[Ren]

The man at the stand which was selling milk bread seemed happy to see the interested customers approaching, and once they made their intentions clear, he was more than happy to fill up a bag with a lot of milk bread for the young 'Asahi'. "They are really fresh, so they will be good for your trip back to the Land of Fire, young man! Thank you for your patronage!" the man said in a cheery tone, happy with the large sale.

While 'Asahi' was picking up the package, 'Tadashi' would notice that a couple individuals, dressing in a local military uniform were walking around the market. They were probably doing rounds, and they would in due time pass by the duo. They didn't seem to be particularly alarmed by anything, so it was reasonable to conclude that they were just on their routine job. However, having Shinobis from a faraway land was something that would naturally entice their curiosity.

Would the duo stay and potentially interact with them, or would they move along to another area of the island?

[Kaguya Toru]

if i'm a danger to myself Just think what I could do to you Sourei Kobashi Ren

If this were some kind of mangaka, a small sweatdrop would have appeared on Toru's head. A comical one at that when Kobashi started to put up an act of shouting at him about money. Oops. He probably should have just pulled out his own wallet. But, Kobashi caved and gave him some money.

"Asahi"'s gaze brightened as he received the cash and proceeded to pay the merchant. With a bag full of milk bread he was quite content. He did not eat immediately as he wanted to continue to conceal his appearance for the most part, but maybe later he would be eating his fill.

"Thank you." He would give the merchant a small bow and then look towards Kobashi. Right behind him, Toru would notice a patrol wander by. Well, they had already wandered by but it was not as if they were going to disappear...

He had a pretty solid idea at that moment, he'd walk by his companion Tadashi but not so gracefully trip on his Tadashi's feet. Falling forward to cause a brief scene, and maybe even push into one of the guards. He was on the ground, with some of the milk bread spilled out.

"AYYSSHH!" He would protest trying to put some of the warm loaves back into the bag, citing a rule about the law of germs or something under his breath.

"Sorry." He would apologize to whoever he inevitably fell into, guards, people... Someone.

He would look back at Tadashi.

"Watch where you put your big ass feet."

OWL

[Sourei Kobashi]

Kobashi eyes quickly picked up the local guards that entered his periphery, although his body made no other reaction to them. His mind briefly considered whether they should just try to avoid the troops before calming as he decided that it would be best to at least be seen by them. Just as Kobashi was considering how best to ensure they were noticed by the troops without getting too much of their attention he noticed Toru's foot moving towards his.

His initial impulse was to move out of the way, but thankfully his reason quickly overcame his reflexes. He had no idea what the boy planned to do, but he did not think him so inexperienced as to make such a simplistic mistake. As their feet collided and 'Asashi' went tumbling forward into the guards and made a spectacle of quickly dropping and gathering the milk bread; 'Tadashi' did his best to support the ruse.

"The hell are you doing kid, they not teach you how to even walk in a straight line at the academy or are you just that stupid?"

Reinforcing his verbal chastising was an attempt to smack 'Asahi' upside the back of his head. Not enough to do any sort of actual damage, but enough to give a good sound and possibly force him to shift his feet a bit.

Some part of Kobashi felt he might possibly receive an earful about laying hands on his superior after the mission, but it seemed like an easy way to show his annoyance with the youth and potentially get the guards into a state where they tried to deescalate rather than make something bigger out of the situation.

Made by Riley at THQ!

[Ren]

When 'Asahi' tripped, he slammed into one of the guard, throwing the man on the ground on top of his buttocks. The guard beside him took a step back, putting some distance in between himself and the mess. Milk bread spilled and people around the area looked towards them, noticing the two 'Leaf Shinobi'. The guard on the floor would push 'Asahi' away from him. He looked irritated at the boy. "Y-you little bastard!" the man exclaimed as he moved, crawling, trying to grab 'Asahi' by his collar.

The other guard stared at the two on the ground and then at the older 'Leaf Shinobi' there, noticing the situation was escalating, he approached he looked at the older one. "Aren't you too far from home? State your business here." the man demanded, albeit in a calm and collected tone. Still, his hand was now touching the hilt of his sword.

