Fandom Squad Shithead: A Naruto AU

[Gilzar]

Katsuro

"Some guy at a bar huh?" Katsuro questioned. "And I suppose he just gave you them?"

Katsuro shook his head. There was a better way to do that task, though in Tetsuo's haste he must have forgotten about it. Closing his eyes in frustration, the Jonin took another whiff of his cigarette. He knew that they were inexperienced genin, but he didn't think they'd revert to stealing. Mizu maybe, but only because she'd spent much more times on the street than Tetsou.

"Don't fucking steal anything again unless I tell you to, got it?" He remarked.

"You graduated from the academy right? Why didn't you just use a transformation jutsu into me or some other adult? I guarantee that would have been easier than stealing or scamming some random fuck at the bar."

Katsuro then walked up close to all three of his student.

"This is your first lesson under me, kids, so listen closely." Katsuro said, raising one finger appropriately.

"Sometimes the simplest method is the best method. All those desk-jockeys at the academy have told you to think outside the box, but sometimes the simple solution is the out of box solution."

"Take for example Tetsou. I told him to get me cigarettes in 20 minutes. He faced the problem of not being old enough to buy them. So now he has to problem solve. Problem solving is the biggest part of the job, every opponent, task, and journey is a puzzle you have to figure out. By my guess Tetsuo decided to steal from some drunk at the bar, which required you watching the target, learning his movements, and timing it right. I hope, since you were very late to get here, that you didn't get caught."

Katsuro then brought his hands together in formation required for the transformation jutsu.

"This is the most basic trick in the Shinobi book, and it is the most effective. From now, on when any of you buy me cigarettes you do it like this! A simple transformation jutsu."

Then, with the flick of his handsigns, Katsuro flashed into a cloud of smoke, and transformed himself into the appearance of Mizu. A perfect copy right down to the scar on her face.

"Deception is your most basic and effective weapon." She....or rather he said, before the figure suddenly burst into a cloud of dust. A shadow clone!

Suddenly from behind the three students Mizu's voice could be heard...only it wasn't Mizu speaking. "Anyone can deceive," the fake Mizu-clone stated, kicking her feet as Mizu would seeting on the tree. "Like how I sneaked up behind you all! All that required was a simple transformation and shadow clone under the cover of all that smoke!"

Katsuro's illusion then stopped kicking her feet. "Keep it simple, stupid! That's the rule of thumb to follow."

Then, in an instant the fake Mizu popped into a cloud, revealing the real Katsuro sitting on the tree. "Any questions?"

Mizu

So Tetsuo was now a thief. Apparently he must now have been a very good one either. Having been in the streets for some time Mizu knew a thing or two about stealing...though unlike most she really didn't see it as that big of a deal. What's the big deal? It was just cigarettes. Call it arrogance, but from the sound of things Mizu knew she would have done a better job at it than Tetsou. Hindsight is 20/20, but she was confident she would have taken the easy route out of there rather than having to go into a bar where she'd stick out like a soar thumb.

Then Katsuro began their first lesson, Mizu watched her sensei eagerly. Immediately she was visibly taken back by his choice to mimick her appearance. That's how I talk? Hearing the sound of her own voice, let alone seeing herself move around was just weird. Then only to find out that Katsuro was actually behind them? All of his explanations made sense. In the academy she got the idea that big-flashy techniques were the way to get things done but apparently just having a solid grasp of the basics was all you really needed to get by. But they already knew the basics!

All Mizu wanted to learn right now was better fighting techniques, or maybe learning some stealth techniques. Not lectured like they were two.

"Sensei, when are you going to teach us some techniques?"

"When I fucking say so that's when!" Katsuro retorted back ferociously. Mizu visibly jumped at the sudden sound of his voice.

"Right now I don't trust any of you with advanced techniques, so you won't learn them. Now does anyone have any questions regarding my god damn lesson, or do I have to repeat it? Katsuro asked, visibly annoyed.

"Otherwise we should get to guarding this precious monument."

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo

His cheeks flushed with an unpleasant warmth. Of course Katsuro would take this opportunity to humiliate him.

Tetsuo scowled. He had basically told him to steal! It wasn't as though he had done that out of some altruistic gesture towards the jōnin. It was because that jackass had threatened to kick him out of the program if he didn't! He would have let him know this, too, except that Katsuro had launched directly into his lecture.

He was flabbergasted. The shock at how stupidly simple this all could have been wiped the grimace right off of his face. How had he not thought of that before? He felt a sinking regret that he had committed a crime when he could have just bought the stuff. Tetsuo's mind clouded with the thought of his mistake, such that he was hardly paying attention to what the jōnin had to say.

Katsuro's clone jutsu becoming undone, however, and another realization brought him back to his senses. He turned around to where the false Mizu was seated on a tree, doubling around in his fury.

The thing was he would have been committing a crime anyway. And to further, he was not about to waste a cent feeding his addiction.

Haruki jumped back when Katsuro snapped at Mizu, and Tetsuo found himself flinching a little too. His response was completely inappropriate. If Haruki had anything to ask the jōnin, he was too afraid to now, and instead just shook his head.

For reasons he couldn't quite place, this just made him angrier, and for a moment he forgot that there had been a good reason why he had been keeping quiet up until this point.

"Yeah, I have a question," Tetsuo replied in a tone that made it clear he was digging himself a grave. "Are you planning on paying us back at any point for those cigarettes? 'From now on'? Are kidding me? We aren't your fucking servants." He might have had a chance to fairly debate Katsuro, except that at this point he was too irate to care. It was clear to him that the jōnin had absolutely no respect for any of them. "This isn't a lesson. This is bullshit. You just want to something to be angry about."

Haruki was looking between the two warily, trying to distance himself from Tetsuo without totally disobeyed Katsuro's wish for them to the squad to be standing by each other.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro's nostril's flared at the sight of Tetsuo's blatant disrespect and rebellion toward him. It had only been a day, and already all of Tetsuo's attempts to undermine his authority was getting under his skin.

"You're my students, and you'll do whatever the fuck I say because that's the way the chain of command works!"

Katsuro took a deep whiff of his smoke, then proceeded to slide off the side of the branch and onto the ground, directly in front of Tetsuo. He looked Tetsuo in the eyes, absolutely disgusted by the tone Tetsuo chose to address him. Had Tetsuo learned nothing yet, about how every time he acted up like this it never ended well?

