Chapter 18

-Undermine

"So...Yamiko, was it?" Shizake asks as he drops his guard.

"Lieutenant. Make sure you remember that," The blue haired man says.

"Right. It looks like we have similar objectives... why don't we go at this together?" Shizake dryly says.

The Uchiha's only thought is to pursue the main goal at hand, that is, taking down the criminal operation. The Lieutenant puts his hand out, signaling his men to ease. He looks back to Shizake, his face still stone cold and stoic.

"Are you the captain of this...unit?" Yamiko inquires.

Shizake grits his teeth, annoyed that his question was met with a question. He crosses his arms and looks at his squad, all of them giving him an impartial stare, "So what if I am?" He responds.

Yamiko takes a deep breath, closing his eyes before reopening them, "I didn't catch your name."

"I never said I was the captain, and if we're going to sit here and play games then I would rather leave and be left alone to our own business," Shizake says.

"You sure are straight to the point."

"There's a man running around out there disrupting one of the many foundations that holds this continent and the strained relationships of the major villages together. We believe that it is simply beneficial for all parties involved if we... resolve...this matter."

"You ANBU... always so devoid of emotion. Anyways, I suppose you make a good point. Plus the added manpower couldn't hurt either."

"And the Leaf and Sand are allied, so hopefully this will strengthen that alliance even more!" Toshi pipes in.

Yamiko warmly smiles at the girl, nodding his head towards her, "You make a fine point there."

Nitatchi steps forward, seriousness plastered across his face, "Lieutenant Yamiko was it?"

The blue haired man's face returns to a neutral position, gazing into the white irises of the Hyuga, "Correct. Is there something you need?"

Shizake eyes his comrade from the side while Toshi and Shītto curiously gaze at the interaction. Toshi looks to Shītto who in turn shrugs, unbeknownst to Nitatchi's intentions.

"Information travels fast... but it can also be misinterpreted. I heard something in that village, something that could be extremely dire compared to our current task," Nitatchi calmly says.

Yamiko crosses his arms, his curiosity piqued, "Go ahead."

"Well... I only caught a mere snippet of the conversation but it sounded to me like the Kazekage was kidnapped."

The entire group goes silent, wide eyed at this revelation. All except Nitatchi that is, for he had already pondered on the thought alone. How could the Kazekage be captured? Isn't he supposed to be the strongest? Millions of thoughts like these plague the ANBU group from the Leaf and the squadron from the Sand.

What does that mean for the Leaf? Is the Hokage in danger? No... this isn't even about Gaara being a Kage, the mere fact that he's a Jinchuriki explains it all, Shizake thinks to himself. He collects his thoughts for a brief moment before turning his look to Yamiko whom has his eyes closed in deep thought.

"That's a hefty claim there... you're sure that's what you heard?" Yamiko asks.

"I'm positive. Something very bad could be going on right now... something that could require all Sand units to return home as well," Nitatchi answers.

Shizake sees the distress in the Lieutenant's eyes, a tug-o-war of sorts going on between his assigned objectives versus the welfare of the Kazekage.

"He makes a good point, Yamiko," Shizake interjects, "We need to know what you plan on doing."

"I understand that but we've been working on this case for weeks now... rghh but the Kazekage could be in danger..." Yamiko trails off.

"If this were the Hokage instead of the Kazekage, I would order all of us back to the Leaf this instant," Shizake states.

"So... you are the captain, eh?"

"Tch, this isn't the time for games Yamiko! You should hand over all the information you have on this Jōran character, and leave it to us. We'll take him down."

"My captain is right, we'll take Jōran down for the sake of peace between our villages and stability among the others," Nitatchi adds.

Yamiko's conscience finally gives in to defeat, the two heavily important situations weighing on his mind like a two-ton brick.

"Very well. I'm going to pull all of my men out of this area but I am going to leave someone behind. She knows the details of everything going on and she will guide and assist you. Ritsuko, would you be so kind?" Yamiko says with his hand out.

"Yes Lieutenant," The girl quietly says as she removes her hood.

The girl has short white hair that spikes up to the left, giving her a tomboyish look. Ritsuko's sharp green eyes only accent the color differentiation between them and her hair. While she gives off a serious demeanor just like her leader, her face is delicate yet battle hardened.

"That's fine with us," Shizake says.

"Alright men! You heard what's going on. The Sand needs us right now. We'll hand over the mission to our...friends here and be on our way," Yamiko shouts out into the quiet forest.

"Yes sir!" They reply in unison.

"We'll get this guy, Yamiko," Shizake assures.

"It is unfortunate our meeting will be cut short, I was just starting to warm up to you Leaf ANBU," The Lieutenant jokes.

