Fantasy [ The Fifth Shinobi Age ]

Raiden was in too good a mood to be bothered by the bossy girl though it did annoy him that she was trying to boss him around. "Don't boss me around, we're equals here." He said before looking around the place as the old lady came in. "Hi, we're on a mission and wanted to know if you had any information on the missing men from around here."
Aratani Crayons Rusty of Shackleford

Nil took in a deep breath, releasing it in the form of a happy sigh as they finally found their way to the markets. In some sense, it felt as if they weren't on a mission at all; the comfort of open air trades and the constant barks of hawkish merchants never failed to paint a tapestry she'd happily indulge in any day of the week. Maybe, at some other time, she'd even kick back and relax for a while; the markets were some of the only places in the valley where she'd permit herself to slow down, take her time, even.

...Unfortunately, they were there on business, in the end.

Not only that, but the fact that the "losers" of the information-gathering game were up for "reconsideration," whatever that was supposed to mean, meant that there wasn't a whole lot of time to be wasted.

There were a lot of curious characters hanging about the market that day--but then again, when wasn't there? Though her eyes immediately fixated on a foreign-looking group to start, she figured that outlanders wouldn't really know a whole lot about a missing Valley trader. After all, what reason would they even have to care? Though, on the other hand, if there was some sort of trouble on the roads, who would know better than a set of travelers? Letting out a hum of thought (or, at least, what one would assume was thought--there was no real telling whether or not Nil actually knew how to think), the trainee placed her hands on her hips as she scanned the faces of the market regulars, her other potential considerations. Butchers, bakers, fishers, tailors--and good people, all. And yet, remarkably unbothered; maybe whomever had gone missing didn't deal with their aspects of trade.

"...Aaaagh, this is more mind-bending then I thought it would be," Nil complained, mostly to herself, before flicking her eyes to her tag-along, realizing that her griping might not have set forth the most confident impression possible. Clearing her throat and puffing out her chest, the girl attempted to readjust, putting on a refreshed air of confidence, along with a grin. "Alright--! I know how we're gonna handle this, watch and learn, alright?" she said, resolving to redouble her efforts as she made her first executive decision.

Out of everyone to talk to, she figured she might as well start with the foreigners. She had doubted them at first, but divulging potential word from the roads might make for a good first attempt. Of course, the only thing that could be said for her conversational approach was that it was...aggressive. It was perhaps remarkable that she didn't go straight for the stack of boxes and begin shouting into the marketplace.

"HEY!" came her opener as she strode up to the group, carrying with her the air of the market's sole proprietor--she was nothing if not that, of course, not to mention that she didn't look the part in the slightest--arms crossed and a confident gleam--no, flare--in her eyes as she looked up to the market's oddity. "You guys aren't from around here, huh?" A grin spread across her face, and she nodded briskly. "Wanna know how I know? It's 'cause I know this place like the back of my hand! I know almost everybody who comes in and outta here, and you guys aren't anyone I've ever seen before. But y'know what knowing this place like home means? It means if you're looking to buy something, I know where to get it! Even the stuff that no one'll say they'll sell ya, y'know what I'm saying?"

DarknessSama17

Yoko dipped her head a little awkwardly, leaning into the formalities of the moment.

“Nice too meet you, I’m Yoko.”

At the statement that they’d accompany them.. Yoko paused, concern pushing her lips down into a slight grimace that only grew more pronounced as one of the men asked them to verify that they’d been sent by the hokage.

Was that guilt she was feeling over her attempts to mislead these men? It was possible.

But, she mentally reasoned, did it really matter whether the Hokage had passed them this mission or not if they just got the job done?

Before Yoko could spontaneously combust from guilt alone, another man asserted that he knew the other girls brother, trusted that they’d get the job done from that knowledge alone. She huffed out a quiet breath of relief, avoiding eye contact with the other men as she pasted a smile to her lips.

From there, the girls fluidly moved into there own respective parts of the plan. Yoko henged into an old man, concentrating on wrinkling the skin on her face, her hands, her legs - only the exposed parts of her body. From there she whitened her hair from blond to a blonde-tinged silver. Once that was done she tried to mimic the posture and gait of an old man, forced herself to hobble as she pushed the cart along.