Behind Tetsuo, Mizu sat anxiously. She could feel the tension in the air boiling as Katsuro just simply stood in front of Tetsuo. What was sensei going to do? Yell? Break his neck? Nervously she glanced over at Haruki, who didn't seem any unwary of the situation then he was, taking small steps to back up. Maybe that's not such a bad idea...Mizu slowly began sliding back on the ground.

Then after only a moment, Katsuro broke the awkward tension by blowing out all the smoke in his lungs less than an inch away from Tetsuo's nose in a mocking manner, obscuring Tetsuo's view of Katsuro's face.

"I don't give a shit what you think it is, I'm teaching you all how to operate under pressure."

He paused, then looked over at Haruki and Mizu, obviously aware they were backing away. "I'm not gonna bite, get back here!" He ordered. Mizu complied and slid forward to where she was previously.

"All those desk-jockey's at the academy. They can teach you all you need to know in a classroom, but never how to actually use it under pressure. Whenever we have a lesson, there will always be consequences for failure. Pressure makes diamonds....or something like that."

"So yeah." Katsuro said, inhaling the cigarette between his lips, then exhaling the smoke out of his nostrils. "I do expect you get me cigarettes again. Maybe, maybe! If you're in my good graces I'll give you money to buy them, otherwise you're on your own! And I'll keep making all three of you do it until you can pull off a transformation jutsu and actually convince someone you're not some dip-shit stuck-up brat who thinks he's knows how the world works when he's only seen a spec of it."

Katsuro then turned his back to the group, and started walking up the tree back onto the branch he sat on before.

"And if, by any chance, any of you feeling entitled actually want my respect, you have to earn it. Respect in this world is earned, not given."

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo matched him, or attempted to match him, when Katsuro stood domineering over him. He steeled himself in his anger, glowering back up at him, nose scrunched up in fury. His face may have betrayed him a few times, as he was thinking about how hard Katsuro's hand could slap him or how loud he would be if he started shouting just inches from him, but he would be damned if he let that fear show easily.

Then Katsuro blew all of that shit right in his face that smelled so disgusting he could gag.

He shielded his face with his arm, but the overwhelming stench was already in his nose and making his eyes water. He coughed, waving the smoke away with his free hand. What he really wanted to do was shove that jackass to the ground, but the jōnin was easily twice his size and thrice his weight, so he saved himself the embarrassment of trying to move the giant.

Haruki matched Mizu and shuffled back where he had been before.

Tetsuo pinched his nose when he had gotten over his coughing fit, lips forming a sneer. It would be a stretch to say he missed his former sensei, but this guy really wore out the whole hardass weathered militant veteran trope. He was trying to whip them into shape like they were dogs! Even if his old sensei was completely useless, at least they had been treated like humans.

The instant that Katsuro decided to turn his back, Tetsuo dropped his hand and let his mouth fly open again. "Speak for yourself! All you're doing is yelling at us and bossing us around to get what you want. Chain of command my ass. Is this your idea of how you get someone's respect?"

Haruki could feel his heart in his throat. He wanted to shrink away again but he knew their sensei wouldn't just let that happen, so instead he was stuck next to his teammate. He managed to start, "Tetsuo, I think you should-"

"Shut up," Tetsuo snapped, whipping his head around to silence Haruki with a wide-eyed glare, then looked back at their sensei.

Haruki frowned at him, but the smaller boy ignored him. Unlike Katsuro, he wasn't afraid of Tetsuo, but he could see how futile it was to argue with either of them. Haruki just wished he would stop.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro began to just ignore everything coming out of Tetsuo's mouth, and began fiddling with a rubber stress ball, roughly the size of a baseball to try and course his temper. He'd had many students over the years, but none with a mouth like this. Letting out a sigh, he just stood on the tree branch and tried enjoying the shitty brand of smokes Tetsuo picked up. Whoever he stole these from has godawful taste in brand, that's for damn sure...

With Tetsuo's voice at this point being white noise, he began thinking of some sort of drill the team could do that could at least keep them busy for the night, but his attention shifted when he heard Haruki's voice. Haruki had barely spoken unless spoken to whenever Katsuro was around. It seemed Haruki was actually watching out for Tetsuo by trying to warn him, but Tetsuo, not one for the thoughts of others, lashed out in a volatile manner, telling Haruki to shut up.

At that exact moment, Katsuro locked onto Tetsuo like a hawk. The tension in Katsuro's chest boiled over, and he squeezed down tightly on the rubber stress ball. Its material resisted the pressure of his hand, much like Tetsuo was resisting him. He'd have no more of it. In almost and instant Katsuro hurled the rubber ball straight toward Tetsuo's head while it was still turned away. With any luck, it would sap him right in cheek and give him a nice red mark for him to remember the next day.

"You shut your fucking mouth right now!" Katsuro yelled in rage, swiftly followed by the sound of birds clearing out of the area. "Those are your teammates, not your siblings. You give them respect, because when you're in deep shit, like you are right now, they're all you have!"

Katsuro paused, realizing he'd let his tempter get the better of him. This kid, not even 16, was already pushing his buttons and he had only known him for a day. Now, in the form of a rubber ball, Katsuro had began to draw his line in the sand.

"How does someone get your respect Tetsuo?" Katsuro asked in a somewhat calmer, yet antagonizing voice. "Your last instructor was a very nice man, yet you didn't respect him. You treated him like shit. Just now your teammate Haruki tried helping you, but you just treated him like shit. Here you are now, treating me like shit. Since apparently you're too fucking stupid to get this, I'm going to explain it to you. Listen closely shithead, I'm only explaining this once."

Once again, in a sour mood, Katsuro hopped off the tree branch in front of his three students. "You're in my squad because you're at the end of the line. None of the other instructors want to put up with you. I'm all you got! Unlike all the other instructors, I don't take shit from anybody! And especially not some pre-puberty asshole who doesn't even let his own teammates stop him from digging his own grave. So, if you want me to stop treating you better, start treating your teammates better! Start treating your superiors better, and above all else start treating yourself better because you're only hurting yourself here. I don't give two fucks whether or not you like me, but you will respect me! If not, then you can walk your sorry ass home and leave your headband here, because no one else is going to take you into their team."