Nitatchi chuckles, "I'm sure we'll meet again some day."

"Be sure to get this guy," Yamiko says as he extends his hand out, "I never got your name, son."

"My name is Kouen, " Shizake replies as he extends his hand to shake Yamiko's.

"I'm Shozen," Nitatchi adds.

"Kouen...Shozen... I leave this in your hands. Don't fail me."

Shizake glares seriously yet respectfully to the Lieutenant, "You got it."

With that, the Sand squadron disappears in the direction of their home, bee lining straight to the Sand Village. Ritsuko turns her back to the ANBU group, facing in the direction of the trading outpost.

"Follow me, I'll get you up to speed on everything that has happened so far," The girl says before leaping on to a branch and bounding off towards the village.

"Come on!" Toshi says as she runs ahead of the group to follow the girl.

Kenta follows Toshika leaving behind only Shizake and Nitatchi, both of whom are lost in thought.

"How come you didn't give out your real name? He seemed like a nice enough person," Nitatchi asks.

Shizake looks to the trail of leaves the other three left behind, "We're still ANBU... we must keep our identity secret."

"Fair enough... lets go."

***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***

The ANBU squadron finds them selves in a basement beneath the village. According to Ritsuko, one of the shop owners whom happened to be from the Sand village has been lending it out to them as a sort of base of operations. In the middle of the dimly lit room is a table with a map on it. Shizake approaches the table, placing his hands on it while observing all the markings and lines drawn on the piece of paper.

"We've been marking locations where Jōran and his cronies have hit. By doing this we've been able to slowly triangulate his position but not to an exact point," Ritsuko says.

Nitatchi observes all the red circles on the map, wondering just how many there are in total, "How many caravans have they robbed? There's got to be at least twenty or more circles on this map."

"Yes... the red circles are documented incidents where innocent traders have been robbed. It appears Jōran has taken a liking to the paths that lead to the Stone and Cloud village. I suppose they have more...exotic items coming and going," Ritsuko answers.

"How can he operate so efficiently?" Toshi asks.

Ritsuko marks another circle on the map, the site where Toshi had protected the caravan by herself, "We believe he has a base of operations similar to our set up. Problem is, we think it's located in the heart of the village, which makes it even more difficult to pull this off."

"We need to focus on finding his base first... taking him down shouldn't be an issue if we can do it stealthily and without causing this place to go up in chaos," Shizake says.

Shītto scratches his head, "Have you tried following his men back to the hideout?" He asks.

"Yes... a few times actually... but they all went back to a different place. This lead us to believe Jōran is sending out orders from a secure location where his men have little to no contact with him."

"Messenger birds?" Nitatchi inquires.

"We've snagged dozens of messenger birds throughout our stay here... none of them have anything resembling what we're looking for."

Shizake closes his eyes in annoyance, sighing heavily, "So even with all this information your team has gathered, we're still no closer than we were before."

Ritsuko purses her lips together, pondering on Shizake's words, "I suppose you could see it that way..." She trails off, "But it's not like your team is any closer."

"Then what's the next step? We need to do something before another caravan is hit," Shizake says.

"Well I did come up with a plan... sort of. Except Yamiko wasn't very into it. Said it was... to risky."

"Try me. At this point the reward outweighs the risk."

The white haired girl crosses her arms, grabbing a pencil in her left hand, "As I mentioned before, Jōran seems to enjoy hitting the routes coming from the Cloud and Stone. So. I was thinking that we collaborate with a few traders and create the biggest damn trading caravan this village has seen."

"So you want to draw him out," Nitatchi interjects.

"Precisely," The girl answers, "I know for a fact that he does not have the man power to handle something this big."

Toshi steps up to the map, observing it some more, "There's just a few problems with this plan though."

Ritsuko raises an eyebrow, curious as to what criticisms the younger girl has with her plan.

"Well... first off is getting the traders to cooperate with us. This plan requires a huge risk, right? There's no way they would risk that much money worth of supplies just for the plan to fail. Then there's the problem of drawing Jōran out. What if he does in fact have the manpower to take this thing? We would be walking right into an ambush as well as the fact that Jōran won't even be drawn out. And to add on to that, if we were to walk into an ambush we would be exposing ourselves and alerting Jōran," Toshi explains.

Ritsuko's shoulders drop, defeated by the holes in her plan, "I... suppose you're correct."

"Don't give up yet Ritsuko," Shizake assures her, "There are other plans that could work."

"Any ideas Kouen?" Nitatchi asks.

"Hm... what if... what if we shut down the village momentarily? Cease all operations," Shizake says.

