things, but it wasn't like they were important. What was Wakahisa on about?
Typical. This was just typical of this team. Not telling her what was going on, talking around her, living in that little bubble of theirs that excluded everyone who wasn't a Cold Stone Killer.
No, that wasn't fair. They were many things, but liars did not seem to be among those things. They had kept things from her but they had never actually said anything untrue as far as she knew. If Wakahisa said that this was related to classified information then it probably was related to classified information and not them deliberately excluding her. There were plenty of times that you had to just shut up and soldier on, relying on the fact that your teammate knew something you didn't. It was a little weird to have that happen to the woman who was supposed to be the team commander, but so it was. Still, 'break cover and rejoin the rest of the team at speed' was one thing, but she was going to need some answers before she would let them hijack the mission any further! Oh yessiree, there would be an explanation before they went dragging her off to—
Oh.
Oh, crap.
o-o-o-o
Her thoughts were still in turmoil when they finally tracked the rest of the team down.
"Keiko, stop, don't send the messenger!" Wakahisa shouted the moment they were in sight of the team's shelter. "We need—"
"Don't move, you stinkers," Kagome hissed from far too close behind them. "Who are you and what have you done with Noburi and Dumbbutt?"
Nikkō froze, cursing herself for not noticing the paranoid wackjob. Was this it? This was his chance to wipe them out and claim that it had been an intruder henged as them. And, just to add insult to injury, the last word she heard was going to be that stupid nickname.
"Kagome, it's us," Wakahisa said quickly. "Apple ratberry firepit idiot."
"Dinner log dirt rocks," came the reply, the tone confused and suspicious. "What are you doing here? You weren't supposed to be here. We were supposed to meet back by the city at noon tomorrow. You said we would meet back by the city at noon tomorrow. Why—"
"Kagome, stand down and let them talk," Mori said, emerging from the shelter with Kurosawa a step behind. "Noburi, Minami, what is it?"
A rustling in the bushes heralded Kagome joining the party with his hands in sight and not pointing anything threatening or explosive or doom-inspiring at her; Nikkō stifled a relieved sigh.
"We found a guy, a yakuza banker, who might have a lead on that thing we aren't allowed to talk about," Wakahisa said, the words tumbling out excitedly. "He's leaving on the morning tide from Ise and we didn't actually ask when the morning tide was but it's probably pretty soon. He might know—"
"Stop," Mori said, holding out a raised palm in warning. "You are on the edge of classified information."
"Is this about Leaf's jinchūriki being kidnapped?" Nikkō asked, fighting to sound casual instead of smug. "Because I'm guessing it's about Leaf's jinchūriki being kidnapped."
Wakahisa and Kurosawa blinked in surprise. Mori just looked tired.
"How do you know that?" Kurosawa asked.
"When I was lecturing Kagome after his stupid attempt at murder, I mentioned finding Uzumaki," Mori reminded him. "She must have known that it was wildly unlikely for the son of the Fourth Hokage to either be killed on a mission or to go missing-nin. After all, he is a child who—according to Ino, anyway—is respected throughout Leaf for his power, his sunny personality, and his dedication to the village. He is so impressive that he took the Chūnin exams after a year. He is the godson of a Sannin and the protégé of the God of Shinobi. He is about as likely to become a missing-nin as Kagome is to successfully perform an infiltration mission."
"Hey!"
"You are too honest to perform as a spy," Mori said.
Kagome mulled that over. "Okay. I guess that's true. Never was good at lying. Too complicated. So, yakuza banker, possible lead on the kid. Start at the beginning."
"In the interest of time, allow me to jump ahead," Mori said, her voice distant in exactly the same way Shika's used to be when he was thinking furiously.
No, not the same. Colder, harder. Shika had been distant but still human, and right now Mori was...not.
"Your contact at the brothel told you that there was a yakuza banker in town. Presumably a roving troubleshooter who goes around the Elemental Nations checking the books of local bosses to ensure they are sending the appropriate amount of their profits back to the higher-ups in the yakuza. He has been in town for a matter of weeks and he leaves shortly. You wish to send a flash-priority message to Jiraiya via pangolin in order to inform him of the situation. You believe that after making the report we should immediately scout the banker and, barring specific orders to the contrary, we should kidnap him off his ship once he is a few hours out to sea. We should then abandon the remainder of our mission and proceed to Leaf at maximum speed, using skywalkers the entire way."