Katsuro then walked up to Tetsuo, taking a moment to look over him, as well as his entire team. Just kids, innocent, shitty kids. Most of them had no idea just how shitty of a place the world is, or really knew about anything for that matter. They were woefully ignorant. Behind all of the cigarrete smoke, and alcohol, Katsuro could remember a time when he himself had that look about him, and was a stubborn shitty little kid. He let out a sigh, relaxing all of the muscles in his face. For the moment he decided that it would be best to swallow his pride.

"Look, I know I'm not a walk in the park, but I don't want to see any of you fail. But you're not making it easy. Every time you, Mizu, or Haruki step out of line I will not tolerate it, and don't expect me to. You've all got amazing potential as students, and there's so much things I could teach you. I can't do that until you all start listening though. So....."

Katsuro threw his nearly burnt-up cigarette to the ground, and rubbed it into the ground with the sole of his shoe.

"So, as long as the three of you at the very least agree to respect each other, let's just put this behind us and move on."

 

[Pine]

The stress ball was thrown at him at blitzing speed. He much less saw it so much as felt a painful slap that left his cheek stinging. Tetsuo held his cheek, which immediately was flaming red, but what really startled him and snapped him out of his rage was Katuro yelling.

He had thought he had seen the jōnin raging before, but this was a whole new bellowing tone which stripped every ounce of teenage rebellion from him and harrowed him to his very bone. Tetsuo felt an emptying fear that drained him and had his blood running cold. The only warmth left in him was the sizzling pinpricks that stabbed into his cheek.

Tetsuo couldn't even think to be angry or feel humiliated in that moment. He just stared blankly at the older man. Chills crept down the length of his neck as it seemed like maybe, finally, the reality of the situation had begun to settle in for him.

The chills began trampling down his back and chest when Katsuro started walking up to him. His leg shifted, unsure of whether to distance himself of anchor him down. It was too late to decide by the time his new sensei was standing before him. He dropped his hand only to notice it was shaking. Tetsuo pressed it to his thigh in an effort to hide this, but it was obvious to anyone watching that Katsuro had officially scared him shitless now.

Fear became confusion, though, when for just a moment, Katsuro took on an almost gentle, but certainly sincere tone. Tetsuo could still feel his heart tremoring in his chest, but when he blinked at the jōnin, he started looking at him very differently.

Tetsuo, officially pacified, lowered his gaze to stare unfocused into the ground. It would be a lot for him to process. For the time being, whatever thoughts circling his mind were not forming into coherent words, and he was still piecing together bits of whatever Katsuro had been saying that he was too shocked to pick up on before.

Haruki, for his part, wasn't sure if he should have kept his mouth shut or not. On the one hand, it seemed like Tetsuo had stopped for now. On the other hand, he'd had the extreme displeasure of seeing Katsuro like that, but he also wondered if their sensei would have ever opened up like he did just now if Tetsuo had no pushed him to that point.

Before he could decide, a couple of people approaching the memorial caught his attention.

One of them was a woman with shoulder-length black hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore no Leaf headband under the fringe of her bangs, but was still nevertheless clad in some sort of combat gear. She carried a sheathed katana at her hip and wore square-framed glasses. The man that walked with her had a much less assuming appearance. He was either in his fifties or had hit his midlife crisis early, because his receding hairline was glaringly obvious even underneath his hat. He carried a thick leathery bookbag over his shoulder which he held closely to his side. Contrast to her gear, he was dressed very plainly in business-casual attire.

The man looked between the genin, making eye contact with Haruki, then Mizu, then Tetsuo when the smaller male finally looked up. His trepidation seemed to grow, but he nevertheless came to stand by the group.

"Are... you the one guarding the memorial?" he asked Katsuro with uncertainty.

The woman said nothing, appraising Katsuro carefully with her gaze. After a moment, she touched the man's arm and leaned towards him to whisper something.

The man's eyes widened, and nervously, he held tighter to his bookbag. "Ah... never mind. I must be mistaken," he corrected and flashed an uneasy grin. "We'll be going," the man told the jōnin and turned to step away.

 

[Gilzar]

As the grizzled veteran eagerly awaited a response from his students, the moment was interrupted when two strangers came out of the blue. Immediately his attention diverted to the lady with a sheathed katana. She wasn't wearing a headband of any sort, so she must have been hired muscle of some kind. He wondered just why someone needed protection in this area, and his curiosity only grew when the businessmen asked if they were guarding the memorial and then immediately retracted it. Someone was supposed to be guarding the memorial, though Katsuro hadn't told them they'd be guarding it instead.

The man held tightly onto his bookbag, almost like he had something to hide. Katsuro had seen these kinds of things before during his time in war. People only cling onto their bags when they have things to hide...there must be contraband of some kind in that bag. If the Jonin had to make a guess at just what it was, probably drugs. It was an unfortunate reality that drugs had been making their way into the village for sometime, this must have been the site for a deal of some sort.

The look on Katsuro's face grew more serious, more stern. His eyes narrowed, and he looked down at his students. Maybe they didn't know what was going on? His eyes then traveled back to the woman with a sword. She was the threat if anything went wrong. However, she was at a disadvantage against a taijutsu user like Katsuro. Unsheathing that sword would waste precious moments...and give Katsuro plenty of time to pounce on her before she could get it out. In his head he began plotting out the different scenarios, like any shinobi would. Hopefully this wasn't some special swordsman from the mist or anything like that.

"You three." Katsuro spoke to his students. "Get behind me right now."

Katsuro then began to walk toward the two strangers, ready to fight or pursue them if the need be.

Mizu couldn't get over the empty, uneasy feeling in ger gut. Something about this just didn't seem right. Katsuro's demeanor had completely changed once again at the sight of those two strangers. Once Katsuro gave the order to get behind him, Mizu's suspicions were confirmed. She got up off the ground and ran behind her sensei, eagerly waiting to see what happened next. While waiting, she reached one hand into her Kunai pocket, and leaned forward slightly so she'd be on the balls of her feet. Eagerly she waited for whatever would happen next.

 

[Pine]

Haruki missed a beat, looking between his new sensei and the two strangers, but shortly half-jogged after Mizu. Tetsuo, still feeling disoriented from thought, eventually walked after them.

Unlike Mizu, neither of the boys were particularly thrilled by the turn of events, though for differing reasons. Haruki felt a nervous tension in his gut. He had no idea what was going to happen. From what he could tell, this was not something that their sensei had anticipated to happen, and none of them knew how skilled one or both of these strangers might be. If they had to fight, would he even be able to do anything?

