Takuma was well aware of his position in the Police Force. Being an 'outside' hire, he lacked the pedigree that most Police Force members had in one way or another. He was neither from a clan that had members in the Police Force nor did he have immediate relatives paving the way for him. In the very tight-knit organization, which was the Leaf Military Police Force, he didn't have many threads connecting to him or others— but he did have some connections.

His partner, Fuma Arisu, was one of his few connections. Even though they were of the same rank, they didn't hold the same power. Unlike him, she had the pedigree of the Fuma Clan and immediate relatives like her father and aunt working in the Police Force.

"I'm planning a raid for which I need some personnel," Takuma said to Arisu.

They sat in a corner booth of a busy restaurant that Takuma had booked for this conversation. He knew the owner from when he had worked here as a delivery boy and then had continued to buy lunch boxes when he was too busy to cook his own food because he liked the staff meals that the owner provided for the employees.

"I do not understand why we are having this conversation," Arisu asked, suspicious. "If you want a team for the raid, ask Kano for authorization; she'll give you everything you want. Coming to me makes no sense."

"I'm working under Yoshiaki for this one, and you know it as well as I do, that he ain't giving me the authorization for a raid," said Takuma. He could bypass Yoshiaki and commission a few ground-level officers by going to Kano, but a raid would reach Yoshiaki's ear no matter what. "Even if Yoshiaki goes forward with a raid, he will throw me on the roadside."

"And?"

Takuma narrowed his eyes. "Don't pretend you don't know what I mean. I won't be on the case report, much less getting any credit for the work I've put in. Yeah, so I hope you understand why I'm not so excited about that future."

In his position, if he let go of his control over the situation, he was never getting it back.

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

"Some of your friends who would be interested in joining a very important Op. Perhaps throw in a couple of Uchiha in there, and I guarantee that this would be a grand success for everyone involved."

Arisu had the pull Takuma lacked. She could call people, and there was a strong possibility they would agree and show up. The best option was an Uchiha taking charge of the 'recruitment,' but Takuma didn't have someone like that— Arisu was his best and only choice.

"You do understand we will get in trouble if we mounted a raid against explicit permission," said Arisu. "Any mistake from a mishap during the raid, or what comes after we get them will be used against us— it will be used against me and especially you."

Of course, Takuma knew that, so he had done his homework. He took out the file he had built consisting of everything important regarding the case— he left out some parts, such as Shen's identity as his informant, things he couldn't explain, which would get him in trouble.

He slid it across the table to Arisu. She shot him a look before reading what he had compiled.

For things to go how he wanted, Takuma needed to deliver something people couldn't push aside and ignore. A result so substantial that even if he broke protocol, the result was meritorious enough for the higher-ups to sweep it under the rug. It was a risk, but a risk Takuma was willing to take.

Arisu muttered, "This…"

"We are looking at a dozen or so arrests in the raid itself. One of them is sure to open their mouth and tell us more— imagine the people we could connect this with. The Police Force could potentially get their hand on people they couldn't before," Takuma leaned forward.

There was a reason why he had assigned men on Maiko Triad members and not just Ryuu's crew to find out the delivery details. He wanted a strong case that could implicate more and more people because that's what made this whole ordeal tempting. It was the future prospects that could be built on top of his ground-level case. Takuma wanted to give Police Force an excuse to get people into the interrogation rooms and have people implicate others in return for lenient sentences for the charges, which would be stamped on them if the raid was successful.

To cast a net as wide as possible and see what the haul brought in.

Takuma could see interest from Arisu. She wasn't an idiot, and even if she couldn't see as far as he did, she could tell that even in the moment, this was something that could turn big if successful.

He said, "And how would you like your name to be the next one after me? The secondary lead. All you have to do is to gather some people who would be interested, and that can be yours." Takuma didn't want to split credit, but he wasn't in the position to not do so— and as long as he was cemented as the top contributor, the one in charge, no one could deny him rewards.

"Accept it, Arisu," he spoke again. "You know it as well as I do; you aren't going to get anything like it for this cheap."

Every case where either of them was involved had Kano as the primary lead, with members of Kano's team as secondary leads. That position was often shared by two or more people depending on the case. He was offering her a case without any direct chunin involvement, where she would have a much bigger slice of the pie— and all she had to do for it was to convince some people to be the muscle.

Takuma backed off and gave her some space. Persistence had its place, but it was not here. He wasn't asking her for a favor; he was actively offering her a valuable opportunity— it was an act of give-and-take. He had presented his pitch; it was up to her if she wanted to buy into it.

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

"… How many do you need?" she asked.

Takuma smiled.

———

.

Arisu stared at the group gathered in the off-site location maintained by the Police Force— the people she had gathered for Takuma. They were armed to the teeth, ready for anything thrown their way. She couldn't say she wasn't nervous and doubting her decision to accept Takuma's proposition. They ran the risk of offending the higher-ups by going behind their backs to run a multi-stage operation which could go wrong in so many ways.

Of course, Takuma had thought about those things. Arisu found how serious Takuma was when he explained the plan to her and gave a criterion of the type of people he wanted her to focus on during the recruitment.

In his words, he wanted sheeple. Takuma wasn't looking for big names; instead, he wanted people who were overlooked for others, the ones who, because of that, would jump at the chance of being part of something big. He wanted people who could follow orders competently without much fuss. Most importantly, he wanted people who wouldn't turn into bigoted morons when they saw an outsider like Takuma leading the operation.

That restricted her search pool quite a bit, but she managed to gather a team she thought was suitable for the job.