Nikkō gaped at her. "How...?"
"You get used to it," Kurosawa said with a grin. "Brain the size of the world. Okay, here's my initial suggestion. Minami, this is only a suggestion—you're in charge, you countermand anything you don't agree with. First, like Keiko said, we send the messenger to Jiraiya and tell him we'll check back in an hour or two for further directions. Second—"
"No," Nikkō said. "I want to hear this. That was too specific, how did you know all that about him being a roving troubleshooter and whatever?" She turned slightly so that she had everyone within her peripheral vision. It was unlikely that they were in cahoots with a yakuza and more likely that Mori had managed one of those feats of deduction that Shika used to do. Still, best not to take chances. After all, they were the Cold Stone Killers.
Keiko's head turned slowly, precisely, as though something was puppeting her body from far away. Her eyes, dead and flat, locked onto Nikkō's.
"Noburi stated that there was a yakuza banker in town but leaving on the morning tide," she began, the flatness of her voice dredging up all those painful memories of Shika's exaggerated patience as he carefully explained things to the slow learner. "Incidentally, according to the almanacs I consulted in the Nara library while we were preparing for this trip, the tide in this area should be going out around nine in the morning, so we have time.
"A local banker for the yakuza has little reason to leave the city, so he's not from the city. Someone like that is not going to be sent to help the local branches, he's going to be sent to check up on them. The yakuza is a widespread organization that frequently hires mercenaries, smugglers, and other criminal elements and therefore possesses a widespread intelligence network. This banker is privy to secrets from a broad swath of yakuza operations, meaning he might have a lead on the people who kidnapped Uzumaki. The logical thing to do is capture and interrogate him, but our team lacks anyone with interrogation skills. The best option is to return him to Leaf where the T&I department and the Yamanaka can extract what he knows. Doing so means abandoning the mission and making best speed. We can travel faster using skywalkers than on the ground, since we don't need to worry about terrain or attack by chakra beasts—yes, Kagome, other than sky squids, chakra hawks, or the like. It makes more sense to capture him at sea during the day, when there are no reinforcements around, than in the harbor at night where an Ise patrol might encounter us and complicate the issue."
"I, uh, actually was thinking that the harbor would be better," Wakahisa said. "We could hit sooner and the city guard is pretty much just civilians. They won't matter in a fight."
"There's ninja in Ise," Nikkō objected. "Some of them definitely work with the guard. Also, the patrols are going to be heavier during the night, since that's when most smuggling would happen."
"And also when there's more risk of chakra beasts coming out of the water and not being immediately noticed," Mori added. "Some of those patrols will definitely have ninja in them for exactly that case."
"Oh." Wakahisa looked abashed.
"Hazō, I believe you mentioned a plan?"
"Right," Kurosawa said. "Okay, well, first things first. It's going to be dark in a few minutes and we can't afford to miss this checkin. We need to figure out what we put in this message. Most of it's obvious—the basic facts about the situation, a request that Minami's be cleared for this information so we can fully brief her, a request for orders, and a statement that we'll check back in an hour or two. What else?"
"The agent," Nikkō offered. "Tanaka Iwao. In payment for this information, he wants himself and his sister...daughter?...to be extracted back to Leaf. All he is asking for is escort to Leaf, a simple yet safe apartment, school for the girl, and a month's grace on rent and tuition. He said he would find a job and pay their bills from then on."
"It is a most youthful request," said Ishihara. "Modest and self-sufficient. I hope that it will be granted."
"The chance of it being granted goes up significantly if we are successful in bringing this banker—"
"Goda Haruto," Wakahisa offered.
"—bringing Goda in," Mori finished. "Does anyone have anything else to add?"
Looks were exchanged but no one spoke.
"Very well." The creature that was puppeting Mori nicked its thumb on a kunai and slammed it on the ground. "Pangolin Summoning Jutsu: Pandour!"