For Tetsuo's part, he was struggling to keep himself collected. The two didn't seem like they were there to deal with his petty theft from earlier. This was beyond suspicious, and from Katsuro's command and slow pursuit, he sincerely doubted the jōnin would just let the encounter end as it were.

As it didn't escape his notice that the man at the memorial was walking after them, the man with the bookbag had started walking a little faster.

The woman picked up her pace but scowled, eyes trained forward. Under her breath she said to him, "Calm down. He can't do anything."

The man did not slow down, however, his teeth on edge. "I can't," he replied.

Her eyes cut across to him. "Don't make him any more suspicious."

His frame was becoming jittery with nerves. "He's going to do something."

The hired arms said to him in a harsher tone, "He will if you don't keep it together."

His nose started puffing like a train, the man on the verge of hyperventilating. "I can't. I can't," he began. "I'm sorry. I can't take this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Tears began to prick his eyes.

Then his shaking hand shoved into the bookbag and he took out a pellet. He snapped it with his teeth and swallowed. Spinning around, he breathed out a tempest of icy wind.

Tetsuo took a startled step back, eyes wide as a wall of ice materialized almost instantaneously, nearly equal parts as thick and tall as the wall bordering the village. The barrier was wide enough too that he could no longer see around it where the two had started sprinting, the woman drawing her blade.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro immediately started after them, lunging his full mass at them like a lion would pursue a gazelle. However, a sudden wall of ice came between them, and Katsuro startled to a halt. Casting a wall of ice was by no means easy, and this woman surely was more powerful than Katsuro had anticipated. He bit his teeth together, and put his glasses on to hide the whites of his eyes. They were definitely up to no good, and casting a jutsu this close to the war memorial was as good of an excuse as any to pursue them.

"Don't fucking move! Guard the memorial, I'll be back!" Katsuro ordered, before he ran up the side of the nearest tree, and hurled his body over the wall of ice in a display of athleticism and skill. Upon landing on the other side he immediately began looking for the other two. Though the tension and excitement at the moment was high, Katsuro's pulse was only slightly above average. Displaying his predator like focus, Katsuro was quickly able to put together where the two had ran off to based on memory before the wall as well as some audio & visual ques.

Katsuro leapt up into the trees and began his pursuit. His speed, when going with full effort was something marveled at as he was quickly able to catch up to the two culprits.

He reached into his vest and pulled out a small explosive ball hanging off a kunai-knife via a small wire. Katsuro clicked the explosive twice, making two loud audible clicking noises and setting the explosive to explode on impact rather than timer. Then, with a slight of hand he threw the Kunai knife directly in front of the two he was pursing. The resulting explosion was not large, but still packed enough punch to hopefully stop them so he could catch up and apprehend them.

Meanwhile, Mizu dropped out of her combat stance and just stared blankly. Katsuro didn't even hesitate to go off and chase whoever these people were. She knew from her years on the streets that obviously some kind of deal must have been going down, but was it seriously enough trouble for the Jonin to completely bail on his duties and chase after them? Perhaps this was why he was called the bulldog of Konoha.

"Stubborn as a dog, he is." She said, throwing her kunai into the ground in boredom, only to have a seat behind it. Her fingers began fiddling with its handle, and she began drawing in the dirt with it.

"I wonder if maybe they were trying to sell drugs or weapons of some sort? That's the only reason I could think of them coming out here this late at night..."

 

[Pine]

A flash of silver caught the corner of the woman's eye. The woman's free hand snagged the older man by the arm and jerked him to a halt before he ran straight into the kunai's trajectory. She realized all too late that the jonin throwing it was not aiming at either of them.

The man barely had time to gasp before the impact triggered the bomb. The blast from the explosion was powerful enough to knock them both off their feet.

The woman took the chance to fall on the older man. She pushed his shoulder to shove him into the ground and laid her body protectively over his own.

Her head jerked to look where she guesstimated the kunai came from, brows knit in a tight furrow. She clenched the hilt of her long sword and swung it in a forward arc. A thin crescent gust of chakra-infused air shot from the blade with great speed and slicing power, enough to cut down the trees it was aimed at.

The excitement beyond the ice wall, the faint sound of an explosion, was finally enough to jumpstart Tetsuo's mind from out of its sluggish processing.

Haruki was in awe still, seeing not only how Mitsuki had been ready to launch into action, but also actually witnessing how their sensei had thrown himself over the wall with such ease and grace. "I have no idea," he said, shaking his head. "Katsuro Sensei will be okay, won't he?"

"I want to see for myself," Tetsuo said without even looking at either of them. Instead, he was staring down the other end of the ice wall. He stood for just a second more before dashing along the length of the wall.

Haruki's eyes went wide. Tetsuo's absolute disregard for their sensei's orders were something else entirely. He looked back at Mizu to see what she would do.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu

"Katsuro Sensei's been in war, I'm sure he'll be fi-"

Mizu froze up at the sight of Tetsuo running off after Katsuro. With all the excitement she was utterly confused as to why he would pursue Katsuro when there were dangerous foes in the area, as well as how Katsuro bluntly ordered they needed to stay in the area.

"Wait, Tetsuo! He told us to stay!" Mizu yelled toward her comrade. Behind her surprised gaze she game to the realization that Tetsuo probably wasn't going to listen to them. While apart of her didn't care, since it would be Tetsuo that would be put in trouble for this, she couldn't help but feel Katsuro would somehow find an excuse to punish them as well.

"Haruki." Mizu said with a sense of dread. "We're going to have to stop him. Or Katsuro's going to have all of our asses..."

Katsuro

For a moment or so, Katsuro froze upon seeing the technique thrown at him, startled that this woman was so capable of throwing a technique of this magnitude. These can't be drug dealers....

With the shock gone, Katsuro hastily dived from off the tree branch he was situated on straight toward the ground, narrowly evading the technique. Behind him he could hear the sound of a tree collapsing behind him. His time to react was narrow, but Katsuro's experience shined through when upon hitting the ground he immediately focused his chakra into his feet to generate enough force to launch himself into a roll that get him a safe distance away from anywhere the tree could possibly land. He then quickly brought himself to his feet.

This woman present a problem. Now that he knew she was capable of some forms of ninjutsu it complicated things, as he could no longer run directly in without risking her doing that attack and catching him on the way in. Normally he'd compensate this by blowing them to hell with explosives, and then battering them up close with his fist, but since he needed these two in preferably speaking condition, that was not an option.