[Kaguya Toru]

if i'm a danger to myself Just think what I could do to you Sourei Kobashi Ren

Well, on one hand, it was good what had happened. On the other hand, the two of them had to slightly deal with the fall out. It wouldn't matter if they got kicked out in truth, just that they had been seen. But, he felt de-escalating the situation would be best. So, when he got chastised and whacked by his partner and then promptly grabbed by the front of his collar by the guard he had knocked over well Asahi let out a nervous laugh.

"Sorry. Honest mistake!" He tried to apologize, exclaim that it was in fact nothing to bat an eye out. Why would it be? He was clearly purchasing some milk bread, and was about his business. He wasn't trying to bother anyone. Right? Right. So he looked towards one of the guards.

"My partner and I are here for holiday visitations." He motioned towards Tadashi who he hoped wouldn't be too pissed that he pulled him into the shenanigans. But, what he was saying was also true, they were technically here for holiday visits. Why else buy milk bread and simply enjoy the day? Even if Asahi was proven to be a bit clumsy... But of course, why would a clumsy shinobi be sent to do anything remotely dangerous? A child this far out of the home village... Well it HAD to be for something innocent. Yes. That was the logic, and Asahi gave a small very nervous smile, nervous because he was being spoken to sternly from multiple sides and held by the front of the collar.

"Don't want any trouble."

OWL

[Sourei Kobashi]

Kobashi watched as Toru or rather 'Asahi' quickly apologized to the guards he had ran into after feigning getting tripped up. A part of Kobashi wondered to himself if it was really in their best interest to directly interact with the guards. He understood it would solidify the presence of leaf shinobi in their minds, but it could also easily lead to them being detained for further questioning if these particular guards felt like trying to flex their authority.


"Listen, the kid didn't mean anything by it. Like he said, honest mistake. Besides, I don't think either of us want the aggravation of making this a bigger issue than it needs to. We don't want to jeopardize our stay of leave and I'm sure you two don't want to report to your lord that you arrested two foreign shinobi. After all that means he'd have to speak with Hokage as well as Lord Ametsuchi and that could lead to talks of all sorts of things like economic sanctions or who knows what else in an attempt for them to save face."


His face was apologetic and genuinely seemed to be exasperated on behalf of the guards as to what sort of trouble this could easily cause them. In reality though it was half warning and half coercion to just allow them to be on their way. He hoped that it was not so much a push as to be suspicious immediately, but might be questionable in the inevitable recounting after the planned assassination.

Still, it would not do to only threaten with the stick, one must also offer the carrot for best results. As such 'Tadashi' pulled out a selection of money minted in Hi no Kuni and held it out towards the guards. It was not a massive amount by any means, but was enough to enjoy a night of decent drinks and food.


"To pay for the cleaning of your uniform and anything needed to dull the soreness from your fall. Along with our genuine apology of course."


To back up the last line 'Tadashi' even gave a small bow towards the two guards while still holding the money towards them, held in both hands like a priest offering tribute to a shrine.

Made by Riley at THQ!

[Ren]

The guard seem satisfied with the answers and walked away, but they were suspicious and looking back. Still, they got off the hook for now; they didn't want to deal with all that bureaucracy for now, and it seemed like they were not looking for trouble. At least for now. Toru and Sourei were mentioning Konoha enough so that people were already coming to know and believe where those two shinobis were supposedly from.

"Leaf? That's far from here, no?"

"I wonder what these foreign shinobi are doing here..."

"I heard about this Leaf before, it's in the Land of Grass or Land of Fire. They are trouble."

"They are talking about money? Maybe they are on a job... Better head home soon."

People were whispering and gazing at the shinobi, now more weary of their actions as they came to believe that these foreign Shinobi were on a mission in their land. That was potentially good enough for them to plant the evidence that whatever may come to pass in the near future, would be something the Leaf shinobi did. The two could continue their act to get more people to talk about it and feel unease with their presence, or settle for this level of buzz. However, if they did catch a lot more attention, it could interfere with their mission.

What would they choose?