There was a blast of purple smoke and a larger version of Pandā was standing in front of them. It stretched and yawned, rubbing at its eyes. "Hello, Summoner. Message for me?"
Mori laid out the details of their report in a minimum of precise, neatly-organized, stamped-out words. When she finished, Pandour repeated it word-for-word, waited for Mori's confirmation, and then vanished back into the Summon Realm.
"Okay," Kurosawa said. "That's done, time to figure out the next step. Here's my suggestion; Minami, let me repeat that you're in charge. If you don't like it, we'll change it or scrap it.
"First, we scout. Minami, we'll want to use your prism to watch from long range and we'll work on a rotating basis so everyone can get some sleep. Then—"
o-o-o-o
"Greetings, Summoner."
Kei's other summons frequently tried to loom impressively. None of them, not even the immense Panjandrum, were nearly as intimidating looming and waving their claws around as Senior Combat Instructor Pankurashun was while just sitting in a chair in his office in front of a desk loaded with clay tablets.
"Greetings, Senior Combat Instructor!" she rapped out, standing rigidly erect with her fingers interlaced.
"At ease, Summoner. Sit."
She lowered herself into the chair with some care; pangolin chairs were not designed for the human body plan and the cut-out section for their tails always made her feel like she was going to fall through.
"I have received regular reports on your progress from Specialist Pandā," he said calmly. "I have been pleased at what I heard. You have fixed your issues with your squadmate, you aggressively pursue training, and you have been instrumental in your team's survival on several occasions. Both through your skill at arms and through a strategic sense that is surprising for one of your age."
"Thank you, Senior Combat Instructor!"
"Your morale issues remain a concern. A soldier must have accurate self-assessment, and from what I've been told your ability to do so does not meet the expectations of the Pangolin Clan military. We will work on that." The iron certainty behind the words sent a shiver down her spine.
"Now, there are two reasons you might be here today. It's possible that you want me to train one of your other squadmates. I find it more likely that you have an upcoming battle and you wish to ask my permission to summon me for it."
"Yes, Senior Combat Instructor!"
"Well? Which is it, Summoner? Clarity matters."
"I wish to ask your permission to summon you to a battle, Senior Combat Instructor!"
"Tell me about this battle. Who is it against? What is your plan?"
"Sir, we have only had a few hours to prepare, so we have limited data on our enemy! The battle will take place on shipboard and our best estimates of enemy force composition are—"
o-o-o-o
This was supposed to be easy, Hazō griped to himself. Their team leader had a bloodline that allowed her to see long distances—it was practically the first thing she had said to them! It sounded perfect—create the prism on the Sunset Racer and then walk along above the clouds, watching the enemy's every move through the magic bloodline jutsu.
Nope.
"Um...I can only create the prism where I am. I can see through it when I move away from it."
"Oh. Well, that's...good, I guess."
"Pfft. Useless."
"Kagome!"
"What? It is."
The rules of engagement weren't any better.
"Most of the people on that boat are innocent civilians," Hazō had said carefully. "I'd like to leave them unhurt if possible. If we throw a couple of misterators around, Noburi can drain them unconscious in seconds. They won't even have time to see our faces."
Minami had gaped at him. "Are you kidding? Sage's fury, no. We hit hard and fast, we kill everything that isn't Goda, and then we sink the ship. This is important—like Mori said, the future of Leaf hinges on it. We can't afford to take risks and we need to maintain OPSEC. No messing around, and that's an order."
"Yes! Finally, someone gets it! Woohoo! Boom, squish! Easy! None of this stupid 'nonlethal' stuff! Boom!"
Minami had looked disconcerted to realize that she was siding with Kagome. She looked outright disturbed to see him do his happy dance, complete with fistpumps and butt wiggles.
And so here Hazō stood, a thousand feet in the air, looking down at the tiny little white-tailed speck that was the Sunset Racer. The sleek craft skipped lightly through the water, a fresh breeze in her sails and not a care in the world. Did any of her crew realize that this was their last day alive? That these were the last sun-sparkling waves they would see, the last salt breeze that would kiss their faces? That they would never again see the sweethearts and wives and children that they were no doubt so eager to get home to, and that those sweethearts and wives and children would never even know what happened to their loved ones? That they were going to die, snuffed out like candles, simply because they had been hired by someone who might have information that would help the village of Leaf?