Put simply, he needed a way to close the distance to use taijutsu and apprehend the two.

Luckily he had his gear, and his chakra reserves were fine, but he needed to act quickly.

He quickly chucked a smoke grenade toward the two assailants in an attempt to blind them. Then he made three shadow clones of himself (Making 4 Katsuro's in total) that quickly scattered across the field, waiting for their opponents move.

 

[Pine]

The woman grimaced as plumes of smoke burst from the ground, obscuring her vision. The man beneath her clamored with nerves. She tried to guide him to his feet, but he resisted. He was too scared to even care his hat had blown off in the explosion.

This time she yanked him to his feet, using enough force to slip a yelp out of him.

It was just loud enough to give away their position. She had to move fast.

With her katana, she sliced a circle in the air. A Gust of wind blasted from the sword and funneled through the smoke, clearing a path for them.

She jerked the man forward as she sprinted out, not giving him much of a choice but to fumble along like a ragdoll.


Haruki

Haruki's palms slapped and rubbed his face. Just as Mizu thought, the smaller boy ignored her protests and continued treading along the wall. Haruki groaned, then shrugged his hands uselessly.

"He's not going to listen to either of us. He won't even listen to Katsuro-sensei, a jōnin." Haruki shook his head in exasperation. "If he wants to get killed getting in sensei's way, that's on him. I'm staying here and saving my ass."


Tetsuo

Tetsuo kept running until he reached the end of the ice wall, but by then the smoke grenade had already gone off.

"God dammit, I can't see shit," he grumbled.

He hesitated, only for a beat. Then he was running into the treeline beyond the wall, hoping to get a better view and still stay unnnoticed by Katsuro.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu

Mizu scowled towards Haruki. While at first she didn't really seem to understand why Haruki was on this squad with the rest of them, it was becoming more and more apparent.

"Have you not been listening to anything about what Sensei's been saying?!" She exclaimed.

Mizu then turned to Haruki and walked so that she was face to face with him. "Katsuro Sensei will be mad at us no matter what." She then turned her head to the direction that Tetsou went off to. "But he'll kill us if we abandon Tetsou because we won't be a functioning unit. I'm going after that idiot. If you don't come with the consequences will be much more dire for you."

Readying her feet, Mizu leaped up into a nearby tree and started to leap off toward Tetsou and Katsuro-sensei's direction. She steadied her pace for a bit, hoping that Haruki would try and join her side.

Katsuro

Scattering along the plane of battle, Katsuro was completely focused on the two targets. So focused that he took no notice to Tetsou coming up from the rear flank. Right now all he desired to do was take these two out and get answers. While this strange woman had surprised him with her ability, she was still no match for an experienced Jonin like Katsuro.

With the smoke cleared Katsuro now had a beat on his target. She was dragging the other man like a rag doll. Hopefully this would slow them down enough for Katsuro to set up a trap. Katsuro sprinted ahead as fast as he could behind the cover of the tree-line, focusing his chakra into his legs to give him an inhuman amount of speed. Barreling forward, he got a good distance away from the two enemies before halting. Breathing deeply, Katsuro focused his earth chakra through multiple hand signs, and sank into the ground. He waited for the two to cross above him so that he could take them by surprise.

Meanwhile, Katsuro's three clones went to work try and ensare the two assailants into his traps like cattle. One clone went to the left side of their flank, another went to the right, and one went to the back flank. Visible to the two strangers, they began to hurl explosives near them on all sides but one (Near the direction where the real Katsuro lied) to try and get them into Katsuro's trap.

 

[Pine]

Haruki

Haruki started at Mizu's exclamation, then frowned at her. Their lessons so far, overall, seemed to center on yelling at Tetsuo (rightfully so) and respecting their sensei's wishes. He could direct quote Katsuro's "Don't fucking move!" word-for-word. He didn't quite remember the part about when a teammate disobeyed orders to throw yourself under the bus with them.

But when Mizu pointed out Katsuro was going to be mad either way, he had to admit she had a point. He was going to be mad either way. That's been the pattern of this entire evening so far, anyway.

He hesitated after Mizu, hearing the booming thud of explosives going off on the other side of the wall. They sounded more distant than the one set off before, but more numerous.

Haruki focused his chakra and followed after his teammate.

It didn't take long to catch, staying close behind her. "I don't want to get too close," he said, mostly to himself. He prayed that Tetsuo didn't intend on getting much closer than that.

Tetsuo

Similar to Katsuro, all of Tetsuo's focus was on the two strangers, oblivious to his two peers following in hot pursuit.

He saw Katsuro's clones emerge from the smoke, flanking the two culprits on nearly all sides. She was on the defensive, eyes shifting between the two at her sides.

She jerked the man with her to a halt, and in one swift movement, jumped to do a handstand on his back and brought her sword down in a wide-arching swing. The torrent of wind that followed sliced a cut into the ground in the shape of her swing, then blew the explosives back to their users. She only then noticed the clone at her back.

The explosion bouncing back was just close enough for Tetsuo to stop on uneven footing, the bark beneath him shivering from the bomb's force and sending tingles up his spine.

He didn't have to follow much further anyway, as it turned out, because the woman, feeling safe with her acrobatic deflection, continued dragging the her accomplice with her in her grand escape — straight into Katsuro's trap.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu

There was a small sigh of relief at the sight of Haruki accompanying her toward Katsuro and Tetsou. She was glad to not be going into whatever it was alone, and at least they were acting somewhat like a team now. No longer needing to wait, Mizu picked up the speed to take lead, keening in on the sounds of explosions ahead. Katsuro must have made contact.

"I agree with keeping distance. We don't want to get caught in crossfire."

At that point, rather than moving straight toward the sounds of battle, Mizu veered right slightly so that they would be near whatever was going on but hopefully not in the line of fire. They hopefully would be catching up in just a few minutes.

Katsuro

The woman's counter was effective, exploiting a reckless attack by Katsuro's clones. Explosives flew back toward them, and there wasn't enough time to react. All of the clones were destroyed, leaving plumes of smoke floating over the field of battle.

For a moment or so, there was silence. Then the two assailants walked over Katsuro's trap.

Without warning, Katsuro burst from the ground below the woman, throwing a heavy uppercut straight toward her jaw in an attempt to knock her out cold.

