"Report, Takuma. Over."

Perched on the rooftop, Takuma peered down at the streets of the Hidden Leaf with a pair of binoculars, keeping an eye on an entourage of carriages working its way through the streets. He pulled the walkie-talkie to his face and pushed the button.

"Route-A is clear. No suspicious activity in sight. Over," he replied.

Joining Iruka's team hadn't been a disappointment. As he had expected, he had been getting a regular stream of C-rank missions, and on top of that, his load of D-rank missions had been cut down due to that. He had more time to himself… well, sort of, he had just replaced work with a different kind of work. But as the saying went: 'if you do what you love, you'll never work in a day.'— and he didn't love his work.

Takuma loaded up his legs and crossed the wide street in one leap to the rooftop on the other side and began following the principal target. This time, the mission was protection detail for a wealthy businessman, his family, and their posse who came to the Hidden Leaf village for business and pleasure.

Three teams had been hired for the protection detail, and Iruka's team was one of them. One of the teams was in charge of protecting the businessman, and the second team was responsible for the family. Iruka's team was in charge of recon and support for the first two teams and providing another layer of protection for the client. For five days, they were to ensure that the client and his family were safe from danger.

Takuma ran ahead to inspect the final part of the route as they moved closer to the destination. The entire party would live at a luxury inn for their stay. At the entrance, a small crowd of people gathered around the front, blocking the access. The inn staff was trying to keep the people in check, but they were clearly having trouble.

Most of the crowd had signboards with words of protest painted on them. 'Stop making ¥¥ off the suffering of the community' 'Your greed is destroying lives and livelihood' 'Resist the injustice' 'We will not let this pass silently.' The protestors weren't violent, but they weren't budging in front of the inn. The crowd wasn't just them; Takuma could spot journalists and camera people by the side, ready to take pictures.

"Obstructions on the front entrance. Clear the route. Over," came Iruka's voice.

"Changing route. Over," came another voice.

"On it. Over," Takuma replied to Iruka.

Takuma stepped off the ledge on the inn's roof and landed directly in front of the crowd with a hefty thump, surprising them enough to have them step back (including the inn staff). He gathered chakra into his throat and raised his hand to keep the crowd's attention.

His voice boomed as though spoken through a loudspeaker: "You're encroaching upon private property and hindering a business from conducting its operation. If you don't vacate the premises immediately, you can be charged for the violations. For everyone's sake, please step away from the building and clear the entrance so the inn can continue its business."

The protestors didn't seem to take Takuma's words kindly and only responded with more vigor and louder demonstrations.

"Do as I say… NOW!" Takuma's chakra-laced voice rippled out, cutting and drowning out the loud protests.

He had been practicing how to alter and modulate his voice using chakra to use it in conjunction with the Transformation Jutsu (Henge no Jutsu) to draw out the latter's full potential. It was still in the works, but it was coming in handy at the moment like a glove.

A murmuring hush fell through the protestors as they stared at Takuma. There was no fear in their eyes, but heavy caution surfaced in their eyes. Both they and Takuma knew he couldn't attack them unprompted; it was against the law. But it didn't erase the fact that Takuma was a shinobi and dangerous. Law or not, it was logically clear the civilians didn't want to take the chance.

Even if they only stepped outside the property line, the crowd backed away from the inn.

"Stand to the side, an inn can't do business if patrons can't enter," Takuma shouted again in a no-nonsense voice. It was only then that the crowd split into two groups. "Thank you," he said, but they ignored him immediately and began protesting again.

Takuma turned to the inn entrance and nodded to Dai, the older genin from Iruka's team, who had been positioned at the inn. Dai nodded back and re-entered the inn. The inn staff thanked him and got back to their work.

"Hey, shinobi!" One of the journalists to the side called out to Takuma. He looked at the lady dressed in a chic, easy-to-move, modified blue cheongsam with gold embroidery. Takuma looked around to ensure everything was okay before walking to the lady.

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"Yes, ma'am. How can I help you?" he asked. Takuma shot a glare at the cameraman behind her, who had clicked snaps of him while he was dealing with the crowd. He once owned an Instagram account with zero posts, and his camera roll had a few clicks, none of which were his own. He didn't like to have his photos taken.

"Hey, handsome," said the woman, flashing her pearly whites. "Why do you think Miyahara is coming to the Hidden Leaf? I heard it's about the permits to use the lands on the outskirts. Is it true that the state leased the land to him?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm not privy to that information," Takuma said.

The woman leaned forward, and Takuma could smell her sweet perfume. "Oh, come on. Don't be like that. You're a shinobi, you must know something," she said.