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Hazō hoped not. Given his orders, the best he could do would be to make their deaths quick and painless. Even that probably wouldn't happen; there would undoubtedly be ninja on the boat and the team needed to focus on them first. The civilians would have plenty of time to be terrified.
Speaking of plenty of time, couldn't the damn boat go any faster? If he was going to have to slaughter a bunch of helpless sailors then he'd like to get it over with. The Racer was fast for a ship but it was almost painful for a ninja to travel slowly enough to keep pace.
"The vessel will be at the optimal ambush site in thirty minutes," Keiko said, her voice slow and cold, frozen into the Mori Ice. "They will be as far from land as they will be at any point during this journey. In the extremely unlikely event that we miss someone and they survive the sinking of the ship, it will be very unlikely they can swim to shore before drowning or being eaten by a chakra beast. Similarly, there is no shoreline close enough to observe us, so we can murder our helpless civilian enemies in peace."
Minami shot her a suspicious look; it rolled effortlessly off of the ice that froze Keiko's face. "Okay," Minami said, clearly choosing not to pursue the issue. "Off you go. Be careful."
"Hey, me and Keiko are always careful," Noburi said with a smile that Hazō was happy to see looked a bit forced. "It's Kurosawa 'Caution to the Winds' Hazō over there that you need to worry about."
Hazō glared at him, not in the mood for jokes. Noburi tipped him a jaunty wink, then turned and raced off with Keiko beside him.
Minami watched them go, then looked down at the Racer and sighed. "Can't that stupid ship go any faster?" she mumbled.
o-o-o-o
Now that they could finally move at a proper ninja speed, it took hardly any time at all to race ahead of their target and get into position for the ambush. Three miles east in nine minutes, drop half a mile down to sea level as quickly as possible, spend three minutes erecting a skytower a foot above the wavetops.
Kei knelt on the platform, gathering her nerve and forcing herself to breathe as she slowly extricated herself from the ice. It was tempting to stay in the calming embrace of the Mori Voice; when she wrapped the ice around herself she was not bothered by the fact that she was about to kill a human being for the first time. A lot of human beings, actually.
Comforting, but stupid. Someday perhaps she could fight while inside the ice, but today was not that day. If her hands trembled at the thought of the upcoming combat against merely human foes then she was definitely too weak, too fragile, to combat the Mori Voice itself.
"Ready when you are," Noburi said, two bottles full of chakra-imbued water dangling from their straps over his left arm. He held a third bottle in his right hand, the cap already unfastened.
She pushed away the final slivers of the ice and focused on her breathing, forcing the knot in her stomach to untie itself. A wave, taller than its brethren, rose up over the edge of the platform and slapped into her. She barely noticed, automatically pushing chakra out to keep herself fixed to the platform. I am Mori, and I am in control, she sang to herself. She kept the song going, letting it sync to the too-fast rhythm of her heart and the fizzing buzz of chakra overcharge from the water Noburi had given her before they set off in the morning. Most of it had dispersed by now but some still remained, a wild and frenetic energy barely leashed by years of training.
"Is there anything nearby?" she asked quietly.
Noburi put the open bottle into his left hand so he could dip his right under the surface. He paused for a moment, mentally categorizing the tiny threads of chakra that trickled into his submerged fingers.
"Not much," he said. "A background hum that's probably plankton and some shrimp, then some small fish off to the right. Nothing I'm going to get much charge from, but also nothing that seems dangerous. Doesn't mean something else won't come along, though."
Kei blushed at the politely-worded rebuke. Indeed, she was wasting time. Having to face her own cowardice was bad enough, but holding up the mission was inexcusable. She grabbed a kunai from her thigh holster and dragged it across the edge of her hand.
"Pangolin Summoning Technique: Pankurashun!"
The familiar blast of purple smoke had barely dispersed before the massive pangolin was over the side of the platform and into the water with hardly a splash.