[Kaguya Toru]

if i'm a danger to myself Just think what I could do to you Sourei Kobashi Ren

Toru felt a bit of relief when the guards took the money and walked off. Most non-shinobi guards did not want trouble beyond the ordinary in truth, these non-shinobi nations had trouble as it was so for there to be shinobi-related trouble? Well, they did their best to avoid it and Toru could hardly blame them. Once the guards walked away, the young man who he was transformed into had his shoulders slump forward dramatically he rubbed at his forehead and shook his head.

"Phew! I thought we were goners." He stated a bit like a chime before looking towards his partner. "Let's go, I wanna put my stuff back at our inn, and then we can go find a nice hot spring, eh?" He almost grinned, or something akin to a grin it was a bit goofy looking and definitely out of the ordinary for what was normally a stoic Mizukage, but he was trying to play a role here. He knew it wouldn't be seen as 'him' necessarily. He had been in Oinin Butai long enough to know better than to just act like himself the whole time.

If 'Tadashi' agreed they would return to their spot just outside of town, Toru stashing all of his things away in a hiding spot turning towards the man... Their mission was technically just now truly beginning, but they would have to wait till evening, so Toru would settle down against a tree waiting for the sun to set quietly maintaining his transformation the whole time - even taking a bit of a nap so he could feel refreshed for what they had ahead.

OWL

[Sourei Kobashi]

As the one known as 'Asahi' voiced their relief, 'Tadashi' grumbled a bit under his breath, giving a brief nod of indication towards the younger man to get a move on when he brought up putting his stuff back at their inn. As they began to leave 'Tadashi' also shot a few challenging stares to some of the citizenry who currently were watching them, as if to dare them to be a pain in the ass.

When they finally managed to get to a spot outside of town and Toru stashed the unnecessary belongings out of sight, Kobashi spoke quietly while keeping his attention on the area around them in an attempt to keep watch for any tails that may have possibly followed them.

"I'll keep watch and wake you in a few hours. We should both go into this rested if we can. I think we should try to disguise ourselves when we go in. It'd be reckless not to."

There was just a little emphasis placed on the word disguise, an attempt to suggest changing their transformation since even a Konoha nin would be smart enough to try and hide their appearances after the run in at the market if they were really the ones doing this assassination.

Kobashi would go along with whatever the Mizukage wished naturally, but he understood it was a very fine blade they were balancing on to try and implicate Konoha without making it obvious to observers after the fact that Konoha was being framed

Made by Riley at THQ!

[Ren]

After achieving the goal of making the civilians and guards aware of the presence of Leaf shinobi in the place, the two would leave the town to rest and get some shut eye before the mission truly started. It was but the start of their actual mission, but the ground work they performed thus far had been extremely important to frame the Leaf for what they were about to do.

Their rest went without any interruptions, and both shinobi managed to get a reasonable rest, which would allow them to perform at their peak capacity without any issues. Now that the night had come, they could proceed whenever they felt ready to do so. The town still looked quite busy, and people were on the streets. There were less people than during the day, which would make sneaking around a bit easier, but the town was far from dead, so they would still have to be careful if they wanted to be stealthy.

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi Ren

Toru looked towards Kobashi and nodded to him.

"Masks would be sensible." Or perhaps they could transform into a different set of outfits to make them appear more like assassins as opposed to the regular shinobi outfits they were wearing out in town? They could decide once they both had enough rest. After a bit of rest he would wait for Kobashi to wake him and he would switch the watch. Toru would put himself up in a tree for a higher vantage point just in case.

Once darkness settled, the town was still lit up. The sound of activity had diminished but not fully which meant they would have to stick to the shadows primarily getting up to the main part which was their assassination mission in the castle at the center of town. Toru would wake Kobashi and re-apply his transformation, getting into a more assassin ready outfit, he would pull up something over his face and to cover up his hair leaving only his eyes out in the open.

"This alright?" He wasn't sure what Kobashi had in mind but he was, as before, willing to listen to the other. They were on a team, regardless of whether he was the leader or not and Kobashi had no doubt valuable input.