She felt like she practically oozed the words weak, defenseless, vulnerable. Even so it took a little longer then Yoko was used to waiting before someone to take the bait. Namely a couple of someone’s - a group of boys with a gangly swagger and odd confidence in there gleeful expressions. They trailed her, not even bothering the cloak there presence or the loud thump of their steps.

Yoko didn’t turn, playing up the senile old man character. And she continued that up until they begin to close around the cart, blocking any further movement on her part. Yoko stared, watching as the assumed leader of the pack of boys removed his sword from his back, lazily pointed it at the cart, at her.

Her heart thumping in her chest regardless of the low stakes associated with this situation, Yoko was just preparing to flare her chakra when Akio emerged form her hiding place and begin to take out the boys, one by one. It was a little embarrassing to watch as the alleged theifs went down with hardly any effort on Akio’s part.

Removing the henge, Yoko planted herself atop the cart and waited, watching the boy underneath Akio’s feet frantically look between her and the girl above him. He cracked pretty fast, was taken out, then the girls were off again to the docks.

The afternoon sun was only getting more persistent with its heated stares as the girls made their way to the docks. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Yoko pointed a finger up ahead at particularly danky building in the shadows of another. Graffiti covered it from walls to the pavement.

“That ones got to be it,” she asserted quietly, sparing Akio a glance before leading the way towards it. From first glances it did appear uninhabited, virtually abandoned. But peering inside the broken windows, Yoko could see signs of life. Like the fact that there was no dust in her field of vision and there was a substantial foot trail leading to the door.

“Should we -“ she broke off, eyeing the door cautiously. Maybe it would be best if they found another entry point? Giving the building a wide berth, Yoko circled it, trying to find a less obvious entryway. There were none, apart from cracked windows that squeezing through would no doubt cause some pain, even for the comparably smaller Yoko.

“I guess I can scope out the area really fast, give me one sec,” she was just shutting her eyes when realization hit her, Yoko blinking as she made eye contact with the girl. “oh, yea. Protect me while I’m gone, please.” It didn’t occur to her that that statement would likely be a confusing one for Akio, who had likely never seen the Ueno clans techniques face to face.

No hand signals were necessary for this technique so Yoko just parked herself down carefully and shut her eyes. From there, her consciousness’ exit was an easy enough one. One minute there was darkness, the next she was peering at well - herself, rear-end parked on the pavement. Akio was nearby and in spite of the fact that the girl couldn’t see her, Yoko took some glee in waving her hand in front of her face, giving her bunny ears.

Okay, Yoko thought as she peered up at the shadowed building, now it was time to get serious. She started over to it, stepping through the wall with a cool whoosh feeling and then she was in. The colors were fuller in this realm, so it was somehow more frightening to behold the lair of the thieves. There appeared to be no one on this first level, Yoko quickly determined as she stuck her in head in a room after room, but there were voices upstairs. She made her way up the steps quickly, pausing as her eyes touched an open floor plan with a group of unsavory characters strewn within, all sitting on that dirty, uncarpeted floor.

They looked older then her, maybe a little older then the boys Akio had defeated earlier as well. A noise like a low grunt pulled her attention, and Yoko peered to the side to see an older teenager sitting on a desk, counting what appeared to be money. He was handing off the currency, Yoko realized, passing it off to the boys as quickly as possible. His eyes touched a clock on the desk and he made an impatient sort of tutting noise.

If he’d been about to speak Yoko didn’t hear it as she felt a tug that almost sent her off her feet and down the steps. Time to go, wasn’t it? Yoko made her way down and across, ran until she’d reached her physical body. Once she’d merged she stood up abruptly, her vision swimming with spots for a moment as exhaustion hit her body. Checking her chakras levels Yoko noted that they were running a bit low, she’d have to be wise on her next actions.

“They’re upstairs, thirteen of them I counted. They’ve got money, tons of it but none of the goods they stole,” she paused to let that sink in before proceeding with what she supposed could be their course of action, “I say we head in quietly, take them out.”