"Sitrep, Summoner," he demanded, his bass voice calm and unbothered by the fact that he was treading water dozens of miles from land in the middle of an ocean full of predators.
"The Sunset Racer is coming to us from that direction and should arrive within fifteen to twenty minutes, Senior Combat Instruct—"
When drill instructors laugh it's usually a bad sign for anyone nearby. When drill instructors chuckle, it's simply terrifying. It's like the entire world has turned sideways.
"Relax, Summoner," Pankurashun said with a tone that sounded disturbingly close to warmth. "Remember, you are not in my office or on my drill field. You are in command here. Address me and the others by name and accept no disrespect. You can do this. Your squadmate gave you the bones of a good plan and you refined it into something better. Your clawmate is beside you, the might of the Pangolin Army swims before you, and the hand of the Pantokrator is held over you."
Kei swallowed nervously. "Yes, Pankurashun."
Pangolins don't exactly harumph, but the noise Pankurashun made was similar. "Keiko. Look at me."
Her neck didn't want to move, but she wrapped her will around it and forced the muscles to bend such that she was face-to-face with the old pangolin warrior.
"You are the endpoint of history," he said calmly. "Thousands of matings in an unbroken chain that leads to you. Generations of warriors honing the arts of war, passing them down from teacher to student so that those arts would be ready to your hand when you needed them. The Pantokrator's plan surrounds us—so many worlds he could have created, and he chose the only one that would lead you here, to this moment, where you and I will fight as clawmates. Breathe in the soul of the Pangolin Clan, Summoner. Listen with our ears as the universe sings to you of your place at its center. Listen closely, and then go forth in violence to bring destruction upon your foes!"
A shiver danced across Kei's skin and she felt her lips peeling back from her teeth in a smile so fierce it was nearly a snarl. "Yes, Pankurashun!"
"Hah! Better!" The pangolin slapped the water with his tail, splashing all three of them. "Now, summon the slacker and the delinquent. The trail yearns for our claws!"
Kei held out her hand without looking and was unsurprised when a bottle slapped into her palm. She slammed the contents back, feeling the surge of chakra flooding into coils that had been mostly emptied by Pankurashun's summoning. Suddenly she was once again overcharged, her blood fizzing behind her eyes, her skin too tight, her brain jittery and hot. She dropped the now-empty bottle and slashed her kunai across the edge of her hand to reopen the wound. She slapped her palm down hard, the handseals blending smoothly into a single action.
"Summoning Technique: Panjandrum!"
Skytowers are, so far as anyone had ever been able to tell, absolutely immobile. Which was good, because the weight of a pangolin as enormous as Panjandrum would have instantly capsized any raft ever built. What skytowers weren't, however, was large.
The pangolin cook appeared at the edge of the platform and promptly tumbled backwards in a graceless crash that geysered water everywhere. He came to the surface coughing and spitting.
"Who pushed me?!" the massive creature demanded, hooking his enormous claws over the edge of the skytower and lifting himself up to look around. "Who dares challenge the honor of the mighty Panjandrum, greatest of the—"
"Sustainer Panjandrum, shut your mouth and get low!"
Panjandrum's body clearly reacted before his brain caught up; his claws sprang free of the skytower and he slipped down into the water until just his enormous head was sticking out. "Yes, Senior Combat Instructor!"
Kei was absolutely certain that Pankurashun did not smile. Well, almost certain. Maybe seventy percent. Seventy-ish.
"I remember you very clearly, Sustainer," Pankurashun said, his voice silk over sharpened steel. "It seems you still remember me as well."
Kei wouldn't have believed it possible, but somehow Panjandrum was managing to tread water at attention.
"Yes, Senior Combat Instructor! I remember you, Senior Combat Instructor!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down! Sound travels over water," Kei said. She leaned forward on her hands to steady herself. Even as heavily overcharged as she had been, summoning Panjandrum was still a massive effort and it had left her momentarily light-headed and snowy-visioned.
"Apologies, Summoner," Pankurashun said. "My squadmate shames me with his behavior."