Once they were ready to go, Toru would begin making his way into town but staying away from main streets and mostly sticking to rooftops. Movements silent and quick as they inched their way to the building of interest.

OWL

SPOILER: Click to show

Henge active

Silent Killing SA in use

[Sourei Kobashi]

After a brief nod to the comment about masks, Kobashi oversaw his section of the watch. While he remained alert for any threats or signs of discovery the watch thankfully went uneventful. Still, it meant he was left with a fair amount of time with only his thoughts and the sleeping Toru as company. For awhile he thought of the mission, ways to try and let his 'true identity' slip out without being too obvious about it. He had planned to just use a different transformation with the thought to just tweak the clothing while leaving some critical elements.

"I should have picked up a mask in town during the festival. Could have had it accidentally fall off during some fight."

He muttered the words to himself, cursing his failure to consider the option before they had left town. Unfortunately it was far too late to worry about it and the transformation technique would not allow for such dynamic changes in clothing, at least not without having to reapply the technique and obviously that was somewhat out of the question in a fight.

Waking Toru to take his shift, the young Mizukage scaled up and into the nearby tree while Kobashi was left to lay below its boughs. The Jounin could not help, but to feel a little bit awkward and found it difficult to sleep. Setting aside the initial level of awkwardness that came with sleeping in front of the man who was his boss, there was also the fact that Kobashi barely knew the young man. The slight paranoia that Kobashi suffered from ever since the attempt on his 'younger brother' constantly made him wonder whether there was more to this than just participating in a mission.

Eventually however, Kobashi finally managed to drift into an uneasy sleep. The darkness gradually brightened and before he knew it he was being surrounded by a distant memory. It was a grand banquet celebrating the marriage of the Daimyo's son. While Kobashi's father had spoken with the Daimyo on many occasions, that night was the first time Kobashi had ever spoken to their ruler himself. He had found the Daimyo a very pleasant man who treated the words of a child with the same level of attention and respect as he did to any of the adults in the room. As Kobashi conversed with the man the dream shifted, gradually growing darker.

In silent horror, Kobashi watched as two individuals. Blood began to flow throughout the party as guests were slowly killed, but no one reacted. Up until the point someone was murdered, the memory played out the same otherwise. Polite conversation, the sound of cutlery one fine plates broken by the occasional scream of someone dying. Kobashi could do nothing, but continue to play his part in the memory.

Eventually, the figures came to stand beside the Daimyo who was casually shifting his cup so as to spin the contents within while talking to the now dead person at his right side. It was there that Kobashi noticed the two who had done the killing up until this point were the fabricated 'Asahi' and 'Tadashi'. It was just as the disguises dropped away showing those truly beneath and their blades moved for the Daimyo that Toru's attempt to wake Kobashi roused him from the nightmare.

With a sharp breath in and the instinctual hand movement towards his weapon, Kobashi quickly released the hilt as he realized where he was. Wiping a hand across his brow; Kobashi would slowly rise from the ground, using the nearby tree to steady himself as he did so. Seeing Toru's transformation, Kobashi did so as well and used to to once more become 'Tadashi'.

The clothing they had in the village was gone, with deep blue clothing so dark as to nearly appear black. Hopefully it would help blend in with the darkness of the night. Apart from that his hair was kept tied back with a cloth mostly covering it, but a few tufts of hair peaking out here and there so any guards might potential catch a glimpse of it. A cloth mask adorned his face, the fabric coming up over the bridge of his nose while leaving the eyes and forehead visible.

Turning to Toru, Kobashi simply gave a nod to acknowledge his question of if the disguise was alright. Truth be told they did not need to be perfect. So long as their real appearances were concealed, although the small touches like Kobashi had done could not hurt either. Resting his left hand on the hilt of the ninjato at his left hip to keep it from making noise, Kobashi followed after Toru moving as quietly as he could which proved easy enough due to his extensive training with the silent killing technique.


Focus on the objectives. You are doing what is needed. Nothing more.


Kobashi mentally repeated the words in his head as if it were his own personal mantra. He by no means enjoyed the purpose of this mission, but he also understood that one had to do unsavory things to fulfill their goals sometimes and in the end, protecting his family was far more important than this noble family he had never met.

