Chapter 182: Reporting

"We need to talk," Hazō said, as the team emerged onto the still-bustling street. It was well past dark but that simply meant that torches had been deployed to illuminate the goods on display at the Night Market.

"The four most terrifying words in the language when spoken by a woman," Noburi noted. "And even more so when spoken by you." The joking tone dropped away, grimness replacing it. "But, yeah. We definitely do. Not here, though."

"Not in the barracks, either," Keiko said. "Cheating eyes."

"I don't know if we're allowed out of the city," Hazō said, frowning in thought.

Noburi laughed as a thought struck him. "Got you covered. Follow me." He turned and leapt for the nearest roof, racing off across the ninja highway with his team a step behind.

o-o-o-o

The docks were dark except for the torches of those unfortunates tasked with patrolling the shore to ensure that no chakra beasts came up onto the land and rampaged destructively through the city. And that no smugglers made a profit not shared with the Mizukage.

Team Uplift waited in the shadows of a warehouse until a gap between patrols coincided with a cloud passing in front of the moon, then raced forward to the water's edge and out onto the surface of the massive half-circle bay.

Half a mile out, they stopped and crouched down, putting one hand on the surface for stability but otherwise ignoring the up-and-down motion of the water. When you'd run across a few hundred miles of the stuff, some of it forming waves ten feet high, a little bit of swell like this didn't really reach the threshold of attention. Neither did the cool air of the evening and the resulting thin blanket of mist in which it had swaddled the world.

Hazō pulled out a Silence Mine and activated it, tucking it under his forehead protector so as to leave his hands free. The area around then became muffled and quiet as though a blanket had been thrown over everything. "Not bad," he said to his adoptive brother. "Too far for the Hyūga, nowhere for a Kozu to have put an ear and no reason for them to have done it...I can't think of anyone who could spy on us out here. Good thinking."

"Well of course," Noburi said. "It's me."

Hazō's eyes rolled like dice and Keiko's exasperated expression was the stuff of legend.

"Back on topic," Noburi said. "What do we tell Jiraiya?"

Hazō shifted in thought, ignoring the slight splash that had soaked his sleeve and left it cold on his skin. "Did you guys get the feeling that the Oyabun already knows we were the ones?"

"I think it unlikely," Keiko said. "Kagome ensured that the ship went straight down with very little wreckage left on the surface, and he also widened the holes made by my pangolins in order to confuse any possibility of guessing their origin. I can imagine scenarios in which we were spotted trailing the ship, but they are beyond wildly improbable. Try as I might, I cannot think of a way that anyone would have sufficient data to be certain that we did it."

Hazō started to breathe a sigh of relief, never having been happier to be wrong.

"No, I believe he merely has a strong suspicion."

Hazō glowered at Keiko's completely innocent expression. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" he grumbled.

"I have no idea what you mean," Keiko said, her voice a model of wounded innocence that fooled no one. "In seriousness, he must consider Leaf a serious candidate.

"Killing or capturing Goda required three things: intelligence regarding his route and schedule, military capacity, and motivation. The intelligence was only available to those with assets onsite—the ship carried no commercial cargo, only Goda and his team, meaning that it was a charter with no fixed route. There was no reason for Goda to tell anyone what his itinerary was more than one leg in advance, so only someone in Ise could obtain that information." She paused. "I suppose it's possible that he had a fixed route assigned to him by his superiors and the information could have leaked from that end. It seems far more likely, however, that he was given a series of places to stop and then allowed to determine his own route and schedule. He certainly felt free to change the schedule—Noburi, you told us that he was originally supposed to depart a day earlier than he did, but he chose to delay in order to obtain a bit of personal cargo. Under those circumstances, it seems likely that he chose his own route, and therefore agents would have needed to be in Ise to discover his next move."

"Sure," Noburi said. "But Noodle has always been a chewtoy caught between Leaf and Mist. I'm sure that every nation has some intelligence operatives there, just to keep an eye on the geopolitics."

"Perhaps," Keiko admitted. "However, that brings us to the question of military capability. There was a significant escort attached to Goda—fifteen civilian guards and two chūnin-class ninja. Only a ninja force could hope to defeat such an escort, and it would need to be powerful in order to be sure of success—perhaps four chūnin or a jōnin with backup. Such a group would not be kept permanently on station at Ise, so they would have needed to be sent for. That means that the only people who could have killed Goda are those who have intelligence agents in Ise and are close enough that a message could get to them and a squad get back within about a week.

"Then we get to the topic of motive. Who benefits from capturing or killing Goda? Various Yakuza groups—anyone who was concerned about his upcoming audit, for example. Perhaps merchant groups who could make money off the trade information he must have had. Neither of those would have a standing ninja force; perhaps they could have hired one in time, but that's dubious.

"So far as nations go, the only clear motive would be a very time-sensitive intelligence need that was so important as to warrant sledgehammer tactics...such as finding a missing jinchūriki. There are other potential motives, but those seem like the most likely.

"In summary, we are looking for a group that has an intelligence service, some of whose operatives are in Ise, who is able to get a message back to their base in a short time frame, and can dispatch a powerful strike team on little or no notice."

The boys thought about that for a moment.

"Well, when you put it like that..." Hazō said.

"So, what do we tell Jiraiya?" Noburi asked.

"Everything, obviously," Keiko said, frowning.

Noburi shook his head. "Not what I meant. You've seen him; he's so exhausted he can barely see straight and he's holding things together with his fingernails. Yeah, we bring him all the information, but we should also have analysis and recommendations to go with it. Don't make him do all the work. So, what do we tell him?"