As one would expect, the majority was held by Fuma clan members. Not only were they the easiest to convince, but she also wanted the Fuma to have the biggest slice. Of course, she had gotten a few Uchiha as Takuma had insisted— any amount of Uchiha would give them some validity, no matter how little it was. It was tough to shortlist Uchiha, who weren't turned off when they heard Takuma was leading the operation. The rest were from minor allied clans who worked in the Police Force.

Arisu glanced back when she heard the door creak open and saw Takuma enter. She could see the heavier chainmail he wore inside from his fuller silhouette and protective pairing on his arms and legs. He was expecting and ready for combat.

"Ready?" he asked.

Arisu nodded. She wasn't going to let her nervousness show. It was 'GO' time, and she couldn't let anyone doubt her.

"Good. Let's start the final debrief."

Takuma clapped his hands to gather attention. The conversations came to a halt as everyone looked at Takuma, who asked them to gather around.

"I hope everyone's familiar with their assignments by now. It's important that both teams do their task perfectly for this to be a success," said Takuma to the people after he went with the plan for the last time. "The targets we are pursuing today are shinobi, so I request and expect everyone to display their best not because I think we aren't capable enough, but because I don't want any of us to die. It goes without saying, but protect yourself and your team. It's not worth putting in this work and not live to see the result.

And, well, I'll be kicked off the force, and my career as a shinobi will go to the shitter if any of you die. So, if not for yourself, try to live for me."

That bought some chuckles from the people.

Takuma smiled. "If we do this today, we will not only prevent illegal material from reaching hands where it doesn't belong. We will also be taking it off the future market. This Op will affect multiple cases which have hit dead-ends and run cold by breathing a new life into them and avenues for multiple new cases to may open up. We are doing good, and all of it will be because of you good people gathered here. I should be thanking you, but I won't."

He gave them a look over, "Let's postpone that to the after-party when all of this is over, shall we? Courtesy of our lovely friend, Fuma Arisu. Give her a cheer."

Arisu sighed when cheers went up from the group.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, you cheap-stakes," Arisu said.

"You heard her, folks," Takuma said. "Let's earn ourselves a party."

———

.

Arisu lay on her stomach atop the roof of a building, gazing at the warehouse across the street. It was Site-1, the origin of the delivery. According to the intel gathered by Takuma, the delivery man would collect the load from the suppliers.

Their objective was to take all the people inside the warehouse into custody. It was essential that everyone was arrested; as such, Takuma had given Arisu the lead on it. He believed they were the crew stealing restricted materials, and their arrest would provide a break for the cold cases. She was given the team of her choice to make it happen.

"The mule is out," whispered one of her teammates.

A man sneaked out of the warehouse with a large courier-sized duffle bag on his back. Everything about him screamed jittery and nervousness. His eyes darted everywhere as he ran with skittish steps.

"Go," she said.

As planned, one broke away from the team to tail the delivery man just in case.

"Final check," she said and checked her gear.

Her cousin, who she had recruited, said, "Should we move in?"

"No, two more minutes," she said.

Takuma had put down a wait time before they could breach as a precautionary measure in case the suppliers wanted to give Maiko Triad a heads-up that the delivery was en-route.

"Sign is GO," Arisu sat up. "Secure the exits."

They had procured the building plans, and Takuma had done a recon of the facility to get them a solid picture, upon which they had built a breaching strategy.

Arisu tilted her head closer to the mic and spoke, "Move in."

Arisu and her cousin entered from the front. She released two Fuma shuriken from their binding and assembled them within the next two seconds— they were two sizes smaller than her primary weapon, but she couldn't use her baby here— she couldn't afford her targets dying or having parts of their body sliced off

"Cover," she whispered to her cousin—no more words were exchanged between the two Fuma clan members.

It didn't take long for them to make contact. Two of the four men had their backs to her. The moment they made eye contact, she issued the warning,

"Leaf Military Police Force. All of you are under arrest. Surrender NOW!"

Of course, she wasn't expecting them to do anything like that. Her voice made them snap into action. The first man who saw her ran away for the back exit.

'Stupid move,' Arisu clicked her tongue. She wound her arm back and threw one of her shurikens at the runner. It sliced forward like a laser, passing between two men who immediately backed away in surprise and fear.

"AAAAAAAHH!"

The shuriken's large sharp metallic edge found its target in the runner's back. He was thrown to the ground; his momentum dragging him forward as he fell.

In the mean time, the other men drew their weapons, and Arisu was under attack with a spread of kunai and shuriken, but before they could hit, her cousin stepped forward with hands forming a seal. Her lung puffing up with air that she spat out in a powerful gust that blasted away all the projectiles.

Arisu took no measure to protect herself, knowing that her cousin would take care of it, and threw her other shuriken. This one traveled close to the ground, and the target tried to dodge it with a vertical jump. Unfortunately for him, in the last second, the shuriken took a sharp upward turn and embedded itself into his thigh.

The second scream changed the game.

Arisu released the invisible chakra thread and equipped herself with two kunai as she walked forward toward the remaining two.

One of them was smart enough to drop to his knees and raise his hands in the air.

The other one wasn't so smart and ran for the back. Arisu didn't give chase and kept her attention to the three men. She couldn't go complacent until they were stripped of their weapons and properly restrained.

Behind Arisu, her cousin spoke,

"One is coming your way."

Not five seconds later, they saw the bright glow and whisps of fire from a Fire Release ninjutsu from one of the dirty grilled windows.

"Target has been placated," came a crackling sound through their comms.

"Excellent work, team," spoke Arisu. "Let's wrap this up."