"It's fine, Pankurashun," she said, waving a hand dismissively as the sparkles cleared from in front of her eyes. "Anyone can be startled when suddenly finding themselves in a new environment. Panjandrum, the enemy will be here shortly. Please put this on your head as camoflage."
Beside her, Noburi had just unsealed a bag stuffed with seaweed and held it out to the pangolin chef. Held it out very carefully, since each of Pandjandrum's claws was as long as Noburi's arm.
The pangolin chef drew himself up, clearly about to protest...and then he noticed Pankurashun staring at him. He meekly took the bag from Noburi, opened the mouth with surprisingly delicate twitches of those massive claws, and dumped the contents over his head. He allowed himself to sink as low in the water as he could in order to look like nothing more signficant than one mid-ocean patch of weeds among many.
Keiko took the next bottle from Noburi and gulped it down. She was starting to feel bloated, but there was nothing for it; she needed the chakra. Her coils were stretched and itchy, but she ignored it and shaped the energy for a third time.
"Summoning Technique, Panchipāma!"
A puff of purple smoke, torn away by the sea breeze, and the leader of the Naraka Rollers was slipping into the water opposite Pankurashun.
"Saaahhh," she hissed, her nose twitching towards the soldier. "The Panchipāma wasn't sure you'd really be here, stickass."
"I'm no more thrilled to be working with a slacker and a delinquent than you are to be working with me," Pankurashun growled. "Suck it up. We're here to do a job."
"I am not a delinquent!" Panjandrum protested from under his concealing mat of seaweed.
Kei facepalmed and reached for the final bottle of Noburi's chakra water even as she slid off the platform and into the water. Pantokrator knew that her poor stomach didn't want anything more to drink, but it wouldn't do to arrive for the battle with her reserves nigh-empty. So whispered the generations of warriors who stood at her shoulder.
o-o-o-o
Moseying along above the Sunset Racer had been bad enough before the others went off to set the ambush. Now it was just torture, because the ambush could happen at any second and it kept not happening.
If only there had been some way to stay in touch so they knew exactly where the rest of the team was and could judge the timing. He could see the toylike Sunset Racer below them, but Keiko and the others were invisible among the waves. Which was good, since it meant that they probably couldn't be spotted from the ship, making it easier to ambush and murder all the terrified civilian sailors whose only crime was...nothing. No crimes. Just decent people trying to make a living, being murdered by ninja because it was more convenient and helped with OPSEC in this so-important situation.
What would happen if they didn't kill the civilians? Probably nothing. Keiko would throw a misterator, Noburi would drain the civilians unconscious literally before they knew what was happening. They would wake up on a ship empty of yakuza and proceed about their business. Worst they could do was say 'there was a mist and then we all dropped and we lost this yakuza banker guy.' What harm would that do? Maybe some Wakahisa elder heard about it and figured out that it was their legendary technique being used by a missing-nin, in which case maybe they would choose to report it, thereby revealing their bloodline secret. And if they reported it then maybe someone put together that the missing-nin in question had been working for Leaf in an operation hundreds of miles from home. And maybe whoever heard about it would realize that Goda might have some probably-outdated information about Akatsuki and maybe Akatsuki would hear about it, in which case maybe they would deem it important enough to change their locations or plans so that the information wasn't useful anymore.
That was a lot of maybes.
But, oh no. Couldn't afford to take even the slightest risk of some small amount of inconvenience maybe potentially coming to Leaf at some point in a possible future that almost certainly wouldn't happen. That would be crazy.
Fucking ninja. The world would be better off without them. And why in every demon-buggering beast pit could this ambush not get around to happ—
A thousand feet below, the water around the Sunset Racer suddenly erupted, the ship slewing sideways and coming to a halt as though it had hit a reef. For a moment, Hazō could almost hear the terrified screams as a pair of massive murderballs came over the gunwale accompanied by the goddess of war and her brother, master of storms.
"Time to go," Minami said. Her voice dropped to a mumble so soft that the breeze almost kept it from Hazō's ears. "This part is going to suck."
"Don't be scared, Minami," he said with a nasty smile. "It'll be fun."
He turned off his skywalkers and plummeted.