Takuma shook his head, "You're asking the wrong person, ma'am. I'm just security. Would you please also step back and give the entrance some space."

The woman clicked her tongue and leaned away from Takuma. All the pretense from before faded away, and she looked irritated. "Ugh, you're useless," she said.

Takuma wasn't surprised. The woman was a good actor, and her act seemed genuine; however, the situation was what it gave away. Who would act like that in front of a stranger all of a sudden?

He scoffed, "And you might as well be a pedophile. Saying: hello, handsome to a twelve-year-old is just pathetic. I mean, how desperate are you?"

The woman couldn't have snapped her head back to him faster, or she would've snapped her neck. "What did you say?!" she said, her eyes widening.

Takuma shrugged, "You're not deaf, are you."

"You fucking kid!"

Before Takuma could rip more into the woman, his walkie-talkie came alive and crackled,

"The principal has entered the inn. Over."

Both looked at each other, and the woman's eyes sparkled. Her sneer turned into a dazzling but mocking smile. "Look at that; you are useful, after all."

It was Takuma's time to click his tongue. They knew the possibility of obstructions along the route; the inn's entrance was part of that. The three teams had planned contingencies for a series of interference all along the way. An obstruction at the entrance, even if controllable, meant that the entourage was to be redirected to enter from the back entrance of the inn. The reason why Takuma had to control the crowd at all was for show and to give the people an impression that the entourage was coming soon and coming from the front so they would keep sticking there and don't go exploring the back entry.

Takuma put his walkie-talkie on silent for the moment to not let the woman hear more of the information.

"Well, thank you very much for that. We will not have to waste any more time here standing around," Takuma could hear the gleeful smugness in the woman's voice. She took out a card from who knows where and pressed it against Takuma's chest. "If you ever have more information to share, you can contact me anytime, sweetie."

Takuma glared at the woman as she walked away with her cameraman before looking at the card. Sugai Kaori. A junior journalist at the Red Ink Post. Takuma knew the Red Ink Post, one of the Leaf village's staple newspapers.

He sighed, put the card aside, and returned to his post. His eyes went to the protestors and their signs. The group had young and old; some looked angry, others looked tired. Their clothes and attire told everyone here were common folk who lived regular lives… and had been screwed over by a rich person.

And he was a shinobi… a mercenary for hire, who worked for people who offered enough money. Something that his client, the rich businessman, had plenty of.

Takuma took a deep breath as he continued to stand there watching the people who had been wronged by his client, knowing that if they created problems, he would have to deal with it, whether he liked it or not.

He truly didn't love his job.

———

.

By now, it had become a routine for Takuma to come to visit once a week, and the clean, almost sanitized rooms of the C-rank jutsu archive had long become familiar with it. He had visited so much that he had come to recognize the guards and their exact rotation. He could now predict who would be with him in the room while he read through the jutsu scroll.

And he was sure they recognized him because one of them had delivered the scroll for Doton: Tsuchi Domu (Earth Release: Earth Dome) without him asking them for it.

However today, he was there for a different reason… or for a different jutsu.

Takuma closed the catalog and completed the form that had been given to him to fill out. He turned to the guard and stood up to hand her the form and a demand draft with the amount of mission points needed to purchase the jutsu.

"One Doton: Jihibiki Kansei no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Tremor Sense Jutsu), please," he smiled.

The guard took his form and payment and walked out, leaving Takuma alone in the room

He breathed out heavily.

Now that he had made a choice, he wondered if it was the right one.

Doton: Jihibiki Kansei no Jutsu had entered the contention around the same time Takuma was choosing the Doton: Tsuchi Domu. The jutsu allowed the shinobi to sense vibrations and tremors in the ground through touch; Those vibrations or tremors indicated movement that the shinobi could sense.

The reason it had appealed to him was that he knew how well it could work with the Suiton: Kirigakure Jutsu (Water Release: Hidden Mist Jutsu). Suiton: Kirigakure Jutsu worked well in obscuring the enemies' vision and giving them a considerable disadvantage— but the jutsu didn't discriminate— it gave him the same disadvantage as his enemy. His visibility went down as well.

As such, he needed a way to locate his opponents.

And he believed Doton: Jihibiki Kansei no Jutsu worked well in that situation as it gave him an additional sense. If he could sense the location through vibrations, he could reliably attack his opponents.

'It's okay; it's the right choice.'

Takuma nodded to himself.

With this transaction, he had made one-half of the purchase he had planned to make after getting the first payment.

Now, he just needed to get his third D-rank jutsu and bring his jutsu count to five.