Takuma clicked his tongue as he stomped into Ring's medical room with a nasty cut on his dangling and dripping right arm held into place by his left. A gambit not paying up and instead resulting in failure was one of the worst feelings during a battle, especially when the result was losing the dominant arm and dangerous blood loss.

He deposited himself onto a backless stool; wordlessly, curtains created a boundary, hiding him from the rest of the room. Frustrated about his loss, Takuma removed his mask and chucked it at the curtain.

"Grumpy today, aren't we," Sango said as she attached the Velcro tabs to seal the curtains.

Takuma removed his sweaty ski mask and dropped it unceremoniously on the table. He had lost his winning streak, his winnings per fight were going to reset to the base state without the streak bonus, and his dominant arm was going to feel weak for a couple of days— he felt like smashing things to ease the frustration bubbling inside him.

Instead, he just closed his eyes as Sango patched up his arm in silence.

Eventually, he asked, "What did he say?"

"He says he's busy," Sango replied.

This either meant that Enomoto didn't want to meet or didn't want anything to do with the conflict between Ryuu and Takuma.

Takuma held back a sigh as the answer stroked the flames of his frustration. The relationship between Takuma and Enomoto was one 'controlled' by Enomoto— most of their interactions were initiated by Enomoto, leaving Takuma without a way to contact him. So, the last time Takuma had wanted to contact Enomoto, he had done it through Sango— so this time as well, he had done the same.

In case Enomoto was actually busy, Takuma couldn't wait for a time to open up in Enomoto's schedule, as Ryuu had already given him the date when the delivery needed to go down.

It seemed he had no choice but to go through with the delivery.

"Take this." Sango gave him a little sachet of a rusty brown powder. "Mix it with a glass of water and down it in a gulp because it tastes horrible."

Takuma took the sachet, stared at the contents inside, and felt the gears turn in his mind. He looked up at Sango, who was cleaning up the table.

"Hey," he said, "I might have a job for you…."

———

.

"This is it."

Takuma looked at the two large black duffle bags on the floor.

"Don't screw this up. If this doesn't reach the Maiko Triad, you're going to be the one to blame. Then both us and them will come hunt you down, and it won't be good for you, you bastard. You better not screw up!"

Takuma ignored the chatter, knelt beside the duffle bags, and began checking the straps and zip of the bags to check their durability and find the weak points. He then stepped away and pointed at the bags,

"Open them," he said.

"What?"

Takuma glanced at one of Ryuu's underlings and pointed at the bags,

"Open them. I want to see what's inside."

He had to verify Ryuu's words about the contents being soldier pills and medicinal mixtures before he sent them across the village— and to ensure the bags were booby trapped in any way.

"Show it to him," said one of the underlings further back.

The underling near Takuma clicked his tongue and unzipped both bags to reveal packs over packs of soldier pills, medicinal mixtures, and even some vials with liquids.

'There's no seal,' Takuma noted.

The underling scoffed, "Happy?"

Takuma wasn't happy. He knelt beside the bags and dug his hands deep inside to check every corner to ensure nothing was hidden underneath.

"Looks about right," said Takuma and zipped everything back on his own so they wouldn't be able to sneak anything at the last moment. "Give me the location," he asked.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He got a piece of paper with the address that was burned immediately after Takuma memorized the address.

"Alright, I'll get going."

Takuma adjusted the ski mask on his face. Today, he didn't have a rigid front mask and simply put on a ski mask with black paint around his eyes and mouth to cover everything.

He stepped out of the building different from Ryuu's grocery store. They had arranged the pick-up spot to be away from Ryuu's store so there wouldn't be any connection in case someone was looking.

By the time Takuma stepped out, the sun was already down, and the sky was perhaps half an hour from turning completely dark.

Takuma didn't take the shortest path to the destination and instead ran around the village, popping in and out of streets and alleyways, even sometimes running into crowds under the guise of Transformation Jutsu, which he changed every couple of minutes. It was a standard practice to lose a tail which Takuma wasn't sure he had, but he still spent an entire twenty minutes running around the village until he was satisfied that he didn't have someone following him.

He couldn't use Earth Release: Earth Tremor Sense Jutsu because of the village's population density and architecture. There were too many people for him to tell if someone was following him— and even if he went somewhere deserted, the jutsu couldn't sense if people were on the buildings.