 

[Pine]

The earth beneath broke. The black-haired woman's last thoughts were how she needed to react, just before Katsuro's fist slammed into her jaw. Her sword, glasses, and body flew back from the sheer force of the uppercut, landing flat on her back.

The man flinched away just enough to avoid getting tangled in the impact of Katsuro's punch. He sat inches from the younger man, supporting his weight with his hands behind him, heaving anxious pants.

The woman's body had not yet moved.

His whole body was trembling. He tried to reach into his bookbag as a means of last defense, but his hand was shaking, and he fumbled grabbing the pills in the side pocket.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro didn't hesitate for a moment. Now that the girl was gone, he could get the bag and apprehend another criminal. Just from the looks of this guy Katsuro knew he would be much easier to handle. Looking down on the man, he walked over to him until he stood directly over him. For a moment or so, Katsuro stood silently, cracking his knuckles for intimidation.

"Give me the bag, and any other contraband you have."

He paused, then checked back over on the girl. She was still lying there... hopefully she wasn't dead. Katsuro had no intent to kill her but sometimes these things happen in combat.

"Give me the fucking bag right now or you'll end up like your friend!" Katsuro shouted at the man.

 

[Pine]

The man froze when Katsuro loomed over him, demanding the bag.

There was a brief moment, where he could use one of the pills point blank, catch the man off guard, make a run for it.

But he hesitated and the moment passed.

He flinched when the younger man shouted at him, and he slowly slipped his hand out of the bag, palms up in a show of surrender, that he would no longer resist. He ducked his head to slip the handbag's strap from off his neck. The weight of the bag showed in his now-straining face as he held the bag up to Katsuro.


Tetsuo

The young genin had watched all of the events before him unfold. He was just close enough that he say Katsuro pop out of the ground and sock the woman, now lying very still. It took just a few seconds for him to piece together how the jōnin had laid out the trap. In the privacy of his mind, squatting on a branch and peeping from behind the trunk of a tree, he was impressed.

The scuffle between adults had been fierce enough to alter the landscape. A flashy ice was still crusted thickly before the monument, and the trees cut down by the woman were groaning as they settle back into the earth. In spite of this, with what Tetsuo imagined to be a very simple herding strategy, Katsuro had brought this to an end in no more than a minute.

The tree covering him was several yards back from where the stranger was handing Katsuro the bag and, frustratingly, he was beginning to think that he'll need to be even closer if he wants to see the contents inside.

If he did manage this, then he'd be able to see two glass cylindrical containers, shut tightly by steel bars and steel caps on either end. It was hefty and large enough need two hands to comfortably hold it, though could awkwardly be tucked and held under one strong arm. The caps were screwed on stubbornly tight that only a machine could've twisted on, and would very likely need one to twist it off again. That, or the code for the number pad wedged between two of the bars. Inside the glass, a glowing, viscous blue liquid. Small bubbles slowly rose with each turn of the capsule.

Before he could decide, he heard a faint rustle from deeper in the woods.

"Tetsuo?" whispered Haruki, the redhead still not entirely sure where he'd thought he might have seen his peer.

Evidently it wasn't quiet enough for Tetsuo, because his response was to turn and hush at his teammates.

Tetsuo looked back, wanting to be sure Katsuro hadn't noticed before he jumped to the next branch ahead.

Haruki grimaced, miffed, yet again, by the smaller boy's antagonizing. He had stopped on a branch of his own and waited to see what Mizu would do.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro

The grizzled veteran put his hands together, and made two more shadow clones. One shadow clone went over to the unconscious girl, and began to tie her up while also checking her vitals.. During this time, the other shadow clone approached the man and shoved him away from the bag using his foot, and began to bind him with metal string as well.

Katsuro, still oblivious to his students position, picked up the bag and examined its contents. He wondered why just one bag would be so ferociously guarded. Most drug runners in the area acted alone, let alone most didn't carry body guards of this caliber. Cautiously, Katsuro opened the bag, and was immediately thrown into a loop.

He did not know what this was, but there was no way this was drugs of any sort. Unsure of what he was seeing, Katsuro took off his glasses and folded them neatly into his flak jacket. Katsuro then put the bag on the ground gently, and used both hands to pick the object up. For a moment he looked up at the man they just captured, then looked back down and scanned his eyes over the object. It was two strange veils of a bubbling fluid. It looked as if it had been mechanical in nature, with the tops screwed on far too tight for him to get them off. Even with Chakra, he'd probably end up breaking the vials before actually unscrewing it.

"You." Katsuro looked back up at the now restrained man, and Katsuro's clone backed up slightly from him. "Just what the fuck is this?"

Katsuro's clone lowered himself next to the prisoner. "Talk, or else."

Mizu

Mizu briskly moved through the branches until she caught up with Haruki and Tetsou. Jumping over to the branch that Tetsou was on, she prepared herself to yell at Tetsou for his actions. That was until she looked over and saw Katsuro-Sensei was so distracted he hadn't even noticed them yet. Slowly, Mizu crouched down onto the branch so that she wouldn't stand out so much. Narrowing her gaze, she saw that their sensei was holding some kind of strange object that Mizu had never seen before.

Suddenly Mizu realized that this could be their chance to get out of this without any consequences. She turned to her teammates.

"He's got this under control." She whispered. "We should head back before he notices us...."

 

[Pine]

The man yelped when the clone shoved him back with his boot, but obliged. He opened his mouth when the clone yanked his hands to tied them behind his back, but shut his mouth, perhaps thinking better than to say something, and sullenly looked down at his feet.

There was fear in his eyes when, as to be expected, Katsuro started questioning him.

He jumped a little when the clone kneeled down just to threaten him.

"I swear, I don't know anything," he stammered out, tears pricking his eyes. "I don't know what that thing is. God, I swear I don't know."

Further from him, the woman's vitals would read as normal.


Haruki & Tetsuo

Tetsuo's eyes widened with wonder when Katsuro pulled that thing out of the bag. He'd never seen anything like it before. He had originally tailed him just to watch the fight, but now it was about something more.

Haruki had moved onto the same branch behind her, squinting at their sensei, and now the object in his hand. There was a spark of curiosity in him too now, but no more than his fear of what Katsuro would make them do if he found out they abandoned their post.

Tetsuo made a show of giving an exhaustive sigh when, in spite of him trying to silence them, Mizu started talking.

Haruki nodded along with her in agreement.

"I'm not going back yet," Tetsuo said.