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Noburi and Keiko immediately looked at Hazō.

Hazō sighed. "Okay," he said, thinking. "I don't think we can simply stonewall the Oyabun. He saw that we were uncomfortable, and that would have added to his suspicion. We want him to work with us in the future, and outright lying or refusing the request isn't going to help that. We need to tell at least part of the truth." He paused to think.

"Honestly, I'm tempted to come clean," he said carefully. "It's probably not feasible politically, but it would be great if we could just be honest and admit what we did. Goda wasn't from Mist, so the Oyabun has no face at stake as far as we know. Given that, being open about the fact that we did this and we regret it would suggest a bunch of things that seem useful to get across: That we really do care about civilians. That we are self-aware and humble enough to admit a mistake. That the three of us are physically powerful. That we were able to talk Jiraiya into letting us reveal this, thereby showing that the Hokage trusts us despite our age.

"On the other hand, it might be too much. In which case...maybe Jiraiya sends a written response with a few hidden phrases that reveal what happened but not too much? It would answer the question but let us keep plausible deniability."

Noburi shifted his weight as a particularly large wave went under him. "I don't know about that openness thing," he said carefully. "It seems like it leaves us too exposed. Keiko, you said that Mist and Leaf are the most likely candidates. Can't we throw it on Mist's front step?" He shrugged. "Regardless, we're going to have some time. If we didn't already know the answer then it would take at least a few weeks for the orders to get out into the network, the agents to find anything, and word to come back. Possibly even months."

"Okay," Hazō said. "What about this, then? Let's suggest that...."

o-o-o-o

"Well, ain't that a kick in the head?" Jiraiya muttered to himself once Kei finished her report. He sighed and rubbed his face.

"Tea, Summoners?" asked a child-sized pangolin wearing a purple hakama, offering a tray with two steaming cups of green tea.

"Thank you, Pantrei," Jiraiya said, smiling at the creature and lifting one of the cups to his lips. "I appreciate it. The hospitality of your embassy does us honor."

Kei took the other cup and gave Pantrei a smile and nod of her own. (Smiles help, Kei.) "Thank you, Pantrei. As Jiraiya says, your hospitality is much appreciated."

The pangolin's mouth gaped open and his tongue flicked out in a manidaen smile. "Thank you, Summoners," it said, its weight shifting between its feet in a pleased jig.

Jiraiya took another sip, still keeping the polite smile on his face as he watched the young pangolin. After a moment, he said, "I think we're probably set for now."

"Oh! Right! Sorry, sir," Pantrei said, eyes going wide. "Call if you need anything!" He turned and scuttled away, the combination of speed and the hunched-over pangolin gait causing him to sway like a drunken sailor.

"Cute kid," Jiraiya said as he watched their server leave. "Anyway, where were we...? Ah, right. First, good job bringing this to me straight off, and good job with the report. You analyzed the situation nicely and put together a concise summary of the relevant factors. I'm impressed."

Kei blinked in surprise. She had been expecting a dismissive laugh, perhaps a terse acknowledgement while Jiraiya disappeared into his thoughts, but actual praise?

Jiraiya's eyes unfocused in thought; he leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, right ankle on left knee. One hand drummed on the table while the other held his cup. Kei waited silently, not wanting to make a mistake now.

"You guys are right that we can't afford to be open," Jiraiya said after a moment, uncrossing his legs and leaning forward again, setting the tea aside. "I'll send him a message with the answer; it's okay to meet with him again, but if he brings this up again, refer further discussion to me.

"Now, so that we're on the same page, here's what I'm going to tell him: My network notified me when Goda arrived in Ise and I sent a team to capture him, because I was desperate to find information on Akatsuki. What I didn't know was that Mist was already in town, doing the same thing for the same reason. I don't know for certain, but my best estimate is that they had penetrated my network, rolling up one of my local subcommanders and working out from there. The team I sent to get Goda was jumped and mauled, meaning we had to abort the operation. The information breach in Ise rippled out and shredded the entire eastern side of my network, leaving me with almost no assets in Water. If Goda's gone, that means Mist must have both him and the ledger. You were part of the cleanup efforts; you know the things I've just said but nothing beyond that. Got it?"

Kei nodded slowly, watching in awe as the patterns clicked into place in her mind like shogi pieces on the board. The story was almost entirely true, the addition of Mist being the only falsehood, but that one addition served to completely recast events. Jiraiya was turning the Yakuza into a spear to throw at the Mizukage, as well as providing the Yakuza with an opportunity for them to ask him if they could become his intelligence operatives. And it was all wrapped up in a mildly embarrassing admission, causing Jiraiya to lose some face and thereby make the whole thing seem more believable.

"Yes sir," she said. "I understand. To confirm, you have no problem with us interacting with the Yakuza in future?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "It should be fine. I'll make a point of telling the Oyabun that he's welcome to reach out to me directly if he needs any other information—much more efficient than passing messages through a genin team, after all. He'll understand that it's a warn-off from trying to suck high-level information out of you guys and that he should stick with more immediate topics." He thought for a moment, rubbing one hand across his chin. "Yeah, that should do it. Any further questions?"

"No, sir."

"Good!" He pushed himself to his feet; his hand moved as though to clap her on the shoulder and Kei fought not to flinch. The motion transitioned with almost-perfect smoothness into picking up his cup from the table and knocking back the last of its contents.

"Good job, Keiko," said Jiraiya quietly. "All three of you. Now, go kick some ass!" He gave her a firm nod and vanished from the Seventh Path.

Keiko set down her untouched cup of tea and went to thank the embassy staff before taking her own leave.