After he was sure no one was following him, Takuma entered a random building and went to the top of the staircase, where he sat down and opened the duffle bags.

He took out a couple of the soldier pills, one of each mixture, and took out fresh vials from his person and took a drop or two out of a few filled vials for each medicinal liquid. He sampled everything that was available and stored it on his person before repacking everything, leaving no proof that anything had been tampered with. The quantity of everything was so much that he was sure they wouldn't notice anything was missing.

Once he was done, Takuma once again stepped out of the building, and only then did he make a bee-line towards the destination.

He had only been to this part of the village a few times, and most of it was in passing, but he knew that it was a little inside the edge of the Maiko Triad's territory. Takuma entered the block stealthily, covering his tracks, and applying every trick and tip he had learned in his time as a shinobi.

From one street across, Takuma looked at an abandoned building through a pair of binoculars. It was difficult to make out much due to the dark sky and the lack of light, but he wanted to see if there was anyone inside the building.

He was asked to drop the bags in the middle of the second floor; after which his job was done.

Takuma spotted a half-open window on the third floor and decided it would be his entry point. He hopped on the roof before putting power and chakra in his legs that launched him to the side of the building. His feet met the side, and immediately chakra grabbed onto the surface. He didn't make any noise but still moved into the building in case someone looked up.

The building seemed to be like every other dilapidated building of which Takuma had seen several around his neighborhood. He located the staircase and silently stepped onto the second floor, where he couldn't detect any presence.

He threw a rock to see if he could make someone hiding flinch, but nothing made a peep or shuffle.

After a while, Takuma finally let his shoulders drop and walked to the middle of the floor, where he gently placed the bags before leaving the building the same way he came in.

He didn't stop to look at who would come to collect the delivery because he knew that even if someone wasn't inside the building, someone around the block was keeping an eye out — he didn't even need to check.

If Takuma were confident in his stealth ability, he would've hung around, but he wasn't, and he didn't like the chances of combat in case he was met with multiple combatants in an area unfamiliar to him.

It was a pity, but he already got what he needed.

The winds that day were cold, bringing a little relief to the heat of the summer.

———

.

Takuma sat across from Sango in a restaurant of her choice. Of course, like every time they ate together, it was his treat. If it were another girl, he would've only treated someone this much if he was trying to court her— but in the case of the girl in front of him, these dinners were strictly business.

"So, show them to me," Sango asked after placing her order.

Takuma took out the samples he had stolen from the delivery and placed them on the table. Sango picked the pouches and vials and observed them with lazy eyes that had a sharp gaze in them.

"Can you tell me who made these?" asked Takuma.

"Possibly, if there isn't anything special about them, but I'd need to test them to know the specifics," said Sango. "Why do you want to know?"

Takuma shrugged, not giving an answer.

"It'd cost you," she said.

"I'm ready to pay—"

"Mission points," Sango interjected.

Takuma's eyes sharpened. He wanted to call it off, but at the same time, he didn't have a choice. Sango was the only person he could go to. He knew two other iryo-nin, but both of them were non-options. He didn't want to involve Enomoto, and he couldn't explain to Taro's dad why he wanted to know where the unknown samples came from. Applying for an identification request in the Police Force would be too risky if he was asked to explain the origin of the samples.

Thus, Sango.

"Half in mission points; half in ryo," he said.

"Mission points," she repeated.

Takuma wanted to groan but kept his expression straight.

"Okay... but only if you find a match. If you fail, I won't pay jack shit," he said.

Sango glared at him as if she felt insulted.

Takuma didn't mind. If he was going to pay in precious mission points, then he wanted guaranteed results.

"…Okay," she said.

Takuma narrowed his eyes but shrugged.

Sango pulled the menu that she had pushed away earlier and called,

"Waiter!"

… This bitch.

———

.

Takuma walked into the Police Force's archives, not the one with all the informational books, but the one with the case files and information dossiers. He patiently filled out a form and joined the short line at the counter with other Police Force members, who were there with their objectives.

When his time came, he passed the form to the person behind the counter.

"What do you want?" asked the man as he browsed the form.

Takuma answered,

"Whatever you can give me about the Maiko Triad."