Haruki tried to reason with him, taking up a soft, more companionable tone in spite of his growing frustrations with his teammate. "He has them both tied up now. Katsuro-sensei's going to be done and looking to see if we followed orders soon, and we're not going to be able to beat him back."

"Look," Tetsuo hissed now, whipping his head back to glare at them, "that old man isn't going to tell us shit about whatever he finds out here. He's just going to think we're a bunch of dumb kids sticking our nose in grown-up business."

Haruki grimaced at him, privately noting that he was the only one trying to stick his nose in anything.

Tetsuo continued, "Whatever the hell that is, it's not drugs or any kind of weapon I've ever seen. This might be our only chance to find out."

Stubbornly, he turned back, straining his ears to listen to whatever exchange between Katsuro and the old man he might have missed.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro

He looked over at the other two clones, who both of them just shook their heads to the real Katsuro. "The girl's not dead, she's alive." The clone announced to the other two. Katsuro nodded to him, and handed him the strange veil. Then he shifted his attention back to the prisoner. To Katsuro's dismay he refused to tell anything about the package so far, and was breaking up emotionally. Katsuro let out a sigh. If they were out in the field, away from the village Katsuro could do whatever he could physically to get answers. However, since they were so close to Konoha, there were strict laws dictating that prisoners would have to be taken in. With Katsuro's connections he would be able to get this guy into the interrogation core in under an hour....but that was still a long and irritating process.

"Look at me." Katsuro murmured out to the pathetic man. Impatiently Katsuro stood for a for moments before marching over to the prisoner. "LOOK AT ME!" He roared in anger.

He grabbed the pathetic man's hair, then yanked it back so they would be face-to-face. Katsuro looked into the man's eyes with his haunting, scarred gaze. Katsuro knew that he likely was very intimidating to this man, and sense he knew no genjutsu this was the farthest he could go within local laws.

"You gotta choice here!" Katsuro tightened his grip on the man's hair. "Either tell me what the fuck this thing is right now, the easy way." Katsuro tightened his grip even more. "Or I haul you down to the interrogation core where they'll force it out of you. The hard way."

Mizu

Her face twitched slightly in irritation at Tetsou's disregard for her and Haruki's pleas. If he only knew just how much of a pain in the ass he is...

Mizu herself was curious about what Katsuro was dealing with down there. However, that curiosity was pacified with the idea of Katsuro breathing down their neck and dishing out some unusual punishment on them. She closed her eyes, and let out a sigh. What would her uncle do if he was in their shoes? He was an ANBU after-all...an accomplished shinobi with a bright future. Not some outcast mixed in with the worst students in the class. Her head ached from the irritation. Why was she in this squad? All of her scores were good, and she didn't have that tough of a time getting along with others.

Rubbing her hand down her face, her fingers caressed her scar on her cheek. Once again she was reminded of the nine-tails. Maybe that was why she was here, maybe no one wanted to deal with a jinchuriki. Mizu bit the inside of her lip to hold back her own emotions. For a moment she glanced back over at Haruki. He was grimacing to Tetsou, probably just as irritated as she was currently. That's it. Mizu was sick of feeling sorry for herself. If no one would step up and take the initiative then she would.

Mizu shifted her gaze back forward, interrupted for a moment by the yelling of Katsuro. She jumped up slightly from the surprise, though quickly settled back onto the tree branch. Focused on Tetsou once again, she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Haruki and I didn't come all this way for your ego to get us in trouble again." She whispered. "Come back with us or...." Mizu quickly began racing the ideas in her head of what she had in her arsenal to threaten him with. Paging through the possibilities, only one idea in her head seemed viable.

"I'll just get this over with right now and reveal our location to Katsuro sensei. No sense in delaying the inevitable."

 

[Pine]

He couldn't bring his eyes to Katsuro, try as he may. The man was in shambles, flinching again when the jōnin roared. He was only able to meet the other man's eyes when he yanked his hair back, forcing him to meet him eye-to-eye. He could see his own trembling form reflected in the man's irises.

He cringed as Katsuro twisted the hair on his scalp further.

"I don't know! I don't know what it is!" he sobbed. "I swear to God. I swear to God, I don't know. I was only supposed to make a delivery. They didn't tell me anything, I was just supposed to deliver it. God, please show mercy."


Haruki & Tetsuo

Both of the boys stared at Mizu, dumbfounded once she found the exact threat she would be making.

Haruki blanched. The terror he felt before of being found out paled to the pang of anxiety he felt now. Both of his teammates seemed impossibly stubborn, and he felt pinned in the middle of it. They had come here to keep Tetsuo out of Katsuro's sight, now here Mizu was about to land a proverbial nuke on them all if he didn't cooperate. He idly began wondering if hardheadedness was just a characteristic of Konoha's shinobi.

"You wouldn't," Tetsuo sneered after a moment of thought.

Tetsuo continued appraising Mizu, though, and the committal look in her eyes.

He glanced back towards Katsuro, where the man was babbling out desperate pleas and no helpful information.

Then back at Mizu, who he was feeling less and less confident in his assertion.

His expression darkened a little, now evaluating her as a threat. Tetsuo thought about how he might be able to gag her. But would he be quick enough before she got Katsuro's attention? Would Haruki intervene? He certainly was acting a little like her lapdog, looking to her for direction. He considered feigning going back but just sending a clone with them, but he couldn't conceive any good way to ensure they wouldn't see the real him left behind by the clone.

He was pissed off. She'd perfectly trapped him, and all just because these two couldn't mind their own fucking business. He hadn't asked for them to be there, and was beginning to feel it downright malicious that they came here just to foil his own pursuits.

But he had to submit that there was nothing he could do, at least right then. Glancing one last time at the adults in the clearing, it seemed as though Katsuro may have hit a dead end with this guy anyway. No point in sticking around much longer.

"Fine," he said in a tone that was anything but pacified. He fixed his glare back on her, a barely subdued anger in his gaze. "But I won't forget about this."

Without another word, he started off into the trees, back to their post.

Haruki let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Worst case scenario avoided, at least for now. He was impressed, having thought Mizu had dragged him into an impossible mission he was helpless to help complete.

When just comfortably enough out of earshot, he whispered his thanks to Mizu, then followed off after his teammate.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro

He growled in frustration, tossing the pathetic man to the ground. Breathing heavily, he tried to control his anger the best he could. That was easier said than done, as all he wanted to do was beat this man to a pulp. Just what the hell was this thing and who sent it?