Ritsuko raises an eyebrow, "What would that accomplish?"

"Without anything to hit, Jōran would suffer... financially. If it goes on long enough, he'll have to see what's going on himself."

"You do realize what that could do economically for the entire continent, right?"

Shizake shifts his gaze from the map to Ritsuko's green eyes, "I'd say it outweighs what he could do economically if this continues. This needs to stop. It'll be a small blow, one that the villages can recover from easily."

"Rgh... I can't say I disagree with you. So how do we do this?"

The entire room has Shizake's attention, waiting for him to explain his plan. The Uchiha clears his throat, preparing his explanation.

"It'll happen just like this..."

***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***

Nitatchi and Toshika find their selves dressed in formal attire. Nitatchi carries a briefcase while Toshi walks beside him, holding a folder with several papers in them. The plan is simple really. Nitatchi is to act as a representative for all the shinobi nations with Toshi acting as his assistant. They go to the central trading hub for each village and explain to them that all operations are to cease immediately. Nitatchi and Toshika's entire get up is simply to fool the head tradesman into believing them. One by one, each hub is shut down and the paths to the villages are locked down. At last, Nitatchi and Toshika find their selves at the central hub for the leaf village.

"Afternoon sir," Nitatchi says as he and Toshika both bow.

"What can I do ya for?" A seemingly old yet spry man asks.

"Well since this is the leaf village's hub - we're actually ninja undercover trying to find someone who has been disrupting trade here for a while."

"Ah you mean that group of bandits causing a ruckus," The man says while filling his pipe with tobacco, "I'll gladly help if you can show me some validation from the Hokage."

"Well, the thing is we're doing this on a moments notice. The Hokage gave us no formally written notice to enact this plan but we do have proof that the Hokage told us to use any means necessary to take this man down," Nitatchi explains as he looks to Toshika.

Toshika opens up the briefcase, pulling the mission scroll out. The man puts his hand up, signaling her to stop, "I know a mission scroll when I see one, especially those from the leaf. Do what you need to."

"Thank you sir, I suggest taking cover inside... things could get ugly very soon," Nitatchi says with a warm smile.

"Village ANBU eh?" The man asks out of nowhere.

Nitatchi, flustered, says, "How... n-no sir. Just regular village ninja."

The man chuckles, lighting his pipe and taking a drag from it, "I know a leaf ANBU when I see one... or might I say two? I was in the program during my younger years before moving here and becoming the Leaf's head tradesman. We carried out many assassinations like the one you are assigned to. Just let me alert everyone to cease operations and close off the paths then I'll be out of your hair shortly."

Nitatchi and Toshika both bow respectively before leaving the small hut that the man has set up.

"That was easier than I thought it would be. I wonder how that old man knew we were ANBU?" Toshika wonders aloud.

"Me either but hey, at least that part is out of the way. Now we just have to play the waiting game and hope that Jōran comes out of his hidey hole. Come on, let's go meet up with the others."

After switching back into their civilian clothes and meeting up with another, the squad listens to Shizake as he discusses the next step of the plan. Shizake explains that it might take a while for Jōran to show up, the reason being that it'll take a while for him to catch word that operations have been halted. The captain then orders all of them, Ritsuko included, to spread out across the village.

"Find a good hiding spot. I won't be surprised if we see bandits out wondering what exactly is happening. Don't provoke them. We need the word to get around to their boss and once it does, he should show himself," Shizake explains.

"We're going to need an alert signal if one of us engages him. Any ideas?" Kenta asks the group.

The white haired girl opens her pouch, tossing a smoke bomb to each person, "Modified smoke bombs. The smoke cloud is very thin and colored. You'll see it easily but it's only useful as a signal, not a diversion or even a tool of retreat."

"Good thinking. Now - Team Kari, Ritsuko...move out."

With that, the ninja group scatters throughout the village. The find their own nook or cranny to hide within and wait...and wait...and wait... until finally, nightfall comes. Torches illuminate the village along with the dim moonlight. The village becomes a ghost town, eery silence settling in like an inexplicable fear in the body.

Six bandits so far. No sign of Jōran yet. This better work, Shizake thinks to himself. The Uchiha hides under the cover of an abandoned shop rack. The street pans out to his left and right, not a single soul in sight. Damn it all to hell, if this plan fails...

A soft pop echoes through the quiet village. Shizake perks his ears up, peeking above the rack to look for the source. In the glistening light of the moon Shizake sees a trail of red smoke, feeling the faint pressure of a massive chakra signature coming from another location.

Elsewhere in the village, Ritsuko approaches a figure shrouded in the shadows of some buildings, "Jōran..."