Made by Riley at THQ!

[Ren]

Once they were up, the duo took care of transforming once again, but this time they chose a different outfit, one more fit for an assassination. Adjusting their gear and finishing their preparations, the two shinobi were good to go. As they proceeded into town, they went straight to the roofs, moving silent. Both of them were quite skilled in being stealthy, so they managed to make their way through the town without being noticed by any guards who were patrolling the street, and the ones in the very few watchtowers they had.

They approached the castle where the emperor and his family lived, but the place there was better guarded than any the town was, obviously. The castle was surrounded by walls and had only one main entrance, which had guards by the gates and on the towers. Then, every fifty metres or so, there was a small square-shaped sentry-box with another guard inside.

How would the two approach this situation? Would they try and take down the guards, or scout the area for other options at infiltrating the castle?

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Sourei Kobashi Ren

Toru approached the castle and the main point of their mission with Kobashi. He was silent the whole time, but upon arrival a quite survey would tell them it wouldn't be an easy infiltration. Utilizing the hidden mist technique was out of question as well since they were not supposed to be any kirigakure shinobi around the area. Instead, Toru would find one of the sentry towers and center himself across from one motioning for Kobashi to either follow or take his own path. Though he remained hidden, he wasn't about to be out in the open without any cover. For now he remained hidden and then very carefully moved off the rooftop and just under the tower and from there started to climb up. These types of towers usually had a very difficult if almost impossible vantage point towards spots directly below them so he was going to utilize this blind spot to climb up. He was pressed against the wall the whole time with his chest as well to avoid being a three-dimensional object, instead he was a quickly moving shadow.

Once he was up on the lip he would move via the wall carefully around the side poking his head up only to see where the guards might be, but in such a way that they wouldn't really see him since it would just be his eyes more or less. In due time, if things went off without a hitch, he would be up on the wall and sliding down into the courtyard, and pressing against the wall and staying still to observe the area.

Toru's silent killing should easily allow him to hide in plain sight and especially in the shadows. For now, no one had to die and no commotion had to be made... Just one individual had to perish and that was the goal.

OWL

SPOILER: Click to show

Silent Killing SA still in use

Henge still in use

[Sourei Kobashi]

Kobashi followed almost immediately behind Toru. While it would have been an easy enough task to slip by the castles defenses through use of the Sourei's bloodline abilities, such action would mean having to leave Toru on his own to find a way in. While their mission was very much the assassination of their target, Kobashi effectively had a secondary objective which was ensuring the protection of Toru. After all, if Kobashi was to return to Kirigakure without the Mizukage with him it would invite much suspicion and perhaps even direct punishment of some kind. Besides, while his traversal through the ground could potentially be presumed to be a technique like the underground fish projection or the like it was simply safest to not even risk someone recognizing it as a Sourei ability and thus connecting the attack to Kirigakure.

So Kobashi simply followed in Toru's wake, making use of his own silent killing training to move as quiet as his specter moniker implied. Molding chakra to his feet, Kobashi created an anchoring like effect so as to climb the wall while simultaneously pressing himself against it. This gave Kobashi the sensation similar to crawling along the ground on all fours while actually moving up the tower vertically.

Eventually, Kobashi did split off from the direction Toru headed, but only so he could keep a better vantage that incorporated Toru into his field of view. When Toru went off to the side of the tower Kobashi listened for the footsteps and watched for any changes to the light coming from within to indicate where those within were. If he was confident they were looking out a different section of the tower, the Second Seat would quickly move to what was effectively a crouch on the vertical wall and step over the section he might be viewed from.

His goal was to move to the roof of the watchtower they had been perched on the side of up until that point. While Toru moved down from the tower and into the courtyard, Kobashi would press himself flat against the roof of the watchtower and observe the movements below. In an effort to make it even harder to notice him, Kobashi folded his left arm against his side and crossed his legs in an effort to hopefully break his silhouette upon the watchtower roof. Granted between the darkness of the night and the coloration of his clothes on a presumably dark roof would already be making it quite difficult to notice him.

Made by Riley at THQ!