Katsuro stomped over to the backpack, and placed the object back into it. To relieve some tension, Katsuro took it upon himself to light up a cigarette. He breathed it in and all of its relaxing essence. Its fumes warmed his body, calmed his nerves. His shoulders dropped, and some of the tension in his mind was at ease. At least for now, anyway.

He exhaled smoke from his nostrils, then turned back to his two clones. "Haul them both into the village. Let the interrogation core deal with this bullshit..."

Katsuro then slung the backpack over his shoulder. Resting his cigarette between his lips, he reached into his flak jacket and put his glasses back on. He then calmly began to walk back to the shrine, thinking about the current situation.

After everything that just went down, one thing was certain in his mind: Those shitheads better still be guarding that shrine!

Mizu

"Fine, but I won't forget about this."

When Tetsou finally backed down, Mizu was overcome with relief. To her, it felt like a thousand pounds had been lifted from her shoulders. However, she wondered just what he meant by that statement. Was he going to retaliate against her some way in the future? If so, in what way? As he turned his back to her and jumped off into the foliage, she eyed him cautiously. At this moment it felt like something had changed. It almost seemed like a metaphorical line was drawn between them, dividing them.

Mizu didn't know Tetsou before today, but she already resented him. Looking over at his very figure made her blood boil in a way she'd never encountered before. He was a bully, who'd walk over anyone to get what he wanted. Tetsou didn't respect Katsuro, he didn't respect Haruki, and Mizu doubted that he respected her. The feeling was mutual. After all, people like him were the reason she bore the scar across her face. She wouldn't let him walk over her, and she wouldn't let him get the best of her. Their most recent encounter proved that he can be stood up to. If Katsuro didn't take crap from Tetsou, neither would she.

Mizu, now with a small sense of pride, silently leaped off into the foliage following her comrades. Peaking over her shoulder, it looked to be that Katsuro was starting to come back to camp. Hopefully he wouldn't find out that they left...

 

[Pine]

The man winced when Katsuro roughly shoved him back into the ground. His eyes bugged, impossibly alarmed when the man ordered his copies to take him to the interrogation core.

"What's going to happen to me there?" he whimpered. He tossed his head frantically between the clones, who were occupied collecting the woman off the ground and hoisting him up by his armpit.

As should have been expected, no single version of the shinobi had any comforting words to say. He hung his head, letting himself be dragged away by his captor. "No... I changed my mind, I don't want to know."

Tears were streaming down his cheeks now, but if anyone were to bend lower and inspect his face, they'd see him biting his bottom lip, face contorted with a quiet rage.

Deeper in the woods, someone somewhere originally walking towards the shrine had turned back around.


Haruki & Tetsuo

They made it back to the shrine before Katsuro, who had only been walking back at a leisurely pace. Haruki let out a sigh of relief (mixed with being just a little winded from the race back to the shrine). They were here, but standing now, he forgot how to look casual. Tetsuo had just plopped on the grass, but Haruki struggled to find a good place to pose, thinking over where he would be if he hadn't been dragged into chasing down their teammate.

Suddenly, he ran to the approximate spot Katsuro had told him not to move from and sat down there. He was sitting a little too stiffly, anxious that Katsuro's mega-perceptive jōnin-level eyes would detect that maybe the leaf next to him had been one he was sitting on before and that he'd definitely moved from his previous spot. He stood up again, looking towards the wall's edges, waiting for their sensei to round the corner at any moment.

Tetsuo shot him a look when he kept fidgeting. "Would you relax? You're being super obvious."

Haruki barked a soft, nervous laugh. "Relax? Okay, I'll relax," he said, not relaxed.

Tetsuo rolled his eyes, then scowled at the dirt under him. Mizu had singlehandedly made his venture a complete waste of time. He fumed quietly, looping everything over and over in his head.

He had barely gotten to see any of the action, always blocked either by the enormous ice wall or by the smoke bombs Katsuro had thrown. The only thing he managed to see was the end of it, where the jōnin had taken the woman out in a single hit. Then they had to leave before Katsuro had gotten to the meat of interrogating him. Tetsuo saw what was in the bag, but it meant nothing to him, having no clue what it could possibly be. He had no idea what that liquid could've been, and it simultaneously looked like it was supposed to hook up to something and that it was impossibly to hook it up. Maybe there had been something inside that he'd missed?

This was all Mizu's fault, he thought with each blade of grass he ripped out of the ground.

Eventually, Katsuro returned.

Haruki tensed up.

Tetsuo looked at him expectantly for just a moment, then asked, "What happened?"

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu

Hastily, Mizu darted through the brush and landed back at the original camp site. For now, she just did her best to ignore whatever glances Tetsou may have been throwing her way. She just needed to do her best to not look suspicious for Katsuro-Sensei. However, this was a lot easier said than done. Sitting around the memorial, she began to grow paranoid about just what would look suspicious and what wouldn't. Doing nothing looked guilty, yet trying to start conversation with her comrades would seem very fake...

The breeze raised slightly, blowing her hair back with it. Mizu was then struck with an idea. She immediately took out a mirror, fiddling around with her new hair-style. Hopefully this would be seen as natural.

Katsuro

Cigarette blazing, Katsuro emerged from the brush with the backpack flung over his shoulder. Though his mind was preoccupied about just what might be in his backpack, he couldn't ignore his other duties. Immediately he scanned the area for his Genin, half expecting them to be gone or locked in some sort of brawl. To his surprise however, they were all still by the shrine, looking just as bored as before. Tetsou and Haruki sat patiently, while Mizu was still fiddling around with her hair. Beneath his glasses he rolled his eyes. Girls and their hair.

"What happened?" Tetsou asked suddenly.

Katsuro visibly shifted his attention from Mizu over to Tetsou. He decided to take one more leisurely puff of his smoke before having to stress himself out talking to the little shit. After an awkward 5 seconds of smoking, Katsuro exhaled one last time before cusped it between his fingers and removed it. He'd have to at least give them a basic idea of what happened, otherwise they'd probably never shut up about it.

"The man and woman ran off into the woods. I apprehended both targets and dispatched them. They're currently on their way to the interrogation core."

Katsuro then turned from his students, and began to walk on the pathway back to the village.

"Come with me, we have contraband to turn in. We also need to discuss your future in my team."